FOOTNOTES:
[627] Sim. Dunelm. p. 201. Hailes' Annals.
[628] Liber Cart. Sanct. Andree, p. 43.
[629] Raine's North Durham, App. p. 38.
[630] Registrum Episcopatis Aberdonensis, Pref. xii.-xvi. Keith's Bishops, Append.
[631] Sinclair's Statistical Account, vol. xvii. p. 443.
[632] Not having had an opportunity of personally inspecting this interesting but little heeded Scottish relic, I have had to depend on the kindness of a local correspondent for the description of its present state. It appears to be early and exceedingly plain Romanesque work, with some later and many modern additions. Both in style and singularity of proportions it bears very considerable resemblance to the simple little Romanesque chapel of Kilcolmkill, in the parish of Southend, Argyleshire.
[633] Regist. de Dunferm. Pref. xxv.
[634] Wyntownis Cronykil, b. vii. chap. x.
[635] Regist. de Dunferm., p. 184.
[636] The reference is no doubt also to so large a portion of the original structure having been left entire, including the present nave: "Licet ecclesia vera post consecracionem ipsius per nobilioris structuræ fabricam fuit augmentata quia tamen proponitis quod antiqui parietes ejus pro majori parte in pristino statu perdurent. Vobis auctoritate præsentium indulgemus ut eisdem parietibus in pristino statu perdurantibus nonnullis vos compellere valeat ad eandem Ecclesiam propter hoc denuo consecrandam," &c.
[637] Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time, vol. i. p. 128.
[638] Barbour's Bruce, book vii. l. 1037; Dr. Jamieson's Edition, vol. i. p. 211.
[639] Memorials of Edinburgh, vol. i. p. 127. Notices of both chapels repeatedly occur in the Chamberlain's Rolls; but with an obvious confusion of the two—explicable perhaps on the supposition that the chaplain was bound to serve both altars. A curious notice of a meeting held in the chapel of the Castle of Edinburgh in 1447 occurs in the Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis, vol. i. p. 367, No. 351.
[640] Macbeth, Act IV. Scene 3.
[641] The dimensions of the choir of St. Rule's Church, as it now stands with the chancel demolished, are, extreme length externally thirty-one feet eight inches, breadth twenty-five feet, breadth of chancel arch within the inner pillars nine feet, present height of the chancel arch, the base of the pillars being covered, twenty-one feet four and three-quarter inches, present height of external wall thirty feet. The windows are small, round-headed, and quite plain, with a deep internal splay, and an external one of little more than one-fourth of the whole thickness of the wall. They measure in the daylight, or place for inserting the glass frame, six feet five inches high, and one foot eight inches broad.
[642] The marks of three successive roofs are traceable on the east wall of the tower.
[643] Wyntownis Cronykil, book vii. chap. 7.
[644] It might perhaps better coincide with the newer English nomenclature to characterize the Romanesque as First-round, the succeeding style as First-pointed; and then the Scottish style resulting from the two, as Second-round; and the peculiarly national style into which it was finally developed as Second-pointed. The great objection is the necessity of speaking in either case of Round-pointed, or of Pointed-round arches.
[645] However the proposed nomenclature of English ecclesiologists may answer their native style, it is impossible to adapt it to Scotland. First-pointed is undoubtedly preferable to Early English, when we can shew still earlier Scottish. Middle-pointed, however, is a most inconvenient and unsuitable term to our Scottish Decorated, where many of its most characteristic forms are circular; and Third-pointed becomes a misnomer, where, as in the nave and transept of South Queensferry the only pointed arch is a small plain benatura on the east side of the door, which is placed on the south side of the nave. The windows are square-headed, and the door round-headed. The roof has been open timber work.
[646] Regist. Monast. de Passelet. Preface.
[647] Vitæ Episcoporum Dunkel., p. 16.
[648] Historie of the House of Seytoun.
[649] The choir of the cathedral, now utterly demolished, appears to have been the work of Bishop Alexander de Kyninmund, 1356-1380. An interesting indenture relating to its progress is printed in Regist. Episcop. Aberdon. A.D. 1366, vol. ii. p. 59. The same collection contains two Papal bulls, granting indulgences to contributors towards the building of the nave, A.D. 1379, 1380. The succeeding bishop Henry de Lichtoun completed the nave, and built the west towers.
[650] Vitæ Episcoporum Dunkel. p. 13.
[651] Wyntown, b. ix. c. vii.
[652] Maitland's Hist. of Edin. p. 270.
[653] Tytler, vol. ii. p. 427. Hume of Godscroft's House of Douglas, p. 118.
[654] Archæol. Scot. vol. i. p. 375.
[655] The armorial shields on the pillars include the Royal arms, those of France, of the Queen Dowager Mary of Gueldres, who died in 1462, of the celebrated Bishop Kennedy, of Alexander Napier of Merchiston, comptroller of the household, and vice-admiral of Scotland,—Temp. James I. and II., (erroneously ascribed by me in the Memorials of Edinburgh, vol. ii. p. 162, to the Countess of Lennox,) of Thomas de Cranston, Scutifer Regis to James II., &c.
[656] Drummond of Hawthornden's History of the Jameses, p. 61.
[657] Antiq. of Free Masonry in England. J. O. Halliwell, Esq.—Archæol. vol. xxviii. p. 444.
[658] "On certain marks discoverable on the stones of various buildings erected in the Middle Ages." By G. Godwin, Esq.—Archæol. vol. xxx. p. 117, accompanied with plates of masons' marks.
[659] Archæol. vol. xxx. Plates VI. VII. IX. X.
[660] Ruskin's Seven Lamps of Architecture, p. 179.
[661] Hope's Historical Essay on Architecture, p. 458.
[662] Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis, vol. i. p. 166.
[663] It is so described in the "Ecclesiological Notes on the Isle of Man," &c., an interesting and intelligent note-book, (p. 96); but no reader would ever guess from the description, that excepting in some of the minor details, it bears no resemblance to any known specimen of English First-pointed work.
CHAPTER VIII.
ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES.
