APPENDIX. 383

KING JOHN'S TOMB (page 362). - Here is an extract from the newspapers of the day, showing the conditions of the royal Plantagenet when discovered :-

"Worcester, July 20th, 1797. - In beginning the repairs of our cathedral on Monday last that tomb which stood in the middle aisle, near the chancel, to commemorate the interment of King John, but which was not really supposed to cover, his remains, was therefore proposed to be removed to a more convenient place, but to the astonishment of the workmen a stone coffin was discovered at the bottom, level with the floor, which on carefully examining was found to contain the remains of the king. From the great length of time the body had, been deposited (so long since as the year 1216), nothing but conjectural ideas could be formed as to the vestments, &c. Part of the robe was firm in its texture, but of what colour could not be ascertained. What was discovered of the body appeared to lie nearly in the same position as the figure on the top of the tomb stone, and, from the length of the coffin, measured five feet six inches and a-half. Part of a sword was lying on his left side, which time had much mouldered, and the leather sheath was much in the same state. The most perfect part was towards the bottom of the legs and feet, on which appeared a kind of half boot. A quantity of a sort of white paste lay in two or three lumps on and below the belly, which it may be supposed had been poured into the body. On the heart and bowels being taken out, on breaking a piece of this paste, it was mixed with the skeletons of maggots or flies, of which vast quantities lay on and about the body; and on the right cheek of the skull there was a sharp point about half an inch long, and some grey hairs appeared under part of the cap, which had fitted the head very tight, and seemed to have been buckled under the chin, parts of the strap remaining. The robe had the appearance in some parts of having, been embroidered, particularly on the right knee; no bones of the fingers were to be found. One point ascertained is that the body certainly was deposited here, and not in the most eastern part of the church, as was supposed; and the extraordinary circumstance of there being no memorandum or record of the place of interment in the archives of the cathedral is now obviated. The tomb is to remain sacred to the ashes of the King, and will no donbt be preserved with additional care and attention. The Dean and Chapter gave orders that the curiosity of the people