that there was a chapel at Haworth in 1317. The inhabitants refer
inquirers concerning the date to the following inscription on a stone in
the church tower:--

"Hic fecit Caenobium Monachorum Auteste fundator. A. D.
sexcentissimo."

That is to say, before the preaching of Christianity in Northumbria.
Whitaker says that this mistake originated in the illiterate copying out,
by some modern stone-cutter, of an inscription in the character of Henry
the Eighth's time on an adjoining stone:--

"Orate pro bono statu Eutest Tod."

"Now every antiquary knows that the formula of prayer 'bono statu'
always refers to the living. I suspect this singular Christian name
has been mistaken by the stone-cutter for Austet, a contraction of
Eustatius, but the word Tod, which has been mis-read for the Arabic
figures 600, is perfectly fair and legible. On the presumption of
this foolish claim to antiquity, the people would needs set up for
independence, and contest the right of the Vicar of Bradford to
nominate a curate at Haworth."

I have given this extract, in order to explain the imaginary groundwork
of a commotion which took place in Haworth about five and thirty years
ago, to which I shall have occasion to allude again more particularly.

The interior of the church is commonplace; it is neither old enough nor
modern enough to compel notice. The pews are of black oak, with high
divisions; and the names of those to whom they belong are painted in