Literary Gossip for Archæologists. MR. ELLIOT STOCK has another of the series of the "Book Lover's Library" nearly ready for publication. The title is Studies in Jocular Literature. We may, with comparative safety, praise it beforehand, for the author is Mr. William C. Hazlitt. The fine and remarkable series of wall-paintings in the nave of the church of Pickering recently described in the Antiquary by the vicar, the Rev. G. H. Lightfoot, have been carefully photographed by Mr. Glaisby, of York, and are about to be printed in a small volume in process plates. Rev. Dr. Cox, at the request of the vicar, will write the letterpress. Prof. Man, to whom we owe an essay, in the Mittheilungen of the German Institute in Rome, on the gladiatorial graffite found last year in a house on the north side of the viâ Nolana, is now occupied with the so-called building of Eumachia, fronting the city forum, which presents some problems that await solution. The collection of coins at Athens, which has been kept under seal since the great theft of three years ago, is now to be re-arranged and removed to the adjoining Academy. Maybe a new catalogue will be required to supplant the old quarto compiled by the genial Austrian head of the department. A new series of English translations of the more important writings of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers is about to be issued by Messrs. Parker and Co., Broad Street, Oxford, under the editorial supervision of Rev. Dr. Wace, King's College, London, and Rev. Dr. Schaff, Union Theological Seminary, New York. The treatises selected will be for the most part now made accessible in English for the first time. The special feature of the series is the cheap rate at which it will be issued. Each volume will consist of from 500 to 600 pages of 4to. size, well and clearly printed, and containing at least three times as much as an ordinary 8vo. volume, and yet the subscription price per volume is only 10s. 6d. Mr. E. M. Beloe, junr., King's Lynn, is just issuing a series of twelve plates of Norfolk fourteenth-century brasses, complete in two parts. The first part (to be published in August) contains examples from Elsing, Lynn, Necton, Felbrigg, South Acre, and Emneth. The second part (to be published in September) will consist of another Elsing example, and others from Methwold, Hellesdon, Blickling, Beachamwell, Reepham, and Harpley. Each part is priced at the very moderate cost of 2s. 6d. (post free) to subscribers. The size of the plates will be 17 x 11 inches. Judging from the proofs of two examples sent us, the plates will be of much merit. William Andrews and Co., Hull, will issue immediately a handy book on the fine church of Holy Trinity, Hull, which is claimed to be the second largest parish church in England. The work is from the painstaking pen of the Rev. J. R. Boyle, F.S.A., of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and formerly of Hull. The same firm will shortly publish a volume under the title of Yorkshire Family Romance, by Frederic Ross, F.R.H.S. The book is the result of great research, and will include much that is curious, interesting, and informing. Mr. William Andrews, secretary of the Hull Literary Club, is preparing for the press an historical symposium to be fully illustrated, and to appear shortly under the title of Bygone Lincolnshire: Its History, Folk-Lore, and Memorable Men and Women. Amongst the contributors will be Mr. Edward Peacock, F.S.A.; Miss Mabel Peacock; the Rev. J. R. Boyle, F.S.A.; the Rev. R. V. Taylor, B.A.; Mr. Tindall Wildridge; Mr. J. H. Leggott; Mr. T. Broadbent Trowsdall, and other authorities on old Lincolnshire. Mr. Bernard Victor, of Mousehole, Cornwall, has just died at the age of seventy-three. He was one of several of the same name who took a deep interest in the old Cornish language and literature, and in local history. Educated at Paul national school, he was off to Ireland on the herring fishery when only fourteen. Studious and observant, though very retiring, Mr. Victor wrote an essay on the ancient Cornish language and a glossary, which were published in an early number of the Cornishman, and, subsequently, a glossary of old Cornish words still in use. He also compiled a list of natives of Mousehole who have been masters of vessels for the past fifty years, and an account of Dolly Pentreath. The Rev. W. Dann Macray, author of The Annals of the Bodleian Library, of which the second enlarged edition has just appeared, was presented on the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of his employment in the Bodleian Library with an address and a memorial by the staff of this institution present and past. Amongst the latter are the Dean of Canterbury, Prof. Max Müller, Mr. Ingram Bywater, and the Rev. J. W. Nutt. Mr. Macray has taken a great part in the compilation of the general catalogue of the Bodleian Library, and is the author of the catalogues of the MS. collections Digby and Rawlinson A to D, the last of which is passing through the press. Mr. Macray, being one of the most experienced of Latin palæographers, has assisted, and still continues to assist, a great number of workers upon Latin MSS. in the Bodleian Library. The Record Office has also availed itself from time to time of his capacities for investigating documents in foreign and provincial archives.