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 mediæval 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 mediæval 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._

"Iſta reliq̅ia eſt valde miſticu̅ et myrificu̅ op̅s q̅d maiores
mei ex Armorica ſſ Brittania mi̅ore ſecu̅ co̅veheba̅t et q̅dm
ſc̅s cleric̅s ſe̅per p̅ri meo in manu ferebat q̅d pe̅itus illvd
deſtrueret, affirma̅s q̅d eſſet ab ipſo ſathana co̅flatu̅
preſtigioſa et dyabolica arte q̅re p̅ter mevs co̅fregit illvd
i̅ dvas p̅tes q̅s q̅dm ego Johs̅ de Vi̅ceto ſalvas ſervavi et
adaptavi ſicut ap̅paret die lu̅e p̅r̅ poſt feſt beate Mrie vir{g}
anni gr̅e mccccxlv."

_Expanded Version of the above Black-Letter Inscription._

"Ista reliquia est valde misticum et myrificum opus, quod majores mei