The beautiful canopies over the heads of the figures are well worthy of attention, and also the inscriptions. These usually take the form of Latin verses; and although many were written by learned abbots and scholars, the classical knowledge displayed is somewhat faulty. Here are a few examples:-- Respice quid prodest precentis temporis aebum Omne quod est, nichil est, preter amare deum. Sometimes the author of the inscription recorded his name, as did the learned Dame Elizabeth Hobby on a brass at Shottesbrooke, which runs-- O multum dilecte senex, pater atqz bocate, Del quia grandaebis, bel quia probus eras. Annos bixisti nobies decem, atqz satelles Fidus eras regum, fidus erasqz tuis. Iam satis functus baleas, sed tu, deus alme, Sic mihi concedas bibere siqz mori. Variety was added sometimes by jumbling together various languages, Norman-French, Latin, and English being often oddly combined. People in the Middle Ages loved punning and playing upon the sound of words. Thus a brass to the memory of Thomas Hylle (or Hill) has some verses beginning "_Mons_ in valle jacet." John Day, the printer, had a very extravagant and jocular epitaph beginning-- "Here lies the Daye that darkness could not blynd." "He set a Fox to wright how Martyrs runne By death to lyfe"-- alluding to his publication of Foxe's _Book of Martyrs_. His widow probably married a man named Stone. Hence we read-- "Als was the last encreaser of his store, Who mourning long for being left alone, Sett upp this tombe, her self turned to a Stone." "Orate pro anima," or "of your charite pray for the soul of ----" were usual inscriptions. It is somewhat difficult for the unpractised eye to read inscriptions on brasses, owing to the contractions and omissions of letters. Thus _m_ and _n_ are often omitted, and a line is placed over the adjoining letter to indicate the omission. Thus a=ia stands for _anima_, leg=u for _legum_. The letter _r_ is also left out. Z stands for _que_, and there are many other contractions, such as D=ns for _Dominus_, D=s for _Deus_, E=ps for _Episcopus_, g=ia for _gratia_, m=ia for _misericordia_, and many others. The study of the emblems and devices is full of interest. Of ecclesiastical emblems we have the symbols of the Holy Trinity--God the Father represented as an aged person, holding a crucifix on which the dove, an emblem of the Holy Spirit, is alighting--representations of our Lord, angels, saints,[5] evangelists, the fylfot cross, roses, and figures of Death. Sometimes the figure on the brass holds a heart in his hand, which indicates a response on the part of the deceased to the old invitatory "Sursum corda."