Notwithstanding the systematic eradication of every relic associated with the rites or dogmas of the old faith, carried on by the Scottish Reformers of the sixteenth century, ecclesiastical remains are still preserved in sufficient number to furnish out a much ampler list than the limits of this work can embrace. The recumbent effigy, for example, is to be met with in many districts of Scotland, sometimes mutilated and defaced, but not unfrequently still exhibiting evidences of refined taste and delicacy of manipulation pertaining to the best epoch of medieval art. Perhaps no work of the period is more characteristic of the change from the age of the tumulus builders than the recumbent effigy of the Christian knight. It is one of the most significant memorials of the mild influences of a purer faith on the arts and sepulchral rites of the race. The armour and weapons of war are indeed still there, but the sword is in its sheath; the position is that of repose; and not unfrequently the hands are clasped in the attitude of devotion, the symbol of prayer. The majority of these medieval monuments belong to the fifteenth century, and some of those which occur in Iona and the Hebrides are altogether peculiar in costume and style of art. There is little, however, to distinguish the greater number of the Scottish from the English recumbent effigies, unless one peculiarity be worth noting, seemingly characteristic of a national luxuriousness which is little applicable to the rude barons of the Scottish middle ages. The crested tilting helmet, which is the most frequent pillow of the recumbent English knight, is of rare occurrence in Scotland, being more generally replaced by a richly sculptured cushion. It is needless, however, to multiply illustrations of a point involving no more than a conventional formula of art.[664] Sepulchral brasses, though now almost unknown in Scotland, may once have been little less abundant than the recumbent effigy. The "Oxford Manual" mentions only one, that of the Stuarts of Minto, in the nave of Glasgow Cathedral; bearing the date 1605. To this solitary example, however, one or two additions can still be made. The "restorations" of the collegiate church of St. Giles at Edinburgh in 1829, compassed, among other lamentable defacements, the destruction of the tomb of "The Good Regent," including the brass engraved with the figures of Justice and Faith, and the epitaph from the pen of George Buchanan.[665] The brass has fortunately been rescued, and is preserved in the possession of the Hon. John Stuart, one of the lineal descendants of the Regent, James Earl of Moray, by whom steps have been recently taken with a view to its restoration. A charter granted by the city of Edinburgh to William Preston of Gortoun, in 1454, in acknowledgment of his father's invaluable gift of "the arme bane of Saint Gele," preserves the record of at least one other brass that once adorned the same ancient church, though long since gone, with so many other of its most interesting features. It is described as "a plate of brase, with a writ specifiand the bringing of that relik be him in Scotland, with his armis." A small mural brass still remains in part of the church of St. Nicholas, Aberdeen, known as Drum's Aisle, bearing two shields of arms—the one bearing the three banded bunches of holly leaves for Irvine; and the other three pales for Keith. It surmounted the recumbent effigy of Alexander Irvine, third of the ancient family of Drum, who fell at the battle of Harlaw in the year 1411, and of his wife Elizabeth Keith, daughter of the Lord Robert de Keith. The knight is in full armour, but crowned with a chaplet of flowers, and his feet resting on a lion; while the lady's feet are supported by a dog. The monument has obviously been executed during their lifetimes, from the blanks still remaining on the brass, which tell, amid all the pomp of these anticipatory sepulchral honours, that no pious hand was found to grave the few simple additions requisite to have made of the dumb tablet a true memorial of the dead. The imperfect inscriptions are,—
Hic sub ista sepultura jacet honorabilis et famosus miles dns Alexander de Irvyn Secund qdz dns de Droum de Achyndor et Forglen qui obit. ... die mens ... anno dni MCCCC..
Hic etiam jacet nobilis dna dna Elizabeth Keth filia quan dni Roberti de Keth militis Marescalli Scocie uxoris dci dni dni. Alexander de Irvyn quæ obit ... dic mens ... Anno dni MCCCC..
Principal Gordon, of the Scots College, Paris, describes in his "Remarks on a Journey to the Orkney Islands," made in 1781, the monument of Bishop Tulloch, the brass of which—"a plate of copper full length of the grave"—was carried off by a party of Cromwell's soldiers.[666] More recent plunderers have removed, within the last twenty years, a brass which had escaped the hands of previous devastators of the monastery of Inchcolm, in the Frith of Forth. Nor is it altogether impossible that others may even now remain safe under the protection of more modern flooring, or superincumbent debris. The floor of St. Mary's Church at Leith was removed in the course of extensive alterations effected on it in 1848, and was found to cover the original paving with inscriptions and armorial shields of early date. On the repair and reseating of Whitekirk parish church, East-Lothian, a few years since, a large stone slab, which now lies in the adjoining churchyard, was removed from its original site in the chancel, and disclosed a remarkably fine matrix of what appears to have been the full sized figure of an ecclesiastic, with canopy and surrounding inscription. Similar matrices are even now by no means rare. One of large size lies in the barn-yard of the Abbey Farm, in the vicinity of the ruins of North-Berwick Abbey. Another has been recently exposed within the area of the nave of Seton Church, East-Lothian. Others are to be seen at Aberbrothoc, Dunfermline, and Dunblane, the last exhibiting traces of a large ornamental cross. One of unusual dimensions, which lies in the chancel of the cathedral of Iona, is traditionally assigned to Macleod of Macleod. The representation of the full length figure of a knight in armour may still be traced, with his sword by his side, and his feet resting on some animal. It has been surrounded with an inscription on an ornamental border, and tradition adds, was completed by a plate, not of brass but of silver.[667]
Incised slabs are still more common. Some of those at Iona especially are characterized by peculiar beauty and great variety of design. Nearly the whole of the north and south aisles of the nave of Holyrood Abbey are also still paved with incised slabs, including those of various ecclesiastics, engraved with floriated or Calvary cross, and generally with the paten and chalice on each side, or with the chalice only, resting on the long limb of the cross. Roslin Chapel has a curious example of an incised monumental slab, representing a knight in full armour. In the church of Kinkill, Aberdeenshire, Sir Robert Scrimgeour, high constable of Dundee, who fell at the battle of Harlaw in 1411, is similarly portrayed at full length; and in the south aisle of the church of Foveran, in the same county, two knights in complete armour are represented on one slab, under an ornamental canopy. Examples also occur at Dalmally and other ancient ecclesiastical sites in Argyleshire and the Western Islands, but these are sufficient to illustrate this class of medieval sepulchral memorials.
PLATE VI
D. Wilson, Delt.
Wm. Douglas Sculpt.
DUNVEGAN CUP
(height 10½ inches.)
KILMICHAEL-GLASSRIE BELL
(height 6½ inches.)
Stone coffins are no less abundant, but also rarely marked by any peculiar features; the later Scottish sepulchral rites being no doubt for the most part such as were common to medieval Europe. One of the most interesting discoveries of this class was made during recent repairs of the nave of Dunfermline Abbey. In the centre of the nave, towards its east end, a stone coffin of the form and dimensions of those of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was found under the paving. On removing the lid it disclosed a singular leathern shroud, which remained in good preservation, although the body it was intended to protect had long mouldered into dust. The prepared leathern skin is double, and has been wrapped entirely round the body, like the bandages of a mummy; it is laced across the breast, and stitched with a strong leathern thong entirely up the back from the neck to the heels, and along the soles of the feet. It has been removed to the Dunfermline Museum, where it is preserved suspended in a glass case—in some respects a more eloquent memento mori than the Egyptian's "imperishable type of evanescence:" a shroud which has escaped the mortality of the corpse within its folds. The coffin has been assigned by local antiquaries as that of Edward, the eldest son of Malcolm Canmore; but there is no evidence to justify multiplies the evil tenfold, the Rev. J. S. Howson, on comparing it with the numerous sculptured crosses of the district, so faithfully described by him in the Cambridge Camden Society's Transactions, and finding that "the scroll-work on the bell-case, and the figure of our Saviour, are closely similar to the corresponding representations on the Argyleshire crosses," jumps to the conclusion that they also must needs be Scandinavian.[668] The very opposite conclusion would seem unavoidable, were it not that this idea of the supremacy of Scandinavian art in Scotland has superseded reasoning, and maintains its ground in defiance of evidence. History leaves no room to doubt that the Scandinavian invaders devastated and destroyed many native works, and greatly retarded the full development of the arts of civilisation of the Scottish Christian era. Scottish antiquaries certainly display a truly forgiving spirit in crediting them with the invention of what little escaped their sacrilegious ravages. I cannot avoid characterizing the supplementary observations on the Kilmichael-Glassrie bell-shrine in the Archæologia Scotica, which have furnished the basis of the later conclusions, as extremely foolish. A woodcut, copied from an edition of King Olave Tryggiason's Saga, printed in 1665, and with a scutcheon of the debased form only introduced in the seventeenth century, is gravely produced as an ancient representation of the Norwegian king, in order that by comparing his crown with that worn by the crucified Saviour on the bell-case, its decided Scandinavian character may be seen. The crown is neither more nor less than the common one, surmounted by three fleurs-de-lis, which, had a native origin been sought for it, might have been seen along with the Maltese or Greek cross patée, referred to in the same article, on almost any Scottish silver coin from Malcolm Canmore to James IV., when it is for the first time superseded on our native currency by a close crown. It is no less common on contemporary English, and indeed European coins; and as an argument, one way or other in the present question, is utterly valueless. On equally inconclusive grounds the Greek cross patée is pronounced to be Scandinavian. In proof of the thorough consistency of its form with the usages of the early British Church centuries before the first Scandinavian convert had abandoned the Pagan creed of his fathers, it may suffice to observe that it closely corresponds to the beautiful gold cross found in a grave in the Cathedral of Durham, on the breast of an ecclesiastic, believed, at the time of its discovery, to be that of St. Cuthbert, which would assign it to the seventh century. It is sufficient for our purpose, however, that both its style and the circumstances under which it was discovered equally prove its great antiquity and its native workmanship, points perhaps hardly requiring to be discussed.[669] The "well-known Runic knots" are next quoted, these being what we are familiar with on decorative borders of Irish MSS., some of which date two centuries prior to the first known descents of Scandinavian Vikings on our shores, and which are no less common on Anglo-Saxon MSS. and relics, on Anglo-Norman and Scottish Romanesque architecture, and indeed predominated in the prevailing style of ornament for a time throughout Europe. Lastly, we have a figure copied from an ancient "Runic monument," representing a person ringing a large suspended belfry-bell, measuring—if any proportion is preserved—about three feet in height.[670] This, therefore, can manifestly have no possible bearing on the history of the little Scottish hand-bell, or rather bell-case, which measures somewhat less than six inches high.
