1830.] ANCIENT SEALS. Ancient Seals. gives the name of its quondam tasteful proprietor. The family of "Rygmayden, of Lincolnshire," bore for "Argent, arins, says Edmondson, three bucks' heads cabossed Sable." * The coat quartered with this on the seal, a chevron between three mullets, is a bearing common to so many ancient families, that without a knowledge of the Rygmayden pedigree it would be impossible to appropriate it. The female figure which forms so important a feature of the seal is doubtless allusive to the surname. The maiden is attired in one of those sumptuous horn head-dresses, which had so long a reign among the fashions of female costume. A lady with both head-dress and gown of similar form is the third figure in Strutt's CXIXth plate of Dresses, copied from a book of romances presented to Queen Catherine of Arragon. Our maiden has also the fashionable appendage of a lapdog." The helmet which she holds upon a sword, and which is surmounted by a unicorn's head as a crest, is nearly similar to one worn by a knight (assigned to the date 1512) in the LIXth plate of Dr. Meyrick's Armour, and which is there described as a 66 pondrous tilting helmet." The ring which hangs in front was to steady it, by being fastened to the breast-plate. Behind the figure will be perceived a fence made of hurdles; this, it is * There was another family of this singular name seated at Wadaker in Lancashire, who bore for arms, Sable, three bucks' heads, cabossed Argent; and for crest, a buck's head erased Sable. The name, though very uncommon, is perhaps not quite extinct. It occurs once in the almost centenarian series of this Magazine, in vol. LXXIX. i. 168, where we find that Mr. Rigmaiden, of the Amaranthe sloop, distinguished himself in an action off Martinique, in December 1808. GENT. MAG. April, 1830.98 305 conjectured, may have been known under the name of a ridge or rig,† and in that case we have the rebus of Rig maiden complete. The silver seal, of which fig. 2 represents an impression, was found in March 1822, among some rubbish at Southernhay. Its inscription, 5. f'ris thome dene prior' eronie. shows it to have been the seal of brother Thomas Dene, prior of Exeter. This Thomas Dene was superior of the Priory of St. James, commonly called the old Abbey, in 1428, and is presumed to have been the last that presided over it, King Henry VI. having suppressed the convent as an alien priory, and appropriated its revenues to the endowment of King's Coll.Cambr. His seal affords us an excellent representation of his patron saint, James the Less, with his robe of rough hair, his pilgrim's staff and hat, his wallet strung on his left arm, and a book in his hand. Fig. 3 has been communicated by Dr. Latham of Winchester; and was found in January 1829, in the grounds of Mr. Knight of that city. It is an antique red cornelian set in silver, with a small ring above the head of the fi gure by which it might be suspended. As the inscription, SIGILLVM SECRETI, informs us it was a secretum or privy signet, we may conclude it to have been the property of one of those dignified ecclesiastics, of whom so many were anciently resident within the walls of Winchester. The subject of the antique gem is probably a figure of Ceres. She bears two ears of corn in her right hand, and apparently has a wreath of the same on her head. On her left hand she holds upright something not very defined, but perhaps it may answer to the 'cup, vase, or patera," with which 906 Ancient Seals and Miscellaneous Antiquities. Ceres was sometimes represented. Below is what appears to be a beetle, but a fracture in the stone near it has rendered it incomplete. Fig. 4 is the seal of an ancient establishment at Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, which does not appear to be noticed by the County Historians, nor by any other writer, The figures represented are mentioned in the inscription: Sigillum bofpitalis Sancti clement' loei de haddesdon. [April, *mity, and which are matched by two in the under plate of brass,t were intended, it is presumed, to secure the end of a leathern belt or girdle; and the ring makes it probable that it was that end which was attached to the sword. Another ornament similar to this in most particulars, except the ring, was engraved in our number for October 1818, p. 305. It has the same sacred monogram ib; but appears of more modern workmanship. In Stothard's "Monumental Effigies," it will be seen that the pendant end of the girdle of a figure in Willoughby Church, Nottinghamshire, terminates with the device of the Virgin and Child, over which is inscribed ibs. The person represented is in a civil habit; but that it was also usual to place the same holy name on portions the same work on the top of the sword of military costume, may be seen in scabbard, attached to the effigy, sup posed to be that of Sir Robert Grushill, at Hoveringham in Norfolk. Saint Clement, as he was a pope, is depicted in the Golden Legend with a aiara; and an anchor in his hand be cause he was drowned with one tied about his neck. In the present in stance he holds in his right hand the tau-cross with which St. Anthony is generally drawn; and a book in his Jeft: the symbol of the anchor is placed below the figure. St. Loe or Eloy is habited in episcopal robes, and holds up the two forefingers of his right hand in the cus tomary form of benediction. This saint was a blacksmith; he has a hammer in his left hand, and below him a horseshoe. A singular bas-relief re presenting Saint Loe, Loy, or Louis, sboeing the detached leg of a