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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Curious Church Customs, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Curious Church Customs
+       And Cognate Subjects
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: William Andrews
+
+Release Date: December 1, 2011 [EBook #38182]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURIOUS CHURCH CUSTOMS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CURIOUS CHURCH CUSTOMS.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: AN OLD-TIME BISHOP WITH CROSIER.]
+
+
+
+
+  Curious Church Customs
+  And Cognate Subjects.
+
+
+  EDITED BY
+  WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.,
+
+
+  AUTHOR OF
+  "CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH," "OLD CHURCH LORE,"
+  "BYGONE ENGLAND," ETC.
+
+
+  HULL:
+  WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO., THE HULL PRESS.
+
+  LONDON:
+  SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, & CO., LTD.
+  1895.
+
+
+
+
+  HULL:
+  PRINTED BY WILLIAM ANDREWS AND CO., THE HULL PRESS.
+
+
+
+
+Preface.
+
+
+It affords me pleasure to be the means of giving to the reading public
+another volume dealing with the byways and highways of church history.
+
+The authors who have been good enough to favour me with contributions are
+recognised authorities on the subjects they have written about, and I hope
+their efforts will not fail to find favour with the press and the public.
+
+WILLIAM ANDREWS.
+
+  THE HULL PRESS,
+  _Christmas Eve, 1894_.
+
+
+
+
+Contents.
+
+
+                                                                      PAGE
+
+  SPORTS IN CHURCHES, by the Rev. J. Charles Cox, LL.D., F.S.A           1
+
+  HOLY DAY CUSTOMS, by the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A.                     21
+
+  CHURCH BELLS: WHEN AND WHY THEY WERE RUNG, by Florence Peacock        33
+
+  INSCRIPTIONS ON BELLS, by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.                   49
+
+  LAWS OF THE BELFRY, by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.                      64
+
+  RINGERS' JUGS, by Isaac J. Reeve                                      74
+
+  CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS OF BAPTISM, by the Rev. Canon Benham,
+  B.D., F.S.A.                                                          78
+
+  MARRIAGE CUSTOMS, by England Howlett, F.S.A.                          99
+
+  BURIAL CUSTOMS, by England Howlett, F.S.A.                           126
+
+  CONCERNING THE CHURCHYARD, by John Nicholson                         147
+
+  ALTARS IN CHURCHES, by the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A.                  161
+
+  THE ROOD LOFT AND ITS USES, by John T. Page                          167
+
+  ARMOUR IN CHURCHES, by the Rev. J. Charles Cox, LL.D., F.S.A.        174
+
+  BEATING THE BOUNDS, by John T. Page                                  182
+
+  THE STORY OF THE CROSIER, by the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A.            191
+
+  BISHOPS IN BATTLE, by Edward Lamplough                               198
+
+  THE CLOISTER AND ITS STORY, by S. W. Kershaw, F.S.A.                 232
+
+  SHORTHAND IN CHURCH, by William E. A. Axon, F.R.S.L.                 246
+
+  REMINISCENCES OF OUR VILLAGE CHURCH, by the Rev. Canon Benham,
+  B.D., F.S.A.                                                         261
+
+
+
+
+CURIOUS CHURCH CUSTOMS.
+
+
+
+
+Sports in Churches.
+
+BY REV. J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.
+
+In mediæval and feudal days, as is well-known, our parish churches, in
+addition to their primary purpose of providing places for public worship
+and religious instruction, commonly served for various secular objects.
+They were used for manorial courts and other legal purposes of an entirely
+civil character, as well as for the meeting of spiritual and
+ecclesiastical tribunals; they served, particularly in troublous times,
+for the storage of wool and for the safe-custody of treasure chests; and
+they occasionally gave shelter, as at fair times and during the parish
+wakes, to hucksters' stalls, and to booths for the sale of victuals.
+Public opinion of those days saw nothing specially reprehensible in such
+uses of the churches, provided they were confined to the naves, and did
+not interfere with divine service, more particularly on the Sunday and
+festivals.
+
+This being the case, it is not surprising to find that churches were, from
+time to time, used for what may fairly be termed "sports," or amusements.
+
+The custom, once so prevalent in the great churches, of appointing a
+Boy-Bishop, or Nicholas-Bishop, which is so abhorrent to modern ideas of
+reverence, and which gradually developed in extravagance, had a
+praiseworthy commencement. It originated in the idea of rewarding, after a
+religious fashion, the most deserving choir-boy or scholar of the
+church-school. The selected lad was appointed bishop of the boys on St.
+Nicholas' Day (the patron saint of boys) during the solemn singing of the
+Magnificat, and was vested in special pontificals of a small size. He held
+the office from December 6th (St. Nicholas' Day) to December 28th (Holy
+Innocents). "The custom," says Precentor Walcott, "prevailed in the great
+schools of Winchester and Eton, and was perpetuated by Dean Colet in his
+foundation of St. Paul's, no doubt as a stimulus to Christian ambition in
+the boy, just as the mitre and staff are painted as the reward of learning
+on the scrolls of Winchester, or in honour of the Holy Child Jesus."
+
+The following is the statute of Dean Colet, A.D. 1518, on this
+subject:--"All these children shall, every Childermas Daye, come to
+Paule's Churche, and hear the Childe Bishop's sermone; and after be at the
+hyghe masse, and each of them offer a 1d. to the Childe Bishop, and with
+them maistors and surveyors of the scole."
+
+The ceremonies attached to this boyish parody of a most solemn office
+varied considerably, but it is known to have existed in all the cathedral
+churches of France and Spain, as well as in many parts of Germany and
+Switzerland. In England, every cathedral, which possesses post-reformation
+records, yields abundant evidence of the Child-Bishop customs. We found
+interesting mention of it in several places when setting in order the
+chaotic mass of capitular muniments at Lichfield. An inventory of 1345
+names four small choir copes for the use of boys on the feast of Holy
+Innocents. The next century names a mitre, cope, sandals, gloves, and
+staff for the Nicholas Bishop. An invariable part of the proceedings seems
+to have been a sermon from the Boy Bishop, delivered from the usual
+pulpit. He was doubtless well drilled in the discourse by the chancellor,
+or by his substitute, the choir school master. Indeed, several of the
+sermons that were learnt by rote by the Boy Bishop are still extant. At
+Salisbury, the whole details are set forth in the printed procession of
+the cathedral church. In the order of the procession, on the eve of
+Innocents' Day, the dean and canons residentiary walked first, and were
+followed by the chaplains; the boy-bishop, with his boy-prebendaries,
+closing the procession as the position of the greatest dignity. The
+boy-bishop and his attendants took the highest places in choir, the canons
+carrying the incense, tapers, etc. At the conclusion of compline the boy
+gave the benediction, and until the close of the procession on the
+following evening none of the clergy of any condition were allowed to
+ascend to the upper part of the sanctuary, which was reserved for the
+choir boys and their prelate.
+
+In most churches the boys performed all the ceremonies, and said all the
+offices save mass during this period; in some they were even permitted to
+make a travesty of mass. On the Continent, a variety of indecent levities
+were by degrees admitted, such as the boy being dressed in a bishop's
+robes reversed, and old shoes being burnt instead of incense; and when
+they had raised sufficient scandal in the church itself, they then paraded
+the streets, or sought to make levies in the market-place. To the credit
+of the church, it should be remarked that these excesses were on several
+occasions interdicted by pre-reformation councils, though apparently with
+but partial success. The Council of Basle, which sat in 1431, issued the
+following stringent canon:--"This sacred synod, detesting that foul abuse
+frequent in certain churches, in which, on certain festivals of the year,
+certain persons with a mitre, staff, and pontifical robes, bless men after
+the manner of bishops, others being clothed like kings and dukes, which is
+called the Feast of Fools, of Innocents, or of Children in certain
+countries; others practising vizarded and theatrical sports; others making
+trains and dances of men and women, move men to spectacles and
+cachin-nations; hath appointed and commanded as well ordinaries as deans
+and rectors of churches, under pain of suspension of all their
+ecclesiastical revenues for three months space, if they suffered these and
+such like plays and pastimes to be any more exercised in the church, which
+ought to be the house of prayer, nor yet in the churchyard, and that they
+neglect not to punish the offender by ecclesiastical censures and other
+remedies of law."
+
+Boy-bishoping was by no means confined in England to the cathedral and
+large collegiate churches, but it was so generally prevalent and popular
+that it appears to have prevailed wherever there was a choir school,
+attached to any church, whether in town or country. The churchwardens'
+accounts of St. Mary Hill, London, 1485-6, contain the two following
+entries:--"Item, six copes for children of dyvers sortes. Item, a myter
+for a bishop at Seint Nycholas tyde, garnyshed with sylver and anelyd, and
+perles and counterfete stones." The same accounts make mention of the
+purchase of properties for a like purpose in 1549-50 during Queen Mary's
+reign. We have met references to a like children's pageant in
+comparatively out-of-the-way places of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and West
+Somersetshire.
+
+So far as England was concerned, the show of the boy-bishop, which the
+Church had failed to suppress or to keep within decent limits was
+summarily put an end to (save for a slight revival in the days of Mary
+Tudor) by a vigorous proclamation of Henry VIII. This proclamation,
+issued on July 22nd, 1542, thus concludes:--"Whereas heretofore dyvers and
+many superstitious and chyldish observancies have been used, and yet to
+this day are observed and kept in many and sundry partes of this realme,
+as upon Saint Nicholas, the Holie Innocents, and such like, the children
+be strangelie decked and apparayled to counterfeit priests, bishops and
+women, and to be ledde with songs and dances from house to house, blessing
+the people, and gathering of money; and boys do singe masse and preach in
+the pulpitt, with such unfittinge and inconvenient usages, rather to the
+derysyion than anie true glorie of God, or honour of His Sayntes. The
+Kynge's Majestie wylleth and commandeth that henceforth all such
+superstitious observancies be left and duly extinguished throughout all
+this realm and dominions."
+
+The writings of the early reformers, as well as allusions in secular
+literature of the sixteenth century, help to prove how well-known, nay
+almost universal, was this boyish sporting and strange burlesquing of
+things sacred throughout England. In "The Catechism of the Offices of all
+Degrees," issued by Thomas Beacon, Chaplain to Archbishop Cranmer, in the
+time of Edward VI., occurs the following passage:--
+
+    "_Father._--What if he preach not, neither can preach?
+
+    _Son._--Then is he a Nicholas bishop and an idol, and indeed no better
+    than a painted bishop on a wall: yea, he is, as the prophet saith, 'A
+    dumb dog, not able to bark;' he is also, as our Saviour Christ saith
+    'Unsavoury salt, worth for nothing but to be cast out, and to be
+    trodden under foot of men.' Wo be to those rulers that set such idols
+    and white daubed walls over the flock of Christ, whom he hath
+    purchased with His precious blood! Horrible and great is their
+    damnation."
+
+At the first blush, any connection with dancing and church attendance or
+worship may seem profane and impossible; but further reflection at all
+events qualifies any too hasty generalisation. Emotions of joy and sorrow
+universally express themselves among mankind in movements and gestures of
+the body. Efforts were therefore made in early days, particularly among
+the more demonstrative people of the east and south, to reduce to measure,
+and to strengthen by unison, pleasureable emotions of joy. The dance is
+spoken of throughout the Old Testament as symbolical of rejoicing, and the
+rejoicing in their feasts is emphatically and repeatedly enjoined upon the
+Israelites. So, too, with both Romans and Egyptians, the dance, in
+certain circumstances, was associated with religious ceremonies, and was
+intended to express the thankful worship of the body. The dances led by
+Miriam, by Jephthah's daughter, by Judith, and doubtless too by Deborah,
+soon occur to the mind. David also himself led the dance on the return of
+the Ark of God from its long exile; whilst from the mention in association
+of "damsels," "timbrels," and "dances" as elements of religious worship in
+Psalms cxvii, cxlix, and cl, it may be concluded that David incorporated
+these joyous movements in the formal rites of the established Tabernacle
+service. In later Judaism the dance certainly survived in the religious
+festivities of the feast of Tabernacles. It may therefore have come to
+pass that early Christians, realising the joyous feature of their special
+creed, expressing its constant belief in the "resurrection of the body,"
+may have desired in all honesty and innocency to occasionally associate
+the dance with festal service. The results were, however, unfortunate;
+pagan practices of a like character were, as a rule, of a licentious
+nature, and it became necessary to try and suppress all such forms of
+expression of joy or thanksgiving. St. Augustine mentions with abhorrence
+that dancers invaded the resting place of St. Cyprian at night and sang
+songs there, a custom that died out on the institution of vigils. Pope
+Eugenius II. (824-7) prohibited dancing in churches, thereby showing how
+usual the custom became. In 858 the Bishop of Orleans condemned the
+dancing of women in the presbytery on festivals. The Council of Avignon,
+which sat in 1209, prohibited the theatrical dances in churches which were
+sometimes the accompaniment of the vigils of Saints' days. The Councils of
+Bourges in 1286, and of Bayeux in 1300, condemned all dances which took
+place in church or churchyards.
+
+In the later mediæval period Morris-dancing was associated with churches,
+and the wardens not infrequently had in their possession certain
+properties that were necessary for its due performance. The Morris-dancing
+was occasionally actually performed within the churches, that is in the
+nave or at the west end; the mummers not going forth on their Whitsuntide
+round until the first dance had been given within the sacred fabric. Nor
+is it difficult for the antiquary to trace the connection between the
+Morris-dancing and the active expression of Christianity. When the Fifth
+Crusade succeeded in effecting the capture of Constantinople, the Latins
+in their joy celebrated the event by solemn dances in the great church of
+St. Sophia. The usual, nay almost invariable, subject of the mumming-play,
+as apart from the miracle-play, was one drawn from the crusading legend.
+St. George rescuing a Christian maid from her Turkish masters was the
+usual stock piece, whilst the joy of victory was invariably celebrated in
+the Morris (that is the Moorish) dance.
+
+The earliest of the Kingston-upon-Thames churchwarden accounts, which
+cover the last years of Henry VII. and the reign of Henry VIII., have
+various references to these dances. In the inventory of church property
+for 1537-8 are enumerated:--"A fryers cote of russet and a kyrtele welted
+with red cloth, a mowrens (Moor's) cote of buckram, and four morres
+daunsars cotes of white fustian spangelid, and too gryne satin cotes, and
+disarddes cote of cotton, and six payre of garters with belles."
+
+In the recently published and highly-interesting churchwardens' accounts
+of St. Mary's, Reading, are the following entries for the year 1556-7:--
+
+  "I'tm payed for the morrys daunsers and the
+      mynstrelles mete and drinke at Whitsuntide    iii.s.iiij.d
+  I'tm payed to them the Sondy after Mayday                 xx.d
+  Pd to the painter for paynting of their Cottes     ii.s.viij.d
+  Pd for a peir of showes for the morris daunsers         iiij.s
+  Pd for iiij dozen belles for the morrys daunsers          ij.s
+  Pd for sowing of the morrys Cottes                       vij.d
+
+The churchwardens' accounts of St. Helen's, Abingdon, for the second year
+of Queen Elizabeth (1559) show that "two dozen of morres belles were
+bought by the parish for a shilling."
+
+An injunction of Henry VIII. laid down the principle, now so generally
+accepted, that "all soberness, quietness, and godliness ought there (in
+the churches) to be used," and enjoined that "no Christian person should
+abuse the same by eating, drinking, buying, selling, playing, dancing, or
+with other profane or worldly matters." But this injunction was often
+treated as a dead letter up to the close of the century in which it was
+issued. In Stubb's "Anatomie of Abuses," first printed in 1585, we read:--
+
+    "The wild heades of the parish, flocking together, chuse them a grawnd
+    captain of mischief, whom they innoble with the title of my Lord of
+    Misrule. Then marche these heathen companie towards the church and
+    churchyard, their pipers pypyng, drummers thonderyng, their stumpes
+    dauncyng, their belles jyngling, their handkerchefes swyngyng about
+    their heads like madmen, their hobbie-horses and other monsters
+    skyrmishyng amongst the throng; and in this sorte they go to the
+    church (though the minister be at praier or preachyng) dauncing and
+    swyngyng their handkerchiefs over their heads in the churche, like
+    devilles incarnate, with such a confused noise that no man can heare
+    his owne voyce. Then the foolish people, they looke, they stare, they
+    laugh, they fleere, and mywnt upon the formes and pewes to see these
+    goodly pageants solemnized in this sort. Then, after this, about the
+    church they go againe and againe, and so fourthe into the churchyard,
+    where they have commonly their summerhalls, their bowers, arbours and
+    banquetyng houses set up, wherein they feast, banquet and dance all
+    that day, and peradventure, all that night too, and thus these
+    terrestrial furies spend the sabbath daie."
+
+In the days of the antiquary, Sir John Aubrey, who died in 1697, there was
+Christmas dancing in various Yorkshire churches, accompanied with songs of
+Yule.
+
+The mounted reindeer antlers, as well as the dresses and other properties
+of the remarkable horn dancers of Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire, are still
+kept in the parish church, where we recently had an opportunity of
+examining them when investigating the history of this highly interesting
+survival. The dance still continues year by year, and there seems no doubt
+that the tradition is true which assigned to the performers a preliminary
+dance through the churches before they started on their rounds through the
+parish and neighbourhood, collecting money for church purposes. There are
+those living who can recollect the accompanying music being played in the
+church porch, whilst the dancers executed their steps in the adjacent
+parts of the churchyard.
+
+A singular and attractive relic of the custom of dancing in churches is
+still practiced three times a year in the great cathedral of Seville,
+namely on the feasts of the Immaculate Conception, and of Corpus Christi,
+and on the last three days of the Carnival. Ten choristers, dressed in the
+costume of pages of the time of Philip III., with plumed hats, dance a
+stately but most graceful measure, for about half-an-hour, within the iron
+screens in front of the high altar. They are dressed in blue and white for
+the Blessed Virgin, and in red and white for Corpus Christi. The boys
+accompany the minuet-like movements with the clinking of castanets. During
+the measure, a hymn, arranged for three voices with orchestral
+accompaniment, is sung in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. The refrain to
+the verses is as follows:--
+
+  "Tu nombre Divino,
+  Jesus, invocamos,
+  Y Dios Te adoramos
+  Por nos encarnado,
+  Yen hostia abreviado
+  De celico pan!"
+
+The canons of the Church of England, as well as the visitation articles of
+several of our bishops soon after the Reformation, afford plain proof of
+the not infrequent continuance of sports and feastings within the
+churches.
+
+The 48th of Bishop Hooper's visitation articles runs as follows:--
+
+    "Item, that the churchwardens do not permit any buying, selling,
+    gaming, outrageous noises, tumult, or any other idle occupying of
+    youth, in the church, church porch, or churchyard, during the time of
+    common prayer, sermon, or reading of the homily."
+
+Still more explicit is the 61st article of the provincial visitation of
+Archbishop Grindal:--
+
+    "Whether the ministers and churchwardens have suffered any lords of
+    misrule, or summer lords or ladies, or any disguised persons, or
+    others, in Christmas or at May-games, or any morris-dancers, or at any
+    other times to come, unreverently into the church or churchyard, and
+    there to dance, or play any unseemly parts, with scoffs, jests, wanton
+    gestures, or ribald talk, namely in the time of Common Prayer; and
+    what they be that commit such disorder, or accompany or maintain
+    them?"
+
+The 88th Canon of the Church of England (1603), under the heading,
+"Churches not to be profaned," says:--
+
+    "The churchwardens or questmen, and their assistants, shall suffer no
+    plays, feasts, banquets, suppers, church-ales, drinkings, temporal
+    courts or leets, lay-juries, musters, or any other profane usage to be
+    kept in the church, chapels or churchyard."
+
+With regard to plays in churches, it has to be recollected that the
+mediæval Miracle Play, particularly in England, had its origin in an
+elaboration of the liturgy at special seasons, in order to bring home
+Christian truths more closely to the understanding of an unlettered
+people. The primitive Passion play consisted in the solemn removal of the
+Crucifix on Good Friday, the laying it away beneath the altar or in a
+specially constructed "sepulchre," the setting of a watch to guard it and
+the raising it again with joyous anthem on the Resurrection morn of
+Easter. After the third lesson, before the _Te Deum_ at mattins on Easter
+Day (according to the English use), the clergy walked in procession to the
+high altar, where two singingmen took the parts SS. Peter and John, whilst
+three altos, in albes, represented the three Maries, to each of whom
+certain words were assigned. The same colloquy was repeated at Mass as
+part of the sequence. So, too, with Nativity plays, they had their origin
+in the parts assigned to the choir boys and singing men, as representing
+angels, shepherds, wise-men, etc. A manger was always erected in one part
+of the church, and as the play developed a throne for Herod was placed in
+another position, whilst a distant corner was supposed to represent Egypt.
+
+As the Miracle Plays grew in importance and popularity, their
+representation in churches became increasingly impossible, if any regard
+was to be had to scenic effects. Hence the actors ceased to be the clergy
+and choir, their place being taken by members of trade-gilds, or by
+wandering players. Occasionally, however, these playing troops were
+allowed to use the churches, of which, if space permitted, a variety of
+instances, many of our own culling, could be given. Nay, the authorities,
+both in pre-reformation and post-reformation times were occasionally lax
+enough to suffer secular country dramas and rude representations of
+historic scenes to be given by the players in the naves of the parish
+churches.[1]
+
+In the churchwarden's accounts of St. Michael's, Bath, under the year
+1482, are several entries pertaining to the miracle players, who doubtless
+performed in the church, and who certainly partook of their refreshment in
+the same place. The players received a preliminary refresher on their
+arrival, which is thus expressed in the original:--
+
+  _Propotatione le players in recordacione ludorum
+      diversis vicibus_                               _iij.d._
+
+They seem to have been paid chiefly in kind, as the accounts are charged
+with--
+
+    Two bushels of corn, two dozen pots of beer, and cheese, to the value
+    of 1.s. 1.d. for the play. The wardens also paid for this play 20.d.
+    for skins, which would be used for disguisements, and 3.s. for
+    staining diverse properties that were provided for the occasion.
+
+Another entry relative to the same visit, has, we think, been
+misinterpreted by Rev. Prebendary Pearson, when he edited these accounts
+in 1878. The entry reads:--
+
+  _Et Johi Fowler pro cariando le tymbe a cimiterio
+      dicto tempore ludi_                             _v.d._
+
+Mr. Pearson thought this meant a tomb (_tymba_), but it is far more likely
+that it was a bulky platform of timber, placed in the churchyard when not
+in use, and only brought into the church when it was required to serve as
+a stage.
+
+With regard to feasting in churches, one of the canons put forth in 1571
+specially enjoined the churchwardens to disallow the holding of feasts,
+drinking parties, banquets, and public entertainments within the walls of
+churches. The Church-ales, Clark-ales, and Bid-ales, about which so much
+has been written, were originally held within the fabric, and a variety of
+other drinking and eating customs in the same place were at one time
+prevalent, lingering on for some time after the Reformation in certain
+places, and even lasting almost to our own days in occasional retired
+parishes.
+
+Funeral banquets, for the entertainment of mourners, were not infrequently
+held in the church when the ceremony was over, or even on the next Sunday.
+
+In Strype's edition of _Stowe's London_ it is recorded that:--
+
+    "Margaret Atkinson, widow, by her will, October 18th, 1544, orders
+    that the next Sunday after her burial there be provided two dozens of
+    bread, a kilderkin of ale, two gammons of bacon, three shoulders of
+    mutton, and two couples of rabbits, desiring all the parish, as well
+    as rich as poor, to take part thereof, and a table be set in the midst
+    of the church, with everything necessary therto."
+
+We have seen wills pertaining to Porlock and Cutcombe, Somersetshire, to
+Scropton, Derbyshire, and to Easingwold, Yorkshire, all of the latter part
+of the sixteenth century, which expressly provide for the refreshment of
+the mourners within the church.
+
+Occasionally, too, parochial charities provided that the bequest in kind
+should be consumed in the church. This was the case with regard to a small
+seventeenth century charity, by the terms of which a certain quantity of
+bread and beer were to be distributed in the parish church of
+Barton-le-Street, Yorkshire, on Holy Thursday to the children of the
+parish, to be by them consumed within the church, close to the tomb of the
+testator. This custom prevailed until about 1820, when it was abandoned in
+favour of the churchyard. The reformed custom prevailed for some twenty
+years, when it in turn gave way to a distribution of the fund in money to
+the aged poor.
+
+Sad and quaint instances of the occasional evil uses of churches in recent
+times, even during the present century, could be gleaned, such as
+cock-fighting, card-playing, etc.; but the record would be of no profit,
+for they would not be examples of any once established custom, but mere
+freaks of wanton impiety.
+
+
+
+
+Holy Day Customs.
+
+BY THE REV. GEO. S. TYACK, B.A.
+
+
+It is not surprising that a multitude of quaint customs has sprung up
+around the holy days of the church. For these were the holidays of the
+people in "Merrie England" of the bygone times; the seasons when gossips
+met to talk, and young folk to play, and all the country-side was gathered
+first in the church, and then on the village green, or round their
+neighbours' hospitable hearths. By sermon or by eloquent device of ritual,
+the parish priest endeavoured to imprint upon the simple minds of his
+flock the great truth which the holy day commemorated; and they, on their
+part, as free for the day from responsibility as from labour, showed their
+joy in a hundred different jests and homely sports. Within the church and
+without, therefore, was there ample scope for curious customs to grow up,
+some of which, even though the origin and meaning have been lost, live on
+among us to the present day.
+
+The word _feast_, in the sense of a banquet, is now so familiar to us,
+that we are in danger of altogether forgetting that originally it
+contained no allusion to eating and drinking. But so universal is the idea
+that on all days of rejoicing a meal of special dainties should form part
+of the celebration, that long before we English had wrought the word into
+its present form, the Roman poets had begun to use its Latin original in
+the sense of a festal banquet. Certainly no high day is complete and
+national with us unless it include a dinner amongst its pleasures. We
+find, therefore, in surveying the holy day customs of yore, signs of much
+merry-making of this kind, and particularly of the dedication of special
+viands to certain occasions.
+
+From time immemorial, for instance, Christmas cheer was incomplete without
+its mince-pies and plum-pudding; the former emblematic, so some say, by
+their shape, of the manger-bed of the Infant Redeemer, and the latter by
+its rich ingredients of the offerings of the three kings. The pancakes of
+Shrove Tuesday are equally universal, and form so conspicuous a part of
+the day's solemnities that the day is often known as "pancake-day," and
+the bell which formerly summoned the faithful to the shriving was
+similarly named the "pancake-bell." In many parts of the country, as for
+example at Crowle, in North Lincolnshire, the bell is still rung under
+that name.
+
+Mid-Lent, or Mothering Sunday, has its peculiar fare in simnel cakes. Few
+days in the year have received so many titles as this one. It is Mothering
+Sunday from the ancient practice of priests and people going, on that day,
+in pilgrimage to the mother-church of the district, from which arose also
+a traditional habit of children visiting their parents on the same
+occasion. At this family re-union simnels were the proper fare. But the
+day is also Bragget Sunday, from the draughts of bragget, or mulled ale,
+with which, in some parts, notably in Lancashire, the cakes were washed
+down. Again it is Fag-pie Sunday, from another refection sacred to it in
+the same county, namely a pie of figs and spices. Refreshment Sunday, and
+the Sunday of the Five Loaves, have reference to the Eucharistic Gospel
+for the day.
+
+The following Sunday, Passion Sunday, has its special dish in _carlings_,
+or peas fried in butter; and on Palm Sunday figs were again thought
+appropriate. A strange custom, existing till comparatively recent times at
+Sellack, in Hertfordshire, was the distribution to those present at church
+on Palm Sunday of buns and cider by the churchwardens, with the words,
+"Peace and good neighbourhood."
+
+Even the great fast of the year has its peculiar food in the hot cross
+buns of Good Friday. These are probably a survival of the heathen practice
+of offering consecrated cakes to the gods. They were originally unleavened
+cakes, made, it is said, from the dough out of which the hosts for the
+altar were baked, a fact which suggests a connection with the Pascal
+regulations of the Jews. The stamp of the cross probably marks the effort
+of the church to give a Christian significance to a practice that was
+found to be practically ineradicable.
+
+Easter, the "Queen of Festivals," has no fare so unmistakably assigned to
+it as some other holy days. Hare-pie is the correct thing in some places,
+and at Hallaton, in Leicestershire, there is an endowment for providing
+hare-pie, bread, and ale, for distribution at this season. At Twickenham
+two large cakes were formerly divided among the young folk of the parish
+at Easter; a harmless practice which the Puritans suppressed in 1645,
+with the result that often attends the efforts of busy-bodies, matters
+were altered for the worse; for, thenceforward, penny loaves were
+purchased with the money, and flung from the Church Tower to be scrambled
+for. At Biddenden, in Kent, a large number of cakes and loaves are given
+away on this day, on the former of which is impressed the image of two
+females, joined together at hip and shoulder. These are the "Biddenden
+Maids," Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst, who are said to have been born in the
+village, in the year 1100, thus strangely joined, and in whose memory the
+rent of a plot of land, called the "Bread and Cheese Land," is thus
+distributed.
+
+Other viands traditionally connected with certain holy days are the great
+spiced-cakes on Twelfth Night, and Valentine Buns given to children in
+Leicestershire, on S. Valentine's Day. A special "brand" of toffee is made
+at Bozeat, in Northamptonshire, for S. Andrew's Day; and roast goose has
+long been considered essential to the due observance of Michaelmas.
+
+Reference was made above to the survival of heathen customs among us, in a
+dress more or less Christian; and there can be no doubt that such is the
+fittest description of very many holy day practices. Some usage was found
+in vogue, in itself harmless enough, but allied by long association with
+the superstitions of paganism. In some cases the mere conservatism of
+popular feeling kept these alive, after all meaning had died out of them;
+but in many instances the church took them up, and gave to the dry bones
+of the heathen custom a soul of Christian meaning. Conspicious among such
+are the use of mistletoe, and the burning of the Yule-log, as adjuncts to
+the gaiety and brightness of the Feast of the Nativity. Mistletoe was the
+most sacred of plants in the days of the Druids; and it is certainly one
+of the most extraordinary examples of the tenacity of life displayed by
+popular customs, that a tradition of special privilege should still cling
+to the mistletoe in spite, not only of the passage of so many centuries,
+but even of the exterminating wars waged against the Druids by the Romans,
+and against the Britons generally by the English. It was these same
+English forefathers of ours who taught us to burn the Yule-log in
+sacrifice to Thor the Thunderer.
+
+Again, there can be little question that the "well-dressing," or
+decoration of springs of water with moss and flowers, so common in
+Derbyshire, had its origin in the worship of the nymphs or goddesses of
+stream and river; yet now in almost every case it has become part of the
+celebration of some Christian festival. At Tissington, which claims to
+have the only real survival of the custom, it takes place on Ascension
+Day; at Derby, and Wirksworth, at Whitsuntide; at Barton on the Thursday
+nearest to S. John the Baptist's Day. A pagan rite still existing without
+Christian "baptism," is found in the bon-fires that yearly crown the
+Cornish hill-tops on the night of Midsummer Day.
+
+Some sports and games were in the past traditionally associated with
+certain church festivals, for reasons which in most cases are not very
+clear. In Derbyshire, particularly in the county-town, and in Ashbourne,
+Shrove Tuesday was marked by the playing in the streets of a rough and
+unorganised game of football, in which a large part of the populace took
+part. School children were very generally supposed to have the privilege
+of demanding a holiday on that day, or even of enforcing one by locking
+the master out of the school-house. At Haxey, in North Lincolnshire, the
+"Haxey Hood," is always thrown on the Feast of the Epiphany. This curious
+sport consists in the struggle for a roll of coarse sacking, about three
+inches in diameter, and two feet long, known locally as the "hood," and is
+the occasion of much wild excitement. This is said to have no connection
+with the holy day, except that it is a commemoration of some local contest
+that chanced originally to happen on that day. A similar reason is given
+for the fact that the town of Stamford formerly celebrated S. Brice's Day
+with the brutal sport of bull-running.
+
+Other curious customs, such as the cracking of a gad-whip in Caistor
+Church, on Palm Sunday, by which a local land tenure was maintained, and
+which survived until 1846, were evidently associated, each with its
+special day, by a merely arbitrary arrangement, having no allusion
+whatever to the festival. To the same class belongs, perhaps, the ceremony
+of washing the tomb of Molly Grime, at Glentham, in Lincolnshire, by seven
+old spinsters, every Good Friday. This was regularly done until 1832, a
+neighbouring property being charged with the payment of one shilling each
+to the washers, but since that date, the tomb has been abandoned to a
+condition more typical of its occupant's name. Another strange usage, the
+meaning of which it is hard to conjecture, was the pinning of bits of
+coloured rag to the back of the women on their way to church, on Palm
+Sunday, a sport once found full of amusement by the lads of Leigh, in
+Lancashire.
+
+Another class of holy day usages consists of endeavours to reproduce, in
+some more or less realistic manner, the fact commemorated by the festival,
+with a result that to us seems grotesque at times, if not profane.
+
+Amongst the more obvious of these, we must reckon the singing of carols at
+Christmas, a memorial of the angelic hymn heard by the shepherds at
+Bethlehem; and the doll laid in a decorated box, rudely representing the
+Holy Child in His manger-bed, which children frequently carry from door to
+door at that season. The miners of Llwynymaen, when asking for Christmas
+gifts, used at one time, it is said, to carry boards to which lighted
+candles were fixed, in allusion no doubt originally to the coming of the
+"Light of the World."
+
+The cruel custom of stoning a wren to death on S. Stephen's Day, once
+generally prevalent, is well-known, and was an obvious endeavour after
+commemorative realism. At Padstow, in Cornwall, the same scene was
+enacted less objectionally on the Eve of the Conversion of S. Paul, by the
+stoning of a pitcher, whence that day was locally known as "Paul's Pitcher
+Day."
+
+The royal offering of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, at the Chapel Royal,
+S. James's, on the Feast of the Epiphany, was once a ceremony of real
+dignity, but is now rather a paltry business, interesting chiefly as one
+of the most curious of survivals. The royal charities on Maunday Thursday,
+are really a portion of an otherwise lapsed custom, which recalled the
+action of our Lord on the day before His Crucifixion. Down to the reign of
+James II. the king attended by some of the great officers of his court,
+washed the feet of a number of poor people on this day, and then
+distributed money, food, and clothing among them. The lads of Kendal have
+a different way of keeping the day; in parties of a dozen or so, they
+drag, or used to drag, tin cans through the streets, beating them with
+sticks, until they were quite demolished. Can this, one wonders, be in any
+way related to that Good Friday custom of Spanish sailors, the beating and
+hanging in effigy of Judas the Traitor?
+
+An old Dorset poet, Barnes, says, referring to a well-known Easter custom:
+
+  "Last Easter I put on my blue
+  Frock coat, the vust time, vier new;
+  Wi' yaller buttons aal o' brass,
+  That glittered in the zun like glass,
+  Bekaze 'twer Easter Zunday."
+
+No good luck can attend you, so the belief was, unless you wear at least
+one new thing on Easter Day. The fancy probably arose from an idea of the
+"newness of life" of which the festival speaks to us. Easter eggs again
+were obviously used at first as supplying a fitting emblem of the
+Resurrection. As a rule they are simply treated as pretty ornaments, but
+at Liège, in Belgium, boys have a kind of game with them, similar to an
+English lad's use of chestnuts, knocking two together; the boy whose egg
+remains unbroken the longest being proclaimed the conqueror.
+
+The subject of holy day practices is an immense one, especially when one
+wanders into all the bye-paths of local peculiarities. All of them, no
+doubt, had their meaning in times past, and therefore their use; if some,
+having now become unintelligible or even foolish forms, drop year by year
+into disuse, we can scarcely, from mere love of the olden days, regret
+them. But all the more tenaciously should we cling to those old customs,
+which have still a living soul in them, still a lesson to teach. Our
+forefathers, with their ready wit in finding means for impressing truth on
+the mind through the medium of the eye, showed a deeper knowledge of human
+nature than some of their sons, who boast so freely of the superior wisdom
+of the nineteenth century.
+
+
+
+
+Church Bells: When and Why they were Rung.
+
+BY FLORENCE PEACOCK.
+
+
+Bells filled a much more important place in the lives of our ancestors
+than they do in ours. From the time that Britain became Christian until
+the Reformation, there was scarcely an event in public or private history
+into which they did not enter--they were rung to celebrate the birth of an
+heir to the rich and noble, they were heard at his daughter's marriage,
+and the marriages of his dependants; they sounded alike for high and low,
+rich and poor, when the soul was passing away; and again some hours after
+death had taken place; as well as at the funeral. On these occasions, and
+upon many others, it was the universal custom to ring them, but there were
+also what may be termed local events in honour of which they were chimed;
+these differed in various parts of the country; in many cases adjoining
+parishes followed totally different rules in this respect. Some of these
+customs are so quaint that they are worth recording, not only as memorials
+of a past that we can but dimly enter into, but as throwing considerable
+light upon the manners and doings of our forefathers.
+
+As far as we are aware no complete collection of these old usages relating
+to the ringing of Church Bells has ever been made, though there is much
+valuable information to be found upon the subject in the various books
+upon bells which have been published during the last twenty-five years. It
+is said that year by year fewer bells are heard to ring upon the
+twenty-ninth of May, but "Oak-apple Day," as it is still called in many
+parts of England, is yet celebrated by the bells of Swineshead, amongst
+other places; and also by sprays of oak leaves being worn, though in the
+northern and eastern counties, if the season be a late one, it is somewhat
+difficult to obtain them. Some six or seven years ago many of the engines
+of trains running upon the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway
+were decked with branches of oak on that day; and it is no uncommon thing
+to see the plough boy adorn the heads of his horses with sprays of oak
+leaves in memory of King Charles's escape. There is an entry in the
+churchwardens' accounts belonging to the church of St. Mary at
+Stamford:--"1709 Pd. Richard Hambleton for ale for the Ringers on ye 29
+May ... 00 06 00." We find three years later the ringers at the church of
+All Saints in the same town received five shillings for ringing the bells
+upon the twenty-ninth of May. At Waddington it has been the custom from
+sometime which is now forgotten to ring one or two strokes on the tenor
+bell to publish the fact that an apprentice belonging to the parish is
+"out of his time." The fifth of November was a day of general bell-ringing
+all over the country, and we believe they are still sounded in many parts
+of England to call to mind the escape of King, Lords, and Commons from the
+Gunpowder Plot; Guy Fawkes is to be seen burning through the length and
+breadth of the land, and crackers and bonfires are usual. There is a
+curious inscription upon the second bell at Owmby, commemorating the
+events of 1605; it is dated 1687, and bears upon it:--
+
+  "LET VS REMEMBER THE 5 OF NOVEMBER."
+
+The churchwardens' accounts of S. John the Baptist at Stamford contain the
+following entry:--"1608 Item paid for Rynging the vth of November vi{d}."
+
+In some places the bells are rung to summon people to attend the vestry
+meeting which is held on the Monday after Easter Sunday, to elect the
+churchwardens for the following term of office, to pass the church
+accounts for the year, and to transact various other business; this is
+done amongst other places at Bottesford and Epworth (the latter celebrated
+as being the birth-place of John Wesley, the former for possessing the
+most perfect specimen of an Early English church to be found in the
+northern part of Lincolnshire).
+
+On Shrove Tuesday it was the general custom in pre-Reformation times to
+call the people to church, that they might confess their sins before Lent;
+this was done by one of the bells being rung, or more likely tolled, but
+in later times the real reason for which its sound was heard has been
+forgotten by the people, and where the custom has been kept up it has now
+got to be called "The Pancake Bell," because it is usual to have pancakes
+upon this day, the last of feasting, before the fast of Lent begins, and
+Shrove Tuesday is often known by the name of "Pancake Tuesday." This bell
+is rung in a great many places, though the present writer never happened
+to hear it: noon is the usual time for it to be heard, and at Navenby it
+used to be rung by the eldest apprentice in the place, but this part of
+the custom is now obsolete. Our forefathers believed that the ringing of
+church bells had the effect of allaying storms; this is illustrated by an
+entry in the Spalding churchwardens' accounts:--"1519 It'm pd. for ryngng
+when the Tempest was, iijd."
+
+In some parts of the country the bells were rung on the fifth of August to
+celebrate the escape of James I. from the Gowrie Plot; there are charges
+for ringing on this day to be found in the churchwardens' accounts of
+Kirton-in-Lindsey at various times during the seventeenth century. In the
+same parish there was also the custom of ringing what is in some parts of
+the country known as the "Market Bell," but here it was, and we believe is
+still, called the "Winter Ringing," because it was only done during the
+months of November, December, and January, from seven until eight o'clock,
+on Tuesday and Thursday evenings--on the former night to guide people home
+who had attended the Gainsborough market, and upon the latter to aid
+those who had been to Brigg market to find their way back again. This was
+a useful precaution when the country was unenclosed, as the sound of the
+bells told people when they were going in the right direction; the same
+was done in the neighbouring parish of Scotton on the Tuesday night. The
+custom is still kept up at Kirton-in-Lindsey during November and December,
+but we believe the bells are not heard upon these two evenings after
+Christmas, the modern idea being that the ringers are practising for that
+great festival of the Church.
+
+Bells very often had names bestowed upon them; there is one in St. Mark's
+Church, Lincoln, always spoken of as "Old Kate," and "Great Tom" of Oxford
+has a world-wide reputation. Many old bells have unfortunately been sold,
+in some cases to obtain money with which to repair the churches; in others
+we fear the money merely went into the pocket of the holder of the living,
+or those of the churchwardens; it was for the former reason that two bells
+at Cadney were parted with during the last century. A writer in the
+_Gentleman's Magazine_, in 1849 (p. 158), states that there is reason to
+believe that, since the death of Edward VI., not less than four hundred
+bells have, from one cause or another, been lost in Lincolnshire alone.
+
+In some parishes the bells are rung at the close of the morning service
+upon Sunday, and at Harpswell it was, until very lately, the custom to
+ring a bell at noon if by any chance there should be no morning service.
+It is popularly said, but on what authority we know not, that this bell
+was meant to warn those who were preparing dinner that the time for that
+important meal had nearly arrived. The custom of ringing a bell at the
+conclusion of the morning service still obtains at Kirkleatham.
+Inscriptions upon bells are very common, sometimes they are in English,
+but on the older bells it is more usual to find them in Latin. There is a
+bell at Alkborough which is believed to be of the early part of the
+fourteenth century, with the following inscription upon it:--
+
+  "Jesu For Yi Moder Sake Save All
+  Ye Sauls That Me Gart Make
+                              Amen."
+
+At Semperingham, on an early sixteenth bell, there is to be found a very
+useful piece of advice:--
+
+  "Be Not Ouer Busie;"
+
+and a bell at Benniworth merely puts on record the year in which it was
+made:--"Anno Domini 1577;" is by no means an uncommon thing to find only a
+date upon bells. Many of them have the names of the churchwardens for the
+time being, or the name of the giver of the bell or bells; at Burgh we
+find:--
+
+  "William Pavlin chimed so well
+  He payd for casting of this bell. 1589."
+
+Most likely he was one of the ringers, but whether he gave the bell, or
+only paid for its recasting, we do not know. In certain parishes the bells
+are tolled before midnight on the thirty-first of December for the dying
+year; then comes a few minutes pause, and a joyous peal heralds the advent
+of the new year. This is done, amongst other places, at Kirton-in-Lindsey;
+the writer heard 1893 tolled out and 1894 ushered in with a peal on those
+beautiful bells; and we know that it was the custom there in 1632, for we
+find under that date in the churchwardens' accounts:--"Item to the ringers
+of new yeare day morninge xijd." The church of this parish is dedicated to
+S. Andrew, and in 1658, there is an entry as follows:--"It' to the ringers
+on St. Andrewes day 0 1 0." The patron saint of Scotland seems in some
+parts of England to be held in high esteem; in Lincolnshire alone there
+are no less than sixty-eight churches dedicated to him. There is a curious
+tradition about the most widely known bell in Lincolnshire; it is to the
+effect that, when at the recasting of "Great Tom of Lincoln" in the
+Minster Yard, sometime during the January of 1610-11, that certain of the
+pious citizens determined to do all that lay in their power to make the
+tone of the bell as pure as possible, and therefore threw into the molten
+mass of metal much treasure in the form of silver tankards, spoons, and
+sundry other objects formed of that precious metal. That there is not the
+slightest truth in the story was clearly proved when the bell was once
+more recast in 1834, for upon a piece of the metal of which it was
+composed being assayed, it was found to contain a very small proportion of
+silver. It is strange that this belief in the power of silver to add
+sweetness to the tone of bells should be such a general one; we find it
+existing in almost all the countries of Europe, in spite of the fact that
+the experiment of mixing an undue proportion of this metal has always been
+found to impair their sound. The writer was once informed that the reason
+the bells of S. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London, are so wonderfully sweet
+and clear in tone is owing to the fact that Nell Gwynn, who gave them to
+the church, insisted upon having a quantity of silver thrown into the
+metal when it was fusing. Poor pretty, sinning Nell, she was religious
+after a manner, and she has lain in S. Martin's Church upwards of two
+hundred years, whilst the bells she gave have sounded, and still sound,
+above her grave. She left a bequest to the ringers, the interest of which
+was to be devoted to purchasing a leg of mutton for them to sup upon every
+Monday evening.
+
+Sacring bells were, it is believed, to be found in all churches before the
+Reformation; they were rung to inform the congregation that the Elevation
+of the Host was about to take place. There is some difficulty in
+distinguishing between this bell and the Sanctus Bell, they seem in many
+cases to be the same, and in others separate. A small sacring bell was
+discovered in Bottesford Church (Lincolnshire) during its restoration in
+1870. When the plaster was removed from the west end of the southern aisle
+it was seen that one of the stones in the wall was merely loosely placed
+in position, not built firmly in like the rest of the masonry; it was
+removed, and behind it, in a hole evidently made on purpose to receive
+it, was the bell. This bell is now in the possession of the Society of
+Antiquaries, and a full description of it is given in _Proceedings of the
+Society of Antiquaries_, 2nd series, vol. 5, p. 24.
+
+There was formerly a small bell at Hemswell, named the Agnus Bell; it may
+perhaps have been so called by reason of its being rung at the Elevation,
+which was immediately followed by the singing of the _Agnus Dei_. The
+following alludes to it:--"Itm ... an agnus bell gone owtt of the fore
+sayd churche, no man knoweth how, ano dome a thowssand five hundreth three
+schore and fowre."[2]
+
+In many churches, bells and other articles were returned in 1566 as lost
+or missing, and no reasonable explanation of the apparently gross
+carelessness given. There can be but little doubt that they were secretly
+taken away in order that they might escape destruction; in some cases it
+may be that they were hidden like the bell at Bottesford, but it is
+probable that more often they were taken to the houses of the people who
+saved them; and that in after years they were lost or destroyed. Under
+Glenthworth, there is an entry, which seems to point to the fact that the
+bell was thus disposed of "A hand bell--gone, we cannot tell how, the same
+year," (1566).[3]
+
+It seems to have been by no means uncommon to turn these small hand bells
+into mortars; we find this was done at Hemswell in 1566: "ij. hande
+belles, sold to Robertt Aestroppe one of the sayd churchwardens to make a
+mortar off."[4]
+
+Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne on November 17th, 1558, S. Hugh's Day,
+and there are many entries to be found in churchwardens' accounts for
+ringing the bells upon that day after this date. At Kirton-in-Lindsey
+there is the following statement in 1581:--"Item for mending the belles
+aganst Sant Hew day viij{d};" and then again in 1597:--"Item vpon Sante
+Hue daye viij." No doubt the first entry means that either the wooden
+framework, or else the cords of the bells needed some slight repairs; it
+could not have been the bells themselves. There is another entry in the
+Kirton-in-Lindsey accounts that is interesting, though of a somewhat later
+date. In 1630 we find:--"Item bestowed of the ringers in ayle for Joye of
+the younge Prince xij." This was for ringing the bells upon the birth of
+Charles II.
+
+In reading of these loyal payments one is reminded of the inscription upon
+the first bell at Witham-on-the-Hill, which evinces a very different
+spirit:--
+
+  "'TWAS NOT TO PROSPER PRIDE OR HATE
+    WILLIAM AUGUSTUS JOHNSON GAVE ME;
+  BUT PEACE AND JOY TO CELEBRATE,
+    AND CALL TO PRAYER TO HEAV'N TO SAVE YE:
+  THEN KEEP THE TERMS AND E'ER REMEMBER
+    MAY 29{TH} YE MUST NOT RING
+  NOR YET THE FIFTH OF EACH NOVEMBER
+    NOR ON THE CROWNING OF A KING."[5]
+
+The Harvest Bell was rung in various parts of the country; at
+Barrow-on-Humber it was heard very early in the morning at daybreak in the
+eighteenth century, and then again late in the evening during the weeks of
+harvest. In some parishes it used to be the custom to ring a bell at eight
+o'clock in the morning as a signal that people might then begin to glean.
+In the Louth churchwardens' accounts, in 1556, is the following:--"To
+william east for knylling the bell in harvest forgathering of the pescodes
+iiij{d}." The _Daily Telegraph_, of 1st September, 1893, says:--"The
+'harvest bell' is rung at the Parish Church, Driffield, at five a.m. and
+eight p.m. every day during harvest, the custom is a very old one."
+
+Advent was celebrated in some places by the ringing of the bells, usually,
+but not invariably, in the evening; the reason for this being that the
+ringers were at work during the day, and therefore it could only be done
+when the hours of labour were ended. On S. Thomas's Day the bells were
+often rung; and it was a very widely spread, though not a universal,
+custom to ring them very early on the morn of Christmas Day. In the
+Kirton-in-Lindsey churchwardens' account we see what the ringers obtained
+for so doing in 1630:--"It' given to the Ringers at Christenmaise day at
+morne xij{d}." The bells are, or were until lately, rung at five o'clock
+on Christmas morning at South Kelsey. In various parts of England they
+were rung in a great variety of ways during Lent and upon Good Friday; on
+Easter Sunday, too, there has always been great divergence as to the
+custom of bell-ringing. The Banns Peal is still to be heard in some
+places; this is a peal rung after the publication of banns of marriage, it
+is usually chimed after morning service on the first Sunday that the banns
+are "put up," but this is by no means the universal practice, in some
+parishes it is rung on the first and third Sundays, in others on the third
+alone, and it varies yet again at Elsham and Searby, where it is given
+upon all three Sundays. Peals at Baptism are much rarer, but still there
+are parishes where it has been from time unknown usual to ring them. The
+curfew is yet to be heard in many places, though the hour varies, it being
+often rung at nine, and in some instances at seven o'clock, instead of at
+eight.
+
+In pre-Reformation times the Passing Bell, instead of being rung as it now
+is after death, was then really and truly a "passing-bell," for it was
+heard when a person was supposed to be at the point of death, in order
+that those in whose ears it sounded might of their charity pray for a soul
+so soon to be beyond human help. After the spirit had returned unto Him
+who gave it, the Soul Bell was rung, that the living might pray for the
+dead; this soul-bell, besides being rung a few hours after death, was
+sounded again at stated intervals, at the month's end, the three months'
+end, and so on. Surtees, the northern antiquary, alludes to this custom in
+the ballad of _Sir John le Spring_:--
+
+  "Pray for the soul of Sir John le Spring,
+    When the black monks sing and the chantry bells ring.
+  Pray for the sprite of the murdered knight,
+    Pray for the rest of Sir John le Spring.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  And aye the mass-priest sings his song,
+    And patters many a prayer,
+  And the chantry bell tolls loud and long,
+    And aye the lamp burns there."
+
+There are numerous ways of indicating the age and sex of the departed by
+the manner in which the passing-bell is tolled; we have been informed that
+in Lincolnshire alone there are between seventy and eighty different
+methods by which this is done.
+
+Some few bells have upon them inscriptions showing they were meant to be
+rung as passing-bells. The third bell at Brant Broughton has on it:--
+
+  "Beg ye of God your soul to save
+  Before we call you to the grave."
+
+It is possible that some of the customs here spoken of as now existing may
+recently have fallen into oblivion, but the term "existing" must only be
+taken to mean that it was in use at the place named when the note
+concerning it was made.
+
+
+
+
+Inscriptions on Bells.
+
+BY WILLIAM ANDREWS.
+
+
+High up in the dusty belfry, whose grey shadows rarely see the face of
+man, the bells swing to and fro with unwearying zeal. But in addition to
+the lessons which pour from their eloquent mouths, should we scale the
+tall ladders of the bell tower and invade the regions of the owl and the
+bat, we shall find other teaching--that graven on the sides of the bells
+themselves--the inscriptions. Let us therefore glance over the wide field
+of interesting information thus presented to us. Allusions to the pitch of
+the bell are often the subject. A bell of Churchill, Somerset, has the
+following:--
+
+  Although my waiste is small
+  I will be heard amainst you all,
+          Sing on my jolly sisters.
+
+While Berrow, Somerset, is more brief:--
+
+  My treble voice
+  Makes hearts rejoice.
+
+Bruton has a recast bell saying--
+
+  Once I'd a note that none could beare,
+  But Bilbie made me sweet and clear.
+
+And similarly Compton Martin--
+
+  My sound is good that once was bad,
+  Lett's sing my sisters and be glad.
+
+Badgworth, Gloucester, has a similar inscription--
+
+  Badgworth ringers they were mad
+  Because Rigbe made me bad,
+  But Abel Rudhall you may see
+  Hath made me better than Rigbe.
+
+At Blakesley, Northamptonshire, the tenor bears--
+
+  I ring to sermon with a lusty bome,
+  That all may come and none may stay at home.
+
+More pronounced is the self-congratulation of a bell of East Dean--
+
+  Me melior vere,
+  Non est Campana sub aere,
+
+and one of Hurstpierpoint, which says--
+
+  If you have a judicious ear
+  You'll own my voice is sweet and clear.
+
+Rye Church, in Sussex, alludes in its bells to the marriage chimes induced
+by the liberality of the bridegroom--
+
+  In wedlock bands, all ye who join
+    With hands your hearts unite.
+  So shall our tuneful tongues combine
+    To bless the nuptial rite.
+
+At other times it is the shape that is celebrated. At Combe, Somerset, a
+bell says--
+
+  My sound is good, my shape is neat,
+  'Twas Bayley made me so compleat.
+
+Or the size, as at Bexhill, Sussex--
+
+  Although I am both light and small,
+  I will be heard above you all.
+
+S. Mary's, at Devizes, has another version--
+
+  I am the first, altho' but small,
+  I will be heard above you all.
+
+Again, names of donors are often inscribed upon bells, and these are
+handed down to us from very early dates; or sometimes the fact of
+subscription is mentioned in general terms of gratitude. So Bagborough,
+Somerset, says--
+
+  Bouth owld and young did agree full well
+  To pay for casting of this bell,
+  Because a true tale it should tell.
+
+And Bath Abbey has a very terse bell couplet,
+
+  All you of Bath that heare mee sound
+  Thank Lady Hopton's hundred pound.
+
+A Devon bell has--
+
+  Squire Arundel the great my whole expense did raise,
+  Nor shall our tongues abate to celebrate his praise.
+
+These hints, or downright references on bells to the pecuniary means of
+their erection, may be supplemented by the inscription at Buxted, which
+promises as follows--
+
+  At proper times my voice I'll raise
+  And sound to my subscribers' praise.
+
+But in the last two centuries such expressions of gratitude for
+subscriptions to casting or re-casting are common enough. So in a similar
+strain speaks the bell of Alderton,
+
+  I'm given here to make a peal
+  And sound the praise of Mary Neale.
+
+At Binstead, too, a bell says
+
+  Dr. Nicholas gave five pound
+  To help cast this peal tuneable and sound.
+
+Bells at first bore strictly religious inscriptions; afterwards that rule
+became more relaxed, and irrelevant matters often find expression. After
+1600 the claims of religion to be alone regarded on bells may be said to
+be almost entirely passed over. Marlborough's victories are commemorated
+on the bells of S. Helen's, Worcester, and those of Ottery and S. Martin,
+Exeter, have medals on which are represented grotesque pieces levelled at
+the churchmen in the most approved style of mediæval satire. Sometimes,
+nay, most often, the poetical attempts in the inscriptions are, to say
+the least, somewhat wanting in an indefinite something that goes to make
+true poetry. Yet the simple appeals of some of them do not fall
+unregarded. So when rich men give bells we find such an inscription as
+this--
+
+  Of your charite prai for the soulles of John Slutter, John
+    Hunt, and Willem Slutter.
+
+An instance has been given of historical events being inscribed upon
+bells. A further one is that of the bell of Ashover, Derbyshire, which
+upon re-casting was inscribed--
+
+  This old bell rung the downfall of Buonaparte and broke, April, 1814.
+
+At Tadcaster it is recorded on the fifth bell--
+
+  It is remarkable that these bells were moulded in the great frost,
+  1783. C. and R. Dalton, Fownders, York.
+
+An extremely curious inscription appears on a bell at Pucknowle,
+Dorsetshire, dated 1629. It reads without stop or space--
+
+  Hethatvillpvrchashonovrsgaynemvstancientlatherstilmayntayne.
+
+"Lather" is an old English term meaning "to make a noise." A bell at
+Lichfield, which was destroyed in 1652, bore the following:--
+
+  I am ye bell of Jesus, and Edward is our King,
+  Sir Thomas Heywood first caused me to ring.
+
+Many inscriptions on bells are, or contain, allusions to the vigilance of
+monastic times. Such is one at Ashill, Somerset, which simply says--
+
+  I call to wake you all.
+
+As pithy an inscription appears on the bell of S. Ives, which is rung
+early in the morning. It is--
+
+  Arise, and go about your business.
+
+A Coventry bell, dated 1675, says--
+
+  I ring at six to let men know
+  When too and fro their worke to goe.
+
+Patriotic expressions are common; among such is Brusford,
+
+  Come let us ring
+  For Church and King.
+
+And Hurstpierpoint,
+
+  Ye people all who hear us ring
+  Be faithful to your God and King.
+
+Sometimes a whole set of bells bore inscriptions which may be read
+continuously. An instance is at S. Mary's, Ticehurst, where the bells
+have--
+
+  1. I am she that leads the van,
+     Then follow me now if you can.
+
+  2. Then I speak next, I can you tell,
+     So give me rope and ring me well.
+
+  3. Now I am third, as I suppose,
+     Mark well now time and fourth close.
+
+  4. As I am fourth, I will explain
+     If you'll keep time you'll credit gain.
+
+  5. Now I am fifth, as I suppose,
+     Then ring me well and tenor close.
+
+  6. This is to show for ages yet to come
+     That by subscription we were cast and hung
+       And Edward Lulham is his name
+       That was the actor of the same.
+
+Northfield bells, Worcestershire, give an account of the contest in the
+vestry-room which led to the completion of the peal--
+
+  1. Though once but five we now are six.
+
+  2. And 'gainst our casting some did strive.
+
+  3. But when a day of meeting there was fixed.
+
+  4. Appeared nine 'gainst twenty-six.
+
+  5. It was Wm. Kettle that did contrive
+     To make us six that were but five.
+
+Another bell bears the date and churchwardens' names. At Coventry on a
+peal of bells, cast in 1774, are the following inscriptions--
+
+  1. Though I am but light and small
+     I will be heard above you all.
+
+  2. If you have a judicious ear
+     You will own my voice both sweet and clear.
+
+  3. Such wondrous power to music given,
+     It elevates the soul to heaven.
+
+  4. Whilst thus we join in cheerful sound,
+     May love and loyalty abound.
+
+  5. To honour both God and King
+     Our voices shall in concert ring.
+
+  6. Music is medicine to the mind.
+
+  7. Ye ringers all that prize
+       Your health and happiness,
+     Be sober, merry, wise,
+       And you'll the same possess.
+
+  8. Ye people all who hear me ring
+     Be faithful to your God and King.
+
+  9. In wedlock's bands all ye who join
+       With hands your hearts unite:
+     So shall our tuneful tongues combine
+       To laud the nuptial rite.
+
+  10. I am and have been called the common bell
+      To ring when fire breaks out to tell.
+
+On the bells of S. Peter's, Nottingham, the appended lines appear:--
+
+            Our voices shall with joyful sound
+            Make hills and valleys echo round.
+
+            We celebrate th' auspicious morn
+            On which the Son of God was born.
+
+            Our voices shall in concert ring
+            To honour God and King.
+
+  The bride and groom we greet in holy wedlock join'd,
+  Our sounds are emblems of hearts in love combined.
+
+            I toll the funeral knell,
+              I hail the festal day.--
+            The fleeting hour I tell,
+              I summon all to pray.
+
+The longest continuous bell inscriptions we have noted are from Bakewell,
+Derbyshire, and on a peal of eight bells. They run thus:--
+
+  1. When I begin Our merry Din,
+       This Band I lead from Discord Free;
+     And for the Fame of human Name,
+       May ev'ry Leader copy Me.
+
+  2. Mankind like Us, too oft are found
+     Possess'd of Nought but empty Sound.
+
+  3. When of departed Hours We toll the Knell,
+     Instruction take & spend the future well.
+
+  4. When Men in Hymen's Bands unite,
+     Our Merry Peals produce Delight;
+     But when Death goes his dreary Rounds,
+     We send forth sad and solemn Sounds.
+
+  5. Thro' Grandsires and Tripples with Pleasure men range,
+     Till Death calls the Bob & brings on the Last Change.
+
+  6. When Vict'ry crowns the Public Weal
+     With Glee We give the merry Peal.
+
+  7. Would Men Like Us join & agree
+     They'd live in tunefull Harmony.
+
+  8. Possess'd of deep sonorous Tone
+     This Belfry King sits on his Throne;
+     And, when the merry Bells go round,
+     Adds to & mellows ev'ry Sound;
+     So in a just & well pois'd State,
+     Where all Degrees possess due Weight,
+     One greater Pow'r, One greater Tone
+     Is ceded to improve their own.
+
+During a recent visit to Bakewell church we copied an epitaph blending in
+a remarkable degree business, loyalty and religion:--
+
+    To the Memory of
+    Matthew Strutt.
+
+    Of this town, farmer, long famed in these parts for veterinary skill.
+    A good neighbour, and a staunch friend to Church and King. Being
+    churchwarden at the time the present peal of bells were hung. Through
+    zeal of the House of God, and unremitting attention to the airy
+    business of the belfry he caught a cold, which terminated his
+    existence May 25, 1798, in the 68 year of his age.
+
+A beautiful Latin inscription has one--a Rutland bell--
+
+    Non clamor sed amor cantat in aure dei, _i.e._, It is not noise, but
+    love that sings in the ear of God.
+
+And it is in the same county that we find the modern use of the death-bell
+described,
+
+  I sound not for the souls of the dead but the ears of the living.
+
+Cheltenham, too, bears out the spirit of this inscription in the
+following:--
+
+  I to prayer the living do combine
+  The dead shall hear a greater sound than mine.
+
+The offices of the various bells form a large proportion of their legends,
+particularly those uses which are the most common. Thus the death bell at
+Axbridge, Somerset, states,
+
+  For homesoever this bell doth toll
+  The Lord have mercy on that sole!
+
+Many Somersetshire bells have the following and similar inscriptions:--
+
+  I to the church the living call,
+  And to the grave I summon all.
+
+Brent, Somerset, has a bell with--
+
+  When I doth toll pray mind your souls
+    And in God put your trust,
+  As may be well with you at last
+    When you come to doust.
+
+And Backwell, in the same county--
+
+  I sound to bid the sick repent,
+  In hopes of life when breath is spent.
+
+A bell at Stratton, Cornwall, is shorter--
+
+  I call the quick to church and dead to grave.
+
+A bell in Ghent describes the purposes for which it was used: it is not an
+uncommon form in the Netherlands. Translated it reads:--
+
+  My name is Roelant;
+  When I toll it is for a fire,
+  When I swing then there is storm in Flanders.
+
+Religious sentiments and quotations are found in thousands on bells old
+and new. Such are--
+
+  Te deum Laudamus.
+
+On the bell at Peterborough Cathedral
+
+  Venite Exultemus Domino.
+
+In Westminster Abbey
+
+  Christie audi nos.
+
+Sometimes a letter of the inscription is found inverted; rarely a whole
+word. Such, however, is the case at Clapham, in Bedfordshire, where the
+line runs--
+
+  God save the = hcruhC
+
+The prayers for the dead mark the religious changes of the country, and
+not less the invocations to the saints, which form one branch of bell
+lore. Elstead has a bell inscribed--
+
+  Sancta Paule, ora pro nobis.
+
+Washington, in Sussex, one bearing--
+
+  O Sancte Stephane.
+
+And Balcombe, in the same county, one--
+
+  Vox Augustini Sonat in aure Dei.
+
+The uses to which bells were dedicated may be further exampled from their
+inscriptions. S. Michael, Coventry, has a bell bearing--
+
+  I am, and have been called the common bell
+  To ring when fire breaks out to tell.
+
+And at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, dated 1652, a bell piously says--
+
+  Lord, quench this furious flame,
+  Arise, run, help put out the same.
+
+We may here appropriately conclude with some lines inscribed upon the
+tower of Batley Church, Yorkshire, in memory of a former set of bells:
+
+    "The Requiem of the late three bells of Batley Church, two of which
+    were introduced into the tower in the 17th century, and the third or
+    last in the 18th century, and were taken down in the 19th century, at
+    the close of the year of our Lord 1851, bearing the following
+    respective dates and inscriptions, viz., upon the middle bell: Tho.
+    Deighton G. O. 1658; largest bell, 1684 Gloria in Altissimis Deo. Ric.
+    Mann, Churchwarden; last and least bell, Dalton of York fecit 1791. To
+    Father, Son, and Holy Ghost Eternal glory raise.
+
+    "Author of the following lines, Mr. Luke Blakeley, of Upper Batley;
+    third of that name in the family, and nephew of Mr. Luke Blakeley of
+    the same place, who died Jan. 17th, in the year of our Lord 1836, and
+    was interred in Batley Churchyard.
+
+      "One hundred years, yea almost two,
+        We've hung in that turret grey,
+      And many changes we have seen
+        As time has fled away.
+
+      We seen the bride and bridegroom gay,
+        We've chimed their joy to tell;
+      Alas! before the day has clos'd
+        We've toll'd the funeral knell.
+
+      We've merrily rung for victories gain'd
+        O'er Britain's enemies;
+      Then mourned for the brave who bled
+        To gain those victories.
+
+      We've highly lauded pomp and power,
+        Then call'd on men to pray,
+      A requiem rung with the weeping and sad,
+        Then revell'd with the gay.
+
+      We've seen the scourge of civil war
+        Approach where we have stood.
+      We've seen oppression's cruel hand
+        Reeking with kindred blood.
+
+      Our solemn tolling for the dead
+        Falls on the mourner's ear,
+      Then the bereav'd and aching heart
+        Feels desolate and drear.
+
+      Dirges we've rung for Kings and Queens
+        As they to the tomb went down,
+      Then joyfully welcom'd the heir
+        Who came to wear the crown.
+
+      We saw the star of Brunswick rise
+        And beam upon our strand,
+      We see its full refulgent ray
+        Illumine this happy land.
+
+      Victoria the sceptre sways,
+        And bright her virtues shine,
+      Long may she live, long may she reign
+        Best of her royal line.
+
+      We joyfully hail'd her natal day,
+        We hail'd her to the throne,
+      We blithely hail'd her nuptial hour,
+        For her we ne'er shall moan.
+
+      We're taken from that turret grey
+        Where we for long have hung,
+      Like worn out lumber thrown away,
+        Forever mute, each tongue.
+
+      And now our changes all are rung
+        Here ends our dying song;
+      Our last our final peal is done:
+        Farewell! Farewell! Ding Dong."[6]
+
+
+
+
+Laws of the Belfry.
+
+BY WILLIAM ANDREWS.
+
+
+The ringing chambers of many old churches contain curious rules in poetry
+and prose for regulating the conduct of the ringer and the visitor. Some
+of the orders are extremely quaint, and all appear framed as a ready means
+of obtaining money in fines to be spent in beer. In bygone times there
+appears to have been a close connection between the belfry and the cellar.
+One of the best examples which has come under our notice is from
+Hathersage, Derbyshire, and dates back to about 1660:--
+
+  You gentlemen that here wish to ring,
+  See that these laws you keep in every thing;
+  Or else be sure you must without delay,
+  The penalty thereof to the ringers pay.
+
+  First, when you do into the bell-house come,
+  Look if the ringers have convenient room;
+  For if you do be an hindrance unto them,
+  Fourpence you forfeit unto these gentlemen.
+
+  Next if you do here intend to ring,
+  With hat or spur, do not touch a string;
+  For if you do, your forfeit is for that,
+  Just fourpence down to pay, or lose your hat.
+
+  If you a bell turn over, without delay,
+  Fourpence unto the ringers you must pay;
+  Or if you strike, misscall, or do abuse,
+  You must pay fourpence for the ringers' use.
+
+  For every oath here sworn, ere you go hence,
+  Unto the poor then you must pay twelvepence;
+  And if that you desire to be enrolled
+  A ringer here, these words keep and hold!
+
+  But whoso doth these orders disobey,
+  Unto the stocks we will take him straightway,
+  There to remain until he be willing
+  To pay his forfeit and the clerk a shilling.
+
+A similar set of rules were adopted at Chapel-en-le-Frith, in the same
+county.
+
+The following quaint lines are from St. Peter's, Shaftesbury:--
+
+  What musick is there that compar'd may be
+  To well-tuned bells' enchanting melody?
+  Breaking with their sweet sounds the willing air,
+  They in the list'ning ear the soul ensnare,
+  When bells ring round and in their order be,
+  They do denote how neighbours should agree;
+  But if they clam the harsh sound spoils the sport,
+  And 'tis like women keeping Dover Court.
+  Of all the music that is played or sung
+  There's none like bells, if they are well rung.
+  Then ring your bell--well if you can,
+  Silence is best for ev'ry man;
+  In your ringing make no demur,
+  Pull off your hat, your belt, and spur;
+  And if your bell you overset
+  The ringer's fee you must expect!
+  Fourpence you are to pay for that.
+  But that if you do swear or curse,
+  Twelvepence is due, pooll out your purse,
+  Our laws are old, they are not new,
+  Both clerk and ringers claim their due.
+
+We have from Tong, Salop, the following curious dated example:--
+
+  If that to ring you do come here,
+  You must ring well with hand and ear;
+  Keep stroke of time and go not out,
+  Or else you forfeit, out of doubt.
+  Our law is so constructed here,
+  For ev'ry fault a jugg of beer.
+  If that you ring with spur or hat,
+  A jugg of beer must pay for that.
+  If that you take a rope in hand,
+  These forfeits you may not withstand.
+  Or, if that you a bell o'erthrow,
+  It will cost sixpence ere you goe.
+  If in this place you swear or curse,
+  Sixpence you pay--out with your purse.
+  Come! pay the clerk, it is his fee,
+  For one that swears shall not go free.
+  These laws are old, and are not new,
+  Therefore the clerk must have his due.
+                                  GEORGE HARRISON, 1694.
+
+From the belfry of Dunster, Somersetshire, are the following lines:--
+
+  You that in ringing take delight,
+    Be pleased to draw near;
+  These articles you must observe
+    If you mean to ring here.
+
+  And first, if any overturn
+    A bell, as that he may,
+  He forthwith for that only fault
+    In beer shall sixpence pay.
+
+  If anyone shall curse or swear
+    When come within the door,
+  He then shall forfeit for that fault
+    As mentioned before.
+
+  If anyone shall wear his hat
+    When he is ringing here
+  He straightway then shall sixpence pay
+    In cyder or in beer.
+
+  If anyone these articles
+    Refuseth to obey,
+  Let him have nine strokes of the rope,
+    And so depart away.
+
+The foregoing bears the date of 1787. We have a shorter set of orders from
+Bowden:--
+
+  You ringers all, observe these orders well!
+  He pays his sixpence that o'erturns a bell;
+  And he that rings with either spur or hat,
+  Must pay his sixpence certainly for that;
+  And he that rings and does disturb ye peal,
+  Must pay his sixpence or a gun of ale.
+  These laws elsewhere, in ev'ry church are used,
+  That bell and ringers may not be abused.
+
+It is stated in Halliwell's "Dictionary of Archaisms and Provincialisms"
+_gun_ is a North country word for a large flagon of ale.
+
+From All Saints' Church, Hastings, we have the following lines:--
+
+  I. H. S.
+
+  1.
+
+  This is a belfry that is free
+  For all those that civil be;
+  And if you please to chime or ring
+  It is a very pleasant thing.
+
+
+  2.
+
+  There is no musick play'd or sung,
+  Like unto bells when they're well rung;
+  Then ring your bells well, if you can,
+  Silence is the best for every man.
+
+
+  3.
+
+  But if you ring in spur or hat,
+  Sixpence you pay, be sure of that;
+  And if a bell you overthrow,
+  Pray pay a groat before you go.--1756.
+
+Similar verses to the foregoing we have seen in several places. From the
+parish church at Grantham we have the following example, dating back to
+about the middle of the last century:--
+
+  He that in Ringing takes delight,
+    And to this place draws near,
+  These Articles set in his sight
+    Must keep if he Rings here.
+
+  The first he must observe with care
+    Who comes within the door,
+  Must if he chance to curse or swear,
+    Pay Sixpence to the poor.
+
+  And whosoe'er a noise does make,
+    Or idle story tells,
+  Must Sixpence to the Ringers take
+    For melting of the Bells.
+
+  If any like to smoke or drink,
+    They must not do so here,
+  Good reason why--just let them think
+    This is God's House of Prayer.
+
+  Young men that come to see and try,
+    And do not Ringing use,
+  Must Six Pence give the company,
+    And that shall them excuse.
+
+  So that his hat on's head does keep,
+    Within this sacred place,
+  Must pay his Six Pence ere he sleep;
+    Or turn out with disgrace.
+
+  If any one with spurs to's heels
+    Ring here at any time,
+  He must, for breaking articles,
+    Pay Six Pence for his crime.
+
+  If any overthrow a Bell,
+    As that by chance he may,
+  Because he minds not Ringing well,
+    He must his Six Pence pay.
+
+  Or if a noble minded man
+    Come here to Ring a bell,
+  A Shilling is the Sexton's fee,
+    Who keeps the church so well.
+
+  At any should our Parson sneer,
+    Or Wardens' rules deride,
+  It is a rule of old most clear
+    That such sha'nt here abide.
+
+  The Sabbath-day we wish to keep,
+    And come to church to pray;
+  The man who breaks this ancient rule
+    Shall never share our pay.
+
+  And when the bells are down and ceased,
+    It should be said or sung,
+  May God preserve the Church and King,
+    And guide us safely home.
+
+In September, 1875, we visited Holy Trinity Church, Hull, to ascertain if
+any Ringers' Regulations were to be found in the church. We learned, on
+enquiry, a number of quaint orders were hung up in the ringing chamber
+some years ago, but a mischievous boy mutilated them with a knife, so that
+they were taken down. The person in charge, however, kindly submitted for
+our inspection the disfigured orders, and after considerable trouble, we
+were able to make a transcript which, we think, will prove interesting:--
+
+    ORDERS.
+
+    Agreed upon by the sexton and ringers of the Holy Trinity Church,
+    Kingston-upon-Hull, approved of and allowed by the Rev. William Mason,
+    vicar, Mr. George Maddison, and Mr. Thomas Bell, churchwardens, of
+    the same church, the first day of May, Anno Domini 1730, and confirmed
+    by the Rev. John Healey Bromby, vicar, Thomas Mitchell, and Charles
+    Anthy. Forrester, churchwardens, the first day of May, 1838.
+
+    It is ordered, that every person who shall ring any bell with hat or
+    spurs on, shall forfeit and pay sixpence for the use of the ringers.
+
+    It is ordered, that every person who shall pull any bell from off her
+    stay and cannot set her again, shall forfeit and pay for use
+    aforesaid, one shilling.
+
+    It is ordered, that every person who shall throw any bell over, shall
+    forfeit and pay for the use aforesaid, sixpence, and over and above
+    this in case anything be broken by such overthrow, such person shall
+    also pay the charge of repairing the same again.
+
+    It is ordered, that every person so soon as he has set his bell shall
+    immediately hank up the strop or rope, or in default thereof shall
+    forfeit and pay for use aforesaid, sixpence.
+
+    It is ordered, that if any person shall untruss himself upon the lead
+    in any part, or cut and mark the same with a knife or any other thing,
+    such offender shall forfeit and pay for the use aforesaid, sixpence.
+
+    It is ordered, that any person who shall have read any of these orders
+    with his hat upon his head shall forfeit and pay for the said use,
+    sixpence.
+
+Next appears the names of the vicar, churchwardens, ringers, who held
+office in 1730, and a similar list is given for 1838, when the above
+orders were reprinted at the expense of Mr. W. Green, a sidesman.
+
+The following "Articles and Orders to be Observed by Ringers" at Stow, in
+the county of Lincoln, were written by William Swift, school-master, and
+used to hang in the ringing chamber of the church:--
+
+  All you who hath a mind to Learn to Ring             s. d.
+  Must to the sexton Admission Money bring.            2  6
+  These Articles observed strict must be,
+  Or your expelled this society.
+  Two Nights a Week, Sirs, you must meet, or pay
+  This Forfeiture to us without delay,                 0  2
+  Or when the Sexton for you tolls a bell
+  You must appear, or else this Forfeit tell.          0  2
+  And when you come upon this Belfry
+  If that you noise or talk, this forfeit pay,         0  1
+  When you Round peals can Ring, you must pay down
+  To be a change man, Sirs, Just half-a-crown,         2  6
+  On the first change that you have Learned to Ring,
+  One shilling more must pay, Sirs, that's the thing,  1  0
+  And every Ringer must spend more or Less,
+  As he thinks meet, to wish you good Success,         0  2
+  If you would learn to prick a peal in score,
+  Unto these College youths you must pay more.         1  0
+  When you know Bob, Hunt, Single Dodge compleat
+  You'll not deny our College youths a treat,          2  6
+  On our Feast-Day, the Twenty-ninth of May,
+  Each member must, Sirs, just one shilling pay,       1  0
+  When our accompts are passed, Sirs, for Truth,
+  And you are stiled a College youth,
+  New Stewards then are chose, and by and by
+  If that you do the Stewardship deny,
+  Your fine must pay--as in the margin see,            1  6
+  Then from your Stewardship one year are free.
+  These Rules peruse well before you enter,
+  It's a hard task on which you venture.
+  When once a member you are freely made,
+  These Articles must justly be obey'd.
+  So now, my Lads, admission money bring,              2   6
+  And we will Learn you presently to ring.
+
+  JOHN MARSHALL,         WILLIAM SMITH,
+  MASTER.                   NOTARY.
+
+  March 1st, 1770.
+
+The following on a card was also placed in the belfry of Stow Church:--
+
+  We ring the quick to church, the dead to grave,
+  Good is our use, such usage let us have.
+  Who swears or curses, or in chol'ric mood
+  Quarrels or strikes, although he draws no blood,
+  Who wears his hat, or overturns a bell,
+  Or by unskilful handling mars a peal,
+  Let him pay sixpence for each single crime,
+  'Twill make him cautious 'gainst another time.
+  So, when the bells are ceased, then let us sing
+  God bless our Holy Church--God save the Queen.
+
+The foregoing are a few examples of the many curious ringers' regulations
+which found a place in belfrys in bygone times. Mr. J. Potter Briscoe, in
+his "Curiosities of the Belfry" (London, 1883), gives a complete
+collection of these old-time rules in prose and poetry.
+
+
+
+
+Ringers' Jugs.
+
+BY ISAAC J. REEVE.
+
+
+The old time belfry laws were the means of many persons being fined, and
+the money so obtained was spent in ale. Ringers' Jugs were by no means
+uncommon, and some were curious examples of the potters' art.
+
+There is a curious jug or pitcher belonging to the ringers of Hadleigh. It
+is a "vas ansatum" having two ears, is circular in shape, swelling out in
+the middle, and being more contracted at the ends. It is brown earthenware
+glazed. It holds sixteen quarts, and bears this inscription, very rudely
+indented, apparently with a chisel when the clay was soft, the first word
+M E, or perhaps M. E. I., is in italics, the rest in Roman capitals:--
+
+    Me, Thomas Windle, Isaac Bunn, John Mann, Adam Sage, George Bond,
+    Thomas Goldsborough, Robert Smith, Henry West. (No doubt the names of
+    the eight ringers.)
+
+Below the names,--
+
+  If you love me doe not lend me,
+  Euse me often and keep me clenly,
+  Fill me full or not at all,
+  If it be strong, and not with small.
+
+Below all, in the front, is the word Hadly, underneath one handle is the
+date, 17 F. G. 15, and under the other, 17 R. O. 15, the letters probably
+the initials of the potters. The jug is in the possession of Mr. Pettitt,
+of the Eight Bells Inn, who holds it for the ringers, of whom he is the
+leader. It is still occasionally used on the occasion of any profitable
+wedding, and filled every Christmas by mine host, when the ringers
+assemble for a frolic, with strong beer, which goes by the name of old
+King William, and strangers going in are expected to pay sixpence to
+assist in keeping it full, according to its own request.
+
+The ringers' pot--a brown glazed jug with handle, holding about two
+gallons--having the following inscription in rude letters--
+
+  Here you may see what
+  I request of Hanst (honest) Gentlemen
+  My Baly (belly) filed of the Bast I com
+  But now and then, 1716,
+
+was formerly carried from house to house by the bell-ringers of Ixworth,
+in Suffolk, to receive whatever beer the liberal parishioners might be
+disposed to bestow. It has been disused about thirty years. It was
+probably made at the celebrated pottery in the neighbouring parish of
+Wattisfield.
+
+A similar kind of jug, both in shape and size, to that of Hadleigh,
+belongs to the ringers of Clare. On one side is a crown in faint relief,
+under that a bell in large proportion, and on it impressed in italics:--
+
+      Campane
+  Sonant canore.
+
+Beneath the clapper is this,--
+
+  Clare Ringers,
+      1729.
+
+Near the base there is an aperture for a tap to draw off the beer, there
+being no spout or lip.
+
+At Hinderclay, in Suffolk, is a ringers' pitcher, still preserved in the
+church tower, of form and size similar to the Hadleigh jug: it is thus
+inscribed:--
+
+    By Samuel Moss this pitcher was given to the noble society of ringers,
+    at Hinderclay, viz., Tho. Sturgeon, Ed. Lock, John Haws, Ric. Ruddock,
+    and Relf Chapman, to which society he once belonged, and left in the
+    year 1702.
+
+          From London I was sent
+          As plainly doth appear,
+          It was to this intent--
+          To be filled with strong beer.
