and Scales, and Great Chamberlaine of England. Upon which monument I finde nothing engraven but the names of his children which he had by his wife Elizabeth, daughter and heire of Edward Trussell, of Staffordshire, knight banneret, which were 3 sonnes and three daughters," &c. It is difficult to comprehend how the tomb could have been "ruinous" at that period; it is possible that the blocks of marble might have become disunited, but even at the present time the upper slab is in a sound state, the sides only being partially decayed. We can only suppose that Weever, or his informant, had not examined the tomb, or that he wrote some time after with an imperfect recollection of its condition.

We have received from a friend the following particulars, the result of recent personal examination of the monument. The figures on the south side are four young men, doubtless sons of the Earl, bareheaded, in armour, with tabards of arms, each kneeling with hands joined in an attitude of devotion at a desk, on which lies an open book. Over each is his name. Taking them from east to west the names are as follows:IOHN-ALBRY-ROBERT and GEFFERE. The first was the eldest son, and succeeded to the earldom; the others, no doubt, are in the order of seniority. This side is now much decayed; the other side is in very fair preservation, and on that account doubtless it was selected by Mr. Parish as the subject of his drawing, here reproduced (see woodcut): it had not been exposed to the damp air from the chancel door, which is nearly opposite the monument. The names over the daughters, on this north side, are-ELZABETH-ANNE-FRAVNCIS, and VRSELA. In the first name the I is deficient, and the c in Frauncis is of square form, so that it has sometimes been taken for an E. At each end of the tomb is an escutcheon of arms, probably the quartered coat of the Earl: both are more or less decayed, but that at the east end is far gone. It must be observed that, whilst four sons and four daughters are named and represented on the tomb, the usual genealogical works of reference omit a son and a daughter, viz., Robert and Ursula. Probably they both died young and unmarried. Weever makes the like omission in his description of the monument, and this circumstance might lead us to suppose that his account was not the result of personal inspection. It is remarkable that there is no inscription, nor any casement or cavity apparent on the tomb in which an inscribed plate might have been affixed. Weever observes that he found nothing engraven with the exception of the names of the Earl's children. The kneeling figures of the Earl and Countess respectant are placed under a kind of diminutive dais, from which are suspended curtains, held back by angels, one on either side. Immediately beneath this canopy or dais there is a dove with expanded wings, and nimbed, and an inscribed scroll, upon which only a few letters may be decyphered . . . SETE DEVS M(?)IERE R S. The disproportionate dimensions of the armorial atchievement, as compared with the figures of the Earl and Countess in the lower compartment, are very singular. The quarterings, with Vere on the dexter side of the escutcheon, are apparently Kilrington, Clare, Sergeaulx, Badlesmere, Sampford, and Bolbec. The arms on the sinister side are Trussell and Mainwaring quarterly. It is remarkable that the quarterings with Vere in the dexter coat are marshaled in the reverse of the usual order; the Earl's mother was the heiress of Kilrington. The supporters are a harpy and an antelope. The atchievement, with its elaborate accessories, is a stately example of the heraldic design of the period.

....

The canting motto introduced in the long panels at the corners of the tomb must not pass unnoticed, namely,-VERITE VIENT, with the Vere mullet above and beneath the inscription.

Some illustrations of the ancient heraldry of the De Veres may be found in a former volume of this Journal (vol. ix. p. 17), where several seals of the Earls of Oxford have been figured in Mr. John Gough Nichols' memoir on the descent of the earldom. Several other seals, of elaborate and interesting character, have subsequently been found by Mr. Ready in the collegiate treasuries at Cambridge, and facsimiles may be obtained from him. A carved bedstead of oak is preserved at Castle Hedingham, attributed to the times of the fifteenth Earl, whose sumptuous monument has been brought under the notice of our readers through the liberality of Mr. Majendie. The armorial decorations on the bedstead are very similar to those upon the tomb; they are described by Mr. Almack in the volume to which we have sought to invite notice, as an earnest of promising results from the exertions of our fellow-laborers in an interesting locality.

Archaeological Intelligence.

THE Annual Meeting of the Cambrian Archæological Association will take place at Swansea during the week commencing August 26. H. Hussey Vivian, Esq., M.P., has been elected President. Communications may be addressed to G. Grant Francis, Esq., Swansea.

The Annual Meeting of the Sussex Archæological Society will be held at Petworth, early in August; the day has not yet been announced. The Annual Meeting of the Kent Archæological Society will be held at Maidstone, on July 31.

The publication of the volume announced in 1853, by Mr. W. Hayley Mason, at Chichester (Arch. Journ. vol. x. p. 272), and in which it was proposed to give the principal architectural memoirs read at the meeting of the Institute in that city, has long been deferred through unforeseen causes which Mr. Mason has sought in vain to obviate. It is now his intention to issue the work forthwith; it will comprise the architectural history of Chichester Cathedral, being the Discourse delivered in 1853 by the Rev. Professor Willis, to which will be added a Discourse on the recent fall of the spire and central tower, illustrated by diagrams and plans, &c. With these valuable memoirs will be given the Architectural History of Boxgrove Priory, by the Rev. J. L. Petit. The price of the volume (to subscribers) will be 30s. Royal 4to. With numerous illustrations.