Bell of St. Columba.
It is not difficult to shew that bells were in use in Scotland upwards of four centuries before the conversion of St. Olaf and his Norwegian Jarls. They were indeed introduced by the first Christian missionaries, and summoned the brethren of Iona to prayer, while yet the gloriosum cœnobium of the sacred isle was only a few wattled huts. The reference which Adomnan makes to St. Columba's bell, when he had notice that King Aidan was going forth to battle, sufficiently indicates the use of it for that purpose:—"Sanctus subito ad suum dicit ministratorem cloccam pulsa. Cujus sonitu fratres incitati ad ecclesiam ocius currunt."[671] We have as little reason for supposing that the frail currach of St. Columba was freighted with a ponderous church bell, as that the first monastery of Iona was distinguished by a lofty belfry tower. But the little hand-bell of the primitive bishop would abundantly suffice to summon together the band of pioneers in the wilderness of Iona. If the annexed engraving does not represent the identical bell of the Scottish Apostle, it is one consecrated to him, and sufficiently primitive in its character to have called together the family of Iona to their orisons, beneath the osier groins of the first cathedral of the isles. It is the bell of St. Columbkill, now in the collection of John Bell, Esq. of Dungannon. The original, which measures nearly seven inches in height, was preserved for many generations in the family of the M'Gurks, from whose ancestors the parish of Termon-Maguirk, in the county of Tyrone, takes its name.[672] This bell was held by the native Irish even of the present generation in peculiar veneration, and though usually called by them the Clog na Choluimchille, or bell of St. Columbkill, it also bore the name of Ꝺɩɑ ꝺɩoᵹ̇ɑɭꞇuꞅ, or God's Vengeance, alluding to the curse implicitly believed to fall on any who perjure themselves by swearing falsely on it. This bell was used until very lately, throughout the county of Tyrone, in cases of solemn asseveration; but much of its essential virtue must have exhaled on its transference to the repositories of the antiquary. The Kilmichael-Glassrie bell, now in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries, appears to have closely corresponded to the simple iron clag figured above. Within the beautiful brass shrine figured on Plate VI. is a rude iron bell, so greatly corroded that its original form can only be imperfectly traced; yet this, and not the shrine, was obviously the chief object of veneration, and may indeed be assumed with much probability to be some centuries older than the ornamental case in which it is preserved. The name of Dia Dioghaltus, or God's Vengeance, specially appropriated to the bell of St. Columba, is applicable to all the relics of this class, which we shall find were among the most venerated objects of the primitive Celtic church.
It remains to be seen if any such ecclesiastical implements or symbols of office ever pertained to the Scandinavian Church, though it is not improbable that they may have been in general use throughout the earlier Christian countries of Europe some centuries before Scandinavia abandoned the creed of Odin. In Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, at any rate, we have abundant evidence of their ancient prevalence, and of the great sanctity universally attached to them; and, indeed, in Ireland, from whence the bell of St. Columba, as well as so much else that pertains to the early Christianity of Scotland, appear to have been derived, the small consecrated bell is still comparatively common. In the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy there are eighteen different examples, including several of an exceedingly primitive character. One of the most remarkable, though not the earliest, of these is the inscribed Cɭoᵹ ḃeɑnuɩᵹhꞇ̇e, or Blessed Bell, called by Dr. Petrie the Bell of Armagh, which may serve as an example of this singular class of ecclesiastical Celtic relics. Giraldus Cambrensis, in his Welsh Itinerary, refers to the universal veneration with which these portable bells were regarded in Scotland and Ireland, as well as in Wales, remarking that men were more afraid of swearing falsely by them than by the Gospels, because of some hidden and miraculous power with which they were gifted, as well as for fear of the saint to whom they pertained. The following account of this unique relic furnished to me by Mr. Bell of Dungannon affords a singularly lively illustration of the superstitions with which such relics have been regarded even in our own day:—
"The bell of Ballynaback, better known as the Clog beanuighte, was preserved in a family named Henning, whose residence is on the low road between Lurgan and Portadown, in the county of Armagh. Unlike other ancient Irish quadrilateral bells it bears on one of its sides an incised inscription, which renders it interesting, since the Church of Rome permitted only a cross or the image of the patron saint to be engraved on such ecclesiastical bells. It would be idle to attempt recounting the miraculous judgments visited on such as profaned or violated the oaths taken on the bell, or the wide-spread desolation which befell such as were anathematized by it; for, early in the twelfth century, as we are told by Meredith Hanmer, William of Winchester, by the authority of Celestine II., in a council held at London, brought in the use of cursing with bell, book, and candle, 'which liked the Irish priests well, to terrifie the laytie for their tithes.'
"Paul Henning was the last keeper of the Clog beanuighte; and when any of his connexions died it was rung by him in front of the namna gul, the old women who, according to the Irish fashion, caoine and bewail the dead. It was an ancient custom to place the bell near any of the Hennings when dangerously ill. I visited Mrs. Henning, the widow of Paul Henning, on her deathbed. She lay in a large badly lighted apartment crowded with people. The bell, which had remained several days near her head, seemed to be regarded by those who were present with much interest. The vapour of the heated chamber was so condensed on the cold metal of the bell, that occasionally small streams trickled down its sides. This 'heavy sweating' of the bell, as it was termed, was regarded by every one with peculiar horror, and deemed a certain prognostication of the death of the sick woman, who departed this life a few hours after I left the room. The agonized bell, I was told, had on many previous occasions given similar tokens as proofs of its sympathy on the approaching demise of its guardians."