+      Pray remember the pitcher when empty.
+
+A similar pitcher is in the adjoining church tower of Garboldisham,
+Norfolk.
+
+At the Mackworth Arms, at Swansea, a similar kind of jug may be seen in a
+niche on the staircase, but the colour is light yellow, and the
+workmanship of a superior order, it has but one handle, and the following
+inscription in two lines:--
+
+  Come fill me well with liquor sweet, and that is good when friends do
+      meet,
+  When I am full then drink about, I ne'er will fail till all is out.
+
+Underneath were representations of flowers, birds, and fishes.
+
+There is in the Norfolk and Norwich Museum a large jug, which was
+presented in July, 1831, by the Rev. G. R. Leathes, of Shrophan. It is of
+brown earth, glazed, dated 1676, and inscribed:--
+
+  John Wayman,
+  J.F.
+  Come Brother, shall we join?
+  Give me your twopence--here is mine.
+
+This most likely belonged to a company of Shrophan ringers. It has but one
+handle, and is rather curiously ornamented.
+
+    NOTE.--This article was written about twenty-five years ago.--EDITOR.
+
+
+
+
+Customs and Superstitions of Baptism.
+
+BY THE REV. CANON BENHAM, B.D., F.S.A.
+
+
+The present paper is, of course, in no sense a discussion of the
+_doctrine_ of Christian Baptism. The names by which this Sacrament has
+been called, however, express, to some degree, the views which have been
+taken of it in the Christian Church, and these names must be briefly
+recounted. One of the earliest titles was _Indulgentia_, "remission of
+sin." This is a title as old as the third century, and the idea has found
+expression in the Nicene Creed. _Palingenesia_, "new birth," is an
+expression equally old. It will be remembered that one of the earliest
+symbolical names of our Lord Jesus Christ was _Ichthus_, "Fish;" it is
+found on the walls of the Roman Catacombs. Now this is really an acrostic,
+the letters which made it up are the initial letters of the sentence,
+"Jesus Christ, Son of God, our Saviour," and Tertullian, the first writer
+of the Latin Church, says, "We are fishes, born in water, conformable to
+the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Ichthus." Justin Martyr (middle of the
+second century) speaks of the baptismal water as "the water of life," and
+Cassiodorus (fifth century) calls it _fons divinus_, "the divine
+fountain," whence comes our name "Font." S. Chrysostom and other Greek
+fathers use the name "Illumination," (_Photismos_,) and S. Augustine calls
+it _Salus_, "Salvation," as he calls the Lord's Supper "Life." Another
+word was _Sphragis_, "Seal," because it was the seal of a covenant made
+between God and man. This title is as old as the second century. The same
+idea is conveyed in Augustine's expression, _Character Dominicus_, "the
+Divine, _i.e._, stamp mark."
+
+Baptism was rejected by some of the early heretics, chiefly by the
+Gnostics, who asserted that all religion lay in knowledge, and under
+pretence of exalting spiritual worship, would admit of no external or
+corporeal symbols whatsoever, and also by the Manichæans, who, holding
+that all matter is in itself evil, consistently rejected the religious use
+of water. Some early heretics also objected to the use of water only,
+asserting that this was no better than the baptism of John, whereas our
+Lord was to baptize also with fire, and they seem, while baptizing with
+water, to have also touched the ears with fire. Others, by some chemical
+art, created an appearance of fire on the surface of the water. (Bingham,
+iii. 414.)
+
+But to come down to later times, there are curious records which tell how
+the matter used in the Baptismal rite was not always water as it is with
+us. A letter of Pope Gregory to Archbishop Sigurd of Norway (A.D. 1241)
+says "Forasmuch as we learnt from you, that it is sometimes the custom, on
+account of the want of water, for infants in your country to be baptized
+in ale, we hereby decree that as according to the Gospel Doctrine, it is
+necessary that they be born of water and of the Holy Spirit, they ought
+not to be accounted as baptized who are baptized in ale." And there are
+Bulls and decrees of Councils to the same effect. In _Notes and Queries_
+(ii. 5, 524) is a quotation from an unpublished diary of the sixteenth
+century, telling how "at Prestone, Aug. 30, 1574, one Griffith ap Bedo Du,
+which dwelt at Pilleth, at the christening of his son would not have the
+same to be christened as the manner is, in water, but upon a proud stomach
+caused the water to be voided out of the font, and filled it with wine,
+and so caused his son to be therein christened." And the diarist goes on
+to say that all the country round noted from that time that "he and his
+continued to grow to decay in substance and credit until his race was
+extinguished."
+
+Controversies concerning Infant Baptism, as well as concerning Immersion
+as distinguished from affusion, or pouring water upon the baptized, would
+be out of place here. The latter practice, rendered necessary in our
+northern climate, has led to the use of the font. Nevertheless, baptism by
+immersion is not unknown in the Church of England. Under the Church of S.
+Lawrence, Reading, there is a baptistery under the pews, and in 1866,
+these pews were temporarily removed and a family of Quakers were baptized
+in it. At Trinity Church, Marylebone and at Scarborough, there are records
+within the last few years of adults baptized by immersion. In the parish
+church of Cranbrook, in the Weald of Kent, is a curious bath for
+immersion, of which the following is the history. John Johnson, who was
+Vicar there at the end of the seventeenth century, found on entering upon
+the incumbency that there were many of his parishioners who were
+unbaptized, and who, though they were desirous of attending his ministry,
+were in favour of being baptized by immersion. The Anabaptists were strong
+in that district during the Commonwealth. He therefore resolved to meet
+their views. There was a flight of steps leading up, on the inside, into
+the Parvise or room over the southern porch. At the top of these steps, on
+the landing so to speak, he constructed a deep bath, reaching down in fact
+to the floor of the church, so that the minister could take the person to
+be baptized up the steps and there immerse him. This charitable concession
+to the convictions of his people is still to be seen. I believe, however,
+that there are only two records of it having been used since its erection.
+Similar baptisteries are to be seen at Ebbw Vale, Aberdare, and elsewhere.
+
+The Canons of the Church order that the font shall be of stone. In some
+churches may still be seen a small vessel of plaster or earthenware, in
+which a little water is put for baptism, so as to save filling the font.
+But it is illegal, and is now rarely seen. Bishop Wilberforce, wherever he
+found them on Visitations, ordered their removal. In the case of private
+baptisms, some clergy keep a basin which they carry with them, similarly
+to a pocket Communion set, and use it for no other purpose. And this
+certainly seems the more reverent method. Others however use any basin
+which may be handy, and then send it back to its ordinary use with a view
+to prevent any feeling of superstition. It seems from the following
+passage in Pepys's diary, that the clergy were in the habit of performing
+public as well as private baptisms in private houses:--
+
+"Lord's Day. My wife and I to Mr. Martin's where I find the company almost
+all come to the christening of Mrs. Martin's child, a girl. After sitting
+long, till the church was done, the parson comes and then we to christen
+the child.... After the christening comes in the wine and sweetmeats,
+etc...."
+
+A statute dating from the time of Henry III. runs as follows:--"If really
+from necessity the child shall be baptized at home, the water on account
+of the sanctity of baptism shall either be poured into the fire, or
+carried away to the church to be poured into the Baptistery and _the
+vessel shall be burnt at the same time, or shall be deputed to the use of
+the Church_."
+
+One of the most confessedly difficult passages in the New Testament is S.
+Paul's question, "What shall they do who are baptized for the dead? If the
+dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them?" (1 Cor.
+XV. 29). Bingham discusses this text at some length. Two main lines of
+interpretation have been followed by the various commentators. The one is,
+that there was a custom among some of the early heretics, that when anyone
+died without baptism, another was baptized in his stead. S. Chrysostom
+says that this was practised among the Marcionites with a great deal of
+ridiculous ceremony, which he thus describes:--"After any catechumen was
+dead, they hid a living man under the bed of the deceased, then, coming to
+the dead man, they spake to him and asked him whether he would receive
+baptism? And he making no answer, the other answered for him, and said,
+'He would be baptized in his stead.' And so they baptized the living for
+the dead, as if they were acting a comedy upon the stage; so great was the
+power of Satan in the minds of these vain men. Afterward, when anyone
+challenged them upon this practice, they had the confidence to plead the
+apostle's authority for it." Bingham proceeds to reject this
+interpretation on two grounds; 1st, that it was superstitious and
+delusive, "Any Jew or Gentile might easily be made a Christian by having
+another, after his death, baptized for him." This objection, however, is
+not conclusive, it does not follow that S. Paul approved of the practice,
+no doubt he would account it a superstition. But he is employing the
+_argumentum ad hominem_. "What do these people mean by their practice if
+they do not believe in a resurrection?" The second objection is more
+cogent, viz.: that the interpretation in question was not accepted by any
+early Christian writer.
+
+The other line of interpretation which Bingham adopts, shall be given in
+his own words. "But S. Chrysostom gives a much more rational account of
+the apostle's argument, for he supposes him to refer to the Catholic
+custom, of making every catechumen at his own baptism, with his own mouth
+declare his belief of the resurrection of the dead by repeating the creed
+of which that was a part, and so being baptized into that faith, or hope
+of the resurrection of the dead. And, therefore, he puts them in mind of
+this saying, 'If there be no resurrection of the dead, why art thou then
+baptized for the dead, that is, the body? For, therefore, thou art
+baptized for the dead, believing the resurrection of the dead, that the
+body may not remain dead, but revive again.' So that 'baptizing for the
+dead,' is an elliptical expression for being baptized into the faith or
+belief of the resurrection of the dead. And so I think Tertullian is to
+be understood when he says in opposition to the error of the Marcionites,
+"That to be 'baptized for the dead' is to be 'baptized for the body,'
+which is declared to be dead by baptism;--that is, we are baptized into
+the belief of the resurrection of the body, both whose death and
+resurrection are represented in baptism." And the interpretation of
+Epiphanius comes pretty near these, when he says, "It refers to those who
+were baptised upon the approach of death, in the hopes of the resurrection
+from the dead; for they shewed thereby that the dead should rise again,
+and that therefore they had need of the remission of sins, which is
+obtained in baptism." The same sense is given by Theodoret, and
+Theophylact, and Balsamon, and Zonaras, and Matthew Blastaras among the
+Greeks; and it is embraced by Bishop Patrick, and Dr. Hammond, as the most
+natural and genuine exposition of this difficult passage of the apostle."
+
+The use of Sponsors in the administration of baptism dates from the
+earliest times. Their duties varied according as the baptized person were
+an infant or an adult. For the most part at first, parents were sponsors
+for their own children, and it was the exception when they were not. "The
+extraordinary cases," says Bingham, "in which [the baptized] were
+presented by others were commonly such cases where the parent could not,
+or would not, do that kind office for them; as when slaves were presented
+to baptism by their masters; or children when parents were dead, brought
+by the charity of any who would show mercy on them; or children exposed by
+their parents, which were sometimes taken up by the holy virgins of the
+church" (iii. 552.) Sponsors for children were called on, 1st, to answer
+in their name to all the interrogatories of baptism; 2nd, to be guardian
+of their spiritual life for the future. In the case of adults their duty
+was to admonish and instruct them both before and after baptism. Very
+commonly sponsors for adults were deacons or deaconesses. Only one sponsor
+originally was required, in the case of adults, a man for a man and a
+woman for a woman. For children there was no restriction as to the sex of
+the sponsor.
+
+Sponsors were called "spiritual parents," and out of this relationship
+grew the practice in the Roman Catholic Church, which forbade sponsors, or
+godparents, from marrying within the forbidden degrees of spiritual
+relation. The first notice of this occurs in the laws of Justinian, which
+forbid a man to marry a woman, whether she be slave or free, to whom he
+has stood godfather, "because nothing induces a more parental affection,
+or juster prohibition of marriage, than this tie, by which their souls are
+in a divine manner, united together." This was afterwards extended to
+prohibition between a godfather and the mother of the child, and the
+prohibition took final shape in the decrees of Trent, which further forbid
+marriages between the sponsors themselves, nor may the baptizer marry the
+baptized. A host of troubles and difficulties are on record in the pages
+of history, arising out of these prohibitions.
+
+It is uncertain when proxies were first allowed. The first English record
+appears to be the case of Jane, the daughter of Thomas Godfrey, of Grub
+Street, who was baptized at S. Giles', Cripplegate, in 1615. Mr. Godfrey
+kept a diary, in which he writes, "My gossips were Mrs. Jane Hallsye, wife
+of Mr. John Hallsye, one of the Citty Captains, and my sister Howlt, and
+Sir Multon Lombard, who sent Mr. Michael Lee for his deputy. My brother
+Thomas Isles afterwards bestowed a christening sermon on us."
+
+In mediæval times a child on being baptized was arrayed by the priest in a
+white robe, which had been anointed with sacred oil, and was called a
+Chrismale. This robe was called the Chrisom, and if the child died within
+a month, it was shrouded in this robe, and was called a Chrisom-child.
+Parochial registers very frequently have the expression applied to
+children who are buried, and it will be remembered by readers of
+Shakespeare. Sometimes the cloth was called the Christening Palm. Later,
+say a hundred years ago, though the arraying by the minister was not in
+use, a newly baptized child was arrayed in a palm or pall to be brought
+down to see company.
+
+In Perthshire, it is said, a child who was about to be privately baptized
+was placed in a clean basket covered over with a cloth, in which was
+placed a portion of bread and cheese. The basket was then hung on the iron
+crook over the fire, and turned round three times. It was to counteract
+the malignant spells of witches and evil spirits. Here is an inventory of
+christening garments of the seventeenth century (_Notes and Queries_):--
+
+1. A lined, white figured satin cap.
+
+2. A lined, white satin cap, embroidered with sprays in gold coloured
+silk.
+
+3. A white satin palm, embroidered to match. Size 44 in. by 34 in.
+
+4. A pair of deep cuffs, white satin, similarly embroidered, trimmed with
+lace, evidently intended to be worn by the bearer of the infant.
+
+5. A pair of linen gloves or mittens for the baby, trimmed with narrow
+lace, the back of the fingers lined with coloured figured silk.
+
+6. A palm, 54 in. by 48 in., of rich still yellow silk lined with white
+satin.
+
+According to Sarum use, yellow was the altar colour for confessors'
+festivals. This yellow pall may have been considered specially suitable at
+the child's being first openly pledged to confess the faith of Christ
+crucified. Another name for the christening palm is the christening sheet
+or "cude cloth." This is a superstition that if it is not burned within a
+year of the child's birth it will never be able to keep a secret.
+
+The gift of "Apostle Spoons" by sponsors is said, by Stow, to have
+originated in the days of Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare, on being godfather
+to one of Ben Jonson's children, gave him "a dozen of Latten spoons." In
+the days of James I. it was the fashion for sponsors to give shirts with
+little bands or cuffs wrought with silk or blue thread, but this did not
+last, they went back to spoons or cups.
+
+Brand quotes from "The Comforts of Wooing":--"The godmother hearing when
+the child was to be _coated_, brings it a gilt coral, a silver spoon and
+porringer, and a brave new tankard of the same metal." According to
+Shipman the custom of making presents at baptisms declined in the time of
+the Commonwealth.
+
+Pepys, however, observed the custom:--"Nov. 24th. At my goldsmith's,
+bought a basin for my wife, to give the parson's child, to which the other
+day she was godmother. It cost me £10 14s. besides graving, which I do
+with the cypher's name, Daniel Mills."
+
+Christening tongs were also a favourite present, which were of the same
+size as an ordinary pair of sugar tongs, but were in the form of a stork
+standing upright upon the claws which partly form the handle. When opened
+for the purpose of grasping the sugar, the body, which is hollow,
+discloses the image of a baby in swaddling clothes.
+
+This no doubt originated in the old Teutonic fiction that newly-born babes
+were brought by storks.
+
+Here are a few Scottish notes of gifts _from_ the child to its parents.
+They are all from various columns of _Notes and Queries_:--
+
+In 1871, a gentleman was met in one of the principal streets of Edinburgh
+by a very respectably dressed female, with a nurse carrying a child. They
+stopped him, and the former presented him with a paper bag containing a
+biscuit, a bit of cheese, and a bit of gingerbread. On his expressing
+surprise, she said, "Oh! sir, it is the christening bit."
+
+In country places in Scotland, it was a custom, now nearly exploded, for
+the mother on the way to baptism to take a supply of bread and cheese, a
+"whang" or slice of which she gave to the first person she met on the
+country road after leaving church, and it was accounted a high insult to
+refuse it. Probably the provision was part of the "blythe" meat presented
+to the friends in the house, who had assembled after the birth to offer
+congratulations. Such offerings may perhaps be traced to the period when
+the old Romans inhabited the Caledonian regions.
+
+In 1855, at Candleriggs, a silver coin was given in return for the
+eatables. The appearance of copper was, if possible, to be avoided.
+
+In Fifeshire, before starting for the kirk, the "christening-piece,"
+consisting of shortbread, cheese, and oatcake, was made up into a white
+paper parcel tied with ribbon; this the mother held in her right hand as
+she left the house, and presented to the first person met by her, whether
+stranger or friend, gentle or simple. The "christening-piece" was always
+gladly accepted, and in return kind wishes were expressed for the future
+happiness of the child.
+
+It is noticeable that at the other end of Great Britain we have the same
+idea.
+
+At Looe, in Cornwall, the gift was generally a small cake made for the
+purpose, and called the "christening crib," crib being a provincialism for
+a bit of bread. At Polperro, three miles from Looe, a gift termed the
+"kimbly" was also made to the person who brought the first news of a birth
+to those interested in the new arrival.
+
+This custom was still practised in Devonshire in 1883.
+
+Where children are brought in batches to be baptized, as is often the case
+in large towns, it is curious to note that superstitions exist about the
+precedence of sexes, though in different places the ideas are contrary.
+Thus in the North of England there are places where the parents are very
+anxious that the girls should be taken first, on the ground that otherwise
+the boys will be beardless. In Surrey and Worcestershire the same desire
+is expressed; in the West of Scotland the males have precedence. The old
+ideas can hardly be classed under superstitions. In those churches, where
+now-a-days ancient rules are revived, Holy Communion is always
+administered to men before women, and Confirmation to boys. Maskell, in
+his _Monumenta Ritualia_, Eccl., Angl., 1-23, quotes the following rubric
+from Bishop Leofric's missal:--"Et accipiat presbyter eos a parentibus
+eorum, et baptizantur primi masculi deinde feminae, sub trina mersione,
+Sanctam Trinitatem semel invocando."
+
+Cases are on record where a cottager's tenth child was christened with a
+sprig of myrtle in its cap to mark it as the tithe child; it is said that
+a Rector of Compton recognized such a tithe child, and sent him to school.
+
+One of the silliest and most mischievous pieces of legislation was the Act
+23, George III., c. 67. It enacted that after the 1st of October, 1783,
+stamp duty of 3d. should be paid to His Majesty on the entry of every
+marriage, birth, or christening, in the register of every parish,
+precinct, or place in Great Britain, under penalty of £5 for each entry.
+And that the churchwardens should provide a book for each entry, and the
+parson, vicar, curate, and other person receiving the duty was to be
+allowed 2s. in the £ for his trouble. By 25 George III., c. 75, the tax
+was extended to dissenters. People were furious, and the poor parson, who
+was supposed to be charging for his own benefit, got the hardest words.
+The Act was repealed by 34 George III., c. 11, the tax ceasing October
+1st, 1794.
+
+In conclusion, we will put together a few odds and ends of folk lore. In
+Ayrshire, in the end of the last century, when a child was taken to a
+distance to be baptized, a quantity of salt was placed round it before
+leaving the house, to ward off evil.
+
+In Worcestershire, it is considered that if an engaged couple stand as
+god-parents to the same child, it is a sure sign that their engagement
+will never end in marriage. This is clearly a relic of what we have
+already noticed, the mediæval church law by which those persons who stood
+in any spiritual relationship to one another were thereby debarred from
+contracting marriage.
+
+In Dalston, Carlisle, there is a belief that if the baptism of a child
+takes place after it has been "shortened," the baby will not only be noisy
+and disagreeable in church during the administration of the sacrament, but
+will remain bad-tempered and ill-natured for ever afterwards.
+
+The belief still prevails in many rural districts that children dying
+unbaptized wander in woods and solitudes lamenting their hard fate. In
+Sweden parents will, therefore, carry a child miles away in the depth of
+winter to the minister to have it baptized before it is half-a-day old.
+There are, however, methods by which it is supposed even if baptism be
+deferred, that the devil's power over the child can be neutralized. One is
+to wrap it in red cloth and lay it in its cradle, with a psalm book and a
+pair of scissors placed crosswise upon its breast.
+
+"In presenting a child to the minister, its head must be on the right arm
+of the male parent." (West of Scotland).
+
+Brand quotes from a book on Scotland, published in 1793, the statement
+that the inhabitants of Kirkwall and S. Ola would consider it as an
+unhappy omen were they by any means disappointed in getting their
+children baptized on the very day which they had previously fixed in
+their minds for that purpose.
+
+The same compiler has this:--In the North, when the child was taken to
+church to be christened, a little boy was engaged to meet the infant on
+leaving the house, because it was deemed an unlucky omen to encounter a
+female first.
+
+It is supposed to be lucky for children to cry at baptisms, as if they are
+quiet and good then it shows they are too good to live. The idea arose
+from the custom of exorcism. When the devil was going out of a possessed
+person it cried and rent him sore; therefore the tears and struggles of
+the infant would be convincing proof that the evil one had departed. In
+Ireland, the nurses pinch the baby rather than let it be silent or
+cheerful.
+
+In Scotland (to quote Brand once more), on their return from church, they
+take the newly baptized child and vibrate it three or four times gently
+over a flame, saying thrice, "Let the flame consume thee now or never."
+This is possibly derived from a feast called Amphidromia, held at Athens,
+by private families on the fifth day after the birth of the child, when it
+was the custom of the gossips to run round the fire with the infant in
+their arms, and then, having delivered it to the nurse, they were
+entertained with feasting and dancing.
+
+Another Scotch fancy is that it is unlucky to tell the names of infants
+before baptism.
+
+In one of Dekker's plays (1630) occurs the following:--I am the most
+wretched fellow, sure some _left-handed priest christened me_, I am so
+unlucky.
+
+In Greece, while the father is alive, none of his sons are baptized with
+his name; thus a father and son never have the same Christian name at the
+same time. But on the death of the father it is customary for one of his
+sons to adopt his name. The eldest son always bears the name of his
+paternal grandfather (a common custom in Scotland), even though the latter
+be alive. On the other hand, for the obvious reason of identification, an
+illegitimate son always takes the baptismal name of his father. It is
+probable that this practice arises from a belief that the father would die
+on giving to his son precisely his own name, and that the Greek church
+does not allow the variation of a second Christian name.
+
+
+
+
+Marriage Customs.
+
+BY ENGLAND HOWLETT, F.S.A.
+
+
+In all ages, and in all countries, a halo of interest attaches to the
+marriage ceremony, and formerly, when superstition was so rife in the
+country, it naturally followed that all sorts of curious customs arose in
+connection with marriage--customs which, at the time of their
+inauguration, were full of meaning and real interest, but many of which in
+process of time, and owing to an altered state of society, have fallen
+either into oblivion, or become so changed as to be hardly recognisable.
+
+Marriage, in one form or other, is the oldest institution of society, and
+the source of its most ancient laws. The primitive ceremonies of marriage
+are of immense number, and many of them have left distinct survivals in
+modern customs. As regards Christian Europe, in 1085 Hildebrand declared
+Marriage to be a sacrament of the Church; and, at the Reformation, Calvin
+declared it to be an institution of God. The School of Grotius, on the
+other hand, describes it as a contract of partnership.
+
+The Anglo-Saxon marriage ritual was for the parties, with their
+attendants, to come to the porch of the Church: here they were met by the
+priest; first he blessed the ring and gave it to the bridegroom, who
+placed it on the middle finger of the bride's left hand. After this the
+priest recited a form of blessing over the parties; then he led them into
+the Chancel where they remained while mass was celebrated, towards the
+close of which they received the solemn nuptial benediction, and
+afterwards the Pax, and the holy communion.
+
+Before the Council of Trent a valid marriage in the eyes of the church
+might be effected by a simple declaration of the parties to be man and
+wife; no witnesses were necessary under these circumstances, and the
+presence of a priest might also be dispensed with. It will at once be seen
+that a practice such as this was open to very great and grave abuse where
+the interested parties were only too often the only witnesses of the
+declaration. After the Council of Trent, and in all countries where the
+discipline of Trent is received and promulgated, the presence of the
+parish priest is absolutely necessary to constitute a valid marriage in
+the eyes of the Roman Church by mere declaration of the parties to be man
+and wife, and under no circumstances can marriages such as these be
+recognized by the law.
+
+It was customary in many places for the priest to entwine the ends of his
+stole round the joined hands of the bride and bridegroom, at the words
+"Those whom God hath joined together," in token of the indissoluble union
+thereby effected. Most probably this practice led to the familiar
+expression "Tying the knot." Neither the Roman nor the Sarum Missals
+contain any direction for this ritual, which would appear to be a pure
+innovation on the part of the priests.
+
+In ancient Rome the Patrons or Patricians only might marry with each
+other. If a Patrician married a client or vassal, their children were not
+allowed to take Patrician rank; because these clients or vassals had not
+connubium, or right of marriage with their Patrons. Under Cæsar's rule a
+married woman was allowed the use of more ornaments, and more costly
+carriages, than the laws of Rome permitted to women generally. A married
+man who had three children born at Rome, or four born in Italy, or five in
+the provinces, enjoyed freedom from certain duties and charges: this no
+doubt was done to encourage the marriage tie, which at that time had
+become exceedingly lax.
+
+The drinking of wine in the Church at weddings is enjoined by the Hereford
+Missal. The Sarum Missal directs that sops immersed in wine, as well as
+the liquor itself, and the cup containing it, should be blessed by the
+priest. The beverage was drunk not only by the bride and bridegroom, but
+by the rest of the company. A distinct survival of this custom, although
+in a debased form, lingered beyond the middle of the present century, at
+Whitburn, in Durham, where the custom of giving what they called
+_Hot-Pots_ was kept up; that is, on the conclusion of the marriage service
+the bride and bridegroom were served in the porch with steaming compounds
+of brandy, ale, sugar, eggs, spices, etc., the bridesmaids also partook of
+this, and the remainder was distributed amongst the guests. The custom of
+nuptial drinking appears also to have prevailed in the Greek Church: and
+the Jews have a custom at the present day, when a couple are married, to
+break the glass in which the bride and bridegroom have drunk, to remind
+them of mortality.
+
+The use of torches at weddings is very ancient. At Rome the practice was
+that two children should lead the bride, and a third carry before her a
+torch of white thorn. The Greeks used also a nuptial torch, which was
+carried by the bride's mother. Lamps and flambeaux are used at Japanese
+weddings, and torches are still used at Turkish marriages.
+
+Knives formerly formed part of the accoutrements of a bride. This is
+easily accounted for by the fact that anciently it formed part of the
+dress for women to wear a knife sheathed and suspended from their girdles.
+A bride says to her jealous husband, in Dekker's _Match me in London_,
+1631:
+
+  "See at my girdle hang my wedding knives!
+  With those despatch me."
+
+The use of bridesmaids at weddings is of remote antiquity. Amongst the
+Anglo-Saxons the bride was led to the Church by a matron, who was called
+the bride's woman, and followed by a company of young girls who were
+called bridesmaids. It was at one time the custom for the bridesmaids to
+lead the bridegroom to Church, and for the bridegroom's men to conduct the
+bride. This is clearly alluded to in the _Collier's Wedding_:
+
+  "Two lusty lads, well drest and strong,
+  Step'd out to lead the bride along:
+  And two young maids of equal size,
+  As soon the bridegroom's hands surprise."
+
+The bridegroom's men were anciently called Bride Knights, which was an
+appropriate name at the period when they actually fulfilled that office.
+
+Bride cake is of ancient origin: it is a relic of the Roman period, when
+the marriage ceremony consisted principally of the contracting parties
+partaking of a cake made of flour, salt, and water, in the presence of the
+Pontifex Maximus, or High Priest, and ten witnesses. The form of the cake
+has varied in different ages. Ben Jonson refers to it in the _Tale of a
+Tub_, iii., 8:
+
+  "The maids and her half-valentine have ply'd her,
+  With courtise of the Bride cake and the bowl,
+  As she is laid awhile."
+
+As feasting was connected with nearly all religious ceremonies, and as
+each feast speedily appropriated its particular article of food, the bride
+cake became inseparably associated with the bridal feast. Anciently, small
+cakes were made for weddings, and distributed amongst the guests; the
+ingredients of these doubtless changed from age to age, but there is
+little doubt the cake was always a sweet one which, in the early days,
+would be sweetened with honey with spices in it, and, after their
+introduction, currants. In the seventeenth century it was usual for the
+bride and bridegroom to kiss over the cake, and many are the superstitions
+connected with it.
+
+It was formerly the custom for the brides to go to church with their hair
+hanging loose behind. Anne Boleyn's was thus dishevelled when she went to
+the altar with Henry VIII. Webster refers to this practice in _The White
+Devil_:
+
+  "And let them dangle loose as a bride's hair."
+
+Nuptial garlands or wreaths are of great antiquity; they were equally used
+by both the Jews and the Heathens. The Roman custom was for the bride to
+have a chaplet of flowers or herbs upon her head, whilst among the
+Anglo-Saxons, after the benediction in the church, both the bride and
+bridegroom were crowned with flowers. In the Eastern church the chaplets
+used at marriages were first blessed by the priest. Wreaths made of ears
+of corn were frequently worn by brides in the time of Henry VIII., and
+myrtle was also much used for this purpose. In many churches it was usual
+to keep a crown of metal for the use of brides, and for which they would
+pay a fee. In the churchwardens' accounts of St. Margaret's, Westminster,
+for the year 1540, is the following entry:--"Paid to Alice Lewis, a
+goldsmith's wife, of London, for a serclett to marry Maydens in, the 26th
+day of September, £3 10s. 0d."
+
+Marriage by proxy was probably practised by the heathen Romans, and even
+so late as the middle ages was not at all uncommon, although then it had
+become confined principally to the aristocracy, and later on few instances
+are to be met with, except in the case of Royalty. Henry VIII. married
+Anne of Cleves by proxy. So also James II., when Duke of York, in 1673,
+was married by proxy to Mary of Modena. The church always looked with
+great disfavour on this form of marriage, and for this reason the parties
+were generally re-married on the arrival of the bride in her husband's
+country, or at the home of the bridegroom.
+
+Amongst the ancient Northern nations a knot appears to have been
+considered as the symbol of love, faith, and friendship, pointing out, as
+it were, the indissoluble tie of affection and duty; hence it is that
+knots or bows of ribbon came to be used as wedding favours, a particular
+form of which came to be known as the _True Lovers' Knot_. The peasantry
+of France wore the bridal favour on the arm, whereas in England it was
+formerly worn in the hat, and consisted of ribbons of various colours; in
+later years white ribbon alone was used. Curiously enough Rosemary was not
+only carried at funerals, but was also worn at weddings, and appears to
+have been considered as an insignia of a wedding guest: on these occasions
+the sprigs of Rosemary were frequently gilded, or dipped in scented water.
+Bay leaves were also used for a similar purpose, but not so generally as
+the Rosemary.
+
+Wedding rings were used both by the Greeks and Romans, but then only at
+the ceremony of betrothal, and not that of marriage. The Anglo-Saxon
+bridegroom at the betrothal gave a _Wed_, or pledge, and a ring was placed
+on the maiden's right hand, where it remained until marriage, and was then
+transferred to the left. During the reigns of George I. and George II.,
+the wedding ring was often worn on the thumb. The placing of the ring on
+the book is a remnant of the ancient custom of blessing the ring by
+sprinkling Holy Water in the form of a cross, and this is still done in
+the Roman Church. One of the earliest forms of rings was the Gemel, or
+double ring, and this was used as a pledge before marriage: they were
+generally made in three parts, and broken in the presence of a witness,
+who retained the third part. In Germany, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, it
+was a common custom for the engaged couple each to give to the other a
+plain gold ring, much resembling a wedding ring. In the last century,
+wedding rings were frequently inscribed with poesys. Dr. John Thomas, who
+was Bishop of Lincoln in 1753, married four times. The motto or poesy on
+the wedding ring at his fourth marriage was:--
+
+  "If I survive
+  I'll make them five."[7]
+
+King Henry VIII. gave Anne of Cleves a ring with the poesy:--
+
+  "God send me well to keep."
+
+It was a general custom in the middle age for the bridegroom to place the
+ring first on the thumb of the bride, then on her second finger, and then
+on her third, at the name of each person of the Trinity, "leaving it" as
+the rubric directs, on her fourth finger at the word _Amen_; thus
+signifying by action, not less than by word, that he was undertaking the
+duties of the married state, "in the name of the Father, of the Son, and
+of the Holy Ghost." The reason assigned for the fourth finger being
+appointed as the final resting place of the wedding ring, is because on
+that finger there is generally believed to be a certain vein which
+proceeds to the heart. The left hand most probably was appointed because
+the virgins espoused to the church wore the ring of their celestial
+nuptials on the right hand.
+
+The nuptial kiss was a solemn ceremony which was duly directed both by the
+Sarum and York Uses. At the "Sanctus," in the bridal mass, both the bride
+and the bridegroom knelt near the altar; if neither of them had been
+married before, a pall, or as it used to be called, the "care-cloth," was
+held over them at its four corners by as many clerics. After the "Pater
+Noster," and just before the "Pax," the priest turning himself towards the
+married couple gave them the nuptial blessing. The care-cloth was then
+removed, and the bridegroom arose from his knees and received the kiss of
+peace from the priest; he then turned to his bride and kissed her upon
+the cheek. In the York Use the care-cloth was held by only two clerics.
+Although the solemn ceremonial of the nuptial kiss has long since ceased
+to be a regular portion of the marriage service, still, in many rural
+districts, it is customary for the bridegroom to kiss the bride while they
+are before the altar, and in sight of the congregation assembled. At
+Halse, a village in Somersetshire, it is still a recognised custom amongst
+the labouring classes for the bridegroom, after he has placed the ring on
+the bride's finger, to take her in his arms and kiss her fervently, and it
+is a somewhat remarkable feature that instead of this causing any
+amusement amongst the spectators, it is treated as a solemnity, and would
+certainly appear to be a distinct survival of the nuptial kiss. A similar
+custom still prevails at Bishops Lydeard, in Somersetshire.
+
+There is a rule in Hindoo law which forbids a younger sister to be married
+before the elder; nor is a younger brother allowed to be married before
+the elder. There would seem to be a curious resemblance between these
+rules and the rules of the Old Testament days, when Laban refused to let
+his younger daughter marry before Leah. We get another instance of a
+restraint on marriage, in 1367, when the memorable Parliament of Kilkenny
+was held, which passed the Statute of Kilkenny. By this statue it was
+declared high treason for any person of English origin to marry into an
+Irish family.
+
+Poor maidens who might otherwise lose their chance of matrimony for want
+of a dowry were sometimes provided for by funeral doles. "I will," says
+Richard Trowler, A.D. 1477, "that X_l._ be disposed of at my burying among
+poor people, and that X_l._ be given to the marriage of poor maidens not
+having father or mother." Johanne Beauchamp, Lady of Bergavenny, devised
+"to the marriage of poer maydens dwellyng withyn my lordship, C_l_, and to
+the makying and emending of febull brugges and foul weyes, C_l_." There
+certainly seems to be a curious analogy between this custom and the laws
+of ancient Greece, by which the State provided a dowry for those maidens
+who, through poverty or plainness, would otherwise have remained
+unmarried.
+
+With regard to the seasons for celebrating marriage, the Church was
+formerly very strict. The parish register for St. Mary's, Beverley,
+contains the following entry under date November 25, 1641:--
+
+  "When Advent comes do thou refraine,
+  Till Hillary set ye free again,
+  Next Septuagessima saith thee nay,
+  But when Low Sunday comes thou may,
+  Yet at Rogation thou must tarrie,
+  Till Trinitie shall bid thee marry."
+
+The above appears to have been a popular verse to inscribe in registers,
+for, with slight variations, it is to be met with in several parishes.
+_Philomath's Almanac_, for the year 1674, contains similar rules in
+prose:--
+
+    "TIMES PROHIBITING MARRIAGE THIS YEAR.
+
+    Marriage comes in on the 13th of January, and at Septuagessima Sunday
+    it is out again until Low Sunday, at which time it comes in again, and
+    goes not out till Rogation Sunday. Then it is forbidden until Trinity
+    Sunday, from whence it is unforbidden till Advent Sunday, but then it
+    goes out, and comes not in again till the 13th of January next
+    following."
+
+With regard to the publication of Banns of Marriage, it appears to have
+been the custom in the primitive ages that the Church should be forewarned
+of marriages. The earliest existing canonical enactment on the subject in
+the English church, is that in the eleventh canon of the Synod of
+Westminster, in the year 1200, which enacts that "no marriage shall be
+contracted without banns thrice published in the church, unless by the
+special authority of the Bishop." Anciently, before the publication of
+banns, it was the custom for the curate to affiance the two persons to be
+married in the name of the Trinity; and at this period the banns were
+sometimes published at Vespers as well as at Mass.
+
+Forbidding the banns of marriage is now a very rare occurrence; formerly,
+it was not so, and it was customary to interdict a marriage sometimes for
+the sole purpose of making a comparative stranger prove his bona-fides.
+The parish register of Frampton, near Boston, Lincolnshire, contains the
+following entry on January, 1, 1653:--"The marriage of Edward Morton and
+Jane Goodwin was objected to by John Ayne, Thomas Appleby, and William
+Eldred: because in the first place, the said Edward Morton was a stranger,
+and they did not know where he had lived until a short time before, or
+whether he was married or single; therefore they desired the marriage
+might be deferred until he brought a certificate of these things. And
+secondly because they have been informed and do believe that he is a very
+poor man, and therefore they wish him to get some sufficient man to be
+bound with him to secure the town from any charge of him or his."
+
+An interesting custom is still kept up at Laceby, a village in North
+Lincolnshire, where the bells ring a merry peal at the close of the
+service in which the third publication of banns has taken place. A similar
+custom prevailed at North Kelsey, in Lincolnshire, the practice there
+being to ring the peal of bells on the Monday evening after the last
+publication of banns, but in this latter case the custom appears to have
+fallen into disuse many years ago. Bells frequently bear inscriptions
+relating to the marriage peals; the fifth bell at Coton-in-the-Elms,
+Derbyshire, dated 1786, has inscribed on it:--
+
+  "The bride and groom we greet
+    In holy wedlock joined,
+  Our sounds are emblems sweet
+    Of hearts in love combined."
+
+In the early part of the century it appears to have been a common practice
+in most parts of the country for the clerk, after the publication of the
+banns of marriage, to rise and say, "God speed them well;" and in some
+places it was usual for the congregation to respond "Amen." At Hope, in
+Derbyshire, this was done not only on the publication of banns, but also
+at the solemnization of the marriage, immediately after the abjuration--"I
+require and charge you both." The practice has fallen into the same
+oblivion which has overtaken the old parish clerk--at one period so
+self-important an individual in the church, and now, except in remote
+villages, so insignificant an official. The custom appears to have
+lingered for some time at Croxton Kerrial, near Melton Mowbray, and at
+Birkby, a village near Northallerton.
+
+The following extract from the parish registers for Chalgrave,
+Bedfordshire, for the year 1655, furnishes an instance of the manner in
+which weddings were frequently conducted during the Commonwealth, in
+pursuance of Cromwell's Act of Parliament, August 24, 1653, and by which
+the presence of a priest was entirely dispensed with:--"Henry Fisher and
+Sarah Newson, of Chalgrave, published three severall Lords dayes in one
+p{sh} meeting house called the church ended xxiij{rd} of Sept{b} and no
+exception made against it, and the said Henry Fisher and Sarah Newson was
+married the xxix{th} Sept{b}, as by certificate doth appear by Francis
+Austeres Esq, and in psents of Will: Martin and Abraham Newson." In the
+parish registers of Launceston, Cornwall, is the following
+entry:--"Hereaf{r} follow marriages by laymen, according to the prophanes,
+and giddynes of the times without precedent or example in any Christian
+Kingdom or Commonwealth, from the birth of Christ unto this very year
+1655.
+
+"1655, The 28{th} daye of October were married by John Hicks, Gent. and
+Maior of this Town, John Heddon and Mary Harvey. Their banns being
+published in the Markett Place att Launceston three severall Markett
+dayes, viz., the 11{th}, the 18{th}, and the 25{th} of this instant
+October, without contradiction."
+
+The following extract from the register of St. Mary's Church, Bermondsey,
+1604, instances a curious custom of re-uniting husband and wife who had
+been long separated:--
+
+    "The form of a solemn vowe made betwixt a man and his wife, having
+    been long absent, through which occasion the woman beinge married to
+    another man, took her again as followeth:--
+
+    _The Man's speach._ Elizabeth, my beloved wife, I am right sorie that
+    I have so long absented myself from thee, whereby thou shouddest be
+    occasioned to take another man to be thy husband. Therefore I do now
+    vowe and promise in the sight of God, and this companie, to take thee
+    again as mine owne, and will not only forgive thee, but also dwell
+    with thee, and do all other duties unto thee, as I promised at our
+    marriage.
+
+    _The Woman's speache._ Raphe, my beloved husband, I am right sorie
+    that I have in thy absence taken another man to be my husband: but
+    here, before God, and this companie, I renounce and forsake him, and
+    do promise to keep mysellfe only unto thee during life, and to perform
+    all duties which I first promised unto thee in our marriage.
+
+    The first day of August, 1604, Raphe Goodchild of the parish of
+    Barkinge, in Thames Street, and Elizabeth his wife, were agreed to
+    live together, and thereupon gave their hands one to another, makinge
+    either of them a solemn vowe so to do in the presence of us:
+
+    WILLIAM STEVE, Parson,
+    EDWARD COKER, and RICHARD EIVES, Clerk."
+
+In Germany a sect of the Moravians called _Herrnhuters_ have a most
+curious method of selecting their life partners: the men and women of a
+marriageable age are collected in a house which has a suite of three
+rooms, each opening into the other, the young men in one end room and the
+young women in the other; then the doors from these two rooms are thrown
+open into the middle room, which is perfectly darkened. After this
+follows a sort of general scramble, or "catch who can," and whichever girl
+the man catches becomes his wife. This method of selecting a wife seems
+somewhat risky, but it is possible that even in a darkened room a couple
+with a prior attachment might manage to tumble into each other's arms, and
+so, while adhering in the letter to the custom of their sect, bring about
+the union dictated by their hearts.
+
+The throwing of an old shoe after a newly-married couple on their
+departure is general all over the country, but in Kent the custom is
+accompanied by a little more detail than is usually observed in other
+parts of the country. The principal bridesmaid throws the shoe, the other
+bridesmaids run after it, the belief being that the one who gets it will
+be the first to be married. She then throws the shoe amongst the
+gentlemen, and it is supposed that the one who is hit will also be married
+before the others.
+
+The custom of showering rice over the bride and bridegroom is a universal
+one, although in some parts wheat is substituted, this was formerly
+general in Nottinghamshire and Sussex. The practice appears to find a
+parallel in Poland, when, after the nuptial benediction has been given by
+the priest, the father receives the newly-married couple at the door of
+their house, and strews some barley corns over their heads. These corns
+are carefully gathered up and sown. If they grow it is considered an omen
+that the married pair will enjoy a life of happiness. Grain of any sort is
+symbolical of plenty, and no doubt at different periods and in different
+countries that grain has been selected which could be procured the most
+easily. An old Spanish ballad of the sixteenth century, _The Cids
+Wedding_, refers to the custom, except that ears of wheat appear to have
+been used instead of threshed wheat:--
+
+  "All down the street the ears of wheat are round
+      Ximena flying."
+
+Wedding Biddings were usual down to the end of the last century: these
+were entertainments given previously to the wedding, and the guests were
+each expected to bring a present. An account of these presents was
+preserved, and it was expected that the giver should receive a gift of
+equal value on their own marriage. In Cumberland, at these entertainments,
+a bowl or plate was fixed in some convenient part of the house where each
+of the company contributed in money in proportion to his ability or
+inclination. In some districts the bidding was publicly done by a herald
+with a crook or wand adorned with ribbons, who gave a general invitation
+according to a prescribed form.
+
+Gretna Green was the invariable resort of runaway couples, owing to the
+flaw in the Old Scottish law which required nothing more than an
+acknowledgment before witnesses in order to constitute a valid marriage.
+The Marriage Act of 1856 has, however, rendered such unions impossible,
+for by its provisions, which are common to both countries, it is necessary
+that one of the parties shall have resided for at least twenty-one days in
+the parish where the marriage takes place. The old romantic interest once
+attached to Gretna Green is now fast becoming a thing of the past.
+
+The following extract from the register of St. Martin's Parish, Leicester,
+is interesting as showing how, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, a marriage
+was celebrated in a case where a bridegroom was deaf and dumb.
+
+    "Decimo quinto Februarii. 18. Eliz.: reginæ.
+
+    Thomas Filsby and Ursula Russet were married; and because the said
+    Thomas is naturally deaf and dumb, could not for his part observe the
+    order of the form of marriage, after the approbation had of Thomas,
+    the Bishop of Lincoln, John Chippendale, LL.D., and Commissary, and
+    Mr. Richard Davis, of Leicester, and others of his brethren, with the
+    rest of the parish, the said Thomas for expressing of his mind instead
+    of words, of his own accord used these signs: First he embraced her
+    with his arms, took her by the hand, and put a ring on her finger, and
+    laid his hand upon his heart and held up his hands towards heaven; and
+    to show his countenance to dwell with her till his life's end, he did,
+    by closing his eyes with his hands, and digging the earth with his
+    feet, and pulling as though he would ring a bell, with other signs
+    approved."
+
+An interesting feature in the marriage announcements a century ago, was
+the detail given respecting the fortune of the bride. Matters which now we
+regard as more or less private were then openly advertised to the world.
+_Williamson's Liverpool Advertiser_ for 1759, contains the following
+notice: "Liverpool, May 25. On Tuesday last was married at Hale, Dr.
+Zachariah Leafe, of Prescot, to Miss Martha Clough, of Halewood, an
+agreeable young lady of 18 years of age, with a very genteel fortune."
+_The Leeds Intelligencer_, for July 3, 1764, announces:--"On Thursday last
+was married Mr. John Wormald, of this town, merchant, to Miss Rebecca
+Thompson, daughter of the late ---- Thompson, Esqr., of Staincliffe Hall,
+near Batley, an agreeable young lady with a fortune of upwards of £4,000."
+These are no uncommon instances, and almost any newspaper of the period
+would furnish similar examples.
+
+It was a common custom, down to about 1850, for butchers' boys, in their
+blue coats, and sometimes also with a large white favour, to attend in the
+front of houses where weddings had that day taken place, and play on their
+cleavers with knuckle bones; the "Butchers' Serenade" it was called.
+Hogarth, in his delineation of the marriage of the industrious apprentice
+to his master's daughter, introduces a set of butchers coming forward with
+marrow bones and cleavers.
+
+A bridegroom was often called upon to pay toll. It was a Somersetshire
+custom for the village children, on the occasion of a wedding, to fasten
+the churchyard gates with a wreath of evergreens and flowers; a floral
+bond which always required a "Silver Key" to unlose. A writer to _Notes
+and Queries_, in January, 1858, states that on the occasion of his
+marriage, some years previously, when passing through the village
+adjoining that in which the marriage had taken place, his carriage was
+stopped by the villagers, holding a band of twisted evergreens and
+flowers, who good naturedly refused to let the carriage pass until toll
+had been paid.
+
+At Burnley, in Lancashire, an old custom prevailed by which all persons
+married at St. Peter's Church, in that town, paid a fine to the boys at
+the Grammar School; the money thus obtained being applied, according to
+the records, for the maintenance of the school library. This custom
+appears to have been kept up down to the year 1870, about which time
+Burnley Grammar School was rebuilt, and, on its re-opening, the practice
+of paying fines to the boys was discontinued.
+
+It is a common saying in Lancashire that a bride should wear at her
+wedding:--
+
+  "Something old and something new,
+  Something borrowed, something blue."
+
+This saying, and the practice of it, is common in other parts of England;
+the writer knows a lady who, when married at Bedford, five years ago,
+carried out the couplet to the letter; on this same bride being brought by
+her husband to his home in Lincolnshire, at the end of the honeymoon, the
+custom of lifting the bride over the threshold was observed; the bride and
+bridegroom got out of the carriage a few yards from the house, and he
+carried her up the steps, and into the hall. This was formerly a common
+practice in the North of England, and in Scotland, and is the remains of
+an old Roman custom which has survived the onslaught of time and change.
+
+It was an old custom to strew the path from the house of the bride to the
+church with sawdust or sand, and so recently as the year 1876 a "sawdust
+wedding" took place from a house in Sunderland. The custom would
+originate, no doubt, in a desire to secure a clean path for the bride to
+walk upon, and this was often ornamented with devices, which would be
+easily done with either material.
+
+"Keeping the doorstep warm" was a custom practised most commonly in the
+North of England. As soon as the bride and bridegroom had gone away, and
+the old shoe had been thrown, a servant, or sometimes the guests, would
+pour a kettle of boiling water over the front doorstep, as an auspice that
+there would soon be another wedding from the same house--keeping the
+threshold warm for another bride they called it.
+
+In these prosaic nineteenth century days, there is not much attention paid
+to the selection of the day of the week for the marriage ceremony. Our
+ancestors had many proverbs and couplets, all more or less pointing to
+certain and the same day, to avoid or select for the event.
+
+  Monday for wealth,
+  Tuesday for health,
+  Wednesday best day of all,
+  Thursday for losses,
+  Friday for crosses,
+  Saturday no luck at all.
+
+The practice of inserting wedding announcements in newspapers is almost
+universal, and the addition of "no cards" appears as often as not. Our
+neighbours on the other side of the Atlantic have, however, quite outdone
+us by the following addition to a wedding announcement in the _Quebec
+Morning Chronicle_, of November 7th, 1868:--"No cards. No Cake. No Wine."
+
+
+
+
+Burial Customs.
+
+BY ENGLAND HOWLETT, F.S.A.
+
+
+The burial of the dead furnishes many instances of curious customs, some
+of which, with modifications, survive to our own day, while a large number
+have become entirely obsolete, or meaningless. In the middle ages
+especially, it naturally followed that a great deal of superstition should
+be attached to death and burial, and superstition often originated a
+custom which survived long after any importance was attached to the
+origin.
+
+The Egyptians made futile attempts to preserve the body by embalming--this
+practice originated no doubt in the opinion which it was said they held,
+that so long as a body remained uncorrupted, so long the soul continued in
+it. The Greeks usually, but not universally, burnt their dead, and
+interred their ashes in urns. The actual origin of cremation is lost in
+obscurity, most probably the primary idea was the purification of the body
+by fire. It is supposed the early practice of the Romans was to bury, but
+their later practice was to burn, and cremation was held by them in
+honour, the bodies of suicides and young children not being allowed to be
+burnt.
+
+In ancient times burial was always without the walls of the cities and
+towns; indeed before the time of Christianity it was not lawful to bury
+the dead within the cities, but they used to be carried out into the
+fields, and there deposited. About the end of the sixth century, St.
+Augustine obtained of King Ethelbert a Temple of Idols (used by the King
+before his conversion), and made a burying place of it; and Saint Cuthbert
+afterwards obtained (A.D. 752) leave from the Pope to have yards made to
+the churches, suitable for the burial of the dead.
+
+In the ordinary funerals of Christian Anglo-Saxons, the corpse was simply
+wrapped in linen, and carried to the grave by two persons, one holding the
+head, and the other the feet; the priest then censed the body, and whilst
+it was being deposited in the grave, offered up prayers and benedictions.
+At the obsequies of persons of distinction, hymns were sung by the
+attendant priests, who accompanied the body in procession. At this period
+the body of a deceased person was always watched by the relatives and
+friends from the moment of death to the time of burial; the "wake" of the
+present day being the survival of this custom.
+
+It was a common practice, when the body was embalmed, to take out the
+heart and bowels, and inter them in a different church to that in which
+the body was buried; testators sometimes made a request in their wills for
+this to be done. The custom appears to have prevailed from the twelfth to
+the eighteenth century. The heart of Richard the First was buried at
+Rouen, his bowels at Chaluz, and his body at Fontevand. In 1838, the
+King's heart was discovered under the pavement of the sanctuary in Rouen
+Cathedral, enclosed in a leaden case, with the inscription:--
+
+    Richard Coeur de Lion.
+  Duc de Normandie. Roi D'Angleterre.
+
+Coeval with the introduction of church bells has been the appropriation of
+one of them to the service of the dying; originally this bell was tolled
+when one was yielding up life in order that all who heard it might offer
+up prayer for the departing spirit, and after death another bell was rung,
+called the "soul bell." The "Passing Bell," as it is now most
+inappropriately called, is not rung until some hours after death, and
+corresponds more nearly to the original "soul bell." In some districts it
+is always rung exactly twenty-four hours after death, the tenor bell being
+used for an adult, and the treble for a child; the big bell is generally
+reserved for funerals. In rural districts after the "passing bell" has
+tolled, the sex of the deceased is indicated most generally by tolling
+twice for a woman and thrice for a man, to this is often added the age by
+giving one toll for each year.
+
+In the middle ages it was customary at the funeral of any great person to
+have his horse led, and armour borne, before his corpse, the horse being
+afterwards claimed as a mortuary due to the church at which the burial
+took place; the armour was either reserved for the next of kin of the
+deceased, or else was hung up in the church. No doubt much of the armour
+suspended over tombs is mere "undertaker's trappings," although often
+considered genuine and of antiquity.
+
+Over the tombs of bishops, the Episcopal mitre and pastoral staff was
+sometimes suspended, as in the case of those in Winchester Cathedral
+hanging over the tomb of Bishop Morley, who died in 1696; and of those in
+Bromsgrove Church, Worcestershire, suspended over the Monument of Dr.
+Hall, Bishop of Bristol, who died in 1710.
+
+The hearse, so often mentioned in wills and funeral directions, was not a
+carriage for the conveyance of the body like that in use at the present
+day, but was a four square framework of timber, from each corner of which
+rose a rafter slanting, and all four rafters met at the top; this was
+covered with black cloth, and at the funerals of persons of distinction
+was set up for a time in the choir, for the reception of the body during
+the service; it was surrounded with rails, and fringed and ornamented
+according to the rank of the deceased. Until the Reformation, hearses were
+garnished with numerous lights as well as with pencils and escocheons, but
+with the change of faith the lights were discontinued. These hearses were
+introduced about the fourteenth century, and they continued to be used
+until the civil wars of the seventeenth century.
+
+In Shropshire there is a custom of "ringing the dead home," viz.: chiming
+all the bells, instead of ringing only one, while the funeral is on its
+way to the church. When the procession nears the churchyard gate the
+chiming is stopped and a minute bell is tolled. The sexton's fees at Much
+Wenlock, as laid down in 1789, include "a chime if required before the
+funeral, 0 1 0." At Hatherleigh, a small town in Devonshire, it was the
+prevalent custom to ring a lively peal on the church bells after a
+funeral, as elsewhere after a wedding.
+
+Even in the present day, in some remote rural districts, and especially in
+Hampshire, the practice still prevails of leaving open the outer door of
+the house, through which the corpse has been carried, until the mourners
+return from church, and in some places the custom extends also to the
+windows; this arises from a superstition that if the doors or windows be
+shut there will certainly be another death in the house within a year. In
+some districts there is a belief that if, when the moment of death
+approaches, all the doors and windows of the house are opened, the spirit
+will leave the body more easily.
+
+It was an ancient practice to put an hour glass into the coffin before
+burial, as an emblem of the sand of life being run out. Some antiquaries
+are of opinion that little hour glasses were anciently given at funerals,
+like rosemary, and by the friends of the deceased either put into the
+coffin or thrown into the grave.
+
+The custom which still prevails of sewing up a corpse in flannel,
+originated, doubtless, in the Act of Parliament, 18 and 19, Charles II.,
+which was passed for the encouragement of the woollen trade, and required
+all bodies to be buried in woollen shrouds; two amending statutes were
+passed, 1678 and 1680, requiring at the funeral an affidavit to be
+delivered to the priest stating that the requirements of the law had been
+carried out; otherwise penalties were incurred. These acts were repealed
+by 54 George III., although long before that time the penalties for
+noncompliance with the law had ceased to be enforced. During the operation
+of the acts for burying in woollen, the law was sometimes evaded by
+covering the corpse with hay, or flowers, notification of which is
+sometimes met with in the parish registers.
+
+Burial in armour was not at all uncommon in the middle ages, and was
+considered a most honourable form of burial. Sir Walter Scott, in "The Lay
+of the last Minstrel," thus refers, to it:
+
+  "Seem'd all on fire that Chapel proud,
+  Where Roslin's Chiefs uncoffin'd lie,
+  Each Baron for a sable shroud
+  Sheathed in his iron panoply."
+
+Clement Spelman, of Narburgh, Recorder of Nottingham, who died in 1679, is
+immured upright, enclosed in a pillar in Narburgh Church, so that the
+inscription is directly against his face: this must surely be a solitary
+instance of burial in a pillar, although there are many other instances of
+burial in an upright position. Thomas Cooke, who was a Governor of the
+Bank of England, from 1737 to 1739, and who had formerly been a merchant
+residing in Constantinople, died at Stoke Newington, 12th August, 1752,
+and by his directions his body was carried to Morden College, Blackheath,
+of which he was a trustee, it was taken out of the coffin, and buried in a
+winding sheet upright in the ground, according to the Eastern custom.[8]
+Ben Jonson was buried at Westminster in an upright position: possibly this
+may have been on account of the large fee demanded for a full-sized grave.
+It was for a long time supposed that the story was invented to account for
+the smallness of the gravestone, but on the grave being opened some years
+since, the dramatist's remains were discovered in the attitude indicated
+by tradition. The following quotation from Hearne's "Collection of
+Antiquarian Discourses," Vol. I., p. 212, shows that the upright position
+of burial was anciently adopted in the case of captains in the army:
+
+    "For them above the grounde buryed, I have by tradition heard, that
+    when anye notable Captayne dyed in battle or campe, the souldyers used
+    to take his bodye and to sette him on his feet uprighte, and put his
+    launce or pike into his hand, and then his fellowe souldyers did
+    travell and everye man bringe so much earthe, and laye about him as
+    should cover him, and mount up to cover the top of his pike."
+
+At Messina there is a church attached to one of the monasteries--St.
+Jacomo--in which several monks are buried in a sitting posture, and may be
+seen through a grating in a vault below the church.
+
+From the earliest ages to within about one hundred years ago, it appears
+to have been customary to bury either with or without a coffin. The
+following is an extract from a Terrier of lands, fees, etc., belonging to
+Caistor Vicarage, Lincolnshire, dated 1717: "For every grave in the
+churchyard and without coffin, four pence, if with coffin, one shilling."
+Amongst the Vestry Minutes of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, dated 5th March,
+1564: "Item, that none shall be buryd within the Church, unless the dead
+corpse be coffined in wood." The late John Bernard Palmer, first Abbot of
+the Cistercians in England since the Reformation, was buried in the
+Chapter House, at Loughborough, without a coffin. In the days when burial
+without a coffin was general, the body was shrouded, tied at the head and
+feet, and carried to the grave in a closed bier, which was generally
+provided by the parish for this purpose.
+
+A singular custom was wont to prevail at Gainsborough, of distributing
+penny loaves on the occasion of a funeral, to whosoever might demand them.
+Prior to the Reformation it was a common practice for our ancestors to
+direct in their wills that doles of bread and other alms should be given
+to the poor at their funerals; by this they performed a double
+act--relieving the corporal wants of the poor, and securing their prayers
+for the repose of their own souls. In some parts of Yorkshire, and
+elsewhere, it is still customary to send to friends immediately after
+death a paper bag of biscuits, and a card with the name, etc., of the
+deceased; this would not appear to be connected with a dole to purchase
+prayers, and may possibly find an origin in, and be the last remains of,
+the ancient ceremonial of the pagan burial feasts. At Amersden, in
+Oxfordshire, it was the custom at the burial of every corpse for a cake
+and flagon of ale to be given to the minister in the church porch
+immediately after the funeral.
+
+The curious and repulsive practice of sin eating is now obsolete. Aubrey,
+in "Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme," thus refers to it:--
+
+    "In the County of Hereford was an old custome at funeralls to have
+    poor people who were to take upon them the sinnes of the party
+    deceased. The manner was that when the corps was brought out of the
+    house and layd on the Biere, a Loafe of Bread was brought out, and
+    delivered to the Sinne eater over the corps, so also a Mazer-bowle of
+    Maple full of beer, w{ch} he was to drinke up, and six pence in money,
+    in consideration whereof he took upon him all the sinnes of the
+    Defunct, and freed him (or her) from walking after they were dead."
+
+The origin of this strange custom was most likely connected in some way
+with the ceremony of the Scape Goat under the old Law. (Leviticus, cap.
+xvi., v. 21).
+
+Tradition authorises the expectation that our Lord will appear in the
+east; therefore all the faithful dead are buried with their feet towards
+the east to meet Him. Hence in Wales the east wind is called "The wind of
+the dead men's feet." The eastern portion of a churchyard is always
+looked on as the most honoured--next the south--then the west, and last of
+all the north, from the belief that in this order the dead will rise. A
+curious instance of this belief is furnished by an epitaph on a tombstone,
+dated 1807, on the north side of Epworth Churchyard, Lincolnshire, the
+last two lines of which run as follow:--
+
+  "And that I might longer undisturbed abide
+  I choosed to be laid on this Northern side."
+
+Felons, and notorious bad characters, were frequently buried on the north
+side of the church.
+
+In Suffolk most of the churches have both a north and south door, and,
+where old customs are observed, the body is brought in at the south door,
+put down at the west end of the aisle, and carried out by the north door.
+In Lincolnshire the north is generally reserved entirely for funerals, the
+south and west doors being reserved for christenings and weddings.
+
+The burning of lights and torches at funerals has always been a mark of
+honour to the dead, and to have a great number was a special mark of
+honour to the deceased. Testators frequently made provision in their wills
+for the burning of torches, both as to the number to be used, and their
+price; these torches were generally provided by the churchwardens, and
+consequently they were an article of profit to the church. Churchwardens'
+accounts furnish numerous instances of the charge to the friends of the
+deceased according to the consumption of wax.
+
+The following extract from the will of John Woodford, of Barsby, in the
+parish of Ashby Folville, Leicestershire, dated 13th February, 1543,
+instances the custom of making minute testamentary arrangements for
+burial:--
+
+    "And my bodie to be burryed within the parishe Churche of our Ladie in
+    Ashbie-folwell Aforesaid as neare to the grave or Tombe of my cozin
+    John Woodforde as maye be convenyentlie thought, or els in the crosse
+    oyle before the pulpitt. Also I bequeath to our Mother Church of
+    Lyncolne iiij{d.} Also to the Highe Altar xij{d.} Also I will that
+    there be provided of Waxe xiij Tapers of the price of ij{d.} a peece.
+    Also I will that fyve poor men of the same parishe be chosen to beare
+    fyve Torches about my hearse Att my burryall. And they doing shall
+    have for their labour ij{d.} peece. Also I bequeath to the same Church
+    those fyve Torches And they to be burned att principall Feasts and
+    other Feasts as shall be convenyent. Also I will that every priest
+    that cometh to my Burriall to have iiij{d.} and their dynner. And if
+    there be no dynner, Then every priest for to have viij{d.} a peece.
+    And the same priests of their charritie for to say dirge and Masse
+    Att my burriall or els Att home within their parish for my soule and
+    for all my good Frends soules and for all xyen soules. Also I will
+    that they shall ring att my Burriall and to have for their labour
+    ij{d.} a peece."
+
+The Arvel Dinner appears to be an ancient custom. This was properly a
+solemn festival on the day of interment, and when the corpse was exposed
+to view. The relations and friends were invited to attend so that, having
+inspected the body, they might avouch that the death was a natural one,
+and thus exculpate the heir and all others entitled to the deceased's
+possessions from accusations of having used violence.
+
+In Scotland the custom still prevails of taking down the window blinds at
+the death, and hanging white sheets across the windows. The custom also
+prevails in the north of England, and in many families a special sheet
+reserved for the death chamber is kept for the purpose, and often used
+from generation to generation.
+
+In many parts of Scotland, too, it is still customary for the nearest
+relatives of the deceased to lower the body into the grave, and wait by
+the side until the grave is filled up.
+
+In country districts in Wales a custom still exists of setting up a chest
+in the middle of the chancel at the time of a funeral, and before leaving
+the church the mourners all file round and put their offerings in; this is
+really intended for the clergyman's fee, but if the people are poor he
+often returns part of it (to a widow, for instance).
+
+There is at least one instance that it was customary for the parish to
+provide an umbrella for the use of the clergyman on public occasions, more
+especially at funerals. The parish accounts at St. John's, Chester,
+contain the following entries:--
+
+  1729 Paid Mr. George Marsh for an
+       Umbrell for the parish use                      00 10 6{0.}
+
+  1786 Paid for an Umbrell for Mr.
+       Richardson to read the Burial service under      1  6 0{0.}
+
+It was a general belief that if a corpse was carried over fields on the
+way to burial, it established a public right of way for ever, hence it
+became customary, when, for convenience, or in some cases out of
+necessity, a corpse was taken across fields, or over any private ground,
+for the undertaker to stick a number of pins in each gate as the
+procession went through. The pins were accepted by the owner of the land
+as a payment for the privilege of the corpse being carried through, and
+acted as an acknowledgment that the right of way was granted only for the
+particular occasion.
+
+There is an ancient custom amongst the Russians to give the deceased two
+written documents placed in his coffin, containing (1) The confession of
+his sins: (2) The absolution given by the priest.
+
+One of the ancient customs connected with Swedish funerals was to place a
+small looking-glass in the coffin of an unmarried female, so that when the
+last trump sounds she might be able to arrange her tresses. It was the
+practice for Scandinavian maidens to wear their hair flowing loosely,
+while the matrons wore it bound about the head, and generally covered with
+some form of cap, hence the unmarried woman was imagined as wakening at
+the judgment day with more untidy locks than her wedded sisters, and more
+in need of a glass.
+
+It was customary, in carrying a corpse to burial, to rest the bier at any
+cross which might be in the way, whilst prayer was offered up; and,
+indeed, it was very general to erect a cross at any spot where the bier of
+a celebrated person had been rested on its way to interment.
+
+In the fifteenth century a most revolting custom originated of
+representing on tombs a skeleton, or worse still, a corpse in a state of
+corruption; this was followed by the more becoming custom of representing
+the effigies of corpses enveloped in shrouds tied at the head and feet.
+
+At Skipton it was an invariable practice to bury at midnight a woman who
+had died at the birth of her first child; the coffin was carried under a
+white sheet, the corners of which were held by four women. A custom
+prevailed in Lancashire when a mother died within a month of the birth of
+her child, of taking the baby to the funeral, and holding it over the
+grave as though to look in.
+
+Towards the end of the fourteenth century arose the practice of carrying a
+waxen effigy of the deceased either on or before the coffin in the funeral
+procession. The earliest instance of this practice is in the case of King
+Henry V., whose effigy formed the first of those figures which are still
+preserved in Westminster Abbey. This custom was only observed in the case
+of royalty, and persons of high position; the expense of a waxen
+representation of the deceased would prevent poor people from following
+it. The wax effigy of Oliver Cromwell lay in state while the body itself
+was being embalmed, so that most probably the actual corpse was never
+exposed to public view. The practice appears to have been discontinued
+shortly after the Restoration.
+
+A custom prevailed and continued even down to recent years of making
+funeral garlands on the death of young unmarried women of unblemished
+character. These garlands were made sometimes of metal, and sometimes of
+natural flowers or evergreens, and commonly having a white glove in the
+centre, on which was inscribed the name, or initials, and age of the
+deceased. This garland was laid on or carried before the coffin during its
+passage to the grave, and afterwards frequently hung up in the church,
+generally being suspended from the roof. It was usual in the primitive
+church to place crowns of flowers on the heads of deceased virgins.
+
+There was an order in the Church of England up to the year 1552, that if a
+child died within a month of baptism he should be buried in his chrisom in
+lieu of a shroud. The chrisom was a white baptismal robe with which, in
+mediæval times, a child, when christened, was enveloped. A sixteenth
+century brass in Chesham Bois Church, in Buckinghamshire, represents
+Benedict Lee, chrisom child, in his chrisom cloth. The inscription
+underneath the figure stands thus:--
+
+  Of Rog{r} Lee gentilma, here lyeth the son Benedict Lee
+  Crysom who{s} soule ihu pdo.
+
+Formerly it was a general custom to erect crosses at the junction of four
+cross roads, on a place _self-consecrated_ according to the piety of the
+age; suicides, and notorious bad characters, were frequently buried near
+to these, not with the notion of indignity, but in a spirit of charity,
+that, being excluded from holy rites, they, by being buried at cross
+roads, might be in places next in sanctity to ground actually consecrated.
+
+The practice of placing a pewter plate containing a little salt on a
+corpse may possibly have originated in salt being considered an emblem of
+eternity. In Scotland the custom has generally been to place both salt and
+earth separate, and unmixed--the earth being an emblem of the corruptible
+body, and the salt an emblem of the immortal spirit. Salt has also been
+used to preserve a corpse. The body of Henry I., who died in Normandy, was
+cut and gashed, sprinkled with salt, wrapped in a bull's hide, and brought
+to Reading Abbey to be buried.
+
+Testators frequently bequeathed palls by their wills for the general use
+of the parish; the following is an extract from the will of William
+Parkyns of Brympton, Berkshire, who died in 1558:--"Item, I will that mine
+executours buye one new pall, price 13s. 4d., the which I give unto the
+parish churche at Brympton to be laide uppon any personne, or personnes,
+that shall die within the said parishe and be brought to the churche."
+
+In several rural districts in England, especially in the north, when a
+funeral takes place, a basin full of sprigs of box is placed at the door
+of the house where the corpse lies, and each person who attends the
+funeral takes a sprig of box as he enters the house, carries it in the
+funeral procession, and finally throws it into the grave of the deceased.
+
+At Exford, near Minehead, it was formerly the custom for burials always to
+take place on a Sunday when possible, the burial service being dovetailed
+into the usual afternoon service. The corpse being brought into the
+church, was placed in front of the reading desk, and remained there during
+the service: the funeral psalms were read instead of the psalms for the
+day, and the funeral lesson instead of the second lesson. The burial
+service was concluded after the sermon, and the entire congregation would
+generally remain to the end. The custom appears to have fallen into disuse
+about thirty years ago.
+
+Funeral cake or biscuit appears to be general in all parts. In Whitby, a
+round, flat, and rather sweet, sort of cake biscuit is baked expressly for
+use at funerals, and made to order by more than one baker in the town; it
+is white, slightly sprinkled with sugar, and of a fine even texture
+within. In Lincolnshire sponge finger biscuits are used. In Cumberland a
+custom prevailed of giving to each person who attended the funeral a small
+piece of rich cake, carefully wrapped up in white paper and sealed. This
+used to be carried round immediately before the "lifting of the corpse."
+Each visitor selected one of the sealed packets and carried it home
+unopened.
+
+Funeral Bidders are most probably derived from the Romans, who used to
+send a public crier about inviting people to the solemnization of a
+funeral. In the northern countries each village had its regular "Bidder,"
+who when "bidding" to the funeral generally knocked on the door with a
+key. In towns the crier frequently did the "bidding," having first called
+the attention of the people by his bell.
+
+
+
+
+Concerning the Churchyard.
+
+BY JOHN NICHOLSON.
+
+
+In the life of St. Willebald[9] we are told "that it was an ancient custom
+of the Saxon nation on the estates of some of their nobles and great men,
+to erect, not a church, but the sign of the Holy Cross, dedicated to God,
+beautifully and honourably adorned, and exalted on high for the common use
+of daily prayer." It is the exception rather than the rule, for Domesday
+Book to mention a church in connection with a village, and it is possible
+that our Kirkbys, and place names having Kirk as a prefix, acquired that
+addition when the church was built in the churchyard ready for it--a
+churchyard already consecrated and hallowed by years of divine service and
+sacred memories.
+
+What better place than this, in the whole township, could be found for the
+hearing of disputes and the settling of cases; here, where the bishop sat
+with the sheriff, where the clerics were lawyers, where oaths could be
+taken on everything that was holy, and round which all a man's sacred
+associations clustered. The churchyard was a court of justice; but in
+later times, the ecclesiastical authorities discouraged the holding of
+secular pleas in churches and churchyards. In 1287 a synod held at Exeter,
+said "Let not secular pleas be held in churchyards," but as late as 1472,
+a presentment from the parish of "Helemsay et Staunforthbrig" (Helmsley
+and Stamfordbrig) shews "that all the parishioners there hold pleas and
+other temporal meetings in the church and churchyard."[10]
+
+The great church festivals were much abused by traders. At these great
+gatherings, dealers in all kinds of goods appeared on the scene, spread
+their wares on the tombstones, and could with difficulty be kept out of
+the sacred edifice itself. Their noisy shoutings, the assemblage of
+pleasure seekers, and the tumult attending such gatherings interfered
+seriously with the Divine service proceeding inside the church. A
+presentment, in 1416, from St. Michael-le-Belfry, in the city of York,
+states "the parishioners say that a common market of vendibles is held in
+the churchyard on Sundays and holidays, and divers things, and goods, and
+rushes, are exposed there for sale, and horses stand over the bodies of
+the dead there buried, and defile the graves, to the great dishonour and
+manifest hindrance of divine worship, on account of the clamour of those
+who stand about." (_Ibid._, p. 248.) While so late as 1519, the
+churchwardens of Riccall, in Yorkshire, complain that "pedlars come on
+festival days into the porch of the church and there sell their
+merchandise." (_Ibid._, p. 271.)
+
+Annual fairs were sometimes held in churchyards, especially where there
+was some saintly shrine or relic, which attracted crowds for the period of
+some anniversary. Perhaps Thomas-a-Beckett's shrine at Canterbury was the
+most celebrated, but the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham almost surpassed
+it. The common people held the idea that the Milky Way pointed towards
+Walsingham, and they called it Walsingham Way accordingly; while
+Glastonbury was called a second Rome for the number and sacredness of its
+relics. When the pilgrims had paid their devotion to the relics, they
+needed to eat and drink, and they were not averse to spend the rest of the
+day in amusement. Accordingly, minstrels, players, jugglers, and the
+like, supplied that demand, and the pilgrimage became a fair.
+
+On Sundays and holidays, the churchyard became a public playground. In
+pre-Reformation days, a holiday was a holy-day, when man went not forth to
+his labour. Then there were no eight hours day, no Early Closing
+Associations, but work, work, work, from early morn till late night, the
+only cessation of toil being on Sundays and Saints' days, hence termed a
+holy-day. On that day, people went to matins and mass in the morning, and
+spent the rest of the day in amusements, not always elevating or refined.
+The Synod of Exeter, already quoted, says, "We strictly enjoin on parish
+priests that they publicly proclaim in their churches, that no one presume
+to carry on combats, dances, or other improper sports in the churchyards,
+especially on the eves of the feasts of saints; or stage plays or farces,
+by which the honour of the churches is defiled and sacred ordinances
+despised." Again, at Salton, Yorkshire, in 1472, "it is ordered, by the
+consent of the parishioners, that no one use improper and prohibited
+sports within the churchyard, as, for example, wrestling, football, and
+handball, under penalty of twopence forfeit."[11] The ordinance seems to
+have been disregarded, or to have had only a temporary effect, for in
+1519, a second complaint is made (_Ibid._, p. 270), when the
+ecclesiastical authorities commanded, "Let them desist on pain of
+excommunication."
+
+In days when men went about armed with sword and dagger, it was sure to
+happen that a hasty quarrel would lead to stroke of sword or stab of
+dagger, without heed to the sacred character of the place, or to the fact
+that the assault constituted sacrilege, and desecrated "God's Acre" by
+bloodshed.
+
+Whitsuntide used to have a special feast of its own, known as Whitsun Ales
+or Church Ales, an institution by which money was obtained for repairing
+the church, helping the poor, and various charitable purposes. The
+churchwardens brewed the ale, and on the appointed day half the
+country-side assembled to join in the festivities;--music and song,
+baiting of bulls, bears, and badgers, bowls and ball, dice and
+card-playing, dancing and merry-making. The Church Ales were very popular
+in the North of England, where it was the practice to hold them in tents
+and booths erected in the churchyards. In 1651, in Somerset, seventy-two
+clergymen of the county certified that during these Church Ales, which
+generally fell on a Sunday, "the service of God was more solemnly
+performed, and the service better attended, than on other days."
+
+As an instance of what could be accomplished at one of these Church Ales,
+we may mention that "in 1532, the little village of Chaddesden spent 34s.
+10d. on an 'Aell' for the benefit of the great tower of All Saints',
+Derby, which was then being built, and earned by it £25 8s. 6d.,--near
+£400 of our money." (Lichfield, Diocesan Hist., S.P.C.K.)
+
+Doles are often distributed in the churchyard. William Robinson, at one
+time Sheriff of Hull, when he died in 1708, left money to purchase a dozen
+loaves of bread, costing a shilling each, to be given to twelve poor
+widows at his grave every Christmas Day. Leonard Dare, in 1611, directed
+that on Christmas Day, Lady Day, and Michaelmas Day, the churchwardens
+were "to buy, bring and lay on his tombstone, threescore penny loaves of
+good wholesome bread," which were to be distributed to the poor of the
+parish. A quaint custom is still enacted annually in London on Good
+Friday. The vicar of St. Bartholomew's the Great, Smithfield, drops
+twenty-one sixpences in a row on a certain lady's grave. The money is
+picked up by the same number of widows kneeling, who have previously
+attended service at the church, where a sermon is preached.[12]
+
+A quaint old custom, once not infrequently practised, was that of
+scrambling bread and cheese and other edibles in the churchyard. A story
+is told of two poor sisters walking to London to claim an estate. Arriving
+at Paddington, weary, hungry, and footsore, their miserable condition
+aroused sympathy, and the good folk of Paddington gave them relief. In
+course of time, their claim was established, and as a token of gratitude
+they left a bequest of bread and cheese, to be thrown from the top of the
+church of St. Mary's, Paddington, among the people assembled in the
+churchyard below. This custom was continued into this present century, for
+in 1821, it is noticed in the newspapers as an annual practice to throw
+bread and cheese from the belfry of the church at eight o'clock on the
+Sunday before Christmas Day. At Barford, Oxfordshire, is a piece of land,
+known as White-bread Close, the rent of which was formerly spent in
+buying bread to be scrambled for at the church door. A correspondent of
+the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1824, says that the "distribution
+occasioned such scenes of indecent riot and outrage, even fighting in the
+church itself, that a late curate very properly effected the suppression
+of a practice productive of this gross abuse." Mr. Tuke, of Wath, near
+Rotherham, who died in 1810, left a bequest whereby forty dozen penny
+loaves were to be thrown from the church leads at twelve o'clock on
+Christmas Day for ever. This is the latest instance of a scrambling custom
+with which we are acquainted.[13]
+
+Bells were frequently cast in churchyards, and from the editor of this
+volume we have received some interesting notes on this subject. "In the
+days of the early bell founders," says Mr. William Andrews, "the country
+roads were little better than miry lanes, full of ruts and holes, and
+where the moisture of the winter was often not evaporated during the
+summer. For this reason bells were mostly cast in the immediate vicinity
+of the churches, or monastic establishments, they were intended to grace.
+The monks, too, were not unwilling to retain the usage as an opportunity
+for a religious service; they stood round the casting pit, and, as the
+metal was poured into the mould, would chant psalms and offer prayers.
+Southey, in 'The Doctor,' says:--'The brethren stood round the furnace,
+ranged in processional order, sang the 150th Psalm, and then, after
+certain prayers, blessed the molten metal, and called upon the Lord to
+infuse into it His grace, and overshadow it with His power, for the honour
+of the saint to whom the bell was to be dedicated, and whose name it was
+to bear.'
+
+"Sometimes the bells were cast in the interior of the building, as at St.
+Albans, where, in the beginning of the 14th century, the great bell called
+the 'Amphibalus,' being broken, was cast in the hall of the sacristy. In
+some places, Kirkby Malzeard, and Haddenham, for instance, the bells were
+cast in the church itself. But most frequently the churchyard was chosen
+for the purpose. At Scalford, during excavations made some time ago, there
+were found traces of a former furnace, and also a mass of bell metal,
+which had evidently been melted on the spot; about 1876, the churchyard of
+Empingham yielded a similar instance. The bells of Meaux Abbey were cast
+within the precincts. Coming down to more recent times we find the
+bell-founders obviating risks of transit by the same means. The 'Great
+Tom' of Lincoln, in 1610, and the great bell of Canterbury, in 1762, were
+cast in the yards of their respective cathedrals. It was customary also
+for bell craftsmen to settle awhile in a particular locality, and thence
+extend their business from that centre to the churches around. This was
+done in 1734 by Daniel Hedderly, of Bawtry, at Winterton, in Lincolnshire,
+and by Henry Bagley, who advertised in 1732, that he would 'cast any ring
+or rings of bells in the town they belong.' Latterly, however, the
+improved roads and means of transit have enabled bells to be cast in their
+proper foundries, and then conveyed to their posts of office."
+
+Sundials were most commonly placed on the south wall of the church, but
+many a churchyard is graced by these obsolete time-keepers. At Kilham,
+East Yorkshire, opposite the door of the south porch of the church, a
+stone coffin has been sunk, head foremost, about half its length in the
+ground, and on the foot of this coffin a sundial was placed in 1769, and
+is still in a good state of preservation.
+
+Wimborne Minster, Dorset, boasts a dial which must not be missed. It is
+dated 1732, and is to be found under the yew tree in the Minster yard,
+though its original position was on the gable of the north transept. It is
+of stone, 6 ft. in height; its south face is 4 ft. in width, and its east
+and west faces 3 ft. respectively, each of which bears a gnomon--a
+somewhat unusual feature.
+
+A few miles from Canterbury, in Chilham churchyard, stands a beautiful
+sundial, the graceful stone pedstal of which was designed by the famous
+Inigo Jones.
+
+Sundials have become well nigh useless owing to improved methods of
+keeping time, but one loves to see these relics which link us to a past
+which, with all its disadvantages, has many pleasant bye-paths for the men
+of to-day.
+
+The stocks were sometimes placed in the churchyard, though more frequently
+near the village cross or in the market place. In 1578, tenpence was paid
+"for a hinging locke to the stockes in the Mynster Yearde,"[14] and again
+in 1693 "for rebuilding the gallows in the Horse faire, and the stocks in
+the Minster yard, £5 5s. 10d." The stocks at Beverley Minster were
+movable, and placed in the yard when required for use.
