ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 241 



Among my documents I find a curious paper of the things put into 

 the custody of Peter Bernes the sacrist, and especially some relics : 

 the title of this evidence is " No. 50, Indentura ' prioris de Sel- 

 borne quorundam tradit Petro Bernes, sacrista ibidem, ann. 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 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 imple- 

 ments, 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. oscillator, argent. 



" Item 1. osculatorium cum osse digiti auricular. Sti. Johannis 

 Baptists* 



" Item 1. parvam crucem cum V. reliquiis. 



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



" Item 2. osculat. de coper. 



" Item 1. junctorium St. Ricardi.^. 



" Item 1. pecten St. Ricardi" 



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. 



OLD COINS. || 



* How the Convent came by the bone of the little finger of St. 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. 



t November 20, in the calendar, Edmund king and martyr, in the 9th 

 century. See also a Sanctus Edmundus in Godwin, among the archbishops of 

 Canterbury, in the 13th century ; his surname Rich, in 1234. 



t April 3, ibid. Richard Bishop of Chichester, in the 13th 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. 



"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 in to their meals. 



|| These with the key and hinge, p. 240, are kept in the old manor house, and 

 are shown to visitors by the hospitable inmates. This was the site of Selborne 

 priory, and the relics have been dug up at various times in the vicinity. 



& 



