Charter.

Of the Magna Charta of King John several copies are still extant; but only
two copies are known to exist of the Charter of his successor Henry III,
which bears date only ten years after that of Runnymede. One of these
copies, which is preserved in the north of England, is defaced and wholly
illegible; but the copy preserved at Lacock Abbey is perfectly clear and
legible throughout, and has a seal of green wax appended to it, inclosed
in a small bag of coloured silk, which six centuries have faded.

The Lacock copy is therefore the only authority from which the text of
this Great Charter can be correctly known; and from this copy it was
printed by Blackstone, as he himself informs us.

From the top of the tower there is an extensive view, especially towards
the South, where the eye ranges as far as Alfred's Tower, in the park of
Stour-head, about twenty-three miles distant.

From the parapet wall of this building, three centuries ago, Olive
Sherington, the heiress of Lacock, threw herself into the arms of her
lover, a gallant gentleman of Worcestershire, John Talbot, a kinsman of
the Earl of Shrewsbury. He was felled to the earth by the blow, and for a
time lay lifeless, while the lady only wounded or broke her finger. Upon
this, Sir Henry Sherington, her father, relented, and shortly after
consented to their marriage, giving as a reason "the step which his
daughter had taken."

Unwritten tradition in many families has preserved ancient stories which
border on the marvellous, and it may have embellished the tale of this
lover's leap by an incident belonging to another age. For I doubt the
story of the broken finger, or at least that Olive was its rightful owner.
Who can tell what tragic scenes may not have passed within these walls
during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries? The spectre of a nun with
a bleeding finger long haunted the precincts of the abbey, and has been
seen by many in former times, though I believe that her unquiet spirit is
at length at rest. And I think the tale of Olive has borrowed this
incident from that of a frail sister of earlier days.

[PLATE XX. LACE]

PLATE XX. LACE

PLATE XX. LACE

As this is the first example of a _negative_ image that has been
introduced into this work, it may be necessary to explain, in a few words,
what is meant by that expression, and wherein the difference consists.

T