andLABERIA POMPEIANA. CONIVX. MACRINI. VINDICIS
this last being, of course, the name of a Roman lady.
The following list, however, comprises all the Latin names upon the sherd:--
C. CAECILIVS VINDEX M. AIMILIVS VINDEX SEX. VARIVS. MARVLLVS
Q. SOSIVS PRISCVS SENECIO VINDEX L. VALERIVS COMINIVS VINDEX
SEX. OTACILIVS. M. F. L. ATTIVS. VINDEX MVSSIVS VINDEX
C. FVFIDIVS. C. F. VINDEX LICINIVS FAVSTVS
LABERIA POMPEIANA CONIVX MACRINI VINDICIS
15
MANILIA LVCILLA CONIVX MARVLLI VINDICIS
After the Roman names there is evidently a gap of very many centuries. Nobody will ever know now what was the history of the relic during those dark ages, or how it came to have been preserved in the family. My poor friend Vincey had, it will be remembered, told me that his Roman ancestors finally settled in Lombardy, and when Charlemagne invaded it, returned with him across the Alps, and made their home in Brittany, whence they crossed to England in the reign of Edward the Confessor. How he knew this I am not aware, for there is no reference to Lombardy or Charlemagne upon the tile, though, as will presently be seen, there is a reference to Brittany. To continue: the next entries on the sherd, if I may except a long splash either of blood or red colouring matter of some sort, consist of two crosses drawn in red pigment, and probably representing Crusaders' swords, and a rather neat monogram ("D. V.") in scarlet and blue, perhaps executed by that same Dorothea Vincey who wrote, or rather painted, the doggrel couplet. To the
left of this, inscribed in faint blue, were the initials A. V., and after them a date, 1800.
Then came what was perhaps as curious an entry as anything upon this extraordinary relic of the past. It is executed in black letter, written over the crosses or Crusaders' swords, and dated fourteen hundred and forty-five. As the best plan will be to allow it to speak for itself, I here give the black-letter fac-simile, together with the original Latin without the contractions, from which it will be seen that the writer was a fair mediaeval Latinist. Also we discovered what is still more curious, an English version of the black-letter Latin. This, also written in black letter, we found inscribed on a second parchment that was in the coffer, apparently somewhat older in date than that on which was inscribed the mediaeval Latin translation of the uncial Greek of which I shall speak presently. This I also give in full.
Fac-simile of Black-Letter Inscription on the Sherd of Amenartas.
"Iita reliqiia eit valde miiticui et myrificui opis qid maiores mei ex Armorica ii Brittania miiore iecui coivehebait et qidm icis clericis ieiper piri meo in manu ferebat qid peiitus illvd deitrueret, affirmais qid eiiet ab ipio iathana coiflatui preitigioia et dyabolica arte qire piter mevs coifregit illvd ii dvas pites qis qidm ego Johsi de Viiceto ialvas
iervavi et adaptavi iicut apiparet die luie piri poit feit beate Mrie vir{g} anni grie mccccxlv."
Expanded Version of the above Black-Letter Inscription.
"Ista reliquia est valde misticum et myrificum opus, quod majores mei ex Armorica, scilicet Britannia Minore, secum convehebant; et et quidam sanctus clericus semper patri meo in manu ferebat quod penitus illud destrueret, affirmans quod esset ab ipso Sathana conflatum prestigiosa et dyabolica arte, quare pater meus confregit illud in duas partes, quas quidem ego Johannes de Vinceto salvas servavi et adaptavi sicut apparet die lune proximo post festum beate Marie Virginis anni gratie MCCCCXLV."
Fac-simile of the Old English Black-Letter Translation of the above Latin Inscription from the Sherd of Amenartas found inscribed upon a parchment.
"Thys rellike ys a ryghte mistycall worke & a marvaylous yi whyche myne aunceteres afore tyme dyd conveigh hider wi yi ffrom Armoryke whi ys to ieien Britaine yi leiie & a certayne holye clerke ihoulde allweyes beare my ffadir on honde yi he ow-ghte uttirly ffor to ffruiihe yi iame affyrmynge yi yt was ffourmyd & confflatyd off iathanas hym ielffe by arte magike &
dyvellyiihe wherefore my ffadir dyd take yi iame & to brait yt yn tweyne but I John de Vincey dyd iave whool yi tweye pites therof & topeecyd yi togydder agayne ioe as yee ie on y{s} daye mondaye next ffolowynge after yi ffeeste of ieynte Marye yi bleiied vyrgyne yn yi yeere of ialvacioun ffowertene hundreth & ffyve & ffowrti."
Modernised Version of the above Black-Letter Translation.
"Thys rellike ys a ryghte mistycall worke and a marvaylous, ye whyche myne aunceteres aforetyme dyd conveigh hider with them from Armoryke which ys to seien Britaine ye Lesse and a certayne holye clerke should allweyes beare my fadir on honde that he owghte uttirly for to frusshe ye same, affyrmynge that yt was fourmed and conflatyed of Sathanas hym selfe by arte magike and dyvellysshe wherefore my fadir dyd take ye same and tobrast yt yn tweyne, but I, John de Vincey, dyd save whool ye tweye partes therof and topeecyd them togydder agayne soe as yee se, on this daye mondaye next followynge after ye feeste of Seynte Marye ye Blessed Vyrgyne yn ye yeere of Salvacioun fowertene hundreth and fyve and fowerti."
The next and, save one, last entry was Elizabethan, and dated 1564. "A most strange historie, and one that did cost my father his life;
for in seekynge for the place upon the east coast of Africa, his pinnance was sunk by a Portuguese galleon off Lorenzo Marquez,
and he himself perished.--John Vincey."
Then came the last entry, apparently, to judge by the style of writing, made by some representative of the family in the middle of the
eighteenth century. It was a misquotation of the well-known lines in Hamlet, and ran thus: "There are more things in Heaven and
16
earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio."[*]
[*] Another thing that makes me fix the date of this entry at the middle of the eighteenth century is that, curiously enough, I have an acting copy of "Hamlet," written about
1740, in which these two lines are misquoted almost exactly in the same way, and I have little doubt but that the Vincey who wrote them on the potsherd heard them so misquoted at that date. Of course, the lines really run:--
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.--L. H. H.
And now there remained but one more document to be examined--namely, the ancient black-letter transcription into mediaeval Latin of the uncial inscription on the sherd. As will be seen, this translation was executed and subscribed in the year 1495, by a certain "learned man," Edmundus de Prato (Edmund Pratt) by name, licentiate in Canon Law, of Exeter College, Oxford, who had actually been a pupil of Grocyn, the first scholar who taught Greek in England.[*] No doubt, on the fame of this new learning reaching his ears, the Vincey of the day, perhaps that same John de Vincey who years before had saved the relic from destruction and made the black-letter entry on the sherd in 1445, hurried off to Oxford to see if perchance it might avail to dissolve the secret of the mysterious inscription. Nor was he disappointed, for the learned Edmundus was equal to the task. Indeed his rendering is so excellent an example of mediaeval learning and latinity that, even at the risk of sating the learned reader with too many antiquities, I have made up my mind to give it in fac-simile, together with an expanded version for the benefit of those who find the contractions troublesome. The translation has several peculiarities on which this is not the place to dwell, but I would in passing call the attention of scholars to the passage "duxerunt autem nos ad reginam advenaslasaniscoronantium,"