The object of such profound veneration is now safely deposited in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy at Dublin. The inscription upon it—✠ Oꞃoɩꞇ ɑꞃ Chú mɑ Scɑ ch ṁ ɑɩɭeuo—has been thus read: Oroil ar chum ma scahan chun ecumn aileou,—A prayer for him who shaped my frame to sound Allelujah. Both the rounded form and the inscription on the Clog beanuighte, are evidence of its being of a later date than the simpler quadrangular form; and it is unhesitatingly assigned by Dr. Petrie as a work executed towards the close of the ninth century.[673] The same quadrangular form of hand-bell is represented on some of the Irish stone crosses of the ninth and tenth centuries, and is also introduced in a curious group sculptured on the pediment of a remarkable little oratory called the Priest's Church, at Glendalough, which Dr. Petrie ascribes to the middle of the eighth century.[674] The following notice in the Annotations of Tirechan, in the Book of Armagh, is extremely interesting, as shewing the bell among the ecclesiastical gifts bestowed on Fiac, Bishop of Sletty, when St. Patrick conferred on him the episcopal dignity, and may therefore suffice to account for its possession by St. Columba as one of the most essential insignia of the pastoral office:—"Patrick conferred the degree of bishop upon him, so that he was the first bishop that was ordained among the Lagenians; and Patrick gave a box to Fiacc, containing a bell, and a menstir, and a crozier, and a poolire; and he left seven of his people with him."[675]
With such indubitable evidence of the use of the consecrated bell as one of the most essential ecclesiastical implements of the first missionary bishops, we can be at no loss to account for the origin of the beautiful relic found on the farm of Torrebhlaurn, in the parish of Kilmichael-Glassrie, Argyleshire. The accompanying accurate engraving (Plate VI.) renders any minute description unnecessary. It is an ornamental square case or shrine, attached to the bottom of which is a thin plate of brass pierced with a circular hole in the centre. Inside this case, but entirely detached from it, is the rude and greatly corroded iron bell. When first discovered it appeared to have been carefully wrapped in a piece of woollen cloth then almost entirely decayed. The hole in the lower plate is large enough to admit of the insertion of the finger, and was perhaps designed to allow of the bell being touched as a consecrated and miraculously gifted relic, without removing it from its case. Dr. Petrie remarks on the quadrangular form of the Irish portable bells as an evidence of their great antiquity, and refers to the inscribed one in the Dublin Museum as a remarkable example of the transition to the later circular form in the ninth century.[676] A bell of the oblong rounded form rudely fashioned out of a sheet of bronze, found at Marden, in Herefordshire, is engraved in the Archæological Journal.[677] The simplicity of its form and construction abundantly justify its assignment to nearly the same early period.
Perthshire Bell.
At no very remote date several of these ancient consecrated bells were to be found in Scotland, and evidence of the most satisfactory kind proves the former existence of others dedicated to primitive Scottish saints, nor is it at all improbable that some of these may still be preserved. The accompanying engraving represents one example manifestly of the earliest and most primitive form. It was obtained some years ago in Perthshire, and now forms one of the many valuable Scottish relics in the collection of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Esq.; but unfortunately no clue exists to its original dedication or the local associations of its early history. This primitive bell measures four and a quarter inches in height, including the handle, and three and three-quarters, by one and three-quarters inches, at the mouth. It is fashioned out of a single plate of sheet-iron; and the ring which forms the handle externally projects internally, so as to form a loop, from which the clapper was suspended.
Though no representations of these singular relics of the Celtic church have been introduced on the sculptured crosses, they are figured on various early Scottish seals. The bell of St. Kentigern, the great apostle of Strathclyde, was an object of devout veneration at Glasgow for many centuries; and after forming a prominent feature in the armorial bearings of the archiepiscopal see, still figures in the modern city's arms. There has even been thought to be sufficient evidence to justify the belief of the original bell having escaped the indiscriminate destruction of sacred relics at the Reformation, from an entry in the accounts of the city treasurer for the year 1578, of a charge of two shillings "for ane tong to Sanct Mungowe's bell."[678] But it may be doubted if this could be the original bell of the western saint, which is figured on the ancient seal of the community of the city, used in the reign of Robert I., and also on the contemporary chapter seal, and described by Father Innes as on the burgh seal attached to a charter, now lost, of the year 1293.[679] On the former of these its form is very distinctly shewn, completely corresponding to the earliest square portable bells with looped handles. Its introduction on these seals attests the great reverence with which it was regarded; and various references both in the Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis, and in the Liber Collegii Nostre Domine, Glasguensis, MDXLIX, to the Campana Beati Kentegerni, abundantly confirm the evidence of its sanctity. It is also repeatedly referred to in the Aberdeen Breviary, as in the anthem appointed for the day of the apostle of Strathclyde:—
Visitat alma pii vite septenta loca Petri
Presul campana cui seruit in ethere sacra.
An author of the seventeenth century affirms that the venerable relic survived even in the reign of Charles I.;[680] nor is there anything inconceivable in this, when so many others of the same kind are still preserved. But it is not at all probable that the bell on which the citizens of Glasgow, in 1587, expended two shillings in repair was of so unpractical a form as their old burgh seal proves the original campana of their patron saint to have been. More probably it was a large bell in the tower of St. Mungo's Cathedral, for the repair of which the specified sum might then prove amply sufficient, as appears from a somewhat earlier entry in the same Burgh Records: "Decimo Maii, 1577, to George Burell, for ane tag to þe towng of þe hie kirk bell, xxd."[681] From the inscription on the present great bell of the cathedral it appears that it was presented by Marcus Knox, a wealthy citizen, in 1594, the old one, after repeated repairs, having at length, it may be presumed, entirely given way. The woodcut represents another of these ancient Celtic relics, which, though preserved along with other memorials of Ireland's saints, in the valuable collection of Mr. Bell of Dungannon, pertains to one of the primitive apostles of his own native land, the celebrated Scottish missionary bishop, St. Ninian or St. Ringan. The Clog-rinny, or bell of St. Ninian, is rude enough to have been contemporary with the Candida Casa of Whithern in Galloway, and to have summoned to the preaching of the missionary bishop the first of the tribes of North Briton converted to the worship of the true God.[682]
The honour attached to the custody of the most sacred relics occasioned in various cases the creation of special offices, with emoluments and lands pertaining to their holders, and the transference of these to lay impropriators on the overthrow of the ancient ecclesiastical system, has led to the preservation of some few of the relics of primitive Scottish saints, even to our own day. But for the rude shock of civil war which, in the last century, involved so many of our oldest nobility in the ruined fortunes of the fated Stuart race, more of these might still have been in existence. Both the "Sacra Campana Sancti Kessogii," and the "Sacra Campana Sancti Lolani," were included among the feudal investitures of the earldom of Perth—a sufficiently significant proof of the value ascribed to them. They are referred to so recently as the year 1675.[683] Less reverential motives probably led to the preservation of the Clagan, or Little Bell of St. Barry, a favourite old Celtic saint who gives name to the district of Argyleshire where he is said to have ministered. This relic, which remained till the close of last century in the possession of the principal heritor of Kilberry parish, was somewhat larger, and probably of less hoar antiquity, than the primitive ecclesiastical memorials previously described. "The bell of St. Barry's Chapel," says the compiler of the Old Account of the Parish of South Knapdale, "is still in preservation at Kilberry Castle, and has been long prostituted to the ignoble purpose of summoning the servants of that family to their meals. It is inscribed with the saint's name in the Latin language and Saxon character, but unfortunately without date."[684] I learn on inquiry, from J. Campbell, Esq., the present proprietor of Kilberry Castle, that the ancient bell of St. Barry no longer exists. In a letter with which he has favoured me, he remarks,—"I have heard my father say that it fell down and cracked. The metal was recast into another bell, which is here now. I have heard him mention the inscription, but do not believe there was any copy of it kept." A remarkable stone cross, with the figure of our Saviour upon it, and numerous sculptured and incised tombstones, still remain around the site of the ancient chapel of St. Barry, the ruins of which were only demolished a few years ago. An inscription upon it bore that it had been plundered and burnt by Captain Pooley, an English rover, in 1513.[685]
