She. H. Rider Haggard

      Then followed twelve Latin signatures, jotted about here and there, wherever there was a space upon the tile suitable to their inscription. These signatures, with three exceptions only, ended with the name “Vindex” or “the Avenger,” which seems to have been adopted by the family after its migration to Rome as a kind of equivalent to the Greek “Tisisthenes,” which also means an avenger. Ultimately, as might be expected, this Latin cognomen of Vindex was transformed first into De Vincey, and then into the plain, modern Vincey. It is very curious to observe how the idea of revenge, inspired by an Egyptian who lived before the time of Christ, is thus, as it were, embalmed in an English family name.

      A few of the Roman names inscribed upon the sherd I have actually since found mentioned in history and other records. They were, if I remember right,

      MVSSIVS. VINDEX SEX. VARIVS MARVLLVS C. FVFIDIVS. C. F. VINDEX

      and

      LABERIA POMPEIANA. CONIVX. MACRINI. VINDICIS

      this last being, of course, the name of a Roman lady.

      The following list, however, comprises all the Latin names upon the sherd:—

      C. CAECILIVS VINDEX

       M. AIMILIVS VINDEX

       SEX. VARIVS. MARVLLVS

       Q. SOSIVS PRISCVS SENECIO VINDEX

       L. VALERIVS COMINIVS VINDEX

       SEX. OTACILIVS. M. F.

       L. ATTIVS. VINDEX

       MVSSIVS VINDEX

       C. FVFIDIVS. C. F. VINDEX

       LICINIVS FAVSTVS

       LABERIA POMPEIANA CONIVX MACRINI VINDICIS

       MANILIA LVCILLA CONIVX MARVLLI VINDICIS

      After the Roman names there is evidently a gap of very many centuries. Nobody will ever know now what was the history of the relic during those dark ages, or how it came to have been preserved in the family. My poor friend Vincey had, it will be remembered, told me that his Roman ancestors finally settled in Lombardy, and when Charlemagne invaded it, returned with him across the Alps, and made their home in Brittany, whence they crossed to England in the reign of Edward the Confessor. How he knew this I am not aware, for there is no reference to Lombardy or Charlemagne upon the tile, though, as will presently be seen, there is a reference to Brittany. To continue: the next entries on the sherd, if I may except a long splash either of blood or red colouring matter of some sort, consist of two crosses drawn in red pigment, and probably representing Crusaders’ swords, and a rather neat monogram (“D. V.”) in scarlet and blue, perhaps executed by that same Dorothea Vincey who wrote, or rather painted, the doggrel couplet. To the left of this, 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 ex Armorica, scilicet Britannia Minore, secum convehebant; et et quidam sanctus clericus semper patri meo in manu ferebat quod penitus illud destrueret, affirmans quod esset ab ipso Sathana conflatum prestigiosa et dyabolica arte, quare pater meus confregit illud in duas partes, quas quidem ego Johannes de Vinceto salvas servavi et adaptavi sicut apparet die lune proximo post festum beate Marie Virginis anni gratie MCCCCXLV.”

      Fac-simile of the Old English Black-Letter Translation of the above Latin Inscription from the Sherd of Amenartas found inscribed upon a parchment.

      “Thys rellike ys a ryghte mistycall worke & a marvaylous yᵉ whyche myne aunceteres afore tyme dyd conveigh hider wᵗ yᵐ ffrom Armoryke whᵉ ys to ſeien Britaine yᵉ leſſe & a certayne holye clerke ſhoulde allweyes beare my ffadir on honde yᵗ he owghte uttirly ffor to ffruſſhe yᵉ ſame affyrmynge yᵗ yt was ffourmyd & confflatyd off ſathanas hym ſelffe by arte magike & dyvellyſſhe wherefore my ffadir dyd take yᵉ ſame & to braſt yt yn tweyne but I John de Vincey dyd ſave whool yᵉ tweye p̄tes therof & topeecyd yᵐ togydder agayne ſoe as yee ſe on y{s} daye mondaye next ffolowynge after yᵉ ffeeste of ſeynte Marye yᵉ bleſſed vyrgyne yn yᵉ yeere of ſalvacioun 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.”[*]