156 SEPULCHRAL MONUirEXTS AT CLIFTON REYNES, BUCKS.

After the death of liis first ^vifc lie was twice married, but the tomb presents no indication of these subsequent alhances, a fact which appe<^rs clearly to iutiiiiato that it was erected by him before his second marriage. He was the great grandson of Ral})h lleynes above-men- tioned, and liaving succeeded to tlic family property about A.D. 131)4 on the death of his unmarried elder brother, lie died A.D. 1428, as recorded on a brass bearing his effigy with an inscri{)tion to his memory, and probably lying over the place of his interment. The tomb was doubtless built after his succession to the manor in a.d. 1394. Allowing therefore as many years as may reasonably be reckoned for his second and third mar- riages, and for the evident diflference between the sculptured effigy on the tomb and that on the brass, we may with great probability fix the date of the tomb at about a.d. 1400. It certainly is a fine specimen, both in design and execution, of that period. It has received rather rough treatment, especi- all} at the sides, where two or three of the small effigies have been literally defaced, but on the wliole it is in good preserva- tion. Not many years ago these cui'ious monuments were thickly covered with coatings of whitewash, and the dust and dirt that had long been accumulating about them. Perhaps this caused Lipscomb to consider them as scarcely woi'thy of notice, for he describes them in the most cursory manner and does not give a single illustration of them, while his History contains numerous representations of other memorials of conqiaratively slight importance. Since his account of the parish was published, the Rev. Thomas Evetts, now Incumbent of Prestwold, near iIissen- den, Rucks, was for a short time curate of Clifton, and while there, he restored, at his own expense, the church, and very carefully removed the crust which disfigured the sepul- chral monuments. The oaken efligies may now be examined with advantage, and they will perhaps l)e fi)und ecpial to any e.anij)les of .such iiicimiiials in the kiiiL;:d(tiii." U. 11 ASTIXCS KK1,KH. 2 The rnpreHeiiUitioiis of tlio oni;,'iiH cximipli'H arc iltHcrilnd Uy (M)ii>;ii, Sep. nl)ov<? (IfHcnljctl liiivi- hccii HU|)|iliciMrtiiii Mon. .Sec uImk iiluximrH Mdiiuiii. Arciiit. tin- Mk«>t<'lii-M liy Mr. .Sinter, iiicliilfct, will) p. I I'J ; " Nnti-s ami (iiiorii-.x," vol. vii. kiwlly viHiu-il (.'iirioii K<-yiioH lor tliu pp. St'iH, I>ll7 ; vol. viii. p. 'J.'i.'i ; vol. ix. jiiirp'iw of prc|>uriii;; ilruwiii^M. p|). 17, -I". 'rii('H(< h!iiIiu-h iin- oficn S'-|iiilrliriil iHi;,'ii-M of oiik (»r clu-Htniil foiiml lo Ix' linllowrcl (nii mul i-lmrrcd ..,| . <tv>- (-'iiripuriitiv'-ly rnrc, liiil Hovcnil iiiturnully to prcMurvo thciu lioiu ducuy.