and unexplored treasuries of mediæval sculpture, the churches of Germany, numerous striking specimens have been selected; we may here admire the grandeur of the sepulchral memorials of that country, and perceive the original intention of the canopy of tabernacle-work, sometimes termed a hovel, housing[1], or dais, which appears over the heads of some recumbent monumental figures in England. The tombs of Edward III., of Richard II. and his Queen, and of several other distinguished personages, afford examples of this feature of decoration; it is not improbable that it was introduced from Flanders or Germany, and in those countries we find it appropriately employed, the effigy being frequently placed in an erect position, as a mural, not a recumbent memorial. It may deserve enquiry whether in adopting a continental fashion of placing the figure in a kind of niche with shrine-work on either side and a richly purfled canopy, we did not disregard the propriety of its original use, and retaining our own usage of the recumbent portraiture of the deceased, surround it with ornamental accessories which properly belonged to the erect figure. A specimen of the earlier English effigies in the cross-legged attitude, peculiar, as it would appear, to our own country, has been added by M. de Hefner to his curious collection. It is the figure assigned to Sir Robert Harcourt, in Worcester cathedral, and engraved from a drawing communicated by Mr. Robert Pearsall, of Willsbridge, who has contributed some other subjects, comprised in this work, amongst which is the remarkable effigy of Sir Guy de Brian, preserved in Tewksbury abbey church.
Illuminated MSS., painted glass, and various other productions of art, have afforded well-chosen examples; M. de Hefner has also brought together representations of some of those interesting relics, which are associated with the memory of men eminent for great deeds or sanctity of life. At the present time, when sacred costume is a subject of much research, the chasuble of St. Willigisius, bishop of Mayence, A.D. 975, to whom the erection of the cathedral of that city is attributed, presents no slight degree of interest. In the same church is still to be seen a beautiful pastoral staff, an enamelled work attributed to the eleventh century, and similar to the curious specimens of the work of Limoges, which are to be seen in the galleries recently opened in Paris at the Louvre, and Palais des Thermes.
The illustrations of military costume contained in M. de Hefner's interesting series, are not less curious and novel than the subjects of a sacred character. He has given representations of a visored bacinet, of which he is the possessor, which has the extraordinary projecting beak, according to a fashion which prevailed in England during the reign of Richard II.; and
- ↑ By the indenture for the construction of the tomb of Anne, Queen of Richard II., in Westminster abbey, Nicholas Broker and Godfrey Prest, coppersmiths, of London, covenanted to make "tabernacles appellés Hovels, ove gabletz às testes, ove doublesjambes à chescune partie." A.D. 1395. Rymer, vol. vii. The hovels still remain, but the double jambs, or tabernacle-work at the sides, have been torn away.
