Letter from Edward Hasted, St. John's, to Andrew Ducarel, 1765 February 13 : autograph manuscript signed.

Discussing an heraldic manuscript that he acquired and will give him as a present after he has "...done with it in reference to my History; which I labour much at, & in a not very agreeable part of it, which is making references & comparing Authors, & [illegible] over a Multiplicity of Books, some of which are so very Dry, & pass over so heavily, that they almost make me weary of this sort of work, but I go on in hopes of getting thro' some time, or other. I was over at Rochester, & saw a Brass Plate, which had been just dug up in pulling down an old Wall, to make a Gateway, it is thin about 6 inches by Ten & of the form underneath [inserting a drawing of a plain shield with a crown at the top] on it is engraved Lady Marg't o'brien daughter of the Rt. Honble The Earl of Inchiquin dyed at the Hague aged ----- An 1678 / How this plate could come under such a place as this, is strange. There are 6 holes for screws, which make me Imagine it to have been screwed down on a coffin, which might in this place have been plundered & perhaps neither that nor the Corps went any farther, but the refuse was thrust in here and this plate amongst it, for fear of a Discovery. I wish you would give me your thoughts of it."