horse, while the poor animal waits at the door on his three remaining limbs, is engraved in our vol. XLVII. p. 416, and elucidated in our vol. XCIV. ii. 129, 296. Both saints have a radius or glory round their heads. Mr. URBAN, SEND March 8. I which youve received Ireland, you drawings (figs. 7 and 8) of an earthen vessel, discovered within one of those circular entrenchments popularly termed "Danish Forts." It was transmitted to me in a letter from Doone Glebe in the County of Limerick, with the following particulars. "A few years since a Mr. White, who lives somewhere in the mountains in this neighbourhood, caused a Danish fort to be levelled, and at about 14 feet from the surface of the ground a chamber was discovered. In it were found several silver coins, respecting which I could obtain no particulars; a spur, said to be of gold, and at present in the possession of Mr. White; and several jars, one of which only was preserved by the workmen. Of this, the annexed drawing is a correct representation. It was given by Mr. White to the Rev. Charles Coote, and is composed of mottled stone ware, of a light brown colour. It height is seven inches, and the greatest circumference sixteen inches. The jars are stated to have been of various colours; There is also in the back plate a round hole into the lozenge-shaped part, which is hollow, but distinct from the other. It does not appear whether this hole was made, for any purpose.or by accident. 1630.] Church of St. Eustace at Paris. one in particular, which was destroyed T. C. C. Mr. URBAN, Paris, April 8. TH HOSE who derive any satisfaction from inspecting the memo, rials of other days, will certainly be disappointed on visiting the Churches of France. In the most obscure English village, the archæological wanderer will always find some monument calculated to interest him, either from the remoteness of its date, or the recollections it excites. The gravestones and mural tablets form a species of local history; a history, it is true, which is seldom free from hiatus, but which is still sufficient to give a correct account of the principal men who have resided in the neighbourhood, et cele brare domestica facta. In France the Churches have been stripped of those ornaments. The revolutionary demagogues were afraid of such continual, though silent appeals to the feelings of the people; and every thing which perpetuated the memory of king, noble, or priest, was destroy ed. A few monuments, however, are still to be niet with; apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto. In some cases they have been restored, while in .others they were spared by the de stroyer. St. Eustache is one of the principal Churches of Paris, and, from the appearance of the walls, it seems to have had a considerable number of monuments before the Revolution. The Church is a fine building; the outside has been left unfinished; but the inside is lofty, and having double, aisles formed by Gothic columns, the effect is very good. Besides some paintings and relics, this Church possesses three monuments worthy of notice. The first has been erected to the memory of the great Colbert, who is represented kneeling on a sarcophagus. There is no other inscription than "JEAN BAPTISTE COLBert, ministre d'état, mort en 1683." 80% verneur de Givet et Charlemont; Lieutenant General des armées ............ Sans ayeux, sans fortune, sans appuy, orphelin dès l'en fance, il entra au service à l'age de 11 ansi Il s'eleva malgré l'envie, à foree de mèrite et chaque grade fut le prix d'une action d'é clat. Le seul titre de Maréchal de France a manqué, non pas à sa gloire, mais à l'exemple de ceux qui le prendront pour modele. Il étoit né à Verdun-sur-Meuse, le 2 Fevrier 1695; mourut à Paris le 24 Janvier 1769, Priez Dieu pour le repos de son âme.” This monument has been defaced, and probably would have disappeared, had not the inscription contained a re proof of the old regime. The words du roy have evidently followed armées, and as the tablet is surmounted with a bust of Chevert, who is decorated with the order of the St. Esprit, it is presumable that he had some titles which were recited after his name, and occupied two lines, which have been obliterated. The third monument is a tablet of black marble, with an inscription stating, that, on the 26th of April, 1637, the second Sunday after Easter, the Church having been rebuilt, was consecrated by Goudi, Archbishop of Paris, in the presence of the President Seguiet, &e. &c. The inscription further promises indulgence to those who may in future attend the anniversary service on the second Sunday after Easter. It appears that this tablet was lost for some time; and, being dis covered in 1810, was replaced with solemnity. While addressing you upon the monuments of the Parisian Churches, it may not be misplaced to mention a Greek inscription over the benitier of the Church des Petits Pères; you will observe that it can be read backwards. Νήμον ανόμηματα, μη μοναν ὀψω. P. S. I am far from wishing to dist pute the correctness of Mr. W. Horton Lloyd, whose statement (p. 194) is moreover corroborated by your Oxford Correspondent, J. I.; but whatever the Dominicans were called in England, the French lexicographers repre sent the terms Jacobin, Dominican, and White Friar, as synonymous. At the same time, I am aware that the The second is a mural tablet, with Carmelites, Chartreux, Minimes, and the following epitaph :. “Cy gît François de Chevert.......................gou *The same as frequently occurs in England; see our vol. xcv. ii, 2, 194, 392. |