More minute information relative to the preservation of another of the ancient Scottish saints' bells, as the evidence of hereditary right to the privileges attached to its custodier, is supplied by "The Airlie Papers," printed in the Spalding Miscellany. One of these is a formal resignation of the Bell of St. Meddan, by Michael Dauid, its hereditary curator, to Sir John Ogilvy; and the transference of it by him to his wife Margaret, Countess of Moray, of date 27th June 1447. It is followed by "the instrument of sessyn of the bell," dated twenty-one days later, from which we discover the substantial advantages pertaining to the custody of this relic. The Countess was thereby put in possession of a house or toft near the church of Luntrethin, which pertained to the bell, of which it formed both the title and evidence of tenure. "The instrument of sessyn" further describes the formal process of investiture, the Countess having been shut into the house by herself, after receiving the feudal symbols of resignation of the property by the delivery to her of earth and stone.[686]
The Aberdeen Breviary commemorates another Scottish bell, pertaining to St. Ternan, the apostle of the Picts, and presented to him by Pope Gregory the Great. It was preserved, with other relics of the saint, at the church which was erected over his tomb at Banchory, Aberdeenshire; and legal deeds of the fifteenth century are extant to shew the importance attached to the custody "of the bell of Sanct Ternan, callit the Ronecht,"[687]—a name most probably derived from the Gaelic Ronnaich, a poet, rannach, a songster, in allusion to its melodious sounds, though such is by no means a usual characteristic of these primitive bells, their clogarnach or tinkling being anything but musical. The Old Account of the Parish of Killin, in Perthshire, furnishes the description of the bell of another favourite Celtic saint—that of St. Fillan, who flourished in the middle of the seventh century—not only preserved, but had in reverence for its miraculous powers, almost to the close of the eighteenth century:—
"There is a bell belonging to the chapel of St. Fillan, that was in high reputation among the votaries of that saint in old times. It seems to be of some mixed metal. It is about a foot high, and of an oblong form. It usually lay on a grave-stone in the churchyard. When mad people were brought to be dipped in the saint's pool, it was necessary to perform certain ceremonies, in which there was a mixture of Druidism and Popery. After remaining all night in the chapel bound with ropes, the bell was set upon their head with great solemnity. It was the popular opinion that, if stolen, it would extricate itself out of the thief's hands, and return home ringing all the way. For some years past this bell has been locked up to prevent its being used to superstitious purposes."[688]
Pennant visited the locality, and describes the peculiar gifts of healing ascribed to the saint, but he does not appear to have known of his bell. Some portions of the ruined chapel exist, and the pool of Strathfillan remains as of yore, still distinguished by the peasantry as the Holy Pool, and even visited by some who have faith in its virtue; but if the bell is to be seen, it must be sought for among the treasures of some private collector. "It was stolen," says the author of the recent Account of Killin Parish, writing in 1843, "by an English antiquarian about forty years ago." Unhappily the old virtues of the bell had departed, or the saint no longer favours a faithless generation, else its potent clogarnach should long since have announced its return to Strathfillan.
On the Island of Inniskenneth, which is affirmed to derive its name from Kenneth, a friend of St. Columba, whom the prayer of the saint rescued from drowning—probably the St. Kenanach of Irish hagiology—there are the ruins of an ancient chapel of small dimensions, about sixty feet in length, and near to it the remains of a cross, with numerous tombstones both of early and recent date. Here, towards the close of last century, according to the Old Account of the Parish, an ancient bell, most probably that of St. Kenanach, and described by the Statist as "a small bell used at the celebration of mass," was then preserved in the chapel.[689] This example, it is possible, may still be preserved in private hands; and with so many evidences of the recent existence of these relics of the first preachers of the faith in Scotland, it is not unreasonable to conceive that others may also be in safe keeping among the heirlooms of the older Highland families, which a wider diffusion of a just spirit of reverence for our national antiquities may bring to light. Meanwhile, these notices suffice to shew that the beautiful bell found at Torrebhlaurn is by no means unique in Scotland. Probably none of the earlier Christian missionaries were without such a potent relic; and the only Scandinavian influence which history would justify us in connecting with them, is the diminution of their number and the spoiling and slaying of their owners, down to the comparatively late date of St. Olaf's conversion, and his mission to the Pagan Norsemen of the Orkneys, armed with more carnal weapons than the bishop's crosier and consecrated bell. With these venerable memorials of the first preachers of Christianity to the heathen Picts and Scots, may also be mentioned a more modern relic of the same class, a graceful little hand-bell, presented to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1783, but of which the previous history is unknown. It is decorated, in basso-relievo, on the one side with the temptation of Adam and Eve, and on the other with the crucifixion. It is no doubt also an old ecclesiastical bell, though belonging to a period long subsequent to the era of St. Kentigern or St. Fillan.
But another and still more interesting relic of St. Fillan, even than his bell, has descended safely to our own day. An English tourist of last century communicated to the Society of Antiquaries the following account of the crosier of St. Fillan, which, with the miracle-working bell of the Saint of Strathfillan, continued then to occupy the ancient scene of his ministration.
"At Killin, July 5, 1782, in the house of Malice Doire, a day-labourer, I was shewn what he called the Quigrich. It is the head of a crosier, formerly belonging to St. Fillan, who gave name to a neighbouring Strath. I entreat the Society to excuse the rudeness of the representation annexed, it being the hasty sketch of a traveller, particularly as it is only meant to lead them to the possession of the original. With it is shewn a copy of the king's letters of appropriation and security, which I have carefully transcribed. The neighbours conducted me to the envied possessor of this relic, who exhibited it according to the intent of the royal investment. A youth of nineteen, the representative of his father's name, and presumptive heir to this treasure, lay drooping in an outer apartment, under the last gasp of a consumption."[690]
The royal investment referred to in the letter is granted by James III., in the year 1487, and sets forth that "Forasmekle as we have understand that oure servitour Malice Doire and his forebears has had ane relick of Saint Filane, callit the Quigrich, in keping of ws and of oure progenitouris of maist nobill mynde, quham God assolyie, sen the tyme of King Robert the Bruys and of before, and made nane obedience nor answer to na persoun, spirituale nor temporale, in ony thing concerning the said haly relick utherwayis than what is contenit in the auld infeftment thareof, made and grantit be oure said progenitouris, we charge," &c.; and the royal letters accordingly go on to warrant the custodier of the precious relic to bear it through the country without let or hindrance, as his fathers were wont to do.
The owner of the Quigrich afterwards emigrated to America, carrying the ancient relic with him; and the following extract from a letter which I have recently received from the Rev. Æneas M'Donell Dawson, whose own immediate ancestors were for a time the guardians of St. Fillan's crosier, will shew that it is still in safety, though unfortunately severed from nearly all those national and local associations which confer on it so peculiar an interest:—
"The celebrated crook of St. Fillan is still in Canada, and in the keeping of the very family to whose ancestor it was confided on the Field of Bannockburn, when the king, displeased with the abbot for having abstracted from it the relics of St. Fillan previously to the battle, from want of confidence, it is alleged, in the success of the Scottish cause, deprived him of the guardianship.
