point in history, if they tend not to ascertain the state of ancient manners or of ancient art, mankind will be little the better for them. They may at first be regarded with some degree of enthusiasm, but that will be confined to the antiquary himself, and with him it will soon subside, when the mind is at leisure to consider their uselessness.

I readily agree with your correspondent in his encomiums on the late Mr. Spicer; but he is much mistaken if he thinks there are not still many gentlemen in Reading, who would be equally active in preventing any thing that bore the appearance of the sacrilege he mentions.

Mr. P. is guilty of a little mistake in mentioning Henry the First's death as on the second of September. He will find it corrected in the note at the bottom of page 199, vol. I. of Rapin, ed. Lond. 1732. John Brompton, Matthew of Paris, Henry of Huntingdon, and Roger Hoveden, say December the first; Matthew of Westminster, and Gervase of Canterbury, Dec. 2. The fact is, he died at midnight, Dec. which might easily occasion this variation. "Calendas Decembris qua nocte decessit." William of Malmsbury. Vide Rerum Angl. Script. post Bedam, p, 100, ed. Lond. 1596.

1786, January.

Yours, &c.

JUVENIS.

XXI. The Testimony of Clement Maydestone, that the Body of King Henry IV. was thrown into the Thames, and not buried at Canterbury. Translated from a Latin Manuscript in the Libray of Bene't College, Cambridge.

THIRTY days after the death of Henry IV,* one of his domestics came to the house of the Holy Trinity, in Hounslow, and dined there. And as the by-standers were talking at dinner-time of that king's irreproachable morals, this man said to a certain esquire, named Thomas Maydestone, then sitting at a table, "Whether he was a good man or not, God knows; but of this I am certain, that when his corpse was carried from Westminster towards Canterbury, in a small vessel, in order to be buried there, I and two more, threw

* Henry IV. died Sept. 14, 1412.

his corpse into the sea, between Berkingham and Gravesend. And (he added with an oath) we were overtaken by such a storm of winds and waves, that many of the nobility, who followed us in eight ships, were dispersed, so as with difficulty to escape being lost. But we, who were with the body, despairing of our lives, with one consent threw it into the sea; and a great calm ensued. The coffin in which it lay, covered with cloth of gold, we carried with great solemnity to Canterbury, and buried it. The monks of Canterbury, therefore say, that the tomb, not the Body, of Henry IV. is with us. As Peter said of holy Davids

Acts ii."

As God Almighty is my witness and judge, I saw this man, and heard him swear to my father, Thomas Maydestone, that all the above was true.

1767, July.

CLEMENT MAYDESTONE.

Testimonium Henrici Quarti Corpus fuisse in Thamesin projectum et non tumulatum Cantuariæ. (MSS. C.C.C.C. M. 14, 197.)

"Post mortem ejusdem regis accidit quoddam mirabile ad prædicti Domini Richardi Archipræsulis gloriam declarandam et æternæ memoriæ commendandam. Nam infra triginta dies post mortem regis Henrici Quarti venit quidem vir de familia ejusdem ad domum Sanctæ Trinitatis de Houndeslowe, vescendi causa; et cum in prandio sermonizarent circumstantes de probitate morum ipsius regis, respondet prædictus vir cuidam armigero vocato Thomæ de Maydestone, in eadem mensa tunc sedenti, si fuerit vir bonus novit Deus, sed hoc scio verissime quod cum a Westmon' corpus ejus versus Cantuariam in parva navicula portaretur ibidem sepeliendum, ego fui unus de tribus personis qui projecerunt corpus ejus in mare inter Berkingham et Gravesend; et (addidit cum juramento) tanta tempestas ventorum et fluctuum irruit super nos, quod multi nobiles sequentes nos in naviculis, octo in numero, dispersi sunt, ut vix mortis periculum evaserunt; nos vero qui eramus cum corpore in desperatione vitæ nostræ positi, cum assensu projecimus illud in mare, et facta est tranquillitas magna: cistam vero in qua jacebat panno deaurato coopertam cum maximo honore Cantuariam deportavimus, et sepelivimus eam. eunt ergo monachi Cantuariæ quod sepulchrum regis Henrici Quarti est apud nos, non corpus; sicut dixit Petrus dé S'to David, Act. ij".

Deus omnipotens est testis et judex quod ego Clemens Maydestone vidi virum illum, et audivi ipsum jurantem patri meo Thomæ Maydestone omnia prædicta fore vera." 1794, Nov.

