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Ecclesiastical: Richard

The list of sacred ornaments which composed the furniture of the Chapel Royal in the reign of Richard II., includes a "portepax tout d'or" of the most splendid description, set with diamonds, pearls, and sapphires. During the reign of Richard III. the satirists attacked the clergy for their lavish extravagance. The higher ecclesiastics wore daggers at their jewelled girdles.

SHRINES.--The treasures contained in the ancient Syrian temples were immense, ivory and precious stones included. That of Astarte, at Hierapolis, abounded with gold and jewels, precious stones of all colours, sardonyx, hyacinth, emerald, brought from Egypt, Aethiopia, India, Media, Armenia, and Babylon. On the brow of the goddess shone a marvellous carbuncle. Lucullus took from Armenia magnificent gemmed vases which filled a car drawn by camels. At the triumph of this general was a golden statue of Mithridates of the height of six feet; the shield of this king was covered with precious stones. In former times shrines blazed with jewels, the propitiatory offerings of devotees, and the bequests of those who thus sought to smooth their way to heaven. Nothing was considered too precious to ornament the chapels dedicated to the Virgin and particular saints. The description of these riches by the old writers, and the inventories of church ornaments, especially at the time of the Reformation, show with what lavish profusion the shrines were endowed. I will briefly allude to a few instances in our own country and elsewhere. To begin with the shrine of the canonized Confessor at Westminster Abbey. The king was at first buried before the high altar, and then removed by Becket to a richer shrine in its neighbourhood, but after the rebuilding of the church by Henry III., that king had a sumptuous shrine made to receive the treasured remains. The tomb, which is composed of three tiers of pillars, was richly studded with stones of the most precious kind. There were numerous golden statues, such as an image of St. Edmund, king, wearing a crown set with two large sapphires, a ruby, and other jewels, etc. Among the relics connected with this shrine was the crystal-line vessel of our Saviour's blood, which had been sent by the Knights Templars from the Holy Land in 1247, as a present to Henry III., and was attested by Robert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to have trickled from our Saviour's wounds at his Crucifixion. The famous stone, also, which was marked with the impression of the foot of Christ, as indented at His Ascension, and which had been brought to England by the Friars' Preachers, was another of the holy relics connected with the shrine, and had been given by Henry III., together with a thorn of Christ's crown, and various remains of saints, including an arm of St. Sylvester and a tooth of St. Athanasius! Here, likewise, was preserved a large piece of our Saviour's cross, richly adorned with gold, silver, and precious stones, which had been brought from Wales by Edward I. in the year 1285; and also the skull of St. Benedict, which had been given by Edward III.

When these inestimable valuables were not exposed to the awe-struck gaze of the devotee at the shrine, they were lodged in a secure repository, the site of which is now occupied by the tomb of Henry V.

There were, doubtless, many precious jewels besides those enumerated below in the Patent Rolls list. The large cameos consisted of fifty-five. To this shrine Edward I., after his return from Scotland, gave the regalia and the chair of state in which the kings of that country had been crowned at Scone. Alphonso, his third son, gave, also, the jewels and gold coronet of Llewellyn, Prince of Wales.