-Athenæum. Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. are just about to publish an historical romance of the Vale of Belvoir, entitled A Cavalier Stronghold, by Mrs. Chaworth Musters. Mrs. Musters is a keen archeologist, and we expect that the subject will be worthily treated by her pen. Reviews and Motices of New Books. [Publishers are requested to be so good as always to mark clearly the prices of books sent for review, as these notices are intended to be a practical aid to book-buying readers.] DOMESDAY MAP OF SOMERSETSHIRE. The Right Rev. Bishop Hobhouse has accomplished an exceedingly useful and original work for the Somersetshire Archæological and Natural History Society, by preparing a map of the county of Somerset upon which are shown, in colours, the chief estates as they were divided according to the Domesday return of 1086. It must be remembered in consulting this map, that the modern parishes, into which the map is divided, do not always coincide in area with the ancient ones, and that both often differ from the manorial areas of Domesday and from a survey which knew nothing of parishes. Nor are a few of the holdings, which were too small for a separate tint, coloured on the map. After making these two allowances, Bishop Hobhouse's map gives us a wonderfully clear idea of the subdivisions of the county in the Norman days. No less than twentynine different tints or markings are used, but they are so well arranged that there is no confusion. It is curious to note how the extensive lands of the king are scattered about over the whole of this large county, instead of being massed in one or two districts. The largest patch of royal manors is at the extreme west of the county, Exmoor, Oare, Withypool, Winsford, Hawkridge, Dulverton, Kings Brompton, and Upton ; but we find single manors or small groups in every direction, as at Abbots Leigh, Cheddar, Chewton Mendip, and Norton, in the north; at Frome, Bruton, and Henstridge on the east; at Milverton, Crewkerne, East and West Coker on the south; or at North Peverton, Cannington, or Somerton in the centre of the county. Probably this was done for politic and military reasons. The great possessions of the church of Glastonbury, on the contrary, though including some detached portions, centre round that vale, forming an immense estate of some fifty manors, encircled, as it were, in a ring fence by the various holdings of other lords. Other ecclesiastical lords were the Bishop of Winchester, Bishop of Coutances, Bishop of Wells, Church of Bath, Church of Muchelney, Church of Athelney, together with a single manor pertaining to the Church of St. Peter-at-Rome. This map has received the special praise and recommendation of the recent congress of archæological societies in union with the Society of Antiquaries, an honour which it certainly deserves. We hope that like maps will be prepared for all our counties. We are glad to be able to state that copies can be procured at the small cost of Is., from the Curator, Museum, Taunton Castle. THE SURNAMES AND PLACE-NAMES OF THE ISLE OF MAN. By A. W. Moore, M.A. Elliot Stock. Demy 8vo., pp. xiv. 372. Price 10s. 6d. The value of this book is guaranteed in an introduction by Prof. Rhys, who draws attention to the singular facilities that Mr. Moore has had for study. ing everything of the nature of documentary evidence bearing on Manx proper names, and to the ability and taste with which for some years he edited the Manx Note Book. The aim of the volume is to give a complete account of the Personal Names and PlaceNames of the island. The history of the Isle of Man falls into three periods. In the first of these the island was inhabited by a Celtic people, identical in race and language with the population of Ireland. The second period is that of the Viking invasion, and the establishment of Scandinavian rule. The third period is that of English dominion, when the island became subject to much immigration from Great Britain. The Celtic influences, though weakened by Norse incursions and settlements, did not entirely cease till the English connection was firmly established under the Stanleys. As late as the end of last century the majority of Manxmen still spoke their old Celtic tongue. With regard to the Scandinavian incursions that began in the ninth century, Manx nomenclature proves that the island was visited both by Norwegians and Danes, with a preponderance of the former. In surnames, those of Irish derivation form the largest class; but the Norse epoch is represented by a considerable number of surnames inherited from the Vikings, though these Scandinavian names are Celticized in form by receiving the Irish prefix Mac, and by undergoing a kind of phonetic