+
+A strange scene was enacted in St. Paul's churchyard, in May, 1531.
+According to Fox, the well known writer on martyrs, Bishop Stokesley
+"caused all the New Testament of Tyndal's translation, and many other
+books which he had bought, to be openly burnt in St. Paul's churchyard."
+
+A curious act of penance was performed in Hull, in 1534, by the vicar of
+North Cave. He had made a study of the work of the Reformers, who had
+settled in Antwerp, and sent their books over to England. In a sermon
+preached in the Holy Trinity Church, Hull, he advocated their teaching,
+and for this he was tried for heresy and convicted. He recanted, and as an
+act of penance, one Sunday, he walked round the church barefooted, with
+only his shirt on, and carrying a large faggot in his hand to represent
+the punishment he deserved.
+
+Crosses have always been deemed a fitting emblem and suitable ornament for
+churchyards. Many ancient, interesting, and valuable crosses are yet to be
+found, notably at Ilkley, Crowle, Bakewell, and Eyam, the latter of which
+lay in pieces in a corner of the churchyard, until restored by John
+Howard, the philanthropist.
+
+One result of church restoration by vicars, strangers to the place and
+people, and but newly installed, is the formation of a rubbish heap, in
+some neglected or unseen corner of the churchyard. Here are thrown,
+carelessly, cruelly, wantonly, costly stones of marble, alabaster, or
+granite, removed from the interior of the church, because there is no
+representative to plead for their safety. Boys clamber over the wall, make
+houses of the slabs, and for one brief hour, "dwell in marble halls," then
+go home and carry off the smaller pieces to ornament a rockery. It has
+been my good fortune, on more than one occasion, to rescue a monumental
+slab from destruction, and place it in the hands of the present
+representative of the family mentioned thereon.
+
+Let us go through this little wicket gate which gives entrance to this
+village churchyard. As the gate clicks behind us, we find ourselves close
+to a handsome modern cross, raised on four circular steps. Here let us sit
+awhile and find rest for body and soul. The grass is closely cut between
+the graves, the little grassy mounds themselves have been made into tiny
+flower gardens. All around is evidence of care and pride in work; it is
+somebody's hobby as well as his living. Round the larger family graves,
+tasteful iron railings are fixed, and creeping plants and climbing roses
+rob the erection of its rigidity. At the beginning of the eighth century,
+a wise Northumbrian monarch was laid to rest in this "garden of sleep,"
+and for twelve centuries the long roll of those joining the majority has
+been added to here in this quiet place, until the very dust on which we
+walk is sacred. Like Moses in the desert we are on holy ground--it is
+"God's Acre."
+
+
+
+
+Altars in Churches.
+
+BY THE REV. GEO. S. TYACK, B.A.
+
+
+The altar, although it is the most important and most conspicuous article
+of church furniture, is not one that provides much material for gossip of
+the quaint and curious kind. And this is natural: a decent reverence
+having protected the Christian "Holy of Holies" from the vagaries that
+have sometimes invented grotesque customs in connection with other parts
+of the church. This feeling of sanctity arises most obviously from the
+fact that on the altar the sacred mystery of the Eucharist is offered; but
+in early times it was intensified by the knowledge that beneath that altar
+rested the remains of some saint or martyr. In the first ages it was so
+far customary thus to commemorate the church's departed heroes, that
+_confessio_, or _martyrion_ (that is, the grave of a confessor or martyr),
+became recognized names for the altar.
+
+In later times the custom was reversed; the altar was no longer reared
+over the bones of the saint, but the body of anyone whom the church
+specially wished to honour was buried beneath the altar; and even now,
+when interments within churches are forbidden, the same natural feeling
+often finds expression in the burial of a parish priest immediately
+without the east wall, as near as possible to the altar that he served.
+
+Probably it was the thought of security guaranteed by the sacredness of
+the altar which suggested to the monks of Canterbury the making of a
+grated vault beneath the high altar of the cathedral, in which to store
+their treasures. Here, before the Reformation, was kept a collection of
+gold and silver vessels, so large and costly, that in the opinion of
+Erasmus, Midas and Croesus would seem but beggars in presence of it.
+This altar was itself lavishly adorned, and all its glory had not
+disappeared in the days of Archbishop Laud, one of whose offences was the
+adorning of it with "a most idolatrous costly glory cloth."
+
+For richness of material no altar that the world has seen could well excel
+the one erected in the Cathedral of S. Sophia by the Emperor Justinian. It
+was "a most inimitable work, for it was artificially composed of all sorts
+of materials that either the earth or the sea could afford, gold, silver,
+and all kinds of stones, wood, metals, and other things; which being
+melted and mixed together, a most curious table was framed out of this
+universal mass." The result, one cannot but think, with all its splendour,
+must have been somewhat barbaric. Other altars we read of in the early
+ages made of gold, or of pure silver, and others, like that presented to a
+church by Pulcheria according to Sozomen, adorned with gold and precious
+stones.
+
+There seems never to have been any very definite rule in force as to the
+material of which an altar should be made. It is true that the Council of
+Epaone (A.D. 517) decreed that "no altar should be consecrated except it
+were of stone;" but in practice, metal and wooden altars still continued
+to be used, both in the east and the west.
+
+The custom of having a tabernacle permanently on the altar for the
+reservation of the Blessed Sacrament did not become usual until the
+twelfth century, but as early as the middle of the ninth century, Leo IV.
+mentions a pyx suspended for the same purpose above it. In fact we find
+traces as far back as the sixth of the use of pyxes in the form of doves
+made of gold or silver; and in England this custom continued until the
+Reformation. The pyx at Durham Cathedral, which hung from a hook still to
+be seen in the roof, was in the form of a pelican "in her piety," that is,
+feeding her young with her heart's blood; a figure which has been copied
+in the lectern now in use.
+
+As the usual ornaments of the altar and its ministers became more numerous
+and more costly, it was inevitable that the question of responsibility for
+their provision should arise. Such a dispute came for settlement before
+Walter de Gray, Archbishop of York (1216-1256) in 1253, and he drew up a
+catalogue of such necessary things as the parishioners were to provide.
+
+It will perhaps surprise some people to know that the custom of placing
+vases of flowers on the altar, so far from being a modern innovation, is
+one of the most ancient ways of adorning it. S. Augustine speaks of a
+young man taking a flower from an altar in an oratory dedicated to S.
+Stephen; and elsewhere we read of flowers, skilfully interwoven, as a
+decoration of the altar.
+
+Anciently altars had no covering, except the linen clothes placed on the
+top, but as early as the sixth century Gregory of Tours speaks of a silk
+pall as a covering for one. It was in the eighth century, however, and by
+the influence of Pope Leo III., that altar-cloths came generally into use.
+The name for this in the Roman Missal is _Pallium_, or pall, and that name
+is still preserved in our English Coronation Service, where the gift of a
+pall is prescribed as part of the oblation to be made by the Sovereign. In
+accordance with this direction, and the custom of her ancestors, Queen
+Victoria, at her coronation, made an offering of a pall of cloth-of-gold,
+which was presented at the altar steps.
+
+In marked contrast to the reverence shown to the altar in almost all ages
+and places, is a custom that for some couple of centuries existed at S.
+Ives in Huntingdonshire. A certain Dr. Robert Wilde, dying there in 1678,
+left a sum of £50, the interest of which was to be annually expended in
+the purchase of Bibles, each of which was not to exceed 7s. 6d. in price.
+The following extraordinary method of distributing these volumes was also
+enjoined. Six boys and six girls of the parish having been selected, were
+to stand at the altar and cast thereon with three dice, those making the
+highest aggregate number of points to have the Bibles. The occasion was to
+be further improved by the preaching of an appropriate sermon by the
+Vicar, for which he was to receive the sum of 10s. A piece of ground, now
+known as "Bible Orchard," was bought with the legacy, and the distribution
+has duly taken place ever since in accordance with the donor's wishes,
+except that in recent years a small table has been placed at the chancel
+step for the dice throwings, and the desecration of the altar avoided.
+
+So strange a custom, however good the founder's intention, could scarcely
+begin, much less take root, and live among us now; when we see on every
+hand efforts to treat God's altar-throne with the reverence, and to adorn
+it with such dignity, as becomes it. And we may surely see in the revived
+life and widened usefulness of the English Church of to-day, a fulfilment
+of the Divine promise, "Them that honour Me, I will honour."
+
+
+
+
+The Rood Loft and its Uses.
+
+BY JOHN T. PAGE.
+
+
+The word _rood_ or _rod_ is of Saxon origin, and signifies a cross, or
+crucifix. It was universally adopted in Roman Catholic times to denote the
+cross on which Christ suffered death, and thus instead of the Holy Cross
+we invariably read of the Holy Rood.
+
+The annals of legendary lore record that on the 3rd of May, A.D. 328, the
+true cross was found by St. Helena, buried deep in the ground at
+Jerusalem. Cosroes, King of Persia, on plundering the city, carried the
+precious relic away with him, but it was recovered again by Heraclius,
+Emperor of the Eastern Empire, who, in the year 629, made a pilgrimage to
+Jerusalem, and restored it to the Holy Sepulchre.
+
+Ever since then the 14th of September has been celebrated as the Festival
+of the Holy Rood, or Holy Cross. Crosses had been set up in churches as
+far back as the year A.D. 431, and henceforward until the time of the
+Reformation they continued to be an important article of church
+furniture.
+
+From the earliest times it had been customary to separate that part of the
+Church at the east end where the altar stood, from the body of the nave,
+where the common people assembled for worship. For this reason we find the
+arches between the chancel and the nave in Anglo-Saxon and Norman Churches
+very narrow, so that a curtain could easily be stretched across the
+opening. Later on this curtain was displaced by a screen of open woodwork,
+and in some cases stone was used instead of wood. This screen was
+generally carried up to the capitals of the columns which supported the
+chancel arch, and was surmounted by a substantial cross-beam. Upon the
+beam was constructed a loft or gallery, in the centre of which stood the
+rood, or crucifix. Access was generally gained to the rood loft by a newel
+staircase cut either in the north or south wall of the chancel, and
+occasionally the staircase existed on both sides. In some churches the
+rood loft extended across the side aisles as well, and this necessitated
+the erection of a specially constructed turret at the east end of one of
+the aisles.
+
+The rood itself was always set in the centre of the loft, in such a
+position that it could be well seen by the assembled worshippers. Not only
+was the body of the Saviour represented as hanging upon the cross, but it
+was flanked on each side by attendant images of the Virgin Mary and St.
+John. These all faced the west, in accordance with a tradition that Christ
+was crucified with His face in that direction. It must not, however, be
+taken for granted that a rood loft existed in every church. Sometimes the
+rood was simply fixed on the cross-beam immediately over the screen, the
+gallery in this case being dispensed with.
+
+It is a moot point as to when the rood was first set up in the English
+Church, but as there are scarcely any remains of screen-work of earlier
+date than the fourteenth century, it could not have been long before that
+time. There are, it is true, a few solitary specimens of thirteenth
+century work, but most of that which still exists is of fifteenth century
+date. Looking at examples of this period we generally find the rood loft
+projected a little forward over the screen, the angle thus formed being
+filled with groined work, springing from the protruding supports of the
+screen beneath. The upper part of the screen was filled with open work
+carving, which sometimes partook of the character of an elaborate
+symbolical design. The lower part was nearly always plain, but in
+conjunction with the upper surface was often elaborately painted and
+gilded.
+
+When the Reformation came, the roods were all swept away by order, but the
+rood lofts in some cases became utilised as galleries for the singers. In
+the churchwardens' account books, belonging to the parish of Stratton,
+Cornwall, under date 1549, occurs an entry of a sum of money "payd for
+takyng downe y{e} Rode and y{e} pagents y{n} y{e} rode lofte." It does not
+appear that any of the roods escaped destruction, but representations of
+the rood, and its attendant images of St. John and the Virgin Mary, were
+sometimes carved in stone and inserted in the walls of churches, and of
+these a few still remain. It is therefore possible to obtain from these
+stone carvings a very good idea of how the rood looked when it was set up
+in the rood loft. Mr. Bloxam mentions examples at Romsey, Hants;
+Sherborne, Dorset; Burford, Oxon, and Evesham, Worcester; and the writer
+may add that a fine specimen is to be seen over the south doorway of
+Stepney Church, Middlesex.
+
+It it presumed that an altar sometimes stood in the loft in front of the
+rood. The fact that at Maxey Church, Northamptonshire, a piscina is to be
+found in the south wall of the clerestory would seem to enforce such a
+theory. On special occasions lights and other decorations occupied a place
+in the loft near the rood. It has also been stated that the Gospel and
+Epistle, and various other parts of the service, were read from the rood
+loft.
+
+Very good examples of a late Perpendicular rood screen and loft exist at
+Bugbrook Church, Northamptonshire. The screen consists of three
+compartments, of which the central one is the widest. It is ten feet seven
+inches high, and at the base of the loft, measures nineteen feet three
+inches across. The lower part of the central compartment, which went to
+form the doors, is missing. The upper part is arched, and down the centre
+of the arch runs a mullion. This description of the upper portion
+corresponds with the two side compartments, where, however, the mullions
+are continued down to the ground. The lower parts on each side are filled
+with plain panels, which have apparently been inserted in later times. A
+series of elaborate vaulting springs from the main supports of the
+structure, and upholds to the rood loft, which projects over the top of
+the screen. The vaulting is covered with fan tracery, the spaces between
+the ribs being filled in with a rich design. The loft is between three and
+four feet in width, and the cross beam on which it rests is seven inches
+wide. Admission to the loft is gained from the south side, through a
+narrow arched opening in the wall. The steps originally descended into the
+south aisle, but there are only five of them now remaining.
+
+The counties of Devon and Somerset probably contain some of the finest
+examples of rood screens and rood lofts. On one at least of these the rood
+has lately been replaced, for in a recent number of _Notes and
+Queries_,[15] Mr. Harry Hems, of Exeter, writes as follows:--"The only
+rood screen I recollect for the moment having the three figures upon it,
+is at St. Andrew's, Kenn. I placed them there some seven or eight years
+ago."
+
+There seems now to be a general inclination towards a revival of the rood
+screen. Even in our most recently built churches, a temporary screen,
+festooned with flowers or other decorations, may often be seen erected on
+the occasion of harvest festivals, and such-like celebrations. Whether or
+no the setting up of the rood in the rood loft will ever again become
+customary in the English Church, is a question time alone can solve.
+
+
+
+
+Armour in Churches.
+
+BY J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.
+
+
+The memorial brasses, the incised slabs, and especially the effigies of
+knights and men-at-arms, which abound in our churches, tell us far more of
+the successive stages and development of English arms and armour, both of
+an offensive and defensive character, than all the manuscript inventories
+or actual collections of weapons that are yet extant. And not only do our
+churches thus yield the most valuable and trustworthy evidence as to the
+armour of our forefathers, by its faithful pourtrayal on the memorials of
+the departed, but they also afford a sanctuary in numerous cases for
+actual armour.
+
+It was for many centuries a custom of Christendom--apparently more
+particularly in England than elsewhere--to suspend over the tomb the
+principal arms of the departed warrior, which had previously been carried
+in the funeral procession. Hearne, the well-known antiquary of last
+century, says that the custom originated with Canute placing his crown
+upon the head of the crucifix at Winchester, when he found that the waves
+refused to obey him; but it is somewhat difficult to follow the reasoning
+which makes this a precedent for the hanging up of the dead man's armour.
+
+The custom is twice noted by Shakespeare. In "Hamlet," Laertes says:--
+
+  "His means of death, his obscure burial--
+  No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,
+  No noble rite, nor formal ostentation."
+
+Iden, in "Henry VI.," remarks:--
+
+  "Is't Cade that I have slain, that monstrous traitor,
+  Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed,
+  And hang thee o'er my tomb, when I am dead."
+
+The armour in our churches may be divided into two classes; firstly, that
+which had actually been worn by the person commemorated, and secondly,
+that which was specially constructed for funeral purposes.
+
+The most deeply interesting and the oldest of genuine armour still
+preserved within English churches, is that which pertained to the Black
+Prince, and which hangs above his well-known tomb in the cathedral church
+of Canterbury. In June, 1894, this armour was exhibited at Burlington
+House, in the rooms of the Society of Antiquaries, when we had special
+opportunities of examining it. The great tilting helm of iron weighs seven
+pounds. The leathern cap inside it is almost worn away. The gilded
+long-tailed lion which forms the crest is of leather. The great shield of
+France and England quarterly is also of embossed leather. The gauntlets
+are of latten, and still retain the inner leather gloves. The
+sword-scabbard and buckle are of the same material; the sword itself is
+unfortunately missing, and is said to have been appropriated by Oliver
+Cromwell when visiting Canterbury.
+
+The surcoat, which laced up the back, is of velvet, and well padded. It is
+not a little remarkable that the arms of neither shield nor surcoat bear
+any label or mark of cadency, but are simply royal arms. Mr. St. John Hope
+ingeniously conjectures that this singular omission can only be accounted
+for on the supposition that the relics were really those of Edward III.,
+and not of his son, the Black Prince, and that they were hung up over the
+son's tomb by the king's order as a mark of his deep affection.
+
+At the same exhibition the actual shield of Henry V., from Westminster
+Abbey, was also shown.
+
+Sir David Owen, by his will, dated February 20th, 1529, desires that "my
+body be buried in the priory of Esseborne, after the degree of a banneret,
+that is with helmet and sword, my war armour, my banner, my standard, and
+my pendant."
+
+Sir Godfrey Foljambe, of Walton, by his will, in 1532, left his "carcase
+to be buried in the chappell of St. George besides my lady wife in
+Chesterfield ... my sword, helmet, with the crest upon the head, and my
+coat-of-arms to be hanged over my tomb, and there to remain for ever."
+
+Several of our parish churches still retain arms or armour or other
+accoutrements that had actually been worn by the person commemorated.
+Among them, to our own knowledge, may be mentioned Bonsall, Derbyshire;
+Brington, Northamptonshire; Addington, Surrey; Sheriff Hutton, Yorkshire;
+Broadwater, Sussex; St. Michael Carhayes, Cornwall; St. Mary Redcliffe,
+Bristol; Brabourne, Kent; and Longbridge Deverill, Wilts.
+
+Occasionally, however, and particularly in the sixteenth and seventeenth
+centuries, the armour carried in the funeral procession, and subsequently
+suspended over the tomb, was merely supplied by the undertaker or heraldic
+official, and was of a cheap and imitative character, not intended to
+last. Sir William Dugdale states (in 1667) the actual price of such sham
+armour. A knight's helmet, gilt with silver and gold, was £1; the crest,
+carved and coloured, 13s.; the sword, with velvet scabbard, 10s.;
+gauntlets, 10s.; and gilt spurs, 5s. Light helmets and breastplates of
+this funeral-trophy description, from which all gilt and beauty has long
+since disappeared, are still to be found in some of our churches, and
+occasionally may be seen among discarded lumber in parvises, as at Raunds,
+Northamptonshire.
+
+There is, however, a yet more important aspect of armour in churches to be
+considered. Every parish in England, from the time of Edward I. downwards,
+was bound to keep ready for use a certain amount of armour, and a man or
+men, according to the population of the township, properly trained to the
+use of this armour. This armour had to be viewed twice a year by the
+constables, and a report as to its condition made to the justices. Not
+infrequently, when a suitable "church-house" was wanting, the "townes
+armour" of our English villages, and even of country towns, was kept in
+the church itself, particularly in the parvise or room over the porch.
+
+When the parish armour was carefully viewed throughout England at the time
+of the expected Spanish invasion in the reign of Elizabeth, returns show
+that much of it was in safe quarters within the consecrated walls of our
+churches. We have met with various instances of inventories or mention of
+"townes armour" in old constable accounts. One of the fullest of these is
+in the parish books of Repton, Derbyshire. In 1590 is this entry:--
+
+    "A Note of the armoure of Repton receaved into the handes of Rycharde
+    Weatte, berjinge Constable.
+
+    Imprimis ij corsletts w{th} all that belongeth unto them.
+
+    It. ij platt' cotts (coats of plate armour).
+
+    It. ij swordes and iij daigers and ij gyrgells.
+
+    It. ij calevers w{th} flaxes and tuch boxe.
+
+    It. ij pyckes and ij halberds.
+
+    It. for the Tr'band Souldiar a cote and bowe and a shiffe of arrowes
+    and a quiver."
+
+In 1616, the inventory is as follows:--
+
+    "Receaved by Christopher Ward Constable from John Couttrell the Townes
+    Armore.
+
+    2 Corsletts with 2 pickes.
+
+    2 Culivers.
+
+    One flask and tuch boxe.
+
+    V headpeeces; towe of them ould ones.
+
+    2 howlboardes.
+
+    One payre of Banddelrowes.
+
+    2 oulde girdles.
+
+    3 new girdles; towe of them with ye sowldiers.
+
+    3 payre of hanggers in the sowldiers keepinge.
+
+    3 swordes with towe daggers.
+
+    Allsoe the swordes in sowldiers keepinge.
+
+    Allsoe 2 platte coottes y{t} Clocksmith not delivered."
+
+This armour was kept in the parish church at Repton; up to the year 1840
+some of it still remained in the parvise or room over the south porch.
+
+In the first year of Elizabeth, it is recorded that there was in the
+parish church of Darley, Derbyshire, "within ye steepul both harnes and
+weapons in redynes for one billman and for one archer."
+
+In Cussans' county history of Hertfordshire, it is recorded that some
+"twenty years ago," the south porch of Baldock church was enlarged by
+removing the floor of the parvise. This chamber, which had remained closed
+for many years, was found to be nearly filled with armour, helmets, pikes,
+and other weapons. It was assumed by Cussans that this was a collection
+of armour, heaped together from tombs over which they had been suspended,
+but there can be no doubt it was merely the old store of town's armour.
+
+
+
+
+Beating the Bounds.
+
+BY JOHN T. PAGE.
+
+
+In those early days, when deities were called into existence at the sweet
+will of every potentate, we note the fact that somewhere between the years
+715-672 B.C., King Numa Pompilius introduced to the Roman citizens, the
+worship of the god Terminus. He originated a plan, by which the fields of
+the citizens were separated from each other by means of boundary stones,
+which stones were dedicated, and made sacred to the god Terminus. The
+Terminalia, as the festival of Terminus was called, was celebrated
+annually on the 23rd of February. On this day the people turned out in
+force, and visiting the different boundary stones, decked them with
+flowers, and performed sacrificial rites amid great rejoicings.
+
+From the seventh century B.C., to the end of the nineteenth century of the
+Christian era is a long stride, but it is pretty generally considered that
+in this annual Terminalia of the ancient Romans, we have the germ of the
+custom known as "Beating the Bounds," which in many parishes throughout
+England is still carried out annually.[16]
+
+The early Christians readily adapted some of the best heathen customs to
+their own requirements, and thus we soon find them making a perambulation
+round their fields, accompanied by their bishops and clergy. They repeated
+litanies, and implored God to avert plague and pestilence, and to enable
+them in due season to reap the fruits of the earth. "The Litanies or
+Rogations then used gave the name of Rogation Week to this time. They
+occur as early as the 550th year of the Christian era, when they were
+first observed by Mamertius, Bishop of Vienna, on account of the frequent
+earthquakes that happened, and the incursions of wild beasts, which laid
+in ruins and depopulated the city."[17]
+
+Some idea of the importance which eventually came to be attached to this
+Rogation time, may be gathered from an old sermon, still extant, in which
+the preacher, after animadverting upon a growing misuse of the festival by
+certain people, tells them that for this cause "it is merveyle God
+destroye us not in one daye,"--and then proceeds as follows:--"In these
+Rogation Days, it is to be asked of God, and prayed for, that God of his
+goodness wyll defende and save the corne in the felde, and that he wyll
+vouchsave to pourge the ayer. For this cause be certaine Gospels red in
+the wide felde amonges the corne and grasse, that by the vertue and
+operation of God's word, the power of the wicked spirites, which kepe in
+the air and infecte the same (whence come pestilences and the other kyndes
+of diseases and syknesses) may be layde downe, and the aier made pure and
+cleane, to th' intent the corne may remaine unharmed, and not infected of
+the sayd hurteful spirites, but serve us for our use and bodely
+sustenaunce."
+
+In order that we may now get a better idea of what these processions were
+like, we cannot do better than turn to Shaw's _History of
+Staffordshire_.[18] We there learn that "Among the local customs which
+have prevailed (at Wolverhampton), may be noticed that which was popularly
+called 'Processioning.' Many of the older inhabitants can well remember
+when the sacrist, resident prebendaries, and members of the choir,
+assembled at Morning Prayers on Monday and Tuesday in Rogation Week, with
+the charity children, bearing long poles clothed with all kinds of flowers
+then in season, and which were afterwards carried through the streets of
+the town with much solemnity, the clergy, singing men and boys, dressed in
+their sacred vestments, closing the procession, and chanting in a grave
+and appropriate melody, the Canticle, Benedicite Omnia Opera, etc.... It
+was discontinued about 1765."
+
+In the seventeenth century mention is often made of the Rogation week
+processions in the Articles of Enquiry in the different Archdeaconries. As
+an example we may cite the following from the Archdeaconry of Middlesex,
+under date 1662. "Doth your minister or curate, in Rogation Dayes, go in
+Perambulation about your Parish, saying and using the Psalms and Suffrages
+by Law appointed, as _viz._, Psalm 103 and 104, the Letany and Suffrages,
+together with the Homily, set out for that end and purpose? Doth he
+admonish people to give thanks to God, if they see any likely hopes of
+plenty, and to call upon him for mercy, if there be any fear of scarcity:
+and do you, the Churchwardens, assist him in it?"
+
+The judicious Hooker "would by no means omit the customary time of
+Procession, persuading all, both rich and poor, if they desired the
+preservation of love and their parish rights and liberties, to accompany
+him in his Perambulation: and most did so: in which Perambulation he would
+usually express more pleasant discourse than at other times, and would
+then always drop some loving and facetious observations, to be remembered
+against the next year, especially by the boys and young people."[19]
+
+As might have been expected, some very curious entries appear in the
+churchwardens' books of different parishes relative to expenses incurred
+on the occasion of the annual procession. From the parish books of St.
+Margaret, Westminster, the following have been culled:--
+
+    "1555. Item, paid for spiced bread on the Ascension-Even, and on the
+    Ascension Day, 1s."
+
+    "1556. Item, paid for bread, wine, ale, and beer, upon the
+    Ascension-Even and Day, against my Lord Abbott and his Covent cam in
+    Procession, and for strewing herbs the samme day, 7s. 1d."
+
+    "1559. Item, for bread, ale, and beer, on Tewisday in the Rogacion
+    Weeke, for the parishioners that went in Procession, 1s."
+
+    "1560. Item, for bread and drink for the parishioners that went the
+    Circuit the Tuesday in the Rogation Week, 3s. 4d."
+
+    "Item, for bread and drink the Wednesday in the Rogation Week, for Mr.
+    Archdeacon and the Quire of the Minster, 3s. 4d."
+
+    "1585. Item, paid for going the Perambulacion, for fish, butter,
+    cream, milk, conger, bread and drink, and other necessaries, 4s.
+    8-1/2d."
+
+    "1597. Item, for the charges of diet at Kensington for the
+    Perambulation of the Parish, being a yeare of great scarcity and
+    deerness, £6 8s. 8d."
+
+    "1605. Item, paid for bread, drink, cheese, fish, cream, and other
+    necessaries, when the worshipfull and others of the parish went the
+    Perambulation to Kensington, £15."
+
+By way of accessories, the customs of "whipping" and "bumping" gradually
+came to form part of the perambulation ceremony. In order that the
+boundaries of the parishes might be indelibly impressed on the minds of
+the younger portion of the community, it was deemed advisable to bump some
+promising boy painfully against the boundary stones; or better still, to
+publicly whip him while he strove to impress on his memory the exact
+position of the same land-marks.
+
+As a set off against this public humiliation, the boys had a present of
+money given to them, and accordingly there appears an entry in the
+Chelsea parish books, in 1670, as follows:--
+
+  "Given to the boys that were whipt, 4s."[20]
+
+The process of "bumping" has been carried on until quite recently, for on
+June 8th, 1881, the _Guardian_ reported a case in which three men who were
+engaged in "Beating the Bounds" were fined £5 each for forcibly "bumping"
+the senior curate of Hanwell. They met the curate and "asked him to go and
+be 'bumped.' Upon his declining, two of the defendants took hold of his
+arms and dragged him to the stone, one of the party taking him by the leg
+and lifting him bodily from the ground. On reaching the stone, they
+'bumped' him against a man."
+
+It would take too long to mention all the numerous observances which still
+linger on in various places in connection with this ancient and
+interesting custom. In most parishes where it is still kept up, the
+ceremony is performed annually on Ascension Day. A friend of the writer
+thus describes the way in which it is carried out in one of the outlying
+districts of London:--
+
+"We assembled, by invitation, at the Vestry Hall, about 10 o'clock a.m. I
+should think there were thirty or forty gentlemen present, including the
+rector, churchwardens, and various officers of the parish, and about the
+same number of schoolboys. The gentlemen wore rosettes, and carried rods,
+and the boys were provided with long willow wands decked with blue
+ribbons. The parish beadle, carrying the mace, marched in front. When we
+came to any of the boundary stones of the parish, they were duly examined
+to see if they were in their proper position, and then the boys gave three
+cheers, and beat them with their wands. We marched through private houses
+and warehouses, over walls, ditches, canals, etc., and were taken down the
+river in a barge, until at last we came to our starting-point again about
+4-30 in the afternoon. The churchwardens then presented each of the boys
+with a new shilling and dismissed them."
+
+In these days of ordnance maps, there may be very little practical utility
+in "Beating the Bounds," but as Wordsworth says:--
+
+        "Many precious relics
+  And customs of our rural ancestry
+  Are gone or stealing from us."
+
+Time is ever busy blotting out the land-marks which our ancestors reared
+with so much patience for our behoof. It is well, therefore, if
+occasionally, with reverential spirit, we try to set in order the
+fragments of those that still remain. In so doing, we may perchance cull
+some useful lesson, and ere they pass away for ever, haply profit by the
+experiences which they record.
+
+
+
+
+The Story of the Crosier.
+
+BY THE REV. GEO. S. TYACK, B.A.
+
+
+The staff of authority, which we have in so many forms, as sceptre,
+crosier, mace, wand, or otherwise, has its origin in each case in one of
+two ideas. Sometimes it is an instrument of correction; thus the
+churchwarden's staff, the wand or rod of a royal usher, and of a beadle,
+and probably also the mace of a mayor, were all, like the fasces of a
+Roman governor, intended to correct the unruly, or to forcibly clear a
+way, when necessary, for the progress of the dignitary before whom they
+were borne. In other cases this symbol of authority, as it has now become,
+was originally nothing more or less than the trusty staff on which the
+aged ruler leaned, as on a modern walking stick. All language points to
+the fact that age was at first considered an essential condition of
+dignity and authority, for almost all terms of respect imply the seniority
+of the person addressed. Sir, sieur or monsieur, signor, senor, are of
+course but varied forms of the word _senior_; and we have more particular
+instances in the terms sire, senator, and alderman, in matters of state,
+with patriarch, father (applied to a bishop or a priest) and pope, abbot,
+priest, presbyter, or elder, in the Church. Thus it came to pass that in
+the earliest times the aged ruler was usually seen supporting his weight
+of years by the help of his staff; and the step from this familiar sight
+to the idea that the staff symbolized his rule, was simple and natural.
+The sceptre, therefore, which was the needful support of Homer's old
+councillors, has become the emblem of royal power; and the crutch-stick of
+the aged bishop is transfigured into the crosier.
+
+This being the case, it is obviously impossible to fix the exact date at
+which the crosier, or any other of these staves of office, came to be
+recognized simply as such, the progress from the first idea being in all
+cases a gradual development. We find the episcopal staff, however,
+mentioned in connection with S. Cæsarius of Arles, who was bishop of that
+See from A.D. 501 to 542, and it is also referred to by Gregory, Bishop of
+Tours, in the same century, and again in the proceedings of the Fourth
+Council of Toledo a little later.
+
+In primitive times it was made of wood, usually of elder, or, as some
+say, of cypress, and in the form of a T; and the name expressive of that
+shape seems to have lingered long, at least in England. Pilkington, Bishop
+of Durham, from 1561 to 1577, speaks once and again of the "cruche and
+mitre." But as the symbolical idea grew and the wealth of the church
+increased, the staff naturally became handsomer in design and materials,
+as being expressive of the episcopal dignity. Jewels and the precious
+metals were employed in its adornment, and comparatively soon it assumed
+the crook shape, now its universal form, significant of the office of the
+Bishop as the Chief Shepherd of his diocese. In the Eastern Church the
+curved staff is said to be reserved for the Patriarchs.
+
+The pastoral idea of the clerical, and especially of the episcopal office,
+probably arose from our Lord's assumption of the title of "the Good
+Shepherd," and was further emphasized by His charge to S. Peter, "Feed My
+sheep, feed My lambs." In allusion to this, the figure of the Saviour
+presenting that Apostle with a crooked staff is familiar in Art, and the
+thought finds expression in several writers of the English Church. Jewell,
+Bishop of Salisbury (1560-1571) writes, "Their crosier's staff signifies
+diligence in attending the flock of Christ," and William Tyndale speaks of
+"that Shepherd's crook, the bishop's crose." More authoritative is the
+allusion in the Ordinal, where, at the consecration of a bishop, the
+rubric runs, "Then shall the Archbishop put into his hand the pastoral
+staff, saying, Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd, not a wolf, feed
+them, devour them not." The words still stand in our prayer-books,
+although the accompanying significant act has not been enjoined since the
+first book of Edward VI., of 1549.
+
+Most of the early examples of the use of the crosier in England are found
+in the carvings of bishops' tombs. We have, for instance, in their
+Cathedral the effigies of Bartholomew of Exeter, Bishop of that diocese
+from 1161 to 1184, bearing a staff, the butt of which pierces a dragon at
+his feet; and of Simon of Apulia, who followed in the same See in 1214 to
+1224, with the same insignia. Other figures might be mentioned at York,
+Salisbury, Worcester, Wells, and indeed in most of our Cathedrals, the
+form of the crosier varying little in the several cases, except in
+richness of design. The curious and more than questionable custom of
+making, in a kind of sport, a Boy Bishop, is commemorated at Salisbury by
+the tomb of one such, whose effigy bears the crosier along with the other
+marks of his sham dignity.
+
+The finest specimen of an ancient staff still preserved among us, is that
+of William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester (1367-1405), bequeathed by
+that great prelate himself to New College, Oxford.
+
+After the Reformation, in the general decline of ceremonial and symbolism,
+the pastoral staff and the mitre fell alike into disuse in England,
+surviving only as senseless decorations, or heraldic additions to the
+tombs or arms of bishops, who had never used either the one or the other,
+had perhaps never even seen them. At the present time the use of the
+crosier has once more become almost universal in the English dioceses, and
+the added dignity of the mitre promises soon to be scarcely less
+frequently found.
+
+But besides the bishops, the abbots of the most important monastic
+foundations formerly bore and wore crosier and mitre in token of their
+authority, the mark of difference being that while the bishop had his
+crosier carried with the crook turned outwards as a sign of his rule over
+the whole diocese, the abbot carried his, usually one of simpler design,
+crook inwards, to signify the purely domestic or internal character of
+his government.
+
+The English mitred abbots sat and voted in the House of Lords until the
+dissolution of their communities under Henry VIII. They were the heads of
+the following abbeys, namely, S. Albans, Glastonbury, Westminster, Bury S.
+Edmund's, Bardney, Shrewsbury, Crowland, Abington, Evesham, Gloucester,
+Ramsey, York (S. Mary's), Tewkesbury, Reading, Battle, Winchcourt,
+Hide-by-Winchester, Cirencester, Waltham, Thorney, Canterbury (S.
+Augustine's), Selby, Peterborough, Colchester (S. John's), and Tavistock,
+twenty-five in all, of which the last was considerably the latest addition
+to the list.
+
+One of the earliest examples of the abbatial staff in England is on the
+tomb of Abbot Vitalis (died 1082) in the cloister of Westminster Abbey,
+and another early instance of its use is supplied by the effigy of Abbot
+Andrew (1193-1200) in Peterborough Cathedral. Parker, the last Abbot of
+Gloucester, lies buried in the Cathedral there, and Philip Ballard de
+Hanford, the last Abbot of Evesham, in Worcester Cathedral, each with his
+crosier.
+
+Before leaving this subject an effort should be made to remove a
+misconception. A common modern fallacy is that there is a distinction
+between the crosier and the pastoral staff, the latter name being assigned
+to the crook of a bishop, and the former to the processional cross borne
+before an Archbishop. The late Dean Hook, if he was not the originator of
+the idea in an article in his "Church Dictionary," at any rate did much to
+propagate it thereby, and it is now frequently found in books of
+reference. But the use of the words in the past is all against it. It is
+true that crosier comes from the Latin _crux_, a cross, but from the same
+root too, come crook and crutch; so that nothing can be proved from the
+derivation. It would seem that the original form of the word was _crose_,
+as it is given in a quotation used above, whence the chaplain who bore it
+was a crosier. From this it became the crosier's staff, the crosier-staff,
+and finally the crosier; all having reference to the crook of Episcopal
+Authority.
+
+
+
+
+Bishops in Battle.
+
+BY EDWARD LAMPLOUGH.
+
+
+After William, Duke of Normandy, came in with great toil and rout of war,
+on Senlac's evil day, it was not difficult to apply the poet's lines to
+many a proud prelate of the Anglo-Norman epoch:--
+
+  "Princely was his hand in largess, heavy was his arm to smite,
+  And his will was leaded iron, like the mace he bore in fight."
+
+Not that English Bishops had not found it necessary to take the field in
+pre-conquest times, when the old Danish wars convulsed the island, and the
+inhabitants suffered severely from the unbridled passion and cruelty of a
+barbarous and heathen soldiery.
+
+Many a grand old Anglo-Saxon prelate found himself called upon as a
+Christian and a patriot to take his station in the van of the king's army,
+to bar the path of the invader, and fence with sword and spear the ancient
+churches and the fruitful plains of his beloved island.
+
+The old English chroniclers have preserved for us the names of a few of
+those warrior bishops. Ealstan, Bishop of Sherborne, may be specially
+referred to. A.D. 823, he assisted Prince Ethelwulf during an expedition
+into Kent, and in 845 he was one of the commanders in the great victory
+over the Danes at the mouth of the Parret. He died, full of years and
+honours, in that unhappy and troublous 867, having held the Bishopric of
+Sherborne fifty years. His successor, Bishop Heahmund, was not so
+fortunate; he fought under Ethelred and Alfred during the sanguinary and
+disastrous campaign of 871, and was slain at Marden, when victory remained
+with the Danes. When Edmund Ironsides encountered Canute at Assingdon, and
+was betrayed by that infamous traitor Edric Streon, among those who
+swelled the huge death-mounds was Ednoth, Bishop of Dorchester, and Abbot
+Wulsy, but Hoveden asserts that "they had come for the purpose of invoking
+the Lord on behalf of the soldiers."
+
+Another Bishop of Sherborne was slain on the eve of Brunnanburgh, A.D.
+937. When the two armies were within striking distance, and prepared for
+what was certain to prove a sanguinary and stubborn conflict, Anlaf,
+disguised as a harper, entered the lines of Athelstan's army, and, by the
+merit of his performance, was admitted into the royal presence, and
+received several pieces of gold in reguerdon of his skill. Too proud to
+carry away his minstrel's fee, he secreted it beneath the turf, before
+passing out of the camp. During the performance he had been narrowly
+scrutinised by one of Athelstan's soldiers, who had formerly served the
+Northumbrian Prince, and was suspicious that the talented minstrel was no
+other than the warlike Anlaf. After witnessing Anlaf's disposal of his
+fee, his suspicion was confirmed, and he hurried to Athelstan to warn him
+of the danger that might result from Anlaf's visit. His having once sworn
+fealty to the Northumbrian Prince was alleged as a sufficient reason for
+not betraying him into the king's hands, and Athelstan readily accepted
+the explanation. Nevertheless, he removed his tent to a distant and less
+exposed position; and when, some time afterward, the Bishop of Sherborne
+arrived, with his contingent of warriors, he pitched his tent on the
+recently vacated ground. That night, when the watch-fires burnt low, and,
+save the weary sentinels, the royal army was buried in slumber, Anlaf
+burst in with sword and spear, and a sudden storm of midnight battle
+convulsed the whole camp. After a fierce struggle the enemy was driven
+out, but when day dawned the Bishop of Sherborne was found, cold and
+still, in the midst of the slain.
+
+Such was the nature of the military service of the church during the
+pre-conquest period, and similar service was not infrequently rendered
+after the Normans came in, when sudden storms of invasion swept across the
+Scottish borders, to burst on the dark and bloody battle-ground of
+Northumbria.
+
+With the memorable battle of Northallerton, or the Standard, A.D. 1138,
+the church was in a very special degree connected, and indeed the
+priesthood had suffered severely from the barbarous Scotch. Thus Wendover,
+"they slew priests upon the altars, cut off the heads of the crucifixes,
+and placed them on the decapitated corpses, putting in their places the
+bloody heads of their victims; wherever they went, it was one scene of
+cruelty and terror; women shrieking, old men lamenting, and every living
+being in despair." The evil grew so intolerable that the aged Thurston,
+Archbishop of York, incited the northern barons to unite against the
+enemy, exerting himself with almost superhuman energy to organise the
+movement, appealing to the religious feelings of the people by processions
+of the clergy, by sermons and exhortations, and when the army arrayed
+itself for battle, its serried ranks surrounded the famous standard,
+"consisting of the mast of a ship securely lashed to a four-wheeled car or
+wain. On the summit of this mast was placed a large crucifix, having in
+its centre a silver box containing the consecrated host, and below it
+waved the banners of the three patron saints:--Peter of York, Wilfred of
+Ripon, and John of Beverley." Thurston, incapacitated from being present
+by the infirmities of age, had delegated Ralph Nowel, the titulary Bishop
+of Orkney, to act for him, and he it was, according to the old writers,
+who exhorted the army to make a brave defence when the Scots bore down
+upon them, and the dreadful conflict commenced. The battle resulted in a
+glorious victory for the Anglo-Norman men-at-arms and the peasant archers
+of Northumbria, but the name of Archbishop Thurston is always primarily
+and honourably associated with this memorable event.
+
+Under somewhat similar circumstances, A.D. 1319, William de Melton,
+Archbishop of York, seconded by the Mayor, Nicholas Fleming, hastily
+raised a tumultuary army of 10,000 men, burghers and peasants, necessarily
+undisciplined and ill-armed, and utterly unfitted to dispute the field
+with a powerful and veteran army, marching under Bruce's most experienced
+and fortunate captains, Randolph and Douglas. The armies struck at Myton
+Meadows, near the confluence of the Swale and Ure, on September the 13th.
+With everything in their favour the Scots resorted to ambuscade, and,
+sweeping down upon the startled enemy, in an instant covered the field
+with dead and wounded men, driving before them a wild rout of fugitives.
+Sir Nicholas Fleming, then in the seventh year of his mayoralty, was
+slain; it was with the utmost difficulty that the Archbishop effected his
+escape, for the Scots spared none, and night alone covered the remnant of
+the army from the exterminating sword. Nearly 4,000 of the Englishmen were
+destroyed, including 300 priests, attired in full canonicals, from which
+tragic circumstance the rude Scots jestingly referred to the battle as the
+"Chapter of Mitton."
+
+The bearer of the Archbishop's cross secreted it on the field, and it fell
+into the hands of a peasant, who, for some days, concealed it in his hut,
+no doubt tempted by its value, but conscience operated so powerfully that
+the good fellow was constrained to restore it to the Archbishop.
+
+A dour revenge the English Bishops took upon their Scottish adversaries in
+1346, when King Edward was encamped before Calais, and luckless David
+Bruce came over the border with 50,000 men at his back, in the month of
+October. Queen Philippa bestirred herself with heroic energy on this
+occasion, and marched with the army to the north. It was largely swollen
+by the vassals of the church. The Bishop of Durham commanded in the first
+division; William de la Zouche, Archbishop of York, and the Bishop of
+Carlisle, led the second division; the Bishop of Lincoln the third; and
+the Archbishop of Canterbury the fourth. Edward Baliol and the principal
+nobles of Northumbria shared the command with the prelates.
+
+During the furious struggle that ensued the monks of Durham assembled on
+the rising ground known as the Maiden's Bower, and knelt in prayer around
+the banner-cloth of St. Cuthbert, or occupied themselves in manufacturing
+a fair wooden cross, as a memorial of the event.
+
+The battle terminated in a signal triumph to the English army, despite
+the distinguished valour of the Scottish host, and the closing scene was
+one of peculiar interest. Almost alone amid the wreck of the field, David
+Bruce disdained to surrender, although "he had two spears hanging in his
+body, his leg almost incurably wounded, and his sword beaten out of his
+hand," and John Copeland, a sturdy Northumbrian squire, was bent upon his
+capture, and ultimately succeeded in carrying him off in triumph to his
+castle of Ogle, but not until the fiery Scot had dashed out two of his
+teeth by a buffet of his gauntleted fist.
+
+Most unsaintly, perhaps, of all the English bishops who loved the music of
+twanging bow-strings and clashing steel, was "Weymundus or Reymundus,"
+first Bishop of Sodar and Man. When a monk of Furness Abbey he was famous
+as an illuminator and transcriber of MSS.; but accompanying several of the
+brethren on a mission to the Isle of Man, the rude Manxmen were so deeply
+impressed by his eloquence, dignity, and commanding stature, that they
+procured his elevation to the Bishopric.
+
+Wymund the Saxon, as the Bishop is generally called, was incited by an
+unworthy ambition to claim the crown of Scotland, then worn by David I.
+Assuming the name of Malcolm Macbeth, he gave out that he was the son of
+Angus, Earl of Moray, recently slain at the battle of Strickathrow, and
+who was the heir of Macbeth's son and successor, Leelach. Obtaining a
+number of large boats, he repeatedly attacked the neighbouring islands,
+finding numerous intrepid and desperate adventurers ready to follow him
+for love of adventure and plunder. He soon made his name widely known and
+feared, and Somerled, Lord of the Isles, was induced to bestow upon him
+the hand of his daughter, who bore him a son, Donald Macbeth. Knights and
+men-at-arms were despatched to foil his invasions of the mainland, but by
+availing himself of forest and mountain fastnesses, he avoided his more
+powerful enemies, escaping by his boats when hard pressed. Many of the
+bishops paid him black-mail, but one tough old prelate, a man after his
+own heart, met him in open field, axe in hand, and smote him to the earth,
+and defeated and scattered his following. Wymund escaped, however, and
+soon took the field again.
+
+Ultimately David pacified the claimant by a grant of lands, and Wymund
+returned to the Isle of Man, or, according to William of Newbridge, to
+the Abbey of Furness, where his severities so enraged the monks that they
+fell on him, bound him, and destroyed his sight and virility. He was then
+handed over to King David, who shut him up in Roxburgh Castle, but, after
+some years, transferred him to Byland Abbey, where his stories of
+adventure by land and sea long delighted the good fathers.
+
+Somerled, endeavouring to maintain the claim of Wymund's son, was slain in
+battle near Renfrew, by the Lord High Steward and the Earl of Angus. The
+wicked and vexatious claims of Wymund were terminated in 1164 by the
+capture and imprisonment of his son.
+
+The necessities of the times justified many of the prelates in assuming
+arms, and Wymund must be regarded as an exceptional character, neither
+true priest nor bishop. Nevertheless several of the English bishops appear
+to have been quite willing to make arms a profession, while others, as
+Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, combined the ecclesiastical and baronial offices,
+employing both in the furtherance of their personal ambition. When the
+Conqueror arrested his ambitious half-brother, it will be remembered that
+he arrested him not as the churchman, but as the Earl of Kent.
+
+Odo was a principal figure, with Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutance, at Senlac,
+when the Norman Duke conquered Harold's crown; and he was held in
+well-deserved reprobation for the sanguinary revenge that he exacted for
+the slaying of Walcher, Bishop of Durham, and his following of a hundred
+French and Flemish men-at-arms, at Gateshead, on the 14th of May, 1080.
+
+The death of the Conqueror let Odo loose upon society again, and he
+returned to England, where he was well received by Rufus, and his
+forfeited estates restored. His unprincipled ambition, and his rage
+against Archbishop Lanfranc, induced him to organise a conspiracy against
+the king, in which he was supported by Bishop Gosfrith, William, Bishop of
+Durham, and a number of the Anglo-Norman nobles. Raising a Saxon army,
+Rufus reduced Tunbridge and Pevensey Castles, in the latter of which he
+secured the arch-traitor. Nevertheless Odo was permitted to proceed to
+Rochester Castle, for the purpose of opening negotiations. The bravest of
+the revolted nobles occupied the fortress, and Odo remained with them, a
+willing captive, but the ruse deceived no one. After a tedious siege the
+castle was compelled to surrender, and Odo issued forth, amid sounding
+trumpets, and the menaces of the English soldiery, to depart over sea,
+with the bitter curses of the islanders ringing in his ears. The Bishop of
+Durham was also reduced to extremities, and, with many of the revolted
+Normans, sent after Odo, as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records.
+
+Men of Odo's stamp were not wanting among the bishops, when Stephen seized
+the crown, barely seventy years after the Battle of Hastings, when the
+direct male line of the Conqueror failed. During the period of almost
+unparalleled suffering that followed, bishops were seen in the hostile
+camps, leading the mercenary soldiery, and even gambling for their share
+of the spoils collected by those ruthless marauders. They were armed in
+complete mail, bore truncheon and lance, and bestrode heavy war-steeds,
+like warlike knights and captains of the mercenaries.
+
+Henry, Bishop of Winchester, acted a prominent part in the war between
+Stephen and Matilda, changing sides as policy and ambition dictated, and
+when, after the revolt of the Londoners, he again espoused his brother's
+cause, he had to retire from Winchester, leaving Matilda in the
+possession of the castle, while her troops closely invested the episcopal
+palace. He speedily re-entered Winchester with a considerable force at his
+back, and Matilda's soldiery rushed in confusion to the churches, which
+they essayed to defend. The Bishop was not to be denied, and to avoid the
+long and dubious strife, and heavy loss of life that would attend the
+storming of the holy edifices, he set fire to them, and afterwards gave
+his undivided attention to the castle, which he reduced to extremities,
+after a leaguer of six weeks, but the ex-empress effected her escape.
+
+With reference to the military proclivities of our bishops, it is due to
+them to point out that as councillors and ambassadors they were naturally
+in great request at court, where their superior education and training
+enabled them to serve the state and crown to advantage. The nation was
+continually at war, kings and courtiers were warriors, hence the bishops
+were accustomed to both court and camp, and vied with the proudest baron
+in the splendour of their apparel, and the number of their attendant
+knights and men-at-arms.
+
+The following brief extract from Hallam, relating to feudal tenures in
+Anglo-Saxon England, throws some little light on the military service of
+some of the bishops in pre-conquest times, although, no doubt, many
+churchmen considered it a holy war that they waged against the heathen
+Danes in defence of their country and religion:--
+
+    "All the freehold lands of England, except _some_ of those belonging
+    to the Church, were subject to three great public burdens: military
+    service in the king's expeditions, or at least in defensive war; the
+    repair of bridges, and that of royal fortresses. These obligations,
+    and especially the first, have been sometimes thought to denote a
+    feudal tenure. There is, however, a confusion into which we may fall
+    by not sufficiently discriminating the rights of a king as chief lord
+    of his vassals, and as sovereign of his subjects. In every country,
+    the supreme power is entitled to use the arm of each citizen in the
+    public defence. The usage of all Nations agrees with common reason in
+    establishing this great principle. There is nothing therefore
+    peculiarly feudal in this military service of landholders; it was due
+    from the allodial proprietors upon the continent, it was derived from
+    their German ancestors, it had been fixed, probably, by the
+    legislatures of the Heptarchy upon the first settlement in Britain."
+
+We can easily imagine the Anglo-Saxon kings calling upon the bishops for
+assistance against the Danes.
+
+The Conquest was followed by the imposition of the feudal system, binding
+the church to perform military service to the crown. This, at first
+regarded as a hardship, agreed well with the warlike spirit of the times,
+and although the bishops appointed their feudal advocates to fight their
+battles, protect their interests, and lead their vassals to the field, yet
+they sometimes took the field in person, and rode amid the lances of the
+men-at-arms. The military advocates held their lands of the church, and,
+in court and field, their service was honourable. Indeed the title of
+advocates of the church was bestowed upon Pepin and Charlemagne.
+
+Thus the regulations of the feudal period encouraged the military
+disposition of the prelates, who, when the invaders burst in, readily
+raised the cry to arms. It will be remembered that when Hotspur and
+Douglas carried on their great trial at arms on Otterburne field, by the
+cloud-drifted light of the moon, the Bishop of Durham was marching with
+10,000 men to ensure the defeat of the invaders. However, he arrived too
+late; the battle was over, Douglas slain, and the two Percies prisoners,
+and the Scots strongly posted to resist attack. A second battle must have
+been sanguinary, and the result doubtful, therefore the bishop decided
+not to take upon himself the responsibility of fighting, but withdrew his
+warriors, leaving the Scots to return unmolested to their own country.
+
+Chief among the amateur soldiers of the church in King Edward the First's
+days, was the proud and magnificent Bishop of Durham, Anthony de Beck,
+Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Lord of the Isle of Man. At Falkirk he drew an
+unrighteous sword against Wallace and the Scottish patriots. Previous to
+the battle he celebrated a soldier's mass on the field, clothed in
+knightly mail as he was, the long kite-shaped shield slung over his
+shoulder, the sword girt at his thigh. The ceremony over, he was ready to
+charge Wallace's schiltrons and archers, but the first column preceded
+him, led by the Earl Marshal, and Lincoln, and Hereford. He saw man and
+horse impaled on the huge Scottish spears, and the charging files rolled
+back in blood, while the Scottish arrows drifted into their ranks. He
+appreciated the valour of the enemy, and proposed to await the arrival of
+the numerous archers, who would speedily, and with little loss to
+themselves, shoot down the Scottish schiltrons. The men-at-arms were,
+however, eager to close, and Rudulf Basset scornfully advised the Lord
+Bishop to stick to his mass, while he led the charge. Thus rebuked, the
+bishop gave the word, leading, sword-in-hand, and furiously assailed the
+Scottish left, to be hurled back, again and again. The treacherous retreat
+of the Scottish cavalry left the schiltrons exposed to certain
+destruction, and the English archers shot them down without mercy.
+
+When Edward III. lay before Calais, he paid Thomas Hatfield, Bishop of
+Durham, 6s. 8d. per day, and his following in proportion, viz.:--three
+bannerets at 4s., 48 knights at 2s., 164 esquires at 12d., 81 archers on
+horseback at 6d. each per day.
+
+Perhaps the most notable of the fighting bishops was Henry Spencer, of
+Norwich. When the whole of England lay in panic terror at the mercy of the
+revolted villeins, when drawbridges were raised, gates closed, and knights
+and nobles hid themselves behind stone walls, Henry Spencer bade trumpets
+sound, and sallied forth with his men-at-arms, attacking the marching
+peasants wherever he met them. Emboldened by his example, a few gentlemen
+associated themselves with him, and he extended his operations to
+Cambridge and Huntingdon, which were soon pacified. When John Littester,
+the dyer, leader of the Norfolk villeins, despatched deputies to the king,
+the alert bishop intercepted them, and incontinently struck off their
+heads. A body of the villeins had entrenched themselves at North Walsham.
+Spencer marched against and stormed their position, being the first to
+enter, sword-in-hand. A furious and protracted conflict followed, ending
+in the defeat of the peasants, who were pursued and cut to pieces with
+unsparing severity. Those spared of the sword and lance Spencer strung up
+to the nearest tree, first receiving their hurried confession, then
+granting them absolution. He dispersed the revolted peasantry of Suffolk,
+and set a marked example to the nobility.
+
+During these events, that man of many enemies, John of Gaunt, had retired
+into Scotland. So obnoxious was he to the peasantry, that when his wife,
+Constance of Castille, sought refuge in his Castle of Pontefract, the
+cowardly retainers refused to admit her, and she had to proceed through a
+wild country, by torchlight, for night had closed in, to her lord's Castle
+of Knaresborough, where she found a safe haven until Lancaster's return.
+
+The ambitious prelate soon found a wider field for his arms.
+
+When, in consequence of a division among the cardinals, two rival popes
+were elected, Urban VI. and Clement VII., Europe divided on the question,
+and France and England were naturally in opposition, the former power
+giving its adhesion to Clement, the latter to Urban, for England feebly
+strove to retain some portion of the conquests of Edward III. and the
+Black Prince. Clement, defeated, found refuge at Avignon, and, obedient to
+his protector, preached a crusade against Richard II. and the English.
+Urban excommunicated Clement as an anti-pope, and commissioned Bishop
+Spencer to conduct a crusade against him. The bishop found numerous
+enthusiastic supporters, and parliament met to consider whether they
+should ally themselves with the Flemings, or co-operate with Lancaster,
+from Spain, against the national enemy. The former scheme was adopted, but
+the French overran Flanders, and beleagured Ghent, the only town that held
+out against them. Immediate and energetic action was demanded, and the
+council resolved to support the bishop, who proposed to drive the French
+out of Flanders, and then carry the war into their own country. For this
+purpose certain subsidies were be paid to him.
+
+The bishop, however, altered his mind, and proposed, in return for the
+fifteenth granted by the laity, to serve one year with 2,500 men-at-arms
+and 2,500 mounted archers. His offer being accepted, William de Beaucham
+was appointed his lieutenant, and in the month of May, 1383, he carried a
+body of troops, and numerous volunteers, to Calais, where he awaited the
+arrival of his lieutenant with the remainder of the forces. These were
+delayed, it was alleged by the design of John of Gaunt, and the bishop had
+no alternative but to employ his headstrong and impatient crusaders.
+Gravelines was assaulted, and carried.
+
+Dunkirk immediately surrendered, but the Count of Flanders, engaged in the
+interests of France, marched against the crusaders. Sir Hugh de Calverley
+had reinforced the bishop, and a battle ensued, resulting in the defeat of
+the enemy, and the surrender of Cassel, Dixmuyde, Bourburg, Newport, and
+Popperen.
+
+The King of France hastily took the field with 100,000 men, for the
+position appeared alarming. Norwich had also received succours, forwarded
+by that gallant merchant, Sir John Philpot, but the new crusaders were
+rogues and miscreants of the darkest stain, and were influenced by the
+prospect of unbounded licence and plunder. In his vexation, Spencer
+requested Philpot to suspend his supply of naked ruffians, but he had to
+put a bold face on, and match his 90,000 soldiers, crusaders, and thieves,
+against the army of France. There was, however, a difference of opinion,
+amounting to a mutiny in the army, and the mortified bishop found himself
+constrained to besiege Ypres. Several furious assaults were delivered, but
+the steady courage of the veteran garrison, posted behind strong defences,
+foiled the fury of the ill-conducted attacks, and the depression of defeat
+rested upon the army, which avenged itself by casting off all restraint,
+and spreading over the country for the purpose of plunder, while the
+pilgrims deserted in large numbers. The French army approached, and the
+bishop beat a hasty retreat to Dunkirk, leaving his materials of war
+behind. Bourburg was occupied by Sir Hugh de Calverley and Sir Thomas
+Trivet, and the King of France closed them in, threatening to put every
+man to the sword if the place was not immediately surrendered. The threat
+was vain, and twice the French fell on, to be bloodily repulsed, when King
+Charles tendered the garrison quarter, and they marched out and proceeded
+to Calais. From Bourburg the King carried his army to Gravelines, where he
+found every prospect of a tough struggle, and wisely concluded to treat
+rather than fight. The bishop took time to consider the terms proposed,
+and sent messages to King Richard for succours; but before troops could be
+collected and embarked, the truce expired, and, agreeable to his
+undertaking, the bishop dismantled Gravelines, marched the remains of his
+forces to Calais, and embarked for England.
+
+In Parliament he met with a warm reception for having failed to carry out
+his engagements, and although his defence entitled him to an honourable
+acquittal, he was found in default for not having served out his full
+time, and for the insubordination of his troops. He was mulcted in a
+severe pecuniary penalty, and the temporalities of his Bishopric were
+seized. Several of the knights, whose insubordination had tended to
+produce the miscarriage of the expedition, as Thomas Trivet, Henry
+Ferners, William Ellingham, and William Harrendon, were fined and
+imprisoned.
+
+So ended the bishop's campaign, in which, however, he manifested the
+spirit and capacity of a good captain, but success was, with such a
+soldiery and so powerful an enemy, absolutely impossible.
+
+Pope Martin V. was one of the most determined opponents of the Hussites,
+and spared no pains in inciting Europe to move in a crusade against those
+stubborn heretics, whose extermination was most ardently desired.
+
+A.D. 1426, a crusading army was utterly defeated, with a loss of not less
+than 15,000 men, before the walls of Aussig. The crusaders mustered not
+less than 70,000 trained soldiers, supported by 180 pieces of artillery,
+with 3,000 wagons for transport of stores. Quarter was neither given nor
+accepted, and the defeated and demoralised army was closely pursued. This
+memorable battle was fought on the forenoon of Sunday, the 16th of June.
+
+  "Then fourteen counts and lords of might
+  Did from their coursers all alight,
+  Their sword-points deep in earth did place
+  And to the Czechians sued for grace.
+  For prayers and cries they cared not aught,
+  Silver and gold they set at naught,
+  E'en as themselves had made reply,
+  So every man they did to die."
+
+It was the inhumanity, or bigotry, of the Germans that settled the
+question of quarter, raised by the Hussites before the battle, and
+afterwards maintained with unsparing severity.
+
+The Germans having failed, the Pope turned to the English, then winning
+bloody laurels in France. Henry de Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, John of
+Gaunt's son, and Henry IV.'s brother, was selected for the enterprise. On
+receiving the Pope's bull, he prepared to raise soldiers and money for the
+crusade. The preaching of the crusade in England met with little or no
+response. Ready as the islanders were to exchange the rude courtesies of
+warfare with their Scottish neighbours, to cross the Channel to destroy
+the armies and ravage the vineyards and cornfields of France, and,
+earlier, to take the crusaders' cross and embark for Palestine, it may be
+questioned if they had ever a genuine disposition for fighting the battles
+of the popes. Indeed the friction was rough and frequent between Rome and
+Britain.
+
+In the city of Mechlin, Beaufort published the papal bull. It was
+instantly and enthusiastically responded to. A somewhat mixed army was
+assembled. The figures of the historians, 90,000 foot and 90,000 horse,
+are not easily acceptable, but doubtless the army was a considerable one.
+
+Numerous nobles and knights, including three electors of the empire,
+marched with and assisted Beaufort, and strengthened the army with their
+retainers. Perhaps the army lacked cohesion; no doubt its bravest soldiers
+admitted the terrible might and energy of the foe. Probably those who were
+not accustomed to arms--townsfolk, artisans, shepherds, and
+peasants--would be easily influenced by doubt and fear when they found
+themselves opposed to an enemy whose reputation for valour and severity
+was so terrible.
+
+Winchester had been created a cardinal, and the Pope's legate-a-latere,
+but he was fated to attain no honour by arms.
+
+Again invaded by a cruel and presumptuous enemy, both Catholics and
+Hussites united to defend Bohemia.
+
+In the June of 1427, the crusaders crossed the borders, and encamped
+before Meiss. Although greatly inferior in numbers, the Bohemians advanced
+and offered battle. The martial appearance of these iron veterans, the
+knowledge of their dreadful reputation, curiously effected the crusaders.
+Instead of pushing on to cross the river and open the attack, they stood
+at gaze. Awed and daunted by the ominous spectacle before them, their
+ranks shook with a sudden panic, weapons clashed wildly, standards went
+down. Horse and foot were inextricably mixed as the first of the
+panic-stricken wretches broke and fled. A dreadful scene followed. Almost
+in a moment the huge army was transformed into a confused rout of
+fugitives. As quickly were the waters of the Meiss darkened by the iron
+ranks of the Hussites as they pressed forward, to fall upon the
+panic-stricken crusaders with axe and iron-flail, sword and spear, while
+bullets and arrows were poured incessantly into the flying masses, and the
+fugitives fell as thick and fast as sere leaves in an autumnal gale.
+
+The crusading army had committed many outrages during the course of its
+triumphant march, and as the guilty and licentious wretches, losing all
+order and cohesion, rushed madly before the flashing steel of the
+pursuers, the peasantry rose against them on every side, pitiless
+avengers, whose wrath could be alone satiated by blood. The whole of
+Bohemia was enriched by the enormous spoil of the vanquished.
+
+The Pope, in condoling with Beaufort, spoke hopefully of the success of a
+new crusade, but the Englishman was satisfied with the extent, if not the
+character, of his experience.
+
+Richard Scrope had a brief and most unfortunate experience of military
+operations. His appearance in arms was purely the result of the
+complications that followed the deposition of Richard II. and the
+enthronement of Bolingbroke. Lord Scrope, High Chancellor of England, had
+devotedly served Edward III. and his grandson, Richard of Bordeaux, and
+after that dark tragedy at Pontefract, that secured, for the time being,
+the throne of Lancaster, he endowed a chantry in his castle of Bolton,
+where daily service was performed for the repose of the dead king's soul.
+The old man was spared, but the king's hand fell heavily upon his sons.
+First to fall was the Earl of Wiltshire, who was captured in Bristol
+Castle, and dragged to the block with indecent haste, and on no sufficient
+cause, by Bolingbroke's command. This alone might have pre-disposed the
+Archbishop to ally himself with the King's enemies, when many of the
+nobles repented that they had set up the son of John of Gaunt in the place
+of the son of the heroic Black Prince. The avenging of his brother's blood
+could scarcely fail to influence the Archbishop, but no doubt he was
+wrought upon by the King's enemies, and felt called upon, if not to avenge
+the slaying of the King, at least to endeavour to correct his government,
+and arrest the shedding of blood which so deeply stained the early years
+of Henry's reign.
+
+The princely power of the Archbishops in Northumbria, and the personal
+esteem in which Scrope was held, made his appearance in arms peculiarly
+dangerous to the King. Lord Mowbray associated himself with Scrope, and no
+sooner was the standard of revolt uplifted than the hardy Yorkshiremen
+flocked to support their Archbishop. Scrope published a terrible and
+undeniable indictment against the blood-stained Henry. He was accused of
+treason, usurpation, regicide, the withholding of the crown from the Earl
+of March, the lineal heir, with other charges not to be refuted.
+
+Ralph, Earl of Westmoreland, and Prince John, were despatched against
+Scrope and Mowbray, but they found the northern army so formidable that
+they dared not strike. On approaching the Archbishop they found him ready
+to enter into negotiations for the correcting of the King's government,
+and the Earl of Westmoreland, with a treachery that was infamous at a
+time when treachery and perjury were common, pretended to grant all
+Scrope's demands, and, as a ratification of the terms of pacification,
+proposed the disbanding of the two armies. This was unsuspiciously acceded
+to, and the northern army was immediately disbanded, although the royal
+army maintained its formation. Danger of rescue past, the Earl of
+Westmoreland, with infamous treachery, arrested Scrope, Mowbray, and
+several of their captains. "The King was then at Pontefract, and when the
+Archbishop and the other captives were brought thither to him, they were
+ordered to be carried from thence to York, where they were condemned to
+death by the judges, Fulford and Gascoign. Judgment was no sooner passed,
+but the Archbishop was set upon a lean deformed horse, with his face
+backward; and that Bishop, whose grave age commanded every man's respect,
+having been always accompanied with holiness of life, incomparable
+learning, and a lovely person, was now loaded with all sorts of disgrace
+and reproaches, and so conducted to the place of execution, where his head
+was cut off, June 8th, 1405, by an unskilful executioner, who scarcely
+effected it at five strokes. He was buried on the eastern part of the new
+works, where certain miracles were said to have been done by the merits of
+this martyr, and the King to be smitten with an incurable leprosy. It is
+certain he was the first archbishop that was condemned to death by a legal
+trial. The Pope excommunicated the authors of this archbishop's death, but
+was easily intreated to absolve them a little time after." To augment the
+bitterness of death, Scrope was removed to his palace of Bishopthorpe for
+execution, and his head was piked and exposed on the walls of York.
+
+Mowbray, Sir Robert Plumpton, Sir John Lamplugh, and other unfortunates,
+also suffered decollation.
+
+During the great rebellion that cost Charles Stuart his crown and head,
+another Archbishop of York took up arms, to figure obscurely during a
+struggle in which he certainly was not called upon to assume the soldier's
+painful and difficult part. A changeful and troublous history is that of
+John Williams. In 1621 he was elevated to the Bishopric of Lincoln, and
+Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, but his fortunes waned as Laud rose to
+power; he lost the Seals, and at the coronation of Charles I. it was his
+duty, as Dean of Westminster, to read divine service, but Laud took his
+place. He was further affronted by being forbidden to sit in the House,
+and Laud brought him into the Star Chamber for having written the "Holy
+Table." He was suspended, fined £10,000, and imprisoned in the Tower
+during the King's pleasure. He obtained his release November 16th, 1640.
+
+Not unnaturally his suffering made him an object of interest to the
+Puritan party, but he was loyal to Charles, and by preaching before him in
+condemnation of the discipline of Geneva he won the royal favour, and he
+was raised to the Archbishopric of York. The evil times had closed in, and
+for leading the bishops in their protest against the House of Lords, he
+was committed to the Tower, where he remained some time. Then came the
+war.
+
+When Captain Hotham and Sir Thomas Fairfax were earning their spurs by the
+most daring exploits against the Royalists of Yorkshire, Hotham received
+some cause for offence from the Archbishop, and irefully vowed to cut off
+his head.
+
+A friendly warning of the threat reached the Archbishop late on the 3rd of
+October, and, appreciating the spirit of the young dare-devil, the prelate
+left Cawood Castle in hot haste. Not long after, Hotham and his fiery
+riders spurred up in hot haste, and finding their intended victim had
+escaped, they solaced themselves by sacking the castle.
+
+Joining the king at Oxford, Williams received the royal commission and
+instructions, and proceeded to fortify his castle at Aberconway, but,
+apparently from some unworthy suspicion of his loyalty, the king appointed
+another commandant to the castle, and Williams, in deep disgust, retired
+to his house at Penryn, placed it in a state of defence, and gave in his
+adhesion to parliament.
+
+Assisted by Colonel Mitton, he besieged Abergavenny, in South Wales, and
+reduced the stronghold to the obedience of parliament. He expired at Lady
+Mostyn's house at Gloded, on the 25th of March, 1650, being the 68th
+anniversary of his birth.
+
+Thus an old Yorkshire history: "While he was in his greatness, he was
+characterized a person of a generous mind, a lover and encourager of
+learning and learned men (being himself very learned), hospitable and a
+great benefactor to the public; but when, through anger and disgust, he
+sided with the parliament and Puritans, he was styled by the Royalists a
+perfidious prelate, the shame of the clergy, and the apostate archbishop,
+which how much he deserved, considering his provocations, let the reader
+judge. He hath many things in print, etc." Lord Campbell adds this tribute
+to the memory of this unfortunate prelate, for truly unfortunate he must
+be esteemed, "He will always be memorable in English history, as the last
+of a long line of eminent ecclesiastics, who, with rare intervals, held
+for many centuries the highest judicial office in the kingdom, and
+exercised a powerful influence over the destinies of the nation."
+
+Such are a few of the romantic and interesting facts relating to the
+military experience of English bishops, which are scattered through the
+pages of our national history. In some cases we cannot blame, in others we
+must actually applaud, our fighting bishops for patriotism, courage, and
+conduct of no common order; and where we may be disposed to censure, we
+may justly pause, and weigh the character of the times, the usages of the
+church, and admit that in their day and generation, they were not acting
+so opposite to their character and profession as we may be disposed to
+regard them, if we do so from the higher spiritual conditions of our own
+more favoured and settled times.
+
+
+
+
+The Cloister and its Story.
+
+BY S. W. KERSHAW, F.S.A.
+
+  "The treasures of antiquity laid up
+  In old historic rolls I opened."
+                                  --BEAUMONT.
+
+
+Fair and famed are the monastic ruins of our land, from Fountains and
+Rievaulx among the Yorkshire dales, to Tintern on the silvery Wye, and
+Netley near the placid Solent, one and all alike tell a tale of their past
+annals, making up, verily, a treasured page of "Bygone England."
+
+With these buildings are closely connected one of their great agencies,
+when, as dispensers of learning, in the early ages, darkness and ignorance
+was all around. Just as the legendary dictum arose, that the exquisite
+lantern of Ely Cathedral became a guiding light to the traveller, in the
+fens and morasses of Eastern England, so these religious homes were the
+beacon spots of learning.
+
+In that remote period of way-faring, it was the custom for some churches
+to have a fire lighted in an iron framework on the top of an angle
+turret, to direct the steps of the stranger, especially through those vast
+woods which covered our land, and of which a famous example existed in the
+forest of Galtres, in Yorkshire.
+
+The visitor to Gloucester Cathedral will have noticed its exquisite
+cloisters, and have seen the screens or "carols" where the monkish scribe
+sat diligently to copy his chronicle, or the artist to illuminate its
+page.
+
+The examples at Gloucester are almost unique as an illustration, so to
+speak, of the workshops of the mediæval copyist; but a "scriptorium," or
+room, was arranged in most monastic houses, as the more general place of
+labour.
+
+As the chief homes and nurseries of religion, these houses attracted their
+different leaders and schools of learning. With Bede in Northumbria, and
+Augustine in Kent, two great missionary scholars, the memories of ancient
+lore seem to be recalled. In quick succession arose the vast abbeys of our
+land, at St. Albans, Glastonbury, York, Canterbury, Lindisfarne, and
+Hexham, spreading their influence far and wide, with a host of lesser
+foundations. Their erection, often due to the zeal of some noted
+ecclesiastic or pious layman, is closely connected with our church
+history and customs, revealing many a vivid picture of olden days. Their
+abbots and priors can show many illustrious names, and Matthew Paris,
+Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, St. Cuthbert, and William of Malmesbury, are
+but a tithe of the roll-call of writers and chroniclers.
+
+It is, however, the work which remains to this day as the evidence and
+link of an almost forgotten agency, through the preservation of our early
+documents, that the moving history of those times is recalled. The
+"scriptorium" under the abbot's direction, with specially trained scribes,
+was the great literary workroom, rules and admonitions were hung on its
+walls, expressive of the care to be taken in copying, the work was
+portioned out, and no monk could exchange his allotted task for another.
+
+There were those specially selected, to insert the rubricated letters and
+designs of the border page, while others prepared the vellum, or attended
+to the binding. In the larger monasteries, especially of the Cistercians,
+there were smaller "scriptoria" for the more learned of the community,
+distinguished also by their skill and attainments.
+
+The transcription of Missal or Service books was often made, not only for
+the great houses, but for the smaller ones, unable to maintain so large a
+staff, and then both "scriptorium" and cloister became a ceaseless centre
+of labour. Books were often lent from one monastery to another to be
+copied, and besides the actual staff, hired writers were also employed,
+thus rapidly developing the learning of those early times. Special grants
+of money were made to support this constant occupation--tithes and other
+aids procured the vellum, the ink, and the colours for the artist; thus,
+by degrees, came into existence those grand volumes which, despite time
+and decay, have survived to our day. The abbey chronicle and the abbot's
+letters became one great monastic diary, each containing a record of
+events and customs which shadowed forth many a noted incident or rare
+tradition.
+
+In the Christ Church letters, at Canterbury, we hear of Prior Chillenden's
+love of building, and mention of the grey old walls of that city, portions
+of which are now standing, is found in this correspondence.
+
+Truly can it be said, that the abbey and its literature grew together,
+that the annals of the one were the foundation stones of the other. The
+"Chronicle," perhaps the most typical form of monastic work, gave
+expression to endless literary fragments, some, undoubted forgeries, as
+one scribe often copied the errors of a preceding writer. The lives of
+saints, and their legends, were lightly interwoven in this day-book of the
+religious house, and the famous miracles of Thomas á Becket, repeated in
+all their varying allurements, formed the staple theme for many a
+credulous monk.
+
+On the other hand, the "Chronicle" recorded important events, especially
+the building of a noted minster, oratory, or shrine. Ingulphus treated of
+Croyland; William of Malmesbury, of Glastonbury; Gervase, the burning of
+Canterbury, and many like instances. In these volumes we often find
+allusions to the means used to raise money for building, and the curious
+customs arising out of this effort. When a cathedral wanted repair, the
+bishop selected from among his clergy a few preachers, and along with them
+a saint's shrine, in which relics were enclosed and carried by young
+clerks in procession. On reaching a town, these relics were taken to the
+church and left on one of the altars, and those who could afford, threw
+their offerings on the same.
+
+Processions to some noted spot formed another source of revenue, and the
+picturesque though fanciful custom of strewing the churchyard cross with
+boughs on Palm Sunday, may have been another of the quaint usages to
+attract the devotee to make his offerings.
+
+Fairs, too, were held, sometimes in the very cathedral precincts, and
+mystery and miracle plays also combined to increase the funds required for
+a grand fabric, or village church. A leading feature in the archivist's
+work were the bishop's registers, to be found in every diocese, and
+varying greatly in their interest and contents. Those of Canterbury and
+York form a unique collection of church history, while others are models
+of exactness or statesmanlike precision.
+
+As we turn over their pages, we recall the names of William of Wykeham
+(Bishop of Winchester), Bishop Alcock (Ely), Chichele, the munificent
+founder of All Souls', Oxford, while among lesser dignitaries may be
+classed Abbot Islip, of Westminster, and John of Whethampstead, for St.
+Alban's, whose registers and minute books betoken their care and
+knowledge, as "Supervisors" of the noble buildings under their charge.
+Perhaps the register of St. Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury (1078-1107), may
+fairly be taken to represent the idea of what is usually found to
+illustrate the growth, maintenance, and customs connected with those
+stately fabrics and minsters of our land. As St. Osmund was one of the
+prelate-architects, so to speak, and having much to do with the building
+of that cathedral, there are, naturally, endless allusions to antiquarian
+lore, indeed, his register can well be likened to a storehouse of local
+customs, and ecclesiological learning.
+
+On one page is an account of the maintenance of Savernake forest, over
+which the Dean and chapter of Sarum had certain rights. On another, we
+find a description of the stones and ornaments for the church, while
+elsewhere are the charters for the bestowal of land, towards the endowment
+of canonries and other preferments, and to these last were attached seals
+of deep historical value.
+
+This register may be taken then as the keystone to the annals of Sarum
+diocese, and what the keen inquirer finds in this as a typical book, may
+equally be said of several other episcopal archives. In their silent,
+though not less expressive, language, they have handed down those
+incidents on which hang the story of many an effort to build a costly
+shrine, a sculptured porch, or greater still, the minsters and abbeys
+which have made England of the past so rich an inheritance for us of
+to-day.
+
+The fullest scope for the mediæval artist was found in the pictured
+chronicle, or the illuminated missal, that task on which painter and
+scribe devoted their best talents, and with this embellishment is
+interwoven many an old usage or fanciful legend.
+
+The monastery garden supplied endless designs for the exquisite
+plant-forms and scrolls which mingled so gracefully with the written text
+or the printed page. In the gifted words of the late Lady Eastlake, who
+said, "Here on these solid and well-nigh indestructible parchment folios,
+where text and picture alternately take up the sacred tale--the text
+itself a picture, the picture a homily--the skill of the artist has
+exhausted itself in setting forth the great scheme of salvation."[21]
+
+Flowers also supplied an un-ending theme for symbolism which always
+allied itself to sacred and legendary art, and tradition asserts that the
+monks reared an appropriate flower for each holy-day, and that certain
+flowers were dedicated to saints. The ivy a type of immortality, the oak
+of virtue and majesty, the lily, and the rose, all had their significance
+on the vellum book.
+
+Mingled with the border designs were satirical allusions in the form of
+grotesques and other drolleries, evidently aimed at the jealousies of the
+secular and regular clergy, one against the other, or both against the
+mendicant friars. What was found on the illuminated page, was echoed in
+the architectural carvings of the time, and the fantastic wood work in
+some of our cathedrals and many churches, especially in the stalls of
+Christ Church, Hants, repeat the teachings of the caustic monk in his
+cloistered seclusion.
+
+It was reserved for the architect-artist to perpetuate in stone the
+beauties of the floral world, and nothing speaks a stronger though mute
+language than the foliage sculptured on the arches, doorways, and nooks of
+our minsters, churches, and abbey ruins.
+
+  "Ivy, and vine, and many a sculptured rose,
+  The tenderest image of mortality,
+  Binding the slender columns, whose light shafts
+  Cluster like stems in corn-sheaves."
+
+Not only was symbolism embodied in these carvings, but as an exercise and
+offering of devotion to the Unseen, the best efforts were lavished on it
+by the skilled master-workmen of the time.
+
+Thus the scribe, the illuminator, the architect were all striving in a
+kind of companion rivalry, each illustrating by his efforts some phase of
+artistic labour, or reviving a long-forgotten custom.
+
+However much we may dissociate legend with truth, we cannot always ignore
+it, mingled though it may be with monkish ignorance and superstition.
+
+The tale of many a noble structure has been veiled under the guise of the
+chronicle or the monastic ledger book, and the foundation of Waltham Abbey
+is said to have originated from a 12th century MS., entitled, "De
+inventione Sancte Crucis." Around the grand church of Minister in Thanet,
+gathers a pretty story, in that Dompneva, wife of Penda, King of Mercia,
+asked Ethelbert to grant her land in Thanet, on which she might build a
+monastery. In answer to how much she required, "Only as much as my deer
+can run over at one course." The King gave her the wide tract of land run
+over by the deer, and she founded the cloister on the spot where now
+stands Minister church. Local names have sometimes been associated with
+the story of the cloister. The Bell-rock with its lighthouse was so called
+from the bell which the monks tolled, to warn the mariner of his danger.
+
+The smallest item on the parchment page can have an extended meaning; the
+sign of the cross was found in many old deeds, which often contained an
+invocation to the Trinity, and the famous story of St. Helena, and the
+finding of the cross, has its incidents oft repeated in the MS., the
+printed book, the panel or fresco painting, as well as in the marvellous
+pieces of the sacred wood, so greatly venerated by the faithful! Of St.
+Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, there is a drawing, said to be by his
+own hand, in the illumination of a manuscript in the Bodleian Library, and
+of dedication of churches to saints, the name is legion. St. Barnabas Day
+is specially linked with English life and manners, it was the longest day
+according to the old style, and the old rhyme,
+
+  "Barnaby bright, Barnaby light,
+  The longest day and the shortest night."
