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
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,