corruption in passing through Celtic-speaking lips. Of the continuance of the natives in the island, and of their intermarriage with the Norse invaders, there is ample confirmation from the names inscribed on the old Runic crosses. English rule, of course, introduced many surnames from different parts of Great Britain, and this movement has been accelerated of late years. With regard to the place-names, their origin being comparatively recent, the rendering of the Celtic terms is in most cases easily explainable, as they were understood till of late years by the people who used them, and their forms are in accord with modern pronunciation. They resemble the Irish place-names more closely than the Scotch. The smaller number, however, of Scandinavian place-names are much more obscure, having become corrupted by being for centuries in the mouths of a people speaking a totally different language. Although this admirable work chiefly appeals to the student of glottology, and of the history that depends thereon, the pages teem with matter that is suggestive and interesting to the student of archæo. logy and anthropology. References abound with regard to cromlechs, cairns, and tumuli. The following is an instance from p. 188: "Magher-y-Chiarm, 'Field of the Lord,' in the parish of Marown, on which is found the so-called 'St. Patrick's Chair,' in which the saint is said to have sat when he gave his blessing to the Manx. It is really the remains of a cromlech. The lower portion is a platform of stones and sods, 7 feet 6 inches long, by 3 feet 6 inches deep. On this platform stand two upright slabs of blue slate, on the west faces of which are crosses. There appears to have been another slab formerly." Under Chibber, a well, occurs this passage, which will be of special interest to the readers of the Antiquary who have followed Mr. Hope's Well-Lore notes. "The numerous well-names in the Isle of Man are usually found near old ecclesiastical sites, as the holy recluses would naturally build their kecills near springs, where they would construct wells both for their own personal convenience, as well as for baptizing their disciples. Some of these wells were formerly much venerated, as their waters were supposed to possess sanative qualities, and to be of special virtue as charms against witchcraft and fairies. They were generally visited on Ascension Day, and on the first Sunday in August, called yn chied doonaght yn ourr, the first Sunday of the harvest,' when the devotees would drop a small coin into the well, drink of the water, repeat a prayer, in which they mentioned their ailments, and then decorate the well, or the trees overhanging it, with flowers and other votive offerings, usually rags. They believed that when the flowers withered, or the rags rotted, their ailments would be cured. These rites have been observed in the Isle of Man within the memory of those now living. There is a well on Gob-y-Vollee, called Chibber Lansh, consisting of three pools, which was formerly much resorted to for the cure of sore eyes. The cure could only be effective if the patient came on Sunday and walked three times round each pool, saying in Manx: Ayns enym yn Ayr, as y Vac, as y Spyrryd Nu-In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and then applied the water to his or her eye." Various Chibbers are mentioned throughout the book, such as Chibber Pherick, "Patrick's Well;" Chibber Voirrey, "Mary's Well (three instances); Chibber Niglas, "Nicholas' Well;" Chibber Vreeshey, Bridget's Well;" Chibber Katreeney, "Catharine's Well;" and Chibber Vaill, "Michael's Well;" in fact there are no less than twenty-six enumerated in the index. This volume is clearly printed, admirably divided, and obviously the work of a scholar from beginning to end. Some of the Celtic derivations are open to criticism, but it is, so far, the best book on nomenclature that has yet been produced. THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE LIBRARY: ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES. Part I. Edited by George Laurence Gomme, F.S.A. 8vo., pp. xv., 400. Elliot Stock. Price 7s. 6d. We feel quite sure that there will be no volume of this useful series of reprints from the Gentleman's Magazine (1731 to 1868) that will be so generally acceptable as the one now before us. Owing to the fact that there is an old church in almost every parish of England, ecclesiologists will always be in a majority among English antiquaries, and this volume appeals especially to that large class of cultivated Englishmen who are interested in the fabrics of our ancient churches and minsters. Another peculiarity of this volume is that the whole of its closely-printed pages is taken from the writings of a single architectural critic. John Carter, the well-known antiquary and architect, contributed between 1798 and 1817 to the Gentleman's Magazine, under the signature of "An Architect," a series of stern and much-needed articles on the senseless waste of money then being spent in the practical destruction