+
+Every form of chronicled lore, be it register, fabric roll, charter, or
+brief, teems with some peculiar custom which is a moving history, an
+heirloom from the old world, helping to connect the past and the present.
+
+Architectural items enter largely into the varied forms of church
+documents; the Indulgence often gave full particulars as to the repairs of
+a building, a fact most valuable for supplying the date at which any
+portion was built or renewed. Cathedral archives of whatever class, are
+sure to abound in allusions to the fabric or its annals, sometimes going
+so far as to sketch some portion in the marginal pages, of which an
+example is found in a drawing of old St. Paul's in the 14th century,
+occurring in a MS. called the "Flores historiarum." The statutes of our
+minsters are rich in ecclesiastical lore, the mediæval fraternities or
+guilds are often mentioned in them, and in the statutes of St. Paul's a
+most curious custom is mentioned of waits parading the streets of London,
+to give notice of the feast of the Transfiguration, and carrying with them
+a picture or banners of that event.
+
+The antiquarian enthusiast on these subjects cannot do better than consult
+the work on "English Guilds" published by the Early English Text Society,
+and that of the "Statutes of St. Paul's," by Dr. Sparrow Simpson, 1873.
+
+Fabric rolls and inventories are an endless source of detailed
+information, in both of these, most minute descriptions are given; the
+painting and drawing of images, the materials, even to the pencils and
+brushes, being mentioned. Perhaps the most elaborate is that of the
+expense rolls for St. Stephen's chapel, in the old palace of Westminster,
+a bill of charges that helps to identify the kind of work done at that
+time, and the general artistic treatment in the reign of Edward III.
+
+The following entries may be given as a typical illustration:--
+
+  William de Padryngton, mason, for making twenty
+  angels to stand in the tabernacles, by task work
+  at 6/8 per each image                                 £6 13s. 4d.
+
+  For seven hundred leaves of gold, bought for the
+  painting of the tabernacles in the Chapel             £1 8s. 0d.
+
+The following item shows that there were artists who designed the work
+afterwards carried out by inferior craftsmen.
+
+  Hugh de St. Alban's and John de Cotton, painters,
+  working on the drawings of several images.            £0 9s. 0d.
+
+An examination of this expense roll, of which this is not a tithe of the
+entries, printed in Smith's history of Westminister, will well repay
+attention.
+
+With those graceful chantries, which adorn most of our minsters, are
+closely connected the service books of the middle ages, for it was usual
+to insert in the blank spaces of the collects the names of the founders of
+the chantry chapels.
+
+Indeed, the subtle way in which our old documents, of whatever class,
+interweave themselves with the annals of our mediæval buildings, whether
+as regards the general plan, the design of some sculptured porch, the
+pictured images on walls, or the many-coloured votive chapel, each and all
+illustrating a quaint legend or significant custom, is too numerous to
+indicate.
+
+"Nor was all this labour spent in vain; their homes for centuries were in
+the silence of the sanctuary; their authors have mingled with the dust of
+the convent cemetery; over them have passed the rise and fall of the
+kingdoms of this world; but through them history has been transmitted with
+a continuity and fulness not to be found in any other form of art, or, it
+may be said in any form of literature."[22]
+
+  "Mid all the light a happier age has brought,
+  We work not yet as our forefathers wrought."
+
+
+
+
+Shorthand in Church.
+
+BY WILLIAM E. A. AXON, F.R.S.L.
+
+
+When Job Everardt published in the year 1658, his "Epitome of
+Stenographie," he had certainly no intention of minimising the value of
+his art, but, on the contrary, was quite ready to magnify the office of
+the shorthand writer. The engraved title-page is ornamented by eleven
+emblematical pictures, and stenography is declared to be "Swifter than the
+swift of foot" (Amos ii. 15); "Swifter than a post" (Job ix. 25); "Swifter
+than a weaver's shuttle" (Job vii. 20); "Swifter than waters" (Job xxiv.
+18); "Swifter than clouds" (Isaiah xix. 1); "Swifter than ships" (Job ix.
+26); "Swifter than horses" (Jer. iv. 13); "Swifter than dromedaries" (Jer.
+ii. 23); "Swifter than roes" (1 Chron. xii. 8); "Swifter than leopards"
+(Heb. i. 8); "Swifter than eagles" (2 Sam. i. 23). It may be remarked in
+passing that the worthy Everardt consistently spells than _then_ in the
+text to each of these emblems. We have left to the last the picture which
+holds the place of honour. Here we see a worthy divine, robed in a black
+gown, set off with white collars and cuffs, and with his head covered by a
+furred skull cap. He stands in a low pulpit, his hands rest on the
+comfortable cushion, which is unencumbered either by book or MS. Opposite
+to him, and occupying the whole of a comfortable form or very wide chair,
+is a stenographer. He wears his hat, as was often customary in church
+during the seventeenth century; he has impressive white hands; he has not
+taken off his cloak, but on a fold of it allows a book to rest, in which,
+with an impossible pen, he is taking down the sermon, and stares with
+fixed gaze as the divine asserts "My tongue is as the pen of a swift
+writer," and seems almost inclined to dispute the assertion that any
+tongue could keep pace with his nimble stylus.
+
+It must be confessed that the early stenographers--to confine our
+attention to them--were not at all in the habit of under-valuing their
+art. Here is what this same Everardt, "dropping into poetry" like Silas
+Wegg, has to say in a triple acrostic:--
+
+  Secret,  short,  swift  this  Writer iS, the Sun's course seemes but slow to hiS
+  The Teacher's nimble tongue comes shorT   this  Writer  waits  his  nexT  reporT
+  Eagles  arE swift,  his  pen  doth fleE   his  quill  an  Eagle's  seems  to  bE
+  Noe clouds  can flee,  Nor  waters  ruN  swifter theN his quick strokes have doN
+  One  postin g Swiftly  TO    and    frO   his  Oft-turn'd  quill  doth  even  SO
+  Galley  or ship with Sailes and   FlagG  the  Weavers  shuttle,  Leopard,  StagG
+  Roe,   Dromedary,   Horse    oR    Ha'R:   oR  the  swift  swiming  Dolphin ra'R
+  And  the   quick  Scribes,  As  ShemajA    Baruch,     EzrA,     E L I S H A M A
+  Paint  forth,  as  Patterns  in  a  maP  this  ARTS  true  Portrature  and  shaP
+  Haste Haste to learn what it doth teacH  Swiftness  and  Shortness botH to reacH
+  Yea     both     in       StenographyLY   much    more     in    this    EPITOMY
+
+After this ingenious torturing of the Queen's English, it is not
+surprising to find,
+
+  "In steed [sic] of Tenne command{ts.} Lords Pray'r, Creed:
+  Heer's Three and Thirty Languages to Reade,"
+
+that is to say, the sentence "But the just shall live by his faith," in
+that number of tongues, first in his stenographic characters, and then
+transliterated into longhand. His dedication is written in the style of a
+sermon, and in an introductory verse he does not fail to claim that by his
+art are
+
+  "... Sermons writ even from the lip,
+  And sudden thoughts before they slip."
+
+His good opinion of his own stenography, and powers of versification,
+sustains him to the end of his book, and he bids us adieu in this wise:--
+
+  "Herewith Farewell; If you can tell
+  What yet more fair, short, swift maybee,
+  Let the world know it, candedly [sic] show it
+  Or if not, Follow this with mee."
+
+William Hopkins "Flying Penman" (1695), has the following commendation
+signed by one whose surname has since become famous in divinity:--
+
+  "Virgil, who largely wrot about the Gnat
+  That saveing Man's life his own ruine gat,
+  Might have emploi'd his pen about this Fly
+  With greater pleasure and Utility,
+  A Fly this is, but of more noble kind
+  Than in the winged crue you ere did find:
+  A Flying Man; the Flying-Pen-man 'tis
+  Whose wing the fleeing game doth never miss.
+  The Eagle strikes down and eats up his prey
+  Destroying all that he doth bear away,
+  But what this Pen-man takes he doth preserve,
+  And makes it better to all uses serve,
+  When fleeting words would vanish with their sound
+  He doth them stay, and them deliver bound,
+  By Lines of Characters wherein they rest
+  As in a dwelling that doth please them best.
+  The Art of Spelling at first was thought
+  Strange, and they deem'd immortal who it taught,
+  Spelling by Characters excelleth all
+  That under any other Art doth fall.
+  Some Charactors creep, some go, these do Fly
+  Showing their authors great agility,
+  And this ability he doth impart
+  By certain rules of a defusive Art."
+                                    EDWARD BEECHER.
+
+Hopkins gives a long list of theological words, and of abbreviations of
+such phrases as "the blood of the saints," "the breath of the Almighty,"
+"the candle of the Lord," etc. In reporting the words of preachers, he
+advises the use of a book, with a margin ruled off, in which to "set down
+the numbers and names of all the heads contained in the sermon. All these
+heads," he says, "with parts of the Inlargements used upon them may be
+taken by such who hardly ever wrote before." This statement must be
+received _cum grano salis_.
+
+The system best known as that of Jeremiah Rich, who appears to have copied
+it from his uncle, William Cartwright, was one that seems to have been
+favoured by the divines of the seventeenth century. It was modified by Dr.
+Doddridge, and taught in his academy for the training of Nonconformist
+ministers, and then came into use in most of the older dissenting
+colleges, so that twenty years ago there were many who had thus been
+trained and conned the dumpty little bibles and psalm books that were
+engraved in Rich's system. That system has had many names attached to it.
+Let us take that which bears the impress of "Botley's learned hand." One
+of his eulogists tells us
+
+  "Sermons this art transfers, its oft known
+  The countrey reaps what's in the City sowne;
+  The sacred pulpit is not its confine
+  The general good is this art's main designe."
+
+Botley's "Maximum in Minimo," which appeared in 1659, is avowedly Jeremiah
+Rich's "Pen's dexterity compleated." The theological uses of the system
+are further asserted by ingenious devices for indicating such phrases as
+"to be joyned in love to those that are not of the people of God," "to
+embrace the cross of Christ," etc. This character = [symbol] signifies "to
+be miserable as the world is miserable," whilst [symbol] meant "a saint is
+a 1000 times better than the world." So in Noah Bridge's "Stenographie,"
+issued in the same year, there are phraseograms for "in the name of the
+Lord," "wherefore said the psalmist," etc.
+
+The "New Method of Short and Swift Writing," which was given away to
+purchasers of Dr. Chamberlen's "anodyne necklace for children's teeth," is
+declared to be "necessary for all Ministers of State, Members of
+Parliament, Lawyers, Divines, Students, Tradesmen, Shopkeepers,
+Travellers, and in fine, all sorts of persons from the highest to the
+lowest quality, degree, rank, station, and condition whatsoever, and write
+down presently whatever they hear or see done." The theologian here is
+somewhat lost in an indiscriminate crowd.
+
+That shorthand was used for the purpose of obtaining copies both of plays
+and of sermons in the seventeenth century is sufficiently well-known.
+There is a curious tract which professes to be a shorthand report of a
+discourse, by no less a person than our "Cromwell, chief of men," and
+although it is but a satire, its curious titlepage is nevertheless
+evidence of the common belief,--founded doubtless on the common
+practice,--that stenography could secure verbatim reports of the
+exhortations of preachers, whether clerical or lay. The tract professes to
+be,--
+
+    "A most Learned, Conscientious and Devout Exercise or Sermon of
+    Self-Denyal, (Preached or) Held forth the last Lords-day of April, in
+    the year of Freedom the 1st, 1649. At Sir P. T.'s House in
+    Lincolns-Inn-Fields. By Lieutenant General Oliver Cromwell,
+    Immediately before his going for Ireland, as it was then faithfully
+    taken in Characters, By Aaron Gueredo. And now published for the
+    Benefit of the New Polonian Association, and late Famed Ignoramus
+    furies of this city. Humbly Dedicated to the Worthy
+    Protestant-Hop-Merchants, and the rest of the Ignoramus-Brethren.
+    London: Printed in the Year of Freedom 43."
+
+The sermons of Tobias Crisp, which gave rise to a long controversy, were
+printed from "shortwriting," in 1642-43, and also those of Stephen Crisp,
+the Quaker, in 1694.
+
+The quarrel between the preacher and the reporter was not long in breaking
+out. Here is the indignant complaint of Dr. Calamy in the preface of one
+of his discourses.--
+
+    "The iniquity of the times hath necessitated the printing of the
+    ensuing Sermon. There is a Fellow, (who he is I know not) who hath for
+    his own private advantage, published it very imperfectly and
+    corruptly. And herein hath not only sinned against the 8th Commandment
+    in taking away another man's goods without his leave, but also against
+    the 9th Commandment, in bearing false witness against his neighbour.
+    For he makes me to say not only such things which I never said, but
+    which are very absurd and irrational. As for example: That the Body is
+    the worse part of the Soul. That the party deceased had not only dona
+    sanaia, but selutifera. That I should tell a story of one good Pell, a
+    Minister, born without doubt in Utopia, for of such a man I never
+    either read or heard. To make some satisfaction to the living and the
+    dead, here you have the same sermon in a truer edition with some few
+    additions then omitted for want of time. If this unhappy necessity may
+    contribute anything to thy good, or to the perpetuating of the Memory
+    of the Reverend, Learned, and godly Minister (at whose Funeral it was
+    preached), I shall not much repent for what I have done, though I am
+    assured, that he that brought me into this necessity, hath cause to
+    repent of this, his irregular and unwarrantable practice. ("The
+    Saint's Transfiguration," a Sermon preached at the Funeral of Dr.
+    Samuel Bolton, by Edmund Calamy, B.D., October 19, 1654. London,
+    1655)."
+
+The preacher had of course alluded to Conradus Pellicanus, the German
+theologian, whose name the stenographer had but partially caught, and set
+down as "Pell!" _Hinc illae lachrymae_--of angry indignation.
+
+The stenographers of the last century followed closely in the footsteps of
+their predecessors. James Weston's "Stenography" of which various editions
+appeared between 1727 and 1740, has an engraving showing a cathedral, in
+which a bewigged divine is preaching to a crowd of fashionably dressed
+ladies and gentlemen, many of whom are busy with pen and notebook.
+Underneath the picture is the motto,--
+
+  "Be perfect in this useful art, and then
+  No word from pulpit can escape your pen."
+
+This idea was conveyed by Aulay Macaulay, whose "Polygraphy" has for a
+frontispiece a pretty engraving, in which two gentlemen and a lady are
+seen taking down the words which, from the preacher's gestures, we may
+suppose to be both impressive and profitable.
+
+In the nineteenth century, as in the seventeenth, the church is much
+frequented by stenographers, but more it is to be feared for practice in
+shorthand than for perfection in piety. The first ambition of the boy who
+is learning shorthand is to "report" a sermon by the preacher whose
+ministry he attends. Mr. Thomas Allen Reed has given an amusing account of
+his first exploit in this direction, when he was still struggling with the
+early difficulties of the system he soon after abandoned for phonography.
+He says, "I did not, however, relinquish my practice, and in a few weeks I
+resolved on making a grand attempt to take down the Sunday sermon. I rose
+early in the morning with the sense of a weighty responsibility resting
+upon me. I sharpened my pencil with the gravity of a senator, and folded
+several sheets of paper together, in the profound conviction that I was
+undertaking a serious, if not a formidable, duty. I did my best to conceal
+my emotions, but my heart was beating all the way to the church. As to the
+preliminary service, I understood as little of it as if it had been read
+in Cherokee. I stood when I ought to have knelt, and knelt when I should
+have sat or stood, and demeaned myself like a youth whose religious
+education had been sadly neglected. At length the clergyman entered the
+pulpit, and I took my sheets of paper from the Bible in which I had
+concealed them, and my pencil from my pocket. If I did not feel like
+Bonaparte's soldiers, that the eyes of posterity were upon me, I devoutly
+believed that every eye in the church was directed to my note book. The
+colour mounted my cheeks (as it very often did at that period of my life,)
+and my whole frame trembled. I had a strong impulse to abandon my project,
+but I summoned all my energy to the task, and awaited the commencement of
+the sermon. 'The 12th chapter of Isaiah and the 3rd verse,' said the
+minister in solemn tones. This presented no great difficulty. I am sorry
+to say that, stenographically speaking, I burked Isaiah, and contented
+myself with the long-hand abbreviation, Is., and as to the text itself, I
+thought the first three words would suffice. And now for the sermon. 'The
+remarkable words, my brethren, of this important prophecy.' Laboriously I
+followed the deliberate utterances of the speaker, but when I reached the
+prophecy I floundered about in a maze of dire confusion. I thought it
+began with ph, and I accordingly started as I had been instructed, with
+the stenographic equivalent, f, but, finding that this would not do, I
+crossed it out. Then I tried p, r, and getting a good deal confused,
+plunged madly into the alphabet, the result being a combination of
+characters altogether beyond description. But where was the preacher?
+Away in the distance, almost out of sight and hearing. I was fairly
+beaten, but not quite disheartened. When another sentence was begun I made
+a fresh start, this time I was pulled up by the word 'synonymous,' I knew
+there were some n's and m's in it, but not how many. I must have written
+three or four of each, and while I was jerking out these segments of
+circles (their forms were the same as in Phonography,) the clergyman was
+remorselessly pursuing the intricacies of a long sentence, which I was
+compelled wholly to abandon. I made several other efforts with the like
+result. At length I secured an entire sentence of about twenty words, and
+felt very proud of the achievement. Some half-dozen such sentences
+rewarded my labour during the sermon. How I racked my brain in the
+afternoon in poring over these fragments! My memory (not then a bad one)
+was utterly useless. I had not the slightest conception of the drift of
+the sermon, but I was determined to make some kind of a transcript, and it
+was made. I presented it to my mother as my first attempt, and I believe
+she kept it carefully locked up in a drawer among her treasures. It was
+fortunate for my reputation that it never afterwards saw the light."
+(Leaves from the Notebook of Thomas Allen Reed, vol. 1, p. 12; vol. 2, p.
+24).
+
+The professional reporting of sermons is now an important department of
+the stenographer's work. The late Mr. Spurgeon's sermons were thus
+reported by Mr. Reed. Dr. Cumming had his own reporter, as had Beecher,
+and as Talmage and others have. Dr. Joseph Parker's discourses were
+"specially reported" by his wife. It is to the phonographic skill of a
+lady that we owe the preservation of many of the lectures, sermons, and
+prayers of the late George Dawson. The sermons of the Rev. Thomas T. Lynch
+were also reported by Mr. Reed. Yet the preacher had a strong dislike to
+his discourses being reported and printed, "especially without his
+revision." There, no doubt, is the rub. Dr. Morley Punshon had a strong
+dislike to be reported, and some letters that passed between him and Mr.
+Reed are given in the _Phonetic Journal_, July 30th, 1881. His objections
+were that the reporter was sometimes inaccurate, and that the preacher
+alone had a right to decide whether he would or would not address the
+larger congregation to be reached by the press. And he urged very strongly
+that the arguments used by Macaulay as to the unauthorised publication of
+his speeches were equally applicable to the case of sermons. It is still a
+rather doubtful point whether sermons are covered by the law of copyright,
+and many single sermons and even volumes have been published without the
+sanction, and sometimes against the wishes, of the preachers. But as it
+has been held by the law courts that a professor's lectures cannot be
+legally published without his consent, it is possible that some day a
+preacher may arise who will test the question and ask the judges to say if
+the pulpit is as much protected as the teacher's desk. The late Bishop
+Fraser is said to have jocularly declared that there was no heresy that
+had not been attributed to him by the slips of note-takers and condensers.
+
+Shorthand has been extensively used for the MS. of preachers, as by Dr.
+Chalmers, Job Orton, and a host of other preachers,--so many, indeed, that
+to deal with stenography in the pulpit would need a larger space than is
+here available.
+
+Perhaps the most original use of shorthand in church was that due to the
+conscientiousness and business instincts of the late Rt. Hon. W. H. Smith.
+Ecclesiastical patronage he felt to be a great responsibility. When there
+was a minister to be appointed he sought the best information as to those
+who were recommended to him as suitable. Sometimes he corresponded with
+friends likely to know; "at other times he used to send his confidential
+shorthand writer to attend the services of clergymen who might be suitable
+for the vacancy, and bring him verbatim reports of the sermons, with
+confidential memoranda of their appearance, views, abilities, and other
+details. It was only after carefully examining this information that he
+would proceed to make the appointment."
+
+Those clergymen who owed their promotion to the testimonials thus obtained
+might say with Job Orton's pious fervour, "Blessed be God for shorthand."
+
+
+
+
+Reminiscences of our Village Church.
+
+BY THE REV. CANON BENHAM, B.D., F.S.A.
+
+
+I propose in the following notes to write my recollections of a village
+church. They extend over nearly sixty years, and will, no doubt, describe
+a growth and change which might have been observed in a thousand English
+churches.
+
+But first, let me say a few words of this church before my recollection of
+it; not long before, for I am indebted to my mother's reminiscences for
+the few trifles with which I open. It was a heavy looking edifice, not
+attractive to the eye as compared with the "storied windows, richly
+dight," which mark the churches of the beautiful Gothic revival of our own
+times. This was a plain building, flint, with queer old stone facings, a
+heavy tower, "churchwarden" windows with diamond panes, with not an atom
+of beautiful tracery from one end to the other.
+
+And yet that church, if you had been taught how to look for it, contained
+features of the deepest interest to an antiquary. Within, were heavy
+Norman pillars between nave and aisles, and a round-headed flattened
+chancel arch, unmistakably Saxon. For that church was built by S. Wilfred
+of York in the 8th century, and built so substantially, that there it was
+in the 19th century, sturdy and strong, though successive generations had
+bepewed it and begalleried it, and put in square ugly windows, and a
+three-decker, in fact, had used their utmost endeavours to disfigure it.
+They could not destroy the simple Norman capitals, but they had
+whitewashed them, and had written up, with the best intentions, texts on
+the walls, in which my youthful eyes discovered two or three blunders in
+spelling. It is no wonder that the old Rector, who liked to see everything
+graceful and artistic, but who had never learned the principles of
+Architecture scientifically, failed to appreciate S. Wilfred's ancient
+work, and yearned to see something more graceful in its place. But of that
+presently. Let me go back for eighty years. The incumbent in those days
+was an old foxhunter, very fat and of enormous appetite. One day he came
+in from a long run across country. "Wilthon," said he (he used to lisp)
+"What ith there for my dinner?" "A goose, sir," said Wilson. "Bring him
+up, Wilthon, I'll goothe him." And he finished the goose and picked every
+bone clean. A well-known politician, who died only recently, was born in
+the village, and the old rector was called on to baptize him. "Name thith
+child," said he, and the answer was duly given, "James Edwin Thorold." The
+rector stared, for such exuberance of nomenclature was very uncommon in
+those days. "What?" he said in amazement. The name was repeated. "Bleth my
+thoul, what a lot of nameth," said he, "thay it onthe more." The name was
+said a third time, and the baby was duly christened. A lady who witnessed
+this, and who still lives, told me of this. She was twelve years old. My
+grandfather, in those days, was leader of the choir. They sat in a
+gallery, and had a fiddler and a trombone to accompany them. The trial of
+Queen Caroline, in 1820, raised the passions of the whole country to fever
+heat, and the rustics, for the most part, took the queen's side. When the
+news came down, that Government had abandoned the "bill of pains and
+penalties" for depriving her of the title of queen, there were processions
+through the street, and every window that did not display a candle, by way
+of illumination, got a stone through it. On the following Sunday my
+grandfather gave out the Psalm, which of course was Tate and Brady's,
+"35th Psalm, 11th and three following verses, _False witnesses with forged
+complaints_." It was sung with tremendous energy, and the old rector was
+furious, not unreasonably, and sent the whole choir to Coventry for some
+time. He used to put on his surplice in the chancel, before the people,
+and exchange it in the reading desk for the black gown, and used to preach
+one sermon on Sundays. He died about 1826, and was succeeded by one who
+was a brilliant scholar, a canon of a northern Cathedral, and a man who
+according to his lights was zealous for the decencies of worship. Thus he
+built a vestry, put the clerk into a black gown, and started a verger with
+a long coat and red collar, knee breeches, and a long staff of office, who
+always preceded him to the reading desk. I am now come within the sphere
+of my own recollections. This old rector lived until 1844, and my early
+ideas of the proprieties of the church service were all drawn from him.
+For he had a reason for everything, and expressed it pleasantly, and he
+was very kind to me personally. Is it any wonder that for many a year I
+tried all questions of ritual--I am not sure that I have ceased even
+now--with "What would Doctor B. have thought about this?" He never
+preached one sermon in the church during his whole incumbency. I
+understood that it was the danger of a sudden failure of voice, to which
+he was subject, that prevented him. Anyhow that was the fact. But he
+established afternoon sermons, and his curate always preached them. He
+himself used regularly to say the Prayers, and never since his day have I
+ever heard anybody read the lessons so well as he did. I never hear the
+first chapter of the Hebrews without recalling the magnificent roll of his
+voice, as he brought out of it the points of the opening argument. He was
+keen upon chanting, and vocal music, and we always sang the Canticles, and
+the metrical Psalms--as I think very well--and a few Sanctuses. The only
+case of chanting the Prayer Book Psalms was certainly curious. He had
+heard in Westminster Abbey, the 137th Psalm, "By the waters of Babylon,"
+sung to a chant which much delighted him, and on the 28th day of the
+month, when that Psalm occurs, we chanted it to the music referred to. All
+the other Psalms were read.
+
+We used to be told at school that on Sundays we got a taste of Heaven, for
+we went to church and sang God's praises. I do not quarrel with the
+teaching even now, I think there is something in it. But I used to think,
+in those tender pinafore years, that in Heaven there would be one
+improvement, namely, that we should not stand on cold damp stones and feel
+half perished. There were forms running up the centre of the church, the
+whole length of it, on the cold bricks, no arrangement at all for
+kneeling, and on these forms we sat during lessons, prayers, sermon; and
+many a cold in the head did I catch. The best singers among the boys, of
+whom I was not one, went into the gallery. The old Rector established a
+school in the village, and we learned the Tonic Sol-Fah, and the singing
+was said to be the best for miles round. I think it was in 1842, two years
+before his death, that the fiddles and clarionettes were disestablished,
+and the music was entirely vocal.
+
+There was one feature of his incumbency which I must not forget, I mean
+his church catechising. It had always been a favourite doctrine of his,
+that catechising in church should be a feature of church work, and every
+Sunday afternoon in Lent, the boys were marshalled round the reading desk
+and catechised. Perhaps rather unfortunately, he had a keen sense of fun,
+and occasionally a bit of humour in his questions, or his comments, set
+the congregation in a titter. But there was no question that those who
+listened picked up a great amount of Biblical and ecclesiastical
+knowledge.
+
+One mistake as I know now, the dear old rector made. He did not know of
+the archæological interest of the church, disfigured as it had been by
+country carpenters and painters and white-washers, and he built a new one,
+designed by Sir G. Gilbert Scott, then a very young man. And so S.
+Wilfred's Church was pulled down, and a modern building, handsome enough,
+has taken its place. But before it was finished the old rector died. So
+now my recollections pass on to another building and another idea of
+service.
+
+The new church was certainly more comfortable for the schoolboys, and the
+singing still continued good. But the new rector made some alterations in
+matters on which his predecessors had been strong. He was a very
+pronounced Puritan, and forbade the school children to turn eastward for
+the Creeds. He forbade such simple anthems as "Lord of all power and
+might," and Cecil's "I will arise." But he had his very good points. He
+was young and active, and visited his people assiduously, established a
+monthly Communion, and worked up a regular branch of the Church Missionary
+Society, which nobody in the village had ever heard of before. I grew up
+to manhood during his incumbency, and though I regarded his Puritan
+practices, and listened to his Calvinistic sermons and tirades against
+Popery with extreme dislike, I see now that he was a man who was most
+faithful to his convictions, and no man could be more earnest for the
+spiritual welfare of his people. He was no scholar, I doubt whether he
+could have read a page of the Greek Testament in his later days. But he
+was the kind friend of the sick and the aged, and looked after the young
+people of his flock, and when they went forth into the world gave them
+loving and sensible counsels. His wife was as sweet and saintly a
+character as ever I knew, and their large family have all proved the
+wisdom of their training. One son has earned himself a name as respected
+as it is widely known.
+
+His successor was a man of like views, better read, and a kindly-hearted
+man. But he was less in his parish. Though he kept no curate, he was
+constantly absent as a "missionary deputation," and his congregation, who
+had never been instructed in church principles, fell away. He died, and
+his successor, who was only there for a year or two, was, I am told, a
+failure, greatly owing to weak health; and so we come down to present
+times. An organ has been given to the church, thanks to a generous layman;
+the choir march in procession to their places in the chancel, they do a
+respectable choral service, and of course turn eastward for their Creed.
+The parson looks thoroughly well after them, and loves them. There are
+regular week-day services, and a fair attendance on holy days, and the
+Sunday congregation is steadily increasing. It had gone down terribly.
+
+Such is an impartial review of the church life in an out-of-the-way
+country village. My own special old Rector (for I owe more to him than I
+could ever tell), the builder of the church, was one of the original
+movers in the celebrated movement of 1833, was in fact one of the persons
+present at the meeting at Hadleigh Rectory, under the presidency of Hugh
+James Rose, which led to the starting of the _Tracts for the Times_.
+
+His name appears both in Palmer's Narrative, and in Newman's
+Correspondence. He was a great friend of John Keble. But as the Tract
+Movement declined visibly towards Rome he regarded it with increasing
+dislike, and in his last years expressed that dislike with emphasis. I
+have sometimes wondered what position he would take up if he lived in our
+own day, and am inclined to think that the present Archbishop of
+Canterbury would be regarded by him as best expressing his own views.
+Peace to them every one, everlasting Light and Rest.
+
+
+Ye Ende
+
+
+
+
+Index
+
+
+  Abbatial staff, 196
+
+  Abbots Bromley, horns at, 13
+
+  Advent ringing, 46
+
+  Agnus Bell, 43
+
+  Ale, baptized in, 80
+
+  Ales, Church, 19, 151-152
+
+  Altars in churches, 161-166
+
+  Andrews, William, F.R.H.S., Inscriptions on Bells, 49-63;
+    Laws of the Belfry, 64-73;
+    Bells cast in churchyards, 154-156.
+
+  Anglo-Saxon burials, 127
+
+  Anglo-Saxon marriage, 100
+
+  Anglo-Saxon prelates, 198-201
+
+  Annointing at baptism, 89
+
+  Announcements of fortunes at marriages, 121
+
+  Apostle Spoons, 90
+
+  Armour, burial in, 132
+
+  Armour in Churches, 174-181
+
+  Armour at funerals, 129, 178
+
+  Arvel Dinner, 139
+
+  Ascension Day customs, 188-189
+
+  Axon, W. E. A., Shorthand in Church, 246-260
+
+
+  Banns, forbidding, 113
+
+  Banns peal, 46
+
+  Baptism, earliest titles of, 78
+
+  Baptism rejected, 79
+
+  Barton-le-Street, curious customs at, 20
+
+  Batley bells, poem on, 61-63
+
+  Beating the Bounds, 182-190
+
+  Bell inscriptions, 35, 39, 40, 45, 49, 63
+
+  Bells cast in churches and churchyards, 154
+
+  Bells lost, 38-39
+
+  Benham, Rev. Canon, B.D., F.S.A., Customs and Superstitions of Baptism,
+        78-98;
+    Reminiscences of our Village Church, 261-270
+
+  Bibles, throwing dice for, 165
+
+  Biddenden Maids, 25
+
+  Bidding at weddings, 119
+
+  Bidding for funerals, 146
+
+  Bishops in Battle, 198-231
+
+  Black Prince, armour of, 175
+
+  Blinds taken down at death, 139
+
+  Bragget Sunday, 23
+
+  Bread and beer distributed at a tomb, 20
+
+  Bridegrooms, 104
+
+  Box at funerals, 145
+
+  Boy-bishop, 2-8
+
+  Bozeat toffee, 25
+
+  Bridesmaids, 103
+
+  Briscoe, J. Potter, "Curiosities of the Belfry," 73
+
+  Bull-running, 28
+
+  Burial Customs, 126-146
+
+  Burial without city walls, 127
+
+  Bumping children, 187-188;
+    a curate, 188
+
+  Buns and cider, 24
+
+  Burning books, 158
+
+  Burnley marriage custom, 123
+
+  Butchers' serenade, 122
+
+
+  Caistor gad-whip, 28
+
+  Canute's crown, 175
+
+  Card-playing, 20
+
+  Carling Sunday, 23
+
+  Caroline, Queen, trial of, 26;
+
+  Catechising, 266
+
+  Chanting in Church, 265
+
+  Choir in the olden days, 263-264
+
+  Christening bit, 92;
+    garments, 89;
+    tongs, 91;
+    folk-lore, 94-98
+
+  Chrisom, 143
+
+  Christmas, 13, 22, 29, 46
+
+  Church-Ales, 19, 151, 152
+
+  Churchwardens' accounts, 186-187
+
+  Churchyards, 127
+
+  Cider, 24
+
+  Cock-fighting, 20
+
+  Coffins, burials without, 134-135
+
+  Collecting at funerals in Wales, 139-140
+
+  Commonwealth, marriages under, 115
+
+  Corpse, and right of way, 140
+
+  Costume at weddings, 123
+
+  Cox, Rev. J. C., LL.D., F.S.A., on Sports in Churches, 1-20;
+    Armour in Churches, 174-181
+
+  Cremation, 127
+
+  Cromwell, satire on, 252
+
+  Cross roads, burial at, 144
+
+  Crosses, burial, 141, 144, 158
+
+  Crusaders, 218, 224
+
+  Customs and superstitions of baptism, 78-98
+
+
+  Dancing in churches, 8-15
+
+  Dates on bells, 40
+
+  Day for marriage, 125
+
+  Dead, baptism of, 84
+
+  Dead, ringing home, 130
+
+  Deaf and dumb marriages, 120-121
+
+  Dice cast on the Altar, 165
+
+  Disputes settled in churchyards, 147
+
+  Doles at funerals, 135, 152
+
+  Domesday Book, churches mentioned in, 147
+
+  Dowry for poor maidens, 111
+
+  Druids, 26
+
+
+  Easter, 24, 36
+
+  Easter Eggs, 31
+
+  Eastern portion of churchyard, burial in, 136-138
+
+  Edward III., armour of, 176
+
+  Embalming, 126
+
+  Epitaph, curious, 58, 137
+
+
+  Fairs held in churchyards, 149, 237
+
+  Feast, 22
+
+  Feasts, burial, 136
+
+  Feasting in churches, 19
+
+  Feudal tenures, 211
+
+  Fig-pie Sunday, 23
+
+  Font, use of, 81
+
+  Football, 27
+
+  Foxhunting parson, 262
+
+  Funeral banquets, 19
+
+
+  Garlands at funerals, 143
+
+  Garlands, nuptial, 105
+
+  Gifts at christening, 92-93
+
+  Girls baptised first, 94
+
+  Gold and silver, altars made of, 163
+
+  Good Friday, 24, 28
+
+  Good Shepherd, 193
+
+  Grain at weddings, 119
+
+  Great Rebellion, 227, 231
+
+  Great Tom of Lincoln, 41
+
+  Gretna Green marriages, 120
+
+  Gowrie Plot, 37
+
+  Gunpowder Plot, 35-36
+
+
+  Hats worn in church, 247
+
+  Hampshire burial superstitions, 131
+
+  Handbells, 44
+
+  Hare-pie, 24
+
+  Harvest Bell, 45
+
+  Haxey Hood, 27
+
+  Heart burial, 128
+
+  Hearse, 130
+
+  Hindoo marriage custom, 110
+
+  Holy Cross, 147, 167
+
+  Holy Day Customs, 21-32
+
+  Horn-dancers, 13-14
+
+  Horse claimed at a mortuary, 129
+
+  Hot cross buns, 24
+
+  Hot pot at weddings, 102
+
+  Hour-glasses in coffins, 131
+
+  Howlett, England, F.S.A., Marriage Customs, 99-125,
+    Burial Customs, 126-146
+
+  Hucksters' stalls in churches, 1
+
+  Husband and Wife re-united, 117
+
+
+  Images, 244
+
+  Immersion, 81
+
+  Inscriptions on Bells, 49-63
+
+
+  Kershaw, S. W., F.S.A., The Cloister and its story, 232-245
+
+  Kendal Custom, 30
+
+  Kissing, 109
+
+  Knives, 103
+
+
+  Lamplough, Edward, Bishops in Battle, 198-231
+
+  Lights to guide travellers by night, 232
+
+  Longest day, 242
+
+  Laws of the Belfry, 64-73
+
+
+  Market Bell, 37
+
+  Marriage Customs, 99-125
+
+  Mass on the field of battle, 213
+
+  May 29th, ringing on, 34
+
+  Maunday Thursday, 30
+
+  Midnight burials, 142
+
+  Mince-pies, 22
+
+  Miracle Play, 16-18
+
+  Mistletoe, 26
+
+  Mitred Abbots, 196
+
+  Molly Grime, 28
+
+  Monks of Durham, 204
+
+  Moravian marriage customs, 117
+
+  Morris dancers, 10-12
+
+  Mothering Sunday, 23
+
+  Mulled ale, 23
+
+  Myton, battle of, 203
+
+
+  New Year's eve ringing, 40
+
+  Nicholson, John, Concerning the Churchyard, 147-160
+
+  Notorious characters buried north side of the church, 137
+
+
+  Oak-apple day, 34
+
+
+  Palm Sunday at Leigh, 29
+
+  Palls, 145
+
+  Page, John T., The Rood Loft and its uses, 167-173;
+    Beating the Bounds, 182-190
+
+  Pancakes, 22, 37
+
+  Pancake bell, 23
+
+  Parish Armour, 178-181
+
+  Parish Clerks, 114
+
+  Passing Bell, 47, 128
+
+  Pastoral staff, 129
+
+  Paul's Pitcher Day, 30
+
+  Paying toll at weddings, 122
+
+  Peacock, Florence, Church Bells, when and why they were Rung, 33-48
+
+  Penance performance in Hull, 158
+
+  Preaching from Shorthand, 259
+
+  Private baptism, 83
+
+  Proxy, marriage by, 106
+
+  Processioning, 184
+
+  Puritan, 267
+
+
+  Quakers baptized, 81
+
+  Quarrels in churchyards, 151
+
+
+  Reeve, Isaac J., Ringers' Jugs, 74-77
+
+  Refreshment Sunday, 23
+
+  Reminiscences of our Village Church, 261-270
+
+  Reporting, objections to, 258
+
+  Revival of the rood screen, 172
+
+  Rice at wedding, 118
+
+  Rings, wedding, 107
+
+  Ringers' Jugs, 74-77
+
+  Rival Popes, 216
+
+  Rome, ancient, marriage in, 10
+
+  Rood Loft and its Uses, 167-173
+
+  Roods swept away at the Reformation, 170
+
+  Rogation Week, 183
+
+  Rosemary at funerals, 131
+
+  Rubbish heap in churchyards, 159
+
+  Russian burial customs, 141
+
+
+  St. Andrew, 40-41
+
+  St. Hugh's Day, 44
+
+  Saints and martyrs buried under the altar, 161
+
+  Salt at funerals, 144
+
+  Sand strewing at weddings, 124
+
+  Sanctus Bell, 42
+
+  Sawdust strewing at weddings, 124
+
+  Saxon Church, 261-262
+
+  Screens in churches, 168-169
+
+  Scrope, Richard, 224-227
+
+  Scriptorium, 233-235
+
+  Scrambling customs, 153-154
+
+  Seasons for marrying, 111
+
+  Secular uses of churches, 1
+
+  Sceptre, 192
+
+  Seville, dancing at, 14-15
+
+  Shakespeare on armour, 175
+
+  Sitting posture, buried in a, 134
+
+  Shrines, 236
+
+  Shrove Tuesday, 22-36
+
+  Shoes at weddings, 118-124
+
+  Shorthand in Church, 246-260
+
+  Simnels, 23
+
+  Skeletons represented on tombs, 142
+
+  Smith, W. H., shorthand reports for, 259-260
+
+  Spencer, Bishop of Norwich, 214, 216
+
+  Sponsors, 86
+
+  Sports in Churches, 1-20
+
+  Sports in churchyards, 150-151
+
+  Staff of authority, 191
+
+  Standard, battle of, 201-202
+
+  Stocks, 157
+
+  Story of the Crosier, 191-197
+
+  Sunday burials, 145
+
+  Sunday of the Five Loaves, 23
+
+  Sundials, 156-157
+
+  Swedish funerals, 141
+
+
+  Taxes on baptism, 94
+
+  Torches at funerals, 137-138
+
+  Tracts of the Times started, 269
+
+  Trading in churchyards, 148
+
+  True Lovers' Knot, 107
+
+  Twickenham cakes, 24
+
+  Tyack, Rev. G. S., B.A., on Holy Day Customs, 21-32.
+    Altars in Churches, 161-166.
+    The Story of the Crosier, 191-197
+
+
+  Umbrella, parish, 140
+
+  Upright burial, 133
+
+
+  Viands connected with Holy Days, 25
+
+
+  Washing feet, 30
+
+  Waxen effigies, 142
+
+  Wedding bells, 114
+
+  Wedding biddings, 119
+
+  Well-dressing, 27
+
+  Welsh custom, 29
+
+  Whitby funeral cakes, 146
+
+  Whitsuntide, 11
+
+  Wine, baptized in, 80
+
+  Wine drinking in church at weddings, 102
+
+  Wills about armour, 177
+
+  Wool stored in churches, 1
+
+  Woollen, burial in, 132
+
+  Wren stoning, 29
+
+  Wymund, the Saxon, 205-207
+
+
+  Yule-log, 26
+
+  Yule, songs of, 13
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] The two best recent books on the subject are Pollard's _English
+Miracle Plays_ (Clarendon Press, 1890,) and Bate's _The English Religions
+Drama_ (Macmillan, 1893.)
+
+[2] Peacock's _Church Furniture_.--p. 103.
+
+[3] Peacock's _Church Furniture_.--p. 85.
+
+[4] _Ibid._--p. 103.
+
+[5] _English Bells and Bell Lore_, 1888, T. North, cp. 16, p. 191.
+
+[6] At the bottom of the plate occurs the name of the engravers, Sellers
+and Nelson, Leeds.
+
+[7] See Edward's _History and Poetry of Finger Rings_, Cap. 5, p. 221.
+
+[8] See Robinson's "History and Antiquities of Stoke Newington."
+
+[9] Acta SS. Ord. Benedict, sec. iii., part 2.
+
+[10] York Fabric Rolls, p. 256.
+
+[11] York Fabric Rolls, p. 255.
+
+[12] Andrews' "Curiosities of the Church."
+
+[13] Andrews' "Curiosities of the Church," p. 89.
+
+[14] York Fabric Rolls, p. 116.
+
+[15] 8th S. V. 150, Feb. 24th, 1894.
+
+[16] In some parishes a Triennial or even Septennial visit to the
+boundaries is considered sufficient.
+
+[17] Brand.
+
+[18] Vol. ii., part i., p. 165.
+
+[19] Walton's "_Life_."
+
+[20] Lysons' "_London_," ii., 126.
+
+[21] "History of Our Lord," by the late Mrs. Jameson, continued by Lady
+Eastlake.
+
+[22] "History of Our Lord," by the late Mrs. Jameson, 1864.
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF PUBLICATIONS OF WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO.,
+
+THE HULL PRESS.
+
+
+_SECOND EDITION. Bound in cloth gilt, demy 8vo. 6s._
+
+Curiosities of the Church:
+
+Studies of Curious Customs, Services, and Records,
+
+By WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.,
+
+AUTHOR OF "HISTORIC ROMANCE," "FAMOUS FROSTS AND FROST FAIRS," "HISTORIC
+YORKSHIRE," ETC.
+
+
+CONTENTS:
+
+    Early Religious Plays: being the Story of the English Stage in its
+    Church Cradle Days--The Caistor Gad-Whip Manorial Service--Strange
+    Serpent Stories--Church Ales--Rush Bearing--Fish in Lent--Concerning
+    Doles--Church Scrambling Charities--Briefs--Bells and Beacons for
+    Travellers by Night--Hour Glasses in Churches--Chained Books in
+    Churches--Funeral Effigies--Torchlight Burials--Simple Memorials of
+    the Early Dead--The Romance of Parish Registers--Dog Whippers and
+    Sluggard Wakers--Odd Items from Old Accounts--A carefully compiled
+    Index.
+
+ILLUSTRATED.
+
+
+Press Opinions.
+
+"A volume both entertaining and instructive, throwing much light on the
+manners and customs of bygone generations of Churchmen, and will be read
+to-day with much interest."--_Newbery House Magazine._
+
+"An extremely interesting volume."--_North British Daily Mail._
+
+"A work of lasting interest."--_Hull Examiner._
+
+"The reader will find much in this book to interest, instruct, and
+amuse."--_Home Chimes._
+
+"We feel sure that many will feel grateful to Mr. Andrews for having
+produced such an interesting book."--_The Antiquary._
+
+"A volume of great research and striking interest."--_The Bookbuyer (New
+York.)_
+
+"A valuable book."--_Literary World (Boston, U.S.A.)._
+
+"An admirable book."--_Sheffield Independent._
+
+"An interesting, handsomely got up volume.... Mr. Andrews is always chatty
+and expert in making a paper on a dry subject exceedingly
+readable."--_Newcastle Courant._
+
+"Mr. William Andrews' new book, 'Curiosities of the Church,' adds another
+to the series by which he has done so much to popularise antiquarian
+studies.... The book, it should be added, has some quaint illustrations,
+and its rich matter is made available for reference by a full and
+carefully compiled index."--_Scotsman._
+
+
+_Elegantly bound in cloth gilt, demy 8vo., price 6s._
+
+Old Church Lore,
+
+By WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.,
+
+_Author of "Curiosities of the Church," "Old-Time Punishments," "Historic
+Romance," etc._
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+    The Right of Sanctuary--The Romance of Trial--A Fight between the
+    Mayor of Hull and the Archbishop of York--Chapels on Bridges--Charter
+    Horns--The old English Sunday--The Easter Sepulchre--St. Paul's
+    Cross--Cheapside Cross--The Biddenden Maids Charity--Plagues and
+    Pestilences--A King Curing an Abbot of Indigestion--The Services and
+    Customs of Royal Oak Day--Marrying in a White Sheet--Marrying under
+    the Gallows--Kissing the Bride--Hot Ale at Weddings--Marrying
+    Children--The Passing Bell--Concerning Coffins--The Curfew
+    Bell--Curious Symbols of the Saints--Acrobats on Steeples--A
+    carefully-prepared Index.
+
+ILLUSTRATED.
+
+
+PRESS OPINIONS.
+
+"A worthy work on a deeply interesting subject.... We commend this book
+strongly."--_European Mail._
+
+"An interesting volume."--_The Scotsman._
+
+"Contains much that will interest and instruct."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+"The author has produced a book which is at once entertaining and
+valuable, and which is also entitled to unstinted praise on the ground of
+its admirable printing and binding."--_Shields Daily Gazette._
+
+"Mr. Andrews' book does not contain a dull page.... Deserves to meet with
+a very warm welcome."--_Yorkshire Post._
+
+"Mr. Andrews, in 'Old Church Lore,' makes the musty parchments and records
+he has consulted redolent with life and actuality, and has added to his
+works a most interesting volume, which, written in a light and easy
+narrative style, is anything but of the 'dry-as-dust' order. The book is
+handsomely got up, being both bound and printed in an artistic
+fashion."--_Northern Daily News._
+
+
+"Valuable and interesting."--_The Times._
+
+"Readable as well as instructive."--_The Globe._
+
+"A valuable addition to any library."--_Derbyshire Times._
+
+The Bygone Series.
+
+In this series the following volumes are included, and issued at 7s. 6d.
+each. Demy 8vo., cloth gilt.
+
+These books have been favourably reviewed in the leading critical journals
+of England and America.
+
+Carefully written articles by recognised authorities are included on
+history, castles, abbeys, biography, romantic episodes, legendary lore,
+traditionary stories, curious customs, folk-lore, etc., etc.
+
+The works are illustrated by eminent artists, and by the reproduction of
+quaint pictures of the olden time.
+
+  BYGONE CHESHIRE, edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE DERBYSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE ESSEX, edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE ENGLAND, by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE KENT, edited by Richard Stead, B.A.
+  BYGONE LANCASHIRE, edited by Ernest Axon.
+  BYGONE LEICESTERSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE LINCOLNSHIRE (2 vols.), edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE LONDON, by Frederick Ross, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, by William Stevenson.
+  BYGONE SCOTLAND, by David Maxwell, C.E.
+  BYGONE SOUTHWARK, by Mrs. E. Boger.
+  BYGONE SURREY, edited by George Clinch and S. W. Kershaw, F.S.A.
+  BYGONE WARWICKSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE YORKSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+
+
+Price 4s. 6d. Demy 8vo.
+
+"A handsome gift book."--_Barnsley Independent._
+
+"A welcome addition to fairy books."--_The Scotsman._
+
+"A very delightful volume, and eminently qualified for a gift book.... The
+stories are bright and interesting."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+The New Fairy Book,
+
+Edited by WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.
+
+Author of "Bygone England," etc.
+
+This Volume contains Fifteen New Fairy Stories by Popular Authors.
+
+Many charming original illustrations are included.
+
+It is beautifully printed in bold clear type, and bound in a most
+attractive style.
+
+
+PRESS OPINIONS.
+
+"We hope the book will get into many children's hands."--_Review of
+Reviews._
+
+"We can recommend the stories for their originality, and the volume for
+its elegant and tasteful appearance."--_Westminster Gazette._
+
+"The stories are good."--_The World._
+
+"All the stories in the collection are well written. The illustrations are
+excellent."--_The Spectator._
+
+"A tasteful volume, and illustrated profusely."--_The Literary World._
+
+"In this volume it has been the editor's desire to furnish a fresh
+collection of fairy stories, written by authors who love children, and
+know exactly the kind of tales that gives them pleasure. Something more
+than providing enjoyment is attempted. Useful life lessons may be learnt
+from the book, which contains a most interesting collection of fairy
+stories, each telling its tale and pointing its moral in the happiest
+manner."--_The Gentlewoman._
+
+"It is certain to become popular."--_Yorkshire Post._
+
+"Type and illustrations are worthy of the Hull Press, which is saying a
+great deal."--_The News._
+
+"The stories comprised in this volume deserve to be widely known and
+appreciated. There are some excellent illustrations, and the whole 'get
+up' reflects the highest credit alike on editor and publishers. It
+promises to be one of the books of the season."--_Stamford Mercury._
+
+"'The New Fairy Book' is sure to win its way to the possession and favour
+of quite a host of young people. The stories are evidently, as the editor
+gives assurance, written by authors who love children and know the kind of
+tales that give them pleasure. The book is well printed, attractively
+bound, and freely illustrated."--_Liverpool Post._
+
+"'The New Fairy Book' is the title of a richly bound volume containing
+fifteen fairy tales, edited by William Andrews. The tales are brimful of
+such fairy romance as youthful readers delight in. Fairy kings, queens,
+princes, and princesses, pass in bright procession through the pages,
+everyone of which presents some delightful picture from the imaginative
+pen. The scenes amid which these fairy personages move are not the less
+beautiful, and from first page to last there is not to be found a single
+dull or uninteresting page. The tales have been judiciously edited, and
+worthily fulfil the editor's aim to 'furnish a fresh collection of fairy
+stories written by authors who love children.' Very many young readers
+will warmly thank him for so faithfully performing his loving
+task."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+"Mr. Andrews' 'New Fairy Book' is a delightful production. So far as
+binding, illustrations, and printing go, it leaves nothing to be desired,
+and from this standpoint alone must be pronounced a goodly book. But the
+contents are equally choice. Mr. Andrews has drawn around him a number of
+skilled story-tellers, who have one and all written with charm and
+originality. This Fairy Book differs from most of the others we have seen,
+inasmuch as the tales are--as the title of the volume
+indicates--absolutely new. It is true that they contain a number of the
+old ingredients, but then the makers of fairy tales must always work more
+or less from the time honoured recipe. This the contributors to the 'New
+Fairy Book' have done, but their effects are novel and surprising, for
+they serve up the dishes in varied ways of their own devising. The result
+is much to our taste. There are fifteen stories in all, simple in style,
+engaging and fresh in manner, with here and there a weird episode, here
+and there something amusing. Ghosts, elves, ogres, giants, princes, and,
+of course, fairy queens flit in and out of the scenes; castles of
+enchantment, and all the favourite features of fairyland are present; and
+so we are transported to the real kingdom of the fairies, and soon find
+ourselves absorbed in the adventures of wondrous heroes and the antics of
+imps. All this is as it should be, and the volume will afford genuine
+entertainment to all who read it--and there should be many--these long
+winter nights."--_Birmingham Gazette._
+
+"'The New Fairy Book,' edited by William Andrews, is a somewhat ambitious
+attempt to add to the delightful repertoire of nursery stories with which
+the literature of all civilised countries abounds. The writers include
+several well known names, and though the titles chosen suggest in some
+cases old and familiar stories, it is due to the editor and the authors to
+say that they have discharged their really very onerous functions with
+great skill and excellent judgment. The volume is published as a
+collection of new stories, and if it should meet with the success it truly
+deserves, editor and writers will have every reason to be
+thankful."--_Leeds Mercury._
+
+
+Bygone England:
+
+Social Studies in its Historic Byways and Highways.
+
+BY WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.
+
+CONTENTS:--Under Watch and Ward--Under Lock and Key--The Practice of
+Pledging--The Minstrel in the Olden Time--Curious Landholding
+Customs--Curiosities of Slavery in England--Buying and Selling in the
+Olden Time--Curious Fair Customs--Old Prejudices against Coal--The
+Sedan-Chair--Running Footmen--The Early Days of the Umbrella--A Talk about
+Tea--Concerning Coffee--The Horn-Book--Fighting Cocks in
+Schools--Bull-Baiting--The Badge of Poverty--Patents to wear Nightcaps--A
+Foolish Fashion--Wedding Notices in the Last Century--Selling Wives--The
+Story of the Tinder Box--The Invention of Friction Matches--Body
+Snatching--Christmas under the Commonwealth--Under the Mistletoe Bough--A
+carefully prepared Index.
+
+"We welcome 'Bygone England.' It is another of Mr. Andrews' meritorious
+achievements in the path of popularising archæological and old-time
+information without in any way writing down to an ignoble level."--_The
+Antiquary._
+
+"A delightful volume for all who love to dive into the origin of social
+habits and customs, and to penetrate into the byways of
+history."--_Liverpool Daily Post._
+
+"There is a large mass of information in this capital volume, and it is so
+pleasantly put that many will be tempted to study it. Mr. Andrews has done
+his work with great skill."--_London Quarterly Review._
+
+
+Fcap. 4to. Bevelled boards, gilt tops. Price 4s.
+
+Famous Frosts and Frost Fairs in Great Britain.
+
+Chronicled from the Earliest to the Present Time.
+
+BY WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.
+
+This work furnishes a carefully prepared account of all the great Frosts
+occurring in this country from A.D. 134 to 1887. The numerous Frost Fairs
+on the Thames are fully described, and illustrated with quaint woodcuts,
+and several old ballads relating to the subject are reproduced. It is
+tastefully printed and elegantly bound.
+
+"The work is thoroughly well written, it is careful in its facts, and may
+be pronounced exhaustive on the subject. Illustrations are given of
+several frost fairs on the Thames, and as a trustworthy record this volume
+should be in every good library. The usefulness of the work is much
+enhanced by a good index."--_Public Opinion._
+
+"A very interesting volume."--_Northern Daily Telegraph._
+
+"A great deal of curious and valuable information is contained in these
+pages.... A comely volume."--_Literary World._
+
+"The work from first to last is a most attractive one, and the arts alike
+of printer and binder have been brought into one to give it a pleasing
+form."--_Wakefield Free Press._
+
+
+Biblical and Shakespearian Characters Compared.
+
+Studies of Life and Literature.
+
+By the Rev. JAMES BELL.
+
+Between the Hebrew Bible and Shakespeare there exist some interesting and
+instructive points of resemblance, especially in respect of their ways of
+life and character. No doubt certain inevitable differences also exist
+between them, but these do not hide the resemblance; rather they serve to
+set it, so to speak, in bolder relief.
+
+The author in this volume treats of this striking resemblance, under
+certain phases, between Hebrew Prophecy and Shakespearian Drama.
+
+The following are the chief "Studies" which find a place in the
+work:--Hebrew Prophecy and Shakespeare: a Comparison--Eli and Hamlet--Saul
+and Macbeth--Jonathan and Horatio--David and Henry V.--Epilogue.
+
+The foregoing list of subjects will give some notion of the drift and
+style of the book, which, it is hoped, is a contribution towards a better
+study of the Bible in connection with our literature and moral experience.
+
+
+The following short extracts are selected from a large number of reviews
+of Mr. Bell's book:--
+
+"One of the most suggestive volumes we have met with for a long
+time."--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
+
+"An interesting book."--_North British Daily Mail._
+
+
+Second and cheaper edition. Crown 8vo. Price 1s.
+
+The Studies of a Socialist Parson.
+
+By the Rev. W. H. ABRAHAM, M.A. (London).
+
+The volume consists of sermons and addresses, given mostly at the St.
+Augustine's Church, Hull. The author in his preface says, "It is the duty
+of the clergyman to try and understand what Socialism is, and to lead men
+from the false Socialism to the true."
+
+CONTENTS:--The Working-man, Past and Present: A Historical Review--Whither
+are we going?--National Righteousness--The True Value of Life--Christian
+Socialism--Jesus Christ the True Socialist--Socialism, through Christ or
+without Him?--The Great Bread Puzzle--Labour Day, May 1, 1892--The People,
+the Rulers, and the Priests--Friendly Societies--Trades' Unions--The
+People's Church--On some Social Questions--The Greatest Help to the True
+Social Life--The Great I Am--God as a Present Force--Signs of the Times.
+
+The following are selected from a large number of favourable notices:--
+
+"The volume is deserving of all praise."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+"An admirable contribution to the solution of difficult problems. Mr.
+Abraham has much that is valuable to say, and says it well."--_Spectator._
+
+"Eminently readable."--_Northern Daily News._
+
+"The book is nicely printed and got up."--_Eastern Morning News._
+
+
+Crown 8vo., 140 pp.; Fancy Cover, 1s; Cloth Bound, 2s.
+
+Stepping Stones to Socialism.
+
+By DAVID MAXWELL, C.E.
+
+CONTENTS:--In a reasonable and able manner Mr. Maxwell deals with the
+following topics:--The Popular meaning of the Word Socialism--Lord
+Salisbury on Socialism--Why There is in Many Minds an Antipathy to
+Socialism--On Some Socialistic Views of Marriage--The Question of Private
+Property--The Old Political Economy is not the Way of Salvation--Who is My
+Neighbour?--Progress, and the Condition of the Labourer--Good and Bad
+Trade: Precarious Employment--All Popular Movements are Helping on
+Socialism--Modern Literature in Relation to Social Progress--Pruning the
+Old Theological Tree--The Churches: Their Socialistic Tendencies--The
+Future of Earth in Relation to Human Life--Socialism is Based on Natural
+Laws of Life--Humanity in the Future--Preludes to Socialism--Forecasts of
+the Ultimate Form of Society--A Pisgah-top View of the Promised Land.
+
+
+The following are selected from a large number of favourable notices:
+
+"The author has evidently reflected deeply on the subject of Socialism,
+and his views are broad, equitable, and quite up to date. In a score or so
+of chapters he discusses Socialism from manifold points of view, and in
+its manifold aspects. Mr. Maxwell is not a fanatic; his book is not dull,
+and his style is not amateurish."--_Hull Daily Mail._
+
+"There is a good deal of charm about Mr. Maxwell's style."--_Northern
+Daily News._
+
+
+Bound in cloth gilt, demy 8vo., price 7s. 6d. Only 500 copies printed, and
+each copy numbered.
+
+The Monumental Brasses of Lancashire and Cheshire.
+
+With some Account of the Persons Represented.
+
+_Illustrated with Engravings from Drawings by the Author._
+
+By JAMES L. THORNELY.
+
+"Mr. Thornely's book will be eagerly sought by all lovers of monumental
+brasses."--_London Quarterly Review._
+
+"Local archæologists will give a hearty welcome to this
+book."--_Manchester Guardian._
+
+"Mr. Thornely has produced a very interesting volume, as he has not only
+figured every monumental brass within the two counties to which he has
+confined his researches, but in every case he has given a description
+also, and in some instances the genealogical information is of a high
+order of value."--_The Tablet._
+
+"The book is wonderfully readable for its kind, and is evidently the
+result of careful and painstaking labour. The chapters are well condensed,
+nowhere burdened with verbiage, yet sufficiently full to serve the purpose
+in view. The illustrations of the various brasses are exceedingly well
+done, and add much value and interest to the work, which should become
+popular in Lancashire and Cheshire."--_Warrington Guardian._
+
+
+The Press on Messrs. William Andrews & Co.'s Printing and Binding.
+
+"The book is very handsomely got up."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+"A remarkably handsome volume, typographically equal to the best
+production of any European capital."--_North British Daily Mail._
+
+"The book is entitled to unstinted praise on the ground of its admirable
+printing and binding."--_Shields Daily Gazette._
+
+"Will bear comparison with the best work of the first publishing firms in
+London or Edinburgh, the printing and paper being everything the most
+fastidious could desire."--_Boston Independent._
+
+"The book is handsomely brought out."--_Scotsman._
+
+"Beautiful work in typography and binding."--_Yorkshire Post._
+
+"Very pretty binding."--_Publishers' Circular._
+
+"Most elegantly bound and tastefully printed."--_Hull Daily Mail._
+
+"Beautifully bound and printed."--_Daily Chronicle._
+
+"The letterpress is beautifully clear."--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
+
+"The printers' part is perfectly done."--_India._
+
+"The book is handsomely got up."--_Manchester Guardian._
+
+"The book is excellently printed and bound."--_Library Review._
+
+"Handsomely printed."--_Newcastle Chronicle._
+
+A notice of "Bygone Scotland" concludes as follows:--"The book forms a
+splendid addition to the works of the same series all printed at the 'Hull
+Press,' and, like all its predecessors, is printed in the exceptionally
+beautiful style which marks the productions of Mr. Andrews' establishment.
+The volume is handsomely bound, and well illustrated. Mr. Andrews is a
+bookmaker par excellence."--_Printing World._
+
+  THE HULL PRESS,
+  1, DOCK STREET, HULL.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.
+
+Superscripted characters are indicated by {superscript}.
+
+The original text contains two circular symbols which are represented by
+[symbol] in this text version.
+
+The original text contains two letters with diacritical marks that are
+not represented in this text version.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Curious Church Customs, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURIOUS CHURCH CUSTOMS ***
+
+***** This file should be named 38182-8.txt or 38182-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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+    <title>
+      Curious Church Customs, Edited by William Andrews&mdash;A Project Gutenberg eBook
+    </title>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Curious Church Customs, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Curious Church Customs
+       And Cognate Subjects
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: William Andrews
+
+Release Date: December 1, 2011 [EBook #38182]
+
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+
+
+<h1>CURIOUS CHURCH CUSTOMS.</h1>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="border"><div class="figcenter"><img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt="" /></div>
+<p class="center">AN OLD-TIME BISHOP WITH CROSIER.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="giant">Curious Church Customs</span><br />
+<span class="huge">And Cognate Subjects.</span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><small>EDITED BY</small><br />
+<span class="huge">WILLIAM ANDREWS</span>, F.R.H.S.,<br />
+<small>AUTHOR OF<br />
+&#8220;CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH,&#8221; &#8220;OLD CHURCH LORE,&#8221;<br />
+&#8220;BYGONE ENGLAND,&#8221; ETC.</small></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">HULL:<br />
+WILLIAM ANDREWS &amp; CO., THE HULL PRESS.<br />
+<br />
+LONDON:<br />
+SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, &amp; CO., LTD.<br />
+1895.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">HULL:<br />
+PRINTED BY WILLIAM ANDREWS AND CO., THE HULL PRESS.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<h2>Preface.</h2>
+
+<div class="note">
+<p>It affords me pleasure to be the means of giving to the reading public
+another volume dealing with the byways and highways of church history.</p>
+
+<p>The authors who have been good enough to favour me with contributions are
+recognised authorities on the subjects they have written about, and I hope
+their efforts will not fail to find favour with the press and the public.</p>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">William Andrews.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Hull Press</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Christmas Eve, 1894</i>.</span></p></div>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<h2>Contents.</h2>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Sports in Churches</span>, by the Rev. J. Charles Cox, <span class="smcaplc">LL.D., F.S.A</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Holy Day Customs</span>, by the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, <span class="smcaplc">B.A.</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Church Bells: When and Why they were Rung</span>, by Florence Peacock</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Inscriptions on Bells</span>, by William Andrews, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.H.S.</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Laws of the Belfry</span>, by William Andrews, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.H.S.</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Ringers&#8217; Jugs</span>, by Isaac J. Reeve</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Customs and Superstitions of Baptism</span>, by the Rev. Canon Benham, <span class="smcaplc">B.D., F.S.A.</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Marriage Customs</span>, by England Howlett, <span class="smcaplc">F.S.A.</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Burial Customs</span>, by England Howlett, <span class="smcaplc">F.S.A.</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Concerning the Churchyard</span>, by John Nicholson</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Altars in Churches</span>, by the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, <span class="smcaplc">B.A.</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Rood Loft and its Uses</span>, by John T. Page</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Armour in Churches</span>, by the Rev. J. Charles Cox, <span class="smcaplc">LL.D., F.S.A.</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Beating the Bounds</span>, by John T. Page</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Story of the Crosier</span>, by the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, <span class="smcaplc">B.A.</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_191">191</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Bishops in Battle</span>, by Edward Lamplough</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_198">198</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Cloister and its Story</span>, by S. W. Kershaw, <span class="smcaplc">F.S.A.</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Shorthand in Church</span>, by William E. A. Axon, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.S.L.</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_246">246</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Reminiscences of our Village Church</span>, by the Rev. Canon Benham, <span class="smcaplc">B.D., F.S.A.</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td></tr></table>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><span class="giant">CURIOUS CHURCH CUSTOMS.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2>Sports in Churches.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By Rev. J. Charles Cox, ll.d., f.s.a.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">In</span> medi&aelig;val and feudal days, as is well-known, our parish churches, in
+addition to their primary purpose of providing places for public worship
+and religious instruction, commonly served for various secular objects.
+They were used for manorial courts and other legal purposes of an entirely
+civil character, as well as for the meeting of spiritual and
+ecclesiastical tribunals; they served, particularly in troublous times,
+for the storage of wool and for the safe-custody of treasure chests; and
+they occasionally gave shelter, as at fair times and during the parish
+wakes, to hucksters&#8217; stalls, and to booths for the sale of victuals.
+Public opinion of those days saw nothing specially reprehensible in such
+uses of the churches, provided they were confined to the naves, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> did
+not interfere with divine service, more particularly on the Sunday and
+festivals.</p>
+
+<p>This being the case, it is not surprising to find that churches were, from
+time to time, used for what may fairly be termed &#8220;sports,&#8221; or amusements.</p>
+
+<p>The custom, once so prevalent in the great churches, of appointing a
+Boy-Bishop, or Nicholas-Bishop, which is so abhorrent to modern ideas of
+reverence, and which gradually developed in extravagance, had a
+praiseworthy commencement. It originated in the idea of rewarding, after a
+religious fashion, the most deserving choir-boy or scholar of the
+church-school. The selected lad was appointed bishop of the boys on St.
+Nicholas&#8217; Day (the patron saint of boys) during the solemn singing of the
+Magnificat, and was vested in special pontificals of a small size. He held
+the office from December 6th (St. Nicholas&#8217; Day) to December 28th (Holy
+Innocents). &#8220;The custom,&#8221; says Precentor Walcott, &#8220;prevailed in the great
+schools of Winchester and Eton, and was perpetuated by Dean Colet in his
+foundation of St. Paul&#8217;s, no doubt as a stimulus to Christian ambition in
+the boy, just as the mitre and staff are painted as the reward of learning
+on the scrolls<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> of Winchester, or in honour of the Holy Child Jesus.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The following is the statute of Dean Colet, <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 1518, on this
+subject:&mdash;&#8220;All these children shall, every Childermas Daye, come to
+Paule&#8217;s Churche, and hear the Childe Bishop&#8217;s sermone; and after be at the
+hyghe masse, and each of them offer a 1d. to the Childe Bishop, and with
+them maistors and surveyors of the scole.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The ceremonies attached to this boyish parody of a most solemn office
+varied considerably, but it is known to have existed in all the cathedral
+churches of France and Spain, as well as in many parts of Germany and
+Switzerland. In England, every cathedral, which possesses post-reformation
+records, yields abundant evidence of the Child-Bishop customs. We found
+interesting mention of it in several places when setting in order the
+chaotic mass of capitular muniments at Lichfield. An inventory of 1345
+names four small choir copes for the use of boys on the feast of Holy
+Innocents. The next century names a mitre, cope, sandals, gloves, and
+staff for the Nicholas Bishop. An invariable part of the proceedings seems
+to have been a sermon from the Boy Bishop, delivered from the usual
+pulpit. He was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> doubtless well drilled in the discourse by the chancellor,
+or by his substitute, the choir school master. Indeed, several of the
+sermons that were learnt by rote by the Boy Bishop are still extant. At
+Salisbury, the whole details are set forth in the printed procession of
+the cathedral church. In the order of the procession, on the eve of
+Innocents&#8217; Day, the dean and canons residentiary walked first, and were
+followed by the chaplains; the boy-bishop, with his boy-prebendaries,
+closing the procession as the position of the greatest dignity. The
+boy-bishop and his attendants took the highest places in choir, the canons
+carrying the incense, tapers, etc. At the conclusion of compline the boy
+gave the benediction, and until the close of the procession on the
+following evening none of the clergy of any condition were allowed to
+ascend to the upper part of the sanctuary, which was reserved for the
+choir boys and their prelate.</p>
+
+<p>In most churches the boys performed all the ceremonies, and said all the
+offices save mass during this period; in some they were even permitted to
+make a travesty of mass. On the Continent, a variety of indecent levities
+were by degrees admitted, such as the boy being dressed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> in a bishop&#8217;s
+robes reversed, and old shoes being burnt instead of incense; and when
+they had raised sufficient scandal in the church itself, they then paraded
+the streets, or sought to make levies in the market-place. To the credit
+of the church, it should be remarked that these excesses were on several
+occasions interdicted by pre-reformation councils, though apparently with
+but partial success. The Council of Basle, which sat in 1431, issued the
+following stringent canon:&mdash;&#8220;This sacred synod, detesting that foul abuse
+frequent in certain churches, in which, on certain festivals of the year,
+certain persons with a mitre, staff, and pontifical robes, bless men after
+the manner of bishops, others being clothed like kings and dukes, which is
+called the Feast of Fools, of Innocents, or of Children in certain
+countries; others practising vizarded and theatrical sports; others making
+trains and dances of men and women, move men to spectacles and
+cachin-nations; hath appointed and commanded as well ordinaries as deans
+and rectors of churches, under pain of suspension of all their
+ecclesiastical revenues for three months space, if they suffered these and
+such like plays and pastimes to be any more exercised in the church, which
+ought to be the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> house of prayer, nor yet in the churchyard, and that they
+neglect not to punish the offender by ecclesiastical censures and other
+remedies of law.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Boy-bishoping was by no means confined in England to the cathedral and
+large collegiate churches, but it was so generally prevalent and popular
+that it appears to have prevailed wherever there was a choir school,
+attached to any church, whether in town or country. The churchwardens&#8217;
+accounts of St. Mary Hill, London, 1485-6, contain the two following
+entries:&mdash;&#8220;Item, six copes for children of dyvers sortes. Item, a myter
+for a bishop at Seint Nycholas tyde, garnyshed with sylver and anelyd, and
+perles and counterfete stones.&#8221; The same accounts make mention of the
+purchase of properties for a like purpose in 1549-50 during Queen Mary&#8217;s
+reign. We have met references to a like children&#8217;s pageant in
+comparatively out-of-the-way places of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and West
+Somersetshire.</p>
+
+<p>So far as England was concerned, the show of the boy-bishop, which the
+Church had failed to suppress or to keep within decent limits was
+summarily put an end to (save for a slight revival in the days of Mary
+Tudor) by a vigorous proclamation of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> Henry VIII. This proclamation,
+issued on July 22nd, 1542, thus concludes:&mdash;&#8220;Whereas heretofore dyvers and
+many superstitious and chyldish observancies have been used, and yet to
+this day are observed and kept in many and sundry partes of this realme,
+as upon Saint Nicholas, the Holie Innocents, and such like, the children
+be strangelie decked and apparayled to counterfeit priests, bishops and
+women, and to be ledde with songs and dances from house to house, blessing
+the people, and gathering of money; and boys do singe masse and preach in
+the pulpitt, with such unfittinge and inconvenient usages, rather to the
+derysyion than anie true glorie of God, or honour of His Sayntes. The
+Kynge&#8217;s Majestie wylleth and commandeth that henceforth all such
+superstitious observancies be left and duly extinguished throughout all
+this realm and dominions.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The writings of the early reformers, as well as allusions in secular
+literature of the sixteenth century, help to prove how well-known, nay
+almost universal, was this boyish sporting and strange burlesquing of
+things sacred throughout England. In &#8220;The Catechism of the Offices of all
+Degrees,&#8221; issued by Thomas Beacon, Chaplain to Archbishop<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> Cranmer, in the
+time of Edward VI., occurs the following passage:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">&#8220;<i>Father.</i>&mdash;What if he preach not, neither can preach?</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><i>Son.</i>&mdash;Then is he a Nicholas bishop and an idol, and indeed no better
+than a painted bishop on a wall: yea, he is, as the prophet saith, &#8216;A
+dumb dog, not able to bark;&#8217; he is also, as our Saviour Christ saith
+&#8216;Unsavoury salt, worth for nothing but to be cast out, and to be
+trodden under foot of men.&#8217; Wo be to those rulers that set such idols
+and white daubed walls over the flock of Christ, whom he hath
+purchased with His precious blood! Horrible and great is their
+damnation.&#8221;</p></div>
+
+<p>At the first blush, any connection with dancing and church attendance or
+worship may seem profane and impossible; but further reflection at all
+events qualifies any too hasty generalisation. Emotions of joy and sorrow
+universally express themselves among mankind in movements and gestures of
+the body. Efforts were therefore made in early days, particularly among
+the more demonstrative people of the east and south, to reduce to measure,
+and to strengthen by unison, pleasureable emotions of joy. The dance is
+spoken of throughout the Old Testament as symbolical of rejoicing, and the
+rejoicing in their feasts is emphatically and repeatedly enjoined upon the
+Israelites. So, too, with both Romans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> and Egyptians, the dance, in
+certain circumstances, was associated with religious ceremonies, and was
+intended to express the thankful worship of the body. The dances led by
+Miriam, by Jephthah&#8217;s daughter, by Judith, and doubtless too by Deborah,
+soon occur to the mind. David also himself led the dance on the return of
+the Ark of God from its long exile; whilst from the mention in association
+of &#8220;damsels,&#8221; &#8220;timbrels,&#8221; and &#8220;dances&#8221; as elements of religious worship in
+Psalms cxvii, cxlix, and cl, it may be concluded that David incorporated
+these joyous movements in the formal rites of the established Tabernacle
+service. In later Judaism the dance certainly survived in the religious
+festivities of the feast of Tabernacles. It may therefore have come to
+pass that early Christians, realising the joyous feature of their special
+creed, expressing its constant belief in the &#8220;resurrection of the body,&#8221;
+may have desired in all honesty and innocency to occasionally associate
+the dance with festal service. The results were, however, unfortunate;
+pagan practices of a like character were, as a rule, of a licentious
+nature, and it became necessary to try and suppress all such forms of
+expression of joy or thanksgiving. St. Augustine mentions with abhorrence
+that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> dancers invaded the resting place of St. Cyprian at night and sang
+songs there, a custom that died out on the institution of vigils. Pope
+Eugenius II. (824-7) prohibited dancing in churches, thereby showing how
+usual the custom became. In 858 the Bishop of Orleans condemned the
+dancing of women in the presbytery on festivals. The Council of Avignon,
+which sat in 1209, prohibited the theatrical dances in churches which were
+sometimes the accompaniment of the vigils of Saints&#8217; days. The Councils of
+Bourges in 1286, and of Bayeux in 1300, condemned all dances which took
+place in church or churchyards.</p>
+
+<p>In the later medi&aelig;val period Morris-dancing was associated with churches,
+and the wardens not infrequently had in their possession certain
+properties that were necessary for its due performance. The Morris-dancing
+was occasionally actually performed within the churches, that is in the
+nave or at the west end; the mummers not going forth on their Whitsuntide
+round until the first dance had been given within the sacred fabric. Nor
+is it difficult for the antiquary to trace the connection between the
+Morris-dancing and the active expression of Christianity. When the Fifth
+Crusade succeeded in effecting the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> capture of Constantinople, the Latins
+in their joy celebrated the event by solemn dances in the great church of
+St. Sophia. The usual, nay almost invariable, subject of the mumming-play,
+as apart from the miracle-play, was one drawn from the crusading legend.
+St. George rescuing a Christian maid from her Turkish masters was the
+usual stock piece, whilst the joy of victory was invariably celebrated in
+the Morris (that is the Moorish) dance.</p>
+
+<p>The earliest of the Kingston-upon-Thames churchwarden accounts, which
+cover the last years of Henry VII. and the reign of Henry VIII., have
+various references to these dances. In the inventory of church property
+for 1537-8 are enumerated:&mdash;&#8220;A fryers cote of russet and a kyrtele welted
+with red cloth, a mowrens (Moor&#8217;s) cote of buckram, and four morres
+daunsars cotes of white fustian spangelid, and too gryne satin cotes, and
+disarddes cote of cotton, and six payre of garters with belles.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In the recently published and highly-interesting churchwardens&#8217; accounts
+of St. Mary&#8217;s, Reading, are the following entries for the year 1556-7:&mdash;</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td>&#8220;I&#8217;tm payed for the morrys daunsers and the<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mynstrelles mete and drinke at Whitsuntide&nbsp;</span></td><td><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span></td>
+    <td valign="bottom" align="right">iii.s.iiij.d</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>I&#8217;tm payed to them the Sondy after Mayday</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="right">xx.d</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Pd to the painter for paynting of their Cottes</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="right">ii.s.viij.d</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Pd for a peir of showes for the morris daunsers</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="right">iiij.s</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Pd for iiij dozen belles for the morrys daunsers</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="right">ij.s</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Pd for sowing of the morrys Cottes</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="right">vij.d</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>The churchwardens&#8217; accounts of St. Helen&#8217;s, Abingdon, for the second year
+of Queen Elizabeth (1559) show that &#8220;two dozen of morres belles were
+bought by the parish for a shilling.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>An injunction of Henry VIII. laid down the principle, now so generally
+accepted, that &#8220;all soberness, quietness, and godliness ought there (in
+the churches) to be used,&#8221; and enjoined that &#8220;no Christian person should
+abuse the same by eating, drinking, buying, selling, playing, dancing, or
+with other profane or worldly matters.&#8221; But this injunction was often
+treated as a dead letter up to the close of the century in which it was
+issued. In Stubb&#8217;s &#8220;Anatomie of Abuses,&#8221; first printed in 1585, we read:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">&#8220;The wild heades of the parish, flocking together, chuse them a grawnd
+captain of mischief, whom they innoble with the title of my Lord of
+Misrule. Then marche these heathen companie towards the church and
+churchyard, their pipers pypyng, drummers thonderyng, their stumpes
+dauncyng, their belles jyngling, their handkerchefes swyngyng about
+their heads like madmen, their hobbie-horses and other monsters
+skyrmishyng amongst the throng; and in this sorte they go to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> the
+church (though the minister be at praier or preachyng) dauncing and
+swyngyng their handkerchiefs over their heads in the churche, like
+devilles incarnate, with such a confused noise that no man can heare
+his owne voyce. Then the foolish people, they looke, they stare, they
+laugh, they fleere, and mywnt upon the formes and pewes to see these
+goodly pageants solemnized in this sort. Then, after this, about the
+church they go againe and againe, and so fourthe into the churchyard,
+where they have commonly their summerhalls, their bowers, arbours and
+banquetyng houses set up, wherein they feast, banquet and dance all
+that day, and peradventure, all that night too, and thus these
+terrestrial furies spend the sabbath daie.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In the days of the antiquary, Sir John Aubrey, who died in 1697, there was
+Christmas dancing in various Yorkshire churches, accompanied with songs of
+Yule.</p>
+
+<p>The mounted reindeer antlers, as well as the dresses and other properties
+of the remarkable horn dancers of Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire, are still
+kept in the parish church, where we recently had an opportunity of
+examining them when investigating the history of this highly interesting
+survival. The dance still continues year by year, and there seems no doubt
+that the tradition is true which assigned to the performers a preliminary
+dance through the churches before they started on their rounds through the
+parish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> and neighbourhood, collecting money for church purposes. There are
+those living who can recollect the accompanying music being played in the
+church porch, whilst the dancers executed their steps in the adjacent
+parts of the churchyard.</p>
+
+<p>A singular and attractive relic of the custom of dancing in churches is
+still practiced three times a year in the great cathedral of Seville,
+namely on the feasts of the Immaculate Conception, and of Corpus Christi,
+and on the last three days of the Carnival. Ten choristers, dressed in the
+costume of pages of the time of Philip III., with plumed hats, dance a
+stately but most graceful measure, for about half-an-hour, within the iron
+screens in front of the high altar. They are dressed in blue and white for
+the Blessed Virgin, and in red and white for Corpus Christi. The boys
+accompany the minuet-like movements with the clinking of castanets. During
+the measure, a hymn, arranged for three voices with orchestral
+accompaniment, is sung in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. The refrain to
+the verses is as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Tu nombre Divino,<br />
+Jesus, invocamos,<br />
+Y Dios Te adoramos<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>Por nos encarnado,<br />
+Yen hostia abreviado<br />
+De celico pan!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The canons of the Church of England, as well as the visitation articles of
+several of our bishops soon after the Reformation, afford plain proof of
+the not infrequent continuance of sports and feastings within the
+churches.</p>
+
+<p>The 48th of Bishop Hooper&#8217;s visitation articles runs as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">&#8220;Item, that the churchwardens do not permit any buying, selling,
+gaming, outrageous noises, tumult, or any other idle occupying of
+youth, in the church, church porch, or churchyard, during the time of
+common prayer, sermon, or reading of the homily.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Still more explicit is the 61st article of the provincial visitation of
+Archbishop Grindal:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">&#8220;Whether the ministers and churchwardens have suffered any lords of
+misrule, or summer lords or ladies, or any disguised persons, or
+others, in Christmas or at May-games, or any morris-dancers, or at any
+other times to come, unreverently into the church or churchyard, and
+there to dance, or play any unseemly parts, with scoffs, jests, wanton
+gestures, or ribald talk, namely in the time of Common Prayer; and
+what they be that commit such disorder, or accompany or maintain them?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The 88th Canon of the Church of England<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> (1603), under the heading,
+&#8220;Churches not to be profaned,&#8221; says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">&#8220;The churchwardens or questmen, and their assistants, shall suffer no
+plays, feasts, banquets, suppers, church-ales, drinkings, temporal
+courts or leets, lay-juries, musters, or any other profane usage to be
+kept in the church, chapels or churchyard.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With regard to plays in churches, it has to be recollected that the
+medi&aelig;val Miracle Play, particularly in England, had its origin in an
+elaboration of the liturgy at special seasons, in order to bring home
+Christian truths more closely to the understanding of an unlettered
+people. The primitive Passion play consisted in the solemn removal of the
+Crucifix on Good Friday, the laying it away beneath the altar or in a
+specially constructed &#8220;sepulchre,&#8221; the setting of a watch to guard it and
+the raising it again with joyous anthem on the Resurrection morn of
+Easter. After the third lesson, before the <i>Te Deum</i> at mattins on Easter
+Day (according to the English use), the clergy walked in procession to the
+high altar, where two singingmen took the parts SS. Peter and John, whilst
+three altos, in albes, represented the three Maries, to each of whom
+certain words were assigned. The same colloquy was repeated at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> Mass as
+part of the sequence. So, too, with Nativity plays, they had their origin
+in the parts assigned to the choir boys and singing men, as representing
+angels, shepherds, wise-men, etc. A manger was always erected in one part
+of the church, and as the play developed a throne for Herod was placed in
+another position, whilst a distant corner was supposed to represent Egypt.</p>
+
+<p>As the Miracle Plays grew in importance and popularity, their
+representation in churches became increasingly impossible, if any regard
+was to be had to scenic effects. Hence the actors ceased to be the clergy
+and choir, their place being taken by members of trade-gilds, or by
+wandering players. Occasionally, however, these playing troops were
+allowed to use the churches, of which, if space permitted, a variety of
+instances, many of our own culling, could be given. Nay, the authorities,
+both in pre-reformation and post-reformation times were occasionally lax
+enough to suffer secular country dramas and rude representations of
+historic scenes to be given by the players in the naves of the parish
+churches.<a name='fna_1' id='fna_1' href='#f_1'><small>[1]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>In the churchwarden&#8217;s accounts of St. Michael&#8217;s,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> Bath, under the year
+1482, are several entries pertaining to the miracle players, who doubtless
+performed in the church, and who certainly partook of their refreshment in
+the same place. The players received a preliminary refresher on their
+arrival, which is thus expressed in the original:&mdash;</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td><i>Propotatione le players in recordacione ludorum</i><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>diversis vicibus</i></span></td><td><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span></td><td align="right"><i>iij.d.</i></td></tr></table>
+
+<p>They seem to have been paid chiefly in kind, as the accounts are charged
+with&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">Two bushels of corn, two dozen pots of beer, and cheese, to the value
+of 1.s. 1.d. for the play. The wardens also paid for this play 20.d.
