ibere siqz mori.

Variety was added sometimes by jumbling together various languages,
Norman-French, Latin, and English being often oddly combined.

People in the Middle Ages loved punning and playing upon the sound of
words. Thus a brass to the memory of Thomas Hylle (or Hill) has some
verses beginning "_Mons_ in valle jacet." John Day, the printer, had a
very extravagant and jocular epitaph beginning--

"Here lies the Daye that darkness could not blynd."

"He set a Fox to wright how Martyrs runne
By death to lyfe"--

alluding to his publication of Foxe's _Book of Martyrs_. His widow
probably married a man named Stone. Hence we read--

"Als was the last encreaser of his store,
Who mourning long for being left alone,
Sett upp this tombe, her self turned to a Stone."

"Orate pro anima," or "of your charite pray for the soul of ----" were
usual inscriptions.

It is somewhat difficult for the unpractised eye to read inscriptions on
brasses, owing to the contractions and omissions of letters. Thus _m_
and _n_ are often omitted, and a line is placed over the adjoining
letter to indicate the omission. Thus a=ia stands for _anima_, leg=u for
_legum_. The letter _r_ is also left out. Z stands for _que_, and there
are many other contractions, such as D=ns for _Dominus_, D=s for _Deus_,
E=ps for _Episcopus_, g=ia for _gratia_, m=ia for _misericordia_, and
many others.

The study of the emblems and devices is full of interest. Of
ecclesiastical emblems we have the symbols of the Holy Trinity--God the
Father represented as an aged person, holding a crucifix on which the
dove, an emblem of the Holy Spirit, is alighting--representations of our
Lord, angels, saints,[5] evangelists, the fylfot cross, roses, and
figures of Death. Sometimes the figure on the brass holds a heart in his
hand, which indicates a response on the part of the deceased to the old
invitatory "Sursum corda."

The armorial bearings of the deceased are usually represented on
brasses, and also personal or professional devices. The founders of
churches hold representations in miniature of the churches which they
founded. Bishops and abbots have a pastoral staff; priests, a chalice,
or a book; wool merchants have woolpacks beneath their feet, and other
tradesmen have similar devices denoting their special calling.
Merchants' marks also frequently appear; and the mediaeval taste for
punning is shown by frequent rebuses formed on the names of the
deceased,