†
Town-halls (Vol. v., p. 295.).
—MR. PARKER is reminded of the very curious Town-hall at Ashburton, in Devonshire, constructed entirely of timber.
M. Y. R. W.
Emaciated Monumental Effigies (Vol. v., pp. 247. 301. 353.).
—BURIENSIS has been furnished by several of your correspondents with many examples of the representation of an emaciated corpse in connexion with tombs, but no one has yet referred him to that very remarkable instance at Tewkesbury. The tomb is usually assigned, I believe, to Abbot Wakeman. If anything were needed to refute the absurd notion of the forty days' fast, I think the figure on this tomb would supply the clue to the true conception of the artist; and show that it was intended, by such figures, to remind the passers-by of their own mortality by representing the hollow cheek and sunken eyes, and emaciated form, of a corpse from which life had only recently departed: for, in the figure on this tomb, the idea of mortality is carried still further, and the more humbling and revolting thought of corruption and decay is suggested to the mind by the representation of noxious reptiles and worms crawling over the lifeless form, and revelling in their disgusting banquet.
M. Y. R. W.
I have read somewhere that these monuments with emaciated figures were erected during the lifetime of the individual as an act of humiliation, and to remind himself as well as others of mortality and the instability of human grandeur. If this cannot be disproved by facts, it affords a satisfactory solution. There is a small chapel connected with Bishop Fleming's in Lincoln Minster, and with others, where masses were said for the repose of their souls; so it is probable that these were at least designed during their lives, which would manifest their humility.
C. T.