e shrine and its history, see Chapter I.) The
exact place on which it stood is plainly shown by the marks worn in the
stones by the knees of generations of pilgrims as they knelt before it,
while the prior, with his white wand, pointed out the choicest of its
treasures. To the west, between the altar-screen--the unhappy effect of
which is painfully conspicuous from this point--and the site of the
shrine, there is some very interesting mosaic pavement, containing the
signs of the zodiac, and emblems of virtue and vice, an example of the
_Opus Alexandrinum_, which appears in the floors of most of the Roman
basilicas. A similar piece of mosaic work may be seen round the shrine of
Edward the Confessor at Westminster. Above the eastern end of the shrine a
gilded crescent was fixed in the roof, which still remains; the origin and
meaning of this emblem have been disputed with considerable heat, and many
ingenious conjectures have been framed to account for its presence here.
One theory regards it as an allusion to the tradition according to which
Becket's mother was a Saracen. But this legend is believed to be
comparatively modern, and, as Mr. George Austin points out, "even if the
legend of Becket's mother had obtained credence at that early period, it
may be observed that in the painted windows around no reference is made
to the subject, though evidently capable of so much pictorial effect."
Another solution would connect the crescent with the worship of the Virgin
Mary, who is often pictured as standing on the moon (comp. Rev. xii. 1).
Supporters of this theory lay stress on the fact that the Trinity Chapel
at Canterbury occupies the extreme east end of the church, which is
generally the site of the Lady Chapel, and that therefore the presence of
this emblem--if it can be connected with the Virgin--would be peculiarly
appropriate here. Mr. Austin propounded the explanation which is now most
generally accepted. "When the groined roof," he says, "was relieved of the
long-accumulated coats of whitewash and repaired, the crescent was taken
down and regilt. It was found to be made of a foreign wood, somewhat like
in grain to the eastern wood known by the name of iron-wood. It had been
fastened to the groining by a large nail of very singular shape, with a
large square head, apparently of foreign manufacture." He comes to the
conclusion that the crescent is one of a number of trophies which he
supposes to have once decorated this p