I believe the Archbishop Roderick of Toledo is the earliest writer who mentions this discovery. He died in 1247. The fact may very possibly have been true, for there seems to have been no intention of setting up a shrine connected with it. The Archbishop’s words are as follow:— “_Quid de Rege Roderico acciderit ignoratur; tamen corona, vestes et insignia et calciamenta auro et lapidibus adornata, et equus qui Orelia dicebatur, in loco tremulo juxta fluvium sine corpore sunt inventa. Quid autem de corpore fuerit factum penitus ignoratur, nisi quod modernis temporibus apud Viseum civitatem Portugalliæ inscriptus tumulus invenitur_, Hic jacet Rodericus ultimus Rex Gothorum. _Maledictus furor impius Juliani quia pertinax, et indignatio, quia dura; animosus indignatione, impetuosus furore, oblitus fidelitatis, immemor religionis, contemptor divinitatis, crudelis in se, homicida in dominum, hostis in domesticos, vastator in patriam, reus in omnes, memoria ejus in omni ore amarescet, et nomen ejus in æternum putrescet._”—Rod. Tol. f. 3. g. 19. Lope de Vega has made this epitaph, with its accompanying reflections, into two stanzas of Latin rhymes, which occur in the midst of one of his long poems:— _Hoc jacet in sarcophago Rex ille Penultimas Gothorum in Hispania, Infelix Rodericus; viator sile, Ne fortè pereat tota Lusitania; Provocatus Cupidinis missile Telo, tam magnâ affectus fuit insaniâ Quam tota Hiberia vinculis astricta Testatur mæsta, lachrimatur victa._ _Execrabilem Comitem Julianum Abhorreant omnes, nomine et remoto Patrio, appellent Erostratum Hispanum, Nec tantum nostri, sed in orbe toto: Dum current cœli sidera, vesanum Vociferant, testante Mauro et Gotho, Cesset Florindæ nomen insuave, Cava viator est, a Cava cave._ Jerusalen Conquistada, l. 6. ff. 137. FOOTNOTES [1] See pages 77, 78. antè. [2] In the seventeenth, and last council of Toledo, it was decreed that the baptistery should be shut up, and sealed with the episcopal seal, during the whole year, till Good Friday; on that day the bishop, in his pontificals, was to open it with great solemnity, in token that Christ, by his passion and resurrection, had opened the way to heaven for mankind, as on that day the hope was opened of obtaining redemption through the holy sacrament of baptism.—_Morales_, 12. 62. 3. [3] Monarchia Lusitana, 2. 7. 19. [4] Père Tomich. c. 34. ff. 26 [5] Hist. Goth. apud Florez. Espana Sagrada, t. 6. 486. [6] Espana Sagrada, t. 6. 474. [7] Hist. of the Captivity of Thomas Pellew, p. 257. [8] España Sagrada, t. xiii. p. 242. [9] Johnes’s Monstrellet, vol. v. p. 190. [10] C. 13. [11] Fuero Juzgo, L. 3. tit. 1. leg. 1. END OF THE NINTH VOLUME. LONDON. SPOTTISWOODE and SHAW, New-street-Square.