"They are not, sir," said the clerk; "they had been transferred to
other benefices before they died."
I did not inquire whether Walter D- was buried there, for of him I
had never heard before, but demanded whether the church possessed
any ancient monuments.
"This is the oldest which remains, sir," said the clerk, and he
pointed with his finger to a tablet-stone over a little dark pew on
the right side of the oriel window. There was an inscription upon
it, but owing to the darkness I could not make out a letter. The
clerk, however, read as follows.
1694. 21 Octr.
Hic Sepultus Est
Sidneus Bynner.
"Do you understand Latin?" said I to the clerk.
"I do not, sir; I believe, however, that the stone is to the memory
of one Bynner."
"That is not a Welsh name," said I.
"It is not, sir," said the clerk.
"It seems to be radically the same as Bonner," said I, "the name of
the horrible Popish Bishop of London in Mary's time. Do any people
of the name of Bynner reside in this neighbourhood at present?"
"None, sir," said the clerk; "and if the Bynners are descendants of
Bonner, it is, perhaps, well that there are none."
I made the clerk, who appeared almost fit to be a clergyman, a
small present, and returned to the inn.
