SIMON OF SUDBURY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sin,—Speaking of Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop and Chan- cellor, the writer of the article on "The Peasant Revolt" in the Spectator of October 6th states tentatively : "Unless we are mistaken, a portion of his skull is still treasured at Lambeth Palace." He has evidently not visited the beautiful
church of Sb. Gregory, Sudbury, in the vestry of which the entire skull of Simon is to be seen in a box let into the wall. This interesting relic is in a good state of preservation, though somewhat dark in colour. It has been varnished in recent years, at the suggestion, it is said, of the late Sir George Humphry, a native of Sudbury. An inscription has been attached to the lid of the box, which terminates as follows :-
" While he was Bishop of London he built the upper part of St. Gregory's Sudbury : and where his father's house stood he erected a College of Secular Priests and endowed it with the Yearly Revenue of one Hundred Twenty two Pounds, Eighteen Shillings, and was ,at length barbarously Beheaded upon Tower Hill in London by the Rabble in Wat Tyler's Rebellion in the Reign of Richard 2d 1384."
Croydon.
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