“The place of their depositum, too, claims much more attention than is commonly bestowed upon it; for of all places in the world none could have mentioned any one, wherein there was greater certainty of finding human bones than a hermitage, except he should point out a church-yard; hermitages, in times past, being not only places of religious retirement, but of burial too. And it has scarce or never been heard of, but that every cell now known, contains or contained these relics of humanity, some mutilated and some entire. I do not inform, but give me leave to remind your lordship, that here sat solitary sanctity, and here the hermit or the anchoress, who hoped for that repose to their bones, when dead, which they here enjoyed when living. “All the while, my lord, I am sensible this is known to your lordship and many in this court, better than to me. But it seems necessary to my case, that others who have not at all, perhaps, adverted to things of this nature, and may take an interest in my trial, should be made acquainted with it. Suffer me, then, my lord, to produce a few of many evidences, that these cells were used as repositories of the dead, and to enumerate a few in which human bones have been found, as it happened in this question; lest to some that accident might seem extraordinary, and, consequently, occasion prejudice. “1st. The bones, as was supposed of the Saxon, St. Dubritius, were discovered buried in his cell, at Guy’s Cliff, near Warwick, as appears from the authority of Sir William Dugdale. “2d. The bones, thought to be those of the anchoress Rosia, were but lately discovered in a cell at Royston, entire, fair, and undecayed, though they must have lain interred for several centuries, as is proved by Dr. Stukeley. “3d. But my own country, nay, almost this neighborhood, supplies another instance, for, in January, 1747, were found, by Mr. Stovin, accompanied by a reverend gentleman, the bones in part of some recluse, in the cell at Lindholm, near Hatfield. They were supposed to be those of William of Lindholm, a hermit, who had long made this cave his habitation. “4th. In February, 1744, part of Woburn abbey being pulled down, a large portion of a corpse appeared, even with the flesh on, which bore cutting with a knife; though it is certain this had lain above two hundred years, and how much longer is doubtful; for the abbey was founded in 1145, and dissolved in 1538 or 39. “What would have been said, what believed, if this had been an accident to the bones in question? “Farther, my lord, it is not yet out of living memory, that a little distance from Knaresborough, in a field, part of the manor of the worthy and patriotic baronet who does that borough the honor to represent it in parliament, were found, in digging for gravel, not one human skeleton only, but five or six, deposited side by side, with each an urn placed at its head, as your lordship knows was usual in ancient interments.