DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31962#0023
INTRODUCTION.
5
which Was undertaken with the best intentions; but, whatever information we may receive from his
writings, the delineating part is so extremely incorrect, and full of errors, that at a future period,
when the originals no longer exist, it will be impossible to form any correct idea of what they really
were. It may, perhaps, be thought unjust that I should enter so little into the merits of a work
which has challenged considerable notice; but delicacy, united to the wish of depreciating as little as
possible the well-intentioned endeavours of another, would altogether make me silent, did I not feel
that, in justice to myself, and as the present work is situated, something must be said, or the errors*
of Mr. Gough might at a future period be the means of injuring an attempt, which differs from his
on account of its very accuracy. * * * * * * Had Mr. Gough been draughtsman sufficient to have
executed his own drawings, he might have avoided the innumerable mistakes which, from circum-
stances, and the nature of the subject, must unavoidably have arisen. He could not transfer that
enthusiasm which he himself felt to the persons he employed, to enable them to overcome such diffi-
culties. Of what nature these were, and how they acted upon interested people, can be easily shown.
There are innumerable instances where the effigies are covered with plaster and whitewash, so as to
conceal, not only the true form, but the ornaments upon it. Such disfigurement cannot be removed
by the unfeeling hand of a labourer; and can it be supposed that a mere draughtsman, employed
upon a work of which he is not the proprietor, will take upon himself the disagreeable and unprofitable
task of clearing the surface of a subject, which his employer will probably never see or examine?
For it is remarkable that the most curious specimens I have found, and given in my work, presented,
at first sight, nothing which could excite the least interest, till, with infinite trouble, time, and labour,
I disincumbered them of their whitewash, plaster, and house-painting cases, when the figures, dresses,
and ornaments, frequently came forth in a state sufficiently clear and perfect to be entirely made
out."
The military costume, from the military character of the Middle Ages, necessarily forms a most
prominent feature in the Monumental Effigies of Great Britain. The rent of the tenant in capite
was military service; and every great landholder, therefore, became a knight. The mail and the
plate, in modern days, have been stripped from under the surcoat, or " cote armure," of our Gentry,
but they still retain the distinctive emblazonments with which the surcoat was wrought, as the badge
of their noble descent, and thus have perpetuated the pride of chivalry; not, indeed, speaking in a
limited sense, reprehensible, for, when associated, as it always assumed to be, with religion, it leads
to actions " Sans peur et sans reproclie."
Ancient armour may be classed under three distinct periods. In the first, the outward defence of
the body was chiefly composed of mail, (to apply that as a general term for armour formed of
minute pieces, and not strictly with a view to its derivation); that mail was either of small plates of
metal, like fish scales, of square or lozenge-shaped plates, or mascles, or of rings, which, perhaps, were
not at first interlinked and rivetted together, but sewn down upon quilted cloth. Examples of all
these will be seen by reference to the prints of the Bayeux Tapesty, published by the Society of Anti-
quaries of London, after Mr. Charles Stothard's original drawings.
With this defensive clothing for the body was worn a conical steel cap with a nasal, and a long
kite-shaped shield. Pot-shaped helmets, flat at the top, and spherical chapelles-de-fer, were also
among the early defences for the head. These were sometimes worn under the hood of the hauberk;
which will account for the forms that the chain-mail armour in some instances assumes, on figures
represented in our effigies and seals.
In the second period, the mail was externally strengthened about the arms and legs with plates of
* It will be observed that Mr. Stothard speaks, all through these remarks, of the errors which arose from the misre-
sentations of the subjects by Mr. Gough's draughtsmen. Nothing could be further from his mind than any envious
motive, or to depreciate the zeal, research, and learning displayed by Mr. Gough's undertaking.
C
5
which Was undertaken with the best intentions; but, whatever information we may receive from his
writings, the delineating part is so extremely incorrect, and full of errors, that at a future period,
when the originals no longer exist, it will be impossible to form any correct idea of what they really
were. It may, perhaps, be thought unjust that I should enter so little into the merits of a work
which has challenged considerable notice; but delicacy, united to the wish of depreciating as little as
possible the well-intentioned endeavours of another, would altogether make me silent, did I not feel
that, in justice to myself, and as the present work is situated, something must be said, or the errors*
of Mr. Gough might at a future period be the means of injuring an attempt, which differs from his
on account of its very accuracy. * * * * * * Had Mr. Gough been draughtsman sufficient to have
executed his own drawings, he might have avoided the innumerable mistakes which, from circum-
stances, and the nature of the subject, must unavoidably have arisen. He could not transfer that
enthusiasm which he himself felt to the persons he employed, to enable them to overcome such diffi-
culties. Of what nature these were, and how they acted upon interested people, can be easily shown.
There are innumerable instances where the effigies are covered with plaster and whitewash, so as to
conceal, not only the true form, but the ornaments upon it. Such disfigurement cannot be removed
by the unfeeling hand of a labourer; and can it be supposed that a mere draughtsman, employed
upon a work of which he is not the proprietor, will take upon himself the disagreeable and unprofitable
task of clearing the surface of a subject, which his employer will probably never see or examine?
For it is remarkable that the most curious specimens I have found, and given in my work, presented,
at first sight, nothing which could excite the least interest, till, with infinite trouble, time, and labour,
I disincumbered them of their whitewash, plaster, and house-painting cases, when the figures, dresses,
and ornaments, frequently came forth in a state sufficiently clear and perfect to be entirely made
out."
The military costume, from the military character of the Middle Ages, necessarily forms a most
prominent feature in the Monumental Effigies of Great Britain. The rent of the tenant in capite
was military service; and every great landholder, therefore, became a knight. The mail and the
plate, in modern days, have been stripped from under the surcoat, or " cote armure," of our Gentry,
but they still retain the distinctive emblazonments with which the surcoat was wrought, as the badge
of their noble descent, and thus have perpetuated the pride of chivalry; not, indeed, speaking in a
limited sense, reprehensible, for, when associated, as it always assumed to be, with religion, it leads
to actions " Sans peur et sans reproclie."
Ancient armour may be classed under three distinct periods. In the first, the outward defence of
the body was chiefly composed of mail, (to apply that as a general term for armour formed of
minute pieces, and not strictly with a view to its derivation); that mail was either of small plates of
metal, like fish scales, of square or lozenge-shaped plates, or mascles, or of rings, which, perhaps, were
not at first interlinked and rivetted together, but sewn down upon quilted cloth. Examples of all
these will be seen by reference to the prints of the Bayeux Tapesty, published by the Society of Anti-
quaries of London, after Mr. Charles Stothard's original drawings.
With this defensive clothing for the body was worn a conical steel cap with a nasal, and a long
kite-shaped shield. Pot-shaped helmets, flat at the top, and spherical chapelles-de-fer, were also
among the early defences for the head. These were sometimes worn under the hood of the hauberk;
which will account for the forms that the chain-mail armour in some instances assumes, on figures
represented in our effigies and seals.
In the second period, the mail was externally strengthened about the arms and legs with plates of
* It will be observed that Mr. Stothard speaks, all through these remarks, of the errors which arose from the misre-
sentations of the subjects by Mr. Gough's draughtsmen. Nothing could be further from his mind than any envious
motive, or to depreciate the zeal, research, and learning displayed by Mr. Gough's undertaking.
C