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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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:--
[Illustration]
"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.
[Illustration: 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]
[Illustration]
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]
[Illustration]
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]
[Illustration]
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.
[Illustration]
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."
[Illustration]
[Illustration: 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:--
[Illustration:
~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.
FOOTNOTES:
[664] A pretty large list of Scottish monumental effigies might still
be made. Descriptions of monuments furnished to me by the Rev. J. H.
Hughes, and George Seton, Esq., include nearly sixty, many of which
contain two recumbent figures, and to these considerable additions
might be made, while many more empty niches suffice to shew where
others once have lain.
[665] Memorials of Edin. vol. ii. p. 169.
[666] Archæologia Scotica, vol. i. p. 260.
[667] Graham's Monuments of Iona, p. 19. Plate XXXIII.
[668] Transactions Cambridge Camden Soc. vol. i. p. 177.
[669] Akerman's Archæological Index. Plate XIX. fig. 6.
[670] Archæol. Scotica, vol. iv. p. 122.
[671] Smith's St. Columba, p. 45.
[672] The word _Termon_ implies church lands, and is also used in the
sense of a sanctuary.
[673] Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, 8vo, p. 252.
[674] Ibid., pp. 247, 251.
[675] _Menstir_, a reliquary; _poolire_, a leathern bookcase or
satchel. _Vide_ Dr. Petrie's illustrations, ibid., pp. 336-342.
[676] Eccles. Architecture of Ireland, 8vo, p. 252.
[677] Archæological Journal, vol. v. p. 329.
[678] Burgh Records of Glasgow. Mait. Club, p. 104.
[679] Regist. Epis. Glasgu., Plates II. and V.
[680] Davidis Camerarii de Scotorum, &c., Paris, 1631. Note in Liber
Col. Nost. Dom. Glasgu.
[681] Burgh Records of Glasgow, p. 100.
[682] Among the valuable ecclesiastical bells in Mr. Bell's collection
are those of St. Ringan, St. Ruadan, St. Columba, St. Patrick, and the
celebrated _Bearnan brighde_, or gapped bell of St. Brigid, so called
from the gap or injury which tradition affirms it to have received when
flung by St. Patrick in the midst of the venomous reptiles which he was
banishing from the green isle!
[683] Inquis. at Capit. Dom. Regis Retornatum Perth., NN. 708, 880.
[684] Sinclair's Stat. Acc., vol. xix. p. 318.
[685] MS. Letter from J. Campbell, Esq. of Kilberry Castle.
[686] Airley Papers, Spalding Miscellany, vol. iv. pp. 117, 118.
[687] Regist. Episc. Aberdon., vol i. pp. 327, 328; Spalding
Miscellany, vol. iv. Pref. p. xxii.
[688] Sinclair's Stat. Acc. vol. xvii. p. 377.
[689] Sinclair's Stat. Acc., vol. xiv. p. 208.
[690] Archæol. Scot., vol iii. p. 289.
[691] The Charter is printed in full in the _Reliquiæ Antiquæ Scoticæ_,
No. xxxv. p. 150.
[692] Rev. Æneas M'Donell Dawson.
[693] Archæologia, vol. xxii. Plate XXXIII.
[694] I have ventured on two slight alterations of Sir Walter Scott's
reading of the original inscription, which seem indispensable for
making sense of it. What he calls "the puzzling letters _Hr_," there
can be little doubt is the Celtic _Hi_, or island. The concluding
words of the first part, which Sir Walter renders _illdra. ipa_, and
then extends to _illorum opera_, somewhat to the confusion both of
derivation and grammar, become by the simple substitution of an _e_ for
an _r_--letters nearly similar in the old Gothic character--_ill. dea.
ipa_, fully admitting of the rendering above suggested. Not having seen
the cup myself, I must leave the date for determination by some future
observer; but from the character of the lettering it is probable that
it will prove at least a century later, the _ix._ being more likely
an _m_, which would assign it to the memorable year in which Malcolm,
Margaret, and Edgar died. _Vide_ note E., Lord of the Isles.
[695] Fountainhall's Historical Notices, Bann. Club, vol. ii. p. 498.
[696] Archæol. Journ., vol. iii. p. 361.
[697] Journal of the Archæological Association, vol. iv. p. 403.
[698] Archæological Journal, vol. vii. p. 81. _Vide_ also vol. vi. p.
189.
[699] This quaint version of an old popular error forms the crest of
more than one Scottish family, but there is no indication of its being
introduced on the mazer as a heraldic device, or symbolic reference to
its original owner.
[700] Archæologia, vol. xxxi. p. 437.
[701] Archæological Journal, vol. vi. p. 71.