Note 55 — LETTER II.
Reading edition
l. 16. Field of blood.—Here is a small mistake—Lichfield is not the field of blood, but “the field of dead bodies,” alluding to a battle fought between the Romans and the British Christians in the Dioclesian persecution, when the latter were massacred.—Three slain kings, with their burying-place, now Barrowcop-hill, and the cathedral in miniature, form the city arms. Lich is still a word in use. The church-yard gates, through which funerals pass, are often called Lich-gates, vulgarly light-gates.