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and injudicious restorer has not busied himself to substitute new pavements for old.

I pass on now to observe that the use of incised slabs was not discontinued subsequently to the introduction of the engraven plates or "brasses," and particularly in those districts where marble and stone were most abundant; on the contrary, the two classes of flat memorials continued in use together, and contemporary examples of both exhibit many features in common; the distinguishing characteristic of the brasses being, in most cases, their higher degree of artistic merit. In both the brass and the incised slab the engraven lines were filled in with a species of mastic, generally black, but in some instances of various colours. Colour was also introduced into many brasses by means of enamel.

The brass plate originally denominated "latten" was a compound somewhat resembling the brass now in use amongst ourselves, but more costly and far more durable than that alloy. It appears to have been manufactured exclusively on the Continent previously to the middle of the 16th century, and from thence imported into this country. Although the "plate" itself was not made at home until long after the decline of brasses as works of art, yet we have every reason for believing that almost all the brasses laid down in English churches were the work of native artists, and probably even in the few instances in which the designs are certainly French or Flemish the actual engravers may have been Englishmen.^[1] This brings me to the consideration of the