[Footnote 70: Engraved in the 5th number of the Cambridge Camden Society's _Illustrations of Monumental Brasses_.] Early priests have a lion [Footnote 71] also at their feet; but this typified their trampling on the devil: as servants of Him concerning whom it is written, 'And the Devil shall go forth before [Footnote 72] His feet' They have also a dragon for the same reason. And this position doubtless also has reference to the verse, 'Thou shalt tread upon the lion [Footnote 73] and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.' In the decline of the art, effigies have the crest of the departed at their feet. [Footnote 71: As in Watton, Herts, and Cottingham, Yorkshire.] [Footnote 72: Habaccuc III. v, _Et egredietur diabolus ante pedes ejus_.] [Footnote 73: Psalm xc. _Qui habitat_.] {cix} Whether those knights who are represented with crossed legs are to be considered as crusaders, or at least as having taken the vow, is a question which has been much discussed. The general belief seems now to be in the negative:--and Mr. Bloxam in his work on Monumental Architecture gives it as his opinion that this posture was chosen by the artist, for the more graceful arrangement of the _surcoat_. And it is to be remarked that some illuminations, as in the Life of S. Edward the Confessor, in the Cambridge University Library, represent the knights as sitting cross legged. For our own part we must confess that we incline to the old belief:--as better supported by tradition, and more in accordance with the general principles of Catholic artists. The knight's hand is sometimes represented as resting on the hilt of his sword:--or as it is called _drawing it_. We are astonished that a writer in the _Quarterly Review_ should fall into this popular error: especially when the idea was completely opposed to the whole course of his argument. There can be no doubt that this typifies the accomplishment of the vow, the taking which was set forth by the crossed legs. The contrary--an act of war in the House of Peace--is not for a moment to be thought of. As emblematical of deep humility, some effigies are represented naked: some in shrouds: some, as emaciated corpse: and sometimes, still more strikingly, the tomb will be divided into two partitions: and while the departed appears in rich vests, and with a gorgeous canopy above--below there is a skeleton, or a worm eaten figure. There is a remarkable instance at Tewkesbury, in the cenotaph of the last Lord Abbot: and we may refer to the monument of William Ashton, in S. John's College chapel, Cambridge. {cx}