curious relic; and I do not know that any similar one can be met with in England. None of the Roman, Saxon, Danish, or Norman instruments bear the smallest resemblance to it; nor can we refer it to the "hooked spears" of the Picts and Scots, of the Highlanders and the Irish. I am most inclined to class it with the short swords mentioned by Camden and Stukeley; and that there were handles attached, most probably of wood,' is plain from the hollowed metal and strong orifices for nails, screws, or rivets which remain. In one of the plates on Trajan's Column at Rome, the British soldiers brandish short swords of this description. The supposition that it may be a sacrificial knife or instrument for gathering the mistletoe, is also, I think, imaginary; and if the adage of Horace be true," Noscimur a sociis," we must pronounce this similar to the rest of the brass weapons, offensive and defensive, found together on far-famed Rosebury. Right or wrong, I have devoted my best energies to the consideration of this subject; and should any gentleman who remains unsatisfied with my statements, and whose motive is higher than mere curiosity, request an examination of these most interesting remains, I feel quite certain that Mr. Nicholson will very gladly extend the same privilege to him as to myself.

Fig. 10 represents a large stone instrument like a smith's hammer, found near Skinningrave, and now in the possession of Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., of Brotton. The length is 10 in.; breadth over the orifice 3 in.; greatest breadth 33 in.; and the weight six pounds five ounces. This curious implement has been intended to serve both as a hatchet and hammer, for splitting timber and domestic purposes. The stone is remarkably hard, being composed of compact quartz with specks of hornblend, and not of the granite or whinstone of the neighbourhood. The hole has been wrought with vast labour, by boring with sharp stones till the perforation was completed; and the whole is polished in the same manner. They are upwards of 2000 years old; for at the time of Cæsar's invasion, the Britons made use of brass and iron.

CROSSES AND CRUCIFIXIONS. - From the earliest to the latest periods of the Romish Church, the reverence paid to the cross was sincere, enthusiastic, and altogether devotional. The cross was the universal symbol as well of pure, primitive Catholicism, as of popish superstition and usurpation. The rude oaken memorial stood as a solemn witness in the first wooden churches; and afterwards, in carvings of marble or brass, towered high on the pinnacles of our proudest abbeys and cathedrals. The poor lonely palmer wore it next his heart as he wandered across the deserts in weary pilgrimage; the haughty templar reared it aloft on his standard, when he fiercely rushed to battle against Saracen and Turk. "THE CROSS-THE CROSS- THE CROSS

The circumstance of such instruments as this having handles of wood is strong evidence against their being Roman. The Romans, after their large experience in all parts of the world, after cutting to pieces even the celebrated Macedonian phalanx, would never hazard their lives on the fragile security of a wooden-handled sword or wooden-shafted spear!

-this talismanic word aroused the emperors and kings of Europe at the war-cry of a bare-footed hermit; and to rescue that cross from the polluted touch of infidels, the blood of myriads was poured forth like water, and the arid plains of Palestine drenched with human gore. And if this error of the heart demands censure, let it be accorded in mercy and pity; assuring ourselves that HE, the pure, the holy, the beatific, with whom none on earth ever was equal, and none in heaven superior, has invested this rueful symbol with some invisible token of His agony, death, and

atonement.

To a late period the devotional adoration of the cross has been zealously maintained. Imbert, the good friar of Gascony, was severely persecuted in 1683 for warning the people that, in adoring the cross on Good Friday, "they were not to worship the wood, but Christ who was crucified on it." The curate of the parish told them the contrary: it was "the wood, the wood," they were to adore; whilst Imbert insisted it was "CHRIST, CHRIST, and not the wood." For which he was cited before the Bishop of Bourdeaux, suspended from his functions, and threatened with imprisonment.

