Excerpt from The Monumental Brasses of Gloucestershire Scattered over the county of Gloucester, sometimes in out-of-the-way places, are still to be found a goodly number of those very interesting memorials called Monumental Brasses. These brasses are worthy of more than a passing notice, they furnish us with information most valuable to the historian, both general and local, and give many details of much importance to the herald, genealogist and antiquary. To the general reader they are equally interesting, since they are richly suggestive, and full of the touching pathos of the past. They clearly mark the successive steps of our nations progress - they tell of those stern and terrible times of strife and glory through which England has passed - they bear silent witness to those grand and far-reaching changes which have made our country what it is - and they give an insight into the currents of thought and feeling which deeply moved our forefathers. Gloucestershire contains more than eighty of these incised memorials, embracing a period of several centuries. In one place we have the valorous knight clad in glittering coat of steel - in another a tonsured ecclesiastic in vestments rich and elaborate - then the gentlewoman in the costume peculiar to her time - but whether knight, or priest, or lady fair, each is of importance in giving with remarkable fidelity a life-like picture of the military, sacerdotal, and domestic life of bygone times. One cannot but deeply regret that these unobtrusive memorials have suffered much mutilation and spoliation at the hands of the thief and the religious fanatic, as well as from the culpable neglect of their lawful custodians. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.