"This family, it appears, lost possession of the crosier for a time, having disposed of it for a sum of money to an ancestor of my mother's family, who adhered to the ancient faith. Soon after this transaction, however, ceasing to prosper, and attributing their change of circumstances to their indifference to a sacred object that had been solemnly entrusted to them, they persuaded the purchaser, or rather the person who inherited the crosier from him, to part with it in their favour. I am not aware of the date of their removal to Canada, but I could ascertain it through the kindness of a gentleman resident in the same parish, who went to their house expressly to see the crosier, in order that he might be able to satisfy the friends with whom I was corresponding as to its identity. He learned also that they were in treaty some time ago with a Mr. Bruce of London—possibly the late Lord Elgin(?)—for, I must not say the sale of it, but its restoration to this country. £500 was the sum they named at that time as its ransom."
A subsequent, but equally unsuccessful effort, for the recovery of the Quigrich, was made by a gentleman who possesses estates within the favoured district sanctified of old by the labours of St. Fillan, but equally unfaithful as the bell of Strathfillan, it has failed to return to its ancient locality. The accompanying view is taken from the sketch above referred to, the general accuracy of which is corroborated by the correspondent already quoted. The crosier is of silver-gilt, and weighs about seven or eight pounds. It is hollow at the lower end for the insertion of the staff. On the other extremity, which is flat, a cross is engraved with a star on each side of it, and a large oval crystal is set in the front of the short limb. The simple form of this remarkable relic amply suffices to confirm the great antiquity assigned to it.
The ancient crosier of St. Molocus, another favourite Celtic saint, has in like manner escaped the ravages of time, and the iconoclastic zeal of the reformers of the sixteenth century, and after being preserved for centuries in the immediate vicinity of the cathedral of Lismore, has recently come into the possession of the present Duke of Argyle. It is known in the district by the simple name of the Baculum More, or big staff; and consists of a plain curved staff, formerly decorated with silver at the top, but long since spoiled of its costlier ornaments. The right of its curatorship, and probably also of bearing it before the bishops of Argyle, appears to have been hereditary, and conferred on its holders the possession of a small freehold estate, which remained in the hands of the lineal descendant of the old staff-bearer till within the last few years. This estate was latterly held under a deed granted by the Earl of Argyle in 1544, the ancient crosier being preserved in verification of the right, till it was recently delivered up, in return for new titles granted, in order to enable the late owner, the last of his race, to dispose of the freehold, which could no longer descend to his heirs. The original charter of confirmation grants,—"Dilecto signiffero nostro Johanni M'Molmore vic Kevir, et heredibus suis masculis de suo corpore legitime procreatis seu procreandis quibus deficientibus at nostram donationem reuerten. omnes et singulas nostras terras de dimidietate terrarum de Peynebachillen et Peynehallen extenden. ad dimidiatem merce terrarum jacen. in Insula de Lismor, cum custodia magni bacculi beati Moloci," &c.[691]
Two other ancient episcopal crosiers remain to be noticed, each of them associated with Scottish sees. The one here engraved was found, in its present imperfect state, along with a glove and other relics, in the course of some excavations in the choir of the cathedral of Fortrose, when a stone coffin was discovered, which doubtless contained the remains of one of the old bishops of Ross. This interesting relic was presented by Sir George Mackenzie to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1822, and is now preserved in their Museum. It retains traces both of colour and gilding, and though greatly decayed and imperfect, is still characterized by considerable elegance. It measures the segment of a circle of about five inches in diameter.
The other crosier referred to belongs to the ancient see of St. Magnus in the Orkneys, and likewise owes its preservation, like the relics of more primitive eras, to the medieval practice of depositing the symbols of the chief pastoral office beside the remains of the deceased bishop. During the progress of the recent judicious restorations in the choir of the cathedral at Kirkwall, in the month of August 1848, a modern flooring was removed, which concealed the bases of the columns and piers. Several ancient tombs were brought to light by this means, and in one place on the north side of the altar steps, a finely carved slab of stone was exposed. On removing this, a small vaulted chamber or cist was discovered, within which lay a skeleton greatly decayed, and beside it the crosier figured, carved in oak, and a chalice and paten, both roughly modelled, apparently in the common white wax frequently used in ancient seals. The chalice, though somewhat imperfect round the lip, is otherwise entire, but the paten is greatly injured, and both are little more than rude symbols of these most essential sacred vessels used in the service of the mass. The oaken crosier measures eleven and a half inches long as figured here, but it is notched at the lower extremity, evidently for the purpose of attaching it to a staff. The tomb has been supposed to be that of Thomas de Tulloch, circa 1422-1448—a date with which the style of ornament of the crosier very well agrees, but there is no sufficient evidence to enable it to be assigned with certainty to a particular individual. Nearly at the same time as these interesting episcopal memorials were brought to light, a very curious discovery was made of human remains inclosed in one of the pillars of the western or most ancient portion of the choir, at a height of nearly twelve feet from the floor. There was an indentation or cut in the skull, which, with the singular position of the vault, induced some of the northern antiquaries to hazard the conjecture that they had discovered the remains of their patron saint, the good Earl Magnus: a thing not altogether inconceivable. It was nearly at the same time that the tomb of William, the first resident bishop of the Northern Isles, was exposed, as already described.
The form of the ancient Scottish chalice, as indicated on early tombs, corresponds, as might be expected, to the general usage of the medieval Church. The wax model found in the supposed tomb of Bishop Tulloch at Orkney, indicates the same conformity to the prevailing fashions of the age. The peculiar arts, however, which modified the sepulchral and monumental sculpture, as well as the architecture of the primitive Scottish Church, doubtless also occasionally conferred equally characteristic forms on the sacred vessels and other articles of Church furnishing.
The chalice is figured on various early Scottish ecclesiastical seals, as well as on sepulchral slabs and other medieval sculptures. But an original Scottish chalice, a relic of the venerable abbey of St. Columba, preserved till a very few years since an older example of the sacred vessels of the altar than is indicated in any existing memorial of the medieval Church. The later history of this venerable relic is replete with interest. It was of fine gold, of a very simple form, and ornamented in a style that gave evidence of its belonging to a very early period. It was transferred from the possession of Sir Lauchlan MacLean to the Glengarry family, in the time of Æneas, afterwards created by Charles II. Lord Macdonell and Arross, under the circumstances narrated in the following letter from a cousin of the celebrated Marshal Macdonald, Duke of Tarentum, and communicated to me by a clergyman,[692] who obtained it from the family of the gentleman to whom it was originally addressed:—
"The following anecdote I heard from the late bishop, John Chisholm, and from Mr. John M'Eachan, uncle to the Duke of Tarentum, who died at my house at Irin Moidart, aged upwards of one hundred years:—
"Maclean of Duart expecting an invasion of his lands in Mull, by his powerful neighbour the Earl of Argyll, applied to Glengarry for assistance. Æneas of Glengarry marched at the head of five hundred men to Ardtornish, nearly opposite Duart Castle, and crossing with a few of his officers to arrange the passage of the men across the Sound of Mull, Maclean, rejoicing at the arrival of such a friend, offered some choice wine in a golden chalice, part of the plunder of Iona. Glengarry was struck with horror, and said, folding his handkerchief about the chalice, 'Maclean, I came here to defend you against mortal enemies, but since by sacrilege and profanation you have made God your enemy, no human means can serve you.' Glengarry returned to his men, and Maclean sent the chalice and some other pieces of plate belonging to the service of the altar, with a deputation of his friends, to persuade him to join him; but he marched home. His example was followed by several other chiefs, and poor Maclean was left to compete single-handed with his powerful enemy."