In this country they were erected as tributes of devotion and attachment, mute memorials of pity and love, impressive appeals to the living for the dead. The most remarkable and prodigal instance of such cross-veneration was exhibited on the death of Queen Eleanor, wife of the warlike Edward I. Eleanor died at Hareby, near Bolingbroke, in Lincolnshire, A.D. 1291, and that monarch erected magnificent crosses, like mausoleums, at every spot between Hareby and Westminster Abbey where the corpse reposed. Splendid monuments of Edward's conjugal love and religious zeal have escaped the savage rage of puritanical rebels, and long remained at some of the places where they originally stood, viz.: Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, Stony-Stratford, Dunstable, St. Alban's, Waltham, and Charing Cross.

The crosses in Cleveland may be attributed chiefly to our Saxon or Danish ancestors, after their conversion to Christianity. "It was thought," says Camden," an extraordinary piece of devotion, upon the planting of Christianity in these parts, to erect crosses and build churches in the most eminent places, as being both nearer heaven and more conspicuous." Of this kind, probably, is the cross near Castleton, close to the road (which bears an inscription), another on Commondale Moor, and some of those which appear in the map, as Swarthoue Cross, Siss Cross, White Cross, Ralph Cross, Piercy Cross, Sunny Cross, Rolles Cross, Lilhoue Cross, Ingleby Cross, John o'Man's Cross. Others of these may have been erected over the graves of the early Christians to solicit prayers for the deceased, or to notify the spot where the corpse rested, or are merely simple offerings of the people to piety and worth.

It was "an early custom to erect crosses and crucifixes in churchyards;" of which kind is the broken fragment in Ayton Churchyard, of which Mr. Ibbetson informs me,

1 Camden's Britannia, vol. ii. p. 1030.

that it was found in the south wall of the church. It was covered over with grass, and never perceived till last summer (1843). The lower stone seems to be the socket to receive some upright pillar or shaft, probably of an ancient cross." And the same gentleman continues: "In walking round the church you would observe the fragments of an old cross in the west-end wall. When that part of the church was rebuilt in 1827, we found the said cross buried in the old wall. It appears, therefore, that the old wall had itself been rebuilt from a former one; and I imagine the stone which we preserved, and placed in the wall, has been the monumental covering of some grave within the church." Both these suppositions are, doubtless, correct. It was a common custom of the early Christians, and continued after the Conquest, to carve the emblem of the crucifixion on the slab or covering of the stone coffins. A cross of this description, greatly mutilated, now lies near Gisborough Priory, and was found by some labourers in 1808, about fifty yards south-west of the east wall of the priory church; of which a copy, restored by W. D. Bruce, Esq., will be found in the next page, fig. 1 (crucifixes).

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Crosses were erected by the Danes as memorials of battles, and not unfrequently placed on the graves of distinguished warriors. In Angusshire, in Scotland, above the grave of one of their bravest generals (slain by the valiant Keith), "there was a high stone erected which carries the name of Camus' Cross. And about ten miles distant from this, at Aberlemno, is another cross erected upon some of the Danes killed there. Both of these have some antique pictures and letters upon them." The name 'Stump's Cross," near Gisborough, has perhaps been derived from a similar circumstance. A tradition (familiar to every one in Gisborough) has brought down to us the story of a bloody battle on this spot, probably during the furious dynasty of the Danes; and here one of the soldiers is said to have fought with incredible valour after his legs were hewn off-literally on his stumps-wherefore "STUMP'S CROSS." I did conceive at one time that this tradition might refer to the contest between the royalists and rebels mentioned at p. 63; but, on further consideration, I am inclined to fix the site of the latter battle elsewhere, viz. " Wars' Fields" (so called to this day), now in the occupation of Mr. Charles Simmonds. A cannon-ball, found in this field, is in the possession of Mr. Simmonds; and, on examining the field, the antiquarian will discover abundance of proof, in the raised mounds, trenches, and irregular disposition of the ground, of its having been strongly fortified, and the scene of some fierce and desperate encounter. The tradition of Stump's Cross must, therefore, go back to a remoter period. The only other cross we need mention may be seen on the road near Hutton Low-Cross, fronting the green lane leading to Kempley, where the Chaloner property joins a small slip belonging to the crown. All that now remains is the broken shaft and socket; but the sacred symbol has long since been demolished, probably by the

' Camden, vol. ii. p. 1256.

same rude fanatic hands before whose brutal rage so many rare and venerable antiquities have disappeared.

