224 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 123. 



there is a note upon the " unexpected finding the 

 crucifix and gold chain of that pious prince, St. 

 Edward the Confessor." The note contains an 

 extract from the narrative of the circumstances 

 attending the finding of those relics by " Charles 

 Taylour, Gent." (or, Henry Keepe — the writer's 

 correct name). It appears from that account, 

 that when, in 1163, Thomas a Becket obtained a 

 canonisation of the king, and the coffin was opened, 

 the body was found uncorrupted ; and that, 136 

 years after William I. had commanded the coffin 

 to be enshrined, when the abbot resolved to in- 

 spect the body, then likewise " said to be incor- 

 ruptible," he found it so, " being perfect, the limbs 

 flexible," &c. 



A curious parallel to this presented itself re- 

 cently to me in the course of a reference to the 

 2nd volume of Mr. W. B. MacCabe's curious and 

 laborious Catholic History of England. \_En pas- 

 sant, allow me to express the hope, in which I well 

 know many sympathise, that the long-promised 

 thii-d volume, bringing the history down to the 

 accession of William the Conqueror, will ere long 

 appear. The work gives in a well-arranged form 

 so much that is curious in our early national 

 records, that it would be a matter of regret that 

 it should not be completed. It is a great pity 

 indeed that the author's original plan, to carry 

 the history down to the Reformation, should have 

 been abandoned.] After describing the burial of 

 Edgar (also a " Confessor," as well as St. Ed- 

 ward), it is stated that " in the year 1052, 

 upon his tomb being opened by the Abbot Ed- 

 ward, his body was found perfectly free from 

 the slightest stain of corruption ; " and that upon 

 the body being " profanely hacked," in order to 

 make it fit the receptacle prepared for it, " tor- 

 rents of blood burst from the king's corpse." 

 (W. Malmsb. Ges. Reg. Ang.) This, be it re- 

 membered, was eighty-seven years after burial. 

 The body was afterwards deposited in a shrine. 

 Are there other examples mentioned by the chro- 

 niclers of this incorruptibility of saintly kings ? 

 Both Edward and Edgar were, it should be recol- 

 lected, good friends to the monks. William of 

 Malmsbury, in the course of his eulogium upon 

 Edgar, mentions the important fact that the mon- 

 arch not ouly gave — 



« Templa Deo," 

 but also — 



" Teraplls Monachos, Monachis dedit agros." 



Were not these strong reasons why the king 

 should remain uncorrupted, -at all events in the 

 memory, and also the records, of the brotherhood ? 



J. J. S. 



Miliar ^ateS. 

 Rev. A. Butler.— The Rev. R. Gibbings, M.A., 

 did some years since give to the public an exact 



reprint of the first Roman Index Expurgatorius, 

 in the lengthened Introduction to which he has 

 treated of the whole literature pertaining to the 

 question. 



The same rev. gentleman Is author of the fol- 

 lowing elegant inscription on the monument of the 

 Rev. Archer Butler, recently professor of moral 

 philosophy in Trinity College, Dublin. Your mis- 

 cellany seems an appropriate place wherein to en- 

 shrine matters of this order. 

 « D. O. M. 

 GuiLiELMus Archer Butler, A.M., 

 Rathmothachiae Rector in Dioecesi Rapntensi, 

 Apud Dublinienses in Ethicis Professor, 

 Theologus, Poeta, Philosophus, 

 Optitnis ingenii dotibus, summaque eloquenti.\ praeditus, 

 Multa pro Eccle.sia Christ! feliciter conscripsit, 

 Plura moliebatur. 

 Viris ille bonis doctisque juxta carus. 



Integer vitae, maturus animi, 



Religione devinctus, concionihus potens 



iEiiiialium decus, simul et exemplar. 



Maligna febre correptus, 



Elieu, quara intempestive ! 



E terris migravit a.d. mdcccxlviii. setatls suaa xxxvii., 



Triste desideriutn superstitibus relinquens. 

 Amici pie memores hoc illi monumentum poni voluere." 



O. T. D. 



Birthplace of Bishop Hoadley. — On the west 

 side of the London Road, Westerham, Kent, are 

 some neatly built brick cottages : before one of 

 them stands a yew tree, which, I was informed by 

 an Intelligent Inhabitant of the town, was planted 

 by the Rev. — Hoadley, on the birth of his son 

 Benjamin. Although the tree still marks the spot, 

 the liouse itself does not now stand ; It was razed 

 to the ground some years since to make room for 

 the present buildings. Benjamin's brother, who 

 was afterwards Archbishop of Dublin, was also 

 born In this house. I may add that this Is not ge- 

 nerally known in the town, but I think the above 

 " Note " Is accurate. H. G. D. 



Humboldt's " Cosmos" and Nares' " Attempt." — 

 Observing that the learned and accomplished Hum- 

 boldt has concluded his Cosmos in German, although 

 the English ti'anslation of the last portion has not 

 yet appeared, — an extremely valuable and Inte- 

 resting scientific contribution towards a general 

 view of human knowledge regarding the universe, 

 — will you permit me to observe, that as it per- 

 haps did not enter into his plan to consider tlie 

 religious considerations that arise from a Christian's 

 view of the universe in its relation to our small 

 portion of Its apparently Illimitable extent, any 

 reader of Humboldt's work who wishes to see 

 how a scholar and a divine of a former generation 

 has treated the subject, will, If I mistake not, 

 peruse the following work with singular pleasure, 

 making all due allowance for the imperfect state 



