the Kentish monumental brasses which shew such representation of the Trinity we do not find this vessel. On the older brasses at Faversham (A.D. 1414) and Cobham (1405 and 1407) the foot of the cross rests on the ground. Upon two late brasses, one at Goodnestone of A.D. 1507, and one at Cobham (A.D. 1506), the cross stands upon a globe. In the mural painting which was discovered in 1893 within the north transept of the Church of Boughton Aluph I am inclined to believe that there is a rough suggestion of the san gréal at the foot of the cross-but from defacement we could not at first trace the connection of the cross-foot with the curious vessel which is seen beneath it.

In Cheriton Church, an anthropomorphic picture of the Blessed Trinity is found in coloured glass at the apex of the east window of the north aisle. There is another such picture in the tracery of a coloured glass window in the north side of the Church of Trottescliffe, near Maidstone. Upon Cardinal Pole's Archiepiscopal Seal* there is a similar picture of the Holy Trinity, but the foot of the cross rests on the ground, and there is no suggestion of the san gréal. The date of the painting which we here reproduce is fixed by that of the death of the Black Prince in 1376. We may well believe that this painting on the wooden canopy was executed before the end of the following year 1377. Probably, for many, its chief interest will be found in its representation of the emerald san gréal. The anthropomorphic method of representing the Holy Trinity was much used during the fifteenth century. Archbishop Bourghchier, who died in 1486, bequeathed, by his will, to the Prior and Chapter of Christ Church, Canterbury, such an "image of the Holy Trinity," made " of pure gold."

A PAINTING ON WOOD, OF THE MURDER OF BECKET.

At the foot of the tomb of King Henry IV. (ob. 1413) and his Queen, Joane of Navarre (ob. 1437), stands a vertical screen of wood, upon which was depicted a scene which

purports to be the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket. The paint and gilding have become so defaced that at present it is difficult to make out any subject whatever. Fortythree years ago Captain George Austin, junior, made a careful sketch of this panel-painting, and from that sketch we have been permitted to reproduce the annexed illustration. The artist's idea is purely an imaginary one. He represents the Archbishop as standing in front or westward of a small altar, which is elevated upon three steps. Becket stands (or kneels ?) upon the uppermost step; and south of the primate stands a knight (Fitzurse ?) who with his sword held in a vertical position is as it were digging the brains out of the wounded head of his victim, whose tonsured corona (cut off) is lying upon the second step, at the Archbishop's feet. Blood is seen upon the primate's fringe of hair, and upon his robe, and a pool of blood lies on the edge of the top step. A second knight, probably Le Breton (standing partly on the second and partly on the top step) has just made a downward stroke, with his sword, upon the Archbishop's head; this knight bears on his surcoat as armorial charges three bears' heads couped and muzzled. In front on the lowest step stands a third knight (probably Tracy) advancing to the second step, and aiming, with his sword, a blow at the victim's head. His shield and his surcoat bear armorials which may be described as barry of 5. The fourth knight stands on the lowest step with his back to Archbishop Becket. He is drawing his sword or restoring it to its sheath. His armorials "azure semée of fleurs de lis or, a fret of the last," shew that he represents Hugh de Morville. This is the only case in which the armorial bearings in this picture are correctly given. Behind or east of the little altar stands Grim the Archbishop's chaplain holding in his left hand the primate's cross, with the long staff of which he strives to ward off the knights' swords from Becket's head. The whole picture is the work of imagination, not the accurate portrayal of any one incident. In the actual process of the murder the first blow of Tracy's sword almost severed Grim's arm, before it reached the Archbishop's head and cut off the tonsured part of his crown. Yet, in this

picture, Grim appears without sign of any wound. In the foreground we see the barry shield of one of the murderers (probably intended for Tracy). Between his left knee and the point of his shield is seen an object that is probably intended for the Archbishop's cap, which had been dashed off, by Fitzurse, before any wound was inflicted.

The whole background of the picture is powdered with estoiles or stars of six points, over which are diagonal lines of words in black-letter text. One line is formed of the word "soverayn" repeated again and again. The other line is composed of similar repetitions of the word atemperance (atempance), the letters per being represented by the letter p with a mark of contraction across the base of its downstroke. These words occur upon the edges, and upon the flat undersurface of the canopy over the effigies of King Henry IV. and his wife. Soverayne on the south edge, on her side; atemperance on the north edge above the King's body.

This panel-painting is inaccurate in so many points that it is merely a decorative object, of no historical value, as was pointed out long ago by Dean Stanley in his Historical Memorials of Canterbury Cathedral, second edition, p. 85.

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