Two exceedingly curious and interesting crucifixes have come into my possession: one of them found at Skelderskew, in Commondale, by the late Mr. Harrison; the other at Ingleby Arncliffe, by Mr. John Sayer, now of Ayton. The Skelderskew cross is of copper, richly gilded; and although marked 1119, remains in admirable preservation. This cross was sent to the author by Mr. John Harrison, of Staithes, yeoman; and was discovered on his father's farm some years ago, as the labourers were working for stone among the foundations of an old building. This building, I imagine, must be the ruins of the ancient cell, or chapel, which the priors of Gisborough held in Commondale; and the date on the crucifix, 1119, being the same year in which Gisborough Abbey was built by De Brus, strengthens this supposition. The length of this beautiful relic (Fig. 2) is 16 in.; breadth, 9 in.; circumference of each of the four rings, 4 in.; space between the two middle rings, 4 in.; between the higher and lower, 7 in.; from head to foot of the Christ, 5 in.; of the smaller figures, 24 in. The different portions are detached, but fit carefully into each other; and the whole is elegantly carved and ornamented. The sculpture of the Saviour is an exquisite work of art; the muscles of the extended arms being clearly and accurately defined, whilst

the expressive face presents all the pathetic beauty and subdued agony of a suffering Deity. The other figures resemble each other, except that the right one presses to his bosom a book, perhaps the Bible. This crucifix, from its elaborate finish and rich gilding, has formerly been in high estimation; and, if we may judge by a similar design in Pugin's True Principles, &c., fig. 8, plate v., is "the head of a processional cross."1 Indeed, the resemblance is so exact, with the exception of the two figures, that a representation of either might serve for both.

Not venturing to rely entirely on my own decision in this matter, I submitted the relic to a friend, in whose genius and judgment I place the most implicit reliance. This gentleman replied: "I have examined with great care the very interesting relics you sent. The figures on the crucifix are not heraldic; it is true that heraldry admits of anomalies, but from the connexion of these with the awful object below, it is evident they must be sacred symbols. I am of opinion that the detached piece, which has a ring of the same pattern (though more worn) as those in which the figures are fixed, has belonged to the crucifix, its projecting part having been sheathed in the portion now wanting to connect them. On this lowest ring, then, as on the others, there has been a figure of some kind, and, by referring to the rest, I think we may pretty confidently pronounce what this has been. My theory is, that the figures represent the four beasts' mentioned in the book of Revelation, of which the first was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third had a face as a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. Moreover, the four beasts had each of them six wings about him,' so that the three figures on the crucifix, though somewhat defaced, certainly appear to answer this description: that on the Saviour's left hand as the first, the one at his right hand as the second, and that at the top of the crucifix as the third. Except the one lost, they are all winged, and that after a peculiar manner; the representation is borne out in every particular, even to the orifices for eyes before and behind;' and we only require the fourth plate, which is wanting, to complete the picture: And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.' Rev. iv. 8.”

6

The Ingleby Arncliffe Crucifix (fig. 3) is also a rare and curious relic. From the form of the crown, the character of the workmanship, and the appearance of the enamel, I should judge it to be somewhere about 500 years old. The representation

"In the sacristy of Aix-la-Chapelle is a treasury of inestimable value, consisting of shrines, reliquaries, crosses, crowns, ampuls, chalices, pyxes, books of the holy Gospels, paxes, and enamelled images of silver, all executed during the finest periods of Christian art, the richness of their material being only surpassed by that of the design. Their construction and execution is decidedly of a metallic character. The ornament is produced by piercing, chasing, engraving, and enamel. These treasures, which Aix now alone (?) possesses, are by no means superior to many of those splendid ecclesiastical ornaments formerly to be found in all the large churches of this land, but which fell a prey to the rapacious tyrant Henry, and his abettors, in the general wreck of faith and art."-Pugin's True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture, p. 32.

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