Rectory, Clyst St. George.
* * * * *
Minor Notes.
_Burial in an erect Posture._--In the north transept of Stanton Harcourt
Church, Oxon, the burial-place of the Harcourt family, is a circular slab
of blue marble in the pavement, in which is inlaid a shield of brass
bearing the arms of Harcourt,--two bars, dimidiated with those of Beke; the
latter, when entire, forming a cros ancree. The brass is not engraved, but
forms the outline of the shield and arms. It is supposed to be the monument
of Sir John, son of Sir Richard Harcourt and Margaret Beke, who died 1330.
(See extracts from Lord Harcourt's "Account," in the _Oxford Architectural
Guide_, p. 178.) Tradition relates, if my memory does not mislead me, that
the knight was buried beneath this stone in an erect posture, but assigns
no reason for this peculiarity. Is the probability of this being the case
supported by any, and what instances? Or does the legend merely owe its
existence to the circular form of the stone? {6} I think that its diameter
is about two feet. If MR. FRASER has not met with the information already,
he may be interested, with reference to his Query on "Dimidiation" (Vol.
vii., p. 548.), in learning that the above mentioned Margaret was daughter
and coheiress of John Lord Beke of Eresby, who by his will, made the 29th
of Edw. I., devised the remainder of his arms to be divided between Sir
Robert de Willoughby and Sir John de Harcourt. And this may lead to the
farther Query, whether dimidiation was originally or universally resorted
to in the case of coheiresses?