+for skins, which would be used for disguisements, and 3.s. for
+staining diverse properties that were provided for the occasion.</p>
+
+<p>Another entry relative to the same visit, has, we think, been
+misinterpreted by Rev. Prebendary Pearson, when he edited these accounts
+in 1878. The entry reads:&mdash;</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td><i>Et Johi Fowler pro cariando le tymbe a cimiterio</i><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>dicto tempore ludi</i></span></td><td><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span></td><td align="right"><i>v.d.</i></td></tr></table>
+
+<p>Mr. Pearson thought this meant a tomb (<i>tymba</i>), but it is far more likely
+that it was a bulky platform of timber, placed in the churchyard when not
+in use, and only brought into the church when it was required to serve as
+a stage.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>With regard to feasting in churches, one of the canons put forth in 1571
+specially enjoined the churchwardens to disallow the holding of feasts,
+drinking parties, banquets, and public entertainments within the walls of
+churches. The Church-ales, Clark-ales, and Bid-ales, about which so much
+has been written, were originally held within the fabric, and a variety of
+other drinking and eating customs in the same place were at one time
+prevalent, lingering on for some time after the Reformation in certain
+places, and even lasting almost to our own days in occasional retired
+parishes.</p>
+
+<p>Funeral banquets, for the entertainment of mourners, were not infrequently
+held in the church when the ceremony was over, or even on the next Sunday.</p>
+
+<p>In Strype&#8217;s edition of <i>Stowe&#8217;s London</i> it is recorded that:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">&#8220;Margaret Atkinson, widow, by her will, October 18th, 1544, orders
+that the next Sunday after her burial there be provided two dozens of
+bread, a kilderkin of ale, two gammons of bacon, three shoulders of
+mutton, and two couples of rabbits, desiring all the parish, as well
+as rich as poor, to take part thereof, and a table be set in the midst
+of the church, with everything necessary therto.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We have seen wills pertaining to Porlock and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> Cutcombe, Somersetshire, to
+Scropton, Derbyshire, and to Easingwold, Yorkshire, all of the latter part
+of the sixteenth century, which expressly provide for the refreshment of
+the mourners within the church.</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally, too, parochial charities provided that the bequest in kind
+should be consumed in the church. This was the case with regard to a small
+seventeenth century charity, by the terms of which a certain quantity of
+bread and beer were to be distributed in the parish church of
+Barton-le-Street, Yorkshire, on Holy Thursday to the children of the
+parish, to be by them consumed within the church, close to the tomb of the
+testator. This custom prevailed until about 1820, when it was abandoned in
+favour of the churchyard. The reformed custom prevailed for some twenty
+years, when it in turn gave way to a distribution of the fund in money to
+the aged poor.</p>
+
+<p>Sad and quaint instances of the occasional evil uses of churches in recent
+times, even during the present century, could be gleaned, such as
+cock-fighting, card-playing, etc.; but the record would be of no profit,
+for they would not be examples of any once established custom, but mere
+freaks of wanton impiety.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Holy Day Customs.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, b.a.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">It</span> is not surprising that a multitude of quaint customs has sprung up
+around the holy days of the church. For these were the holidays of the
+people in &#8220;Merrie England&#8221; of the bygone times; the seasons when gossips
+met to talk, and young folk to play, and all the country-side was gathered
+first in the church, and then on the village green, or round their
+neighbours&#8217; hospitable hearths. By sermon or by eloquent device of ritual,
+the parish priest endeavoured to imprint upon the simple minds of his
+flock the great truth which the holy day commemorated; and they, on their
+part, as free for the day from responsibility as from labour, showed their
+joy in a hundred different jests and homely sports. Within the church and
+without, therefore, was there ample scope for curious customs to grow up,
+some of which, even though the origin and meaning have been lost, live on
+among us to the present day.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>The word <i>feast</i>, in the sense of a banquet, is now so familiar to us,
+that we are in danger of altogether forgetting that originally it
+contained no allusion to eating and drinking. But so universal is the idea
+that on all days of rejoicing a meal of special dainties should form part
+of the celebration, that long before we English had wrought the word into
+its present form, the Roman poets had begun to use its Latin original in
+the sense of a festal banquet. Certainly no high day is complete and
+national with us unless it include a dinner amongst its pleasures. We
+find, therefore, in surveying the holy day customs of yore, signs of much
+merry-making of this kind, and particularly of the dedication of special
+viands to certain occasions.</p>
+
+<p>From time immemorial, for instance, Christmas cheer was incomplete without
+its mince-pies and plum-pudding; the former emblematic, so some say, by
+their shape, of the manger-bed of the Infant Redeemer, and the latter by
+its rich ingredients of the offerings of the three kings. The pancakes of
+Shrove Tuesday are equally universal, and form so conspicuous a part of
+the day&#8217;s solemnities that the day is often known as &#8220;pancake-day,&#8221; and
+the bell which formerly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> summoned the faithful to the shriving was
+similarly named the &#8220;pancake-bell.&#8221; In many parts of the country, as for
+example at Crowle, in North Lincolnshire, the bell is still rung under
+that name.</p>
+
+<p>Mid-Lent, or Mothering Sunday, has its peculiar fare in simnel cakes. Few
+days in the year have received so many titles as this one. It is Mothering
+Sunday from the ancient practice of priests and people going, on that day,
+in pilgrimage to the mother-church of the district, from which arose also
+a traditional habit of children visiting their parents on the same
+occasion. At this family re-union simnels were the proper fare. But the
+day is also Bragget Sunday, from the draughts of bragget, or mulled ale,
+with which, in some parts, notably in Lancashire, the cakes were washed
+down. Again it is Fag-pie Sunday, from another refection sacred to it in
+the same county, namely a pie of figs and spices. Refreshment Sunday, and
+the Sunday of the Five Loaves, have reference to the Eucharistic Gospel
+for the day.</p>
+
+<p>The following Sunday, Passion Sunday, has its special dish in <i>carlings</i>,
+or peas fried in butter; and on Palm Sunday figs were again thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+appropriate. A strange custom, existing till comparatively recent times at
+Sellack, in Hertfordshire, was the distribution to those present at church
+on Palm Sunday of buns and cider by the churchwardens, with the words,
+&#8220;Peace and good neighbourhood.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Even the great fast of the year has its peculiar food in the hot cross
+buns of Good Friday. These are probably a survival of the heathen practice
+of offering consecrated cakes to the gods. They were originally unleavened
+cakes, made, it is said, from the dough out of which the hosts for the
+altar were baked, a fact which suggests a connection with the Pascal
+regulations of the Jews. The stamp of the cross probably marks the effort
+of the church to give a Christian significance to a practice that was
+found to be practically ineradicable.</p>
+
+<p>Easter, the &#8220;Queen of Festivals,&#8221; has no fare so unmistakably assigned to
+it as some other holy days. Hare-pie is the correct thing in some places,
+and at Hallaton, in Leicestershire, there is an endowment for providing
+hare-pie, bread, and ale, for distribution at this season. At Twickenham
+two large cakes were formerly divided among the young folk of the parish
+at Easter; a harmless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> practice which the Puritans suppressed in 1645,
+with the result that often attends the efforts of busy-bodies, matters
+were altered for the worse; for, thenceforward, penny loaves were
+purchased with the money, and flung from the Church Tower to be scrambled
+for. At Biddenden, in Kent, a large number of cakes and loaves are given
+away on this day, on the former of which is impressed the image of two
+females, joined together at hip and shoulder. These are the &#8220;Biddenden
+Maids,&#8221; Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst, who are said to have been born in the
+village, in the year 1100, thus strangely joined, and in whose memory the
+rent of a plot of land, called the &#8220;Bread and Cheese Land,&#8221; is thus
+distributed.</p>
+
+<p>Other viands traditionally connected with certain holy days are the great
+spiced-cakes on Twelfth Night, and Valentine Buns given to children in
+Leicestershire, on S. Valentine&#8217;s Day. A special &#8220;brand&#8221; of toffee is made
+at Bozeat, in Northamptonshire, for S. Andrew&#8217;s Day; and roast goose has
+long been considered essential to the due observance of Michaelmas.</p>
+
+<p>Reference was made above to the survival of heathen customs among us, in a
+dress more or less Christian; and there can be no doubt that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> such is the
+fittest description of very many holy day practices. Some usage was found
+in vogue, in itself harmless enough, but allied by long association with
+the superstitions of paganism. In some cases the mere conservatism of
+popular feeling kept these alive, after all meaning had died out of them;
+but in many instances the church took them up, and gave to the dry bones
+of the heathen custom a soul of Christian meaning. Conspicious among such
+are the use of mistletoe, and the burning of the Yule-log, as adjuncts to
+the gaiety and brightness of the Feast of the Nativity. Mistletoe was the
+most sacred of plants in the days of the Druids; and it is certainly one
+of the most extraordinary examples of the tenacity of life displayed by
+popular customs, that a tradition of special privilege should still cling
+to the mistletoe in spite, not only of the passage of so many centuries,
+but even of the exterminating wars waged against the Druids by the Romans,
+and against the Britons generally by the English. It was these same
+English forefathers of ours who taught us to burn the Yule-log in
+sacrifice to Thor the Thunderer.</p>
+
+<p>Again, there can be little question that the &#8220;well-dressing,&#8221; or
+decoration of springs of water<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> with moss and flowers, so common in
+Derbyshire, had its origin in the worship of the nymphs or goddesses of
+stream and river; yet now in almost every case it has become part of the
+celebration of some Christian festival. At Tissington, which claims to
+have the only real survival of the custom, it takes place on Ascension
+Day; at Derby, and Wirksworth, at Whitsuntide; at Barton on the Thursday
+nearest to S. John the Baptist&#8217;s Day. A pagan rite still existing without
+Christian &#8220;baptism,&#8221; is found in the bon-fires that yearly crown the
+Cornish hill-tops on the night of Midsummer Day.</p>
+
+<p>Some sports and games were in the past traditionally associated with
+certain church festivals, for reasons which in most cases are not very
+clear. In Derbyshire, particularly in the county-town, and in Ashbourne,
+Shrove Tuesday was marked by the playing in the streets of a rough and
+unorganised game of football, in which a large part of the populace took
+part. School children were very generally supposed to have the privilege
+of demanding a holiday on that day, or even of enforcing one by locking
+the master out of the school-house. At Haxey, in North Lincolnshire, the
+&#8220;Haxey Hood,&#8221; is always thrown on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> Feast of the Epiphany. This curious
+sport consists in the struggle for a roll of coarse sacking, about three
+inches in diameter, and two feet long, known locally as the &#8220;hood,&#8221; and is
+the occasion of much wild excitement. This is said to have no connection
+with the holy day, except that it is a commemoration of some local contest
+that chanced originally to happen on that day. A similar reason is given
+for the fact that the town of Stamford formerly celebrated S. Brice&#8217;s Day
+with the brutal sport of bull-running.</p>
+
+<p>Other curious customs, such as the cracking of a gad-whip in Caistor
+Church, on Palm Sunday, by which a local land tenure was maintained, and
+which survived until 1846, were evidently associated, each with its
+special day, by a merely arbitrary arrangement, having no allusion
+whatever to the festival. To the same class belongs, perhaps, the ceremony
+of washing the tomb of Molly Grime, at Glentham, in Lincolnshire, by seven
+old spinsters, every Good Friday. This was regularly done until 1832, a
+neighbouring property being charged with the payment of one shilling each
+to the washers, but since that date, the tomb has been abandoned to a
+condition more typical of its occupant&#8217;s name. Another strange usage, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+meaning of which it is hard to conjecture, was the pinning of bits of
+coloured rag to the back of the women on their way to church, on Palm
+Sunday, a sport once found full of amusement by the lads of Leigh, in
+Lancashire.</p>
+
+<p>Another class of holy day usages consists of endeavours to reproduce, in
+some more or less realistic manner, the fact commemorated by the festival,
+with a result that to us seems grotesque at times, if not profane.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the more obvious of these, we must reckon the singing of carols at
+Christmas, a memorial of the angelic hymn heard by the shepherds at
+Bethlehem; and the doll laid in a decorated box, rudely representing the
+Holy Child in His manger-bed, which children frequently carry from door to
+door at that season. The miners of Llwynymaen, when asking for Christmas
+gifts, used at one time, it is said, to carry boards to which lighted
+candles were fixed, in allusion no doubt originally to the coming of the
+&#8220;Light of the World.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The cruel custom of stoning a wren to death on S. Stephen&#8217;s Day, once
+generally prevalent, is well-known, and was an obvious endeavour after
+commemorative realism. At Padstow, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> Cornwall, the same scene was
+enacted less objectionally on the Eve of the Conversion of S. Paul, by the
+stoning of a pitcher, whence that day was locally known as &#8220;Paul&#8217;s Pitcher
+Day.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The royal offering of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, at the Chapel Royal,
+S. James&#8217;s, on the Feast of the Epiphany, was once a ceremony of real
+dignity, but is now rather a paltry business, interesting chiefly as one
+of the most curious of survivals. The royal charities on Maunday Thursday,
+are really a portion of an otherwise lapsed custom, which recalled the
+action of our Lord on the day before His Crucifixion. Down to the reign of
+James II. the king attended by some of the great officers of his court,
+washed the feet of a number of poor people on this day, and then
+distributed money, food, and clothing among them. The lads of Kendal have
+a different way of keeping the day; in parties of a dozen or so, they
+drag, or used to drag, tin cans through the streets, beating them with
+sticks, until they were quite demolished. Can this, one wonders, be in any
+way related to that Good Friday custom of Spanish sailors, the beating and
+hanging in effigy of Judas the Traitor?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>An old Dorset poet, Barnes, says, referring to a well-known Easter custom:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Last Easter I put on my blue<br />
+Frock coat, the vust time, vier new;<br />
+Wi&#8217; yaller buttons aal o&#8217; brass,<br />
+That glittered in the zun like glass,<br />
+Bekaze &#8217;twer Easter Zunday.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>No good luck can attend you, so the belief was, unless you wear at least
+one new thing on Easter Day. The fancy probably arose from an idea of the
+&#8220;newness of life&#8221; of which the festival speaks to us. Easter eggs again
+were obviously used at first as supplying a fitting emblem of the
+Resurrection. As a rule they are simply treated as pretty ornaments, but
+at Li&egrave;ge, in Belgium, boys have a kind of game with them, similar to an
+English lad&#8217;s use of chestnuts, knocking two together; the boy whose egg
+remains unbroken the longest being proclaimed the conqueror.</p>
+
+<p>The subject of holy day practices is an immense one, especially when one
+wanders into all the bye-paths of local peculiarities. All of them, no
+doubt, had their meaning in times past, and therefore their use; if some,
+having now become unintelligible or even foolish forms, drop year by year
+into disuse, we can scarcely, from mere love<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> of the olden days, regret
+them. But all the more tenaciously should we cling to those old customs,
+which have still a living soul in them, still a lesson to teach. Our
+forefathers, with their ready wit in finding means for impressing truth on
+the mind through the medium of the eye, showed a deeper knowledge of human
+nature than some of their sons, who boast so freely of the superior wisdom
+of the nineteenth century.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Church Bells: When and Why they were Rung.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By Florence Peacock.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">Bells</span> filled a much more important place in the lives of our ancestors
+than they do in ours. From the time that Britain became Christian until
+the Reformation, there was scarcely an event in public or private history
+into which they did not enter&mdash;they were rung to celebrate the birth of an
+heir to the rich and noble, they were heard at his daughter&#8217;s marriage,
+and the marriages of his dependants; they sounded alike for high and low,
+rich and poor, when the soul was passing away; and again some hours after
+death had taken place; as well as at the funeral. On these occasions, and
+upon many others, it was the universal custom to ring them, but there were
+also what may be termed local events in honour of which they were chimed;
+these differed in various parts of the country; in many cases adjoining
+parishes followed totally different rules in this respect. Some of these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
+customs are so quaint that they are worth recording, not only as memorials
+of a past that we can but dimly enter into, but as throwing considerable
+light upon the manners and doings of our forefathers.</p>
+
+<p>As far as we are aware no complete collection of these old usages relating
+to the ringing of Church Bells has ever been made, though there is much
+valuable information to be found upon the subject in the various books
+upon bells which have been published during the last twenty-five years. It
+is said that year by year fewer bells are heard to ring upon the
+twenty-ninth of May, but &#8220;Oak-apple Day,&#8221; as it is still called in many
+parts of England, is yet celebrated by the bells of Swineshead, amongst
+other places; and also by sprays of oak leaves being worn, though in the
+northern and eastern counties, if the season be a late one, it is somewhat
+difficult to obtain them. Some six or seven years ago many of the engines
+of trains running upon the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway
+were decked with branches of oak on that day; and it is no uncommon thing
+to see the plough boy adorn the heads of his horses with sprays of oak
+leaves in memory of King Charles&#8217;s escape. There is an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> entry in the
+churchwardens&#8217; accounts belonging to the church of St. Mary at
+Stamford:&mdash;&#8220;1709 Pd. Richard Hambleton for ale for the Ringers on ye 29
+May ... 00 06 00.&#8221; We find three years later the ringers at the church of
+All Saints in the same town received five shillings for ringing the bells
+upon the twenty-ninth of May. At Waddington it has been the custom from
+sometime which is now forgotten to ring one or two strokes on the tenor
+bell to publish the fact that an apprentice belonging to the parish is
+&#8220;out of his time.&#8221; The fifth of November was a day of general bell-ringing
+all over the country, and we believe they are still sounded in many parts
+of England to call to mind the escape of King, Lords, and Commons from the
+Gunpowder Plot; Guy Fawkes is to be seen burning through the length and
+breadth of the land, and crackers and bonfires are usual. There is a
+curious inscription upon the second bell at Owmby, commemorating the
+events of 1605; it is dated 1687, and bears upon it:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;<span class="smcap">Let vs remember the 5 of November.</span>&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The churchwardens&#8217; accounts of S. John the Baptist at Stamford contain the
+following <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>entry:&mdash;&#8220;1608 Item paid for Rynging the vth of November vi<sup>d</sup>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In some places the bells are rung to summon people to attend the vestry
+meeting which is held on the Monday after Easter Sunday, to elect the
+churchwardens for the following term of office, to pass the church
+accounts for the year, and to transact various other business; this is
+done amongst other places at Bottesford and Epworth (the latter celebrated
+as being the birth-place of John Wesley, the former for possessing the
+most perfect specimen of an Early English church to be found in the
+northern part of Lincolnshire).</p>
+
+<p>On Shrove Tuesday it was the general custom in pre-Reformation times to
+call the people to church, that they might confess their sins before Lent;
+this was done by one of the bells being rung, or more likely tolled, but
+in later times the real reason for which its sound was heard has been
+forgotten by the people, and where the custom has been kept up it has now
+got to be called &#8220;The Pancake Bell,&#8221; because it is usual to have pancakes
+upon this day, the last of feasting, before the fast of Lent begins, and
+Shrove Tuesday is often known by the name of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> &#8220;Pancake Tuesday.&#8221; This bell
+is rung in a great many places, though the present writer never happened
+to hear it: noon is the usual time for it to be heard, and at Navenby it
+used to be rung by the eldest apprentice in the place, but this part of
+the custom is now obsolete. Our forefathers believed that the ringing of
+church bells had the effect of allaying storms; this is illustrated by an
+entry in the Spalding churchwardens&#8217; accounts:&mdash;&#8220;1519 It&#8217;m pd. for ryngng
+when the Tempest was, iijd.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In some parts of the country the bells were rung on the fifth of August to
+celebrate the escape of James I. from the Gowrie Plot; there are charges
+for ringing on this day to be found in the churchwardens&#8217; accounts of
+Kirton-in-Lindsey at various times during the seventeenth century. In the
+same parish there was also the custom of ringing what is in some parts of
+the country known as the &#8220;Market Bell,&#8221; but here it was, and we believe is
+still, called the &#8220;Winter Ringing,&#8221; because it was only done during the
+months of November, December, and January, from seven until eight o&#8217;clock,
+on Tuesday and Thursday evenings&mdash;on the former night to guide people home
+who had attended the Gainsborough market,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> and upon the latter to aid
+those who had been to Brigg market to find their way back again. This was
+a useful precaution when the country was unenclosed, as the sound of the
+bells told people when they were going in the right direction; the same
+was done in the neighbouring parish of Scotton on the Tuesday night. The
+custom is still kept up at Kirton-in-Lindsey during November and December,
+but we believe the bells are not heard upon these two evenings after
+Christmas, the modern idea being that the ringers are practising for that
+great festival of the Church.</p>
+
+<p>Bells very often had names bestowed upon them; there is one in St. Mark&#8217;s
+Church, Lincoln, always spoken of as &#8220;Old Kate,&#8221; and &#8220;Great Tom&#8221; of Oxford
+has a world-wide reputation. Many old bells have unfortunately been sold,
+in some cases to obtain money with which to repair the churches; in others
+we fear the money merely went into the pocket of the holder of the living,
+or those of the churchwardens; it was for the former reason that two bells
+at Cadney were parted with during the last century. A writer in the
+<i>Gentleman&#8217;s Magazine</i>, in 1849 (p. 158), states that there is reason to
+believe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> that, since the death of Edward VI., not less than four hundred
+bells have, from one cause or another, been lost in Lincolnshire alone.</p>
+
+<p>In some parishes the bells are rung at the close of the morning service
+upon Sunday, and at Harpswell it was, until very lately, the custom to
+ring a bell at noon if by any chance there should be no morning service.
+It is popularly said, but on what authority we know not, that this bell
+was meant to warn those who were preparing dinner that the time for that
+important meal had nearly arrived. The custom of ringing a bell at the
+conclusion of the morning service still obtains at Kirkleatham.
+Inscriptions upon bells are very common, sometimes they are in English,
+but on the older bells it is more usual to find them in Latin. There is a
+bell at Alkborough which is believed to be of the early part of the
+fourteenth century, with the following inscription upon it:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Jesu For Yi Moder Sake Save All<br />
+Ye Sauls That Me Gart Make<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Amen.&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>At Semperingham, on an early sixteenth bell, there is to be found a very
+useful piece of advice:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Be Not Ouer Busie;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>and a bell at Benniworth merely puts on record the year in which it was
+made:&mdash;&#8220;Anno Domini 1577;&#8221; is by no means an uncommon thing to find only a
+date upon bells. Many of them have the names of the churchwardens for the
+time being, or the name of the giver of the bell or bells; at Burgh we
+find:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;William Pavlin chimed so well<br />
+He payd for casting of this bell. 1589.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Most likely he was one of the ringers, but whether he gave the bell, or
+only paid for its recasting, we do not know. In certain parishes the bells
+are tolled before midnight on the thirty-first of December for the dying
+year; then comes a few minutes pause, and a joyous peal heralds the advent
+of the new year. This is done, amongst other places, at Kirton-in-Lindsey;
+the writer heard 1893 tolled out and 1894 ushered in with a peal on those
+beautiful bells; and we know that it was the custom there in 1632, for we
+find under that date in the churchwardens&#8217; accounts:&mdash;&#8220;Item to the ringers
+of new yeare day morninge xijd.&#8221; The church of this parish is dedicated to
+S. Andrew, and in 1658, there is an entry as follows:&mdash;&#8220;It&#8217; to the ringers
+on St. Andrewes day 0 1 0.&#8221; The patron saint of Scotland seems<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> in some
+parts of England to be held in high esteem; in Lincolnshire alone there
+are no less than sixty-eight churches dedicated to him. There is a curious
+tradition about the most widely known bell in Lincolnshire; it is to the
+effect that, when at the recasting of &#8220;Great Tom of Lincoln&#8221; in the
+Minster Yard, sometime during the January of 1610-11, that certain of the
+pious citizens determined to do all that lay in their power to make the
+tone of the bell as pure as possible, and therefore threw into the molten
+mass of metal much treasure in the form of silver tankards, spoons, and
+sundry other objects formed of that precious metal. That there is not the
+slightest truth in the story was clearly proved when the bell was once
+more recast in 1834, for upon a piece of the metal of which it was
+composed being assayed, it was found to contain a very small proportion of
+silver. It is strange that this belief in the power of silver to add
+sweetness to the tone of bells should be such a general one; we find it
+existing in almost all the countries of Europe, in spite of the fact that
+the experiment of mixing an undue proportion of this metal has always been
+found to impair their sound. The writer was once informed that the reason
+the bells of S. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>Martin&#8217;s-in-the-Fields, London, are so wonderfully sweet
+and clear in tone is owing to the fact that Nell Gwynn, who gave them to
+the church, insisted upon having a quantity of silver thrown into the
+metal when it was fusing. Poor pretty, sinning Nell, she was religious
+after a manner, and she has lain in S. Martin&#8217;s Church upwards of two
+hundred years, whilst the bells she gave have sounded, and still sound,
+above her grave. She left a bequest to the ringers, the interest of which
+was to be devoted to purchasing a leg of mutton for them to sup upon every
+Monday evening.</p>
+
+<p>Sacring bells were, it is believed, to be found in all churches before the
+Reformation; they were rung to inform the congregation that the Elevation
+of the Host was about to take place. There is some difficulty in
+distinguishing between this bell and the Sanctus Bell, they seem in many
+cases to be the same, and in others separate. A small sacring bell was
+discovered in Bottesford Church (Lincolnshire) during its restoration in
+1870. When the plaster was removed from the west end of the southern aisle
+it was seen that one of the stones in the wall was merely loosely placed
+in position, not built firmly in like the rest of the masonry; it was
+removed, and behind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> it, in a hole evidently made on purpose to receive
+it, was the bell. This bell is now in the possession of the Society of
+Antiquaries, and a full description of it is given in <i>Proceedings of the
+Society of Antiquaries</i>, 2nd series, vol. 5, p. 24.</p>
+
+<p>There was formerly a small bell at Hemswell, named the Agnus Bell; it may
+perhaps have been so called by reason of its being rung at the Elevation,
+which was immediately followed by the singing of the <i>Agnus Dei</i>. The
+following alludes to it:&mdash;&#8220;Itm ... an agnus bell gone owtt of the fore
+sayd churche, no man knoweth how, ano dome a thowssand five hundreth three
+schore and fowre.&#8221;<a name='fna_2' id='fna_2' href='#f_2'><small>[2]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>In many churches, bells and other articles were returned in 1566 as lost
+or missing, and no reasonable explanation of the apparently gross
+carelessness given. There can be but little doubt that they were secretly
+taken away in order that they might escape destruction; in some cases it
+may be that they were hidden like the bell at Bottesford, but it is
+probable that more often they were taken to the houses of the people who
+saved them; and that in after years they were lost or destroyed. Under
+Glenthworth, there is an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> entry, which seems to point to the fact that the
+bell was thus disposed of &#8220;A hand bell&mdash;gone, we cannot tell how, the same
+year,&#8221; (1566).<a name='fna_3' id='fna_3' href='#f_3'><small>[3]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>It seems to have been by no means uncommon to turn these small hand bells
+into mortars; we find this was done at Hemswell in 1566: &#8220;ij. hande
+belles, sold to Robertt Aestroppe one of the sayd churchwardens to make a
+mortar off.&#8221;<a name='fna_4' id='fna_4' href='#f_4'><small>[4]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne on November 17th, 1558, S. Hugh&#8217;s Day,
+and there are many entries to be found in churchwardens&#8217; accounts for
+ringing the bells upon that day after this date. At Kirton-in-Lindsey
+there is the following statement in 1581:&mdash;&#8220;Item for mending the belles
+aganst Sant Hew day viij<sup>d</sup>;&#8221; and then again in 1597:&mdash;&#8220;Item vpon Sante
+Hue daye viij.&#8221; No doubt the first entry means that either the wooden
+framework, or else the cords of the bells needed some slight repairs; it
+could not have been the bells themselves. There is another entry in the
+Kirton-in-Lindsey accounts that is interesting, though of a somewhat later
+date. In 1630 we find:&mdash;&#8220;Item bestowed of the ringers in ayle for Joye of
+the younge Prince xij.&#8221;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> This was for ringing the bells upon the birth of
+Charles II.</p>
+
+<p>In reading of these loyal payments one is reminded of the inscription upon
+the first bell at Witham-on-the-Hill, which evinces a very different
+spirit:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;<span class="smcap">&#8217;Twas not to prosper pride or hate<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William Augustus Johnson gave me;</span><br />
+But peace and joy to celebrate,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And call to prayer to heav&#8217;n to save ye:</span><br />
+Then keep the terms and e&#8217;er remember<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">May 29<sup>th</sup> ye must not ring</span><br />
+Nor yet the fifth of each November<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor on the crowning of a king.</span>&#8221;<a name='fna_5' id='fna_5' href='#f_5'><small>[5]</small></a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Harvest Bell was rung in various parts of the country; at
+Barrow-on-Humber it was heard very early in the morning at daybreak in the
+eighteenth century, and then again late in the evening during the weeks of
+harvest. In some parishes it used to be the custom to ring a bell at eight
+o&#8217;clock in the morning as a signal that people might then begin to glean.
+In the Louth churchwardens&#8217; accounts, in 1556, is the following:&mdash;&#8220;To
+william east for knylling the bell in harvest forgathering of the pescodes
+iiij<sup>d</sup>.&#8221; The <i>Daily Telegraph</i>, of 1st September, 1893, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>says:&mdash;&#8220;The
+&#8216;harvest bell&#8217; is rung at the Parish Church, Driffield, at five a.m. and
+eight p.m. every day during harvest, the custom is a very old one.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Advent was celebrated in some places by the ringing of the bells, usually,
+but not invariably, in the evening; the reason for this being that the
+ringers were at work during the day, and therefore it could only be done
+when the hours of labour were ended. On S. Thomas&#8217;s Day the bells were
+often rung; and it was a very widely spread, though not a universal,
+custom to ring them very early on the morn of Christmas Day. In the
+Kirton-in-Lindsey churchwardens&#8217; account we see what the ringers obtained
+for so doing in 1630:&mdash;&#8220;It&#8217; given to the Ringers at Christenmaise day at
+morne xij<sup>d</sup>.&#8221; The bells are, or were until lately, rung at five o&#8217;clock
+on Christmas morning at South Kelsey. In various parts of England they
+were rung in a great variety of ways during Lent and upon Good Friday; on
+Easter Sunday, too, there has always been great divergence as to the
+custom of bell-ringing. The Banns Peal is still to be heard in some
+places; this is a peal rung after the publication of banns of marriage, it
+is usually chimed after morning service on the first Sunday that the banns
+are &#8220;put up,&#8221; but this is by no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> means the universal practice, in some
+parishes it is rung on the first and third Sundays, in others on the third
+alone, and it varies yet again at Elsham and Searby, where it is given
+upon all three Sundays. Peals at Baptism are much rarer, but still there
+are parishes where it has been from time unknown usual to ring them. The
+curfew is yet to be heard in many places, though the hour varies, it being
+often rung at nine, and in some instances at seven o&#8217;clock, instead of at
+eight.</p>
+
+<p>In pre-Reformation times the Passing Bell, instead of being rung as it now
+is after death, was then really and truly a &#8220;passing-bell,&#8221; for it was
+heard when a person was supposed to be at the point of death, in order
+that those in whose ears it sounded might of their charity pray for a soul
+so soon to be beyond human help. After the spirit had returned unto Him
+who gave it, the Soul Bell was rung, that the living might pray for the
+dead; this soul-bell, besides being rung a few hours after death, was
+sounded again at stated intervals, at the month&#8217;s end, the three months&#8217;
+end, and so on. Surtees, the northern antiquary, alludes to this custom in
+the ballad of <i>Sir John le Spring</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>&#8220;Pray for the soul of Sir John le Spring,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When the black monks sing and the chantry bells ring.</span><br />
+Pray for the sprite of the murdered knight,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pray for the rest of Sir John le Spring.</span><br />
+<strong><span class="spacer">&#183;</span><span class="spacer">&#183;</span><span class="spacer">&#183;</span><span class="spacer">&#183;</span><span class="spacer">&#183;</span><span class="spacer">&#183;</span><span class="spacer">&#183;</span></strong><br />
+And aye the mass-priest sings his song,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And patters many a prayer,</span><br />
+And the chantry bell tolls loud and long,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And aye the lamp burns there.&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>There are numerous ways of indicating the age and sex of the departed by
+the manner in which the passing-bell is tolled; we have been informed that
+in Lincolnshire alone there are between seventy and eighty different
+methods by which this is done.</p>
+
+<p>Some few bells have upon them inscriptions showing they were meant to be
+rung as passing-bells. The third bell at Brant Broughton has on it:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Beg ye of God your soul to save<br />
+Before we call you to the grave.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It is possible that some of the customs here spoken of as now existing may
+recently have fallen into oblivion, but the term &#8220;existing&#8221; must only be
+taken to mean that it was in use at the place named when the note
+concerning it was made.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Inscriptions on Bells.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By William Andrews.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">High</span> up in the dusty belfry, whose grey shadows rarely see the face of
+man, the bells swing to and fro with unwearying zeal. But in addition to
+the lessons which pour from their eloquent mouths, should we scale the
+tall ladders of the bell tower and invade the regions of the owl and the
+bat, we shall find other teaching&mdash;that graven on the sides of the bells
+themselves&mdash;the inscriptions. Let us therefore glance over the wide field
+of interesting information thus presented to us. Allusions to the pitch of
+the bell are often the subject. A bell of Churchill, Somerset, has the
+following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Although my waiste is small<br />
+I will be heard amainst you all,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Sing on my jolly sisters.</span></p>
+
+<p>While Berrow, Somerset, is more brief:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">My treble voice<br />
+Makes hearts rejoice.</p>
+
+<p>Bruton has a recast bell saying&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Once I&#8217;d a note that none could beare,<br />
+But Bilbie made me sweet and clear.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>And similarly Compton Martin&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">My sound is good that once was bad,<br />
+Lett&#8217;s sing my sisters and be glad.</p>
+
+<p>Badgworth, Gloucester, has a similar inscription&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Badgworth ringers they were mad<br />
+Because Rigbe made me bad,<br />
+But Abel Rudhall you may see<br />
+Hath made me better than Rigbe.</p>
+
+<p>At Blakesley, Northamptonshire, the tenor bears&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">I ring to sermon with a lusty bome,<br />
+That all may come and none may stay at home.</p>
+
+<p>More pronounced is the self-congratulation of a bell of East Dean&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Me melior vere,<br />
+Non est Campana sub aere,</p>
+
+<p>and one of Hurstpierpoint, which says&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">If you have a judicious ear<br />
+You&#8217;ll own my voice is sweet and clear.</p>
+
+<p>Rye Church, in Sussex, alludes in its bells to the marriage chimes induced
+by the liberality of the bridegroom&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">In wedlock bands, all ye who join<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With hands your hearts unite.</span><br />
+So shall our tuneful tongues combine<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To bless the nuptial rite.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>At other times it is the shape that is celebrated. At Combe, Somerset, a
+bell says&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">My sound is good, my shape is neat,<br />
+&#8217;Twas Bayley made me so compleat.</p>
+
+<p>Or the size, as at Bexhill, Sussex&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Although I am both light and small,<br />
+I will be heard above you all.</p>
+
+<p>S. Mary&#8217;s, at Devizes, has another version&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">I am the first, altho&#8217; but small,<br />
+I will be heard above you all.</p>
+
+<p>Again, names of donors are often inscribed upon bells, and these are
+handed down to us from very early dates; or sometimes the fact of
+subscription is mentioned in general terms of gratitude. So Bagborough,
+Somerset, says&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Bouth owld and young did agree full well<br />
+To pay for casting of this bell,<br />
+Because a true tale it should tell.</p>
+
+<p>And Bath Abbey has a very terse bell couplet,</p>
+
+<p class="poem">All you of Bath that heare mee sound<br />
+Thank Lady Hopton&#8217;s hundred pound.</p>
+
+<p>A Devon bell has&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Squire Arundel the great my whole expense did raise,<br />
+Nor shall our tongues abate to celebrate his praise.</p>
+
+<p>These hints, or downright references on bells to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> the pecuniary means of
+their erection, may be supplemented by the inscription at Buxted, which
+promises as follows&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">At proper times my voice I&#8217;ll raise<br />
+And sound to my subscribers&#8217; praise.</p>
+
+<p>But in the last two centuries such expressions of gratitude for
+subscriptions to casting or re-casting are common enough. So in a similar
+strain speaks the bell of Alderton,</p>
+
+<p class="poem">I&#8217;m given here to make a peal<br />
+And sound the praise of Mary Neale.</p>
+
+<p>At Binstead, too, a bell says</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Dr. Nicholas gave five pound<br />
+To help cast this peal tuneable and sound.</p>
+
+<p>Bells at first bore strictly religious inscriptions; afterwards that rule
+became more relaxed, and irrelevant matters often find expression. After
+1600 the claims of religion to be alone regarded on bells may be said to
+be almost entirely passed over. Marlborough&#8217;s victories are commemorated
+on the bells of S. Helen&#8217;s, Worcester, and those of Ottery and S. Martin,
+Exeter, have medals on which are represented grotesque pieces levelled at
+the churchmen in the most approved style of medi&aelig;val satire. Sometimes,
+nay, most often,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> the poetical attempts in the inscriptions are, to say
+the least, somewhat wanting in an indefinite something that goes to make
+true poetry. Yet the simple appeals of some of them do not fall
+unregarded. So when rich men give bells we find such an inscription as
+this&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Of your charite prai for the soulles of John Slutter, John<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hunt, and Willem Slutter.</span></p>
+
+<p>An instance has been given of historical events being inscribed upon
+bells. A further one is that of the bell of Ashover, Derbyshire, which
+upon re-casting was inscribed&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">This old bell rung the downfall of Buonaparte and broke, April, 1814.</p>
+
+<p>At Tadcaster it is recorded on the fifth bell&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">It is remarkable that these bells were moulded in the great frost,<br />
+1783. C. and R. Dalton, Fownders, York.</p>
+
+<p>An extremely curious inscription appears on a bell at Pucknowle,
+Dorsetshire, dated 1629. It reads without stop or space&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Hethatvillpvrchashonovrsgaynemvstancientlatherstilmayntayne.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lather&#8221; is an old English term meaning &#8220;to make a noise.&#8221; A bell at
+Lichfield, which was destroyed in 1652, bore the following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>I am ye bell of Jesus, and Edward is our King,<br />
+Sir Thomas Heywood first caused me to ring.</p>
+
+<p>Many inscriptions on bells are, or contain, allusions to the vigilance of
+monastic times. Such is one at Ashill, Somerset, which simply says&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">I call to wake you all.</p>
+
+<p>As pithy an inscription appears on the bell of S. Ives, which is rung
+early in the morning. It is&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Arise, and go about your business.</p>
+
+<p>A Coventry bell, dated 1675, says&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">I ring at six to let men know<br />
+When too and fro their worke to goe.</p>
+
+<p>Patriotic expressions are common; among such is Brusford,</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Come let us ring<br />
+For Church and King.</p>
+
+<p>And Hurstpierpoint,</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Ye people all who hear us ring<br />
+Be faithful to your God and King.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes a whole set of bells bore inscriptions which may be read
+continuously. An instance is at S. Mary&#8217;s, Ticehurst, where the bells
+have&mdash;</p>
+
+<table style="margin-left: 10em;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">1.</td>
+    <td>I am she that leads the van,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Then follow me now if you can.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>2.</td>
+    <td>Then I speak next, I can you tell,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">So give me rope and ring me well.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">3.</td>
+    <td>Now I am third, as I suppose,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Mark well now time and fourth close.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">4.</td>
+    <td>As I am fourth, I will explain<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">If you&#8217;ll keep time you&#8217;ll credit gain.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">5.</td>
+    <td>Now I am fifth, as I suppose,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Then ring me well and tenor close.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">6.</td>
+    <td>This is to show for ages yet to come<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">That by subscription we were cast and hung</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And Edward Lulham is his name</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">That was the actor of the same.</span></td></tr></table>
+
+<p>Northfield bells, Worcestershire, give an account of the contest in the
+vestry-room which led to the completion of the peal&mdash;</p>
+
+<table style="margin-left: 10em;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">1.</td>
+    <td>Though once but five we now are six.</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">2.</td>
+    <td>And &#8217;gainst our casting some did strive.</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">3.</td>
+    <td>But when a day of meeting there was fixed.</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">4.</td>
+    <td>Appeared nine &#8217;gainst twenty-six.</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">5.</td>
+    <td>It was Wm. Kettle that did contrive<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">To make us six that were but five.</span></td></tr></table>
+
+<p>Another bell bears the date and churchwardens&#8217; names. At Coventry on a
+peal of bells, cast in 1774, are the following inscriptions&mdash;</p>
+
+<table style="margin-left: 10em;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">1.</td>
+    <td>Though I am but light and small<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">I will be heard above you all.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">2.</td>
+    <td>If you have a judicious ear<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">You will own my voice both sweet and clear.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">3.</td>
+    <td>Such wondrous power to music given,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">It elevates the soul to heaven.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">4.</td>
+    <td>Whilst thus we join in cheerful sound,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">May love and loyalty abound.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">5.</td>
+    <td>To honour both God and King<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Our voices shall in concert ring.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">6.</td>
+    <td>Music is medicine to the mind.</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">7.</td>
+    <td>Ye ringers all that prize<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Your health and happiness,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Be sober, merry, wise,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And you&#8217;ll the same possess.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">8.</td>
+    <td>Ye people all who hear me ring<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Be faithful to your God and King.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">9.</td>
+    <td>In wedlock&#8217;s bands all ye who join<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">With hands your hearts unite:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">So shall our tuneful tongues combine</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To laud the nuptial rite.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">10.</td>
+    <td>I am and have been called the common bell<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To ring when fire breaks out to tell.</span></td></tr></table>
+
+<p>On the bells of S. Peter&#8217;s, Nottingham, the appended lines appear:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 5em;">Our voices shall with joyful sound</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Make hills and valleys echo round.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">We celebrate th&#8217; auspicious morn</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">On which the Son of God was born.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Our voices shall in concert ring</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">To honour God and King.</span><br />
+<br />
+The bride and groom we greet in holy wedlock join&#8217;d,<br />
+Our sounds are emblems of hearts in love combined.<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">I toll the funeral knell,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">I hail the festal day.&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The fleeting hour I tell,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">I summon all to pray.</span></p>
+
+<p>The longest continuous bell inscriptions we have noted are from Bakewell,
+Derbyshire, and on a peal of eight bells. They run thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+<table style="margin-left: 10em;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">1.</td>
+    <td>When I begin Our merry Din,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">This Band I lead from Discord Free;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And for the Fame of human Name,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">May ev&#8217;ry Leader copy Me.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">2.</td>
+    <td>Mankind like Us, too oft are found<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Possess&#8217;d of Nought but empty Sound.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">3.</td>
+    <td>When of departed Hours We toll the Knell,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Instruction take &amp; spend the future well.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">4.</td>
+    <td>When Men in Hymen&#8217;s Bands unite,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Our Merry Peals produce Delight;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">But when Death goes his dreary Rounds,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">We send forth sad and solemn Sounds.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">5.</td>
+    <td>Thro&#8217; Grandsires and Tripples with Pleasure men range,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Till Death calls the Bob &amp; brings on the Last Change.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">6.</td>
+    <td>When Vict&#8217;ry crowns the Public Weal<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">With Glee We give the merry Peal.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">7.</td>
+    <td>Would Men Like Us join &amp; agree<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">They&#8217;d live in tunefull Harmony.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top" align="right">8.</td>
+    <td>Possess&#8217;d of deep sonorous Tone<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">This Belfry King sits on his Throne;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And, when the merry Bells go round,</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Adds to &amp; mellows ev&#8217;ry Sound;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">So in a just &amp; well pois&#8217;d State,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Where all Degrees possess due Weight,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">One greater Pow&#8217;r, One greater Tone</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Is ceded to improve their own.</span></td></tr></table>
+
+<p>During a recent visit to Bakewell church we copied an epitaph blending in
+a remarkable degree business, loyalty and religion:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p class="center">To the Memory of<br />
+Matthew Strutt.</p>
+
+<p>Of this town, farmer, long famed in these parts for veterinary skill.
+A good neighbour, and a staunch friend to Church and King. Being
+churchwarden at the time the present peal of bells were hung. Through
+zeal of the House of God, and unremitting attention to the airy
+business of the belfry he caught a cold, which terminated his
+existence May 25, 1798, in the 68 year of his age.</p></div>
+
+<p>A beautiful Latin inscription has one&mdash;a Rutland bell&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">Non clamor sed amor cantat in aure dei, <i>i.e.</i>, It is not noise, but
+love that sings in the ear of God.</p>
+
+<p>And it is in the same county that we find the modern use of the death-bell
+described,</p>
+
+<p class="poem">I sound not for the souls of the dead but the ears of the living.</p>
+
+<p>Cheltenham, too, bears out the spirit of this inscription in the
+following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">I to prayer the living do combine<br />
+The dead shall hear a greater sound than mine.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>The offices of the various bells form a large proportion of their legends,
+particularly those uses which are the most common. Thus the death bell at
+Axbridge, Somerset, states,</p>
+
+<p class="poem">For homesoever this bell doth toll<br />
+The Lord have mercy on that sole!</p>
+
+<p>Many Somersetshire bells have the following and similar inscriptions:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">to the church the living call,<br />
+And to the grave I summon all.</p>
+
+<p>Brent, Somerset, has a bell with&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">When I doth toll pray mind your souls<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And in God put your trust,</span><br />
+As may be well with you at last<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When you come to doust.</span></p>
+
+<p>And Backwell, in the same county&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">sound to bid the sick repent,<br />
+In hopes of life when breath is spent.</p>
+
+<p>A bell at Stratton, Cornwall, is shorter&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">I call the quick to church and dead to grave.</p>
+
+<p>A bell in Ghent describes the purposes for which it was used: it is not an
+uncommon form in the Netherlands. Translated it reads:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">My name is Roelant;<br />
+When I toll it is for a fire,<br />
+When I swing then there is storm in Flanders.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>Religious sentiments and quotations are found in thousands on bells old
+and new. Such are&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Te deum Laudamus.</p>
+
+<p>On the bell at Peterborough Cathedral</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Venite Exultemus Domino.</p>
+
+<p>In Westminster Abbey</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Christie audi nos.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes a letter of the inscription is found inverted; rarely a whole
+word. Such, however, is the case at Clapham, in Bedfordshire, where the
+line runs&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="center"><img src="images/church.jpg" alt="God save the hcruhC" /></p>
+
+<p>The prayers for the dead mark the religious changes of the country, and
+not less the invocations to the saints, which form one branch of bell
+lore. Elstead has a bell inscribed&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Sancta Paule, ora pro nobis.</p>
+
+<p>Washington, in Sussex, one bearing&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">O Sancte Stephane.</p>
+
+<p>And Balcombe, in the same county, one&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Vox Augustini Sonat in aure Dei.</p>
+
+<p>The uses to which bells were dedicated may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> be further exampled from their
+inscriptions. S. Michael, Coventry, has a bell bearing&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">I am, and have been called the common bell<br />
+To ring when fire breaks out to tell.</p>
+
+<p>And at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, dated 1652, a bell piously says&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Lord, quench this furious flame,<br />
+Arise, run, help put out the same.</p>
+
+<p>We may here appropriately conclude with some lines inscribed upon the
+tower of Batley Church, Yorkshire, in memory of a former set of bells:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&#8220;The Requiem of the late three bells of Batley Church, two of which
+were introduced into the tower in the 17th century, and the third or
+last in the 18th century, and were taken down in the 19th century, at
+the close of the year of our Lord 1851, bearing the following
+respective dates and inscriptions, viz., upon the middle bell: Tho.
+Deighton G. O. 1658; largest bell, 1684 Gloria in Altissimis Deo. Ric.
+Mann, Churchwarden; last and least bell, Dalton of York fecit 1791. To
+Father, Son, and Holy Ghost Eternal glory raise.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Author of the following lines, Mr. Luke Blakeley, of Upper Batley;
+third of that name in the family, and nephew of Mr. Luke Blakeley of
+the same place, who died Jan. 17th, in the year of our Lord 1836, and
+was interred in Batley Churchyard.</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;One hundred years, yea almost two,<br />
+We&#8217;ve hung in that turret grey,<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>And many changes we have seen<br />
+As time has fled away.<br />
+<br />
+We seen the bride and bridegroom gay,<br />
+We&#8217;ve chimed their joy to tell;<br />
+Alas! before the day has clos&#8217;d<br />
+We&#8217;ve toll&#8217;d the funeral knell.<br />
+<br />
+We&#8217;ve merrily rung for victories gain&#8217;d<br />
+O&#8217;er Britain&#8217;s enemies;<br />
+Then mourned for the brave who bled<br />
+To gain those victories.<br />
+<br />
+We&#8217;ve highly lauded pomp and power,<br />
+Then call&#8217;d on men to pray,<br />
+A requiem rung with the weeping and sad,<br />
+Then revell&#8217;d with the gay.<br />
+<br />
+We&#8217;ve seen the scourge of civil war<br />
+Approach where we have stood.<br />
+We&#8217;ve seen oppression&#8217;s cruel hand<br />
+Reeking with kindred blood.<br />
+<br />
+Our solemn tolling for the dead<br />
+Falls on the mourner&#8217;s ear,<br />
+Then the bereav&#8217;d and aching heart<br />
+Feels desolate and drear.<br />
+<br />
+Dirges we&#8217;ve rung for Kings and Queens<br />
+As they to the tomb went down,<br />
+Then joyfully welcom&#8217;d the heir<br />
+Who came to wear the crown.<br />
+<br />
+We saw the star of Brunswick rise<br />
+And beam upon our strand,<br />
+We see its full refulgent ray<br />
+Illumine this happy land.<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span><br />
+Victoria the sceptre sways,<br />
+And bright her virtues shine,<br />
+Long may she live, long may she reign<br />
+Best of her royal line.<br />
+<br />
+We joyfully hail&#8217;d her natal day,<br />
+We hail&#8217;d her to the throne,<br />
+We blithely hail&#8217;d her nuptial hour,<br />
+For her we ne&#8217;er shall moan.<br />
+<br />
+We&#8217;re taken from that turret grey<br />
+Where we for long have hung,<br />
+Like worn out lumber thrown away,<br />
+Forever mute, each tongue.<br />
+<br />
+And now our changes all are rung<br />
+Here ends our dying song;<br />
+Our last our final peal is done:<br />
+Farewell! Farewell! Ding Dong.&#8221;<a name='fna_6' id='fna_6' href='#f_6'><small>[6]</small></a></p></div>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Laws of the Belfry.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By William Andrews.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">The</span> ringing chambers of many old churches contain curious rules in poetry
+and prose for regulating the conduct of the ringer and the visitor. Some
+of the orders are extremely quaint, and all appear framed as a ready means
+of obtaining money in fines to be spent in beer. In bygone times there
+appears to have been a close connection between the belfry and the cellar.
+One of the best examples which has come under our notice is from
+Hathersage, Derbyshire, and dates back to about 1660:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">You gentlemen that here wish to ring,<br />
+See that these laws you keep in every thing;<br />
+Or else be sure you must without delay,<br />
+The penalty thereof to the ringers pay.<br />
+<br />
+First, when you do into the bell-house come,<br />
+Look if the ringers have convenient room;<br />
+For if you do be an hindrance unto them,<br />
+Fourpence you forfeit unto these gentlemen.<br />
+<br />
+Next if you do here intend to ring,<br />
+With hat or spur, do not touch a string;<br />
+For if you do, your forfeit is for that,<br />
+Just fourpence down to pay, or lose your hat.<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span><br />
+If you a bell turn over, without delay,<br />
+Fourpence unto the ringers you must pay;<br />
+Or if you strike, misscall, or do abuse,<br />
+You must pay fourpence for the ringers&#8217; use.<br />
+<br />
+For every oath here sworn, ere you go hence,<br />
+Unto the poor then you must pay twelvepence;<br />
+And if that you desire to be enrolled<br />
+A ringer here, these words keep and hold!<br />
+<br />
+But whoso doth these orders disobey,<br />
+Unto the stocks we will take him straightway,<br />
+There to remain until he be willing<br />
+To pay his forfeit and the clerk a shilling.</p>
+
+<p>A similar set of rules were adopted at Chapel-en-le-Frith, in the same
+county.</p>
+
+<p>The following quaint lines are from St. Peter&#8217;s, Shaftesbury:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">What musick is there that compar&#8217;d may be<br />
+To well-tuned bells&#8217; enchanting melody?<br />
+Breaking with their sweet sounds the willing air,<br />
+They in the list&#8217;ning ear the soul ensnare,<br />
+When bells ring round and in their order be,<br />
+They do denote how neighbours should agree;<br />
+But if they clam the harsh sound spoils the sport,<br />
+And &#8217;tis like women keeping Dover Court.<br />
+Of all the music that is played or sung<br />
+There&#8217;s none like bells, if they are well rung.<br />
+Then ring your bell&mdash;well if you can,<br />
+Silence is best for ev&#8217;ry man;<br />
+In your ringing make no demur,<br />
+Pull off your hat, your belt, and spur;<br />
+And if your bell you overset<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>The ringer&#8217;s fee you must expect!<br />
+Fourpence you are to pay for that.<br />
+But that if you do swear or curse,<br />
+Twelvepence is due, pooll out your purse,<br />
+Our laws are old, they are not new,<br />
+Both clerk and ringers claim their due.</p>
+
+<p>We have from Tong, Salop, the following curious dated example:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">If that to ring you do come here,<br />
+You must ring well with hand and ear;<br />
+Keep stroke of time and go not out,<br />
+Or else you forfeit, out of doubt.<br />
+Our law is so constructed here,<br />
+For ev&#8217;ry fault a jugg of beer.<br />
+If that you ring with spur or hat,<br />
+A jugg of beer must pay for that.<br />
+If that you take a rope in hand,<br />
+These forfeits you may not withstand.<br />
+Or, if that you a bell o&#8217;erthrow,<br />
+It will cost sixpence ere you goe.<br />
+If in this place you swear or curse,<br />
+Sixpence you pay&mdash;out with your purse.<br />
+Come! pay the clerk, it is his fee,<br />
+For one that swears shall not go free.<br />
+These laws are old, and are not new,<br />
+Therefore the clerk must have his due.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 10em;"><span class="smcap">George Harrison</span>, 1694.</span></p>
+
+<p>From the belfry of Dunster, Somersetshire, are the following lines:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">You that in ringing take delight,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Be pleased to draw near;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>These articles you must observe<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If you mean to ring here.</span><br />
+<br />
+And first, if any overturn<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A bell, as that he may,</span><br />
+He forthwith for that only fault<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In beer shall sixpence pay.</span><br />
+<br />
+If anyone shall curse or swear<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When come within the door,</span><br />
+He then shall forfeit for that fault<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As mentioned before.</span><br />
+<br />
+If anyone shall wear his hat<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When he is ringing here</span><br />
+He straightway then shall sixpence pay<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In cyder or in beer.</span><br />
+<br />
+If anyone these articles<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Refuseth to obey,</span><br />
+Let him have nine strokes of the rope,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And so depart away.</span></p>
+
+<p>The foregoing bears the date of 1787. We have a shorter set of orders from
+Bowden:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">ringers all, observe these orders well!<br />
+He pays his sixpence that o&#8217;erturns a bell;<br />
+And he that rings with either spur or hat,<br />
+Must pay his sixpence certainly for that;<br />
+And he that rings and does disturb ye peal,<br />
+Must pay his sixpence or a gun of ale.<br />
+These laws elsewhere, in ev&#8217;ry church are used,<br />
+That bell and ringers may not be abused.</p>
+
+<p>It is stated in Halliwell&#8217;s &#8220;Dictionary of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> Archaisms and Provincialisms&#8221;
+<i>gun</i> is a North country word for a large flagon of ale.</p>
+
+<p>From All Saints&#8217; Church, Hastings, we have the following lines:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 4em;">I. H. S.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">1.</span><br />
+This is a belfry that is free<br />
+For all those that civil be;<br />
+And if you please to chime or ring<br />
+It is a very pleasant thing.<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">2.</span><br />
+There is no musick play&#8217;d or sung,<br />
+Like unto bells when they&#8217;re well rung;<br />
+Then ring your bells well, if you can,<br />
+Silence is the best for every man.<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">3.</span><br />
+But if you ring in spur or hat,<br />
+Sixpence you pay, be sure of that;<br />
+And if a bell you overthrow,<br />
+Pray pay a groat before you go.&mdash;1756.</p>
+
+<p>Similar verses to the foregoing we have seen in several places. From the
+parish church at Grantham we have the following example, dating back to
+about the middle of the last century:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">He that in Ringing takes delight,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And to this place draws near,</span><br />
+These Articles set in his sight<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Must keep if he Rings here.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span><br />
+The first he must observe with care<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who comes within the door,</span><br />
+Must if he chance to curse or swear,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pay Sixpence to the poor.</span><br />
+<br />
+And whosoe&#8217;er a noise does make,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or idle story tells,</span><br />
+Must Sixpence to the Ringers take<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For melting of the Bells.</span><br />
+<br />
+If any like to smoke or drink,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They must not do so here,</span><br />
+Good reason why&mdash;just let them think<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This is God&#8217;s House of Prayer.</span><br />
+<br />
+Young men that come to see and try,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And do not Ringing use,</span><br />
+Must Six Pence give the company,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And that shall them excuse.</span><br />
+<br />
+So that his hat on&#8217;s head does keep,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Within this sacred place,</span><br />
+Must pay his Six Pence ere he sleep;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or turn out with disgrace.</span><br />
+<br />
+If any one with spurs to&#8217;s heels<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ring here at any time,</span><br />
+He must, for breaking articles,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pay Six Pence for his crime.</span><br />
+<br />
+If any overthrow a Bell,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As that by chance he may,</span><br />
+Because he minds not Ringing well,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He must his Six Pence pay.</span><br />
+<br />
+Or if a noble minded man<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Come here to Ring a bell,</span><br />
+A Shilling is the Sexton&#8217;s fee,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who keeps the church so well.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span><br />
+At any should our Parson sneer,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or Wardens&#8217; rules deride,</span><br />
+It is a rule of old most clear<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That such sha&#8217;nt here abide.</span><br />
+<br />
+The Sabbath-day we wish to keep,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And come to church to pray;</span><br />
+The man who breaks this ancient rule<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shall never share our pay.</span><br />
+<br />
+And when the bells are down and ceased,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It should be said or sung,</span><br />
+May God preserve the Church and King,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And guide us safely home.</span></p>
+
+<p>In September, 1875, we visited Holy Trinity Church, Hull, to ascertain if
+any Ringers&#8217; Regulations were to be found in the church. We learned, on
+enquiry, a number of quaint orders were hung up in the ringing chamber
+some years ago, but a mischievous boy mutilated them with a knife, so that
+they were taken down. The person in charge, however, kindly submitted for
+our inspection the disfigured orders, and after considerable trouble, we
+were able to make a transcript which, we think, will prove interesting:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="center"><span class="smcap">Orders.</span></p>
+
+<p>Agreed upon by the sexton and ringers of the Holy Trinity Church,
+Kingston-upon-Hull, approved of and allowed by the Rev. William Mason,
+vicar, Mr. George Maddison, and Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> Thomas Bell, churchwardens, of
+the same church, the first day of May, Anno Domini 1730, and confirmed
+by the Rev. John Healey Bromby, vicar, Thomas Mitchell, and Charles
+Anthy. Forrester, churchwardens, the first day of May, 1838.</p>
+
+<p>It is ordered, that every person who shall ring any bell with hat or
+spurs on, shall forfeit and pay sixpence for the use of the ringers.</p>
+
+<p>It is ordered, that every person who shall pull any bell from off her
+stay and cannot set her again, shall forfeit and pay for use
+aforesaid, one shilling.</p>
+
+<p>It is ordered, that every person who shall throw any bell over, shall
+forfeit and pay for the use aforesaid, sixpence, and over and above
+this in case anything be broken by such overthrow, such person shall
+also pay the charge of repairing the same again.</p>
+
+<p>It is ordered, that every person so soon as he has set his bell shall
+immediately hank up the strop or rope, or in default thereof shall
+forfeit and pay for use aforesaid, sixpence.</p>
+
+<p>It is ordered, that if any person shall untruss himself upon the lead
+in any part, or cut and mark the same with a knife or any other thing,
+such offender shall forfeit and pay for the use aforesaid, sixpence.</p>
+
+<p>It is ordered, that any person who shall have read any of these orders
+with his hat upon his head shall forfeit and pay for the said use,
+sixpence.</p></div>
+
+<p>Next appears the names of the vicar, churchwardens, ringers, who held
+office in 1730, and a similar list is given for 1838, when the above
+orders were reprinted at the expense of Mr. W. Green, a sidesman.</p>
+
+<p>The following &#8220;Articles and Orders to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> Observed by Ringers&#8221; at Stow, in
+the county of Lincoln, were written by William Swift, school-master, and
+used to hang in the ringing chamber of the church:&mdash;</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="table">
+<tr><td>All you who hath a mind to Learn to Ring</td><td><span class="spacer2">&nbsp;</span></td>
+    <td align="center">s.</td><td><span class="spacer2">&nbsp;</span></td>
+    <td align="center">d.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Must to the sexton Admission Money bring.</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">2</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">6</td></tr>
+<tr><td>These Articles observed strict must be,</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Or your expelled this society.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Two Nights a Week, Sirs, you must meet, or pay</td></tr>
+<tr><td>This Forfeiture to us without delay,</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">0</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">2</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Or when the Sexton for you tolls a bell</td></tr>
+<tr><td>You must appear, or else this Forfeit tell.</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">0</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">2</td></tr>
+<tr><td>And when you come upon this Belfry</td></tr>
+<tr><td>If that you noise or talk, this forfeit pay,</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">0</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td>When you Round peals can Ring, you must pay down</td></tr>
+<tr><td>To be a change man, Sirs, Just half-a-crown,</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">2</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">6</td></tr>
+<tr><td>On the first change that you have Learned to Ring,</td></tr>
+<tr><td>One shilling more must pay, Sirs, that&#8217;s the thing,</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">1</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">0</td></tr>
+<tr><td>And every Ringer must spend more or Less,</td></tr>
+<tr><td>As he thinks meet, to wish you good Success,</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">0</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">2</td></tr>
+<tr><td>If you would learn to prick a peal in score,</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Unto these College youths you must pay more.</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">1</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">0</td></tr>
+<tr><td>When you know Bob, Hunt, Single Dodge compleat</td></tr>
+<tr><td>You&#8217;ll not deny our College youths a treat,</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">2</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">6</td></tr>
+<tr><td>On our Feast-Day, the Twenty-ninth of May,</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Each member must, Sirs, just one shilling pay,</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">1</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">0</td></tr>
+<tr><td>When our accompts are passed, Sirs, for Truth,</td></tr>
+<tr><td>And you are stiled a College youth,</td></tr>
+<tr><td>New Stewards then are chose, and by and by</td></tr>
+<tr><td>If that you do the Stewardship deny,</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Your fine must pay&mdash;as in the margin see,</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">1</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">6</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>Then from your Stewardship one year are free.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>These Rules peruse well before you enter,</td></tr>
+<tr><td>It&#8217;s a hard task on which you venture.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>When once a member you are freely made,</td></tr>
+<tr><td>These Articles must justly be obey&#8217;d.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>So now, my Lads, admission money bring,</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">2</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="center">6</td></tr>
+<tr><td>And we will Learn you presently to ring.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="5"><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span><span class="smcap">John Marshall</span>,
+    <span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span>
+    <span class="smcap">William Smith</span>,</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="5"><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span><span class="spacer2">&nbsp;</span><span class="smcap">Master</span>.
+    <span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span><span class="smcap">Notary</span>.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>March 1st, 1770.</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>The following on a card was also placed in the belfry of Stow Church:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">We ring the quick to church, the dead to grave,<br />
+Good is our use, such usage let us have.<br />
+Who swears or curses, or in chol&#8217;ric mood<br />
+Quarrels or strikes, although he draws no blood,<br />
+Who wears his hat, or overturns a bell,<br />
+Or by unskilful handling mars a peal,<br />
+Let him pay sixpence for each single crime,<br />
+&#8217;Twill make him cautious &#8217;gainst another time.<br />
+So, when the bells are ceased, then let us sing<br />
+God bless our Holy Church&mdash;God save the Queen.</p>
+
+<p>The foregoing are a few examples of the many curious ringers&#8217; regulations
+which found a place in belfrys in bygone times. Mr. J. Potter Briscoe, in
+his &#8220;Curiosities of the Belfry&#8221; (London, 1883), gives a complete
+collection of these old-time rules in prose and poetry.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Ringers&#8217; Jugs.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By Isaac J. Reeve.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">The</span> old time belfry laws were the means of many persons being fined, and
+the money so obtained was spent in ale. Ringers&#8217; Jugs were by no means
+uncommon, and some were curious examples of the potters&#8217; art.</p>
+
+<p>There is a curious jug or pitcher belonging to the ringers of Hadleigh. It
+is a &#8220;vas ansatum&#8221; having two ears, is circular in shape, swelling out in
+the middle, and being more contracted at the ends. It is brown earthenware
+glazed. It holds sixteen quarts, and bears this inscription, very rudely
+indented, apparently with a chisel when the clay was soft, the first word
+M E, or perhaps M. E. I., is in italics, the rest in Roman capitals:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">Me, Thomas Windle, Isaac Bunn, John Mann, Adam Sage, George Bond,
+Thomas Goldsborough, Robert Smith, Henry West. (No doubt the names of
+the eight ringers.)</p>
+
+<p>Below the names,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">If you love me doe not lend me,<br />
+Euse me often and keep me clenly,<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>Fill me full or not at all,<br />
+If it be strong, and not with small.</p>
+
+<p>Below all, in the front, is the word Hadly, underneath one handle is the
+date, 17 F. G. 15, and under the other, 17 R. O. 15, the letters probably
+the initials of the potters. The jug is in the possession of Mr. Pettitt,
+of the Eight Bells Inn, who holds it for the ringers, of whom he is the
+leader. It is still occasionally used on the occasion of any profitable
+wedding, and filled every Christmas by mine host, when the ringers
+assemble for a frolic, with strong beer, which goes by the name of old
+King William, and strangers going in are expected to pay sixpence to
+assist in keeping it full, according to its own request.</p>
+
+<p>The ringers&#8217; pot&mdash;a brown glazed jug with handle, holding about two
+gallons&mdash;having the following inscription in rude letters&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Here you may see what<br />
+I request of Hanst (honest) Gentlemen<br />
+My Baly (belly) filed of the Bast I com<br />
+But now and then, 1716,</p>
+
+<p>was formerly carried from house to house by the bell-ringers of Ixworth,
+in Suffolk, to receive whatever beer the liberal parishioners might be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+disposed to bestow. It has been disused about thirty years. It was
+probably made at the celebrated pottery in the neighbouring parish of
+Wattisfield.</p>
+
+<p>A similar kind of jug, both in shape and size, to that of Hadleigh,
+belongs to the ringers of Clare. On one side is a crown in faint relief,
+under that a bell in large proportion, and on it impressed in italics:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Campane</span><br />
+Sonant canore.</p>
+
+<p>Beneath the clapper is this,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Clare Ringers,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1729.</span></p>
+
+<p>Near the base there is an aperture for a tap to draw off the beer, there
+being no spout or lip.</p>
+
+<p>At Hinderclay, in Suffolk, is a ringers&#8217; pitcher, still preserved in the
+church tower, of form and size similar to the Hadleigh jug: it is thus
+inscribed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>By Samuel Moss this pitcher was given to the noble society of ringers,
+at Hinderclay, viz., Tho. Sturgeon, Ed. Lock, John Haws, Ric. Ruddock,
+and Relf Chapman, to which society he once belonged, and left in the
+year 1702.</p>
+
+<p class="poem">From London I was sent<br />
+As plainly doth appear,<br />
+It was to this intent&mdash;<br />
+To be filled with strong beer.<br />
+Pray remember the pitcher when empty.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>A similar pitcher is in the adjoining church tower of Garboldisham,
+Norfolk.</p>
+
+<p>At the Mackworth Arms, at Swansea, a similar kind of jug may be seen in a
+niche on the staircase, but the colour is light yellow, and the
+workmanship of a superior order, it has but one handle, and the following
+inscription in two lines:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Come fill me well with liquor sweet, and that is good when friends do meet,<br />
+When I am full then drink about, I ne&#8217;er will fail till all is out.</p>
+
+<p>Underneath were representations of flowers, birds, and fishes.</p>
+
+<p>There is in the Norfolk and Norwich Museum a large jug, which was
+presented in July, 1831, by the Rev. G. R. Leathes, of Shrophan. It is of
+brown earth, glazed, dated 1676, and inscribed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">John Wayman,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">J.F.</span><br />
+Come Brother, shall we join?<br />
+Give me your twopence&mdash;here is mine.</p>
+
+<p>This most likely belonged to a company of Shrophan ringers. It has but one
+handle, and is rather curiously ornamented.</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><span class="smcap">Note.</span>&mdash;This article was written about twenty-five years ago.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Editor.</span></p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Customs and Superstitions of Baptism.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By the Rev. Canon Benham, b.d., f.s.a.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">The</span> present paper is, of course, in no sense a discussion of the
+<i>doctrine</i> of Christian Baptism. The names by which this Sacrament has
+been called, however, express, to some degree, the views which have been
+taken of it in the Christian Church, and these names must be briefly
+recounted. One of the earliest titles was <i>Indulgentia</i>, &#8220;remission of
+sin.&#8221; This is a title as old as the third century, and the idea has found
+expression in the Nicene Creed. <i>Palingenesia</i>, &#8220;new birth,&#8221; is an
+expression equally old. It will be remembered that one of the earliest
+symbolical names of our Lord Jesus Christ was <i>Ichthus</i>, &#8220;Fish;&#8221; it is
+found on the walls of the Roman Catacombs. Now this is really an acrostic,
+the letters which made it up are the initial letters of the sentence,
+&#8220;Jesus Christ, Son of God, our Saviour,&#8221; and Tertullian, the first writer
+of the Latin Church, says, &#8220;We are fishes, born in water, conformable to
+the name of our Lord Jesus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> Christ, Ichthus.&#8221; Justin Martyr (middle of the
+second century) speaks of the baptismal water as &#8220;the water of life,&#8221; and
+Cassiodorus (fifth century) calls it <i>fons divinus</i>, &#8220;the divine
+fountain,&#8221; whence comes our name &#8220;Font.&#8221; S. Chrysostom and other Greek
+fathers use the name &#8220;Illumination,&#8221; (<i>Photismos</i>,) and S. Augustine calls
+it <i>Salus</i>, &#8220;Salvation,&#8221; as he calls the Lord&#8217;s Supper &#8220;Life.&#8221; Another
+word was <i>Sphragis</i>, &#8220;Seal,&#8221; because it was the seal of a covenant made
+between God and man. This title is as old as the second century. The same
+idea is conveyed in Augustine&#8217;s expression, <i>Character Dominicus</i>, &#8220;the
+Divine, <i>i.e.</i>, stamp mark.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Baptism was rejected by some of the early heretics, chiefly by the
+Gnostics, who asserted that all religion lay in knowledge, and under
+pretence of exalting spiritual worship, would admit of no external or
+corporeal symbols whatsoever, and also by the Manich&aelig;ans, who, holding
+that all matter is in itself evil, consistently rejected the religious use
+of water. Some early heretics also objected to the use of water only,
+asserting that this was no better than the baptism of John, whereas our
+Lord was to baptize also with fire, and they seem, while baptizing with
+water, to have also touched the ears<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> with fire. Others, by some chemical
+art, created an appearance of fire on the surface of the water. (Bingham,
+iii. 414.)</p>
+
+<p>But to come down to later times, there are curious records which tell how
+the matter used in the Baptismal rite was not always water as it is with
+us. A letter of Pope Gregory to Archbishop Sigurd of Norway (<span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 1241)
+says &#8220;Forasmuch as we learnt from you, that it is sometimes the custom, on
+account of the want of water, for infants in your country to be baptized
+in ale, we hereby decree that as according to the Gospel Doctrine, it is
+necessary that they be born of water and of the Holy Spirit, they ought
+not to be accounted as baptized who are baptized in ale.&#8221; And there are
+Bulls and decrees of Councils to the same effect. In <i>Notes and Queries</i>
+(ii. 5, 524) is a quotation from an unpublished diary of the sixteenth
+century, telling how &#8220;at Prestone, Aug. 30, 1574, one Griffith ap Bedo Du,
+which dwelt at Pilleth, at the christening of his son would not have the
+same to be christened as the manner is, in water, but upon a proud stomach
+caused the water to be voided out of the font, and filled it with wine,
+and so caused his son to be therein christened.&#8221; And the diarist goes on
+to say that all the country round<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> noted from that time that &#8220;he and his
+continued to grow to decay in substance and credit until his race was
+extinguished.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Controversies concerning Infant Baptism, as well as concerning Immersion
+as distinguished from affusion, or pouring water upon the baptized, would
+be out of place here. The latter practice, rendered necessary in our
+northern climate, has led to the use of the font. Nevertheless, baptism by
+immersion is not unknown in the Church of England. Under the Church of S.
+Lawrence, Reading, there is a baptistery under the pews, and in 1866,
+these pews were temporarily removed and a family of Quakers were baptized
+in it. At Trinity Church, Marylebone and at Scarborough, there are records
+within the last few years of adults baptized by immersion. In the parish
+church of Cranbrook, in the Weald of Kent, is a curious bath for
+immersion, of which the following is the history. John Johnson, who was
+Vicar there at the end of the seventeenth century, found on entering upon
+the incumbency that there were many of his parishioners who were
+unbaptized, and who, though they were desirous of attending his ministry,
+were in favour of being baptized by immersion. The Anabaptists were strong
+in that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> district during the Commonwealth. He therefore resolved to meet
+their views. There was a flight of steps leading up, on the inside, into
+the Parvise or room over the southern porch. At the top of these steps, on
+the landing so to speak, he constructed a deep bath, reaching down in fact
+to the floor of the church, so that the minister could take the person to
+be baptized up the steps and there immerse him. This charitable concession
+to the convictions of his people is still to be seen. I believe, however,
+that there are only two records of it having been used since its erection.
+Similar baptisteries are to be seen at Ebbw Vale, Aberdare, and elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>The Canons of the Church order that the font shall be of stone. In some
+churches may still be seen a small vessel of plaster or earthenware, in
+which a little water is put for baptism, so as to save filling the font.
+But it is illegal, and is now rarely seen. Bishop Wilberforce, wherever he
+found them on Visitations, ordered their removal. In the case of private
+baptisms, some clergy keep a basin which they carry with them, similarly
+to a pocket Communion set, and use it for no other purpose. And this
+certainly seems the more reverent method. Others however use any basin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>
+which may be handy, and then send it back to its ordinary use with a view
+to prevent any feeling of superstition. It seems from the following
+passage in Pepys&#8217;s diary, that the clergy were in the habit of performing
+public as well as private baptisms in private houses:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lord&#8217;s Day. My wife and I to Mr. Martin&#8217;s where I find the company
+almost all come to the christening of Mrs. Martin&#8217;s child, a girl.
+After sitting long, till the church was done, the parson comes and
+then we to christen the child.... After the christening comes in the
+wine and sweetmeats, etc....&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A statute dating from the time of Henry III. runs as follows:&mdash;&#8220;If really
+from necessity the child shall be baptized at home, the water on account
+of the sanctity of baptism shall either be poured into the fire, or
+carried away to the church to be poured into the Baptistery and <i>the
+vessel shall be burnt at the same time, or shall be deputed to the use of
+the Church</i>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>One of the most confessedly difficult passages in the New Testament is S.
+Paul&#8217;s question, &#8220;What shall they do who are baptized for the dead? If the
+dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them?&#8221; (1 Cor.
+<span class="smcaplc">XV.</span> 29). Bingham<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> discusses this text at some length. Two main lines of
+interpretation have been followed by the various commentators. The one is,
+that there was a custom among some of the early heretics, that when anyone
+died without baptism, another was baptized in his stead. S. Chrysostom
+says that this was practised among the Marcionites with a great deal of
+ridiculous ceremony, which he thus describes:&mdash;&#8220;After any catechumen was
+dead, they hid a living man under the bed of the deceased, then, coming to
+the dead man, they spake to him and asked him whether he would receive
+baptism? And he making no answer, the other answered for him, and said,
+&#8216;He would be baptized in his stead.&#8217; And so they baptized the living for
+the dead, as if they were acting a comedy upon the stage; so great was the
+power of Satan in the minds of these vain men. Afterward, when anyone
+challenged them upon this practice, they had the confidence to plead the
+apostle&#8217;s authority for it.&#8221; Bingham proceeds to reject this
+interpretation on two grounds; 1st, that it was superstitious and
+delusive, &#8220;Any Jew or Gentile might easily be made a Christian by having
+another, after his death, baptized for him.&#8221; This objection, however, is
+not conclusive, it does not follow that S. Paul approved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> of the practice,
+no doubt he would account it a superstition. But he is employing the
+<i>argumentum ad hominem</i>. &#8220;What do these people mean by their practice if
+they do not believe in a resurrection?&#8221; The second objection is more
+cogent, viz.: that the interpretation in question was not accepted by any
+early Christian writer.</p>
+
+<p>The other line of interpretation which Bingham adopts, shall be given in
+his own words. &#8220;But S. Chrysostom gives a much more rational account of
+the apostle&#8217;s argument, for he supposes him to refer to the Catholic
+custom, of making every catechumen at his own baptism, with his own mouth
+declare his belief of the resurrection of the dead by repeating the creed
+of which that was a part, and so being baptized into that faith, or hope
+of the resurrection of the dead. And, therefore, he puts them in mind of
+this saying, &#8216;If there be no resurrection of the dead, why art thou then
+baptized for the dead, that is, the body? For, therefore, thou art
+baptized for the dead, believing the resurrection of the dead, that the
+body may not remain dead, but revive again.&#8217; So that &#8216;baptizing for the
+dead,&#8217; is an elliptical expression for being baptized into the faith or
+belief of the resurrection of the dead. And so I think Tertullian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> is to
+be understood when he says in opposition to the error of the Marcionites,
+&#8220;That to be &#8216;baptized for the dead&#8217; is to be &#8216;baptized for the body,&#8217;
+which is declared to be dead by baptism;&mdash;that is, we are baptized into
+the belief of the resurrection of the body, both whose death and
+resurrection are represented in baptism.&#8221; And the interpretation of
+Epiphanius comes pretty near these, when he says, &#8220;It refers to those who
+were baptised upon the approach of death, in the hopes of the resurrection
+from the dead; for they shewed thereby that the dead should rise again,
+and that therefore they had need of the remission of sins, which is
+obtained in baptism.&#8221; The same sense is given by Theodoret, and
+Theophylact, and Balsamon, and Zonaras, and Matthew Blastaras among the
+Greeks; and it is embraced by Bishop Patrick, and Dr. Hammond, as the most
+natural and genuine exposition of this difficult passage of the apostle.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The use of Sponsors in the administration of baptism dates from the
+earliest times. Their duties varied according as the baptized person were
+an infant or an adult. For the most part at first, parents were sponsors
+for their own children, and it was the exception when they were not.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> &#8220;The
+extraordinary cases,&#8221; says Bingham, &#8220;in which [the baptized] were
+presented by others were commonly such cases where the parent could not,
+or would not, do that kind office for them; as when slaves were presented
+to baptism by their masters; or children when parents were dead, brought
+by the charity of any who would show mercy on them; or children exposed by
+their parents, which were sometimes taken up by the holy virgins of the
+church&#8221; (iii. 552.) Sponsors for children were called on, 1st, to answer
+in their name to all the interrogatories of baptism; 2nd, to be guardian
+of their spiritual life for the future. In the case of adults their duty
+was to admonish and instruct them both before and after baptism. Very
+commonly sponsors for adults were deacons or deaconesses. Only one sponsor
+originally was required, in the case of adults, a man for a man and a
+woman for a woman. For children there was no restriction as to the sex of
+the sponsor.</p>
+
+<p>Sponsors were called &#8220;spiritual parents,&#8221; and out of this relationship
+grew the practice in the Roman Catholic Church, which forbade sponsors, or
+godparents, from marrying within the forbidden degrees of spiritual
+relation. The first notice of this occurs in the laws of Justinian, which
+forbid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> a man to marry a woman, whether she be slave or free, to whom he
+has stood godfather, &#8220;because nothing induces a more parental affection,
+or juster prohibition of marriage, than this tie, by which their souls are
+in a divine manner, united together.&#8221; This was afterwards extended to
+prohibition between a godfather and the mother of the child, and the
+prohibition took final shape in the decrees of Trent, which further forbid
+marriages between the sponsors themselves, nor may the baptizer marry the
+baptized. A host of troubles and difficulties are on record in the pages
+of history, arising out of these prohibitions.</p>
+
+<p>It is uncertain when proxies were first allowed. The first English record
+appears to be the case of Jane, the daughter of Thomas Godfrey, of Grub
+Street, who was baptized at S. Giles&#8217;, Cripplegate, in 1615. Mr. Godfrey
+kept a diary, in which he writes, &#8220;My gossips were Mrs. Jane Hallsye, wife
+of Mr. John Hallsye, one of the Citty Captains, and my sister Howlt, and
+Sir Multon Lombard, who sent Mr. Michael Lee for his deputy. My brother
+Thomas Isles afterwards bestowed a christening sermon on us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In medi&aelig;val times a child on being baptized was arrayed by the priest in a
+white robe, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> had been anointed with sacred oil, and was called a
+Chrismale. This robe was called the Chrisom, and if the child died within
+a month, it was shrouded in this robe, and was called a Chrisom-child.