of old buildings. These articles were so voluminous that Mr. Gomme has been obliged to make free use of the pruning knife, but not a page that has been given us in this reprint could well be spared. The editor wisely remarks: "I think no true architectural antiquary will regret having in a handy form for reference these honest attempts at reforming English taste and feeling about our ancient monuments. The details are extremely important, because they consist of descriptions written from actual surveys of the various buildings, and in many cases, as recorded in the notes, the hand of the restorer has been at work again upon these buildings, and spoilt much that existed at the beginning of the century." Mr. Gomme gives us in the preface a good summary of the life and work of John Carter. The brief notes at the end of the volume give with accuracy the various restorations and alterations that have been effected with regard to the buildings criticised in the body of the work since the death of Mr. Carter. Short as these notes are, they represent a great amount of painstaking inquiry. The scope of this work is so wide, the architectural wanderings of John Carter being so extensive, that it ought to be of general interest and value to antiquaries in all parts of the kingdom. As an instance of its extent we give a list of the buildings treated of under the letter C: Carmarthen Castle, and Priory Church; Caldicot Castle; Canterbury Cathedral; Cardiff Castle; Caerleon; Carew Castle; Carisbrooke Castle; Charleton Church; Chepstow Castle, and Church; Chichester Cathedral; Chipping Ongar Castle, and Church; Christchurch; Cirencester Church; Conisborough Castle; Coventry Cathedral, St. Mary's Church, St. Michael's Church, St. John's Church, Trinity Church, Free School, Grey Friars, Ford's Hospital, and Babelake's Hospital; Coverham Abbey; Cowdry House; and Crick Howel Castle, and Church. THE PARISH OF HOLBEACH. By Rev. Grant W. Macdonald, M.A. C. H. Foster, King's Lynn. 8vo., pp. 266. Price 7s. 6d. These historical notices of the parish of Holbeach, county Lincoln, are well done, and give evidence of wide and careful reading. The original intention of the author was merely to collect information about the past clergy of the town of Holbeach with a view to publishing memorials of them, but eventually so much information came to hand from the Public Record Office, and from the admirably arranged muniments of Lincoln Cathedral, that Mr. Macdonald wisely decided to widen the scope of his inquiries, and to draw up a work which fully deserves the modest title of Historical Notices of the Parish of Holbeach, with Memorials of its Clergy. The usual sources of parochial information, such as Domesday Survey, Testa de Nevill, Quo Warranto, Plea, Patent, and Close Rolls, have been carefully searched, and the extracts relative to Holbeach all Englished. When we come to the divisions pertaining to the clergy of the past, there is greater fulness of treatment, and better arrangement. The list begins with William Fitz Conan, who was rector circa 1225. From that time to the present, a perfect list of the successive incumbents is given, with interesting notes as to the great majority of them-notes, the labour of which can only be appreciated by those who have en deavoured to do likewise for their own parish. The rectory of Holbeach came to an end in 1334, when the benefice was appropriated to the bishopric of Lincoln, a vicarage being ordained for Holbeach. Of the early rectors, one was a man of great celebrity. Anthony Bek resigned Holbeach Rectory in 1283 to be consecrated Bishop of Durham, where he became one of the most eminent successors of St. Cuthbert. He was a man of vast power and national importance; his biography has yet to be written; he obtained of the Pope the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and of the King the Principality of Man. Among the vicars of Holbeach was Dom. Thomas Swyllyngton, who was collated to the vicarage in 1534. In the Institution Register he is styled "Bishop of Philadelphia." Under that title he acted as suffragan to John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, who had the onerous post of being confessor to Henry VIII., and was also Lord Almoner, and very popular as a preacher. Dr. William Stukeley, the eminent antiquary, was a native of Holbeach; he was born in 1687, and died in 1765. He received his first education at the hands of Mr. Coleman, who taught "in the Quire of the church of Holbeach." Mr. Macdonald gives a good condensed biography of this Holbeach worthy. Readers of the Antiquary will remember an interesting paper by Mr. Hardy, F.S. A., in the number for January, 1890, as to the application of necromancy to discover the culprit in a robbery of jewels and ornaments from the church of Holbeach, temp. Henry VIII. Mr. Macdonald refers to and quotes this article, and is able to give further particulars with regard to this sacrilege. We notice a few mistakes, such as writing of "reconsecration" instead of "reconciliation," a totally different ceremony, which was used at Holbeach Church in 1530 after shedding of blood; and naming the church in Dover Castle as an evidence of Christianity amongst the ancient Britons, an error long since exploded. But, after all, the blemishes of this book are very few, and its good features obvious and many. NEWSPAPER REPORTING IN OLDEN TIMES AND TO-DAY. By John Pendleton. Elliot Stock. Pp. x. 245. Price 4s. 6d. Mr. Pendleton has produced, as a new volume of the Book-Lover's Library Series, a readable, chatty, and pleasant little book on newspaper reporting, of which he has had considerable experience both at Leeds and Manchester. The opening section deals with reporting in olden time, and begins with an account of the Acta Diurna, or Daily Advertiser of Consular Rome. The story of the Reporter in Parliament, which has often been told before, is here graphically summarized and reproduced. The diagram that accompanies the chapter on Reporting To-day in the House," which shows the seats allotted to the respective papers and press agencies in the gallery, will be studied with interest. Other chapters deal with "A Gossip About Shorthand," "The Reporter's Work," "Some Experiences and Adventures of Reporting." The last chapter is a useful one as to the bibliography of the subject, in which is given a descriptive catalogue of the principal writings that pertain to reporters and newspapers. A few amusing combinations of reporters' and printers' errors, that we do not recollect having seen before, enliven the book. Perhaps the best of these stories is the one wherein the brave warrior at a meeting on his home-coming was spoken of as "this battle-scarred veteran,' transcribed by the reporter as "this battle-scared veteran," and, with a graceful apology for the printer's error, altered the next day to "this bottle-scarred veteran." THE CORPORATION RECORDS OF ST. ALBANS. By A. E. Gibbs, F.L.S. Gibbs and Bamforth, St. Albans. Pp. 320. Price 5s. In the year 1888, Mr. Gibbs obtained leave from the Corporation of St. Albans to have access to their books and documents for the purpose of writing a series of articles in the Herts Advertiser. The articles that were the result of this inspection have now been reproduced in book form. They make a handy and useful volume for all those interested in the city of St. Albans. We look in vain, however, for exact transcripts, or even any full account or inventory of charters, deeds, and documents, so that the pages are but of small value to the general antiquary. The work chiefly consists of extracts from the old court or minute-books, which begin with the year 1586. More than half the volume consists of extracts since the beginning of the present century. We are glad to find that the corporation, in Elizabeth's reign, realized the important trust of maintaining the noble Abbey church. At a Court held on February 21, 1596, it was ordered that the Market House should be finished and lofted over to make the most benefit thereof, and the rent was to go towards the repairing of the Abbey church, and the principal burgesses and twenty-four assistants agreed to contribute according to their callings to so good a work. It had been thought advisable that a petition should be sent to the Lord Keeper and other members of the Privy Council to have a collection for the repairing of the Abbey Church, but it was now agreed for the more credit and expedition of the matter, that the Mayor himself should go personally to the Lord Keeper, and to the knights and gentlemen of the Shire to induce them to help to effect the object in view. The expenses of the Mayor and his servant were to be defrayed by the corporation. 100 In 1832 the Court resolved to subscribe towards the repair of the Abbey church, provided the whole sum of £15,000, computed necessary for the purpose, was raised; but in the following year the corporation reduced their grant to £50, the sum required for repair being then estimated at £6,000 instead of £15,000. THE DAYS OF JAMES IV. (Scottish History by Contemporary Writers). Arranged and edited by G. Gregory Smith, M.A. David Nutt. Pp. 219, with illustrations and maps. Price Is. In this excellent little volume of an excellent series, the reign of James IV. of Scotland (1488-1513) is well illustrated by carefully selected extracts from Royal Letters, Polydore Vergil, Hall, Major, Boece, Myln, and the State Papers. The large correspondence that James IV. had with every power of conti nental Europe, from Spain to the Baltic, is a proof of the position that the little northern kingdom had at that time won in the field of European politics. The internal and social history of the reign stands out in strong relief from the strifes and disorders of those that preceded and followed it. These were, too, the golden days of Scottish literature, and chivalry, and art. A portrait of the learned Bishop Elphinstone forms an appropriate frontispiece. LOSTARA: A POEM. By Sophia Lydia Walters. Elliot Stock. 