Watching the Sepulchre.—If no one sends a more satisfactory reply to the query about "Watching the Sepulchre," the following extract from Parker's Glossary of Architecture (3rd edit. p. 197.) will throw some light on the matter:—
"In many churches we find a large flat arch in the north wall of the chancel near the alter, which was called the Holy Sepulchre; and was used at Easter for the performance of solemn rites commemorative of the resurrection of our Lord. On this occasion there was usually a temporary wooden erection over the arch; but, occasionally, the whole was of stone, and very richly ornamented. There are fine specimens at Navenby and Heckington churches, Lincolnshire, and Hawton church, Notts. All these in the decorated style of the fourteenth century; and are of great magnificence, especially the last."
To this account of the sepulchre I may add, that one principal part of the solemn rites referred to above consisted in depositing a consecrated wafer or, as at Durham Cathedral, a crucifix within its recess—a symbol of the entombment of our blessed Lord—and removing it with great pomp, accompanied sometimes with a mimetic representation of the visit of the Marys to the tomb, on the morning of Easter Sunday. This is a subject capable of copious illustration, for which, some time since, I collected some materials (which are quite at your service); but, as your space is valuable, I will only remark, that the "Watching the Sepulchre" was probably in imitation of the watch kept by the Roman soldiers round the tomb of Our Lord, and with the view of preserving the host from any casualty.
At Rome, the ceremony is anticipated, the wafer being carried in procession, on the Thursday in Passion Week, from the Sistine to the Paoline Chapel, and brought back again on the Friday; thus missing the whole intention of the rite. Dr. Baggs, in his Ceremonies of Holy Week at Rome, says (p. 65.):—
"When the pope reaches the altar (of the Capella Paolina), the first cardinal deacon receives from his hands the blessed sacrament, and, preceded by torches, carries it to the upper part of the macchina; M. Sagrista places it within the urn commonly called the sepulchre, where it is incensed by the Pope.... M. Sagrista then shuts the sepulchre, and delivers the key to the Card. Penitentiary, who is to officiate on the following day."
E.V.
POEM BY SIR EDWARD DYER.
Dr. Rimbault's 4th Qu. (No. 19. p. 302.).—"My mind to me a kingdom is" will be found to be of much earlier date than Nicholas Breton. Percy partly printed it from William Byrds's Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs of Sadnes (no date, but 1588 according to Ames), with some additions and improvements (?) from a B.L. copy in the Pepysian collection. I have met with it in some early poetical miscellany—perhaps Tottel, or England's Helicon—but cannot just now refer to either.
The following copy is from a cotemporary MS. containing many of the poems of Sir Edward Dyer, Edward Earl of Oxford, and their cotemporaries, several of which have never been published. The collection appears to have been made by Robert Mills, of Cambridge. Dr. Rimbault will, no doubt, be glad to compare this text with Breton's. It is, at least, much more genuine than the composite one given by Bishop Percy.