ODIFIER LETTER SMALL E~} ffeeste of
{~LATIN SMALL LETTER LONG S~}eynte Marye y{~MODIFIER LETTER SMALL E~}
ble{~LATIN SMALL LETTER LONG S~}{~LATIN SMALL LETTER LONG S~}ed vyrgyne
yn y{~MODIFIER LETTER SMALL E~} yeere of {~LATIN SMALL LETTER LONG
S~}alvacioun ffowertene hundreth & ffyve & ffowrti."

_Modernised Version of the above Black-Letter Translation._

"Thys rellike ys a ryghte mistycall worke and a marvaylous, ye whyche
myne aunceteres aforetyme dyd conveigh hider with them from Armoryke
which ys to seien Britaine ye Lesse and a certayne holye clerke should
allweyes beare my fadir on honde that he owghte uttirly for to frusshe
ye same, affyrmynge that yt was fourmed and conflatyed of Sathanas hym
selfe by arte magike and dyvellysshe wherefore my fadir dyd take ye same
and tobrast yt yn tweyne, but I, John de Vincey, dyd save whool ye tweye
partes therof and topeecyd them togydder agayne soe as yee se, on this
daye mondaye next followynge after ye feeste of Seynte Marye ye Blessed
Vyrgyne yn ye yeere of Salvacioun fowertene hundreth and fyve and
fowerti."

The next and, save one, last entry was Elizabethan, and dated 1564. "A
most strange historie, and one that did cost my father his life; for in
seekynge for the place upon the east coast of Africa, his pinnance
was sunk by a Portuguese galleon off Lorenzo Marquez, and he himself
perished.--John Vincey."

Then came the last entry, apparently, to judge by the style of
writing, made by some representative of the family in the middle of the
eighteenth century. It was a misquotation of the well-known lines in
Hamlet, and ran thus: "There are more things in Heaven and earth than
are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio."[*]

[*] Another thing that makes me fix the date of this entry
at the middle of the eighteenth century is that, curiously
enough, I have an acting copy of "Hamlet," written about
1740, in which these two lines are misquoted almost exactly
in the same way, and I have little doubt but that the Vincey
who wrote them on the potsherd heard them so misquoted at
that date. Of course, the lines really run:--

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.--L. H. H.

And now there remained but one more document to be examined--namely, the
ancient black-letter transcription into mediaeval Latin of the uncial
inscription on the sherd. As will be seen, this translation