ishop,
the head gone, but part of the staff remaining in the hands. There is
a great crack (now filled with mortar) round these two figures, as if
the attack of the iconoclasts had been made with heavy tools. A
pedestal at the right-hand corner of the square recess seems a later
insertion, as it is loose and does not exactly fit; probably it was
added soon after the tomb was made, to hold a small silver figure of
an angel, or of a soldier, as there is a little hole (now filled with
mortar) at a height above it convenient for rivetting a metal figure.

The Sepulchre proper would have consisted of a small coped chest, in
shape like a reliquary, round which would be painted the incidents of
the Passion. The slab of the tomb, being without the usual recumbent
effigy, would have formed the place on which this "coffer" rested,
this being the usual method when a tomb was used for the purpose. On
Good Friday, the Host, often in a specially-made pyx, was with much
ceremony laid in the coffer, together with the altar-cross, and there
was kept, surrounded by candles and guarded by watchers, till Easter
Day. We know that there was a special provision at Wells for one
candle to burn continuously within the Sepulchre "_I cereus in
sepulchro cum corpori Dominico qui continue ardebit donec Matutinae
cantentur in die Paschae_" (_MS. Harl._ 1682, _fo._ 5). There is a
small hole in the east wall of this chapel, close to the tomb and a
little below the level of of the slab whereon the coffer would have
rested; this may have held a sconce or some ornament. But the _cereus
in sepulchro_ was probably a large candle within the chapel, and in
accordance with general usage, there would have been other candles
burning upon cressets. There are two other holes in the north wall, a
few inches to the east of the top of the tomb, which may have held
rods for the curtains that were used in much profusion for the
adornment of Easter sepulchres. While the coffer stood on the slab it
would have hidden the carving of the Resurrection; but on its removal
on Easter Day, the carving would have stood in full view of the
people, bright, no doubt, with colour and surrounded by lights. It
will further be noticed that the tomb stands eighteen inches away from
the east wall, the space being now filled with modern masonry; this
was probably in order to leave ample room for the sacred ministers in
their vestments; had it stood close against the wall the ceremonial
c