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ST. JOHN OF BEVERLEY.<br />

dagger, has been supposed to be the same which Athelstane<br />

had left as an earnest of the bona fide nature of his<br />

intentions when he besought the aid of the holy John<br />

against the Scots. On the leaden covering was the<br />

following inscription in old English lettering: — "<br />

Anno<br />

ab incarnatione Domini MCLXXXVIII. combvsta fvit<br />

hæc Ecclesia inmense Septembri,in seqventi nocti post<br />

Festvm Sancti Matthæi Apostoli, et in Ann MCXCVII.<br />

VI. Idvs. Martii, facta fvit Inquisitio reliqviarvm Beati<br />

Johannis in hoc loco; et inventa sunt hæc ossa in<br />

orientali parte sepvlchri, et hie recondita; et pvlvis<br />

cemento mixtvs ibidem et in inventvs, et reconditvs;"<br />

the translationof whichruns as follows: — " In the year<br />

for the Incarnation of our Lord, 1188, this church was<br />

burnt, in the month of September, the night after the<br />

Feast of St.Matthew the Apostle; and in the year 1197,<br />

the sixth of the Ides of March, there was an Inquisition<br />

made for the relics of the Blessed John in this place;and<br />

these bones werefound in the East part of his Sepulchre<br />

and here deposited; and dust mixed with mortar was<br />

found likewise and re-interred." After these particulars<br />

were taken(in 1644) the relics were carefully re-interred<br />

in the middle aisle of the nave in the place where they<br />

had been found, but upon the present pavement being<br />

laid down they were again disturbed and taken up<br />

until an arched vaulting was prepared, in which they<br />

were placed, after the addition of the followinghad been<br />

made to the original inscription: — Reliqvæ eadem effosæ<br />

et ibidemrecompositæ fornice lateritiodignabantvrXXV.<br />

die mensis Martij DominiMDCCXXVI. qvando et tessalatvm<br />

Ecclesiæ hujus pavientvm primo fvit instratvm,"<br />

the translation being to this effect — " The same relics,<br />

having been taken up and replacedin the same situation,<br />

were honoured with an arched brick vault,the 25th day<br />

of the month of March, 1726, when the chequered pavement<br />

of this church was first laid."<br />

The vault nowcontainingthe remains is in the middle<br />

aisle of the nave, towards the centre of the church,<br />

15

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