similar to that of tombs in Sefton Church supporting slabs much older than themselves.

Prior to the 1873 alterations, this tomb stood six feet more to the east; but the blocking-up of the priest's door in this wall (a comparatively modern insertion)s made the removal of the monument from too close proximity to the sedilia to its present position possible.

The recumbent figures of alabaster upon the tomb are those of a knight and a lady. That of the knight is bareheaded, with long hair, parted in the middle, and clean-shaven face. His hauberk of mail shows above and below the plate armour. Over the latter he wears an emblazoned short tabard covering the upper arm and open at the sides, displaying the arms of Halsall, Parr, and Bold. Below it appears a short skirt of taces,1° to which are strapped the tuiles." The arrangement of straps and buckles is clearly shown where the tabard is cut away at the hips.

The arms are encased in plate; the coutes (elbowpieces) are plain and massive. The gauntlets, with unarticulated fingers, have peaked cuffs of plate." On the legs are chaussons, greaves, and genouillères (knee-pieces) of plate. Looked at from the side, the knee-pieces resemble a trefoil-headed spear. The feet are encased in sollerets of plate, the toes

The cill of the door is on

8 The plinth has been cut through to admit it. a level with the churchyard, and over a foot higher than the chancel floor. 9 Planché says (Encyclopædia of Costume, pp. 498, 499) that the military tabard, or surcoat, was not worn before the accession of Henry VI (1422) nor after that of Henry VII (1485).

o Taces, or tassets, were horizontal steel bends or hoops, forming a skirt to the breastplate, first seen in the reign of Henry V. In the reign of Henry VI they were reduced to three or four in number, and the tuiles were attached to them by straps and buckies.-Planché. In the Halsall effigy there are four of these bands.

II Tuiles were steel plates to protect the thighs, appended by straps and buckles to the lowest of the taces. They are first seen very small in England in the early part of Henry VI's reign.-Planché.

12 Planché (p. 201) gives an example similar to ours, dated 1525.

of which seem to have been pointed; but they have been broken off. The spurs have long shanks and rowels with indented edges, fixed on by straps. The feet rest against a couchant lion regardant, the head upon tasseled pillows. The sword-blade is straight, the hilt having a cross-piece bending slightly towards the blade. The pommel is round and quite plain. The blade, of which only the upper part in its scabbard remains, has been supported on the tomb by blocks in the form of vine leaves, one being broken away and one left. On the skirt of steel plates are traces of the sockets needed to secure the knightly belt of metal in position on the hips. Until recently some slight vestiges of gilding and colour could be traced on the upper portion of the figure. There are many points of similarity between this effigy and that of John de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, who died in 1491-e.g., the mode of wearing the hair, the equipment of chain and plate armour, and the shape of both knee and elbow-pieces.-See Stothard's Monumental Effigies.

By the side of the man in armour is the effigy of a lady, the grace and beauty of whose dress at once attract attention. The figure is of alabaster, a good deal darker than that of the knight on the same tomb. Her face, hands, and toes have been broken off. Her head rests on a pillow.

She wears a kirtle with a girdle, the sideless surcoat," and a mantel with its fermails (brooches) and cordon. The latter is looped in a very peculiar manner. Her upstanding collar, two inches deep, with five pendant jewels, is richly wrought, and

13 Planché (Plate xviii. in Encyclopædia) dates a similar sword "reign of "Henry VII."

14 This sideless garment appears to have kept in especial favour with ladies for a very long period. We find it on effigies before 1350 and after 1500. There is an early example in Westminster Abbey, that of Blanche de la Tour, 1340, alluded to in the text; and a late one, Lady Daubeny, 1509.

H. S. OF L. AND C., VOL. XLVIII.

PLATE XXV.

well shown in Mr. Cox's accurate and beautiful drawing. The girdle is ornamented with studs, in the shape of roses and quatrefoils, and terminates in a small ball. The sleeves are tight to the wrists, and the hands are in the attitude of prayer.

The face having been broken away and the head covering a good deal damaged, it is not easy to make out what the latter has been. There are certainly traces of a hood and veil remaining, and by carefully comparing Mr. Cox's drawing with many of the plates in Stothard's Monumental Effigies, especially with that of a lady of the Nevill family in Brancepeth Church, Durham, and that of Elizabeth, wife of John de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, and sister of Edward IV, we may almost certainly conclude that the head-dress of the lady at Halsall was some mitigated form of that known as the "steeple-head"; something, indeed, between that and the pedimental coiffure.

The costume of our effigy is almost identical with that on the effigy in Westminster Abbey of Blanche de la Tour, daughter of Edward III, who died in 1340; and very similar, in costume but not in coiffure, to that of a Countess of Westmoreland in Staindrop Church, Durham, about 1400, both given by Stothard; and to those depicted in several monumental brasses in Cobham Church, Kent. It should be compared carefully also with those of two ladies in the Derby Chapel at Ormskirk Church, the costumes being very similar. These figures are said to be-(a) that of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII, the second wife of the first Earl of Derby, who died in 1509; and (b) that of Lady Eleanor Neville, the first wife of the first Earl of Derby, who died in 1472, wrongly placed by the side of the third earl.;

From statements already made in the text and footnotes, it will be seen that to positively datę