It is related of the celebrated Lady Godiva of Coventry, the wife of the wealthy and powerful Leofric, that on her death-bed she "bequeathed a precious circlet of gems, which she wore round her neck, valued at one hundred marks of silver (about two thousand pounds sterling) to the Image of the Virgin in Coventry Abbey, praying that all who came thither would say as many prayers as there were gems in it." [1] [Footnote 1: Saxon Chronicle, Strickland's "Queens of England Before the Conquest, etc."] The following is an ancient verse, occurring in an old French treatise, on the manner of behaving at table, wherein one is warned never to arise from a meal without praying for the dead. This treatise was translated by William Caxton. "Priez Dieu pour les trepassés, Et te souveigne en pitié Qui de ce monde sont passez, Ainsi que tu es obligez, Priez Dieu pour les trepassés!" [We subjoin a rough translation of the verse. To God, for the departed, pray And of those in pity think Who have passed from this world away, As, indeed, thou art bound to do, To God, for the departed pray.] Speaking of his early education, Caxton says: "Whereof I humbly and heartily thank God, and am bounden to pray for my father and mother's souls, who in my youth set me to school." [1] [Footnote 1: "Christian Schools and Scholars."] In 1067, William the Conqueror founded what was known as Battle Abbey, which he gave to the Benedictine Monks, that they might pray for the souls of those who fell in the Battle of Hastings. Speaking of William the. Conqueror, it is not out of place to quote here these lines from the pen of Mrs. Hemans: "Lowly upon his bier The royal Conqueror lay, Baron and chief stood near, Silent in war's array. Down the long minster's aisle Crowds mutely gazing stream'd, Altar and tomb the while Through mists of incense gleamed. "They lowered him with the sound Of requiems to repose." These stanzas on the Burial of William the Conqueror lead us naturally to others from the pen of the same gifted authoress on "Coeur de Lion at the Bier of his Father." "Torches were blazing clear, Hymns pealing deep and slow, Where a king lay stately on his bier, In the Church of Fontevraud. * * * * * "The marble floor was swept By many a long dark stole As the kneeling priests, round him that slept, Sang mass for the parted soul. And solemn were the strains they pour'd Through the stillness of the night, With the cross above, and the crown and sword, And the silent king in sight." We forgive the ignorance of the gentle poetess with regard to the Mass, for the beauty and solemnity of the verse, which is quite in keeping with the nature of the subject.