Such was the last historical incident connected with the golden chalice of Iona, perhaps without exception the most interesting ecclesiastical relic which Scotland possessed. Unfortunately its later history only finds a parallel in that of the celebrated Danish golden horns. It was preserved in the charter-chest of Glengarry, until it was presented by the late Chief to Bishop Ronald M'Donald, on whose demise it came into the possession of his successor, Dr. Scott, Bishop of Glasgow. Only five years since the sacristy of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in that city, where it was preserved, was broken into, and before the police could obtain a clue to the depredators, the golden relic of Iona was no longer a chalice. Thus perished by the hands of a common felon a memorial of the spot consecrated by the labours of some of the earliest Christian missionaries to the Pagan Caledonians, and which had probably survived the vicissitudes of upwards of ten centuries. In reply to inquiries made as to the existence of any drawing of the chalice, or even the possibility of a trustworthy sketch being executed from memory, a gentleman in Glasgow writes:—"I have no means of getting even a sketch from which to make a drawing. Were I a good hand myself I could easily furnish one, having often examined it. It was a chalice that no one could look on without being convinced of its very great antiquity. The workmanship was rude, the ornamental drawings or engravings even more hard than medieval ones in their outlines, and the cup bore mark of the original hammering which had beaten it into shape."
The oldest existing Scottish relic of this class is the "Dunvegan Cup," celebrated by Sir Walter Scott in his "Lord of the Isles," and still sacredly guarded in the Castle of Dunvegan, in Skye, along with other Celtic heirlooms of the chiefs of MacLeod. "The Horn of Rorie More," says Scott, "preserved in the family, and recorded by Dr. Johnson, is not to be compared with this piece of antiquity, which is one of the greatest curiosities in Scotland." Its dimensions are nine inches and three quarters in inside depth, ten and a half in height on the outside, the extreme measure over the lips being four inches and a half. The engraving on Plate VI. is from a private plate in the possession of C. K. Sharpe, Esq., executed from a drawing by Mrs. MacLeod. Another, but much less accurate or minute view of this curious relic is given in the Archæologia, from a sketch by Mr. Daniell.[693] These will serve better than any elaborate description to convey a correct idea of its peculiar form. The material of the cup is wood, to all appearance oak, most curiously wrought and embossed with silver work. A series of projecting bosses appear to have been jewelled, and two or three of them still retain their simple settings. The ledge, the projecting brim, and the four legs which support the cup, are of silver, which with the other silver mountings appear to have been gilt. Around the exterior is an inscription in Gothic characters, which Sir Walter Scott deciphered nearly as follows:[694]—
Ufo : Johis : Mich : Mgn : Principis : De :
Hi : Manæ : Vich : Liahia : Mgryneil :
Et : Spat : Do : Jhu : Da : Clea : Ill : Dea : Ipa :
Fecit : Ano : Di : Ix : 93º Onili : Oimi :
It may be thus extended:—Ufo Johannis Mich Magni Principis de Hi Manæ Vich Liahia Magryneil et sperat Domino Jhesu dari clementiam illi deæ ipsa. Fecit Anno Domini 993 Onili Oimi. The inscription is a curious specimen of early Celtic Latinity:—Ufo, the son of John, the son of Magnus, Prince of the Isle of Man, the grandson of Liahia Macgryneil, trusts in the Lord Jesus that mercy will be given to him in that day. Oneil Oimi made this in the year of God nine hundred and ninety-three. Within the mouth of the cup, on each of the four sides, is the sacred monogram, i.h.s., which, coupled with the tenour of the inscription, leaves little room to doubt, notwithstanding its unusual form, that it had been originally designed for a chalice, and gifted by Ufo for the service of the altar. The family legends of the Macleods associate it with some old traditional chief or hero, Neil Ghlune-dhu, or Black-knee, but it seems to have been a family heirloom from time immemorial.
The use of wooden vessels as chalices was, for obvious reasons, abandoned at an early period, so that the calices lignei became in later ages a proverbial illustration of the obsolete simplicity of primitive ages. "We may now take up that old regrait," exclaims Fountainhall, in moralizing on the immense wealth first acquired by the Church, about A.D. 600, "when ther ware calices lignei ther ware then sacerdotes aurei, but now when our chalices are of gold and silver, we have got ligneos sacerdotes."[695] Vessels of wood, even though mounted and jewelled, like the Dunvegan chalice, were very early disused in the services of the altar; and the mazer cup or maple bowl constituted one of the most prominent implements in the conviviality of the Middle Ages. The name indeed ceased at an early period to be exclusively reserved for those manufactured from the wood of the maple tree, from whence the mazer had derived its name, and was at length applied to all drinking cups of a certain class, of whatever material. Among the beautiful examples of medieval art recently exhibited at the London Royal Society of Arts, was a beautiful mazer bowl of silver-gilt, of fifteenth century workmanship, which belongs to Oriel College, Oxford. Of the same class also, probably, were some of the Scottish cups enumerated in a curious inventory of the treasure and jewels of James III., "fundin in a bandit kist like a gardeviant," among which are the "foure masaris, callit King Robert the Brocis, with a cover," and again, "the hede of silver of ane of the coveris of masar." The same "Collection of Inventorys of Royal Wardrobe and Jewell-house," from 1488 to 1606, furnishes some interesting minutiæ in regard to the royal plate and jewels, and the consecrated vessels for the service of the altar. Besides the mazers, there is "ane cowp callit king Robert the Bruce coupe, of silver owirgilt,"—another pleasing evidence of the reverence with which the name of the saviour of his country continued to be regarded. The royal plate and jewels are of an exceedingly curious and costly character, while among the "chapell geir" we find "ane chesabill of purpour velvot, with the stoyle and fannowne, orphis, twa abbis," &c. Another of "crammosie velvot, furniset with a stole and a fannoun only;" another "of black velvot, with croce upoune it, broderrit of clayth of gold." Altar cloths, broidered and jewelled; "ane challeis and ane patene gilt;" "ane caise of silver for the messbreid, with ane cover;" "ane litil cors with precious stanis;" "ane lytill box of gold with the haly croce, send be the Duk of Albany to the kingis graice;" "ane croce of silver, with our Lady and Sanct Johne, gilt." Of silver, "ouregilt," in Edinburgh Castle, "twa chandleris, ane chalice and ane patine, ane halie watter fatt," &c.; "ane bell of silver;" "ane bassing; ane laver of fyne massy gold, with thrissillis and lelleis crounit upoun the samen," &c. The list indeed, of which these are only a few illustrations, greatly exceeds what might have been anticipated at a period succeeding many years of national disaster and suffering. It is to be regretted that scarcely a solitary example of the medieval Scottish "chapell geir," or of the royal mazer, or convivial bowl, remains to illustrate the usages of our ancestors. We learn, however, from these old inventories, that there was no lack of either, and also that the value attached to the mazer cup dates in Scotland, as elsewhere, from a very early period. This probably originated in part from superstitious feelings, arising from some special virtue attached to the wood of the maple tree. But its close grain, the beauty of its variegated surface, and its susceptibility of high polish, were doubtless the chief reasons for its continued use as the material for the pledge-cup and wassail bowl; and when it was replaced by other woods, or even by the precious metals, the old name was still retained. The woodcut represents a mazer of very simple form, and probably of an early age, made not of the maple but the ash, a tree famed of old for many supernatural qualities. It was found in the deep draw-well, in the ruined castle of Merdon, near Hursly, built by Bishop Henry de Blois, A.D. 1138.[696] The ciphus de mazero frequently figures among the household effects of citizens of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and is no less commonly alluded to by the elder poets, as in Robert de Brunne's version of Wace's Brut, written in the latter part of the thirteenth century, where "mazers of rich price" are specified among the gifts bestowed by king Arthur on his foreign guests. The mazer figures also in the inventory of goods of the Sheriff of Nottingham, taken by "Lytell John," as printed by Wynken de Worde, in the popular black-letter ballad,—"A Lytell geste of Robyn Hode;" and it is thus introduced in the fine old Scottish ballad of "Gill Morice,"
"Then up an' spak the bauld baron,
An angry man was he;
He's ta'en the table wi' his foot,
Sae has he wi' his knee,
Till siller cup an' mazer dish
In flinders he garr'd flee."
