318 THE ANTIQUITIES 



logue, or list of effects, being drawn between the prior 

 and sacrist does not appear, nor the date when ; only that 

 it happened in the reign of Hen. VI. This transaction 

 probably took place when Bernes entered on his office ; 

 and there is the more reason to suppose that to be the 

 case, because the list consists of vestments and implements, 

 and relics, such as belonged to the church of the Priory, 

 and fell under the care of the sacrist. For the numerous 

 items I shall refer the curious reader to the Appendix, and 

 shall just mention the relics, although they are not all 

 specified ; and the state of the live stock of the monastery 

 at that juncture. 



" Item 2. osculator. argent. 



"Item i. osculatorium cum osse digiti auricular. S w . 

 Johannis Baptistae. 1 



" Item i. parvam crucem cum V. reliquiis. 



" Item i . anulum argent, et deauratum St. Edmundi. 2 



" Item 2. osculat. de coper. 



" Item i. junctorium St. Ricardi. 3 



"Item i. pecten St. Ricardi. 4 



1 How the convent came by the bone of the little finger of Saint John 

 the Baptist does not appear; probably the founder, while in Palestine, 

 purchased it among the Asiatics, who were at that time great traders in 

 relics. We know from the best authority that as soon as Herod had 

 cruelly beheaded that holy man "his disciples came and took up the 

 body and buried it, and went and told Jesus." Matt. iv. 12. Further 

 would be difficult to say. 



2 November 20, in the calendar, Edmund king and martyr, in the gth 

 century. See also a Sanctus Edmundus in Godwin, among the arch- 

 bishops of Canterbury, in the I3th century; his surname Rich, in 1234. 



3 April 3, ibid. Richard bishop of Chichester, in the I3th century; 

 his surname De la Wich, in 1245. 



Junctorium, perhaps a joint or limb of St. Richard ; but what particular 

 joint the religious were not such osteologists as to specify. This bar- 

 barous word was not to be found in any dictionary consulted by the 

 author. 



4 " Pecten inter ministeria sacra recensetur, quo scil. sacerdotes ac clerici, 

 antequam in ecclesiam procederent, crines pecterent. E quibus colligitur 

 monachos, tune temporis, non omnino tonsos fuisse." Du FRESNE. 



The author remembers to have seen in great farm houses a family 

 comb chained to a post for the use of the hinds when they came into 

 their meals. 



