as certainly sent by
the commissioners to the king's treasury in London, a lot
more--especially in out-of-the-way places and districts--just
disappeared and was never heard of again. Up here in the North of
England that was very often the case. And all this is merely a preface
to what I'm going to tell you. Have you the least idea of what these
documents are?"

"No," he replied. "Unless they're lists of something--I did make out
that they might be, by the way the words and figures are arranged.
Like--inventories."

"They are inventories!" I exclaimed. "Both. Written in crabbed
caligraphy, too, but easy enough to read if you're acquainted with
sixteenth century penmanship, spelling and abbreviations. Look at the
first one. It is here described as an inventory of all the jewels,
plate, et cetera, appertaining and belonging unto the Abbey of
Forestburne, and it was made in the year 1536--this abbey, therefore,
was one of the smaller houses that came under the L200 limit and was
accordingly suppressed in the year just mentioned. Now look at the
second. It also is an inventory--of the jewels and plate of the Priory
of Mellerton, made in the same year, and similarly suppressed. But
though both these houses were of the smaller sort, it is quite
evident, from a cursory glance at these inventories that they were
pretty rich in jewels and plate. By the term jewels is meant plate
wherein jewels were set; as to the plate it was, of course, the
sacramental vessels and appurtenances. And judging by these entries
the whole mass of plate must have been considerable!"

"Worth a good deal, eh?" he asked.

"A great deal!--and if it's in existence now, much more than a great
deal," I replied. "But I'll read you some of the items set down
here--I'll read a few haphazard. They are set down, you see, with
their weight in ounces specified, and you'll observe what a number of
items there are in each inventory. We'll look at just a few. A
chalice, twenty-eight ounces. Another chalice, thirty-six ounces. A
mazer, forty-seven ounces. One pair candlesticks, fifty-two ounces.
Two cruets, thirty-one ounces. One censer, twenty-eight ounces. One
cross, fifty-eight ounces. Another cross, forty-eight ounces. Three
dozen spoons, forty-eight ounces. One salt, with covering,
twenty-eight ounces. A great cross, seventy-two ounces. A paten,
sixteen ounces. Another paten, twenty ounces. Three tablets of proper
gold work, eighty-five ounces in all. And so