OF BAKEWELL CHURCH, DERBYSHIRE. 55

tainons districts at that time usually were ; the rudeness of design in some, and the difference of size in others, would lead us to conclude that such monuments must have been used, more or less, for persons of nciU'ly every condition. This remark, however, ought ])crhaps to be restricted in some mea- sure to the inhabitants of the hilly parts of the country, espe- cially in the northern counties, where abundance of stone migiit be procvu-ed at little cost. And this last consideration will also suggest a reason why these incised stone crosses should have been retained to a much later period in some parts of the country tluui in others, after the use of brass or latten had been generally introduced. This collection also presents a great variety of marks, or symbols, indicative of the profession or trade of the deceased, several of which have been already referred to in the previous description. Some of these are well known, such as the sword and chalice, the shears and bugle-horn ; examples of which may be seen in Gough's Sepulchral Monuments, and Lysons' History of Cumberland : others are rare, such as the key, and some Avhich were too imperfect to be satisfactorily made out. It is well known that shields with armorial bearings were not introduced upon tombs till a later period. The use of such symbols is of very high antiquity : for examples are by no means uncommon on Roman tombs combined with in- scriptions : and it seems to be admitted, that many of the devices on the monuments of the early Christians, in the cata- combs at Rome, which have been considered by some as em- blems of their martyrdom, refer rather to their occupation than to the instruments by which their tortm^es were inflicted ; (see Maitland's Chiu-ch in the Catacombs.) May it not have been the case, that in an unlettered age such symbols sup- plied in a great measure the place of inscriptions, which at that period would have been unintelligible to the majority of the siurivors of the deceased. Indeed, it deserves notice, that ex- amples of sepulchral crosses of the eleventh and twelfth cen- turies marked with inscriptions, arc seldom met with in Eng- land. A few have been found in Yorkshire and the north- west counties, but they arc rare • and this does not seem to be always affected by considerations of the rank of the individual, as it applies to the tombs of the ecclesiastic, and the knight, as well as of others. When inscriptions were added, they were more frequently cut by the side of the stem or shaft of