Stone pillars, or crosses were also raised to record remarkable events;
as where a battle had been fought, or over persons of distinction slain
therein. Crosses were likewise erected where any particular instance of
mercy had been shown by the Almighty, or where any person had been
murdered by robbers, or had met with a violent death; where the corpse
of any great person had rested on its way to interment, as those
splendid ones erected by Edward I. in memory of his beloved Queen
Elinor; often in churchyards, and in early times at most places of
public concourse; in market-places, perhaps to repress all idea of undue
gain or extortion; and at the meeting of four roads.

Penances were often finished at crosses. Near Stafford stood one called
_Weeping Cross_, from its being a place designated for the expiation of
penances, which concluded with weeping and other signs of contrition. A
great number of sepulchral crosses were erected in Great Britain and
Ireland, soon after prayers for the dead came into use, by the desire of
individuals, at their places of interment, to remind pious people to
pray for their souls.

The ancient practice of consecrating Pagan antiquities to religious
purposes, has been continued to times comparatively modern; thus, Pope
Sixtus V. purified the Antonine column and that of Trajan, dedicating
them to St. Peter and St. Paul, whose statues, of a colossal size, he
placed on their summits. Succeeding Popes followed these examples,
dedicating ancient columns, pillars, and obelisks to different Saints
and Apostles.

A CORRESPONDENT.