+Parochial registers very frequently have the expression applied to
+children who are buried, and it will be remembered by readers of
+Shakespeare. Sometimes the cloth was called the Christening Palm. Later,
+say a hundred years ago, though the arraying by the minister was not in
+use, a newly baptized child was arrayed in a palm or pall to be brought
+down to see company.</p>
+
+<p>In Perthshire, it is said, a child who was about to be privately baptized
+was placed in a clean basket covered over with a cloth, in which was
+placed a portion of bread and cheese. The basket was then hung on the iron
+crook over the fire, and turned round three times. It was to counteract
+the malignant spells of witches and evil spirits. Here is an inventory of
+christening garments of the seventeenth century (<i>Notes and Queries</i>):&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. A lined, white figured satin cap.</p>
+
+<p>2. A lined, white satin cap, embroidered with sprays in gold coloured silk.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>3. A white satin palm, embroidered to match. Size 44 in. by 34 in.</p>
+
+<p>4. A pair of deep cuffs, white satin, similarly embroidered, trimmed with
+lace, evidently intended to be worn by the bearer of the infant.</p>
+
+<p>5. A pair of linen gloves or mittens for the baby, trimmed with narrow
+lace, the back of the fingers lined with coloured figured silk.</p>
+
+<p>6. A palm, 54 in. by 48 in., of rich still yellow silk lined with white satin.</p>
+
+<p>According to Sarum use, yellow was the altar colour for confessors&#8217;
+festivals. This yellow pall may have been considered specially suitable at
+the child&#8217;s being first openly pledged to confess the faith of Christ
+crucified. Another name for the christening palm is the christening sheet
+or &#8220;cude cloth.&#8221; This is a superstition that if it is not burned within a
+year of the child&#8217;s birth it will never be able to keep a secret.</p>
+
+<p>The gift of &#8220;Apostle Spoons&#8221; by sponsors is said, by Stow, to have
+originated in the days of Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare, on being godfather
+to one of Ben Jonson&#8217;s children, gave him &#8220;a dozen of Latten spoons.&#8221; In
+the days of James I. it was the fashion for sponsors to give shirts with
+little bands or cuffs wrought with silk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> or blue thread, but this did not
+last, they went back to spoons or cups.</p>
+
+<p>Brand quotes from &#8220;The Comforts of Wooing&#8221;:&mdash;&#8220;The godmother hearing when
+the child was to be <i>coated</i>, brings it a gilt coral, a silver spoon and
+porringer, and a brave new tankard of the same metal.&#8221; According to
+Shipman the custom of making presents at baptisms declined in the time of
+the Commonwealth.</p>
+
+<p>Pepys, however, observed the custom:&mdash;&#8220;Nov. 24th. At my goldsmith&#8217;s,
+bought a basin for my wife, to give the parson&#8217;s child, to which the other
+day she was godmother. It cost me &pound;10 14s. besides graving, which I do
+with the cypher&#8217;s name, Daniel Mills.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Christening tongs were also a favourite present, which were of the same
+size as an ordinary pair of sugar tongs, but were in the form of a stork
+standing upright upon the claws which partly form the handle. When opened
+for the purpose of grasping the sugar, the body, which is hollow,
+discloses the image of a baby in swaddling clothes.</p>
+
+<p>This no doubt originated in the old Teutonic fiction that newly-born babes
+were brought by storks.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>Here are a few Scottish notes of gifts <i>from</i> the child to its parents.
+They are all from various columns of <i>Notes and Queries</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>In 1871, a gentleman was met in one of the principal streets of Edinburgh
+by a very respectably dressed female, with a nurse carrying a child. They
+stopped him, and the former presented him with a paper bag containing a
+biscuit, a bit of cheese, and a bit of gingerbread. On his expressing
+surprise, she said, &#8220;Oh! sir, it is the christening bit.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In country places in Scotland, it was a custom, now nearly exploded, for
+the mother on the way to baptism to take a supply of bread and cheese, a
+&#8220;whang&#8221; or slice of which she gave to the first person she met on the
+country road after leaving church, and it was accounted a high insult to
+refuse it. Probably the provision was part of the &#8220;blythe&#8221; meat presented
+to the friends in the house, who had assembled after the birth to offer
+congratulations. Such offerings may perhaps be traced to the period when
+the old Romans inhabited the Caledonian regions.</p>
+
+<p>In 1855, at Candleriggs, a silver coin was given in return for the
+eatables. The appearance of copper was, if possible, to be avoided.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>In Fifeshire, before starting for the kirk, the &#8220;christening-piece,&#8221;
+consisting of shortbread, cheese, and oatcake, was made up into a white
+paper parcel tied with ribbon; this the mother held in her right hand as
+she left the house, and presented to the first person met by her, whether
+stranger or friend, gentle or simple. The &#8220;christening-piece&#8221; was always
+gladly accepted, and in return kind wishes were expressed for the future
+happiness of the child.</p>
+
+<p>It is noticeable that at the other end of Great Britain we have the same idea.</p>
+
+<p>At Looe, in Cornwall, the gift was generally a small cake made for the
+purpose, and called the &#8220;christening crib,&#8221; crib being a provincialism for
+a bit of bread. At Polperro, three miles from Looe, a gift termed the
+&#8220;kimbly&#8221; was also made to the person who brought the first news of a birth
+to those interested in the new arrival.</p>
+
+<p>This custom was still practised in Devonshire in 1883.</p>
+
+<p>Where children are brought in batches to be baptized, as is often the case
+in large towns, it is curious to note that superstitions exist about the
+precedence of sexes, though in different places the ideas are contrary.
+Thus in the North<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> of England there are places where the parents are very
+anxious that the girls should be taken first, on the ground that otherwise
+the boys will be beardless. In Surrey and Worcestershire the same desire
+is expressed; in the West of Scotland the males have precedence. The old
+ideas can hardly be classed under superstitions. In those churches, where
+now-a-days ancient rules are revived, Holy Communion is always
+administered to men before women, and Confirmation to boys. Maskell, in
+his <i>Monumenta Ritualia</i>, Eccl., Angl., 1-23, quotes the following rubric
+from Bishop Leofric&#8217;s missal:&mdash;&#8220;Et accipiat presbyter eos a parentibus
+eorum, et baptizantur primi masculi deinde feminae, sub trina mersione,
+Sanctam Trinitatem semel invocando.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Cases are on record where a cottager&#8217;s tenth child was christened with a
+sprig of myrtle in its cap to mark it as the tithe child; it is said that
+a Rector of Compton recognized such a tithe child, and sent him to school.</p>
+
+<p>One of the silliest and most mischievous pieces of legislation was the Act
+23, George III., c. 67. It enacted that after the 1st of October, 1783,
+stamp duty of 3d. should be paid to His Majesty on the entry of every
+marriage, birth, or christening,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> in the register of every parish,
+precinct, or place in Great Britain, under penalty of &pound;5 for each entry.
+And that the churchwardens should provide a book for each entry, and the
+parson, vicar, curate, and other person receiving the duty was to be
+allowed 2s. in the &pound; for his trouble. By 25 George III., c. 75, the tax
+was extended to dissenters. People were furious, and the poor parson, who
+was supposed to be charging for his own benefit, got the hardest words.
+The Act was repealed by 34 George III., c. 11, the tax ceasing October
+1st, 1794.</p>
+
+<p>In conclusion, we will put together a few odds and ends of folk lore. In
+Ayrshire, in the end of the last century, when a child was taken to a
+distance to be baptized, a quantity of salt was placed round it before
+leaving the house, to ward off evil.</p>
+
+<p>In Worcestershire, it is considered that if an engaged couple stand as
+god-parents to the same child, it is a sure sign that their engagement
+will never end in marriage. This is clearly a relic of what we have
+already noticed, the medi&aelig;val church law by which those persons who stood
+in any spiritual relationship to one another were thereby debarred from
+contracting marriage.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>In Dalston, Carlisle, there is a belief that if the baptism of a child
+takes place after it has been &#8220;shortened,&#8221; the baby will not only be noisy
+and disagreeable in church during the administration of the sacrament, but
+will remain bad-tempered and ill-natured for ever afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>The belief still prevails in many rural districts that children dying
+unbaptized wander in woods and solitudes lamenting their hard fate. In
+Sweden parents will, therefore, carry a child miles away in the depth of
+winter to the minister to have it baptized before it is half-a-day old.
+There are, however, methods by which it is supposed even if baptism be
+deferred, that the devil&#8217;s power over the child can be neutralized. One is
+to wrap it in red cloth and lay it in its cradle, with a psalm book and a
+pair of scissors placed crosswise upon its breast.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In presenting a child to the minister, its head must be on the right arm
+of the male parent.&#8221; (West of Scotland).</p>
+
+<p>Brand quotes from a book on Scotland, published in 1793, the statement
+that the inhabitants of Kirkwall and S. Ola would consider it as an
+unhappy omen were they by any means disappointed in getting their
+children<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> baptized on the very day which they had previously fixed in
+their minds for that purpose.</p>
+
+<p>The same compiler has this:&mdash;In the North, when the child was taken to
+church to be christened, a little boy was engaged to meet the infant on
+leaving the house, because it was deemed an unlucky omen to encounter a
+female first.</p>
+
+<p>It is supposed to be lucky for children to cry at baptisms, as if they are
+quiet and good then it shows they are too good to live. The idea arose
+from the custom of exorcism. When the devil was going out of a possessed
+person it cried and rent him sore; therefore the tears and struggles of
+the infant would be convincing proof that the evil one had departed. In
+Ireland, the nurses pinch the baby rather than let it be silent or
+cheerful.</p>
+
+<p>In Scotland (to quote Brand once more), on their return from church, they
+take the newly baptized child and vibrate it three or four times gently
+over a flame, saying thrice, &#8220;Let the flame consume thee now or never.&#8221;
+This is possibly derived from a feast called Amphidromia, held at Athens,
+by private families on the fifth day after the birth of the child, when it
+was the custom of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> the gossips to run round the fire with the infant in
+their arms, and then, having delivered it to the nurse, they were
+entertained with feasting and dancing.</p>
+
+<p>Another Scotch fancy is that it is unlucky to tell the names of infants
+before baptism.</p>
+
+<p>In one of Dekker&#8217;s plays (1630) occurs the following:&mdash;I am the most
+wretched fellow, sure some <i>left-handed priest christened me</i>, I am so
+unlucky.</p>
+
+<p>In Greece, while the father is alive, none of his sons are baptized with
+his name; thus a father and son never have the same Christian name at the
+same time. But on the death of the father it is customary for one of his
+sons to adopt his name. The eldest son always bears the name of his
+paternal grandfather (a common custom in Scotland), even though the latter
+be alive. On the other hand, for the obvious reason of identification, an
+illegitimate son always takes the baptismal name of his father. It is
+probable that this practice arises from a belief that the father would die
+on giving to his son precisely his own name, and that the Greek church
+does not allow the variation of a second Christian name.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Marriage Customs.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By England Howlett, f.s.a.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">In</span> all ages, and in all countries, a halo of interest attaches to the
+marriage ceremony, and formerly, when superstition was so rife in the
+country, it naturally followed that all sorts of curious customs arose in
+connection with marriage&mdash;customs which, at the time of their
+inauguration, were full of meaning and real interest, but many of which in
+process of time, and owing to an altered state of society, have fallen
+either into oblivion, or become so changed as to be hardly recognisable.</p>
+
+<p>Marriage, in one form or other, is the oldest institution of society, and
+the source of its most ancient laws. The primitive ceremonies of marriage
+are of immense number, and many of them have left distinct survivals in
+modern customs. As regards Christian Europe, in 1085 Hildebrand declared
+Marriage to be a sacrament of the Church; and, at the Reformation, Calvin
+declared it to be an institution of God. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> School of Grotius, on the
+other hand, describes it as a contract of partnership.</p>
+
+<p>The Anglo-Saxon marriage ritual was for the parties, with their
+attendants, to come to the porch of the Church: here they were met by the
+priest; first he blessed the ring and gave it to the bridegroom, who
+placed it on the middle finger of the bride&#8217;s left hand. After this the
+priest recited a form of blessing over the parties; then he led them into
+the Chancel where they remained while mass was celebrated, towards the
+close of which they received the solemn nuptial benediction, and
+afterwards the Pax, and the holy communion.</p>
+
+<p>Before the Council of Trent a valid marriage in the eyes of the church
+might be effected by a simple declaration of the parties to be man and
+wife; no witnesses were necessary under these circumstances, and the
+presence of a priest might also be dispensed with. It will at once be seen
+that a practice such as this was open to very great and grave abuse where
+the interested parties were only too often the only witnesses of the
+declaration. After the Council of Trent, and in all countries where the
+discipline of Trent is received and promulgated, the presence of the
+parish priest is absolutely necessary to constitute a valid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> marriage in
+the eyes of the Roman Church by mere declaration of the parties to be man
+and wife, and under no circumstances can marriages such as these be
+recognized by the law.</p>
+
+<p>It was customary in many places for the priest to entwine the ends of his
+stole round the joined hands of the bride and bridegroom, at the words
+&#8220;Those whom God hath joined together,&#8221; in token of the indissoluble union
+thereby effected. Most probably this practice led to the familiar
+expression &#8220;Tying the knot.&#8221; Neither the Roman nor the Sarum Missals
+contain any direction for this ritual, which would appear to be a pure
+innovation on the part of the priests.</p>
+
+<p>In ancient Rome the Patrons or Patricians only might marry with each
+other. If a Patrician married a client or vassal, their children were not
+allowed to take Patrician rank; because these clients or vassals had not
+connubium, or right of marriage with their Patrons. Under C&aelig;sar&#8217;s rule a
+married woman was allowed the use of more ornaments, and more costly
+carriages, than the laws of Rome permitted to women generally. A married
+man who had three children born at Rome, or four born in Italy, or five in
+the provinces, enjoyed freedom from certain duties<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> and charges: this no
+doubt was done to encourage the marriage tie, which at that time had
+become exceedingly lax.</p>
+
+<p>The drinking of wine in the Church at weddings is enjoined by the Hereford
+Missal. The Sarum Missal directs that sops immersed in wine, as well as
+the liquor itself, and the cup containing it, should be blessed by the
+priest. The beverage was drunk not only by the bride and bridegroom, but
+by the rest of the company. A distinct survival of this custom, although
+in a debased form, lingered beyond the middle of the present century, at
+Whitburn, in Durham, where the custom of giving what they called
+<i>Hot-Pots</i> was kept up; that is, on the conclusion of the marriage service
+the bride and bridegroom were served in the porch with steaming compounds
+of brandy, ale, sugar, eggs, spices, etc., the bridesmaids also partook of
+this, and the remainder was distributed amongst the guests. The custom of
+nuptial drinking appears also to have prevailed in the Greek Church: and
+the Jews have a custom at the present day, when a couple are married, to
+break the glass in which the bride and bridegroom have drunk, to remind
+them of mortality.</p>
+
+<p>The use of torches at weddings is very ancient.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> At Rome the practice was
+that two children should lead the bride, and a third carry before her a
+torch of white thorn. The Greeks used also a nuptial torch, which was
+carried by the bride&#8217;s mother. Lamps and flambeaux are used at Japanese
+weddings, and torches are still used at Turkish marriages.</p>
+
+<p>Knives formerly formed part of the accoutrements of a bride. This is
+easily accounted for by the fact that anciently it formed part of the
+dress for women to wear a knife sheathed and suspended from their girdles.
+A bride says to her jealous husband, in Dekker&#8217;s <i>Match me in London</i>,
+1631:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;See at my girdle hang my wedding knives!<br />
+With those despatch me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The use of bridesmaids at weddings is of remote antiquity. Amongst the
+Anglo-Saxons the bride was led to the Church by a matron, who was called
+the bride&#8217;s woman, and followed by a company of young girls who were
+called bridesmaids. It was at one time the custom for the bridesmaids to
+lead the bridegroom to Church, and for the bridegroom&#8217;s men to conduct the
+bride. This is clearly alluded to in the <i>Collier&#8217;s Wedding</i>:</p>
+
+<p class="poem"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>
+&#8220;Two lusty lads, well drest and strong,<br />
+Step&#8217;d out to lead the bride along:<br />
+And two young maids of equal size,<br />
+As soon the bridegroom&#8217;s hands surprise.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The bridegroom&#8217;s men were anciently called Bride Knights, which was an
+appropriate name at the period when they actually fulfilled that office.</p>
+
+<p>Bride cake is of ancient origin: it is a relic of the Roman period, when
+the marriage ceremony consisted principally of the contracting parties
+partaking of a cake made of flour, salt, and water, in the presence of the
+Pontifex Maximus, or High Priest, and ten witnesses. The form of the cake
+has varied in different ages. Ben Jonson refers to it in the <i>Tale of a
+Tub</i>, iii., 8:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;The maids and her half-valentine have ply&#8217;d her,<br />
+With courtise of the Bride cake and the bowl,<br />
+As she is laid awhile.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As feasting was connected with nearly all religious ceremonies, and as
+each feast speedily appropriated its particular article of food, the bride
+cake became inseparably associated with the bridal feast. Anciently, small
+cakes were made for weddings, and distributed amongst the guests; the
+ingredients of these doubtless changed from age to age, but there is
+little doubt the cake was always a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> sweet one which, in the early days,
+would be sweetened with honey with spices in it, and, after their
+introduction, currants. In the seventeenth century it was usual for the
+bride and bridegroom to kiss over the cake, and many are the superstitions
+connected with it.</p>
+
+<p>It was formerly the custom for the brides to go to church with their hair
+hanging loose behind. Anne Boleyn&#8217;s was thus dishevelled when she went to
+the altar with Henry VIII. Webster refers to this practice in <i>The White
+Devil</i>:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;And let them dangle loose as a bride&#8217;s hair.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Nuptial garlands or wreaths are of great antiquity; they were equally used
+by both the Jews and the Heathens. The Roman custom was for the bride to
+have a chaplet of flowers or herbs upon her head, whilst among the
+Anglo-Saxons, after the benediction in the church, both the bride and
+bridegroom were crowned with flowers. In the Eastern church the chaplets
+used at marriages were first blessed by the priest. Wreaths made of ears
+of corn were frequently worn by brides in the time of Henry VIII., and
+myrtle was also much used for this purpose. In many churches it was usual
+to keep a crown of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> metal for the use of brides, and for which they would
+pay a fee. In the churchwardens&#8217; accounts of St. Margaret&#8217;s, Westminster,
+for the year 1540, is the following entry:&mdash;&#8220;Paid to Alice Lewis, a
+goldsmith&#8217;s wife, of London, for a serclett to marry Maydens in, the 26th
+day of September, &pound;3 10s. 0d.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Marriage by proxy was probably practised by the heathen Romans, and even
+so late as the middle ages was not at all uncommon, although then it had
+become confined principally to the aristocracy, and later on few instances
+are to be met with, except in the case of Royalty. Henry VIII. married
+Anne of Cleves by proxy. So also James II., when Duke of York, in 1673,
+was married by proxy to Mary of Modena. The church always looked with
+great disfavour on this form of marriage, and for this reason the parties
+were generally re-married on the arrival of the bride in her husband&#8217;s
+country, or at the home of the bridegroom.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the ancient Northern nations a knot appears to have been
+considered as the symbol of love, faith, and friendship, pointing out, as
+it were, the indissoluble tie of affection and duty; hence it is that
+knots or bows of ribbon came to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> be used as wedding favours, a particular
+form of which came to be known as the <i>True Lovers&#8217; Knot</i>. The peasantry
+of France wore the bridal favour on the arm, whereas in England it was
+formerly worn in the hat, and consisted of ribbons of various colours; in
+later years white ribbon alone was used. Curiously enough Rosemary was not
+only carried at funerals, but was also worn at weddings, and appears to
+have been considered as an insignia of a wedding guest: on these occasions
+the sprigs of Rosemary were frequently gilded, or dipped in scented water.
+Bay leaves were also used for a similar purpose, but not so generally as
+the Rosemary.</p>
+
+<p>Wedding rings were used both by the Greeks and Romans, but then only at
+the ceremony of betrothal, and not that of marriage. The Anglo-Saxon
+bridegroom at the betrothal gave a <i>Wed</i>, or pledge, and a ring was placed
+on the maiden&#8217;s right hand, where it remained until marriage, and was then
+transferred to the left. During the reigns of George I. and George II.,
+the wedding ring was often worn on the thumb. The placing of the ring on
+the book is a remnant of the ancient custom of blessing the ring by
+sprinkling Holy Water in the form of a cross, and this is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> still done in
+the Roman Church. One of the earliest forms of rings was the Gemel, or
+double ring, and this was used as a pledge before marriage: they were
+generally made in three parts, and broken in the presence of a witness,
+who retained the third part. In Germany, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, it
+was a common custom for the engaged couple each to give to the other a
+plain gold ring, much resembling a wedding ring. In the last century,
+wedding rings were frequently inscribed with poesys. Dr. John Thomas, who
+was Bishop of Lincoln in 1753, married four times. The motto or poesy on
+the wedding ring at his fourth marriage was:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;If I survive<br />
+I&#8217;ll make them five.&#8221;<a name='fna_7' id='fna_7' href='#f_7'><small>[7]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>King Henry VIII. gave Anne of Cleves a ring with the poesy:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;God send me well to keep.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was a general custom in the middle age for the bridegroom to place the
+ring first on the thumb of the bride, then on her second finger, and then
+on her third, at the name of each person<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> of the Trinity, &#8220;leaving it&#8221; as
+the rubric directs, on her fourth finger at the word <i>Amen</i>; thus
+signifying by action, not less than by word, that he was undertaking the
+duties of the married state, &#8220;in the name of the Father, of the Son, and
+of the Holy Ghost.&#8221; The reason assigned for the fourth finger being
+appointed as the final resting place of the wedding ring, is because on
+that finger there is generally believed to be a certain vein which
+proceeds to the heart. The left hand most probably was appointed because
+the virgins espoused to the church wore the ring of their celestial
+nuptials on the right hand.</p>
+
+<p>The nuptial kiss was a solemn ceremony which was duly directed both by the
+Sarum and York Uses. At the &#8220;Sanctus,&#8221; in the bridal mass, both the bride
+and the bridegroom knelt near the altar; if neither of them had been
+married before, a pall, or as it used to be called, the &#8220;care-cloth,&#8221; was
+held over them at its four corners by as many clerics. After the &#8220;Pater
+Noster,&#8221; and just before the &#8220;Pax,&#8221; the priest turning himself towards the
+married couple gave them the nuptial blessing. The care-cloth was then
+removed, and the bridegroom arose from his knees and received the kiss of
+peace from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> priest; he then turned to his bride and kissed her upon
+the cheek. In the York Use the care-cloth was held by only two clerics.
+Although the solemn ceremonial of the nuptial kiss has long since ceased
+to be a regular portion of the marriage service, still, in many rural
+districts, it is customary for the bridegroom to kiss the bride while they
+are before the altar, and in sight of the congregation assembled. At
+Halse, a village in Somersetshire, it is still a recognised custom amongst
+the labouring classes for the bridegroom, after he has placed the ring on
+the bride&#8217;s finger, to take her in his arms and kiss her fervently, and it
+is a somewhat remarkable feature that instead of this causing any
+amusement amongst the spectators, it is treated as a solemnity, and would
+certainly appear to be a distinct survival of the nuptial kiss. A similar
+custom still prevails at Bishops Lydeard, in Somersetshire.</p>
+
+<p>There is a rule in Hindoo law which forbids a younger sister to be married
+before the elder; nor is a younger brother allowed to be married before
+the elder. There would seem to be a curious resemblance between these
+rules and the rules of the Old Testament days, when Laban refused to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> let
+his younger daughter marry before Leah. We get another instance of a
+restraint on marriage, in 1367, when the memorable Parliament of Kilkenny
+was held, which passed the Statute of Kilkenny. By this statue it was
+declared high treason for any person of English origin to marry into an
+Irish family.</p>
+
+<p>Poor maidens who might otherwise lose their chance of matrimony for want
+of a dowry were sometimes provided for by funeral doles. &#8220;I will,&#8221; says
+Richard Trowler, <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 1477, &#8220;that X<i>l.</i> be disposed of at my burying among
+poor people, and that X<i>l.</i> be given to the marriage of poor maidens not
+having father or mother.&#8221; Johanne Beauchamp, Lady of Bergavenny, devised
+&#8220;to the marriage of poer maydens dwellyng withyn my lordship, C<i>l</i>, and to
+the makying and emending of febull brugges and foul weyes, C<i>l</i>.&#8221; There
+certainly seems to be a curious analogy between this custom and the laws
+of ancient Greece, by which the State provided a dowry for those maidens
+who, through poverty or plainness, would otherwise have remained
+unmarried.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to the seasons for celebrating marriage, the Church was
+formerly very strict. The parish register for St. Mary&#8217;s, Beverley,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+contains the following entry under date November 25, 1641:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;When Advent comes do thou refraine,<br />
+Till Hillary set ye free again,<br />
+Next Septuagessima saith thee nay,<br />
+But when Low Sunday comes thou may,<br />
+Yet at Rogation thou must tarrie,<br />
+Till Trinitie shall bid thee marry.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The above appears to have been a popular verse to inscribe in registers,
+for, with slight variations, it is to be met with in several parishes.
+<i>Philomath&#8217;s Almanac</i>, for the year 1674, contains similar rules in
+prose:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">&#8220;<span class="smcap">Times Prohibiting Marriage this Year.</span></p>
+
+<p>Marriage comes in on the 13th of January, and at Septuagessima Sunday
+it is out again until Low Sunday, at which time it comes in again, and
+goes not out till Rogation Sunday. Then it is forbidden until Trinity
+Sunday, from whence it is unforbidden till Advent Sunday, but then it
+goes out, and comes not in again till the 13th of January next
+following.&#8221;</p></div>
+
+<p>With regard to the publication of Banns of Marriage, it appears to have
+been the custom in the primitive ages that the Church should be forewarned
+of marriages. The earliest existing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> canonical enactment on the subject in
+the English church, is that in the eleventh canon of the Synod of
+Westminster, in the year 1200, which enacts that &#8220;no marriage shall be
+contracted without banns thrice published in the church, unless by the
+special authority of the Bishop.&#8221; Anciently, before the publication of
+banns, it was the custom for the curate to affiance the two persons to be
+married in the name of the Trinity; and at this period the banns were
+sometimes published at Vespers as well as at Mass.</p>
+
+<p>Forbidding the banns of marriage is now a very rare occurrence; formerly,
+it was not so, and it was customary to interdict a marriage sometimes for
+the sole purpose of making a comparative stranger prove his bona-fides.
+The parish register of Frampton, near Boston, Lincolnshire, contains the
+following entry on January, 1, 1653:&mdash;&#8220;The marriage of Edward Morton and
+Jane Goodwin was objected to by John Ayne, Thomas Appleby, and William
+Eldred: because in the first place, the said Edward Morton was a stranger,
+and they did not know where he had lived until a short time before, or
+whether he was married or single; therefore they desired the marriage
+might be deferred until<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> he brought a certificate of these things. And
+secondly because they have been informed and do believe that he is a very
+poor man, and therefore they wish him to get some sufficient man to be
+bound with him to secure the town from any charge of him or his.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>An interesting custom is still kept up at Laceby, a village in North
+Lincolnshire, where the bells ring a merry peal at the close of the
+service in which the third publication of banns has taken place. A similar
+custom prevailed at North Kelsey, in Lincolnshire, the practice there
+being to ring the peal of bells on the Monday evening after the last
+publication of banns, but in this latter case the custom appears to have
+fallen into disuse many years ago. Bells frequently bear inscriptions
+relating to the marriage peals; the fifth bell at Coton-in-the-Elms,
+Derbyshire, dated 1786, has inscribed on it:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;The bride and groom we greet<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In holy wedlock joined,</span><br />
+Our sounds are emblems sweet<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of hearts in love combined.&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>In the early part of the century it appears to have been a common practice
+in most parts of the country for the clerk, after the publication of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+banns of marriage, to rise and say, &#8220;God speed them well;&#8221; and in some
+places it was usual for the congregation to respond &#8220;Amen.&#8221; At Hope, in
+Derbyshire, this was done not only on the publication of banns, but also
+at the solemnization of the marriage, immediately after the abjuration&mdash;&#8220;I
+require and charge you both.&#8221; The practice has fallen into the same
+oblivion which has overtaken the old parish clerk&mdash;at one period so
+self-important an individual in the church, and now, except in remote
+villages, so insignificant an official. The custom appears to have
+lingered for some time at Croxton Kerrial, near Melton Mowbray, and at
+Birkby, a village near Northallerton.</p>
+
+<p>The following extract from the parish registers for Chalgrave,
+Bedfordshire, for the year 1655, furnishes an instance of the manner in
+which weddings were frequently conducted during the Commonwealth, in
+pursuance of Cromwell&#8217;s Act of Parliament, August 24, 1653, and by which
+the presence of a priest was entirely dispensed with:&mdash;&#8220;Henry Fisher and
+Sarah Newson, of Chalgrave, published three severall Lords dayes in one
+p<sup>sh</sup> meeting house called the church ended xxiij<sup>rd</sup> of Sept<sup>b</sup> and no
+exception made against it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> and the said Henry Fisher and Sarah Newson was
+married the xxix<sup>th</sup> Sept<sup>b</sup>, as by certificate doth appear by Francis
+Austeres Esq, and in psents of Will: Martin and Abraham Newson.&#8221; In the
+parish registers of Launceston, Cornwall, is the following
+entry:&mdash;&#8220;Hereaf<sup>r</sup> follow marriages by laymen, according to the prophanes,
+and giddynes of the times without precedent or example in any Christian
+Kingdom or Commonwealth, from the birth of Christ unto this very year
+1655.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;1655, The 28<sup>th</sup> daye of October were married by John Hicks, Gent. and
+Maior of this Town, John Heddon and Mary Harvey. Their banns being
+published in the Markett Place att Launceston three severall Markett
+dayes, viz., the 11<sup>th</sup>, the 18<sup>th</sup>, and the 25<sup>th</sup> of this instant
+October, without contradiction.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The following extract from the register of St. Mary&#8217;s Church, Bermondsey,
+1604, instances a curious custom of re-uniting husband and wife who had
+been long separated:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&#8220;The form of a solemn vowe made betwixt a man and his wife, having
+been long absent, through which occasion the woman beinge married to
+another man, took her again as followeth:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span><i>The Man&#8217;s speach.</i> Elizabeth, my beloved wife, I am right sorie that
+I have so long absented myself from thee, whereby thou shouddest be
+occasioned to take another man to be thy husband. Therefore I do now
+vowe and promise in the sight of God, and this companie, to take thee
+again as mine owne, and will not only forgive thee, but also dwell
+with thee, and do all other duties unto thee, as I promised at our
+marriage.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Woman&#8217;s speache.</i> Raphe, my beloved husband, I am right sorie
+that I have in thy absence taken another man to be my husband: but
+here, before God, and this companie, I renounce and forsake him, and
+do promise to keep mysellfe only unto thee during life, and to perform
+all duties which I first promised unto thee in our marriage.</p>
+
+<p>The first day of August, 1604, Raphe Goodchild of the parish of
+Barkinge, in Thames Street, and Elizabeth his wife, were agreed to
+live together, and thereupon gave their hands one to another, makinge
+either of them a solemn vowe so to do in the presence of us:</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap">William Steve</span>, Parson,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Edward Coker</span>, and <span class="smcap">Richard Eives</span>, Clerk.&#8221;</span></p></div>
+
+<p>In Germany a sect of the Moravians called <i>Herrnhuters</i> have a most
+curious method of selecting their life partners: the men and women of a
+marriageable age are collected in a house which has a suite of three
+rooms, each opening into the other, the young men in one end room and the
+young women in the other; then the doors from these two rooms are thrown
+open into the middle room, which is perfectly darkened.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> After this
+follows a sort of general scramble, or &#8220;catch who can,&#8221; and whichever girl
+the man catches becomes his wife. This method of selecting a wife seems
+somewhat risky, but it is possible that even in a darkened room a couple
+with a prior attachment might manage to tumble into each other&#8217;s arms, and
+so, while adhering in the letter to the custom of their sect, bring about
+the union dictated by their hearts.</p>
+
+<p>The throwing of an old shoe after a newly-married couple on their
+departure is general all over the country, but in Kent the custom is
+accompanied by a little more detail than is usually observed in other
+parts of the country. The principal bridesmaid throws the shoe, the other
+bridesmaids run after it, the belief being that the one who gets it will
+be the first to be married. She then throws the shoe amongst the
+gentlemen, and it is supposed that the one who is hit will also be married
+before the others.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of showering rice over the bride and bridegroom is a universal
+one, although in some parts wheat is substituted, this was formerly
+general in Nottinghamshire and Sussex. The practice appears to find a
+parallel in Poland, when, after the nuptial benediction has been given by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>
+the priest, the father receives the newly-married couple at the door of
+their house, and strews some barley corns over their heads. These corns
+are carefully gathered up and sown. If they grow it is considered an omen
+that the married pair will enjoy a life of happiness. Grain of any sort is
+symbolical of plenty, and no doubt at different periods and in different
+countries that grain has been selected which could be procured the most
+easily. An old Spanish ballad of the sixteenth century, <i>The Cids
+Wedding</i>, refers to the custom, except that ears of wheat appear to have
+been used instead of threshed wheat:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;All down the street the ears of wheat are round<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ximena flying.&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>Wedding Biddings were usual down to the end of the last century: these
+were entertainments given previously to the wedding, and the guests were
+each expected to bring a present. An account of these presents was
+preserved, and it was expected that the giver should receive a gift of
+equal value on their own marriage. In Cumberland, at these entertainments,
+a bowl or plate was fixed in some convenient part of the house where each
+of the company contributed in money in proportion to his ability or
+inclination.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> In some districts the bidding was publicly done by a herald
+with a crook or wand adorned with ribbons, who gave a general invitation
+according to a prescribed form.</p>
+
+<p>Gretna Green was the invariable resort of runaway couples, owing to the
+flaw in the Old Scottish law which required nothing more than an
+acknowledgment before witnesses in order to constitute a valid marriage.
+The Marriage Act of 1856 has, however, rendered such unions impossible,
+for by its provisions, which are common to both countries, it is necessary
+that one of the parties shall have resided for at least twenty-one days in
+the parish where the marriage takes place. The old romantic interest once
+attached to Gretna Green is now fast becoming a thing of the past.</p>
+
+<p>The following extract from the register of St. Martin&#8217;s Parish, Leicester,
+is interesting as showing how, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, a marriage
+was celebrated in a case where a bridegroom was deaf and dumb.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&#8220;Decimo quinto Februarii. 18. Eliz.: regin&aelig;.</p>
+
+<p>Thomas Filsby and Ursula Russet were married; and because the said
+Thomas is naturally deaf and dumb, could not for his part observe the
+order of the form of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> marriage, after the approbation had of Thomas,
+the Bishop of Lincoln, John Chippendale, LL.D., and Commissary, and
+Mr. Richard Davis, of Leicester, and others of his brethren, with the
+rest of the parish, the said Thomas for expressing of his mind instead
+of words, of his own accord used these signs: First he embraced her
+with his arms, took her by the hand, and put a ring on her finger, and
+laid his hand upon his heart and held up his hands towards heaven; and
+to show his countenance to dwell with her till his life&#8217;s end, he did,
+by closing his eyes with his hands, and digging the earth with his
+feet, and pulling as though he would ring a bell, with other signs
+approved.&#8221;</p></div>
+
+<p>An interesting feature in the marriage announcements a century ago, was
+the detail given respecting the fortune of the bride. Matters which now we
+regard as more or less private were then openly advertised to the world.
+<i>Williamson&#8217;s Liverpool Advertiser</i> for 1759, contains the following
+notice: &#8220;Liverpool, May 25. On Tuesday last was married at Hale, Dr.
+Zachariah Leafe, of Prescot, to Miss Martha Clough, of Halewood, an
+agreeable young lady of 18 years of age, with a very genteel fortune.&#8221;
+<i>The Leeds Intelligencer</i>, for July 3, 1764, announces:&mdash;&#8220;On Thursday last
+was married Mr. John Wormald, of this town, merchant, to Miss Rebecca
+Thompson, daughter of the late &mdash;&mdash; Thompson, Esqr., of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> Staincliffe Hall,
+near Batley, an agreeable young lady with a fortune of upwards of &pound;4,000.&#8221;
+These are no uncommon instances, and almost any newspaper of the period
+would furnish similar examples.</p>
+
+<p>It was a common custom, down to about 1850, for butchers&#8217; boys, in their
+blue coats, and sometimes also with a large white favour, to attend in the
+front of houses where weddings had that day taken place, and play on their
+cleavers with knuckle bones; the &#8220;Butchers&#8217; Serenade&#8221; it was called.
+Hogarth, in his delineation of the marriage of the industrious apprentice
+to his master&#8217;s daughter, introduces a set of butchers coming forward with
+marrow bones and cleavers.</p>
+
+<p>A bridegroom was often called upon to pay toll. It was a Somersetshire
+custom for the village children, on the occasion of a wedding, to fasten
+the churchyard gates with a wreath of evergreens and flowers; a floral
+bond which always required a &#8220;Silver Key&#8221; to unlose. A writer to <i>Notes
+and Queries</i>, in January, 1858, states that on the occasion of his
+marriage, some years previously, when passing through the village
+adjoining that in which the marriage had taken place, his carriage was
+stopped by the villagers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> holding a band of twisted evergreens and
+flowers, who good naturedly refused to let the carriage pass until toll
+had been paid.</p>
+
+<p>At Burnley, in Lancashire, an old custom prevailed by which all persons
+married at St. Peter&#8217;s Church, in that town, paid a fine to the boys at
+the Grammar School; the money thus obtained being applied, according to
+the records, for the maintenance of the school library. This custom
+appears to have been kept up down to the year 1870, about which time
+Burnley Grammar School was rebuilt, and, on its re-opening, the practice
+of paying fines to the boys was discontinued.</p>
+
+<p>It is a common saying in Lancashire that a bride should wear at her
+wedding:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Something old and something new,<br />
+Something borrowed, something blue.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This saying, and the practice of it, is common in other parts of England;
+the writer knows a lady who, when married at Bedford, five years ago,
+carried out the couplet to the letter; on this same bride being brought by
+her husband to his home in Lincolnshire, at the end of the honeymoon, the
+custom of lifting the bride over the threshold was observed; the bride and
+bridegroom got out of the carriage a few yards from the house, and he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>
+carried her up the steps, and into the hall. This was formerly a common
+practice in the North of England, and in Scotland, and is the remains of
+an old Roman custom which has survived the onslaught of time and change.</p>
+
+<p>It was an old custom to strew the path from the house of the bride to the
+church with sawdust or sand, and so recently as the year 1876 a &#8220;sawdust
+wedding&#8221; took place from a house in Sunderland. The custom would
+originate, no doubt, in a desire to secure a clean path for the bride to
+walk upon, and this was often ornamented with devices, which would be
+easily done with either material.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Keeping the doorstep warm&#8221; was a custom practised most commonly in the
+North of England. As soon as the bride and bridegroom had gone away, and
+the old shoe had been thrown, a servant, or sometimes the guests, would
+pour a kettle of boiling water over the front doorstep, as an auspice that
+there would soon be another wedding from the same house&mdash;keeping the
+threshold warm for another bride they called it.</p>
+
+<p>In these prosaic nineteenth century days, there is not much attention paid
+to the selection of the day of the week for the marriage ceremony. Our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>
+ancestors had many proverbs and couplets, all more or less pointing to
+certain and the same day, to avoid or select for the event.</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Monday for wealth,<br />
+Tuesday for health,<br />
+Wednesday best day of all,<br />
+Thursday for losses,<br />
+Friday for crosses,<br />
+Saturday no luck at all.</p>
+
+<p>The practice of inserting wedding announcements in newspapers is almost
+universal, and the addition of &#8220;no cards&#8221; appears as often as not. Our
+neighbours on the other side of the Atlantic have, however, quite outdone
+us by the following addition to a wedding announcement in the <i>Quebec
+Morning Chronicle</i>, of November 7th, 1868:&mdash;&#8220;No cards. No Cake. No Wine.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Burial Customs.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By England Howlett, f.s.a.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">The</span> burial of the dead furnishes many instances of curious customs, some
+of which, with modifications, survive to our own day, while a large number
+have become entirely obsolete, or meaningless. In the middle ages
+especially, it naturally followed that a great deal of superstition should
+be attached to death and burial, and superstition often originated a
+custom which survived long after any importance was attached to the
+origin.</p>
+
+<p>The Egyptians made futile attempts to preserve the body by embalming&mdash;this
+practice originated no doubt in the opinion which it was said they held,
+that so long as a body remained uncorrupted, so long the soul continued in
+it. The Greeks usually, but not universally, burnt their dead, and
+interred their ashes in urns. The actual origin of cremation is lost in
+obscurity, most probably the primary idea was the purification of the body
+by fire. It is supposed the early practice of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> Romans was to bury, but
+their later practice was to burn, and cremation was held by them in
+honour, the bodies of suicides and young children not being allowed to be
+burnt.</p>
+
+<p>In ancient times burial was always without the walls of the cities and
+towns; indeed before the time of Christianity it was not lawful to bury
+the dead within the cities, but they used to be carried out into the
+fields, and there deposited. About the end of the sixth century, St.
+Augustine obtained of King Ethelbert a Temple of Idols (used by the King
+before his conversion), and made a burying place of it; and Saint Cuthbert
+afterwards obtained (<span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 752) leave from the Pope to have yards made to
+the churches, suitable for the burial of the dead.</p>
+
+<p>In the ordinary funerals of Christian Anglo-Saxons, the corpse was simply
+wrapped in linen, and carried to the grave by two persons, one holding the
+head, and the other the feet; the priest then censed the body, and whilst
+it was being deposited in the grave, offered up prayers and benedictions.
+At the obsequies of persons of distinction, hymns were sung by the
+attendant priests, who accompanied the body in procession. At this period
+the body of a deceased person was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> always watched by the relatives and
+friends from the moment of death to the time of burial; the &#8220;wake&#8221; of the
+present day being the survival of this custom.</p>
+
+<p>It was a common practice, when the body was embalmed, to take out the
+heart and bowels, and inter them in a different church to that in which
+the body was buried; testators sometimes made a request in their wills for
+this to be done. The custom appears to have prevailed from the twelfth to
+the eighteenth century. The heart of Richard the First was buried at
+Rouen, his bowels at Chaluz, and his body at Fontevand. In 1838, the
+King&#8217;s heart was discovered under the pavement of the sanctuary in Rouen
+Cathedral, enclosed in a leaden case, with the inscription:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Richard C&oelig;ur de Lion.</span><br />
+Duc de Normandie. Roi D&#8217;Angleterre.</p>
+
+<p>Coeval with the introduction of church bells has been the appropriation of
+one of them to the service of the dying; originally this bell was tolled
+when one was yielding up life in order that all who heard it might offer
+up prayer for the departing spirit, and after death another bell was rung,
+called the &#8220;soul bell.&#8221; The &#8220;Passing Bell,&#8221; as it is now most
+inappropriately called, is not rung<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> until some hours after death, and
+corresponds more nearly to the original &#8220;soul bell.&#8221; In some districts it
+is always rung exactly twenty-four hours after death, the tenor bell being
+used for an adult, and the treble for a child; the big bell is generally
+reserved for funerals. In rural districts after the &#8220;passing bell&#8221; has
+tolled, the sex of the deceased is indicated most generally by tolling
+twice for a woman and thrice for a man, to this is often added the age by
+giving one toll for each year.</p>
+
+<p>In the middle ages it was customary at the funeral of any great person to
+have his horse led, and armour borne, before his corpse, the horse being
+afterwards claimed as a mortuary due to the church at which the burial
+took place; the armour was either reserved for the next of kin of the
+deceased, or else was hung up in the church. No doubt much of the armour
+suspended over tombs is mere &#8220;undertaker&#8217;s trappings,&#8221; although often
+considered genuine and of antiquity.</p>
+
+<p>Over the tombs of bishops, the Episcopal mitre and pastoral staff was
+sometimes suspended, as in the case of those in Winchester Cathedral
+hanging over the tomb of Bishop Morley, who died in 1696; and of those in
+Bromsgrove Church,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> Worcestershire, suspended over the Monument of Dr.
+Hall, Bishop of Bristol, who died in 1710.</p>
+
+<p>The hearse, so often mentioned in wills and funeral directions, was not a
+carriage for the conveyance of the body like that in use at the present
+day, but was a four square framework of timber, from each corner of which
+rose a rafter slanting, and all four rafters met at the top; this was
+covered with black cloth, and at the funerals of persons of distinction
+was set up for a time in the choir, for the reception of the body during
+the service; it was surrounded with rails, and fringed and ornamented
+according to the rank of the deceased. Until the Reformation, hearses were
+garnished with numerous lights as well as with pencils and escocheons, but
+with the change of faith the lights were discontinued. These hearses were
+introduced about the fourteenth century, and they continued to be used
+until the civil wars of the seventeenth century.</p>
+
+<p>In Shropshire there is a custom of &#8220;ringing the dead home,&#8221; viz.: chiming
+all the bells, instead of ringing only one, while the funeral is on its
+way to the church. When the procession nears the churchyard gate the
+chiming is stopped and a minute bell is tolled. The sexton&#8217;s fees at Much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+Wenlock, as laid down in 1789, include &#8220;a chime if required before the
+funeral, 0 1 0.&#8221; At Hatherleigh, a small town in Devonshire, it was the
+prevalent custom to ring a lively peal on the church bells after a
+funeral, as elsewhere after a wedding.</p>
+
+<p>Even in the present day, in some remote rural districts, and especially in
+Hampshire, the practice still prevails of leaving open the outer door of
+the house, through which the corpse has been carried, until the mourners
+return from church, and in some places the custom extends also to the
+windows; this arises from a superstition that if the doors or windows be
+shut there will certainly be another death in the house within a year. In
+some districts there is a belief that if, when the moment of death
+approaches, all the doors and windows of the house are opened, the spirit
+will leave the body more easily.</p>
+
+<p>It was an ancient practice to put an hour glass into the coffin before
+burial, as an emblem of the sand of life being run out. Some antiquaries
+are of opinion that little hour glasses were anciently given at funerals,
+like rosemary, and by the friends of the deceased either put into the
+coffin or thrown into the grave.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>The custom which still prevails of sewing up a corpse in flannel,
+originated, doubtless, in the Act of Parliament, 18 and 19, Charles II.,
+which was passed for the encouragement of the woollen trade, and required
+all bodies to be buried in woollen shrouds; two amending statutes were
+passed, 1678 and 1680, requiring at the funeral an affidavit to be
+delivered to the priest stating that the requirements of the law had been
+carried out; otherwise penalties were incurred. These acts were repealed
+by 54 George III., although long before that time the penalties for
+noncompliance with the law had ceased to be enforced. During the operation
+of the acts for burying in woollen, the law was sometimes evaded by
+covering the corpse with hay, or flowers, notification of which is
+sometimes met with in the parish registers.</p>
+
+<p>Burial in armour was not at all uncommon in the middle ages, and was
+considered a most honourable form of burial. Sir Walter Scott, in &#8220;The Lay
+of the last Minstrel,&#8221; thus refers, to it:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Seem&#8217;d all on fire that Chapel proud,<br />
+Where Roslin&#8217;s Chiefs uncoffin&#8217;d lie,<br />
+Each Baron for a sable shroud<br />
+Sheathed in his iron panoply.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>Clement Spelman, of Narburgh, Recorder of Nottingham, who died in 1679, is
+immured upright, enclosed in a pillar in Narburgh Church, so that the
+inscription is directly against his face: this must surely be a solitary
+instance of burial in a pillar, although there are many other instances of
+burial in an upright position. Thomas Cooke, who was a Governor of the
+Bank of England, from 1737 to 1739, and who had formerly been a merchant
+residing in Constantinople, died at Stoke Newington, 12th August, 1752,
+and by his directions his body was carried to Morden College, Blackheath,
+of which he was a trustee, it was taken out of the coffin, and buried in a
+winding sheet upright in the ground, according to the Eastern custom.<a name='fna_8' id='fna_8' href='#f_8'><small>[8]</small></a>
+Ben Jonson was buried at Westminster in an upright position: possibly this
+may have been on account of the large fee demanded for a full-sized grave.
+It was for a long time supposed that the story was invented to account for
+the smallness of the gravestone, but on the grave being opened some years
+since, the dramatist&#8217;s remains were discovered in the attitude indicated
+by tradition. The following quotation from Hearne&#8217;s &#8220;Collection of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>Antiquarian Discourses,&#8221; Vol. I., p. 212, shows that the upright position
+of burial was anciently adopted in the case of captains in the army:</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">&#8220;For them above the grounde buryed, I have by tradition heard, that
+when anye notable Captayne dyed in battle or campe, the souldyers used
+to take his bodye and to sette him on his feet uprighte, and put his
+launce or pike into his hand, and then his fellowe souldyers did
+travell and everye man bringe so much earthe, and laye about him as
+should cover him, and mount up to cover the top of his pike.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>At Messina there is a church attached to one of the monasteries&mdash;St.
+Jacomo&mdash;in which several monks are buried in a sitting posture, and may be
+seen through a grating in a vault below the church.</p>
+
+<p>From the earliest ages to within about one hundred years ago, it appears
+to have been customary to bury either with or without a coffin. The
+following is an extract from a Terrier of lands, fees, etc., belonging to
+Caistor Vicarage, Lincolnshire, dated 1717: &#8220;For every grave in the
+churchyard and without coffin, four pence, if with coffin, one shilling.&#8221;
+Amongst the Vestry Minutes of St. Helen&#8217;s, Bishopsgate, dated 5th March,
+1564: &#8220;Item, that none shall be buryd within the Church, unless the dead
+corpse be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> coffined in wood.&#8221; The late John Bernard Palmer, first Abbot of
+the Cistercians in England since the Reformation, was buried in the
+Chapter House, at Loughborough, without a coffin. In the days when burial
+without a coffin was general, the body was shrouded, tied at the head and
+feet, and carried to the grave in a closed bier, which was generally
+provided by the parish for this purpose.</p>
+
+<p>A singular custom was wont to prevail at Gainsborough, of distributing
+penny loaves on the occasion of a funeral, to whosoever might demand them.
+Prior to the Reformation it was a common practice for our ancestors to
+direct in their wills that doles of bread and other alms should be given
+to the poor at their funerals; by this they performed a double
+act&mdash;relieving the corporal wants of the poor, and securing their prayers
+for the repose of their own souls. In some parts of Yorkshire, and
+elsewhere, it is still customary to send to friends immediately after
+death a paper bag of biscuits, and a card with the name, etc., of the
+deceased; this would not appear to be connected with a dole to purchase
+prayers, and may possibly find an origin in, and be the last remains of,
+the ancient ceremonial of the pagan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> burial feasts. At Amersden, in
+Oxfordshire, it was the custom at the burial of every corpse for a cake
+and flagon of ale to be given to the minister in the church porch
+immediately after the funeral.</p>
+
+<p>The curious and repulsive practice of sin eating is now obsolete. Aubrey,
+in &#8220;Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme,&#8221; thus refers to it:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">&#8220;In the County of Hereford was an old custome at funeralls to have
+poor people who were to take upon them the sinnes of the party
+deceased. The manner was that when the corps was brought out of the
+house and layd on the Biere, a Loafe of Bread was brought out, and
+delivered to the Sinne eater over the corps, so also a Mazer-bowle of
+Maple full of beer, w<sup>ch</sup> he was to drinke up, and six pence in money,
+in consideration whereof he took upon him all the sinnes of the
+Defunct, and freed him (or her) from walking after they were dead.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The origin of this strange custom was most likely connected in some way
+with the ceremony of the Scape Goat under the old Law. (Leviticus, cap.
+xvi., v. 21).</p>
+
+<p>Tradition authorises the expectation that our Lord will appear in the
+east; therefore all the faithful dead are buried with their feet towards
+the east to meet Him. Hence in Wales the east wind is called &#8220;The wind of
+the dead men&#8217;s feet.&#8221; The eastern portion of a churchyard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> is always
+looked on as the most honoured&mdash;next the south&mdash;then the west, and last of
+all the north, from the belief that in this order the dead will rise. A
+curious instance of this belief is furnished by an epitaph on a tombstone,
+dated 1807, on the north side of Epworth Churchyard, Lincolnshire, the
+last two lines of which run as follow:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;And that I might longer undisturbed abide<br />
+I choosed to be laid on this Northern side.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Felons, and notorious bad characters, were frequently buried on the north
+side of the church.</p>
+
+<p>In Suffolk most of the churches have both a north and south door, and,
+where old customs are observed, the body is brought in at the south door,
+put down at the west end of the aisle, and carried out by the north door.
+In Lincolnshire the north is generally reserved entirely for funerals, the
+south and west doors being reserved for christenings and weddings.</p>
+
+<p>The burning of lights and torches at funerals has always been a mark of
+honour to the dead, and to have a great number was a special mark of
+honour to the deceased. Testators frequently made provision in their wills
+for the burning of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> torches, both as to the number to be used, and their
+price; these torches were generally provided by the churchwardens, and
+consequently they were an article of profit to the church. Churchwardens&#8217;
+accounts furnish numerous instances of the charge to the friends of the
+deceased according to the consumption of wax.</p>
+
+<p>The following extract from the will of John Woodford, of Barsby, in the
+parish of Ashby Folville, Leicestershire, dated 13th February, 1543,
+instances the custom of making minute testamentary arrangements for
+burial:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">&#8220;And my bodie to be burryed within the parishe Churche of our Ladie in
+Ashbie-folwell Aforesaid as neare to the grave or Tombe of my cozin
+John Woodforde as maye be convenyentlie thought, or els in the crosse
+oyle before the pulpitt. Also I bequeath to our Mother Church of
+Lyncolne iiij<sup>d.</sup> Also to the Highe Altar xij<sup>d.</sup> Also I will that
+there be provided of Waxe xiij Tapers of the price of ij<sup>d.</sup> a peece.
+Also I will that fyve poor men of the same parishe be chosen to beare
+fyve Torches about my hearse Att my burryall. And they doing shall
+have for their labour ij<sup>d.</sup> peece. Also I bequeath to the same Church
+those fyve Torches And they to be burned att principall Feasts and
+other Feasts as shall be convenyent. Also I will that every priest
+that cometh to my Burriall to have iiij<sup>d.</sup> and their dynner. And if
+there be no dynner, Then every priest for to have viij<sup>d.</sup> a peece.
+And the same priests of their charritie for to say dirge and Masse<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>
+Att my burriall or els Att home within their parish for my soule and
+for all my good Frends soules and for all xyen soules. Also I will
+that they shall ring att my Burriall and to have for their labour
+ij<sup>d.</sup> a peece.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The Arvel Dinner appears to be an ancient custom. This was properly a
+solemn festival on the day of interment, and when the corpse was exposed
+to view. The relations and friends were invited to attend so that, having
+inspected the body, they might avouch that the death was a natural one,
+and thus exculpate the heir and all others entitled to the deceased&#8217;s
+possessions from accusations of having used violence.</p>
+
+<p>In Scotland the custom still prevails of taking down the window blinds at
+the death, and hanging white sheets across the windows. The custom also
+prevails in the north of England, and in many families a special sheet
+reserved for the death chamber is kept for the purpose, and often used
+from generation to generation.</p>
+
+<p>In many parts of Scotland, too, it is still customary for the nearest
+relatives of the deceased to lower the body into the grave, and wait by
+the side until the grave is filled up.</p>
+
+<p>In country districts in Wales a custom still exists of setting up a chest
+in the middle of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> chancel at the time of a funeral, and before leaving
+the church the mourners all file round and put their offerings in; this is
+really intended for the clergyman&#8217;s fee, but if the people are poor he
+often returns part of it (to a widow, for instance).</p>
+
+<p>There is at least one instance that it was customary for the parish to
+provide an umbrella for the use of the clergyman on public occasions, more
+especially at funerals. The parish accounts at St. John&#8217;s, Chester,
+contain the following entries:&mdash;</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td valign="top">1729</td>
+    <td>Paid Mr. George Marsh for an<br />Umbrell for the parish use</td><td><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span></td>
+    <td valign="bottom" align="right">00</td>
+    <td valign="bottom" align="right">10</td>
+    <td valign="bottom" align="right">6<sup>0.</sup></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top">1786</td>
+    <td>Paid for an Umbrell for Mr.<br />Richardson to read the Burial service under</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td valign="bottom" align="right">1</td>
+    <td valign="bottom" align="right">6</td>
+    <td valign="bottom" align="right">0<sup>0.</sup></td></tr></table>
+
+<p>It was a general belief that if a corpse was carried over fields on the
+way to burial, it established a public right of way for ever, hence it
+became customary, when, for convenience, or in some cases out of
+necessity, a corpse was taken across fields, or over any private ground,
+for the undertaker to stick a number of pins in each gate as the
+procession went through. The pins were accepted by the owner of the land
+as a payment for the privilege of the corpse being carried through, and
+acted as an acknowledgment that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> the right of way was granted only for the
+particular occasion.</p>
+
+<p>There is an ancient custom amongst the Russians to give the deceased two
+written documents placed in his coffin, containing (1) The confession of
+his sins: (2) The absolution given by the priest.</p>
+
+<p>One of the ancient customs connected with Swedish funerals was to place a
+small looking-glass in the coffin of an unmarried female, so that when the
+last trump sounds she might be able to arrange her tresses. It was the
+practice for Scandinavian maidens to wear their hair flowing loosely,
+while the matrons wore it bound about the head, and generally covered with
+some form of cap, hence the unmarried woman was imagined as wakening at
+the judgment day with more untidy locks than her wedded sisters, and more
+in need of a glass.</p>
+
+<p>It was customary, in carrying a corpse to burial, to rest the bier at any
+cross which might be in the way, whilst prayer was offered up; and,
+indeed, it was very general to erect a cross at any spot where the bier of
+a celebrated person had been rested on its way to interment.</p>
+
+<p>In the fifteenth century a most revolting custom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> originated of
+representing on tombs a skeleton, or worse still, a corpse in a state of
+corruption; this was followed by the more becoming custom of representing
+the effigies of corpses enveloped in shrouds tied at the head and feet.</p>
+
+<p>At Skipton it was an invariable practice to bury at midnight a woman who
+had died at the birth of her first child; the coffin was carried under a
+white sheet, the corners of which were held by four women. A custom
+prevailed in Lancashire when a mother died within a month of the birth of
+her child, of taking the baby to the funeral, and holding it over the
+grave as though to look in.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of the fourteenth century arose the practice of carrying a
+waxen effigy of the deceased either on or before the coffin in the funeral
+procession. The earliest instance of this practice is in the case of King
+Henry V., whose effigy formed the first of those figures which are still
+preserved in Westminster Abbey. This custom was only observed in the case
+of royalty, and persons of high position; the expense of a waxen
+representation of the deceased would prevent poor people from following
+it. The wax effigy of Oliver Cromwell lay in state while the body itself
+was being embalmed, so that most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> probably the actual corpse was never
+exposed to public view. The practice appears to have been discontinued
+shortly after the Restoration.</p>
+
+<p>A custom prevailed and continued even down to recent years of making
+funeral garlands on the death of young unmarried women of unblemished
+character. These garlands were made sometimes of metal, and sometimes of
+natural flowers or evergreens, and commonly having a white glove in the
+centre, on which was inscribed the name, or initials, and age of the
+deceased. This garland was laid on or carried before the coffin during its
+passage to the grave, and afterwards frequently hung up in the church,
+generally being suspended from the roof. It was usual in the primitive
+church to place crowns of flowers on the heads of deceased virgins.</p>
+
+<p>There was an order in the Church of England up to the year 1552, that if a
+child died within a month of baptism he should be buried in his chrisom in
+lieu of a shroud. The chrisom was a white baptismal robe with which, in
+medi&aelig;val times, a child, when christened, was enveloped. A sixteenth
+century brass in Chesham Bois Church, in Buckinghamshire, represents
+Benedict Lee, chrisom child, in his chrisom cloth. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> inscription
+underneath the figure stands thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Of Rog<sup>r</sup> Lee gentilma, here lyeth the son Benedict Lee<br />
+Crysom who<sup>s</sup> soule ih&#363; pd&#333;.</p>
+
+<p>Formerly it was a general custom to erect crosses at the junction of four
+cross roads, on a place <i>self-consecrated</i> according to the piety of the
+age; suicides, and notorious bad characters, were frequently buried near
+to these, not with the notion of indignity, but in a spirit of charity,
+that, being excluded from holy rites, they, by being buried at cross
+roads, might be in places next in sanctity to ground actually consecrated.</p>
+
+<p>The practice of placing a pewter plate containing a little salt on a
+corpse may possibly have originated in salt being considered an emblem of
+eternity. In Scotland the custom has generally been to place both salt and
+earth separate, and unmixed&mdash;the earth being an emblem of the corruptible
+body, and the salt an emblem of the immortal spirit. Salt has also been
+used to preserve a corpse. The body of Henry I., who died in Normandy, was
+cut and gashed, sprinkled with salt, wrapped in a bull&#8217;s hide, and brought
+to Reading Abbey to be buried.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>Testators frequently bequeathed palls by their wills for the general use
+of the parish; the following is an extract from the will of William
+Parkyns of Brympton, Berkshire, who died in 1558:&mdash;&#8220;Item, I will that mine
+executours buye one new pall, price 13s. 4d., the which I give unto the
+parish churche at Brympton to be laide uppon any personne, or personnes,
+that shall die within the said parishe and be brought to the churche.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In several rural districts in England, especially in the north, when a
+funeral takes place, a basin full of sprigs of box is placed at the door
+of the house where the corpse lies, and each person who attends the
+funeral takes a sprig of box as he enters the house, carries it in the
+funeral procession, and finally throws it into the grave of the deceased.</p>
+
+<p>At Exford, near Minehead, it was formerly the custom for burials always to
+take place on a Sunday when possible, the burial service being dovetailed
+into the usual afternoon service. The corpse being brought into the
+church, was placed in front of the reading desk, and remained there during
+the service: the funeral psalms were read instead of the psalms for the
+day, and the funeral lesson instead of the second lesson. The burial
+service was concluded after the sermon, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> entire congregation would
+generally remain to the end. The custom appears to have fallen into disuse
+about thirty years ago.</p>
+
+<p>Funeral cake or biscuit appears to be general in all parts. In Whitby, a
+round, flat, and rather sweet, sort of cake biscuit is baked expressly for
+use at funerals, and made to order by more than one baker in the town; it
+is white, slightly sprinkled with sugar, and of a fine even texture
+within. In Lincolnshire sponge finger biscuits are used. In Cumberland a
+custom prevailed of giving to each person who attended the funeral a small
+piece of rich cake, carefully wrapped up in white paper and sealed. This
+used to be carried round immediately before the &#8220;lifting of the corpse.&#8221;
+Each visitor selected one of the sealed packets and carried it home
+unopened.</p>
+
+<p>Funeral Bidders are most probably derived from the Romans, who used to
+send a public crier about inviting people to the solemnization of a
+funeral. In the northern countries each village had its regular &#8220;Bidder,&#8221;
+who when &#8220;bidding&#8221; to the funeral generally knocked on the door with a
+key. In towns the crier frequently did the &#8220;bidding,&#8221; having first called
+the attention of the people by his bell.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Concerning the Churchyard.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By John Nicholson.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">In</span> the life of St. Willebald<a name='fna_9' id='fna_9' href='#f_9'><small>[9]</small></a> we are told &#8220;that it was an ancient custom
+of the Saxon nation on the estates of some of their nobles and great men,
+to erect, not a church, but the sign of the Holy Cross, dedicated to God,
+beautifully and honourably adorned, and exalted on high for the common use
+of daily prayer.&#8221; It is the exception rather than the rule, for Domesday
+Book to mention a church in connection with a village, and it is possible
+that our Kirkbys, and place names having Kirk as a prefix, acquired that
+addition when the church was built in the churchyard ready for it&mdash;a
+churchyard already consecrated and hallowed by years of divine service and
+sacred memories.</p>
+
+<p>What better place than this, in the whole township, could be found for the
+hearing of disputes and the settling of cases; here, where the bishop sat
+with the sheriff, where the clerics were lawyers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> where oaths could be
+taken on everything that was holy, and round which all a man&#8217;s sacred
+associations clustered. The churchyard was a court of justice; but in
+later times, the ecclesiastical authorities discouraged the holding of
+secular pleas in churches and churchyards. In 1287 a synod held at Exeter,
+said &#8220;Let not secular pleas be held in churchyards,&#8221; but as late as 1472,
+a presentment from the parish of &#8220;Helemsay et Staunforthbrig&#8221; (Helmsley
+and Stamfordbrig) shews &#8220;that all the parishioners there hold pleas and
+other temporal meetings in the church and churchyard.&#8221;<a name='fna_10' id='fna_10' href='#f_10'><small>[10]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>The great church festivals were much abused by traders. At these great
+gatherings, dealers in all kinds of goods appeared on the scene, spread
+their wares on the tombstones, and could with difficulty be kept out of
+the sacred edifice itself. Their noisy shoutings, the assemblage of
+pleasure seekers, and the tumult attending such gatherings interfered
+seriously with the Divine service proceeding inside the church. A
+presentment, in 1416, from St. Michael-le-Belfry, in the city of York,
+states &#8220;the parishioners say that a common market of vendibles is held in
+the churchyard on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> Sundays and holidays, and divers things, and goods, and
+rushes, are exposed there for sale, and horses stand over the bodies of
+the dead there buried, and defile the graves, to the great dishonour and
+manifest hindrance of divine worship, on account of the clamour of those
+who stand about.&#8221; (<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 248.) While so late as 1519, the
+churchwardens of Riccall, in Yorkshire, complain that &#8220;pedlars come on
+festival days into the porch of the church and there sell their
+merchandise.&#8221; (<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 271.)</p>
+
+<p>Annual fairs were sometimes held in churchyards, especially where there
+was some saintly shrine or relic, which attracted crowds for the period of
+some anniversary. Perhaps Thomas-a-Beckett&#8217;s shrine at Canterbury was the
+most celebrated, but the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham almost surpassed
+it. The common people held the idea that the Milky Way pointed towards
+Walsingham, and they called it Walsingham Way accordingly; while
+Glastonbury was called a second Rome for the number and sacredness of its
+relics. When the pilgrims had paid their devotion to the relics, they
+needed to eat and drink, and they were not averse to spend the rest of the
+day in amusement. Accordingly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> minstrels, players, jugglers, and the
+like, supplied that demand, and the pilgrimage became a fair.</p>
+
+<p>On Sundays and holidays, the churchyard became a public playground. In
+pre-Reformation days, a holiday was a holy-day, when man went not forth to
+his labour. Then there were no eight hours day, no Early Closing
+Associations, but work, work, work, from early morn till late night, the
+only cessation of toil being on Sundays and Saints&#8217; days, hence termed a
+holy-day. On that day, people went to matins and mass in the morning, and
+spent the rest of the day in amusements, not always elevating or refined.
+The Synod of Exeter, already quoted, says, &#8220;We strictly enjoin on parish
+priests that they publicly proclaim in their churches, that no one presume
+to carry on combats, dances, or other improper sports in the churchyards,
+especially on the eves of the feasts of saints; or stage plays or farces,
+by which the honour of the churches is defiled and sacred ordinances
+despised.&#8221; Again, at Salton, Yorkshire, in 1472, &#8220;it is ordered, by the
+consent of the parishioners, that no one use improper and prohibited
+sports within the churchyard, as, for example, wrestling, football, and
+handball, under penalty of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> twopence forfeit.&#8221;<a name='fna_11' id='fna_11' href='#f_11'><small>[11]</small></a> The ordinance seems to
+have been disregarded, or to have had only a temporary effect, for in
+1519, a second complaint is made (<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 270), when the
+ecclesiastical authorities commanded, &#8220;Let them desist on pain of
+excommunication.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In days when men went about armed with sword and dagger, it was sure to
+happen that a hasty quarrel would lead to stroke of sword or stab of
+dagger, without heed to the sacred character of the place, or to the fact
+that the assault constituted sacrilege, and desecrated &#8220;God&#8217;s Acre&#8221; by
+bloodshed.</p>
+
+<p>Whitsuntide used to have a special feast of its own, known as Whitsun Ales
+or Church Ales, an institution by which money was obtained for repairing
+the church, helping the poor, and various charitable purposes. The
+churchwardens brewed the ale, and on the appointed day half the
+country-side assembled to join in the festivities;&mdash;music and song,
+baiting of bulls, bears, and badgers, bowls and ball, dice and
+card-playing, dancing and merry-making. The Church Ales were very popular
+in the North of England, where it was the practice to hold them in tents
+and booths<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> erected in the churchyards. In 1651, in Somerset, seventy-two
+clergymen of the county certified that during these Church Ales, which
+generally fell on a Sunday, &#8220;the service of God was more solemnly
+performed, and the service better attended, than on other days.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As an instance of what could be accomplished at one of these Church Ales,
+we may mention that &#8220;in 1532, the little village of Chaddesden spent 34s.
+10d. on an &#8216;Aell&#8217; for the benefit of the great tower of All Saints&#8217;,
+Derby, which was then being built, and earned by it &pound;25 8s. 6d.,&mdash;near
+&pound;400 of our money.&#8221; (Lichfield, Diocesan Hist., <span class="smcaplc">S.P.C.K.</span>)</p>
+
+<p>Doles are often distributed in the churchyard. William Robinson, at one
+time Sheriff of Hull, when he died in 1708, left money to purchase a dozen
+loaves of bread, costing a shilling each, to be given to twelve poor
+widows at his grave every Christmas Day. Leonard Dare, in 1611, directed
+that on Christmas Day, Lady Day, and Michaelmas Day, the churchwardens
+were &#8220;to buy, bring and lay on his tombstone, threescore penny loaves of
+good wholesome bread,&#8221; which were to be distributed to the poor of the
+parish. A quaint custom is still enacted annually in London on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> Good
+Friday. The vicar of St. Bartholomew&#8217;s the Great, Smithfield, drops
+twenty-one sixpences in a row on a certain lady&#8217;s grave. The money is
+picked up by the same number of widows kneeling, who have previously
+attended service at the church, where a sermon is preached.<a name='fna_12' id='fna_12' href='#f_12'><small>[12]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>A quaint old custom, once not infrequently practised, was that of
+scrambling bread and cheese and other edibles in the churchyard. A story
+is told of two poor sisters walking to London to claim an estate. Arriving
+at Paddington, weary, hungry, and footsore, their miserable condition
+aroused sympathy, and the good folk of Paddington gave them relief. In
+course of time, their claim was established, and as a token of gratitude
+they left a bequest of bread and cheese, to be thrown from the top of the
+church of St. Mary&#8217;s, Paddington, among the people assembled in the
+churchyard below. This custom was continued into this present century, for
+in 1821, it is noticed in the newspapers as an annual practice to throw
+bread and cheese from the belfry of the church at eight o&#8217;clock on the
+Sunday before Christmas Day. At Barford, Oxfordshire, is a piece of land,
+known as White-bread Close, the rent of which was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> formerly spent in
+buying bread to be scrambled for at the church door. A correspondent of
+the <i>Gentleman&#8217;s Magazine</i> for 1824, says that the &#8220;distribution
+occasioned such scenes of indecent riot and outrage, even fighting in the
+church itself, that a late curate very properly effected the suppression
+of a practice productive of this gross abuse.&#8221; Mr. Tuke, of Wath, near
+Rotherham, who died in 1810, left a bequest whereby forty dozen penny
+loaves were to be thrown from the church leads at twelve o&#8217;clock on
+Christmas Day for ever. This is the latest instance of a scrambling custom
+with which we are acquainted.<a name='fna_13' id='fna_13' href='#f_13'><small>[13]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Bells were frequently cast in churchyards, and from the editor of this
+volume we have received some interesting notes on this subject. &#8220;In the
+days of the early bell founders,&#8221; says Mr. William Andrews, &#8220;the country
+roads were little better than miry lanes, full of ruts and holes, and
+where the moisture of the winter was often not evaporated during the
+summer. For this reason bells were mostly cast in the immediate vicinity
+of the churches, or monastic establishments, they were intended to grace.
+The monks, too, were not unwilling to retain the usage as an opportunity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>
+for a religious service; they stood round the casting pit, and, as the
+metal was poured into the mould, would chant psalms and offer prayers.
+Southey, in &#8216;The Doctor,&#8217; says:&mdash;&#8216;The brethren stood round the furnace,
+ranged in processional order, sang the 150th Psalm, and then, after
+certain prayers, blessed the molten metal, and called upon the Lord to
+infuse into it His grace, and overshadow it with His power, for the honour
+of the saint to whom the bell was to be dedicated, and whose name it was
+to bear.&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sometimes the bells were cast in the interior of the building, as at St.
+Albans, where, in the beginning of the 14th century, the great bell called
+the &#8216;Amphibalus,&#8217; being broken, was cast in the hall of the sacristy. In
+some places, Kirkby Malzeard, and Haddenham, for instance, the bells were
+cast in the church itself. But most frequently the churchyard was chosen
+for the purpose. At Scalford, during excavations made some time ago, there
+were found traces of a former furnace, and also a mass of bell metal,
+which had evidently been melted on the spot; about 1876, the churchyard of
+Empingham yielded a similar instance. The bells of Meaux Abbey were cast
+within the precincts. Coming down to more recent times we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> find the
+bell-founders obviating risks of transit by the same means. The &#8216;Great
+Tom&#8217; of Lincoln, in 1610, and the great bell of Canterbury, in 1762, were
+cast in the yards of their respective cathedrals. It was customary also
+for bell craftsmen to settle awhile in a particular locality, and thence
+extend their business from that centre to the churches around. This was
+done in 1734 by Daniel Hedderly, of Bawtry, at Winterton, in Lincolnshire,
+and by Henry Bagley, who advertised in 1732, that he would &#8216;cast any ring
+or rings of bells in the town they belong.&#8217; Latterly, however, the
+improved roads and means of transit have enabled bells to be cast in their
+proper foundries, and then conveyed to their posts of office.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Sundials were most commonly placed on the south wall of the church, but
+many a churchyard is graced by these obsolete time-keepers. At Kilham,
+East Yorkshire, opposite the door of the south porch of the church, a
+stone coffin has been sunk, head foremost, about half its length in the
+ground, and on the foot of this coffin a sundial was placed in 1769, and
+is still in a good state of preservation.</p>
+
+<p>Wimborne Minster, Dorset, boasts a dial which must not be missed. It is
+dated 1732, and is to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> be found under the yew tree in the Minster yard,
+though its original position was on the gable of the north transept. It is
+of stone, 6 ft. in height; its south face is 4 ft. in width, and its east
+and west faces 3 ft. respectively, each of which bears a gnomon&mdash;a
+somewhat unusual feature.</p>
+
+<p>A few miles from Canterbury, in Chilham churchyard, stands a beautiful
+sundial, the graceful stone pedstal of which was designed by the famous
+Inigo Jones.</p>
+
+<p>Sundials have become well nigh useless owing to improved methods of
+keeping time, but one loves to see these relics which link us to a past
+which, with all its disadvantages, has many pleasant bye-paths for the men
+of to-day.</p>
+
+<p>The stocks were sometimes placed in the churchyard, though more frequently
+near the village cross or in the market place. In 1578, tenpence was paid
+&#8220;for a hinging locke to the stockes in the Mynster Yearde,&#8221;<a name='fna_14' id='fna_14' href='#f_14'><small>[14]</small></a> and again
+in 1693 &#8220;for rebuilding the gallows in the Horse faire, and the stocks in
+the Minster yard, &pound;5 5s. 10d.&#8221; The stocks at Beverley Minster were
+movable, and placed in the yard when required for use.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>A strange scene was enacted in St. Paul&#8217;s churchyard, in May, 1531.
+According to Fox, the well known writer on martyrs, Bishop Stokesley
+&#8220;caused all the New Testament of Tyndal&#8217;s translation, and many other
+books which he had bought, to be openly burnt in St. Paul&#8217;s churchyard.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A curious act of penance was performed in Hull, in 1534, by the vicar of
+North Cave. He had made a study of the work of the Reformers, who had
+settled in Antwerp, and sent their books over to England. In a sermon
+preached in the Holy Trinity Church, Hull, he advocated their teaching,
+and for this he was tried for heresy and convicted. He recanted, and as an
+act of penance, one Sunday, he walked round the church barefooted, with
+only his shirt on, and carrying a large faggot in his hand to represent
+the punishment he deserved.</p>
+
+<p>Crosses have always been deemed a fitting emblem and suitable ornament for
+churchyards. Many ancient, interesting, and valuable crosses are yet to be
+found, notably at Ilkley, Crowle, Bakewell, and Eyam, the latter of which
+lay in pieces in a corner of the churchyard, until restored by John
+Howard, the philanthropist.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>One result of church restoration by vicars, strangers to the place and
+people, and but newly installed, is the formation of a rubbish heap, in
+some neglected or unseen corner of the churchyard. Here are thrown,
+carelessly, cruelly, wantonly, costly stones of marble, alabaster, or
+granite, removed from the interior of the church, because there is no
+representative to plead for their safety. Boys clamber over the wall, make
+houses of the slabs, and for one brief hour, &#8220;dwell in marble halls,&#8221; then
+go home and carry off the smaller pieces to ornament a rockery. It has
+been my good fortune, on more than one occasion, to rescue a monumental
+slab from destruction, and place it in the hands of the present
+representative of the family mentioned thereon.</p>
+
+<p>Let us go through this little wicket gate which gives entrance to this
+village churchyard. As the gate clicks behind us, we find ourselves close
+to a handsome modern cross, raised on four circular steps. Here let us sit
+awhile and find rest for body and soul. The grass is closely cut between
+the graves, the little grassy mounds themselves have been made into tiny
+flower gardens. All around is evidence of care and pride in work; it is
+somebody&#8217;s hobby as well as his living. Round<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> the larger family graves,
+tasteful iron railings are fixed, and creeping plants and climbing roses
+rob the erection of its rigidity. At the beginning of the eighth century,
+a wise Northumbrian monarch was laid to rest in this &#8220;garden of sleep,&#8221;
+and for twelve centuries the long roll of those joining the majority has
+been added to here in this quiet place, until the very dust on which we
+walk is sacred. Like Moses in the desert we are on holy ground&mdash;it is
+&#8220;God&#8217;s Acre.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Altars in Churches.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, b.a.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">The</span> altar, although it is the most important and most conspicuous article
+of church furniture, is not one that provides much material for gossip of
+the quaint and curious kind. And this is natural: a decent reverence
+having protected the Christian &#8220;Holy of Holies&#8221; from the vagaries that
+have sometimes invented grotesque customs in connection with other parts
+of the church. This feeling of sanctity arises most obviously from the
+fact that on the altar the sacred mystery of the Eucharist is offered; but
+in early times it was intensified by the knowledge that beneath that altar
+rested the remains of some saint or martyr. In the first ages it was so
+far customary thus to commemorate the church&#8217;s departed heroes, that
+<i>confessio</i>, or <i>martyrion</i> (that is, the grave of a confessor or martyr),
+became recognized names for the altar.</p>
+
+<p>In later times the custom was reversed; the altar was no longer reared
+over the bones<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> of the saint, but the body of anyone whom the church
+specially wished to honour was buried beneath the altar; and even now,
+when interments within churches are forbidden, the same natural feeling
+often finds expression in the burial of a parish priest immediately
+without the east wall, as near as possible to the altar that he served.</p>
+
+<p>Probably it was the thought of security guaranteed by the sacredness of
+the altar which suggested to the monks of Canterbury the making of a
+grated vault beneath the high altar of the cathedral, in which to store
+their treasures. Here, before the Reformation, was kept a collection of
+gold and silver vessels, so large and costly, that in the opinion of
+Erasmus, Midas and Cr&oelig;sus would seem but beggars in presence of it.
