OF SELBOENE 289 



" Hen. VI. una cum confiss. ejusdem Petri script." The 



occasion of this catalogue, 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 pro- 

 bably 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. 



11 Item 2. osculatdr. argent. 



"Item 1. osculatorium cum osse digiti auricular. S fi . Johannis 

 Baptistce. 1 



"Item 1. parvam crucern cum V. reliquiis. 



"Item 1. anulum argent, et deauratum St. Edmundi. 2 



"Item 2. osculat. de coper. 



"Item I.junctorium St. Ricardi. 3 



" Item 1. pecten St. Ricardi." 4 



The staurum, or live stock, is quite ridiculous, consisting only 

 of " 2 vacce, 1 sus, 4 hoggett. et 4 porcell." viz. two cows, one sow, 

 four porkers, and four pigs. 



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. Farther would be difficult to say. 



2 November 20, in the calendar, Edmund king and martyr, in the 9th century. 

 See also a Sanctus Edmundus in God-win, among the archbishops 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 barbarous word was 

 not to be found in any dictionary consulted by the author. 



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

 " quam 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. 



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