134 THE president's address. 



We also find tliat, when the demolition of the premises 

 began, Bishop Vivian's handsome " tumbe of a very darkesche 

 grey marbJe " (catacluse stone), which stood before the high 

 Altar of the Priory Church, was removed for preservation 

 (together with the bones which it contained) into Bodmin Parish 

 Church. There, with Vivian's figure recumbent upon it, it still 

 is. It rests on a modern base and the fragments of his skeleton 

 are now in a zinc box within the paneled portion of the tomb. 

 After I had so placed them the monument underwent a fresh 

 change of position, but I was informed by those engaged in the 

 work that the contents were not interfered with. I have given 

 illustrative plates, of the sculptures in the 5th volume of our 

 Journal (p. 342) and other particulars in the 8th volume (p. 315). 



The Priory buildings, and nearly all things connected with 

 them, gradually disappeared; but, after the lapse of three 

 centuries and a half, certain portions have (as stated) been once 

 more revealed. 



By curious coincidences it has thus fallen to my lot to point 

 out to the first modern Prior of Bodmin (the Very Eevd. Felix 

 Paschal Menchini, C.P.L., Provincial or Superintendent of the 

 three Priories which form the English Province of his Order) the 

 "ivory shell" which at one time enclosed the relics of St. 

 Petroc the Founder of the Bodmin Monastery ; the monument of 

 Prior Vivian, with a part of its long-lost stonework replaced ; 

 the crumbling remains of that Bishop still existing although 

 more than 350 years old (disclosed during the Eevd. Sir Vyell 

 Vyvyan's recent reparation Of the tomb) ; the remains of the 

 steps and tiled pavement trodden by the various Priors, and 

 the base of the Altar at which they ministered, — exhumed from 

 beneath the turf ; also an impression of the ancient Seal ; &c. 



Strange that in connection with Bodmin Priory so many 

 mementoes of the past should have been unveiled in our own 

 day through a succession of unexpected discoveries ! 



The early manuscript volume of the gospels which belonged 

 to this religious house in the 10th century, and in which 

 manumissions of that date are entered, is preserved in the 

 British Museum. A model of the volume, shewing its exact 



