THIS effigy lies on an altar-tomb canopied by a gothic arch and pediment, on the south side of Minster Churchy in the Isle of Sheppy. Sir Robert de Shurland, Lord of Shurland, in the parish of Eastchurch, adjoining Minster, was the son of Sir Geoffrey de Shurland, who was Constable of Dover Castle in the time of Henry the Third. Sir Robert was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and was made a Knight Banneret by King Edward the First, for his brave deportment at the siege of Carlaverock in 1300, and was probably a benefactor of the monastery of Benedictine Nuns at Minster, in Sheppy. He died without issue male., and Margaret his daughter carried his estate by marriage to the family of Cheyné. To the horses head which appears on this tomb, and on the vane of the church, is attached a wild legend, only worthy of notice as such, that Shurland having in a transport of rage caused a priest to he buried alive, a judicial process was about to be instituted against him for the crime, when the King chancing to be on ship-board at the Great Nore off the Isle of Sheppy, Shurland swam his horse to the vessel, sued to the King for pardon, which in consequence of this perilous feat he obtained, and his gallant steed bore him safely to the land. On reaching the beach, a wrinkled hag accosted him, telling him that although that horse had saved his life, he would at last be the cause of his death. The impetuous Shurland, to defeat the prophecy of this sybil, drew his sword, and on the spot slew his generous courser, whose bones lay bleaching for years after on the strand. Shurland one day approached the place, and while relating the story to a friend, kicked the scull of the horse, when a splinter from the bone entered his foot. The wound festered, mortified, and death ensued. Thus much for the tale; unfortunately for the credit of which, the horse's head appears to be led by the bridle by an armed figure, perhaps the knight's henchman? or his esquire. Be this as it may, the horse is but a mark of his equestrian rank; and it may be observed that a figure of a similar age, leading a horse, may be seen at this day near the west door of Exeter Cathedral [Map]. The horse's head on the vane of the church has most probably been fixed there in later days, in compliance with the vulgar tradition. The costume and accoutrements of this effigy are highly interesting. The interior of the shield, and all its straps, are displayed. By his side is his banner, attached to a pike-stuff, or spear. Some markings of links appear on the horse's head, which show that it has been covered with chain-mail. The surcoat, or pourpoint, appears strongly quilted in long parallel folds. The whole has been painted with lions rampant argent on an azure ground, which was the coat of the noble family of Leybourne, of Leybourne Castle, in Kent. Sir William de Leybourne was at Carlaverock, and Shurland probably assumed his coat as a Kentish gentleman in his trains^a

Guillemes de Leybourne, ausi

Vaillans homes, sans mes et sans si,

Baniere i ot o larges pans

Inde o sis blanc lyons rampans^b

Details. The head and laces of the hood. The gamboised sleeve of the surcoat, with its laces, the mail of the haubergeon appearing beneath. Pillar resting on a lion, one of the architectural supporters of the canopy of the tomb.

Note a. Hogarth, in an excursion into Kent in the year 1732, attempted seriously to sketch the effigy of Shurland. In his rough delineation of the figure there is nothing very extravagant or remarkable, but when he came to the horse's head the caricaturist prevailed, and it is impossible to compare his drawing with that of Charles Stothard without a smile. See "An Account of what seemed most remarkable in five days' peregrination of the five following persons: Messrs. Tothill, Scott, Hogarth, Thornhill, and f orrest, begun on Saturday, May 27, 1732, and finished on the 31st of the same month. London, 1782." For the possession of this rare tract we are indebted to J. B. Nichols, Esq. F.S.A.

Note b. Poem of the Siege of Carlaverock, edited by Nicolas. Nichols and Son, 1828.