Notes on the Church Plate of North Wilts. 337 



silver is very low in price, and he can only give the value of the 

 metal for it. That, however, is better than nothing, and the chalice 

 and its paten cover, which were provided in the days of Elizabeth 

 and have been bound up with the most sacred recollections of the 

 parish ever since — or the seventeenth century cup and flagon, which, 

 although they bear the name and arms of the donor somewhat more 

 conspicuously engraved than it is the fashion to blazon them now— - 

 were doubtless as honest gifts as our own — are got rid of, nominally 

 perhaps, u melted down," in most cases without a faculty, and 

 therefore quite illegally ; and the interest of the plate of that parish 

 is lost for another two hundred years. For the sake of a few 

 shillings a page in the history of the parish is torn out for ever, 

 whilst very possibly the very plate which was despised by its 

 original owners becomes the property of a collector who values it 

 in proportion to the large sum he has paid to obtain it. That this 

 is what actually happens is proved by the curious adventures which 

 have within the last few years befallen an interesting chalice and 

 cover at Cricklade (see Plate I., No. 4). It was kept at the clerk's 

 house, and, as there was a second set of vessels, was never used, 

 and so was never seen or even heard of by anyone in the place. In 

 the natural course of things the old clerk died, and his relatives 

 removed to Manchester carrying with them amongst his effects the 

 chalice, which, although it bore an inscription stating that it belonged 

 to S. Sampson's, Cricklade, they curiously supposed to pertain to 

 themselves. They sold it accordingly to a jeweller in Manchester 

 for 50$., who sold it in turn to a traveller for a London firm. After 

 passing through two other hands it became the property of a gentle- 

 man at the price of £45. At this point it was put up for sale at 

 Christie's, and the attention of the Vicar and churchwardens of 

 Cricklade having been called to the matter they instructed their 

 solicitor to impound the articles. The gentleman into whose pos- 

 session they had passed, finding that they had been wrongfully 

 alienated expressed his willingness to give them up on receiving the 

 sum he himself had paid for them, — and the clerk's family proving 

 amenable to the arguments pressed upon them, the £45 was pro r 

 duced and the plate restored to S. Sampson's again. In this case> 



