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NOTICES OF ANCIENT ORNAMENTS, the case of the vessel of sardonyx, attributed to Abbot Suger, at St. Denis. The use of vessels of tin or pewter, in poorer churches, was not unfrequent : it had been sanctioned by the canons, but nevertheless was forbidden by the constitutions of Archbishop Wethershed, about A.D. 1.329. Lyndwode ob- serves that copper Avas objectionable, because it occasioned nausea, " quia provocat vomit um ;" brass, as subject to oxida- tion, " quia contrahit rubiginemt." These careful precautions evince the deep reverence mth which, at all times, the sacred ordinance of the Eucharist was regarded, as fm-ther shewn by the solemn benediction of all vessels or appliances of the service of the altar, which may be found in ancient ceremonials, such especially as that of the Anglo- Saxon Church, preserved in the Public Library at Rouen^. Several ancient chalices, highly interesting on account of their elaborate decoration, or traditions connected with them, exist in the treasuries of various churches, or in other deposi- tories. One of the most remai-kable, now preserved in the Cabinet of Antiquities in the Bibliotheque Royale, at Paris, is the " calice de St, Remi," formerly belonging to the cathedral of Rheims. This incomparable example of the skill of the twelfth century is of gold, incrusted with enamelled ornaments, gems, pearls, and filigree work of the most curious character. It measures, in height, 6^ in., and the diameter of the cup is 5 in. and seven-eighths. This precious ol:)ject is described in the account of the treasury of Rheims cathedral, and distin- guished from the "calix ministerialist' of St. Remy, noticed by Flodoard"". The inscription which forms two lines around the
- oyiCQy^GffilEiiMSllM
iP^C^Si^MEl .M xrViJv^ imm MMMMwM^iSi BMQ:}^([!)mQ)m)mmmm^wBm M M^MTMim-sw wmnm ' Lyndw. Provinc, pp. 9. 2o !•. " Mr. Rokewode co-.isidered this reniark-
- ible MS. as written late in the tenth cen-
tury. See the Ordo for the benediction of the chalice, Archaeol., xxv. p. 2()4. " Gill. Marlot, Metrop. Rom. Hist., ii. 474. M. Didro.i has given a short notice of this remarkable chalice in the Annales Archeologiciues, ii. 3(i3, accompanied by a plate which exhibits various examples of its curious ovnaiiK'ntalion.