Page:The golden days of the early English church from the arrival of Theodore to the death of Bede, volume 3.djvu/23

Rh too would be taken away, not, however, by the plague, but by the disease which the doctors call dysentery (morbo quem dysenteriam medici appellant). This also came about, as did his prophecy that Cuthberht would become a bishop.

When Boisil warned his pupil Bede that he had only seven days to live, and bade him diligently try and learn while he himself was able to teach, Bede asked him what book he would advise them to read together which would take a week only to get through. "St. John the Evangelist," he replied, "for my copy of the book is stitched in seven sections, and we can read one every day."

The famous relic-hunter, Ælfrid Westowe, claimed to have removed the remains of Boisil from Melrose to Durham, and in Segbrok's catalogue of relics, dated in 1383, we have recorded: "The scull of St. Boysil the priest in a shrine ornamented with silver and gold and divers images; the book of St. Boysil, the schoolmaster of St. Cuthberht; some of the robes and hair of St. Boysil the priest in a little ivory casket; the inner tunic of St. Boysil the priest in an ivory turret, with images of gold and silver wonderfully ornamented; the comb of St. Boysil the priest in a black case."

Boisil was succeeded in his office by Cuthberht.