Note 88 — LETTERS
Reading edition
Field of blood.—Here is a small mistake. Lichfield is not the field of blood, but "the field of dead bodies," alluding to the battle fought between the Romans and the British Christians in the Diocletian 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.