II. An Account of the Discovery of the Corpse of one of the Abbots of Gloucester. In a Letter from Mr. John Cooke, Surgeon, of that City, to Charles Marsh, Esq. F.R. and A.S.S.

Extract

In the year 1741, Bishop Benson, at his single expence for the better securing of the organ, which had been removed some years before from the South side of the choir, gave order that a screen with proper pillars should be erected. During the course of this work a stone coffin containing the corpse of an abbot was discovered. Very lately it was thought proper that the whole of the pavement of the body of the church should be new laid, to which the late Chancellor Benson very liberally contributed. It was begun in his life-time. This occasioned the same coffin to be again exposed, and by this it is also to be apprehended that many very antient grave stones must be destroyed and the modern ones removed from the vaults they covered to distinct places, to effect the uniformity of the flooring. On Monday the 7th of March last I had past through the Cathedral at the time when the same graves were just exposed. Several persons were standing round the venerable remains, and I was called upon to be a spectator of that awful sight. My attention was instantly fixt, and I made a sketch which I have since perfected.