Mediæval and ecclesiastical design, as applied to this class of art.

It has already been seen that lofty highly-enriched canopies formed a striking feature in the early monuments of the Gothic period. The same protecting roof or shrine is found in the monumental design of the post-Mediæval time, and equally exhibiting a great quantity and variety of decoration. Colour, gilding, inlaid marbles, armorial emblazonment, scrolls, were as profusely employed as in the same class of design in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; but though there is quite as much meaning in the introduction of lozenges, twisted columns, urns, and other similar ornaments in these cumbrous monuments

crockets, finials, cusps, trefoils, and the other fanciful devices of the Gothic canopies, the latter were part of, and in harmony with, the architecture with which they were associated, which the ponderous vagaries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were not. This, independently of other circumstances, constitutes the great difference between the two; and it must be admitted that, in an art point of view, the latter offer no compensating qualities.

Two monuments in Westminster Abbey, of great historical interest, at once offer themselves in illustration of these remarks. They are the tombs of Elizabeth Queen of England, and of Mary Queen of Scots. The former stands in the centre of the north aisle of Henry VII.'s Chapel, that of the Scottish queen in the south aisle. As in the monuments of the earlier style, the effigies of these princesses form the main subject of

the design. The inferior character of the sculpture of the figures is at once evident, and in both the architecture is overladen with profuse and cumbrous ornamentation, totally void of taste. In the monument of Elizabeth the effigy surmounts an elevated table tomb. The queen is represented in royal costume, with a small crown on her head. In her left hand she holds a globe; in the right a sceptre. The drapery is in large quantity, ill designed, and stands up stiffly, showing a thick mass of irregular edges at the termination of the dress, from which the feet protrude, instead of falling over, as it would in nature, to the ground. The order, if it can be so called, of the architecture of these two monuments is Corinthian ; and therefore entirely out of harmony with this beautiful chapel of a most enriched character of Perpendicular Gothic. Queen Mary also is represented recumbent, in full dress, with her hands raised and pressed together, as if in prayer. The dress is elaborately worked, but, like that of Elizabeth, is wanting in true artistic treatment; the folds not falling gracefully, but composed in heavy and straight lines, as in a standing figure, and then gathered in unseemly confusion at the feet. The hands have suffered injury, some of the fingers being broken off; but they are small and elegant in form; and the face has a gentle and pleasing expression. The architectural portions are heavy, and every species of decoration that could be crowded into the design is lavishly introduced.

The remark that has been made on the want of consistency or harmony in the architectural portions of

these designs, in relation to the design of the chapel, applies now very universally to productions of the kind. It must ever be a difficulty with regard to all works of later date that are to be placed in older erections. Unless the style of the surrounding architecture be imitated, the more modern works must always appear anomalous. Yet the mere copying of an older style, deprives works of anything like a character consistent with their own date. They lose all contemporary distinction. A modern statue represented recumbent and in prayer is as fitting a type of a Christian in the present day as it was five centuries ago; but placing such a figure under a Gothic canopy, with all the accessories that belong to the peculiar art of a particular and past age of architecture, though it may be very like the older work and very pretty, is, after all, incongruous and an anomaly. The statue expresses a sentiment, and a beautiful because a true one; but copying the architecture of another age is an anachronism. This applies equally, of course, to the adoption of classical as well as Gothic forms. Every work of art should be truthful; and one of its most valuable recommendations is its power to illustrate its own age. If the age has no distinctive expression in its architecture, the difficulty is only increased; for then there can be no real or original design. It must be borrowed and factitious; and such incongruity of parts, unfortunately, is found in all monumental works of the last two centuries. Where there is no original design in architecture to mark the age, it is hopeless to expect improvement in this respect. The artist is driven to

adopt such forms, of any age and school, as he may find ready at hand; in his choice being guided only by fashion or by his own preference for a particular style.

Two of the most interesting monuments in the Abbey, have been here selected to illustrate the unfortunate taste that was now introduced. So long as the recumbent figure of the deceased was made the first object, a principle was preserved which gave character and interest to the design; but, soon after this, an entirely new feature was introduced in monumental design. Allegory was resorted to; and the later monuments not only exhibit the effigy of the principal subject of the monument and, occasionally, the figures of descendants, as sons and daughters of all ages, but semi-classical figures of the virtues,- -as Temperance, Prudence, and the personification of warlike or learned attainments, in statues of Mars, Minerva, and other heathen images,-overload the design, disturb the religious sentiment of the work, and deprive it of all character of repose.

The Gothic monuments exhibit attendant angels at the head and foot of the effigies, ministering in various ways; and small figures of holy persons, and even of relations, introduced as mere accessories, are seen arranged in niches in the lower part of the tomb. In the later monuments these accompaniments still are found, but they assume a much more pronounced character. Big, naked, chubby boys, winged and fluttering about, or sitting or standing in different parts of the monument, take the place of the small,

draped, kneeling figures that support the pillow of the deceased in the Gothic monuments; while lines of sons and daughters, sometimes life-size, are placed in the base, or in the background of the design, kneeling and praying before a lectern. The males usually are arranged on one side, the females on the other. Another peculiarity is often seen in these family tombs; and that is the introduction of deceased children, wrapped in swaddling or grave clothes, lying horizontally, on the side of the sex to which they belong. The monuments of this style,-like the older works, again, in this respect,-are usually richly gilt and painted; and a variety of materials is used in their composition, as coloured marbles, alabaster, and brass, which, at least, produce a gorgeous effect, if they cannot be reconciled with good taste.

The abbey possesses many examples of these designs, in which, notwithstanding the indifferent art exhibited in the sculpture, we still recognise the fond respect for the old religious traditions. The recumbent effigies, with uplifted hands and serious expression, arrest attention and are aids to reflection. But the time came when the more personal honour or glorification of the subject of the monument was to be illustrated, and the quiet tomb character of the design was superseded by the endeavour to give greater prominence to the worldly dignity of the deceased. The figures are now found turned on their sides, and, leaning on their elbow, look out from their resting-place, as if inviting the notice and admiration of the passers by. There are some remarkable examples of designs of the kind, of various