By the Rev. HE. H. Goddard. 341 
finest examples of the latest type in vogue just before the Reformation. 
This Highworth chalice is of solid massive make and in excellent 
preservation. The bowl is broad and shallow, with sides nearly 
straight, having engraved round it the text “Beate qut audiunt 
berbum Det ut custodint ilud,”The base is six foil in shape, and 
round the inner circular part is engraved “ Shu rpe filt Det bt be 
miserere nobis.”’ The junction of the foot and stem is sur- 
rounded by a parapet of architectural open work. The stem itself 
is hexagonal, with cable moulding at the edges, and the knot is 
large, of six lobes projecting widely. A curious feature is the figure 
engraved in the place usually occupied by the crucifix on the foot. 
This is somewhat rubbed and indistinct and it is difficult to say what 
it is, and I cannot find that a similar figure is known on any other 
chalice. It is a seated figure, almost nude, with crossed legs holding 
a palm branch (?), a lily at its foot,—possibly the Man of Sorrows. 
Is it fanciful to suggest that both the figure and the texts have a 
taste as of the approaching Reformation about them ? 
The paten, which, though not hall marked or dated, seems to 
belong to the chalice, has a shallow circular depression in the centre, 
but is without the engraved vernicle or Head of Our Saviour, the 
Hand of God, or the sacred monogram, which almost invariably 
occupy the centre of pre-Reformation patens. Indeed it is 
perfectly plain except for a few slight touches of engraving on the 
rim. . 
Though there are several patens in the south of the county there 
is only one other in the north—that purchased some years ago 
from Messrs. Singer and given to Melksham Church by Canon 
Warre. It is probably of English make, and of late fifteenth or 
early sixteenth century date, but is not marked. It has the vernicle 
with wounds on the cheeks very rudely engraved in the centre. 
Besides these pieces there is at Lacock a remarkable parcel gilt 
covered cup—by some called a ciborium—probably of the latter half 
of the fifteenth century. A broad rounded bowl, on a circular stem 
widening to a base of the same shape, with a high conical cover 
surmeunted by a ball. The edge of the cover and the base are 
surrounded by the characteristic Gothic cresting of the time. This 
