12 S. 1. JAN. 29, 1916.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
93-
part which describes the body of Edward when seen at the opening of the coffin:—
"On lifting up the lid the royal corpse was found wrapped up within a large square mantle of strong, coarse, and thick linen cloth, diaper'd, of a dull, pale, yellowish brown colour, and waxed on its under side. The head and face were entirely covered with a sudarium or face cloth, of crimson sarcenet, the substance whereof was so much perished as to have a cobweb-like feel and the appearance of fine lint. . . .When the folds of the external wrapper were thrown back and the sudarium removed, the corpse was discovered richly habited, adorned with ensigns of royalty, and almost entire, notwithstanding the length of time that it had been entombed.
"Its innermost covering seemed to have been a very fine linen cerecloth, dressed close to every part of the body, and superinduced with such accuracy and exactness that the fingers and thumbs of both the hands had each of them a distinct envelope of that material. The face, which had a similar covering closely fitted thereto, retained its exact form, although part of the flesh appeared to be somewhat wasted. It was of dark brown or chocolate colour approaching to black, and so were the hands and fingers. The chin and lips were entire, but without any beard, and a sinking or dip between the chin and upper lip was very conspicuous. Both the lips were prominent, the nose short as if shrunk, but the apertures of the nostrils were visible. There Was an unusual fall or cavity on that part of the bridge of the nose which separates the orbits of the eyes, and some globular substance, possibly the fleshy part of the eyeballs, was moveable in their sockets under the envelope. Below the chin and under jaw was lodged a quantity of black dust which had neither smell nor coherence; but whether the same had been flesh or spices could not be ascertained. One of the joints of the middle finger of the right hand was loose; but those of the left hand were quite perfect . . . . On measuring the body by a rod graduated into inches divided into quarters, it appeared to be exactly six feet and two inches in length."
Ayloffe's details are very minute, but it does not seem necessary to quote more. They can be found in the Archæologia at the reference already given. A fact which cannot be overlooked here, and which is of great interest, is that William Blake, then a lad of 17, was doubtless present at the opening of the tomb. Blake, as is well known, was employed by James Basire, engraver to the Society of Antiquaries, and it was his particular work to make drawings in Westminster Abbey, where the tomb was. There is a passage in Gilchrist's 'Life of Blake,' second edition, pp. 18-19, which may very appropriately be included here:
" During the progress of Blake's lonely labours in the Abbey, on a bright day in May, 1774, the Society for which, through Basire, he was working, perpetrated by royal permission, on the very scene of those rapt studies, a highly interesting bit of antiquarian sacrilege, on a more reasonable pretext and with greater decency than sometimes
distinguish such questionable proceedings. A
select company formally, and in strict privacy^
opened the tomb of Edward I., and found the
embalmed body in perfect preservation."
It is a significant fact that one of Blake's visionary portraits is that of Edward I- It is reproduced in Gilchrist's book, and faces p. 300 of the second edition of that fine biography. A. L. HUMPHREYS.
187 Piccadilly, W.
(To be continued.)
HEBREW DIETETICS (11 S. xii. 334,.
405, 466). Up to the time of writing,
no reference has been made to the most satis-
factory work covering the fields into which
this note has drifted, viz., ' Biblisch-tal-
mudische Medizin ' (Preuss), 1911; among
the numerous books on parts of the field*,
this work seems unique as covering the
whole, as by a^, physician, and as based:
directly on the sources. Since the connexion,
between medicine and religion was then so
close, aid may be had from ' Die Beniitzung
der Pflanzenwelt in der alttestamentlichen
Religion' (Lundgren), 1908; and also from
' Materialien zur Volksreligion Israels '
(Jirku), 1914, to judge from favourable
reviews thereof. ROCKINGHAM.
Boston, Mass.
PARISH REGISTERS (12 S. i. 29, 78). The Society of Genealogists of London, 5 Blooms- bury Square, W.C., has slip - indexed the following Registers in Cambridgeshire :. Cambridge, St. Edward (marriages, 1559- 1633) ; Conington (marriages, 1813-37) ; Over (marriages, 1813-37) ; Lolworth (mar- riages, 1813-37) ; Fen Drayton (marriages, 1580-1837) ; Knapwell (marriages, 1599- 1837). SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY OF GENEALOGISTS.
The Oxfordshire Archaeological Society printed a full index to the Registers of the Darish of Ducklington (baptisms, 1550 ; narriages, 1581 ; burials, 1580 to 1880) in the year 1881. It was made by myself, then rector. I am not aware of any similar ndex for any other parish in the county. A ist of names occurring in the Registers of Wolvercote, near Oxford, 1596-1650, was printed privately by the late Mr. George Parker of the Bodleian Library in 1888, together with a list for 1539-75 in the parish of Bradfield, Berkshire. Should your cor- respondent wish for copies of these, I will be lappy to send them to him.
W. D. MACRAY. Greenlands Cottage, Bloxham, Oxfordshire.