8vo., pp. 167. Price 2s. 6d. The staff of the Antiquary does not include a poet, nor perhaps any competent poetical critic; but the writer of this paragraph can certainly claim to have read very largely of the writings of poets, both ancient and modern, with an intense appreciation of many of their moods and methods. It is his opinion that the author of Lostara has yet to prove her claim to be ranked in any true sense as a poet. Here and there are pretty bits, especially in the songs; there is a pleasant swing, for instance, in this verse : "Quiet lips that cannot lie, Heart like the fawn, Eyes gray as dawn.' But the alternately rhymed lines of the great majority of the pages are strangely crude and halting : "We yield to fate; we victims are poor drones By scheming wives, by wily chaperons; Women who would know more than man himself." We As to the motive of these clearly-printed pages, the dedication explains that they are offered "to those thinkers, whose mode of reasoning tends to reconcile opposing schools of science and philosophy." read and re-read and grow more muddled. We doubt whether Free Thought or any other shade of Socialism will be the better for this vague rhymed advocacy. This good lady's ideal town is one planned on the "Athenian school," wherein : "Our free state baths are beautifully Greek ; a sort of etherealized Barnum's show without any tickets. But stay, possibly the author is not advocating anything of the kind! Perhaps it is all a satire, for the lady seems to have a good warm healthy hatred or contempt for everything of which she writes, "faction trotting abroad in holy cloth," "the pious type of agitator," "well-fed missionaries," "the little factionists," "artistic maunderers of every kind," "religious maunderers of sentiment," etc., etc.; though we are not surprised to find that the fiercest vials of her wrath are reserved for leader-writers, and for "all the artful tribe of phrase arrangers, who have never known the mood of inspiration act like swords through language." We are quite ready to grant that the Queen's English is much cut up in these pages, though we look in vain for the inspiration. We had reserved the mention of a few phrases that show strange notions as to things ancient in the way of customs and habits, but we pause, adapting for our purpose two of the author's lines that unwittingly supply an apt definition of this poem, and say with "dear Aunt Ruth," when the storm affected her : "How wearying it is to have to be The ballast to hysteric mystery." BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED.-Reviews of several books have to be again deferred, including one on Mr. Micklethwaite's valuable paper on "Parish Churches and the Ornaments Rubric." From Messrs. Freestone and Knapp, Nottingham, we have received Local Stories, which is a reprint of four good tales founded on local history and tradition, which orginally appeared in The Mansfield Advertiser, price 4d. The British Bookmaker, with which is incorporated the Bookbinder, is a journal of the various book-making crafts; but in its new and attractive form it also appeals to librarians and generally to book-lovers; the July issue (price 6d.) of the new series is a remarkably good venture, and we should think that it will speedily attain to a considerable circulation. We also have a special word of commendation for The Building World, a monthly architectural review, price 4d. The number for August is of much interest to archeologists. There is a good paper by Mr. E. G. Bruton, F.S. A., on "The Town Walls of Oxford." "Church Planning and Ceremonial" is the title of an admirable series of papers, invaluable to clergy; the section for August is on the Sacristy, illustrated with a plan. GEDNEY BRASS, LINCOLNShire. An excellent plate of this remarkable brass, of a lady, c. 1390-1400, discovered in the south aisle of Gedney Church in July, 1890, and described at length in the Antiquary for August, has been published by Mr. E. M. Beloe, junr., of King's Lynn. It is a careful photo-lithograph from a rubbing. We understand that there are a few copies remaining for disposal at 6d. each. Correspondence. AN OLD STAFFORDSHIRE PULPIT. I HAVE lately bought an old oak pulpit at a sale in this neighbourhood. The whole is in separate pieces, and I am inclined to think may be the steps only of a really magnificent pulpit, as all the panels are "on the rake." The inscription is as follows: "1602. PVLPITI ASCENSVS IMPENSIS FRATRIS NICOLAI PATIN HVIVS DOMVS PRIORIS FACTVS EST." It is carved on two curved and moulded pieces, which have probably formed a part of the base of the pulpit. The letters have been filled with composition, most of which has disappeared. There are two difficulties with regard to the inscription: the date is a very awkward one, and the word PATIN has its three first letters on one of the pieces, and its two last on the other. Is Patin the surname of Brother Nicholas, or has a portion of the inscription been lost? I shall be glad if any of your readers can throw some light on this. The pulpit |
