massive and roughly hewn, was found in a field
that belonged of old to the Priory of Pomfret, but at least a
quarter of a mile distant from the hill where the chapel stood.
Within was the skeleton of a full-grown man, partially preserved;
the skull lay between the thighs. There is no record of the
decapitation of any person at Pomfret of sufficient dignity to have
been interred in a manner showing so much care for the preservation
of the body, except the Earl of Lancaster. The coffin may have been
removed here at the time the opposite party forbade its veneration,
from motives of precaution for its safety.

Now, I shall be much obliged for information on the following
points:--

Is any thing known, beyond what I have stated, as to the
communications with Rome on the subject of his canonization, or as
to the means by which he was permitted by the English church to
become a fit object for invocation and veneration?

What are the chief historical grounds that endeared his memory to
the Church or the people? The compassion for his signal fall can
hardly account for this, although a similar motive was sufficient to
bring to the tomb of Edward II., in Gloucester Cathedral, an amount
of offerings that added considerably to the splendour of the
edifice.

Are any anecdotes or circumstances recorded, respecting the worship
of this saint in later times, than I have referred to?

{183} What is the historic probability that the stone coffin,
discovered in 1822, contained the remains of this remarkable man?

I have no doubt that much curious and valuable matter might be
discovered, by pursuing into the remote receptacles of historical
knowledge the lives and characters of persons who have become, in
Catholic times, the unauthorised objects of popular religious
reverence after death.

RICH. MONCKTON MILNES.
26. Pall Mall, Jan. 12th.

[To this interesting communication we may add that "_The Office of
St. Thomas of Lancaster_," which begins,

"Gaude Thoma, ducum decus, lucerna Lancastriae,"

is printed in the volume of "_Political Songs_" edited by Mr. Wright
for the Camden Society, from a Royal MS. in the British Museum.--MS.
Reg. 12.]

* * * * *

SHIELD OF THE BLACK PRINCE--SWORD OF CHARLES I.

In Bolton's _Elements of Armories_, 1610, p. 67., is an engraving of
a very interesting shield, of the kind called "Pavoise," which at
that period hung over the tomb of Edward the Black Pr