478 
ANTIQUITIES 
LETTER XIX. 
TEPE died towards tlie end of the year 1458, 
as we may suppose pretty far advanced in 
life, having been prior forty-four years. 
On the very day that the vacancy hap- 
pened, viz. January 26, 1463-4, the sub-prior 
and convent petitioned the visitor — vos unicum levamen 
nostrum et spem unanimiter rogamus, quatinus eligendum 
ex nobis unum confratrem de gremio nostro, in nostra 
religione probatum et expertum, licenciam vestram pater- 
nalem cum plena libertate nobis concedere dignemini gra- 
ciose/^ — Reg. Waynflete, tom. i. 
Instead of the license requested we find next a commission 
'^custodie prioratus de Selebourne durante vacatione," 
addressed to brother Peter Berne, canon-regular of the 
Priory of Selebourne, and of the order of St. Augustine, 
appointing him keeper of the said Priory, and empowering 
him to collect and receive the profits and revenues, and 
alia bona of the said Priory ; and to exercise in every 
respect the full power and authority of a prior ; but to be 
responsible to the visitor finally, and to maintain this supe- 
riority during the bishop's pleasure only. This instrument 
is dated from the bishop's manor-house in Southwark, 
March 1, 1453-4, and the seventh of his consecration. 
After this transaction it does not appear that the chapter 
of the Priory proceeded to any election : on the contrary, 
we find that at six months' end from the vacancy the visitor 
declared that a lapse had taken place ; and that therefore 
clerici, antequam in ecclesiam procederent, crines pecterent. E quibus 
coUigitur monachos, tunc temporis, non omnino tonsos fuissi." — 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. — G. W, 