Mazer of the Fourteenth Century.
The mazer cup was evidently regarded as a family heirloom, and as such inscribed with quaint legends and pious aphorisms, and sometimes decorated with rich chasing and carving, as Chaucer has so beautifully described in the "Mazer yrought of the maple," mentioned in his Shepherd's Callender. The quaint simplicity, both of the devices and inscriptions of many of the wassail bowls, furnishes curious illustration of the manners and ideas of the age to which they belong. Our forefathers had a pious, but withal a very convenient fashion, of uniting religion with their daily sports, and even, as it might seem, seeking to sanctify their excesses. Both Chaucer and Dunbar wind up their freest versions of the Decameron with a pious couplet, and in like spirit the old toper invoked the Trinity on the rim of his wassail bowl, and engraved the mystic saint Christopher within it. The woodcut represents a very beautiful mazer of the time of Richard II., now in the possession of Evelyn Philip Shirley, Esq, M.P. It is made of highly polished wood, apparently maple, and hooped with a richly embossed rim of silver gilt, on which is inscribed, as shewn in the annexed fac-simile of a portion of the "edgle of sylver," the following characteristic invocation:—
In. the. name. of. the. trinitie
fille. the. kup. and. drinke. to. me.
From the tenor of such legends frequently inscribed on these ancient cups, it has not been uncommon to describe them as sacred vessels, designed only for use in the service of the Church. Thus a maple cup, bearing the date 1608, was forwarded for exhibition at a meeting of the British Archæological Association in 1848, as a chalice;[697] and another, apparently of the same character, made in the year 1611, was shewn to the members of the Archæological Institute in 1850, which it was also conjectured "might have served in some rural parish as a chalice."[698] Such cups, however, were by no means rare in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and though frequently inscribed in terms calculated to suggest such a sacred character, there will generally be found some accompaniment in the legend or devices no less characteristic of mirth and good fellowship. On the 4th January 1667, Mr. Pepys notes in his gossiping Diary, having "last of all, a flagon of ale and apples, drunk out of a wood cup, as a Christmas draught, which made all merry." Fountainhall in his "Decisions," records some curious notes of an action brought by Sir Alexander Ogilvie, afterwards Lord Forglen, in 1685, against Sir Alexander Forbes of Tolquhoun, for stealing a gilded mazer cup out of his house, which was afterwards accidentally discovered in the hands of a goldsmith in Aberdeen, with whom its careless owner had left it some years before for repair. From such glimpses as we recover of the history of the litigants, neither of the old Scottish baronets seem characters likely to have gifted chalices, even of maple or ashen wood, though probably well fitted to match with Secretary Pepys in discussing a "Christmas draught." One quaint, but very beautiful allusion, however, is made by an old Scottish writer to the mazer cup, referring to it metaphorically, as to a sacramental chalice. The passage occurs in Zacharie Boyd's "Last Battell of the Soule," published at Edinburgh in 1629. "Take now," says he, "the cup of salvation, the great Mazer of His mercy, and call upon the name of the Lord."
A curious wooden cup, in the collection of W. B. Johnstone, Esq., bearing the date 1611, serves to illustrate the character of the pious legends graven on the mazers of the seventeenth century,—not unsuited in part for the decoration of a sacramental chalice, but also accompanied with other devices and allusions, which leave no doubt of the real destination of the mazer for the convivial board. Its height is nine inches, and its greatest circumference, a little below the brim, nineteen inches. The outer surface of the bowl is divided into ornamental compartments, within which are grouped the lion, unicorn, stag, ostrich, hedgehog, dog, and cock, with trees, flowers, &c. The ostrich is represented regaling himself with a horse-shoe![699] Around the rim, bowl, stem, and even on the lower side of the stand, the carver has indulged his moralizing vein, both in prose and verse. The inscription on the bowl reads,—
THE FOUNTAYNE OF ALL HEALTH AND WEALTH AND JOYES,
TO THIRSTY SOULES HE GIVETH DRINK INDEED;
SUCH AS TURN TO HIM FROM THEIR EVILL WAYES
SHALL FINDE SOUND COMFORT IN THEIR GREATEST NEEDE;
BUT EVILL WORKERS THAT IN SINNE REMAINE,
THEY ARE ORDAYNED TO ETERNALL PAYNE.
FOR EVERY ONE OF US SHALL BE REWARDED ACCORDING TO
OUR WORKES; THEREFORE REPENT UNFAYNEDLY AND AMEND.
Round the rim of the stand are the words and date:—THEY THAT SEEKE AFTER THE LORD SHALL PRAYSE HIM, THEIR HARTS SHALL LIVE FOR EVER. 1611.; and then on the underside of the stand the cup thus takes up the hortatory strain, in a mixed vein, in propria persona:—
MISSUSE ME NOT ALTHOUGH I AM NO PLATE;
A MAPLE CUPP THAT IS NOT OUT OF DATE.
DRINKE WELL, AND WELCOME, BUT BE NOT TOO FREE,
EXAMINE WHETHER THAT IN CHRIST YOU BE;
IF THAT YOUR FAITH BE TRUE, AND FIRM, AND SOUND,
THEN IN ALL GOOD WORKS YOU WILL STILL ABOUND.
SO RUN THAT YE MAY OBTAYNE.
There was perhaps a little quiet humour lurking in the mind of the carver when he inscribed these latter excellent and very practical maxims on the underside of the stand, where it is only possible to peruse them when the cup is empty! It will be seen that this maple cup bears a very close resemblance to the contemporary vessels of the same class referred to in the Journals of the Archæological Association and of the Institute. Their odd devices and quaint inscriptions are not unworthy of note by the historian as indicative of the old Puritan spirit manifesting itself in this simple guise during the reign of James, preparatory to its stern outbreak in that of his son.
These spurious chalices of modern date have led us somewhat beyond the legitimate bounds of the subject, though they cannot be considered quite undeserving of a passing notice. Only one other early Scottish relic remains to be noted,—a small brass box, closely resembling several which have been found at various times in England, and have been supposed to be pyxes, intended to hold the chrism, or by some as designed only for containing pigments or unguents. Two similar boxes discovered at Lewis are engraved in the Archæologia, and described as small bronze pyxes;[700] and another found at Lincoln is figured in the Archæological Journal.[701] The remarkably close resemblance of these to the Scottish example manifestly points to some common purpose for the whole; and the latter is of special value as supplying the means which are wanting in the others of making some approximation to the precise age to which they belong. It was found about the year 1818, near Dalquharran Castle, in the parish of Daily, Ayrshire, filled with coins of David II. of Scotland, Edwards I. and II. of England, and two counterfeit sterlings of the Counts of Flanders and Porcieu. It is now in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries.
Few as are the examples of Scottish ecclesiastical relics which we can now refer to, they are more than we might reasonably anticipate in a country where the fanes and altars of the medieval church have lain in ruins for so many centuries, and even the existence of a single ruined church pertaining to its primitive Christian era may be still liable to dispute. Though such remains are of less esteem as sources of information relative to the periods to which they belong than the objects of earlier eras, they will not be regarded by the intelligent historian as altogether devoid of value in relation to the peculiar arts and customs or the degree of civilisation of ages, concerning which much obscurity has still to be removed.