SIR,

XXII. An Hour-glass found in a Coffin.

IN June, 1718, as I was walking into the fields, I stopt in Clerkenwell church-yard to see a grave-digger at work. He had dug pretty deep, and was come to a coffin, which had lain so long that it was quite rotten, and the plate eaten so with rust, that he could not read any thing of the inscription. In clearing away the rotten pieces of wood, the grave-digger found an hour-glass close to the left side of the skull, with sand in it, the wood of which was so rotten that it broke where he took hold of it. Being a lover of antiquity, I bought it of him, and took a draught of it as it then appeared: some time after, mentioning this affair in company of some antiquarians, they told me, that it was an ancient custom to put an hour-glass into the coffin, as an emblem of the sand of life being run out; others conjectured, that little hour-glasses were anciently given at funerals, like rosemary, and by the friends of the dead, put in the coffin, or thrown into the grave. I send you also one of the glasses, (being two inches and a half high, and two inches greatest diameter), which you will observe to be tarnished by lying in the earth, and to have various colours, if held so as that the light may be reflected from it to the eye.

1746, Dec.

Yours,

W. P.

SIR,

XXIII. Of BURIAL GARLANDS.

BEING a constant reader of your instructive, as well as diverting magazine, I take the liberty to present you with some remarks on a passage in that of December last, which

gives an account of an hour-glass, found in a grave in Clerkenwell church-yard; and that some antiquarians suppose, that it was an ancient custom to put an hour-glass into the coffin, as an emblem of the sand of life being run out; others conjectured that little hour-glasses were anciently given at funerals, like rosemary, and by the friends of the dead put in the coffin or the grave.

But I fear neither of these customs can be proved by the works of any authentic author; besides, had such been the use or custom, certainly these glasses, or at least fragments of them, would be more frequently discovered. Give me leave, Sir, therefore, to offer what I flatter myself will seem a more probable reason for the hour glass's interment.

In this nation (as well as others) by the abundant zeal of our ancestors, virginity was held in great estimation; insomuch that those which died in that state were rewarded, at their deaths, with a garland or crown on their heads, denoting their triumphant victory over the lusts of the flesh. Nay, this honour was extended even to a widow that had enjoyed but one husband (saith Weaver in his Fun. Mon. p. 12.). And, in the year 1733, the present clerk of the parish church of Bromley in Kent, by his digging a grave in that church-yard, close to the east end of the chancel wall, dug up one of these crowns, or garlands, which is most artificially wrought in fillagree work with gold and silver wire, in resemblance of myrtle (with which plant the funebrial garlands of the ancients were composed,*) whose leaves are fastened to hoops of larger wire of iron, now something corroded with rust, but both the gold and silver remain to this time very little different from their original splendor. It was also lined with cloth of silver, a piece of which, together with part of this curious garland, I keep as a choice relic of antiquity.

Besides these crowns, the ancients had also their depository garlands, the use of which were continued even till of lateyears (and perhaps are still retained in many parts of thismation, for my own knowledge of these matters extends notabove twenty or thirty miles round London) which garlans, at the funerals of the deceased, were carried solemnly befre the corpse by two maids, and afterwards hung up in sone conspicuous place within the church, in memorial of thedeparted person, and were (at least all that I have seen)

* Sir Thomas Brown's Misc. Tracts, p. 29.

made after the following manner, viz. the lower rim or circlet was a broad hoop of wood, whereunto was fixed, at the sides thereof, part of two other hoops crossing each other at the top, at right angles, which formed the upper part, being about one-third longer than the width; these hoops were wholly covered with artificial flowers of paper, dyed horn, or silk, and more or less beauteous, according to the skill or ingenuity of the performer. In the vacancy, of the inside, from the top, hung white paper, cut in form of gloves, whereon was wrote the deceased's name, age, &c. together with long slips of various coloured paper, or ribbons. These were many times intermixed with gilded or painted empty shells of blown eggs, as farther ornaments; or, it may be, as emblems of the bubbles or bitterness of this life; whilst other garlands had only a solitary hourglass hanging therein, as a more significant symbol of mortality.

About forty years ago, these garlands grew much out of repute, and were thought, by many, as very unbecoming decorations for so sacred a place as the church; and at the reparation, or new beautifying several churches where I have been concerned, I was obliged, by order of the minister and churchwardens, to take the garlands down, and the inbabitants were strictly forbidden to hang up any more for the future. Yet notwithstanding, several people, unwilling to forsake their ancient and delightful custom, continued still the making of them, and they were carried at the funerals, as before, to the grave, and put therein, upon the coffin, over the face of the dead; this I have seen done in many places. Now I doubt not but such a garland, with an hour-glass, was thus placed in the grave at Clerkenwell, which at the roting and falling in of the lid of the coffin, must consequently be found close to the skull, as that was said to be, and the wooden frame of the glass being but of slender substance must needs have long since decayed, had it not been in geat measure secured from moisture within the hollow part ofthe garland, though the thread that held it might in a short ime let it slip down to the coffin's lid.

Thus, Sir, I have given you my thoughts of your Clerken well hour-glass, although there may be several things fond in graves not so easily accounted for: as in digging a grae, anno 1720, for one Mr. William Clements, in Nockbolt church-yard, in this county, were found deep in the eath several rolls of brimstone; and last year was dug out & a grave at Wilmington near Dartford, a quantity of Hery