of Christ in the Garden
of Gethsemane, healing the ear of Malchus, Christ before Pilate, the
scourging of our Lord, and then follow scenes of the Crucifixion, followed
by the burial and resurrection. In the spandrel over the third pillar from
the west the descent of Christ into Hades, represented by a great dragon's
jaw, is shown. Adam holding an apple, and followed by Eve and many other
spirits, is shown coming to meet our Lord. Between the clerestory windows
there are three paintings which seem to belong to a series associated with
the Virgin Mary. The first, which may represent the Assumption, has not
been restored, and very little remains to be seen. The second, according
to Mr Keyser, shows the burial, and on the coffin appears the Jewish
Prince Belzeray, who is said to have interfered with the funeral by
raising himself astride the coffin. The legend says that he became fixed
to the pall, and only escaped after repentance and the united prayers of
the apostles.

Of the third picture only a portion remains, the upper part being new
plaster, but the figures of some of the apostles who are shown may have
been standing by the deathbed of the Virgin. The coronation scene already
mentioned on the north side of the nave would thus complete a series of
four pictures.

Just by the lectern at the north-east corner of the nave is a recumbent
effigy of a knight wearing armour of the period when chain-mail was being
exchanged for plate armour. This was during the fourteenth century. The
arms on the shield are those of Bruce, and belonging to this period there
has been discovered a license to Sir William Bruce to have a chantry in
Pickering Church. There can therefore be little doubt that this nameless
effigy is that of Sir William Bruce. The deed is dated "Saturday, the
feast of St John the Evangelist, 1337," and it states that a license was
given in consideration of one messuage and two bovates of land in the
village of Middleton near Pickering for a certain chaplain to celebrate
"Divine (mysteries) daily in the Church of St Peter, Pickering (the full
dedication is to God, St Peter, and St Paul), for the souls of the
masters, William and Robert of Pickering, Adam de Bruce and Mathilda his
wife." The two beautifully carved figures of a knight and his lady that
lie in the Bruce Chapel are not Bruces for the surcoat of the man is
adorned with the arms of the Rockcliffes--an heraldic chess-rook and three
lions' heads. Both the k