Mr. J. T. Blight, of Penzance, to whose researches and pencil we are indebted for a series of illustrations of wayside and churchyard crosses in Cornwall, and of numerous interesting remains of various periods, has announced a volume entitled "A Week at the Land's End," in which notices will be found of the antiquities of that district, so rich in vestiges of interest to the archæologist. The natural history of that remote district has also been given in this useful manual, by some of the best informed zoologists of the West of England. The work is published by Messrs. Longman.

The Archaeological Journal.

JUNE, 1861.

NOTES ON CIRCULAR CHURCHES.

BY THE REV. J. L. PETIT, M.A., F.S.A.

It is not my intention to offer any opinion or theory with regard to certain ecclesiastical buildings of circular form, but merely to give a slight architectural notice of a few that I have had an opportunity of visiting. Circular churches, or churches arranged according to a circular ground plan, appear to be found, though often at wide intervals, in most parts of Europe, and to belong to various periods, commencing with the earliest ages of Christian architecture. Sometimes, as at Aix, in Provence, and at Frejus, they are attached as chapels to larger churches, and they are used as baptisteries, or at least retain the name. Sometimes they are insulated, the circular fabric being at a short distance from some church, to which it appears to belong, as S. Costanza, at Rome, which stands near the church of S. Agnese; and in some cases they seem altogether independent, as in the wellknown English examples, each of which forms as it were the nucleus of a larger church of a later period. Almost every continental specimen is considered by the inhabitants of the place to have been a heathen temple; and, though in each particular instance it might seem needless to refute the supposition, yet the universality of the tradition might render it worth the notice of the antiquary. And, if it is necessary to look for the derivation of so simple a form, there is no doubt that, like the rectangular plan, it can be traced to the days of Paganism. I have defined circular churches, as churches arranged according to a circular plan ; for this definition will include those whose horizontal section

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is a polygon, which may be described within a circle, a form perhaps more common than that in which the actual curvature appears. And it will be correct, as applicable to the general arrangement, notwithstanding the additions and excrescences which we shall have to notice, and without which there is hardly a mediæval specimen to be found.

There may be said to be three different types of round churches.

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First, those of a simple circular or polygonal plan, without recesses, except an apse or porch. Such is the ruined chapel in Ludlow castle; and the building called the baptistery at Canterbury cathedral belongs also to this class. The chapel at Altenfurt, near Nuremberg, is a good example. It is very small, very simple, and, according to local tradition, very old. As far as its architecture is concerned it may be of any date, from the time of Charlemagne to the twelfth century. Its ground plan is a circle, to which is attached an eastern apse. The diameter internally is not more than 20 ft., and the wall is about 3 ft. 9 in. in thickness. The roof is domed, and the only ornament inside is a plain string at the junction of the dome with the wall. The chancel arch, as well as the western door, is quite plain, but the former seems to have been enlarged. Externally there is a corbel table with small round arches under the cornice, such as occurs generally in Romanesque work. It is probable that the external roof nearly coincided with the dome; this is now covered with a high wooden roof, finished with a modern belfry of the same material. There is no church. near this chapel, which stands in a forest, and is within an hour's drive from Nuremberg in the direction of Ratisbon.

Altenfurt.

I have elsewhere noticed a small round chapel near Maintenon, on the line of railroad between Paris and Chartres.1 This is also a simple circle, with an apse attached to the eastward. The dome, if it ever had any, is destroyed, and replaced by a wooden ceiling.

The round church at Grasse, near the southern coast of

1 Architectural Studies in France, by the Rev. J. L. Petit, London, 1854, p. 14,

where a representation of the circular chapel at Maintenon will be found.

France, seems to be of this description. It is now used as a powder magazine, and I had not an opportunity of seeing the inside. I was told that it is quite plain, without any columns. It is possible, however, that an inner circle may have been destroyed, for the sake of adapting the building to its present purpose. This chapel also has an eastern

apse.

The second typical form is that which has the circular or polygonal plan with radiating recesses, either rectangular or apsidal. This form is found in ancient temples, tombs, and baths. There is a good specimen of the latter type among he remains at Pompeii, a circular, or rather elliptical, room, domed, and with three domical niches set cardinally, the fourth opening being the entrance. A little temple, or tomb, whichever it may

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be, at Tivoli, is much of the same form. But the best known ancient example, as well as the finest, is the temple of Minerva Medica, at Rome, in which the radiating recesses give great character to the external as well as the internal aspect of the building. In this, they occupy the sides of a decagon. Perhaps no form is more suggestive of architectural beauty and grandeur, or could be better carried out in buildings on a large scale. Michael Angelo adopted it in his design for the Florentine church, which, had it been built, would have been one of the finest of his architectural works. In this design the radiating chapels or recesses, including the entrance, are eight in number, and are alternately apsidal and rectangular, an arrangement that we find in the beautiful baptistery at Albenga, on the road between Genoa and Nice, a building evidently of great antiquity and worthy of careful study. The baptisteries at Novara in Lombardy, and Frejus in the south of France, have the same alternation of rectangular and semi-circular recesses.

The third typical form is that which presents a circular or polygonal centre, supported by piers, and surrounded by an aisle of corresponding form. This is the plan of our four English examples, and may, generally speaking, be considered as the typical form of round churches of any size or note. The addition of the porch or chancel is still usual; and several variations occur which give to the individual