+This altar was itself lavishly adorned, and all its glory had not
+disappeared in the days of Archbishop Laud, one of whose offences was the
+adorning of it with &#8220;a most idolatrous costly glory cloth.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>For richness of material no altar that the world has seen could well excel
+the one erected in the Cathedral of S. Sophia by the Emperor Justinian. It
+was &#8220;a most inimitable work, for it was artificially composed of all sorts
+of materials that either the earth or the sea could afford, gold,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> silver,
+and all kinds of stones, wood, metals, and other things; which being
+melted and mixed together, a most curious table was framed out of this
+universal mass.&#8221; The result, one cannot but think, with all its splendour,
+must have been somewhat barbaric. Other altars we read of in the early
+ages made of gold, or of pure silver, and others, like that presented to a
+church by Pulcheria according to Sozomen, adorned with gold and precious
+stones.</p>
+
+<p>There seems never to have been any very definite rule in force as to the
+material of which an altar should be made. It is true that the Council of
+Epaone (<span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 517) decreed that &#8220;no altar should be consecrated except it
+were of stone;&#8221; but in practice, metal and wooden altars still continued
+to be used, both in the east and the west.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of having a tabernacle permanently on the altar for the
+reservation of the Blessed Sacrament did not become usual until the
+twelfth century, but as early as the middle of the ninth century, Leo IV.
+mentions a pyx suspended for the same purpose above it. In fact we find
+traces as far back as the sixth of the use of pyxes in the form of doves
+made of gold or silver;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> and in England this custom continued until the
+Reformation. The pyx at Durham Cathedral, which hung from a hook still to
+be seen in the roof, was in the form of a pelican &#8220;in her piety,&#8221; that is,
+feeding her young with her heart&#8217;s blood; a figure which has been copied
+in the lectern now in use.</p>
+
+<p>As the usual ornaments of the altar and its ministers became more numerous
+and more costly, it was inevitable that the question of responsibility for
+their provision should arise. Such a dispute came for settlement before
+Walter de Gray, Archbishop of York (1216-1256) in 1253, and he drew up a
+catalogue of such necessary things as the parishioners were to provide.</p>
+
+<p>It will perhaps surprise some people to know that the custom of placing
+vases of flowers on the altar, so far from being a modern innovation, is
+one of the most ancient ways of adorning it. S. Augustine speaks of a
+young man taking a flower from an altar in an oratory dedicated to S.
+Stephen; and elsewhere we read of flowers, skilfully interwoven, as a
+decoration of the altar.</p>
+
+<p>Anciently altars had no covering, except the linen clothes placed on the
+top, but as early as the sixth century Gregory of Tours speaks of a silk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
+pall as a covering for one. It was in the eighth century, however, and by
+the influence of Pope Leo III., that altar-cloths came generally into use.
+The name for this in the Roman Missal is <i>Pallium</i>, or pall, and that name
+is still preserved in our English Coronation Service, where the gift of a
+pall is prescribed as part of the oblation to be made by the Sovereign. In
+accordance with this direction, and the custom of her ancestors, Queen
+Victoria, at her coronation, made an offering of a pall of cloth-of-gold,
+which was presented at the altar steps.</p>
+
+<p>In marked contrast to the reverence shown to the altar in almost all ages
+and places, is a custom that for some couple of centuries existed at S.
+Ives in Huntingdonshire. A certain Dr. Robert Wilde, dying there in 1678,
+left a sum of &pound;50, the interest of which was to be annually expended in
+the purchase of Bibles, each of which was not to exceed 7s. 6d. in price.
+The following extraordinary method of distributing these volumes was also
+enjoined. Six boys and six girls of the parish having been selected, were
+to stand at the altar and cast thereon with three dice, those making the
+highest aggregate number of points to have the Bibles. The occasion was to
+be further<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> improved by the preaching of an appropriate sermon by the
+Vicar, for which he was to receive the sum of 10s. A piece of ground, now
+known as &#8220;Bible Orchard,&#8221; was bought with the legacy, and the distribution
+has duly taken place ever since in accordance with the donor&#8217;s wishes,
+except that in recent years a small table has been placed at the chancel
+step for the dice throwings, and the desecration of the altar avoided.</p>
+
+<p>So strange a custom, however good the founder&#8217;s intention, could scarcely
+begin, much less take root, and live among us now; when we see on every
+hand efforts to treat God&#8217;s altar-throne with the reverence, and to adorn
+it with such dignity, as becomes it. And we may surely see in the revived
+life and widened usefulness of the English Church of to-day, a fulfilment
+of the Divine promise, &#8220;Them that honour Me, I will honour.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
+<h2>The Rood Loft and its Uses.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By John T. Page.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">The</span> word <i>rood</i> or <i>rod</i> is of Saxon origin, and signifies a cross, or
+crucifix. It was universally adopted in Roman Catholic times to denote the
+cross on which Christ suffered death, and thus instead of the Holy Cross
+we invariably read of the Holy Rood.</p>
+
+<p>The annals of legendary lore record that on the 3rd of May, <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 328, the
+true cross was found by St. Helena, buried deep in the ground at
+Jerusalem. Cosroes, King of Persia, on plundering the city, carried the
+precious relic away with him, but it was recovered again by Heraclius,
+Emperor of the Eastern Empire, who, in the year 629, made a pilgrimage to
+Jerusalem, and restored it to the Holy Sepulchre.</p>
+
+<p>Ever since then the 14th of September has been celebrated as the Festival
+of the Holy Rood, or Holy Cross. Crosses had been set up in churches as
+far back as the year <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 431, and henceforward until the time of the
+Reformation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> they continued to be an important article of church
+furniture.</p>
+
+<p>From the earliest times it had been customary to separate that part of the
+Church at the east end where the altar stood, from the body of the nave,
+where the common people assembled for worship. For this reason we find the
+arches between the chancel and the nave in Anglo-Saxon and Norman Churches
+very narrow, so that a curtain could easily be stretched across the
+opening. Later on this curtain was displaced by a screen of open woodwork,
+and in some cases stone was used instead of wood. This screen was
+generally carried up to the capitals of the columns which supported the
+chancel arch, and was surmounted by a substantial cross-beam. Upon the
+beam was constructed a loft or gallery, in the centre of which stood the
+rood, or crucifix. Access was generally gained to the rood loft by a newel
+staircase cut either in the north or south wall of the chancel, and
+occasionally the staircase existed on both sides. In some churches the
+rood loft extended across the side aisles as well, and this necessitated
+the erection of a specially constructed turret at the east end of one of
+the aisles.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>The rood itself was always set in the centre of the loft, in such a
+position that it could be well seen by the assembled worshippers. Not only
+was the body of the Saviour represented as hanging upon the cross, but it
+was flanked on each side by attendant images of the Virgin Mary and St.
+John. These all faced the west, in accordance with a tradition that Christ
+was crucified with His face in that direction. It must not, however, be
+taken for granted that a rood loft existed in every church. Sometimes the
+rood was simply fixed on the cross-beam immediately over the screen, the
+gallery in this case being dispensed with.</p>
+
+<p>It is a moot point as to when the rood was first set up in the English
+Church, but as there are scarcely any remains of screen-work of earlier
+date than the fourteenth century, it could not have been long before that
+time. There are, it is true, a few solitary specimens of thirteenth
+century work, but most of that which still exists is of fifteenth century
+date. Looking at examples of this period we generally find the rood loft
+projected a little forward over the screen, the angle thus formed being
+filled with groined work, springing from the protruding supports of the
+screen beneath. The upper part of the screen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> was filled with open work
+carving, which sometimes partook of the character of an elaborate
+symbolical design. The lower part was nearly always plain, but in
+conjunction with the upper surface was often elaborately painted and
+gilded.</p>
+
+<p>When the Reformation came, the roods were all swept away by order, but the
+rood lofts in some cases became utilised as galleries for the singers. In
+the churchwardens&#8217; account books, belonging to the parish of Stratton,
+Cornwall, under date 1549, occurs an entry of a sum of money &#8220;payd for
+takyng downe y<sup>e</sup> Rode and y<sup>e</sup> pagents y<sup>n</sup> y<sup>e</sup> rode lofte.&#8221; It does not
+appear that any of the roods escaped destruction, but representations of
+the rood, and its attendant images of St. John and the Virgin Mary, were
+sometimes carved in stone and inserted in the walls of churches, and of
+these a few still remain. It is therefore possible to obtain from these
+stone carvings a very good idea of how the rood looked when it was set up
+in the rood loft. Mr. Bloxam mentions examples at Romsey, Hants;
+Sherborne, Dorset; Burford, Oxon, and Evesham, Worcester; and the writer
+may add that a fine specimen is to be seen over the south doorway of
+Stepney Church, Middlesex.</p>
+
+<p>It it presumed that an altar sometimes stood in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> the loft in front of the
+rood. The fact that at Maxey Church, Northamptonshire, a piscina is to be
+found in the south wall of the clerestory would seem to enforce such a
+theory. On special occasions lights and other decorations occupied a place
+in the loft near the rood. It has also been stated that the Gospel and
+Epistle, and various other parts of the service, were read from the rood
+loft.</p>
+
+<p>Very good examples of a late Perpendicular rood screen and loft exist at
+Bugbrook Church, Northamptonshire. The screen consists of three
+compartments, of which the central one is the widest. It is ten feet seven
+inches high, and at the base of the loft, measures nineteen feet three
+inches across. The lower part of the central compartment, which went to
+form the doors, is missing. The upper part is arched, and down the centre
+of the arch runs a mullion. This description of the upper portion
+corresponds with the two side compartments, where, however, the mullions
+are continued down to the ground. The lower parts on each side are filled
+with plain panels, which have apparently been inserted in later times. A
+series of elaborate vaulting springs from the main supports of the
+structure, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> upholds to the rood loft, which projects over the top of
+the screen. The vaulting is covered with fan tracery, the spaces between
+the ribs being filled in with a rich design. The loft is between three and
+four feet in width, and the cross beam on which it rests is seven inches
+wide. Admission to the loft is gained from the south side, through a
+narrow arched opening in the wall. The steps originally descended into the
+south aisle, but there are only five of them now remaining.</p>
+
+<p>The counties of Devon and Somerset probably contain some of the finest
+examples of rood screens and rood lofts. On one at least of these the rood
+has lately been replaced, for in a recent number of <i>Notes and
+Queries</i>,<a name='fna_15' id='fna_15' href='#f_15'><small>[15]</small></a> Mr. Harry Hems, of Exeter, writes as follows:&mdash;&#8220;The only
+rood screen I recollect for the moment having the three figures upon it,
+is at St. Andrew&#8217;s, Kenn. I placed them there some seven or eight years
+ago.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There seems now to be a general inclination towards a revival of the rood
+screen. Even in our most recently built churches, a temporary screen,
+festooned with flowers or other decorations,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> may often be seen erected on
+the occasion of harvest festivals, and such-like celebrations. Whether or
+no the setting up of the rood in the rood loft will ever again become
+customary in the English Church, is a question time alone can solve.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Armour in Churches.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By J. Charles Cox, ll.d., f.s.a.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">The</span> memorial brasses, the incised slabs, and especially the effigies of
+knights and men-at-arms, which abound in our churches, tell us far more of
+the successive stages and development of English arms and armour, both of
+an offensive and defensive character, than all the manuscript inventories
+or actual collections of weapons that are yet extant. And not only do our
+churches thus yield the most valuable and trustworthy evidence as to the
+armour of our forefathers, by its faithful pourtrayal on the memorials of
+the departed, but they also afford a sanctuary in numerous cases for
+actual armour.</p>
+
+<p>It was for many centuries a custom of Christendom&mdash;apparently more
+particularly in England than elsewhere&mdash;to suspend over the tomb the
+principal arms of the departed warrior, which had previously been carried
+in the funeral procession. Hearne, the well-known antiquary of last
+century, says that the custom originated with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> Canute placing his crown
+upon the head of the crucifix at Winchester, when he found that the waves
+refused to obey him; but it is somewhat difficult to follow the reasoning
+which makes this a precedent for the hanging up of the dead man&#8217;s armour.</p>
+
+<p>The custom is twice noted by Shakespeare. In &#8220;Hamlet,&#8221; Laertes says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;His means of death, his obscure burial&mdash;<br />
+No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o&#8217;er his bones,<br />
+No noble rite, nor formal ostentation.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Iden, in &#8220;Henry VI.,&#8221; remarks:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Is&#8217;t Cade that I have slain, that monstrous traitor,<br />
+Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed,<br />
+And hang thee o&#8217;er my tomb, when I am dead.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The armour in our churches may be divided into two classes; firstly, that
+which had actually been worn by the person commemorated, and secondly,
+that which was specially constructed for funeral purposes.</p>
+
+<p>The most deeply interesting and the oldest of genuine armour still
+preserved within English churches, is that which pertained to the Black
+Prince, and which hangs above his well-known tomb in the cathedral church
+of Canterbury. In June, 1894, this armour was exhibited at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> Burlington
+House, in the rooms of the Society of Antiquaries, when we had special
+opportunities of examining it. The great tilting helm of iron weighs seven
+pounds. The leathern cap inside it is almost worn away. The gilded
+long-tailed lion which forms the crest is of leather. The great shield of
+France and England quarterly is also of embossed leather. The gauntlets
+are of latten, and still retain the inner leather gloves. The
+sword-scabbard and buckle are of the same material; the sword itself is
+unfortunately missing, and is said to have been appropriated by Oliver
+Cromwell when visiting Canterbury.</p>
+
+<p>The surcoat, which laced up the back, is of velvet, and well padded. It is
+not a little remarkable that the arms of neither shield nor surcoat bear
+any label or mark of cadency, but are simply royal arms. Mr. St. John Hope
+ingeniously conjectures that this singular omission can only be accounted
+for on the supposition that the relics were really those of Edward III.,
+and not of his son, the Black Prince, and that they were hung up over the
+son&#8217;s tomb by the king&#8217;s order as a mark of his deep affection.</p>
+
+<p>At the same exhibition the actual shield of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> Henry V., from Westminster
+Abbey, was also shown.</p>
+
+<p>Sir David Owen, by his will, dated February 20th, 1529, desires that &#8220;my
+body be buried in the priory of Esseborne, after the degree of a banneret,
+that is with helmet and sword, my war armour, my banner, my standard, and
+my pendant.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Godfrey Foljambe, of Walton, by his will, in 1532, left his &#8220;carcase
+to be buried in the chappell of St. George besides my lady wife in
+Chesterfield ... my sword, helmet, with the crest upon the head, and my
+coat-of-arms to be hanged over my tomb, and there to remain for ever.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Several of our parish churches still retain arms or armour or other
+accoutrements that had actually been worn by the person commemorated.
+Among them, to our own knowledge, may be mentioned Bonsall, Derbyshire;
+Brington, Northamptonshire; Addington, Surrey; Sheriff Hutton, Yorkshire;
+Broadwater, Sussex; St. Michael Carhayes, Cornwall; St. Mary Redcliffe,
+Bristol; Brabourne, Kent; and Longbridge Deverill, Wilts.</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally, however, and particularly in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> sixteenth and seventeenth
+centuries, the armour carried in the funeral procession, and subsequently
+suspended over the tomb, was merely supplied by the undertaker or heraldic
+official, and was of a cheap and imitative character, not intended to
+last. Sir William Dugdale states (in 1667) the actual price of such sham
+armour. A knight&#8217;s helmet, gilt with silver and gold, was &pound;1; the crest,
+carved and coloured, 13s.; the sword, with velvet scabbard, 10s.;
+gauntlets, 10s.; and gilt spurs, 5s. Light helmets and breastplates of
+this funeral-trophy description, from which all gilt and beauty has long
+since disappeared, are still to be found in some of our churches, and
+occasionally may be seen among discarded lumber in parvises, as at Raunds,
+Northamptonshire.</p>
+
+<p>There is, however, a yet more important aspect of armour in churches to be
+considered. Every parish in England, from the time of Edward I. downwards,
+was bound to keep ready for use a certain amount of armour, and a man or
+men, according to the population of the township, properly trained to the
+use of this armour. This armour had to be viewed twice a year by the
+constables, and a report as to its condition made to the justices. Not
+infrequently, when a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>suitable &#8220;church-house&#8221; was wanting, the &#8220;townes
+armour&#8221; of our English villages, and even of country towns, was kept in
+the church itself, particularly in the parvise or room over the porch.</p>
+
+<p>When the parish armour was carefully viewed throughout England at the time
+of the expected Spanish invasion in the reign of Elizabeth, returns show
+that much of it was in safe quarters within the consecrated walls of our
+churches. We have met with various instances of inventories or mention of
+&#8220;townes armour&#8221; in old constable accounts. One of the fullest of these is
+in the parish books of Repton, Derbyshire. In 1590 is this entry:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&#8220;A Note of the armoure of Repton receaved into the handes of Rycharde
+Weatte, berjinge Constable.</p>
+
+<p>Imprimis ij corsletts w<sup>th</sup> all that belongeth unto them.</p>
+
+<p>It. ij platt&#8217; cotts (coats of plate armour).</p>
+
+<p>It. ij swordes and iij daigers and ij gyrgells.</p>
+
+<p>It. ij calevers w<sup>th</sup> flaxes and tuch boxe.</p>
+
+<p>It. ij pyckes and ij halberds.</p>
+
+<p>It. for the Tr&#8217;band Souldiar a cote and bowe and a shiffe of arrowes
+and a quiver.&#8221;</p></div>
+
+<p>In 1616, the inventory is as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&#8220;Receaved by Christopher Ward Constable from John Couttrell the Townes
+Armore.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>2 Corsletts with 2 pickes.</p>
+
+<p>2 Culivers.</p>
+
+<p>One flask and tuch boxe.</p>
+
+<p>V headpeeces; towe of them ould ones.</p>
+
+<p>2 howlboardes.</p>
+
+<p>One payre of Banddelrowes.</p>
+
+<p>2 oulde girdles.</p>
+
+<p>3 new girdles; towe of them with ye sowldiers.</p>
+
+<p>3 payre of hanggers in the sowldiers keepinge.</p>
+
+<p>3 swordes with towe daggers.</p>
+
+<p>Allsoe the swordes in sowldiers keepinge.</p>
+
+<p>Allsoe 2 platte coottes y<sup>t</sup> Clocksmith not delivered.&#8221;</p></div>
+
+<p>This armour was kept in the parish church at Repton; up to the year 1840
+some of it still remained in the parvise or room over the south porch.</p>
+
+<p>In the first year of Elizabeth, it is recorded that there was in the
+parish church of Darley, Derbyshire, &#8220;within ye steepul both harnes and
+weapons in redynes for one billman and for one archer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In Cussans&#8217; county history of Hertfordshire, it is recorded that some
+&#8220;twenty years ago,&#8221; the south porch of Baldock church was enlarged by
+removing the floor of the parvise. This chamber, which had remained closed
+for many years, was found to be nearly filled with armour, helmets, pikes,
+and other weapons. It was assumed by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> Cussans that this was a collection
+of armour, heaped together from tombs over which they had been suspended,
+but there can be no doubt it was merely the old store of town&#8217;s armour.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Beating the Bounds.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By John T. Page.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">In</span> those early days, when deities were called into existence at the sweet
+will of every potentate, we note the fact that somewhere between the years
+715-672 <span class="smcaplc">B.C.</span>, King Numa Pompilius introduced to the Roman citizens, the
+worship of the god Terminus. He originated a plan, by which the fields of
+the citizens were separated from each other by means of boundary stones,
+which stones were dedicated, and made sacred to the god Terminus. The
+Terminalia, as the festival of Terminus was called, was celebrated
+annually on the 23rd of February. On this day the people turned out in
+force, and visiting the different boundary stones, decked them with
+flowers, and performed sacrificial rites amid great rejoicings.</p>
+
+<p>From the seventh century <span class="smcaplc">B.C.</span>, to the end of the nineteenth century of the
+Christian era is a long stride, but it is pretty generally considered that
+in this annual Terminalia of the ancient Romans, we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> have the germ of the
+custom known as &#8220;Beating the Bounds,&#8221; which in many parishes throughout
+England is still carried out annually.<a name='fna_16' id='fna_16' href='#f_16'><small>[16]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>The early Christians readily adapted some of the best heathen customs to
+their own requirements, and thus we soon find them making a perambulation
+round their fields, accompanied by their bishops and clergy. They repeated
+litanies, and implored God to avert plague and pestilence, and to enable
+them in due season to reap the fruits of the earth. &#8220;The Litanies or
+Rogations then used gave the name of Rogation Week to this time. They
+occur as early as the 550th year of the Christian era, when they were
+first observed by Mamertius, Bishop of Vienna, on account of the frequent
+earthquakes that happened, and the incursions of wild beasts, which laid
+in ruins and depopulated the city.&#8221;<a name='fna_17' id='fna_17' href='#f_17'><small>[17]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Some idea of the importance which eventually came to be attached to this
+Rogation time, may be gathered from an old sermon, still extant, in which
+the preacher, after animadverting upon a growing misuse of the festival by
+certain people,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> tells them that for this cause &#8220;it is merveyle God
+destroye us not in one daye,&#8221;&mdash;and then proceeds as follows:&mdash;&#8220;In these
+Rogation Days, it is to be asked of God, and prayed for, that God of his
+goodness wyll defende and save the corne in the felde, and that he wyll
+vouchsave to pourge the ayer. For this cause be certaine Gospels red in
+the wide felde amonges the corne and grasse, that by the vertue and
+operation of God&#8217;s word, the power of the wicked spirites, which kepe in
+the air and infecte the same (whence come pestilences and the other kyndes
+of diseases and syknesses) may be layde downe, and the aier made pure and
+cleane, to th&#8217; intent the corne may remaine unharmed, and not infected of
+the sayd hurteful spirites, but serve us for our use and bodely
+sustenaunce.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In order that we may now get a better idea of what these processions were
+like, we cannot do better than turn to Shaw&#8217;s <i>History of
+Staffordshire</i>.<a name='fna_18' id='fna_18' href='#f_18'><small>[18]</small></a> We there learn that &#8220;Among the local customs which
+have prevailed (at Wolverhampton), may be noticed that which was popularly
+called &#8216;Processioning.&#8217; Many of the older inhabitants can well remember
+when the sacrist, resident prebendaries, and members of the choir,
+assembled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> at Morning Prayers on Monday and Tuesday in Rogation Week, with
+the charity children, bearing long poles clothed with all kinds of flowers
+then in season, and which were afterwards carried through the streets of
+the town with much solemnity, the clergy, singing men and boys, dressed in
+their sacred vestments, closing the procession, and chanting in a grave
+and appropriate melody, the Canticle, Benedicite Omnia Opera, etc.... It
+was discontinued about 1765.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In the seventeenth century mention is often made of the Rogation week
+processions in the Articles of Enquiry in the different Archdeaconries. As
+an example we may cite the following from the Archdeaconry of Middlesex,
+under date 1662. &#8220;Doth your minister or curate, in Rogation Dayes, go in
+Perambulation about your Parish, saying and using the Psalms and Suffrages
+by Law appointed, as <i>viz.</i>, Psalm 103 and 104, the Letany and Suffrages,
+together with the Homily, set out for that end and purpose? Doth he
+admonish people to give thanks to God, if they see any likely hopes of
+plenty, and to call upon him for mercy, if there be any fear of scarcity:
+and do you, the Churchwardens, assist him in it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>The judicious Hooker &#8220;would by no means omit the customary time of
+Procession, persuading all, both rich and poor, if they desired the
+preservation of love and their parish rights and liberties, to accompany
+him in his Perambulation: and most did so: in which Perambulation he would
+usually express more pleasant discourse than at other times, and would
+then always drop some loving and facetious observations, to be remembered
+against the next year, especially by the boys and young people.&#8221;<a name='fna_19' id='fna_19' href='#f_19'><small>[19]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>As might have been expected, some very curious entries appear in the
+churchwardens&#8217; books of different parishes relative to expenses incurred
+on the occasion of the annual procession. From the parish books of St.
+Margaret, Westminster, the following have been culled:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">&#8220;1555. Item, paid for spiced bread on the Ascension-Even, and on the
+Ascension Day, 1s.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p class="hang">&#8220;1556. Item, paid for bread, wine, ale, and beer, upon the
+Ascension-Even and Day, against my Lord Abbott and his Covent cam in
+Procession, and for strewing herbs the samme day, 7s. 1d.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p class="hang">&#8220;1559. Item, for bread, ale, and beer, on Tewisday in the Rogacion
+Weeke, for the parishioners that went in Procession, 1s.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p>
+<p class="hang">&#8220;1560. Item, for bread and drink for the parishioners that went the
+Circuit the Tuesday in the Rogation Week, 3s. 4d.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p class="hang">&#8220;Item, for bread and drink the Wednesday in the Rogation Week, for Mr.
+Archdeacon and the Quire of the Minster, 3s. 4d.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p class="hang">&#8220;1585. Item, paid for going the Perambulacion, for fish, butter,
+cream, milk, conger, bread and drink, and other necessaries, 4s.
+8&#189;d.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p class="hang">&#8220;1597. Item, for the charges of diet at Kensington for the
+Perambulation of the Parish, being a yeare of great scarcity and
+deerness, &pound;6 8s. 8d.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p class="hang">&#8220;1605. Item, paid for bread, drink, cheese, fish, cream, and other
+necessaries, when the worshipfull and others of the parish went the
+Perambulation to Kensington, &pound;15.&#8221;</p></div>
+
+<p>By way of accessories, the customs of &#8220;whipping&#8221; and &#8220;bumping&#8221; gradually
+came to form part of the perambulation ceremony. In order that the
+boundaries of the parishes might be indelibly impressed on the minds of
+the younger portion of the community, it was deemed advisable to bump some
+promising boy painfully against the boundary stones; or better still, to
+publicly whip him while he strove to impress on his memory the exact
+position of the same land-marks.</p>
+
+<p>As a set off against this public humiliation, the boys had a present of
+money given to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> them, and accordingly there appears an entry in the
+Chelsea parish books, in 1670, as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Given to the boys that were whipt, 4s.&#8221;<a name='fna_20' id='fna_20' href='#f_20'><small>[20]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>The process of &#8220;bumping&#8221; has been carried on until quite recently, for on
+June 8th, 1881, the <i>Guardian</i> reported a case in which three men who were
+engaged in &#8220;Beating the Bounds&#8221; were fined &pound;5 each for forcibly &#8220;bumping&#8221;
+the senior curate of Hanwell. They met the curate and &#8220;asked him to go and
+be &#8216;bumped.&#8217; Upon his declining, two of the defendants took hold of his
+arms and dragged him to the stone, one of the party taking him by the leg
+and lifting him bodily from the ground. On reaching the stone, they
+&#8216;bumped&#8217; him against a man.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It would take too long to mention all the numerous observances which still
+linger on in various places in connection with this ancient and
+interesting custom. In most parishes where it is still kept up, the
+ceremony is performed annually on Ascension Day. A friend of the writer
+thus describes the way in which it is carried out in one of the outlying
+districts of London:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>&#8220;We assembled, by invitation, at the Vestry Hall, about 10 o&#8217;clock a.m. I
+should think there were thirty or forty gentlemen present, including the
+rector, churchwardens, and various officers of the parish, and about the
+same number of schoolboys. The gentlemen wore rosettes, and carried rods,
+and the boys were provided with long willow wands decked with blue
+ribbons. The parish beadle, carrying the mace, marched in front. When we
+came to any of the boundary stones of the parish, they were duly examined
+to see if they were in their proper position, and then the boys gave three
+cheers, and beat them with their wands. We marched through private houses
+and warehouses, over walls, ditches, canals, etc., and were taken down the
+river in a barge, until at last we came to our starting-point again about
+4-30 in the afternoon. The churchwardens then presented each of the boys
+with a new shilling and dismissed them.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In these days of ordnance maps, there may be very little practical utility
+in &#8220;Beating the Bounds,&#8221; but as Wordsworth says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 3em;">&#8220;Many precious relics</span><br />
+And customs of our rural ancestry<br />
+Are gone or stealing from us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>Time is ever busy blotting out the land-marks which our ancestors reared
+with so much patience for our behoof. It is well, therefore, if
+occasionally, with reverential spirit, we try to set in order the
+fragments of those that still remain. In so doing, we may perchance cull
+some useful lesson, and ere they pass away for ever, haply profit by the
+experiences which they record.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>
+<h2>The Story of the Crosier.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, b.a.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">The</span> staff of authority, which we have in so many forms, as sceptre,
+crosier, mace, wand, or otherwise, has its origin in each case in one of
+two ideas. Sometimes it is an instrument of correction; thus the
+churchwarden&#8217;s staff, the wand or rod of a royal usher, and of a beadle,
+and probably also the mace of a mayor, were all, like the fasces of a
+Roman governor, intended to correct the unruly, or to forcibly clear a
+way, when necessary, for the progress of the dignitary before whom they
+were borne. In other cases this symbol of authority, as it has now become,
+was originally nothing more or less than the trusty staff on which the
+aged ruler leaned, as on a modern walking stick. All language points to
+the fact that age was at first considered an essential condition of
+dignity and authority, for almost all terms of respect imply the seniority
+of the person addressed. Sir, sieur or monsieur, signor, senor, are of
+course but varied forms of the word <i>senior</i>;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> and we have more particular
+instances in the terms sire, senator, and alderman, in matters of state,
+with patriarch, father (applied to a bishop or a priest) and pope, abbot,
+priest, presbyter, or elder, in the Church. Thus it came to pass that in
+the earliest times the aged ruler was usually seen supporting his weight
+of years by the help of his staff; and the step from this familiar sight
+to the idea that the staff symbolized his rule, was simple and natural.
+The sceptre, therefore, which was the needful support of Homer&#8217;s old
+councillors, has become the emblem of royal power; and the crutch-stick of
+the aged bishop is transfigured into the crosier.</p>
+
+<p>This being the case, it is obviously impossible to fix the exact date at
+which the crosier, or any other of these staves of office, came to be
+recognized simply as such, the progress from the first idea being in all
+cases a gradual development. We find the episcopal staff, however,
+mentioned in connection with S. C&aelig;sarius of Arles, who was bishop of that
+See from <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 501 to 542, and it is also referred to by Gregory, Bishop of
+Tours, in the same century, and again in the proceedings of the Fourth
+Council of Toledo a little later.</p>
+
+<p>In primitive times it was made of wood, usually<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> of elder, or, as some
+say, of cypress, and in the form of a T; and the name expressive of that
+shape seems to have lingered long, at least in England. Pilkington, Bishop
+of Durham, from 1561 to 1577, speaks once and again of the &#8220;cruche and
+mitre.&#8221; But as the symbolical idea grew and the wealth of the church
+increased, the staff naturally became handsomer in design and materials,
+as being expressive of the episcopal dignity. Jewels and the precious
+metals were employed in its adornment, and comparatively soon it assumed
+the crook shape, now its universal form, significant of the office of the
+Bishop as the Chief Shepherd of his diocese. In the Eastern Church the
+curved staff is said to be reserved for the Patriarchs.</p>
+
+<p>The pastoral idea of the clerical, and especially of the episcopal office,
+probably arose from our Lord&#8217;s assumption of the title of &#8220;the Good
+Shepherd,&#8221; and was further emphasized by His charge to S. Peter, &#8220;Feed My
+sheep, feed My lambs.&#8221; In allusion to this, the figure of the Saviour
+presenting that Apostle with a crooked staff is familiar in Art, and the
+thought finds expression in several writers of the English Church. Jewell,
+Bishop of Salisbury (1560-1571)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> writes, &#8220;Their crosier&#8217;s staff signifies
+diligence in attending the flock of Christ,&#8221; and William Tyndale speaks of
+&#8220;that Shepherd&#8217;s crook, the bishop&#8217;s crose.&#8221; More authoritative is the
+allusion in the Ordinal, where, at the consecration of a bishop, the
+rubric runs, &#8220;Then shall the Archbishop put into his hand the pastoral
+staff, saying, Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd, not a wolf, feed
+them, devour them not.&#8221; The words still stand in our prayer-books,
+although the accompanying significant act has not been enjoined since the
+first book of Edward VI., of 1549.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the early examples of the use of the crosier in England are found
+in the carvings of bishops&#8217; tombs. We have, for instance, in their
+Cathedral the effigies of Bartholomew of Exeter, Bishop of that diocese
+from 1161 to 1184, bearing a staff, the butt of which pierces a dragon at
+his feet; and of Simon of Apulia, who followed in the same See in 1214 to
+1224, with the same insignia. Other figures might be mentioned at York,
+Salisbury, Worcester, Wells, and indeed in most of our Cathedrals, the
+form of the crosier varying little in the several cases, except in
+richness of design. The curious and more than questionable custom of
+making, in a kind of sport, a Boy Bishop,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> is commemorated at Salisbury by
+the tomb of one such, whose effigy bears the crosier along with the other
+marks of his sham dignity.</p>
+
+<p>The finest specimen of an ancient staff still preserved among us, is that
+of William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester (1367-1405), bequeathed by
+that great prelate himself to New College, Oxford.</p>
+
+<p>After the Reformation, in the general decline of ceremonial and symbolism,
+the pastoral staff and the mitre fell alike into disuse in England,
+surviving only as senseless decorations, or heraldic additions to the
+tombs or arms of bishops, who had never used either the one or the other,
+had perhaps never even seen them. At the present time the use of the
+crosier has once more become almost universal in the English dioceses, and
+the added dignity of the mitre promises soon to be scarcely less
+frequently found.</p>
+
+<p>But besides the bishops, the abbots of the most important monastic
+foundations formerly bore and wore crosier and mitre in token of their
+authority, the mark of difference being that while the bishop had his
+crosier carried with the crook turned outwards as a sign of his rule over
+the whole diocese, the abbot carried his, usually one of simpler design,
+crook inwards, to signify the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> purely domestic or internal character of
+his government.</p>
+
+<p>The English mitred abbots sat and voted in the House of Lords until the
+dissolution of their communities under Henry VIII. They were the heads of
+the following abbeys, namely, S. Albans, Glastonbury, Westminster, Bury S.
+Edmund&#8217;s, Bardney, Shrewsbury, Crowland, Abington, Evesham, Gloucester,
+Ramsey, York (S. Mary&#8217;s), Tewkesbury, Reading, Battle, Winchcourt,
+Hide-by-Winchester, Cirencester, Waltham, Thorney, Canterbury (S.
+Augustine&#8217;s), Selby, Peterborough, Colchester (S. John&#8217;s), and Tavistock,
+twenty-five in all, of which the last was considerably the latest addition
+to the list.</p>
+
+<p>One of the earliest examples of the abbatial staff in England is on the
+tomb of Abbot Vitalis (died 1082) in the cloister of Westminster Abbey,
+and another early instance of its use is supplied by the effigy of Abbot
+Andrew (1193-1200) in Peterborough Cathedral. Parker, the last Abbot of
+Gloucester, lies buried in the Cathedral there, and Philip Ballard de
+Hanford, the last Abbot of Evesham, in Worcester Cathedral, each with his
+crosier.</p>
+
+<p>Before leaving this subject an effort should be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> made to remove a
+misconception. A common modern fallacy is that there is a distinction
+between the crosier and the pastoral staff, the latter name being assigned
+to the crook of a bishop, and the former to the processional cross borne
+before an Archbishop. The late Dean Hook, if he was not the originator of
+the idea in an article in his &#8220;Church Dictionary,&#8221; at any rate did much to
+propagate it thereby, and it is now frequently found in books of
+reference. But the use of the words in the past is all against it. It is
+true that crosier comes from the Latin <i>crux</i>, a cross, but from the same
+root too, come crook and crutch; so that nothing can be proved from the
+derivation. It would seem that the original form of the word was <i>crose</i>,
+as it is given in a quotation used above, whence the chaplain who bore it
+was a crosier. From this it became the crosier&#8217;s staff, the crosier-staff,
+and finally the crosier; all having reference to the crook of Episcopal
+Authority.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Bishops in Battle.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By Edward Lamplough.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">After</span> William, Duke of Normandy, came in with great toil and rout of war,
+on Senlac&#8217;s evil day, it was not difficult to apply the poet&#8217;s lines to
+many a proud prelate of the Anglo-Norman epoch:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Princely was his hand in largess, heavy was his arm to smite,<br />
+And his will was leaded iron, like the mace he bore in fight.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Not that English Bishops had not found it necessary to take the field in
+pre-conquest times, when the old Danish wars convulsed the island, and the
+inhabitants suffered severely from the unbridled passion and cruelty of a
+barbarous and heathen soldiery.</p>
+
+<p>Many a grand old Anglo-Saxon prelate found himself called upon as a
+Christian and a patriot to take his station in the van of the king&#8217;s army,
+to bar the path of the invader, and fence with sword and spear the ancient
+churches and the fruitful plains of his beloved island.</p>
+
+<p>The old English chroniclers have preserved for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> us the names of a few of
+those warrior bishops. Ealstan, Bishop of Sherborne, may be specially
+referred to. <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 823, he assisted Prince Ethelwulf during an expedition
+into Kent, and in 845 he was one of the commanders in the great victory
+over the Danes at the mouth of the Parret. He died, full of years and
+honours, in that unhappy and troublous 867, having held the Bishopric of
+Sherborne fifty years. His successor, Bishop Heahmund, was not so
+fortunate; he fought under Ethelred and Alfred during the sanguinary and
+disastrous campaign of 871, and was slain at Marden, when victory remained
+with the Danes. When Edmund Ironsides encountered Canute at Assingdon, and
+was betrayed by that infamous traitor Edric Streon, among those who
+swelled the huge death-mounds was Ednoth, Bishop of Dorchester, and Abbot
+Wulsy, but Hoveden asserts that &#8220;they had come for the purpose of invoking
+the Lord on behalf of the soldiers.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Another Bishop of Sherborne was slain on the eve of Brunnanburgh, <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span>
+937. When the two armies were within striking distance, and prepared for
+what was certain to prove a sanguinary and stubborn conflict, Anlaf,
+disguised as a harper,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> entered the lines of Athelstan&#8217;s army, and, by the
+merit of his performance, was admitted into the royal presence, and
+received several pieces of gold in reguerdon of his skill. Too proud to
+carry away his minstrel&#8217;s fee, he secreted it beneath the turf, before
+passing out of the camp. During the performance he had been narrowly
+scrutinised by one of Athelstan&#8217;s soldiers, who had formerly served the
+Northumbrian Prince, and was suspicious that the talented minstrel was no
+other than the warlike Anlaf. After witnessing Anlaf&#8217;s disposal of his
+fee, his suspicion was confirmed, and he hurried to Athelstan to warn him
+of the danger that might result from Anlaf&#8217;s visit. His having once sworn
+fealty to the Northumbrian Prince was alleged as a sufficient reason for
+not betraying him into the king&#8217;s hands, and Athelstan readily accepted
+the explanation. Nevertheless, he removed his tent to a distant and less
+exposed position; and when, some time afterward, the Bishop of Sherborne
+arrived, with his contingent of warriors, he pitched his tent on the
+recently vacated ground. That night, when the watch-fires burnt low, and,
+save the weary sentinels, the royal army was buried in slumber, Anlaf
+burst in with sword and spear, and a sudden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> storm of midnight battle
+convulsed the whole camp. After a fierce struggle the enemy was driven
+out, but when day dawned the Bishop of Sherborne was found, cold and
+still, in the midst of the slain.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the nature of the military service of the church during the
+pre-conquest period, and similar service was not infrequently rendered
+after the Normans came in, when sudden storms of invasion swept across the
+Scottish borders, to burst on the dark and bloody battle-ground of
+Northumbria.</p>
+
+<p>With the memorable battle of Northallerton, or the Standard, <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 1138,
+the church was in a very special degree connected, and indeed the
+priesthood had suffered severely from the barbarous Scotch. Thus Wendover,
+&#8220;they slew priests upon the altars, cut off the heads of the crucifixes,
+and placed them on the decapitated corpses, putting in their places the
+bloody heads of their victims; wherever they went, it was one scene of
+cruelty and terror; women shrieking, old men lamenting, and every living
+being in despair.&#8221; The evil grew so intolerable that the aged Thurston,
+Archbishop of York, incited the northern barons to unite against the
+enemy, exerting himself with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> almost superhuman energy to organise the
+movement, appealing to the religious feelings of the people by processions
+of the clergy, by sermons and exhortations, and when the army arrayed
+itself for battle, its serried ranks surrounded the famous standard,
+&#8220;consisting of the mast of a ship securely lashed to a four-wheeled car or
+wain. On the summit of this mast was placed a large crucifix, having in
+its centre a silver box containing the consecrated host, and below it
+waved the banners of the three patron saints:&mdash;Peter of York, Wilfred of
+Ripon, and John of Beverley.&#8221; Thurston, incapacitated from being present
+by the infirmities of age, had delegated Ralph Nowel, the titulary Bishop
+of Orkney, to act for him, and he it was, according to the old writers,
+who exhorted the army to make a brave defence when the Scots bore down
+upon them, and the dreadful conflict commenced. The battle resulted in a
+glorious victory for the Anglo-Norman men-at-arms and the peasant archers
+of Northumbria, but the name of Archbishop Thurston is always primarily
+and honourably associated with this memorable event.</p>
+
+<p>Under somewhat similar circumstances, <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 1319, William de Melton,
+Archbishop of York,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> seconded by the Mayor, Nicholas Fleming, hastily
+raised a tumultuary army of 10,000 men, burghers and peasants, necessarily
+undisciplined and ill-armed, and utterly unfitted to dispute the field
+with a powerful and veteran army, marching under Bruce&#8217;s most experienced
+and fortunate captains, Randolph and Douglas. The armies struck at Myton
+Meadows, near the confluence of the Swale and Ure, on September the 13th.
+With everything in their favour the Scots resorted to ambuscade, and,
+sweeping down upon the startled enemy, in an instant covered the field
+with dead and wounded men, driving before them a wild rout of fugitives.
+Sir Nicholas Fleming, then in the seventh year of his mayoralty, was
+slain; it was with the utmost difficulty that the Archbishop effected his
+escape, for the Scots spared none, and night alone covered the remnant of
+the army from the exterminating sword. Nearly 4,000 of the Englishmen were
+destroyed, including 300 priests, attired in full canonicals, from which
+tragic circumstance the rude Scots jestingly referred to the battle as the
+&#8220;Chapter of Mitton.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The bearer of the Archbishop&#8217;s cross secreted it on the field, and it fell
+into the hands of a peasant, who, for some days, concealed it in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> hut,
+no doubt tempted by its value, but conscience operated so powerfully that
+the good fellow was constrained to restore it to the Archbishop.</p>
+
+<p>A dour revenge the English Bishops took upon their Scottish adversaries in
+1346, when King Edward was encamped before Calais, and luckless David
+Bruce came over the border with 50,000 men at his back, in the month of
+October. Queen Philippa bestirred herself with heroic energy on this
+occasion, and marched with the army to the north. It was largely swollen
+by the vassals of the church. The Bishop of Durham commanded in the first
+division; William de la Zouche, Archbishop of York, and the Bishop of
+Carlisle, led the second division; the Bishop of Lincoln the third; and
+the Archbishop of Canterbury the fourth. Edward Baliol and the principal
+nobles of Northumbria shared the command with the prelates.</p>
+
+<p>During the furious struggle that ensued the monks of Durham assembled on
+the rising ground known as the Maiden&#8217;s Bower, and knelt in prayer around
+the banner-cloth of St. Cuthbert, or occupied themselves in manufacturing
+a fair wooden cross, as a memorial of the event.</p>
+
+<p>The battle terminated in a signal triumph to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> the English army, despite
+the distinguished valour of the Scottish host, and the closing scene was
+one of peculiar interest. Almost alone amid the wreck of the field, David
+Bruce disdained to surrender, although &#8220;he had two spears hanging in his
+body, his leg almost incurably wounded, and his sword beaten out of his
+hand,&#8221; and John Copeland, a sturdy Northumbrian squire, was bent upon his
+capture, and ultimately succeeded in carrying him off in triumph to his
+castle of Ogle, but not until the fiery Scot had dashed out two of his
+teeth by a buffet of his gauntleted fist.</p>
+
+<p>Most unsaintly, perhaps, of all the English bishops who loved the music of
+twanging bow-strings and clashing steel, was &#8220;Weymundus or Reymundus,&#8221;
+first Bishop of Sodar and Man. When a monk of Furness Abbey he was famous
+as an illuminator and transcriber of MSS.; but accompanying several of the
+brethren on a mission to the Isle of Man, the rude Manxmen were so deeply
+impressed by his eloquence, dignity, and commanding stature, that they
+procured his elevation to the Bishopric.</p>
+
+<p>Wymund the Saxon, as the Bishop is generally called, was incited by an
+unworthy ambition to claim the crown of Scotland, then worn by David I.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>
+Assuming the name of Malcolm Macbeth, he gave out that he was the son of
+Angus, Earl of Moray, recently slain at the battle of Strickathrow, and
+who was the heir of Macbeth&#8217;s son and successor, Leelach. Obtaining a
+number of large boats, he repeatedly attacked the neighbouring islands,
+finding numerous intrepid and desperate adventurers ready to follow him
+for love of adventure and plunder. He soon made his name widely known and
+feared, and Somerled, Lord of the Isles, was induced to bestow upon him
+the hand of his daughter, who bore him a son, Donald Macbeth. Knights and
+men-at-arms were despatched to foil his invasions of the mainland, but by
+availing himself of forest and mountain fastnesses, he avoided his more
+powerful enemies, escaping by his boats when hard pressed. Many of the
+bishops paid him black-mail, but one tough old prelate, a man after his
+own heart, met him in open field, axe in hand, and smote him to the earth,
+and defeated and scattered his following. Wymund escaped, however, and
+soon took the field again.</p>
+
+<p>Ultimately David pacified the claimant by a grant of lands, and Wymund
+returned to the Isle of Man, or, according to William of Newbridge,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> to
+the Abbey of Furness, where his severities so enraged the monks that they
+fell on him, bound him, and destroyed his sight and virility. He was then
+handed over to King David, who shut him up in Roxburgh Castle, but, after
+some years, transferred him to Byland Abbey, where his stories of
+adventure by land and sea long delighted the good fathers.</p>
+
+<p>Somerled, endeavouring to maintain the claim of Wymund&#8217;s son, was slain in
+battle near Renfrew, by the Lord High Steward and the Earl of Angus. The
+wicked and vexatious claims of Wymund were terminated in 1164 by the
+capture and imprisonment of his son.</p>
+
+<p>The necessities of the times justified many of the prelates in assuming
+arms, and Wymund must be regarded as an exceptional character, neither
+true priest nor bishop. Nevertheless several of the English bishops appear
+to have been quite willing to make arms a profession, while others, as
+Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, combined the ecclesiastical and baronial offices,
+employing both in the furtherance of their personal ambition. When the
+Conqueror arrested his ambitious half-brother, it will be remembered that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>
+he arrested him not as the churchman, but as the Earl of Kent.</p>
+
+<p>Odo was a principal figure, with Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutance, at Senlac,
+when the Norman Duke conquered Harold&#8217;s crown; and he was held in
+well-deserved reprobation for the sanguinary revenge that he exacted for
+the slaying of Walcher, Bishop of Durham, and his following of a hundred
+French and Flemish men-at-arms, at Gateshead, on the 14th of May, 1080.</p>
+
+<p>The death of the Conqueror let Odo loose upon society again, and he
+returned to England, where he was well received by Rufus, and his
+forfeited estates restored. His unprincipled ambition, and his rage
+against Archbishop Lanfranc, induced him to organise a conspiracy against
+the king, in which he was supported by Bishop Gosfrith, William, Bishop of
+Durham, and a number of the Anglo-Norman nobles. Raising a Saxon army,
+Rufus reduced Tunbridge and Pevensey Castles, in the latter of which he
+secured the arch-traitor. Nevertheless Odo was permitted to proceed to
+Rochester Castle, for the purpose of opening negotiations. The bravest of
+the revolted nobles occupied the fortress, and Odo remained with them, a
+willing captive, but the ruse deceived no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> one. After a tedious siege the
+castle was compelled to surrender, and Odo issued forth, amid sounding
+trumpets, and the menaces of the English soldiery, to depart over sea,
+with the bitter curses of the islanders ringing in his ears. The Bishop of
+Durham was also reduced to extremities, and, with many of the revolted
+Normans, sent after Odo, as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records.</p>
+
+<p>Men of Odo&#8217;s stamp were not wanting among the bishops, when Stephen seized
+the crown, barely seventy years after the Battle of Hastings, when the
+direct male line of the Conqueror failed. During the period of almost
+unparalleled suffering that followed, bishops were seen in the hostile
+camps, leading the mercenary soldiery, and even gambling for their share
+of the spoils collected by those ruthless marauders. They were armed in
+complete mail, bore truncheon and lance, and bestrode heavy war-steeds,
+like warlike knights and captains of the mercenaries.</p>
+
+<p>Henry, Bishop of Winchester, acted a prominent part in the war between
+Stephen and Matilda, changing sides as policy and ambition dictated, and
+when, after the revolt of the Londoners, he again espoused his brother&#8217;s
+cause,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> he had to retire from Winchester, leaving Matilda in the
+possession of the castle, while her troops closely invested the episcopal
+palace. He speedily re-entered Winchester with a considerable force at his
+back, and Matilda&#8217;s soldiery rushed in confusion to the churches, which
+they essayed to defend. The Bishop was not to be denied, and to avoid the
+long and dubious strife, and heavy loss of life that would attend the
+storming of the holy edifices, he set fire to them, and afterwards gave
+his undivided attention to the castle, which he reduced to extremities,
+after a leaguer of six weeks, but the ex-empress effected her escape.</p>
+
+<p>With reference to the military proclivities of our bishops, it is due to
+them to point out that as councillors and ambassadors they were naturally
+in great request at court, where their superior education and training
+enabled them to serve the state and crown to advantage. The nation was
+continually at war, kings and courtiers were warriors, hence the bishops
+were accustomed to both court and camp, and vied with the proudest baron
+in the splendour of their apparel, and the number of their attendant
+knights and men-at-arms.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>The following brief extract from Hallam, relating to feudal tenures in
+Anglo-Saxon England, throws some little light on the military service of
+some of the bishops in pre-conquest times, although, no doubt, many
+churchmen considered it a holy war that they waged against the heathen
+Danes in defence of their country and religion:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">&#8220;All the freehold lands of England, except <i>some</i> of those belonging
+to the Church, were subject to three great public burdens: military
+service in the king&#8217;s expeditions, or at least in defensive war; the
+repair of bridges, and that of royal fortresses. These obligations,
+and especially the first, have been sometimes thought to denote a
+feudal tenure. There is, however, a confusion into which we may fall
+by not sufficiently discriminating the rights of a king as chief lord
+of his vassals, and as sovereign of his subjects. In every country,
+the supreme power is entitled to use the arm of each citizen in the
+public defence. The usage of all Nations agrees with common reason in
+establishing this great principle. There is nothing therefore
+peculiarly feudal in this military service of landholders; it was due
+from the allodial proprietors upon the continent, it was derived from
+their German ancestors, it had been fixed, probably, by the
+legislatures of the Heptarchy upon the first settlement in Britain.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We can easily imagine the Anglo-Saxon kings calling upon the bishops for
+assistance against the Danes.</p>
+
+<p>The Conquest was followed by the imposition<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> of the feudal system, binding
+the church to perform military service to the crown. This, at first
+regarded as a hardship, agreed well with the warlike spirit of the times,
+and although the bishops appointed their feudal advocates to fight their
+battles, protect their interests, and lead their vassals to the field, yet
+they sometimes took the field in person, and rode amid the lances of the
+men-at-arms. The military advocates held their lands of the church, and,
+in court and field, their service was honourable. Indeed the title of
+advocates of the church was bestowed upon Pepin and Charlemagne.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the regulations of the feudal period encouraged the military
+disposition of the prelates, who, when the invaders burst in, readily
+raised the cry to arms. It will be remembered that when Hotspur and
+Douglas carried on their great trial at arms on Otterburne field, by the
+cloud-drifted light of the moon, the Bishop of Durham was marching with
+10,000 men to ensure the defeat of the invaders. However, he arrived too
+late; the battle was over, Douglas slain, and the two Percies prisoners,
+and the Scots strongly posted to resist attack. A second battle must have
+been sanguinary, and the result doubtful,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> therefore the bishop decided
+not to take upon himself the responsibility of fighting, but withdrew his
+warriors, leaving the Scots to return unmolested to their own country.</p>
+
+<p>Chief among the amateur soldiers of the church in King Edward the First&#8217;s
+days, was the proud and magnificent Bishop of Durham, Anthony de Beck,
+Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Lord of the Isle of Man. At Falkirk he drew an
+unrighteous sword against Wallace and the Scottish patriots. Previous to
+the battle he celebrated a soldier&#8217;s mass on the field, clothed in
+knightly mail as he was, the long kite-shaped shield slung over his
+shoulder, the sword girt at his thigh. The ceremony over, he was ready to
+charge Wallace&#8217;s schiltrons and archers, but the first column preceded
+him, led by the Earl Marshal, and Lincoln, and Hereford. He saw man and
+horse impaled on the huge Scottish spears, and the charging files rolled
+back in blood, while the Scottish arrows drifted into their ranks. He
+appreciated the valour of the enemy, and proposed to await the arrival of
+the numerous archers, who would speedily, and with little loss to
+themselves, shoot down the Scottish schiltrons. The men-at-arms were,
+however, eager to close, and Rudulf<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> Basset scornfully advised the Lord
+Bishop to stick to his mass, while he led the charge. Thus rebuked, the
+bishop gave the word, leading, sword-in-hand, and furiously assailed the
+Scottish left, to be hurled back, again and again. The treacherous retreat
+of the Scottish cavalry left the schiltrons exposed to certain
+destruction, and the English archers shot them down without mercy.</p>
+
+<p>When Edward III. lay before Calais, he paid Thomas Hatfield, Bishop of
+Durham, 6s. 8d. per day, and his following in proportion, viz.:&mdash;three
+bannerets at 4s., 48 knights at 2s., 164 esquires at 12d., 81 archers on
+horseback at 6d. each per day.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the most notable of the fighting bishops was Henry Spencer, of
+Norwich. When the whole of England lay in panic terror at the mercy of the
+revolted villeins, when drawbridges were raised, gates closed, and knights
+and nobles hid themselves behind stone walls, Henry Spencer bade trumpets
+sound, and sallied forth with his men-at-arms, attacking the marching
+peasants wherever he met them. Emboldened by his example, a few gentlemen
+associated themselves with him, and he extended his operations to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>
+Cambridge and Huntingdon, which were soon pacified. When John Littester,
+the dyer, leader of the Norfolk villeins, despatched deputies to the king,
+the alert bishop intercepted them, and incontinently struck off their
+heads. A body of the villeins had entrenched themselves at North Walsham.
+Spencer marched against and stormed their position, being the first to
+enter, sword-in-hand. A furious and protracted conflict followed, ending
+in the defeat of the peasants, who were pursued and cut to pieces with
+unsparing severity. Those spared of the sword and lance Spencer strung up
+to the nearest tree, first receiving their hurried confession, then
+granting them absolution. He dispersed the revolted peasantry of Suffolk,
+and set a marked example to the nobility.</p>
+
+<p>During these events, that man of many enemies, John of Gaunt, had retired
+into Scotland. So obnoxious was he to the peasantry, that when his wife,
+Constance of Castille, sought refuge in his Castle of Pontefract, the
+cowardly retainers refused to admit her, and she had to proceed through a
+wild country, by torchlight, for night had closed in, to her lord&#8217;s Castle
+of Knaresborough, where she found a safe haven until Lancaster&#8217;s return.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>The ambitious prelate soon found a wider field for his arms.</p>
+
+<p>When, in consequence of a division among the cardinals, two rival popes
+were elected, Urban VI. and Clement VII., Europe divided on the question,
+and France and England were naturally in opposition, the former power
+giving its adhesion to Clement, the latter to Urban, for England feebly
+strove to retain some portion of the conquests of Edward III. and the
+Black Prince. Clement, defeated, found refuge at Avignon, and, obedient to
+his protector, preached a crusade against Richard II. and the English.
+Urban excommunicated Clement as an anti-pope, and commissioned Bishop
+Spencer to conduct a crusade against him. The bishop found numerous
+enthusiastic supporters, and parliament met to consider whether they
+should ally themselves with the Flemings, or co-operate with Lancaster,
+from Spain, against the national enemy. The former scheme was adopted, but
+the French overran Flanders, and beleagured Ghent, the only town that held
+out against them. Immediate and energetic action was demanded, and the
+council resolved to support the bishop, who proposed to drive the French
+out of Flanders, and then carry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> the war into their own country. For this
+purpose certain subsidies were be paid to him.</p>
+
+<p>The bishop, however, altered his mind, and proposed, in return for the
+fifteenth granted by the laity, to serve one year with 2,500 men-at-arms
+and 2,500 mounted archers. His offer being accepted, William de Beaucham
+was appointed his lieutenant, and in the month of May, 1383, he carried a
+body of troops, and numerous volunteers, to Calais, where he awaited the
+arrival of his lieutenant with the remainder of the forces. These were
+delayed, it was alleged by the design of John of Gaunt, and the bishop had
+no alternative but to employ his headstrong and impatient crusaders.
+Gravelines was assaulted, and carried.</p>
+
+<p>Dunkirk immediately surrendered, but the Count of Flanders, engaged in the
+interests of France, marched against the crusaders. Sir Hugh de Calverley
+had reinforced the bishop, and a battle ensued, resulting in the defeat of
+the enemy, and the surrender of Cassel, Dixmuyde, Bourburg, Newport, and
+Popperen.</p>
+
+<p>The King of France hastily took the field with 100,000 men, for the
+position appeared alarming. Norwich had also received succours, forwarded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>
+by that gallant merchant, Sir John Philpot, but the new crusaders were
+rogues and miscreants of the darkest stain, and were influenced by the
+prospect of unbounded licence and plunder. In his vexation, Spencer
+requested Philpot to suspend his supply of naked ruffians, but he had to
+put a bold face on, and match his 90,000 soldiers, crusaders, and thieves,
+against the army of France. There was, however, a difference of opinion,
+amounting to a mutiny in the army, and the mortified bishop found himself
+constrained to besiege Ypres. Several furious assaults were delivered, but
+the steady courage of the veteran garrison, posted behind strong defences,
+foiled the fury of the ill-conducted attacks, and the depression of defeat
+rested upon the army, which avenged itself by casting off all restraint,
+and spreading over the country for the purpose of plunder, while the
+pilgrims deserted in large numbers. The French army approached, and the
+bishop beat a hasty retreat to Dunkirk, leaving his materials of war
+behind. Bourburg was occupied by Sir Hugh de Calverley and Sir Thomas
+Trivet, and the King of France closed them in, threatening to put every
+man to the sword if the place was not immediately surrendered.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> The threat
+was vain, and twice the French fell on, to be bloodily repulsed, when King
+Charles tendered the garrison quarter, and they marched out and proceeded
+to Calais. From Bourburg the King carried his army to Gravelines, where he
+found every prospect of a tough struggle, and wisely concluded to treat
+rather than fight. The bishop took time to consider the terms proposed,
+and sent messages to King Richard for succours; but before troops could be
+collected and embarked, the truce expired, and, agreeable to his
+undertaking, the bishop dismantled Gravelines, marched the remains of his
+forces to Calais, and embarked for England.</p>
+
+<p>In Parliament he met with a warm reception for having failed to carry out
+his engagements, and although his defence entitled him to an honourable
+acquittal, he was found in default for not having served out his full
+time, and for the insubordination of his troops. He was mulcted in a
+severe pecuniary penalty, and the temporalities of his Bishopric were
+seized. Several of the knights, whose insubordination had tended to
+produce the miscarriage of the expedition, as Thomas Trivet, Henry
+Ferners, William Ellingham, and William Harrendon, were fined and
+imprisoned.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>So ended the bishop&#8217;s campaign, in which, however, he manifested the
+spirit and capacity of a good captain, but success was, with such a
+soldiery and so powerful an enemy, absolutely impossible.</p>
+
+<p>Pope Martin V. was one of the most determined opponents of the Hussites,
+and spared no pains in inciting Europe to move in a crusade against those
+stubborn heretics, whose extermination was most ardently desired.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 1426, a crusading army was utterly defeated, with a loss of not less
+than 15,000 men, before the walls of Aussig. The crusaders mustered not
+less than 70,000 trained soldiers, supported by 180 pieces of artillery,
+with 3,000 wagons for transport of stores. Quarter was neither given nor
+accepted, and the defeated and demoralised army was closely pursued. This
+memorable battle was fought on the forenoon of Sunday, the 16th of June.</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Then fourteen counts and lords of might<br />
+Did from their coursers all alight,<br />
+Their sword-points deep in earth did place<br />
+And to the Czechians sued for grace.<br />
+For prayers and cries they cared not aught,<br />
+Silver and gold they set at naught,<br />
+E&#8217;en as themselves had made reply,<br />
+So every man they did to die.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>It was the inhumanity, or bigotry, of the Germans that settled the
+question of quarter, raised by the Hussites before the battle, and
+afterwards maintained with unsparing severity.</p>
+
+<p>The Germans having failed, the Pope turned to the English, then winning
+bloody laurels in France. Henry de Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, John of
+Gaunt&#8217;s son, and Henry IV.&#8217;s brother, was selected for the enterprise. On
+receiving the Pope&#8217;s bull, he prepared to raise soldiers and money for the
+crusade. The preaching of the crusade in England met with little or no
+response. Ready as the islanders were to exchange the rude courtesies of
+warfare with their Scottish neighbours, to cross the Channel to destroy
+the armies and ravage the vineyards and cornfields of France, and,
+earlier, to take the crusaders&#8217; cross and embark for Palestine, it may be
+questioned if they had ever a genuine disposition for fighting the battles
+of the popes. Indeed the friction was rough and frequent between Rome and
+Britain.</p>
+
+<p>In the city of Mechlin, Beaufort published the papal bull. It was
+instantly and enthusiastically responded to. A somewhat mixed army was
+assembled. The figures of the historians, 90,000<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> foot and 90,000 horse,
+are not easily acceptable, but doubtless the army was a considerable one.</p>
+
+<p>Numerous nobles and knights, including three electors of the empire,
+marched with and assisted Beaufort, and strengthened the army with their
+retainers. Perhaps the army lacked cohesion; no doubt its bravest soldiers
+admitted the terrible might and energy of the foe. Probably those who were
+not accustomed to arms&mdash;townsfolk, artisans, shepherds, and
+peasants&mdash;would be easily influenced by doubt and fear when they found
+themselves opposed to an enemy whose reputation for valour and severity
+was so terrible.</p>
+
+<p>Winchester had been created a cardinal, and the Pope&#8217;s legate-a-latere,
+but he was fated to attain no honour by arms.</p>
+
+<p>Again invaded by a cruel and presumptuous enemy, both Catholics and
+Hussites united to defend Bohemia.</p>
+
+<p>In the June of 1427, the crusaders crossed the borders, and encamped
+before Meiss. Although greatly inferior in numbers, the Bohemians advanced
+and offered battle. The martial appearance of these iron veterans, the
+knowledge of their dreadful reputation, curiously effected the crusaders.
+Instead of pushing on to cross the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> river and open the attack, they stood
+at gaze. Awed and daunted by the ominous spectacle before them, their
+ranks shook with a sudden panic, weapons clashed wildly, standards went
+down. Horse and foot were inextricably mixed as the first of the
+panic-stricken wretches broke and fled. A dreadful scene followed. Almost
+in a moment the huge army was transformed into a confused rout of
+fugitives. As quickly were the waters of the Meiss darkened by the iron
+ranks of the Hussites as they pressed forward, to fall upon the
+panic-stricken crusaders with axe and iron-flail, sword and spear, while
+bullets and arrows were poured incessantly into the flying masses, and the
+fugitives fell as thick and fast as sere leaves in an autumnal gale.</p>
+
+<p>The crusading army had committed many outrages during the course of its
+triumphant march, and as the guilty and licentious wretches, losing all
+order and cohesion, rushed madly before the flashing steel of the
+pursuers, the peasantry rose against them on every side, pitiless
+avengers, whose wrath could be alone satiated by blood. The whole of
+Bohemia was enriched by the enormous spoil of the vanquished.</p>
+
+<p>The Pope, in condoling with Beaufort, spoke<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> hopefully of the success of a
+new crusade, but the Englishman was satisfied with the extent, if not the
+character, of his experience.</p>
+
+<p>Richard Scrope had a brief and most unfortunate experience of military
+operations. His appearance in arms was purely the result of the
+complications that followed the deposition of Richard II. and the
+enthronement of Bolingbroke. Lord Scrope, High Chancellor of England, had
+devotedly served Edward III. and his grandson, Richard of Bordeaux, and
+after that dark tragedy at Pontefract, that secured, for the time being,
+the throne of Lancaster, he endowed a chantry in his castle of Bolton,
+where daily service was performed for the repose of the dead king&#8217;s soul.
+The old man was spared, but the king&#8217;s hand fell heavily upon his sons.
+First to fall was the Earl of Wiltshire, who was captured in Bristol
+Castle, and dragged to the block with indecent haste, and on no sufficient
+cause, by Bolingbroke&#8217;s command. This alone might have pre-disposed the
+Archbishop to ally himself with the King&#8217;s enemies, when many of the
+nobles repented that they had set up the son of John of Gaunt in the place
+of the son of the heroic Black Prince. The avenging of his brother&#8217;s blood
+could scarcely fail to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> influence the Archbishop, but no doubt he was
+wrought upon by the King&#8217;s enemies, and felt called upon, if not to avenge
+the slaying of the King, at least to endeavour to correct his government,
+and arrest the shedding of blood which so deeply stained the early years
+of Henry&#8217;s reign.</p>
+
+<p>The princely power of the Archbishops in Northumbria, and the personal
+esteem in which Scrope was held, made his appearance in arms peculiarly
+dangerous to the King. Lord Mowbray associated himself with Scrope, and no
+sooner was the standard of revolt uplifted than the hardy Yorkshiremen
+flocked to support their Archbishop. Scrope published a terrible and
+undeniable indictment against the blood-stained Henry. He was accused of
+treason, usurpation, regicide, the withholding of the crown from the Earl
+of March, the lineal heir, with other charges not to be refuted.</p>
+
+<p>Ralph, Earl of Westmoreland, and Prince John, were despatched against
+Scrope and Mowbray, but they found the northern army so formidable that
+they dared not strike. On approaching the Archbishop they found him ready
+to enter into negotiations for the correcting of the King&#8217;s government,
+and the Earl of Westmoreland, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> a treachery that was infamous at a
+time when treachery and perjury were common, pretended to grant all
+Scrope&#8217;s demands, and, as a ratification of the terms of pacification,
+proposed the disbanding of the two armies. This was unsuspiciously acceded
+to, and the northern army was immediately disbanded, although the royal
+army maintained its formation. Danger of rescue past, the Earl of
+Westmoreland, with infamous treachery, arrested Scrope, Mowbray, and
+several of their captains. &#8220;The King was then at Pontefract, and when the
+Archbishop and the other captives were brought thither to him, they were
+ordered to be carried from thence to York, where they were condemned to
+death by the judges, Fulford and Gascoign. Judgment was no sooner passed,
+but the Archbishop was set upon a lean deformed horse, with his face
+backward; and that Bishop, whose grave age commanded every man&#8217;s respect,
+having been always accompanied with holiness of life, incomparable
+learning, and a lovely person, was now loaded with all sorts of disgrace
+and reproaches, and so conducted to the place of execution, where his head
+was cut off, June 8th, 1405, by an unskilful executioner, who scarcely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>
+effected it at five strokes. He was buried on the eastern part of the new
+works, where certain miracles were said to have been done by the merits of
+this martyr, and the King to be smitten with an incurable leprosy. It is
+certain he was the first archbishop that was condemned to death by a legal
+trial. The Pope excommunicated the authors of this archbishop&#8217;s death, but
+was easily intreated to absolve them a little time after.&#8221; To augment the
+bitterness of death, Scrope was removed to his palace of Bishopthorpe for
+execution, and his head was piked and exposed on the walls of York.</p>
+
+<p>Mowbray, Sir Robert Plumpton, Sir John Lamplugh, and other unfortunates,
+also suffered decollation.</p>
+
+<p>During the great rebellion that cost Charles Stuart his crown and head,
+another Archbishop of York took up arms, to figure obscurely during a
+struggle in which he certainly was not called upon to assume the soldier&#8217;s
+painful and difficult part. A changeful and troublous history is that of
+John Williams. In 1621 he was elevated to the Bishopric of Lincoln, and
+Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, but his fortunes waned as Laud rose to
+power; he lost the Seals, and at the coronation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> of Charles I. it was his
+duty, as Dean of Westminster, to read divine service, but Laud took his
+place. He was further affronted by being forbidden to sit in the House,
+and Laud brought him into the Star Chamber for having written the &#8220;Holy
+Table.&#8221; He was suspended, fined &pound;10,000, and imprisoned in the Tower
+during the King&#8217;s pleasure. He obtained his release November 16th, 1640.</p>
+
+<p>Not unnaturally his suffering made him an object of interest to the
+Puritan party, but he was loyal to Charles, and by preaching before him in
+condemnation of the discipline of Geneva he won the royal favour, and he
+was raised to the Archbishopric of York. The evil times had closed in, and
+for leading the bishops in their protest against the House of Lords, he
+was committed to the Tower, where he remained some time. Then came the
+war.</p>
+
+<p>When Captain Hotham and Sir Thomas Fairfax were earning their spurs by the
+most daring exploits against the Royalists of Yorkshire, Hotham received
+some cause for offence from the Archbishop, and irefully vowed to cut off
+his head.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>A friendly warning of the threat reached the Archbishop late on the 3rd of
+October, and, appreciating the spirit of the young dare-devil, the prelate
+left Cawood Castle in hot haste. Not long after, Hotham and his fiery
+riders spurred up in hot haste, and finding their intended victim had
+escaped, they solaced themselves by sacking the castle.</p>
+
+<p>Joining the king at Oxford, Williams received the royal commission and
+instructions, and proceeded to fortify his castle at Aberconway, but,
+apparently from some unworthy suspicion of his loyalty, the king appointed
+another commandant to the castle, and Williams, in deep disgust, retired
+to his house at Penryn, placed it in a state of defence, and gave in his
+adhesion to parliament.</p>
+
+<p>Assisted by Colonel Mitton, he besieged Abergavenny, in South Wales, and
+reduced the stronghold to the obedience of parliament. He expired at Lady
+Mostyn&#8217;s house at Gloded, on the 25th of March, 1650, being the 68th
+anniversary of his birth.</p>
+
+<p>Thus an old Yorkshire history: &#8220;While he was in his greatness, he was
+characterized a person of a generous mind, a lover and encourager of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
+learning and learned men (being himself very learned), hospitable and a
+great benefactor to the public; but when, through anger and disgust, he
+sided with the parliament and Puritans, he was styled by the Royalists a
+perfidious prelate, the shame of the clergy, and the apostate archbishop,
+which how much he deserved, considering his provocations, let the reader
+judge. He hath many things in print, etc.&#8221; Lord Campbell adds this tribute
+to the memory of this unfortunate prelate, for truly unfortunate he must
+be esteemed, &#8220;He will always be memorable in English history, as the last
+of a long line of eminent ecclesiastics, who, with rare intervals, held
+for many centuries the highest judicial office in the kingdom, and
+exercised a powerful influence over the destinies of the nation.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Such are a few of the romantic and interesting facts relating to the
+military experience of English bishops, which are scattered through the
+pages of our national history. In some cases we cannot blame, in others we
+must actually applaud, our fighting bishops for patriotism, courage, and
+conduct of no common order; and where we may be disposed to censure, we
+may justly pause, and weigh the character of the times, the usages of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> the
+church, and admit that in their day and generation, they were not acting
+so opposite to their character and profession as we may be disposed to
+regard them, if we do so from the higher spiritual conditions of our own
+more favoured and settled times.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p>
+<h2>The Cloister and its Story.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By S. W. Kershaw, f.s.a.</span></p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td>&#8220;The treasures of antiquity laid up<br />
+In old historic rolls I opened.&#8221;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Beaumont.</span></span></td></tr></table>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">Fair</span> and famed are the monastic ruins of our land, from Fountains and
+Rievaulx among the Yorkshire dales, to Tintern on the silvery Wye, and
+Netley near the placid Solent, one and all alike tell a tale of their past
+annals, making up, verily, a treasured page of &#8220;Bygone England.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With these buildings are closely connected one of their great agencies,
+when, as dispensers of learning, in the early ages, darkness and ignorance
+was all around. Just as the legendary dictum arose, that the exquisite
+lantern of Ely Cathedral became a guiding light to the traveller, in the
+fens and morasses of Eastern England, so these religious homes were the
+beacon spots of learning.</p>
+
+<p>In that remote period of way-faring, it was the custom for some churches
+to have a fire lighted in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> an iron framework on the top of an angle
+turret, to direct the steps of the stranger, especially through those vast
+woods which covered our land, and of which a famous example existed in the
+forest of Galtres, in Yorkshire.</p>
+
+<p>The visitor to Gloucester Cathedral will have noticed its exquisite
+cloisters, and have seen the screens or &#8220;carols&#8221; where the monkish scribe
+sat diligently to copy his chronicle, or the artist to illuminate its
+page.</p>
+
+<p>The examples at Gloucester are almost unique as an illustration, so to
+speak, of the workshops of the medi&aelig;val copyist; but a &#8220;scriptorium,&#8221; or
+room, was arranged in most monastic houses, as the more general place of
+labour.</p>
+
+<p>As the chief homes and nurseries of religion, these houses attracted their
+different leaders and schools of learning. With Bede in Northumbria, and
+Augustine in Kent, two great missionary scholars, the memories of ancient
+lore seem to be recalled. In quick succession arose the vast abbeys of our
+land, at St. Albans, Glastonbury, York, Canterbury, Lindisfarne, and
+Hexham, spreading their influence far and wide, with a host of lesser
+foundations. Their erection, often due to the zeal of some noted
+ecclesiastic or pious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> layman, is closely connected with our church
+history and customs, revealing many a vivid picture of olden days. Their
+abbots and priors can show many illustrious names, and Matthew Paris,
+Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, St. Cuthbert, and William of Malmesbury, are
+but a tithe of the roll-call of writers and chroniclers.</p>
+
+<p>It is, however, the work which remains to this day as the evidence and
+link of an almost forgotten agency, through the preservation of our early
+documents, that the moving history of those times is recalled. The
+&#8220;scriptorium&#8221; under the abbot&#8217;s direction, with specially trained scribes,
+was the great literary workroom, rules and admonitions were hung on its
+walls, expressive of the care to be taken in copying, the work was
+portioned out, and no monk could exchange his allotted task for another.</p>
+
+<p>There were those specially selected, to insert the rubricated letters and
+designs of the border page, while others prepared the vellum, or attended
+to the binding. In the larger monasteries, especially of the Cistercians,
+there were smaller &#8220;scriptoria&#8221; for the more learned of the community,
+distinguished also by their skill and attainments.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>The transcription of Missal or Service books was often made, not only for
+the great houses, but for the smaller ones, unable to maintain so large a
+staff, and then both &#8220;scriptorium&#8221; and cloister became a ceaseless centre
+of labour. Books were often lent from one monastery to another to be
+copied, and besides the actual staff, hired writers were also employed,
+thus rapidly developing the learning of those early times. Special grants
+of money were made to support this constant occupation&mdash;tithes and other
+aids procured the vellum, the ink, and the colours for the artist; thus,
+by degrees, came into existence those grand volumes which, despite time
+and decay, have survived to our day. The abbey chronicle and the abbot&#8217;s
+letters became one great monastic diary, each containing a record of
+events and customs which shadowed forth many a noted incident or rare
+tradition.</p>
+
+<p>In the Christ Church letters, at Canterbury, we hear of Prior Chillenden&#8217;s
+love of building, and mention of the grey old walls of that city, portions
+of which are now standing, is found in this correspondence.</p>
+
+<p>Truly can it be said, that the abbey and its literature grew together,
+that the annals of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> one were the foundation stones of the other. The
+&#8220;Chronicle,&#8221; perhaps the most typical form of monastic work, gave
+expression to endless literary fragments, some, undoubted forgeries, as
+one scribe often copied the errors of a preceding writer. The lives of
+saints, and their legends, were lightly interwoven in this day-book of the
+religious house, and the famous miracles of Thomas &aacute; Becket, repeated in
+all their varying allurements, formed the staple theme for many a
+credulous monk.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the &#8220;Chronicle&#8221; recorded important events, especially
+the building of a noted minster, oratory, or shrine. Ingulphus treated of
+Croyland; William of Malmesbury, of Glastonbury; Gervase, the burning of
+Canterbury, and many like instances. In these volumes we often find
+allusions to the means used to raise money for building, and the curious
+customs arising out of this effort. When a cathedral wanted repair, the
+bishop selected from among his clergy a few preachers, and along with them
+a saint&#8217;s shrine, in which relics were enclosed and carried by young
+clerks in procession. On reaching a town, these relics were taken to the
+church and left on one of the altars, and those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> who could afford, threw
+their offerings on the same.</p>
+
+<p>Processions to some noted spot formed another source of revenue, and the
+picturesque though fanciful custom of strewing the churchyard cross with
+boughs on Palm Sunday, may have been another of the quaint usages to
+attract the devotee to make his offerings.</p>
+
+<p>Fairs, too, were held, sometimes in the very cathedral precincts, and
+mystery and miracle plays also combined to increase the funds required for
+a grand fabric, or village church. A leading feature in the archivist&#8217;s
+work were the bishop&#8217;s registers, to be found in every diocese, and
+varying greatly in their interest and contents. Those of Canterbury and
+York form a unique collection of church history, while others are models
+of exactness or statesmanlike precision.</p>
+
+<p>As we turn over their pages, we recall the names of William of Wykeham
+(Bishop of Winchester), Bishop Alcock (Ely), Chichele, the munificent
+founder of All Souls&#8217;, Oxford, while among lesser dignitaries may be
+classed Abbot Islip, of Westminster, and John of Whethampstead, for St.
+Alban&#8217;s, whose registers and minute books betoken their care and
+knowledge, as <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>&#8220;Supervisors&#8221; of the noble buildings under their charge.
+Perhaps the register of St. Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury (1078-1107), may
+fairly be taken to represent the idea of what is usually found to
+illustrate the growth, maintenance, and customs connected with those
+stately fabrics and minsters of our land. As St. Osmund was one of the
+prelate-architects, so to speak, and having much to do with the building
+of that cathedral, there are, naturally, endless allusions to antiquarian
+lore, indeed, his register can well be likened to a storehouse of local
+customs, and ecclesiological learning.</p>
+
+<p>On one page is an account of the maintenance of Savernake forest, over
+which the Dean and chapter of Sarum had certain rights. On another, we
+find a description of the stones and ornaments for the church, while
+elsewhere are the charters for the bestowal of land, towards the endowment
+of canonries and other preferments, and to these last were attached seals
+of deep historical value.</p>
+
+<p>This register may be taken then as the keystone to the annals of Sarum
+diocese, and what the keen inquirer finds in this as a typical book, may
+equally be said of several other episcopal archives. In their silent,
+though not less<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> expressive, language, they have handed down those
+incidents on which hang the story of many an effort to build a costly
+shrine, a sculptured porch, or greater still, the minsters and abbeys
+which have made England of the past so rich an inheritance for us of
+to-day.</p>
+
+<p>The fullest scope for the medi&aelig;val artist was found in the pictured
+chronicle, or the illuminated missal, that task on which painter and
+scribe devoted their best talents, and with this embellishment is
+interwoven many an old usage or fanciful legend.</p>
+
+<p>The monastery garden supplied endless designs for the exquisite
+plant-forms and scrolls which mingled so gracefully with the written text
+or the printed page. In the gifted words of the late Lady Eastlake, who
+said, &#8220;Here on these solid and well-nigh indestructible parchment folios,
+where text and picture alternately take up the sacred tale&mdash;the text
+itself a picture, the picture a homily&mdash;the skill of the artist has
+exhausted itself in setting forth the great scheme of salvation.&#8221;<a name='fna_21' id='fna_21' href='#f_21'><small>[21]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Flowers also supplied an un-ending theme for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> symbolism which always
+allied itself to sacred and legendary art, and tradition asserts that the
+monks reared an appropriate flower for each holy-day, and that certain
+flowers were dedicated to saints. The ivy a type of immortality, the oak
+of virtue and majesty, the lily, and the rose, all had their significance
+on the vellum book.</p>
+
+<p>Mingled with the border designs were satirical allusions in the form of
+grotesques and other drolleries, evidently aimed at the jealousies of the
+secular and regular clergy, one against the other, or both against the
+mendicant friars. What was found on the illuminated page, was echoed in
+the architectural carvings of the time, and the fantastic wood work in
+some of our cathedrals and many churches, especially in the stalls of
+Christ Church, Hants, repeat the teachings of the caustic monk in his
+cloistered seclusion.</p>
+
+<p>It was reserved for the architect-artist to perpetuate in stone the
+beauties of the floral world, and nothing speaks a stronger though mute
+language than the foliage sculptured on the arches, doorways, and nooks of
+our minsters, churches, and abbey ruins.</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Ivy, and vine, and many a sculptured rose,<br />
+The tenderest image of mortality,<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>Binding the slender columns, whose light shafts<br />
+Cluster like stems in corn-sheaves.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Not only was symbolism embodied in these carvings, but as an exercise and
+offering of devotion to the Unseen, the best efforts were lavished on it
+by the skilled master-workmen of the time.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the scribe, the illuminator, the architect were all striving in a
+kind of companion rivalry, each illustrating by his efforts some phase of
+artistic labour, or reviving a long-forgotten custom.</p>
+
+<p>However much we may dissociate legend with truth, we cannot always ignore
+it, mingled though it may be with monkish ignorance and superstition.</p>
+
+<p>The tale of many a noble structure has been veiled under the guise of the
+chronicle or the monastic ledger book, and the foundation of Waltham Abbey
+is said to have originated from a 12th century MS., entitled, &#8220;De
+inventione Sancte Crucis.&#8221; Around the grand church of Minister in Thanet,
+gathers a pretty story, in that Dompneva, wife of Penda, King of Mercia,
+asked Ethelbert to grant her land in Thanet, on which she might build a
+monastery. In answer to how much she required, &#8220;Only as much as my deer
+can run over at one course.&#8221; The King gave her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> the wide tract of land run
+over by the deer, and she founded the cloister on the spot where now
+stands Minister church. Local names have sometimes been associated with
+the story of the cloister. The Bell-rock with its lighthouse was so called
+from the bell which the monks tolled, to warn the mariner of his danger.</p>
+
+<p>The smallest item on the parchment page can have an extended meaning; the
+sign of the cross was found in many old deeds, which often contained an
+invocation to the Trinity, and the famous story of St. Helena, and the
+finding of the cross, has its incidents oft repeated in the MS., the
+printed book, the panel or fresco painting, as well as in the marvellous
+pieces of the sacred wood, so greatly venerated by the faithful! Of St.
+Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, there is a drawing, said to be by his
+own hand, in the illumination of a manuscript in the Bodleian Library, and
+of dedication of churches to saints, the name is legion. St. Barnabas Day
+is specially linked with English life and manners, it was the longest day
+according to the old style, and the old rhyme,</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Barnaby bright, Barnaby light,<br />
+The longest day and the shortest night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Every form of chronicled lore, be it register,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> fabric roll, charter, or
+brief, teems with some peculiar custom which is a moving history, an
+heirloom from the old world, helping to connect the past and the present.</p>
+
+<p>Architectural items enter largely into the varied forms of church
+documents; the Indulgence often gave full particulars as to the repairs of
+a building, a fact most valuable for supplying the date at which any
+portion was built or renewed. Cathedral archives of whatever class, are
+sure to abound in allusions to the fabric or its annals, sometimes going
+so far as to sketch some portion in the marginal pages, of which an
+example is found in a drawing of old St. Paul&#8217;s in the 14th century,
+occurring in a MS. called the &#8220;Flores historiarum.&#8221; The statutes of our
+minsters are rich in ecclesiastical lore, the medi&aelig;val fraternities or
+guilds are often mentioned in them, and in the statutes of St. Paul&#8217;s a
+most curious custom is mentioned of waits parading the streets of London,
+to give notice of the feast of the Transfiguration, and carrying with them
+a picture or banners of that event.</p>
+
+<p>The antiquarian enthusiast on these subjects cannot do better than consult
+the work on &#8220;English Guilds&#8221; published by the Early English Text<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> Society,
+and that of the &#8220;Statutes of St. Paul&#8217;s,&#8221; by Dr. Sparrow Simpson, 1873.</p>
+
+<p>Fabric rolls and inventories are an endless source of detailed
+information, in both of these, most minute descriptions are given; the
+painting and drawing of images, the materials, even to the pencils and
+brushes, being mentioned. Perhaps the most elaborate is that of the
+expense rolls for St. Stephen&#8217;s chapel, in the old palace of Westminster,
+a bill of charges that helps to identify the kind of work done at that
+time, and the general artistic treatment in the reign of Edward III.</p>
+
+<p>The following entries may be given as a typical illustration:&mdash;</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td>William de Padryngton, mason, for making twenty<br />angels to stand in the tabernacles, by task work at 6/8<br />per each image</td>
+    <td><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span></td>
+    <td align="right" valign="bottom">&pound;6</td>
+    <td align="right" valign="bottom">13s.</td>
+    <td align="right" valign="bottom">4d.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>For seven hundred leaves of gold, bought for the<br />painting of the tabernacles in the Chapel</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td align="right" valign="bottom">&pound;1</td>
+    <td align="right" valign="bottom">8s.</td>
+    <td align="right" valign="bottom">0d.</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>The following item shows that there were artists who designed the work
+afterwards carried out by inferior craftsmen.</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td>Hugh de St. Alban&#8217;s and John de Cotton, painters,<br />working on the drawings of several images.</td>
+    <td><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span></td>
+    <td align="right" valign="bottom">&pound;0</td>
+    <td align="right" valign="bottom">9s.</td>
+    <td align="right" valign="bottom">0d.</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>An examination of this expense roll, of which this is not a tithe of the
+entries, printed in Smith&#8217;s history of Westminister, will well repay
+attention.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>With those graceful chantries, which adorn most of our minsters, are
+closely connected the service books of the middle ages, for it was usual
+to insert in the blank spaces of the collects the names of the founders of
+the chantry chapels.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, the subtle way in which our old documents, of whatever class,
+interweave themselves with the annals of our medi&aelig;val buildings, whether
+as regards the general plan, the design of some sculptured porch, the
+pictured images on walls, or the many-coloured votive chapel, each and all
+illustrating a quaint legend or significant custom, is too numerous to
+indicate.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nor was all this labour spent in vain; their homes for centuries were in
+the silence of the sanctuary; their authors have mingled with the dust of
+the convent cemetery; over them have passed the rise and fall of the
+kingdoms of this world; but through them history has been transmitted with
+a continuity and fulness not to be found in any other form of art, or, it
+may be said in any form of literature.&#8221;<a name='fna_22' id='fna_22' href='#f_22'><small>[22]</small></a></p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Mid all the light a happier age has brought,<br />
+We work not yet as our forefathers wrought.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Shorthand in Church.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By William E. A. Axon, f.r.s.l.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">When</span> Job Everardt published in the year 1658, his &#8220;Epitome of
+Stenographie,&#8221; he had certainly no intention of minimising the value of
+his art, but, on the contrary, was quite ready to magnify the office of
+the shorthand writer. The engraved title-page is ornamented by eleven
+emblematical pictures, and stenography is declared to be &#8220;Swifter than the
+swift of foot&#8221; (Amos ii. 15); &#8220;Swifter than a post&#8221; (Job ix. 25); &#8220;Swifter
+than a weaver&#8217;s shuttle&#8221; (Job vii. 20); &#8220;Swifter than waters&#8221; (Job xxiv.
+18); &#8220;Swifter than clouds&#8221; (Isaiah xix. 1); &#8220;Swifter than ships&#8221; (Job ix.
+26); &#8220;Swifter than horses&#8221; (Jer. iv. 13); &#8220;Swifter than dromedaries&#8221; (Jer.
+ii. 23); &#8220;Swifter than roes&#8221; (1 Chron. xii. 8); &#8220;Swifter than leopards&#8221;
+(Heb. i. 8); &#8220;Swifter than eagles&#8221; (2 Sam. i. 23). It may be remarked in
+passing that the worthy Everardt consistently spells than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> <i>then</i> in the
+text to each of these emblems. We have left to the last the picture which
+holds the place of honour. Here we see a worthy divine, robed in a black
+gown, set off with white collars and cuffs, and with his head covered by a
+furred skull cap. He stands in a low pulpit, his hands rest on the
+comfortable cushion, which is unencumbered either by book or MS. Opposite
+to him, and occupying the whole of a comfortable form or very wide chair,
+is a stenographer. He wears his hat, as was often customary in church
+during the seventeenth century; he has impressive white hands; he has not
+taken off his cloak, but on a fold of it allows a book to rest, in which,
+with an impossible pen, he is taking down the sermon, and stares with
+fixed gaze as the divine asserts &#8220;My tongue is as the pen of a swift
+writer,&#8221; and seems almost inclined to dispute the assertion that any
+tongue could keep pace with his nimble stylus.</p>
+
+<p>It must be confessed that the early stenographers&mdash;to confine our
+attention to them&mdash;were not at all in the habit of under-valuing their
+art. Here is what this same Everardt, &#8220;dropping into poetry&#8221; like Silas
+Wegg, has to say in a triple acrostic:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td><b>S</b>ecret, &nbsp; &nbsp; short, &nbsp; &nbsp; swift &nbsp; &nbsp; this &nbsp; &nbsp; Writer i<b>S</b>,</td>
+    <td>the Sun&#8217;s course seemes but slow to hi<b>S</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>T</b>he <b>T</b>eacher&#8217;s nimble tongue comes shor<b>T</b></td>
+    <td>this &nbsp; Writer &nbsp; waits &nbsp;&nbsp; his nex<b>T</b> &nbsp; &nbsp; repor<b>T</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>E</b>agles &nbsp; ar<b>E</b> &nbsp; swift, &nbsp;&nbsp; his &nbsp; pen &nbsp; doth &nbsp; fle<b>E</b></td>
+    <td>his &nbsp; quill &nbsp; an &nbsp;&nbsp; <b>E</b>agle&#8217;s &nbsp; &nbsp; seems &nbsp; to b<b>E</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>N</b>oe clouds &nbsp; can flee, &nbsp; <b>N</b>or &nbsp; waters &nbsp;&nbsp; ru<b>N</b></td>
+    <td>swifter the<b>N</b> his quick strokes have do<b>N</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>O</b>ne &nbsp; &nbsp; posting &nbsp;&nbsp; Swiftly &nbsp;&nbsp; T<b>O</b> &nbsp;&nbsp; and &nbsp;&nbsp; fr<b>O</b></td>
+    <td>his &nbsp;&nbsp; <b>O</b>ft-turn&#8217;d &nbsp; quill &nbsp; doth &nbsp; even &nbsp; S<b>O</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>G</b>alley or &nbsp; ship &nbsp; with &nbsp; Sailes &nbsp; and &nbsp; Flag<b>G</b></td>
+    <td>the Weavers shuttle, &nbsp; Leopard, &nbsp; Stag<b>G</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>R</b>oe, &nbsp; &nbsp;  Dromedary, &nbsp; &nbsp;  Horse &nbsp; o<b>R</b> &nbsp; Ha&#8217;<b>R</b>:</td>
+    <td>o<b>R</b> &nbsp; the &nbsp; swift &nbsp; swiming &nbsp; Dolphin ra&#8217;<b>R</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>A</b>nd &nbsp; the &nbsp; quick &nbsp; Scribes, &nbsp; <b>A</b>s &nbsp; Shemaj<b>A</b></td>
+    <td>Baruch, &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Ezr<b>A</b>, &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; E L I S H A M <b>A</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>P</b>aint &nbsp; forth, &nbsp; &nbsp; as &nbsp; &nbsp; <b>P</b>atterns &nbsp; in &nbsp; a &nbsp; ma<b>P</b></td>
+    <td>this ARTS &nbsp; true &nbsp; <b>P</b>ortrature &nbsp; and sha<b>P</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>H</b>aste <b>H</b>aste &nbsp; to learn what it doth &nbsp; teac<b>H</b></td>
+    <td>Swiftness  and  Shortness bot<b>H</b> to reac<b>H</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>Y</b>ea &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; both &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; in &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; StenographyL<b>Y</b></td>
+    <td>much &nbsp; more &nbsp; in &nbsp; this &nbsp;&nbsp;  E P I T O M <b>Y</b></td></tr></table>
+
+<p>After this ingenious torturing of the Queen&#8217;s English, it is not
+surprising to find,</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;In steed [sic] of Tenne command<sup>ts.</sup> Lords Pray&#8217;r, Creed:<br />
+Heer&#8217;s Three and Thirty Languages to Reade,&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>that is to say, the sentence &#8220;But the just shall live by his faith,&#8221; in
+that number of tongues, first in his stenographic characters, and then
+transliterated into longhand. His dedication is written in the style of a
+sermon, and in an introductory verse he does not fail to claim that by his
+art are</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;... Sermons writ even from the lip,<br />
+And sudden thoughts before they slip.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>His good opinion of his own stenography, and powers of versification,
+sustains him to the end of his book, and he bids us adieu in this wise:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Herewith Farewell; If you can tell<br />
+What yet more fair, short, swift maybee,<br />
+Let the world know it, candedly [sic] show it<br />
+Or if not, Follow this with mee.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>William Hopkins &#8220;Flying Penman&#8221; (1695), has the following commendation
+signed by one whose surname has since become famous in divinity:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Virgil, who largely wrot about the Gnat<br />
+That saveing Man&#8217;s life his own ruine gat,<br />
+Might have emploi&#8217;d his pen about this Fly<br />
+With greater pleasure and Utility,<br />
+A Fly this is, but of more noble kind<br />
+Than in the winged crue you ere did find:<br />
+A Flying Man; the Flying-Pen-man &#8217;tis<br />
+Whose wing the fleeing game doth never miss.<br />
+The Eagle strikes down and eats up his prey<br />
+Destroying all that he doth bear away,<br />
+But what this Pen-man takes he doth preserve,<br />
+And makes it better to all uses serve,<br />
+When fleeting words would vanish with their sound<br />
+He doth them stay, and them deliver bound,<br />
+By Lines of Characters wherein they rest<br />
+As in a dwelling that doth please them best.<br />
+The Art of Spelling at first was thought<br />
+Strange, and they deem&#8217;d immortal who it taught,<br />
+Spelling by Characters excelleth all<br />
+That under any other Art doth fall.<br />
+Some Charactors creep, some go, these do Fly<br />
+Showing their authors great agility,<br />
+And this ability he doth impart<br />
+By certain rules of a defusive Art.&#8221;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><span class="smcap">Edward Beecher.</span></span></p>
+
+<p>Hopkins gives a long list of theological words, and of abbreviations of
+such phrases as &#8220;the blood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> of the saints,&#8221; &#8220;the breath of the Almighty,&#8221;
+&#8220;the candle of the Lord,&#8221; etc. In reporting the words of preachers, he
+advises the use of a book, with a margin ruled off, in which to &#8220;set down
+the numbers and names of all the heads contained in the sermon. All these
+heads,&#8221; he says, &#8220;with parts of the Inlargements used upon them may be
+taken by such who hardly ever wrote before.&#8221; This statement must be
+received <i>cum grano salis</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The system best known as that of Jeremiah Rich, who appears to have copied
+it from his uncle, William Cartwright, was one that seems to have been
+favoured by the divines of the seventeenth century. It was modified by Dr.
+Doddridge, and taught in his academy for the training of Nonconformist
+ministers, and then came into use in most of the older dissenting
+colleges, so that twenty years ago there were many who had thus been
+trained and conned the dumpty little bibles and psalm books that were
+engraved in Rich&#8217;s system. That system has had many names attached to it.
+Let us take that which bears the impress of &#8220;Botley&#8217;s learned hand.&#8221; One
+of his eulogists tells us</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Sermons this art transfers, its oft known<br />
+The countrey reaps what&#8217;s in the City sowne;<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>The sacred pulpit is not its confine<br />
+The general good is this art&#8217;s main designe.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Botley&#8217;s &#8220;Maximum in Minimo,&#8221; which appeared in 1659, is avowedly Jeremiah
+Rich&#8217;s &#8220;Pen&#8217;s dexterity compleated.&#8221; The theological uses of the system
+are further asserted by ingenious devices for indicating such phrases as
+&#8220;to be joyned in love to those that are not of the people of God,&#8221; &#8220;to
+embrace the cross of Christ,&#8221; etc. This character = <span class="huge">&#9737;</span> signifies &#8220;to
+be miserable as the world is miserable,&#8221; whilst <img src="images/circle.jpg" alt="symbol" /> meant &#8220;a saint is
+a 1000 times better than the world.&#8221; So in Noah Bridge&#8217;s &#8220;Stenographie,&#8221;
+issued in the same year, there are phraseograms for &#8220;in the name of the
+Lord,&#8221; &#8220;wherefore said the psalmist,&#8221; etc.</p>
+
+<p>The &#8220;New Method of Short and Swift Writing,&#8221; which was given away to
+purchasers of Dr. Chamberlen&#8217;s &#8220;anodyne necklace for children&#8217;s teeth,&#8221; is
+declared to be &#8220;necessary for all Ministers of State, Members of
+Parliament, Lawyers, Divines, Students, Tradesmen, Shopkeepers,
+Travellers, and in fine, all sorts of persons from the highest to the
+lowest quality, degree, rank, station, and condition whatsoever, and write
+down presently whatever they hear or see done.&#8221; The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> theologian here is
+somewhat lost in an indiscriminate crowd.</p>
+
+<p>That shorthand was used for the purpose of obtaining copies both of plays
+and of sermons in the seventeenth century is sufficiently well-known.
+There is a curious tract which professes to be a shorthand report of a
+discourse, by no less a person than our &#8220;Cromwell, chief of men,&#8221; and
+although it is but a satire, its curious titlepage is nevertheless
+evidence of the common belief,&mdash;founded doubtless on the common
+practice,&mdash;that stenography could secure verbatim reports of the
+exhortations of preachers, whether clerical or lay. The tract professes to
+be,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">&#8220;A most Learned, Conscientious and Devout Exercise or Sermon of
+Self-Denyal, (Preached or) Held forth the last Lords-day of April, in
+the year of Freedom the 1st, 1649. At Sir P. T.&#8217;s House in
+Lincolns-Inn-Fields. By Lieutenant General Oliver Cromwell,
+Immediately before his going for Ireland, as it was then faithfully
+taken in Characters, By Aaron Gueredo. And now published for the
+Benefit of the New Polonian Association, and late Famed Ignoramus
+furies of this city. Humbly Dedicated to the Worthy
+Protestant-Hop-Merchants, and the rest of the Ignoramus-Brethren.
+London: Printed in the Year of Freedom 43.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The sermons of Tobias Crisp, which gave rise to a long controversy, were
+printed from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>&#8220;shortwriting,&#8221; in 1642-43, and also those of Stephen Crisp,
+the Quaker, in 1694.</p>
+
+<p>The quarrel between the preacher and the reporter was not long in breaking
+out. Here is the indignant complaint of Dr. Calamy in the preface of one
+of his discourses.&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">&#8220;The iniquity of the times hath necessitated the printing of the
+ensuing Sermon. There is a Fellow, (who he is I know not) who hath for
+his own private advantage, published it very imperfectly and
+corruptly. And herein hath not only sinned against the 8th Commandment
+in taking away another man&#8217;s goods without his leave, but also against
+the 9th Commandment, in bearing false witness against his neighbour.
+For he makes me to say not only such things which I never said, but
+which are very absurd and irrational. As for example: That the Body is
+the worse part of the Soul. That the party deceased had not only dona
+sanaia, but selutifera. That I should tell a story of one good Pell, a
+Minister, born without doubt in Utopia, for of such a man I never
+either read or heard. To make some satisfaction to the living and the
+dead, here you have the same sermon in a truer edition with some few
+additions then omitted for want of time. If this unhappy necessity may
+contribute anything to thy good, or to the perpetuating of the Memory
+of the Reverend, Learned, and godly Minister (at whose Funeral it was
+preached), I shall not much repent for what I have done, though I am
+assured, that he that brought me into this necessity, hath cause to
+repent of this, his irregular and unwarrantable practice. (&#8220;The
+Saint&#8217;s Transfiguration,&#8221; a Sermon preached at the Funeral of Dr.
+Samuel Bolton, by Edmund Calamy, <span class="smcaplc">B.D.</span>, October 19, 1654. London, 1655).&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The preacher had of course alluded to Conradus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> Pellicanus, the German
+theologian, whose name the stenographer had but partially caught, and set
+down as &#8220;Pell!&#8221; <i>Hinc illae lachrymae</i>&mdash;of angry indignation.</p>
+
+<p>The stenographers of the last century followed closely in the footsteps of
+their predecessors. James Weston&#8217;s &#8220;Stenography&#8221; of which various editions
+appeared between 1727 and 1740, has an engraving showing a cathedral, in
+which a bewigged divine is preaching to a crowd of fashionably dressed
+ladies and gentlemen, many of whom are busy with pen and notebook.
+Underneath the picture is the motto,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Be perfect in this useful art, and then<br />
+No word from pulpit can escape your pen.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This idea was conveyed by Aulay Macaulay, whose &#8220;Polygraphy&#8221; has for a
+frontispiece a pretty engraving, in which two gentlemen and a lady are
+seen taking down the words which, from the preacher&#8217;s gestures, we may
+suppose to be both impressive and profitable.</p>
+
+<p>In the nineteenth century, as in the seventeenth, the church is much
+frequented by stenographers, but more it is to be feared for practice in
+shorthand than for perfection in piety. The first ambition of the boy who
+is learning shorthand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> is to &#8220;report&#8221; a sermon by the preacher whose
+ministry he attends. Mr. Thomas Allen Reed has given an amusing account of
+his first exploit in this direction, when he was still struggling with the
+early difficulties of the system he soon after abandoned for phonography.
+He says, &#8220;I did not, however, relinquish my practice, and in a few weeks I
+resolved on making a grand attempt to take down the Sunday sermon. I rose
+early in the morning with the sense of a weighty responsibility resting
+upon me. I sharpened my pencil with the gravity of a senator, and folded
+several sheets of paper together, in the profound conviction that I was
+undertaking a serious, if not a formidable, duty. I did my best to conceal
+my emotions, but my heart was beating all the way to the church. As to the
+preliminary service, I understood as little of it as if it had been read
+in Cherokee. I stood when I ought to have knelt, and knelt when I should
+have sat or stood, and demeaned myself like a youth whose religious
+education had been sadly neglected. At length the clergyman entered the
+pulpit, and I took my sheets of paper from the Bible in which I had
+concealed them, and my pencil from my pocket. If I did not feel like
+Bonaparte&#8217;s soldiers, that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> eyes of posterity were upon me, I devoutly
+believed that every eye in the church was directed to my note book. The
+colour mounted my cheeks (as it very often did at that period of my life,)
+and my whole frame trembled. I had a strong impulse to abandon my project,
+but I summoned all my energy to the task, and awaited the commencement of
+the sermon. &#8216;The 12th chapter of Isaiah and the 3rd verse,&#8217; said the
+minister in solemn tones. This presented no great difficulty. I am sorry
+to say that, stenographically speaking, I burked Isaiah, and contented
+myself with the long-hand abbreviation, Is., and as to the text itself, I
+thought the first three words would suffice. And now for the sermon. &#8216;The
+remarkable words, my brethren, of this important prophecy.&#8217; Laboriously I
+followed the deliberate utterances of the speaker, but when I reached the
+prophecy I floundered about in a maze of dire confusion. I thought it
+began with ph, and I accordingly started as I had been instructed, with
+the stenographic equivalent, f, but, finding that this would not do, I
+crossed it out. Then I tried p, r, and getting a good deal confused,
+plunged madly into the alphabet, the result being a combination of
+characters altogether beyond<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> description. But where was the preacher?
+Away in the distance, almost out of sight and hearing. I was fairly
+beaten, but not quite disheartened. When another sentence was begun I made
+a fresh start, this time I was pulled up by the word &#8216;synonymous,&#8217; I knew
+there were some n&#8217;s and m&#8217;s in it, but not how many. I must have written
+three or four of each, and while I was jerking out these segments of
+circles (their forms were the same as in Phonography,) the clergyman was
+remorselessly pursuing the intricacies of a long sentence, which I was
+compelled wholly to abandon. I made several other efforts with the like
+result. At length I secured an entire sentence of about twenty words, and
+felt very proud of the achievement. Some half-dozen such sentences
+rewarded my labour during the sermon. How I racked my brain in the
+afternoon in poring over these fragments! My memory (not then a bad one)
+was utterly useless. I had not the slightest conception of the drift of
+the sermon, but I was determined to make some kind of a transcript, and it
+was made. I presented it to my mother as my first attempt, and I believe
+she kept it carefully locked up in a drawer among her treasures. It was
+fortunate for my reputation that it never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> afterwards saw the light.&#8221;
+(Leaves from the Notebook of Thomas Allen Reed, vol. 1, p. 12; vol. 2, p. 24).</p>
+
+<p>The professional reporting of sermons is now an important department of
+the stenographer&#8217;s work. The late Mr. Spurgeon&#8217;s sermons were thus
+reported by Mr. Reed. Dr. Cumming had his own reporter, as had Beecher,
+and as Talmage and others have. Dr. Joseph Parker&#8217;s discourses were
+&#8220;specially reported&#8221; by his wife. It is to the phonographic skill of a
+lady that we owe the preservation of many of the lectures, sermons, and
+prayers of the late George Dawson. The sermons of the Rev. Thomas T. Lynch
+were also reported by Mr. Reed. Yet the preacher had a strong dislike to
+his discourses being reported and printed, &#8220;especially without his
+revision.&#8221; There, no doubt, is the rub. Dr. Morley Punshon had a strong
+dislike to be reported, and some letters that passed between him and Mr.
+Reed are given in the <i>Phonetic Journal</i>, July 30th, 1881. His objections
+were that the reporter was sometimes inaccurate, and that the preacher
+alone had a right to decide whether he would or would not address the
+larger congregation to be reached by the press. And he urged very strongly
+that the arguments<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> used by Macaulay as to the unauthorised publication of
+his speeches were equally applicable to the case of sermons. It is still a
+rather doubtful point whether sermons are covered by the law of copyright,
+and many single sermons and even volumes have been published without the
+sanction, and sometimes against the wishes, of the preachers. But as it
+has been held by the law courts that a professor&#8217;s lectures cannot be
+legally published without his consent, it is possible that some day a
+preacher may arise who will test the question and ask the judges to say if
+the pulpit is as much protected as the teacher&#8217;s desk. The late Bishop
+Fraser is said to have jocularly declared that there was no heresy that
+had not been attributed to him by the slips of note-takers and condensers.</p>
+
+<p>Shorthand has been extensively used for the MS. of preachers, as by Dr.
+Chalmers, Job Orton, and a host of other preachers,&mdash;so many, indeed, that
+to deal with stenography in the pulpit would need a larger space than is
+here available.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the most original use of shorthand in church was that due to the
+conscientiousness and business instincts of the late Rt. Hon. W. H. Smith.
+Ecclesiastical patronage he felt to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> be a great responsibility. When there
+was a minister to be appointed he sought the best information as to those
+who were recommended to him as suitable. Sometimes he corresponded with
+friends likely to know; &#8220;at other times he used to send his confidential
+shorthand writer to attend the services of clergymen who might be suitable
+for the vacancy, and bring him verbatim reports of the sermons, with
+confidential memoranda of their appearance, views, abilities, and other
+details. It was only after carefully examining this information that he
+would proceed to make the appointment.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Those clergymen who owed their promotion to the testimonials thus obtained
+might say with Job Orton&#8217;s pious fervour, &#8220;Blessed be God for shorthand.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Reminiscences of our Village Church.</h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By the Rev. Canon Benham, b.d., f.s.a.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">I propose</span> in the following notes to write my recollections of a village
+church. They extend over nearly sixty years, and will, no doubt, describe
+a growth and change which might have been observed in a thousand English
+churches.</p>
+
+<p>But first, let me say a few words of this church before my recollection of
+it; not long before, for I am indebted to my mother&#8217;s reminiscences for
+the few trifles with which I open. It was a heavy looking edifice, not
+attractive to the eye as compared with the &#8220;storied windows, richly
+dight,&#8221; which mark the churches of the beautiful Gothic revival of our own
+times. This was a plain building, flint, with queer old stone facings, a
+heavy tower, &#8220;churchwarden&#8221; windows with diamond panes, with not an atom
+of beautiful tracery from one end to the other.</p>
+
+<p>And yet that church, if you had been taught how to look for it, contained
+features of the deepest interest to an antiquary. Within, were heavy
+Norman pillars between nave and aisles,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> and a round-headed flattened
+chancel arch, unmistakably Saxon. For that church was built by S. Wilfred
+of York in the 8th century, and built so substantially, that there it was
+in the 19th century, sturdy and strong, though successive generations had
+bepewed it and begalleried it, and put in square ugly windows, and a
+three-decker, in fact, had used their utmost endeavours to disfigure it.
+They could not destroy the simple Norman capitals, but they had
+whitewashed them, and had written up, with the best intentions, texts on
+the walls, in which my youthful eyes discovered two or three blunders in
+spelling. It is no wonder that the old Rector, who liked to see everything
+graceful and artistic, but who had never learned the principles of
+Architecture scientifically, failed to appreciate S. Wilfred&#8217;s ancient
+work, and yearned to see something more graceful in its place. But of that
+presently. Let me go back for eighty years. The incumbent in those days
+was an old foxhunter, very fat and of enormous appetite. One day he came
+in from a long run across country. &#8220;Wilthon,&#8221; said he (he used to lisp)
+&#8220;What ith there for my dinner?&#8221; &#8220;A goose, sir,&#8221; said Wilson. &#8220;Bring him
+up, Wilthon, I&#8217;ll goothe him.&#8221; And he finished the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> goose and picked every
+bone clean. A well-known politician, who died only recently, was born in
+the village, and the old rector was called on to baptize him. &#8220;Name thith
+child,&#8221; said he, and the answer was duly given, &#8220;James Edwin Thorold.&#8221; The
+rector stared, for such exuberance of nomenclature was very uncommon in
+those days. &#8220;What?&#8221; he said in amazement. The name was repeated. &#8220;Bleth my
+thoul, what a lot of nameth,&#8221; said he, &#8220;thay it onthe more.&#8221; The name was
+said a third time, and the baby was duly christened. A lady who witnessed
+this, and who still lives, told me of this. She was twelve years old. My
+grandfather, in those days, was leader of the choir. They sat in a
+gallery, and had a fiddler and a trombone to accompany them. The trial of
+Queen Caroline, in 1820, raised the passions of the whole country to fever
+heat, and the rustics, for the most part, took the queen&#8217;s side. When the
+news came down, that Government had abandoned the &#8220;bill of pains and
+penalties&#8221; for depriving her of the title of queen, there were processions
+through the street, and every window that did not display a candle, by way
+of illumination, got a stone through it. On the following Sunday my
+grandfather gave out the Psalm, which of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> course was Tate and Brady&#8217;s,
+&#8220;35th Psalm, 11th and three following verses, <i>False witnesses with forged
+complaints</i>.&#8221; It was sung with tremendous energy, and the old rector was
+furious, not unreasonably, and sent the whole choir to Coventry for some
+time. He used to put on his surplice in the chancel, before the people,
+and exchange it in the reading desk for the black gown, and used to preach
+one sermon on Sundays. He died about 1826, and was succeeded by one who
+was a brilliant scholar, a canon of a northern Cathedral, and a man who
+according to his lights was zealous for the decencies of worship. Thus he
+built a vestry, put the clerk into a black gown, and started a verger with
+a long coat and red collar, knee breeches, and a long staff of office, who
+always preceded him to the reading desk. I am now come within the sphere
+of my own recollections. This old rector lived until 1844, and my early
+ideas of the proprieties of the church service were all drawn from him.
+For he had a reason for everything, and expressed it pleasantly, and he
+was very kind to me personally. Is it any wonder that for many a year I
+tried all questions of ritual&mdash;I am not sure that I have ceased even
+now&mdash;with &#8220;What would Doctor B.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> have thought about this?&#8221; He never
+preached one sermon in the church during his whole incumbency. I
+understood that it was the danger of a sudden failure of voice, to which
+he was subject, that prevented him. Anyhow that was the fact. But he
+established afternoon sermons, and his curate always preached them. He
+himself used regularly to say the Prayers, and never since his day have I
+ever heard anybody read the lessons so well as he did. I never hear the
+first chapter of the Hebrews without recalling the magnificent roll of his
+voice, as he brought out of it the points of the opening argument. He was
+keen upon chanting, and vocal music, and we always sang the Canticles, and
+the metrical Psalms&mdash;as I think very well&mdash;and a few Sanctuses. The only
+case of chanting the Prayer Book Psalms was certainly curious. He had
+heard in Westminster Abbey, the 137th Psalm, &#8220;By the waters of Babylon,&#8221;
+sung to a chant which much delighted him, and on the 28th day of the
+month, when that Psalm occurs, we chanted it to the music referred to. All
+the other Psalms were read.</p>
+
+<p>We used to be told at school that on Sundays we got a taste of Heaven, for
+we went to church<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> and sang God&#8217;s praises. I do not quarrel with the
+teaching even now, I think there is something in it. But I used to think,
+in those tender pinafore years, that in Heaven there would be one
+improvement, namely, that we should not stand on cold damp stones and feel
+half perished. There were forms running up the centre of the church, the
+whole length of it, on the cold bricks, no arrangement at all for
+kneeling, and on these forms we sat during lessons, prayers, sermon; and
+many a cold in the head did I catch. The best singers among the boys, of
+whom I was not one, went into the gallery. The old Rector established a
+school in the village, and we learned the Tonic Sol-Fah, and the singing
+was said to be the best for miles round. I think it was in 1842, two years
+before his death, that the fiddles and clarionettes were disestablished,
+and the music was entirely vocal.</p>
+
+<p>There was one feature of his incumbency which I must not forget, I mean
+his church catechising. It had always been a favourite doctrine of his,
+that catechising in church should be a feature of church work, and every
+Sunday afternoon in Lent, the boys were marshalled round the reading desk
+and catechised. Perhaps rather unfortunately, he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> a keen sense of fun,
+and occasionally a bit of humour in his questions, or his comments, set
+the congregation in a titter. But there was no question that those who
+listened picked up a great amount of Biblical and ecclesiastical
+knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>One mistake as I know now, the dear old rector made. He did not know of
+the arch&aelig;ological interest of the church, disfigured as it had been by
+country carpenters and painters and white-washers, and he built a new one,
+designed by Sir G. Gilbert Scott, then a very young man. And so S.
+Wilfred&#8217;s Church was pulled down, and a modern building, handsome enough,
+has taken its place. But before it was finished the old rector died. So
+now my recollections pass on to another building and another idea of
+service.</p>
+
+<p>The new church was certainly more comfortable for the schoolboys, and the
+singing still continued good. But the new rector made some alterations in
+matters on which his predecessors had been strong. He was a very
+pronounced Puritan, and forbade the school children to turn eastward for
+the Creeds. He forbade such simple anthems as &#8220;Lord of all power and
+might,&#8221; and Cecil&#8217;s &#8220;I will arise.&#8221; But he had his very good points. He
+was young and active, and visited his people assiduously,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> established a
+monthly Communion, and worked up a regular branch of the Church Missionary
+Society, which nobody in the village had ever heard of before. I grew up
+to manhood during his incumbency, and though I regarded his Puritan
+practices, and listened to his Calvinistic sermons and tirades against
+Popery with extreme dislike, I see now that he was a man who was most
+faithful to his convictions, and no man could be more earnest for the
+spiritual welfare of his people. He was no scholar, I doubt whether he
+could have read a page of the Greek Testament in his later days. But he
+was the kind friend of the sick and the aged, and looked after the young
+people of his flock, and when they went forth into the world gave them
+loving and sensible counsels. His wife was as sweet and saintly a
+character as ever I knew, and their large family have all proved the
+wisdom of their training. One son has earned himself a name as respected
+as it is widely known.</p>
+
+<p>His successor was a man of like views, better read, and a kindly-hearted
+man. But he was less in his parish. Though he kept no curate, he was
+constantly absent as a &#8220;missionary deputation,&#8221; and his congregation, who
+had never been instructed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> in church principles, fell away. He died, and
+his successor, who was only there for a year or two, was, I am told, a
+failure, greatly owing to weak health; and so we come down to present
+times. An organ has been given to the church, thanks to a generous layman;
+the choir march in procession to their places in the chancel, they do a
+respectable choral service, and of course turn eastward for their Creed.
+The parson looks thoroughly well after them, and loves them. There are
+regular week-day services, and a fair attendance on holy days, and the
+Sunday congregation is steadily increasing. It had gone down terribly.</p>
+
+<p>Such is an impartial review of the church life in an out-of-the-way
+country village. My own special old Rector (for I owe more to him than I
+could ever tell), the builder of the church, was one of the original
+movers in the celebrated movement of 1833, was in fact one of the persons
+present at the meeting at Hadleigh Rectory, under the presidency of Hugh
+James Rose, which led to the starting of the <i>Tracts for the Times</i>.</p>
+
+<p>His name appears both in Palmer&#8217;s Narrative, and in Newman&#8217;s
+Correspondence. He was a great friend of John Keble. But as the Tract
+Movement declined visibly towards Rome he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> regarded it with increasing
+dislike, and in his last years expressed that dislike with emphasis. I
+have sometimes wondered what position he would take up if he lived in our
+own day, and am inclined to think that the present Archbishop of
+Canterbury would be regarded by him as best expressing his own views.
+Peace to them every one, everlasting Light and Rest.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/the_end.jpg" alt="Ye Ende" /></div>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Index</h2>
+
+
+<p class="index">
+Abbatial staff, <a href="#Page_196">196</a><br />
+<br />
+Abbots Bromley, horns at, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br />
+<br />
+Advent ringing, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br />
+<br />
+Agnus Bell, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br />
+<br />
+Ale, baptized in, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br />
+<br />
+Ales, Church, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151-152</a><br />
+<br />
+Altars in churches, <a href="#Page_161">161-166</a><br />
+<br />
+Andrews, William, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.H.S.</span>, Inscriptions on Bells, <a href="#Page_49">49-63</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Laws of the Belfry, <a href="#Page_64">64-73</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bells cast in churchyards, <a href="#Page_154">154-156</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Anglo-Saxon burials, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br />
+<br />
+Anglo-Saxon marriage, <a href="#Page_100">100</a><br />
+<br />
+Anglo-Saxon prelates, <a href="#Page_198">198-201</a><br />
+<br />
+Annointing at baptism, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br />
+<br />
+Announcements of fortunes at marriages, <a href="#Page_121">121</a><br />
+<br />
+Apostle Spoons, <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br />
+<br />
+Armour, burial in, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br />
+<br />
+Armour in Churches, <a href="#Page_174">174-181</a><br />
+<br />
+Armour at funerals, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a><br />
+<br />
+Arvel Dinner, <a href="#Page_139">139</a><br />
+<br />
+Ascension Day customs, <a href="#Page_188">188-189</a><br />
+<br />
+Axon, W. E. A., Shorthand in Church, <a href="#Page_246">246-260</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Banns, forbidding, <a href="#Page_113">113</a><br />
+<br />
+Banns peal, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br />
+<br />
+Baptism, earliest titles of, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br />
+<br />
+Baptism rejected, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br />
+<br />
+Barton-le-Street, curious customs at, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br />
+<br />
+Batley bells, poem on, <a href="#Page_61">61-63</a><br />
+<br />
+Beating the Bounds, <a href="#Page_182">182-190</a><br />
+<br />
+Bell inscriptions, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a><br />
+<br />
+Bells cast in churches and churchyards, <a href="#Page_154">154</a><br />
+<br />
+Bells lost, <a href="#Page_38">38-39</a><br />
+<br />
+Benham, Rev. Canon, <span class="smcaplc">B.D., F.S.A.</span>, Customs and Superstitions of Baptism, <a href="#Page_78">78-98</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reminiscences of our Village Church, <a href="#Page_261">261-270</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Bibles, throwing dice for, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><br />
+<br />
+Biddenden Maids, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Bidding at weddings, <a href="#Page_119">119</a><br />
+<br />
+Bidding for funerals, <a href="#Page_146">146</a><br />
+<br />
+Bishops in Battle, <a href="#Page_198">198-231</a><br />
+<br />
+Black Prince, armour of, <a href="#Page_175">175</a><br />
+<br />
+Blinds taken down at death, <a href="#Page_139">139</a><br />
+<br />
+Bragget Sunday, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br />
+<br />
+Bread and beer distributed at a tomb, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br />
+<br />
+Bridegrooms, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br />
+<br />
+Box at funerals, <a href="#Page_145">145</a><br />
+<br />
+Boy-bishop, <a href="#Page_2">2-8</a><br />
+<br />
+Bozeat toffee, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Bridesmaids, <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br />
+<br />
+Briscoe, J. Potter, &#8220;Curiosities of the Belfry,&#8221; <a href="#Page_73">73</a><br />
+<br />
+Bull-running, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Burial Customs, <a href="#Page_126">126-146</a><br />
+<br />
+Burial without city walls, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br />
+<br />
+Bumping children, <a href="#Page_187">187-188</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a curate, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Buns and cider, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br />
+<br />
+Burning books, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br />
+<br />
+Burnley marriage custom, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><br />
+<br />
+Butchers&#8217; serenade, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Caistor gad-whip, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Canute&#8217;s crown, <a href="#Page_175">175</a><br />
+<br />
+Card-playing, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br />
+<br />
+Carling Sunday, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br />
+<br />
+Caroline, Queen, trial of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;<br />
+<br />
+Catechising, <a href="#Page_266">266</a><br />
+<br />
+Chanting in Church, <a href="#Page_265">265</a><br />
+<br />
+Choir in the olden days, <a href="#Page_263">263-264</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span><br />
+Christening bit, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">garments, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tongs, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">folk-lore, <a href="#Page_94">94-98</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Chrisom, <a href="#Page_143">143</a><br />
+<br />
+Christmas, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br />
+<br />
+Church-Ales, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br />
+<br />
+Churchwardens&#8217; accounts, <a href="#Page_186">186-187</a><br />
+<br />
+Churchyards, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br />
+<br />
+Cider, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br />
+<br />
+Cock-fighting, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br />
+<br />
+Coffins, burials without, <a href="#Page_134">134-135</a><br />
+<br />
+Collecting at funerals in Wales, <a href="#Page_139">139-140</a><br />
+<br />
+Commonwealth, marriages under, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br />
+<br />
+Corpse, and right of way, <a href="#Page_140">140</a><br />
+<br />
+Costume at weddings, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><br />
+<br />
+Cox, Rev. J. C., <span class="smcaplc">LL.D., F.S.A.</span>, on Sports in Churches, <a href="#Page_1">1-20</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Armour in Churches, <a href="#Page_174">174-181</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Cremation, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br />
+<br />
+Cromwell, satire on, <a href="#Page_252">252</a><br />
+<br />
+Cross roads, burial at, <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br />
+<br />
+Crosses, burial, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br />
+<br />
+Crusaders, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br />
+<br />
+Customs and superstitions of baptism, <a href="#Page_78">78-98</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Dancing in churches, <a href="#Page_8">8-15</a><br />
+<br />
+Dates on bells, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br />
+<br />
+Day for marriage, <a href="#Page_125">125</a><br />
+<br />
+Dead, baptism of, <a href="#Page_84">84</a><br />
+<br />
+Dead, ringing home, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br />
+<br />
+Deaf and dumb marriages, <a href="#Page_120">120-121</a><br />
+<br />
+Dice cast on the Altar, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><br />
+<br />
+Disputes settled in churchyards, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Doles at funerals, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br />
+<br />
+Domesday Book, churches mentioned in, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Dowry for poor maidens, <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br />
+<br />
+Druids, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Easter, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a><br />
+<br />
+Easter Eggs, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br />
+<br />
+Eastern portion of churchyard, burial in, <a href="#Page_136">136-138</a><br />
+<br />
+Edward III., armour of, <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br />
+<br />
+Embalming, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br />
+<br />
+Epitaph, curious, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Fairs held in churchyards, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a><br />
+<br />
+Feast, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br />
+<br />
+Feasts, burial, <a href="#Page_136">136</a><br />
+<br />
+Feasting in churches, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br />
+<br />
+Feudal tenures, <a href="#Page_211">211</a><br />
+<br />
+Fig-pie Sunday, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br />
+<br />
+Font, use of, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br />
+<br />
+Football, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Foxhunting parson, <a href="#Page_262">262</a><br />
+<br />
+Funeral banquets, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Garlands at funerals, <a href="#Page_143">143</a><br />
+<br />
+Garlands, nuptial, <a href="#Page_105">105</a><br />
+<br />
+Gifts at christening, <a href="#Page_92">92-93</a><br />
+<br />
+Girls baptised first, <a href="#Page_94">94</a><br />
+<br />
+Gold and silver, altars made of, <a href="#Page_163">163</a><br />
+<br />
+Good Friday, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Good Shepherd, <a href="#Page_193">193</a><br />
+<br />
+Grain at weddings, <a href="#Page_119">119</a><br />
+<br />
+Great Rebellion, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br />
+<br />
+Great Tom of Lincoln, <a href="#Page_41">41</a><br />
+<br />
+Gretna Green marriages, <a href="#Page_120">120</a><br />
+<br />
+Gowrie Plot, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br />
+<br />
+Gunpowder Plot, <a href="#Page_35">35-36</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Hats worn in church, <a href="#Page_247">247</a><br />
+<br />
+Hampshire burial superstitions, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br />
+<br />
+Handbells, <a href="#Page_44">44</a><br />
+<br />
+Hare-pie, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br />
+<br />
+Harvest Bell, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br />
+<br />
+Haxey Hood, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Heart burial, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br />
+<br />
+Hearse, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br />
+<br />
+Hindoo marriage custom, <a href="#Page_110">110</a><br />
+<br />
+Holy Cross, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a><br />
+<br />
+Holy Day Customs, <a href="#Page_21">21-32</a><br />
+<br />
+Horn-dancers, <a href="#Page_13">13-14</a><br />
+<br />
+Horse claimed at a mortuary, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br />
+<br />
+Hot cross buns, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br />
+<br />
+Hot pot at weddings, <a href="#Page_102">102</a><br />
+<br />
+Hour-glasses in coffins, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br />
+<br />
+Howlett, England, <span class="smcaplc">F.S.A.</span>, Marriage Customs, <a href="#Page_99">99-125</a>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burial Customs, <a href="#Page_126">126-146</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Hucksters&#8217; stalls in churches, <a href="#Page_1">1</a><br />
+<br />
+Husband and Wife re-united, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Images, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br />
+<br />
+Immersion, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br />
+<br />
+Inscriptions on Bells, <a href="#Page_49">49-63</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Kershaw, S. W., <span class="smcaplc">F.S.A.</span>, The Cloister and its story, <a href="#Page_232">232-245</a><br />
+<br />
+Kendal Custom, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span><br />
+Kissing, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br />
+<br />
+Knives, <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Lamplough, Edward, Bishops in Battle, <a href="#Page_198">198-231</a><br />
+<br />
+Lights to guide travellers by night, <a href="#Page_232">232</a><br />
+<br />
+Longest day, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br />
+<br />
+Laws of the Belfry, <a href="#Page_64">64-73</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Market Bell, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br />
+<br />
+Marriage Customs, <a href="#Page_99">99-125</a><br />
+<br />
+Mass on the field of battle, <a href="#Page_213">213</a><br />
+<br />
+May 29th, ringing on, <a href="#Page_34">34</a><br />
+<br />
+Maunday Thursday, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br />
+<br />
+Midnight burials, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br />
+<br />
+Mince-pies, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br />
+<br />
+Miracle Play, <a href="#Page_16">16-18</a><br />
+<br />
+Mistletoe, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Mitred Abbots, <a href="#Page_196">196</a><br />
+<br />
+Molly Grime, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Monks of Durham, <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br />
+<br />
+Moravian marriage customs, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br />
+<br />
+Morris dancers, <a href="#Page_10">10-12</a><br />
+<br />
+Mothering Sunday, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br />
+<br />
+Mulled ale, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br />
+<br />
+Myton, battle of, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+New Year&#8217;s eve ringing, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br />
+<br />
+Nicholson, John, Concerning the Churchyard, <a href="#Page_147">147-160</a><br />
+<br />
+Notorious characters buried north side of the church, <a href="#Page_137">137</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Oak-apple day, <a href="#Page_34">34</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Palm Sunday at Leigh, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Palls, <a href="#Page_145">145</a><br />
+<br />
+Page, John T., The Rood Loft and its uses, <a href="#Page_167">167-173</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beating the Bounds, <a href="#Page_182">182-190</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Pancakes, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br />
+<br />
+Pancake bell, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br />
+<br />
+Parish Armour, <a href="#Page_178">178-181</a><br />
+<br />
+Parish Clerks, <a href="#Page_114">114</a><br />
+<br />
+Passing Bell, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br />
+<br />
+Pastoral staff, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br />
+<br />
+Paul&#8217;s Pitcher Day, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br />
+<br />
+Paying toll at weddings, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br />
+<br />
+Peacock, Florence, Church Bells, when and why they were Rung, <a href="#Page_33">33-48</a><br />
+<br />
+Penance performance in Hull, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br />
+<br />
+Preaching from Shorthand, <a href="#Page_259">259</a><br />
+<br />
+Private baptism, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br />
+<br />
+Proxy, marriage by, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br />
+<br />
+Processioning, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br />
+<br />
+Puritan, <a href="#Page_267">267</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Quakers baptized, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br />
+<br />
+Quarrels in churchyards, <a href="#Page_151">151</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Reeve, Isaac J., Ringers&#8217; Jugs, <a href="#Page_74">74-77</a><br />
+<br />
+Refreshment Sunday, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br />
+<br />
+Reminiscences of our Village Church, <a href="#Page_261">261-270</a><br />
+<br />
+Reporting, objections to, <a href="#Page_258">258</a><br />
+<br />
+Revival of the rood screen, <a href="#Page_172">172</a><br />
+<br />
+Rice at wedding, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br />
+<br />
+Rings, wedding, <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br />
+<br />
+Ringers&#8217; Jugs, <a href="#Page_74">74-77</a><br />
+<br />
+Rival Popes, <a href="#Page_216">216</a><br />
+<br />
+Rome, ancient, marriage in, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br />
+<br />
+Rood Loft and its Uses, <a href="#Page_167">167-173</a><br />
+<br />
+Roods swept away at the Reformation, <a href="#Page_170">170</a><br />
+<br />
+Rogation Week, <a href="#Page_183">183</a><br />
+<br />
+Rosemary at funerals, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br />
+<br />
+Rubbish heap in churchyards, <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br />
+<br />
+Russian burial customs, <a href="#Page_141">141</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+St. Andrew, <a href="#Page_40">40-41</a><br />
+<br />
+St. Hugh&#8217;s Day, <a href="#Page_44">44</a><br />
+<br />
+Saints and martyrs buried under the altar, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br />
+<br />
+Salt at funerals, <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br />
+<br />
+Sand strewing at weddings, <a href="#Page_124">124</a><br />
+<br />
+Sanctus Bell, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br />
+<br />
+Sawdust strewing at weddings, <a href="#Page_124">124</a><br />
+<br />
+Saxon Church, <a href="#Page_261">261-262</a><br />
+<br />
+Screens in churches, <a href="#Page_168">168-169</a><br />
+<br />
+Scrope, Richard, <a href="#Page_224">224-227</a><br />
+<br />
+Scriptorium, <a href="#Page_233">233-235</a><br />
+<br />
+Scrambling customs, <a href="#Page_153">153-154</a><br />
+<br />
+Seasons for marrying, <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br />
+<br />
+Secular uses of churches, <a href="#Page_1">1</a><br />
+<br />
+Sceptre, <a href="#Page_192">192</a><br />
+<br />
+Seville, dancing at, <a href="#Page_14">14-15</a><br />
+<br />
+Shakespeare on armour, <a href="#Page_175">175</a><br />
+<br />
+Sitting posture, buried in a, <a href="#Page_134">134</a><br />
+<br />
+Shrines, <a href="#Page_236">236</a><br />
+<br />
+Shrove Tuesday, <a href="#Page_22">22-36</a><br />
+<br />
+Shoes at weddings, <a href="#Page_118">118-124</a><br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>Shorthand in Church, <a href="#Page_246">246-260</a><br />
+<br />
+Simnels, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br />
+<br />
+Skeletons represented on tombs, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br />
+<br />
+Smith, W. H., shorthand reports for, <a href="#Page_259">259-260</a><br />
+<br />
+Spencer, Bishop of Norwich, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a><br />
+<br />
+Sponsors, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br />
+<br />
+Sports in Churches, <a href="#Page_1">1-20</a><br />
+<br />
+Sports in churchyards, <a href="#Page_150">150-151</a><br />
+<br />
+Staff of authority, <a href="#Page_191">191</a><br />
+<br />
+Standard, battle of, <a href="#Page_201">201-202</a><br />
+<br />
+Stocks, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br />
+<br />
+Story of the Crosier, <a href="#Page_191">191-197</a><br />
+<br />
+Sunday burials, <a href="#Page_145">145</a><br />
+<br />
+Sunday of the Five Loaves, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br />
+<br />
+Sundials, <a href="#Page_156">156-157</a><br />
+<br />
+Swedish funerals, <a href="#Page_141">141</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Taxes on baptism, <a href="#Page_94">94</a><br />
+<br />
+Torches at funerals, <a href="#Page_137">137-138</a><br />
+<br />
+Tracts of the Times started, <a href="#Page_269">269</a><br />
+<br />
+Trading in churchyards, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br />
+<br />
+True Lovers&#8217; Knot, <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br />
+<br />
+Twickenham cakes, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br />
+<br />
+Tyack, Rev. G. S., <span class="smcaplc">B.A.</span>, on Holy Day Customs, <a href="#Page_21">21-32</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Altars in Churches, <a href="#Page_161">161-166</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Story of the Crosier, <a href="#Page_191">191-197</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Umbrella, parish, <a href="#Page_140">140</a><br />
+<br />
+Upright burial, <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Viands connected with Holy Days, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Washing feet, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br />
+<br />
+Waxen effigies, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br />
+<br />
+Wedding bells, <a href="#Page_114">114</a><br />
+<br />
+Wedding biddings, <a href="#Page_119">119</a><br />
+<br />
+Well-dressing, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Welsh custom, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Whitby funeral cakes, <a href="#Page_146">146</a><br />
+<br />
+Whitsuntide, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br />
+<br />
+Wine, baptized in, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br />
+<br />
+Wine drinking in church at weddings, <a href="#Page_102">102</a><br />
+<br />
+Wills about armour, <a href="#Page_177">177</a><br />
+<br />
+Wool stored in churches, <a href="#Page_1">1</a><br />
+<br />
+Woollen, burial in, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br />
+<br />
+Wren stoning, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Wymund, the Saxon, <a href="#Page_205">205-207</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Yule-log, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Yule, songs of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<div class="verts">
+<p class="center"><span class="huge">LIST OF PUBLICATIONS</span><br />
+OF<br />
+<span class="huge">WILLIAM ANDREWS &amp; CO.,<br />
+THE HULL PRESS.</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><strong><i>SECOND EDITION.<span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span>Bound in cloth gilt, demy 8vo. 6s.</i></strong></p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="giant">Curiosities of the Church:</span></p>
+<p class="center">Studies of Curious Customs, Services, and Records,</p>
+<p class="center">By WILLIAM ANDREWS, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.H.S.</span>,</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Author of &#8220;Historic Romance,&#8221; &#8220;Famous Frosts and<br />
+Frost Fairs,&#8221; &#8220;Historic Yorkshire,&#8221; etc.</span></p>
+
+<p class="center"><strong>CONTENTS:</strong></p>
+
+<p class="hang">Early Religious Plays: being the Story of the English Stage in its
+Church Cradle Days&mdash;The Caistor Gad-Whip Manorial Service&mdash;Strange
+Serpent Stories&mdash;Church Ales&mdash;Rush Bearing&mdash;Fish in Lent&mdash;Concerning
+Doles&mdash;Church Scrambling Charities&mdash;Briefs&mdash;Bells and Beacons for
+Travellers by Night&mdash;Hour Glasses in Churches&mdash;Chained Books in
+Churches&mdash;Funeral Effigies&mdash;Torchlight Burials&mdash;Simple Memorials of
+the Early Dead&mdash;The Romance of Parish Registers&mdash;Dog Whippers and
+Sluggard Wakers&mdash;Odd Items from Old Accounts&mdash;A carefully compiled Index.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><strong>ILLUSTRATED.</strong></p>
+
+<p class="center"><br /><strong>Press Opinions.</strong></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A volume both entertaining and instructive, throwing much light on the
+manners and customs of bygone generations of Churchmen, and will be read
+to-day with much interest.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Newbery House Magazine.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;An extremely interesting volume.&#8221;&mdash;<i>North British Daily Mail.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A work of lasting interest.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Hull Examiner.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The reader will find much in this book to interest, instruct, and
+amuse.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Home Chimes.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We feel sure that many will feel grateful to Mr. Andrews for having
+produced such an interesting book.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The Antiquary.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A volume of great research and striking interest.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The Bookbuyer (New
+York.)</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A valuable book.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Literary World (Boston, U.S.A.).</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;An admirable book.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Sheffield Independent.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;An interesting, handsomely got up volume.... Mr. Andrews is always chatty
+and expert in making a paper on a dry subject exceedingly
+readable.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Newcastle Courant.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. William Andrews&#8217; new book, &#8216;Curiosities of the Church,&#8217; adds another
+to the series by which he has done so much to popularise antiquarian
+studies.... The book, it should be added, has some quaint illustrations,
+and its rich matter is made available for reference by a full and
+carefully compiled index.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Scotsman.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><strong><i>Elegantly bound in cloth gilt, demy 8vo., price 6s.</i></strong></p>
+<p class="center"><span class="giant">Old Church Lore,</span></p>
+<p class="center">By WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.,</p>
+<p class="center"><i>Author of &#8220;Curiosities of the Church,&#8221; &#8220;Old-Time Punishments,&#8221;<br />
+&#8220;Historic Romance,&#8221; etc.</i></p>
+
+<p class="center"><strong>CONTENTS.</strong></p>
+
+<p class="hang">The Right of Sanctuary&mdash;The Romance of Trial&mdash;A Fight between the
+Mayor of Hull and the Archbishop of York&mdash;Chapels on Bridges&mdash;Charter
+Horns&mdash;The old English Sunday&mdash;The Easter Sepulchre&mdash;St. Paul&#8217;s
+Cross&mdash;Cheapside Cross&mdash;The Biddenden Maids Charity&mdash;Plagues and
+Pestilences&mdash;A King Curing an Abbot of Indigestion&mdash;The Services and
+Customs of Royal Oak Day&mdash;Marrying in a White Sheet&mdash;Marrying under
+the Gallows&mdash;Kissing the Bride&mdash;Hot Ale at Weddings&mdash;Marrying
+Children&mdash;The Passing Bell&mdash;Concerning Coffins&mdash;The Curfew
+Bell&mdash;Curious Symbols of the Saints&mdash;Acrobats on Steeples&mdash;A
+carefully-prepared Index.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><strong>ILLUSTRATED.</strong></p>
+
+<p class="center"><br /><strong>PRESS OPINIONS.</strong></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A worthy work on a deeply interesting subject.... We commend this book
+strongly.&#8221;&mdash;<i>European Mail.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;An interesting volume.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The Scotsman.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Contains much that will interest and instruct.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Glasgow Herald.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The author has produced a book which is at once entertaining and
+valuable, and which is also entitled to unstinted praise on the ground of
+its admirable printing and binding.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Shields Daily Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Andrews&#8217; book does not contain a dull page.... Deserves to meet with
+a very warm welcome.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Yorkshire Post.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Andrews, in &#8216;Old Church Lore,&#8217; makes the musty parchments and records
+he has consulted redolent with life and actuality, and has added to his
+works a most interesting volume, which, written in a light and easy
+narrative style, is anything but of the &#8216;dry-as-dust&#8217; order. The book is
+handsomely got up, being both bound and printed in an artistic
+fashion.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Northern Daily News.</i></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Valuable and interesting.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The Times.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Readable as well as instructive.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The Globe.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A valuable addition to any library.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Derbyshire Times.</i></p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="giant">The Bygone Series.</span></p>
+
+<p>In this series the following volumes are included, and issued at 7s. 6d.
+each. Demy 8vo., cloth gilt.</p>
+
+<p>These books have been favourably reviewed in the leading critical journals
+of England and America.</p>
+
+<p>Carefully written articles by recognised authorities are included on
+history, castles, abbeys, biography, romantic episodes, legendary lore,
+traditionary stories, curious customs, folk-lore, etc., etc.</p>
+
+<p>The works are illustrated by eminent artists, and by the reproduction of
+quaint pictures of the olden time.</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td>BYGONE CHESHIRE, edited by William Andrews, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.H.S.</span><br />
+BYGONE DERBYSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.H.S.</span><br />
+BYGONE ESSEX, edited by William Andrews, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.H.S.</span><br />
+BYGONE ENGLAND, by William Andrews, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.H.S.</span><br />
+BYGONE KENT, edited by Richard Stead, <span class="smcaplc">B.A.</span><br />
+BYGONE LANCASHIRE, edited by Ernest Axon.<br />
+BYGONE LEICESTERSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.H.S.</span><br />
+BYGONE LINCOLNSHIRE (2 vols.), edited by William Andrews, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.H.S.</span><br />
+BYGONE LONDON, by Frederick Ross, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.H.S.</span><br />
+BYGONE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.H.S.</span><br />
+BYGONE NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, by William Stevenson.<br />
+BYGONE SCOTLAND, by David Maxwell, <span class="smcaplc">C.E.</span><br />
+BYGONE SOUTHWARK, by Mrs. E. Boger.<br />
+BYGONE SURREY, edited by George Clinch and S. W. Kershaw, <span class="smcaplc">F.S.A.</span><br />
+BYGONE WARWICKSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.H.S.</span><br />
+BYGONE YORKSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, <span class="smcaplc">F.R.H.S.</span></td></tr></table>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><strong>Price 4s. 6d. Demy 8vo.</strong></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A handsome gift book.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Barnsley Independent.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A welcome addition to fairy books.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The Scotsman.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A very delightful volume, and eminently qualified for a gift book.... The
+stories are bright and interesting.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Glasgow Herald.</i></p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="giant">The New Fairy Book,</span></p>
+<p class="center">Edited by WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.</p>
+<p class="center">Author of &#8220;Bygone England,&#8221; etc.</p>
+
+<p>This Volume contains Fifteen New Fairy Stories by Popular Authors.</p>
+
+<p>Many charming original illustrations are included.</p>
+
+<p>It is beautifully printed in bold clear type, and bound in a most
+attractive style.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><strong>PRESS OPINIONS.</strong></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We hope the book will get into many children&#8217;s hands.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Review of
+Reviews.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We can recommend the stories for their originality, and the volume for
+its elegant and tasteful appearance.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Westminster Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The stories are good.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The World.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All the stories in the collection are well written. The illustrations are
+excellent.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The Spectator.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A tasteful volume, and illustrated profusely.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The Literary World.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In this volume it has been the editor&#8217;s desire to furnish a fresh
+collection of fairy stories, written by authors who love children, and
+know exactly the kind of tales that gives them pleasure. Something more
+than providing enjoyment is attempted. Useful life lessons may be learnt
+from the book, which contains a most interesting collection of fairy
+stories, each telling its tale and pointing its moral in the happiest
+manner.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The Gentlewoman.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is certain to become popular.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Yorkshire Post.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Type and illustrations are worthy of the Hull Press, which is saying a
+great deal.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The News.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The stories comprised in this volume deserve to be widely known and
+appreciated. There are some excellent illustrations, and the whole &#8216;get
+up&#8217; reflects the highest credit alike on editor and publishers. It
+promises to be one of the books of the season.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Stamford Mercury.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;The New Fairy Book&#8217; is sure to win its way to the possession and favour
+of quite a host of young people. The stories are evidently, as the editor
+gives assurance, written by authors who love children and know the kind of
+tales that give them pleasure. The book is well printed, attractively
+bound, and freely illustrated.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Liverpool Post.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;The New Fairy Book&#8217; is the title of a richly bound volume containing
+fifteen fairy tales, edited by William Andrews. The tales are brimful of
+such fairy romance as youthful readers delight in. Fairy kings, queens,
+princes, and princesses, pass in bright procession through the pages,
+everyone of which presents some delightful picture from the imaginative
+pen. The scenes amid which these fairy personages move are not the less
+beautiful, and from first page to last there is not to be found a single
+dull or uninteresting page. The tales have been judiciously edited, and
+worthily fulfil the editor&#8217;s aim to &#8216;furnish a fresh collection of fairy
+stories written by authors who love children.&#8217; Very many young readers
+will warmly thank him for so faithfully performing his loving
+task.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Dundee Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Andrews&#8217; &#8216;New Fairy Book&#8217; is a delightful production. So far as
+binding, illustrations, and printing go, it leaves nothing to be desired,
+and from this standpoint alone must be pronounced a goodly book. But the
+contents are equally choice. Mr. Andrews has drawn around him a number of
+skilled story-tellers, who have one and all written with charm and
+originality. This Fairy Book differs from most of the others we have seen,
+inasmuch as the tales are&mdash;as the title of the volume
+indicates&mdash;absolutely new. It is true that they contain a number of the
+old ingredients, but then the makers of fairy tales must always work more
+or less from the time honoured recipe. This the contributors to the &#8216;New
+Fairy Book&#8217; have done, but their effects are novel and surprising, for
+they serve up the dishes in varied ways of their own devising. The result
+is much to our taste. There are fifteen stories in all, simple in style,
+engaging and fresh in manner, with here and there a weird episode, here
+and there something amusing. Ghosts, elves, ogres, giants, princes, and,
+of course, fairy queens flit in and out of the scenes; castles of
+enchantment, and all the favourite features of fairyland are present; and
+so we are transported to the real kingdom of the fairies, and soon find
+ourselves absorbed in the adventures of wondrous heroes and the antics of
+imps. All this is as it should be, and the volume will afford genuine
+entertainment to all who read it&mdash;and there should be many&mdash;these long
+winter nights.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Birmingham Gazette.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;The New Fairy Book,&#8217; edited by William Andrews, is a somewhat ambitious
+attempt to add to the delightful repertoire of nursery stories with which
+the literature of all civilised countries abounds. The writers include
+several well known names, and though the titles chosen suggest in some
+cases old and familiar stories, it is due to the editor and the authors to
+say that they have discharged their really very onerous functions with
+great skill and excellent judgment. The volume is published as a
+collection of new stories, and if it should meet with the success it truly
+deserves, editor and writers will have every reason to be
+thankful.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Leeds Mercury.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="giant">Bygone England:</span></p>
+<p class="center">Social Studies in its Historic Byways and Highways.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By WILLIAM ANDREWS, f.r.h.s.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Contents</span>:&mdash;Under Watch and Ward&mdash;Under Lock and Key&mdash;The Practice of
+Pledging&mdash;The Minstrel in the Olden Time&mdash;Curious Landholding
+Customs&mdash;Curiosities of Slavery in England&mdash;Buying and Selling in the
+Olden Time&mdash;Curious Fair Customs&mdash;Old Prejudices against Coal&mdash;The
+Sedan-Chair&mdash;Running Footmen&mdash;The Early Days of the Umbrella&mdash;A Talk about
+Tea&mdash;Concerning Coffee&mdash;The Horn-Book&mdash;Fighting Cocks in
+Schools&mdash;Bull-Baiting&mdash;The Badge of Poverty&mdash;Patents to wear Nightcaps&mdash;A
+Foolish Fashion&mdash;Wedding Notices in the Last Century&mdash;Selling Wives&mdash;The
+Story of the Tinder Box&mdash;The Invention of Friction Matches&mdash;Body
+Snatching&mdash;Christmas under the Commonwealth&mdash;Under the Mistletoe Bough&mdash;A
+carefully prepared Index.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We welcome &#8216;Bygone England.&#8217; It is another of Mr. Andrews&#8217; meritorious
+achievements in the path of popularising arch&aelig;ological and old-time
+information without in any way writing down to an ignoble level.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The
+Antiquary.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A delightful volume for all who love to dive into the origin of social
+habits and customs, and to penetrate into the byways of
+history.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Liverpool Daily Post.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There is a large mass of information in this capital volume, and it is so
+pleasantly put that many will be tempted to study it. Mr. Andrews has done
+his work with great skill.&#8221;&mdash;<i>London Quarterly Review.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">Fcap. 4to. Bevelled boards, gilt tops. Price 4s.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="giant">Famous Frosts and Frost Fairs<br />in Great Britain.</span></p>
+<p class="center">Chronicled from the Earliest to the Present Time.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By WILLIAM ANDREWS, f.r.h.s.</span></p>
+
+<p>This work furnishes a carefully prepared account of all the great Frosts
+occurring in this country from <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 134 to 1887. The numerous Frost Fairs
+on the Thames are fully described, and illustrated with quaint woodcuts,
+and several old ballads relating to the subject are reproduced. It is
+tastefully printed and elegantly bound.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The work is thoroughly well written, it is careful in its facts, and may
+be pronounced exhaustive on the subject. Illustrations are given of
+several frost fairs on the Thames, and as a trustworthy record this volume
+should be in every good library. The usefulness of the work is much
+enhanced by a good index.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Public Opinion.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A very interesting volume.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Northern Daily Telegraph.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A great deal of curious and valuable information is contained in these
+pages.... A comely volume.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Literary World.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The work from first to last is a most attractive one, and the arts alike
+of printer and binder have been brought into one to give it a pleasing
+form.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Wakefield Free Press.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="giant">Biblical and Shakespearian Characters<br />Compared.</span></p>
+<p class="center">Studies of Life and Literature.</p>
+<p class="center">By the Rev. JAMES BELL.</p>
+
+<p>Between the Hebrew Bible and Shakespeare there exist some interesting and
+instructive points of resemblance, especially in respect of their ways of
+life and character. No doubt certain inevitable differences also exist
+between them, but these do not hide the resemblance; rather they serve to
+set it, so to speak, in bolder relief.</p>
+
+<p>The author in this volume treats of this striking resemblance, under
+certain phases, between Hebrew Prophecy and Shakespearian Drama.</p>
+
+<p>The following are the chief &#8220;Studies&#8221; which find a place in the
+work:&mdash;Hebrew Prophecy and Shakespeare: a Comparison&mdash;Eli and Hamlet&mdash;Saul
+and Macbeth&mdash;Jonathan and Horatio&mdash;David and Henry V.&mdash;Epilogue.</p>
+
+<p>The foregoing list of subjects will give some notion of the drift and
+style of the book, which, it is hoped, is a contribution towards a better
+study of the Bible in connection with our literature and moral experience.</p>
+
+<p>The following short extracts are selected from a large number of reviews
+of Mr. Bell&#8217;s book:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;One of the most suggestive volumes we have met with for a long
+time.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Birmingham Daily Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;An interesting book.&#8221;&mdash;<i>North British Daily Mail.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">Second and cheaper edition. Crown 8vo. Price 1s.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="giant">The Studies of a Socialist Parson.</span></p>
+<p class="center">By the Rev. W. H. ABRAHAM, <span class="smcaplc">M.A.</span> (London).</p>
+
+<p>The volume consists of sermons and addresses, given mostly at the St.
+Augustine&#8217;s Church, Hull. The author in his preface says, &#8220;It is the duty
+of the clergyman to try and understand what Socialism is, and to lead men
+from the false Socialism to the true.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Contents</span>:&mdash;The Working-man, Past and Present: A Historical Review&mdash;Whither
+are we going?&mdash;National Righteousness&mdash;The True Value of Life&mdash;Christian
+Socialism&mdash;Jesus Christ the True Socialist&mdash;Socialism, through Christ or
+without Him?&mdash;The Great Bread Puzzle&mdash;Labour Day, May 1, 1892&mdash;The People,
+the Rulers, and the Priests&mdash;Friendly Societies&mdash;Trades&#8217; Unions&mdash;The
+People&#8217;s Church&mdash;On some Social Questions&mdash;The Greatest Help to the True
+Social Life&mdash;The Great I Am&mdash;God as a Present Force&mdash;Signs of the Times.</p>
+
+<p>The following are selected from a large number of favourable notices:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The volume is deserving of all praise.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Glasgow Herald.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;An admirable contribution to the solution of difficult problems. Mr.
+Abraham has much that is valuable to say, and says it well.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Spectator.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Eminently readable.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Northern Daily News.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The book is nicely printed and got up.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Eastern Morning News.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">Crown 8vo., 140 pp.; Fancy Cover, 1s; Cloth Bound, 2s.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="giant">Stepping Stones to Socialism.</span></p>
+<p class="center">By DAVID MAXWELL, <span class="smcaplc">C.E.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Contents</span>:&mdash;In a reasonable and able manner Mr. Maxwell deals with the
+following topics:&mdash;The Popular meaning of the Word Socialism&mdash;Lord
+Salisbury on Socialism&mdash;Why There is in Many Minds an Antipathy to
+Socialism&mdash;On Some Socialistic Views of Marriage&mdash;The Question of Private
+Property&mdash;The Old Political Economy is not the Way of Salvation&mdash;Who is My
+Neighbour?&mdash;Progress, and the Condition of the Labourer&mdash;Good and Bad
+Trade: Precarious Employment&mdash;All Popular Movements are Helping on
+Socialism&mdash;Modern Literature in Relation to Social Progress&mdash;Pruning the
+Old Theological Tree&mdash;The Churches: Their Socialistic Tendencies&mdash;The
+Future of Earth in Relation to Human Life&mdash;Socialism is Based on Natural
+Laws of Life&mdash;Humanity in the Future&mdash;Preludes to Socialism&mdash;Forecasts of
+the Ultimate Form of Society&mdash;A Pisgah-top View of the Promised Land.</p>
+
+<p>The following are selected from a large number of favourable notices:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The author has evidently reflected deeply on the subject of Socialism,
+and his views are broad, equitable, and quite up to date. In a score or so
+of chapters he discusses Socialism from manifold points of view, and in
+its manifold aspects. Mr. Maxwell is not a fanatic; his book is not dull,
+and his style is not amateurish.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Hull Daily Mail.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There is a good deal of charm about Mr. Maxwell&#8217;s style.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Northern
+Daily News.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">Bound in cloth gilt, demy 8vo., price 7s. 6d. Only 500 copies<br />printed, and each copy numbered.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="giant">The Monumental Brasses of Lancashire and Cheshire.</span></p>
+<p class="center">With some Account of the Persons Represented.</p>
+<p class="center"><i>Illustrated with Engravings from Drawings by the Author.</i></p>
+<p class="center">By JAMES L. THORNELY.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Thornely&#8217;s book will be eagerly sought by all lovers of monumental
+brasses.&#8221;&mdash;<i>London Quarterly Review.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Local arch&aelig;ologists will give a hearty welcome to this
+book.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Manchester Guardian.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Thornely has produced a very interesting volume, as he has not only
+figured every monumental brass within the two counties to which he has
+confined his researches, but in every case he has given a description
+also, and in some instances the genealogical information is of a high
+order of value.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The Tablet.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The book is wonderfully readable for its kind, and is evidently the
+result of careful and painstaking labour. The chapters are well condensed,
+nowhere burdened with verbiage, yet sufficiently full to serve the purpose
+in view. The illustrations of the various brasses are exceedingly well
+done, and add much value and interest to the work, which should become
+popular in Lancashire and Cheshire.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Warrington Guardian.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><strong>The Press on<br />
+Messrs.</strong><br />
+<span class="giant">William Andrews &amp; Co.&#8217;s</span><br />
+<strong>Printing and Binding.</strong></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The book is very handsomely got up.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Dundee Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A remarkably handsome volume, typographically equal to the best
+production of any European capital.&#8221;&mdash;<i>North British Daily Mail.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The book is entitled to unstinted praise on the ground of its admirable
+printing and binding.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Shields Daily Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Will bear comparison with the best work of the first publishing firms in
+London or Edinburgh, the printing and paper being everything the most
+fastidious could desire.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Boston Independent.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The book is handsomely brought out.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Scotsman.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Beautiful work in typography and binding.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Yorkshire Post.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very pretty binding.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Publishers&#8217; Circular.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Most elegantly bound and tastefully printed.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Hull Daily Mail.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Beautifully bound and printed.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Daily Chronicle.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The letterpress is beautifully clear.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Birmingham Daily Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The printers&#8217; part is perfectly done.&#8221;&mdash;<i>India.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The book is handsomely got up.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Manchester Guardian.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The book is excellently printed and bound.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Library Review.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Handsomely printed.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Newcastle Chronicle.</i></p>
+
+<p>A notice of &#8220;Bygone Scotland&#8221; concludes as follows:&mdash;&#8220;The book forms a
+splendid addition to the works of the same series all printed at the &#8216;Hull
+Press,&#8217; and, like all its predecessors, is printed in the exceptionally
+beautiful style which marks the productions of Mr. Andrews&#8217; establishment.
+The volume is handsomely bound, and well illustrated. Mr. Andrews is a
+bookmaker par excellence.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Printing World.</i></p>
+
+<p><br /><span class="smcap">The Hull Press,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap">1, Dock Street, Hull.</span></span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><strong>Footnotes:</strong></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_1' id='f_1' href='#fna_1'>[1]</a> The two best recent books on the subject are Pollard&#8217;s <i>English
+Miracle Plays</i> (Clarendon Press, 1890,) and Bate&#8217;s <i>The English Religions
+Drama</i> (Macmillan, 1893.)</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_2' id='f_2' href='#fna_2'>[2]</a> Peacock&#8217;s <i>Church Furniture</i>.&mdash;p. 103.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_3' id='f_3' href='#fna_3'>[3]</a> Peacock&#8217;s <i>Church Furniture</i>.&mdash;p. 85.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_4' id='f_4' href='#fna_4'>[4]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>&mdash;p. 103.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_5' id='f_5' href='#fna_5'>[5]</a> <i>English Bells and Bell Lore</i>, 1888, T. North, cp. 16, p. 191.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_6' id='f_6' href='#fna_6'>[6]</a> At the bottom of the plate occurs the name of the engravers, Sellers
+and Nelson, Leeds.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_7' id='f_7' href='#fna_7'>[7]</a> See Edward&#8217;s <i>History and Poetry of Finger Rings</i>, Cap. 5, p. 221.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_8' id='f_8' href='#fna_8'>[8]</a> See Robinson&#8217;s &#8220;History and Antiquities of Stoke Newington.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_9' id='f_9' href='#fna_9'>[9]</a> Acta SS. Ord. Benedict, sec. iii., part 2.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_10' id='f_10' href='#fna_10'>[10]</a> York Fabric Rolls, p. 256.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_11' id='f_11' href='#fna_11'>[11]</a> York Fabric Rolls, p. 255.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_12' id='f_12' href='#fna_12'>[12]</a> Andrews&#8217; &#8220;Curiosities of the Church.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_13' id='f_13' href='#fna_13'>[13]</a> Andrews&#8217; &#8220;Curiosities of the Church,&#8221; p. 89.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_14' id='f_14' href='#fna_14'>[14]</a> York Fabric Rolls, p. 116.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_15' id='f_15' href='#fna_15'>[15]</a> 8th S. V. 150, Feb. 24th, 1894.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_16' id='f_16' href='#fna_16'>[16]</a> In some parishes a Triennial or even Septennial visit to the
+boundaries is considered sufficient.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_17' id='f_17' href='#fna_17'>[17]</a> Brand.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_18' id='f_18' href='#fna_18'>[18]</a> Vol. ii., part i., p. 165.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_19' id='f_19' href='#fna_19'>[19]</a> Walton&#8217;s &#8220;<i>Life</i>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_20' id='f_20' href='#fna_20'>[20]</a> Lysons&#8217; &#8220;<i>London</i>,&#8221; ii., 126.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_21' id='f_21' href='#fna_21'>[21]</a> &#8220;History of Our Lord,&#8221; by the late Mrs. Jameson, continued by Lady
+Eastlake.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_22' id='f_22' href='#fna_22'>[22]</a> &#8220;History of Our Lord,&#8221; by the late Mrs. Jameson, 1864.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Curious Church Customs, by Various
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Curious Church Customs, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Curious Church Customs
+       And Cognate Subjects
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: William Andrews
+
+Release Date: December 1, 2011 [EBook #38182]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURIOUS CHURCH CUSTOMS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CURIOUS CHURCH CUSTOMS.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: AN OLD-TIME BISHOP WITH CROSIER.]
+
+
+
+
+  Curious Church Customs
+  And Cognate Subjects.
+
+
+  EDITED BY
+  WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.,
+
+
+  AUTHOR OF
+  "CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH," "OLD CHURCH LORE,"
+  "BYGONE ENGLAND," ETC.
+
+
+  HULL:
+  WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO., THE HULL PRESS.
+
+  LONDON:
+  SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, & CO., LTD.
+  1895.
+
+
+
+
+  HULL:
+  PRINTED BY WILLIAM ANDREWS AND CO., THE HULL PRESS.
+
+
+
+
+Preface.
+
+
+It affords me pleasure to be the means of giving to the reading public
+another volume dealing with the byways and highways of church history.
+
+The authors who have been good enough to favour me with contributions are
+recognised authorities on the subjects they have written about, and I hope
+their efforts will not fail to find favour with the press and the public.
+
+WILLIAM ANDREWS.
+
+  THE HULL PRESS,
+  _Christmas Eve, 1894_.
+
+
+
+
+Contents.
+
+
+                                                                      PAGE
+
+  SPORTS IN CHURCHES, by the Rev. J. Charles Cox, LL.D., F.S.A           1
+
+  HOLY DAY CUSTOMS, by the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A.                     21
+
+  CHURCH BELLS: WHEN AND WHY THEY WERE RUNG, by Florence Peacock        33
+
+  INSCRIPTIONS ON BELLS, by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.                   49
+
+  LAWS OF THE BELFRY, by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.                      64
+
+  RINGERS' JUGS, by Isaac J. Reeve                                      74
+
+  CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS OF BAPTISM, by the Rev. Canon Benham,
+  B.D., F.S.A.                                                          78
+
+  MARRIAGE CUSTOMS, by England Howlett, F.S.A.                          99
+
+  BURIAL CUSTOMS, by England Howlett, F.S.A.                           126
+
+  CONCERNING THE CHURCHYARD, by John Nicholson                         147
+
+  ALTARS IN CHURCHES, by the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A.                  161
+
+  THE ROOD LOFT AND ITS USES, by John T. Page                          167
+
+  ARMOUR IN CHURCHES, by the Rev. J. Charles Cox, LL.D., F.S.A.        174
+
+  BEATING THE BOUNDS, by John T. Page                                  182
+
+  THE STORY OF THE CROSIER, by the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A.            191
+
+  BISHOPS IN BATTLE, by Edward Lamplough                               198
+
+  THE CLOISTER AND ITS STORY, by S. W. Kershaw, F.S.A.                 232
+
+  SHORTHAND IN CHURCH, by William E. A. Axon, F.R.S.L.                 246
+
+  REMINISCENCES OF OUR VILLAGE CHURCH, by the Rev. Canon Benham,
+  B.D., F.S.A.                                                         261
+
+
+
+
+CURIOUS CHURCH CUSTOMS.
+
+
+
+
+Sports in Churches.
+
+BY REV. J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.
+
+In mediaeval and feudal days, as is well-known, our parish churches, in
+addition to their primary purpose of providing places for public worship
+and religious instruction, commonly served for various secular objects.
+They were used for manorial courts and other legal purposes of an entirely
+civil character, as well as for the meeting of spiritual and
+ecclesiastical tribunals; they served, particularly in troublous times,
+for the storage of wool and for the safe-custody of treasure chests; and
+they occasionally gave shelter, as at fair times and during the parish
+wakes, to hucksters' stalls, and to booths for the sale of victuals.
+Public opinion of those days saw nothing specially reprehensible in such
+uses of the churches, provided they were confined to the naves, and did
+not interfere with divine service, more particularly on the Sunday and
+festivals.
+
+This being the case, it is not surprising to find that churches were, from
+time to time, used for what may fairly be termed "sports," or amusements.
+
+The custom, once so prevalent in the great churches, of appointing a
+Boy-Bishop, or Nicholas-Bishop, which is so abhorrent to modern ideas of
+reverence, and which gradually developed in extravagance, had a
+praiseworthy commencement. It originated in the idea of rewarding, after a
+religious fashion, the most deserving choir-boy or scholar of the
+church-school. The selected lad was appointed bishop of the boys on St.
+Nicholas' Day (the patron saint of boys) during the solemn singing of the
+Magnificat, and was vested in special pontificals of a small size. He held
+the office from December 6th (St. Nicholas' Day) to December 28th (Holy
+Innocents). "The custom," says Precentor Walcott, "prevailed in the great
+schools of Winchester and Eton, and was perpetuated by Dean Colet in his
+foundation of St. Paul's, no doubt as a stimulus to Christian ambition in
+the boy, just as the mitre and staff are painted as the reward of learning
+on the scrolls of Winchester, or in honour of the Holy Child Jesus."
+
+The following is the statute of Dean Colet, A.D. 1518, on this
+subject:--"All these children shall, every Childermas Daye, come to
+Paule's Churche, and hear the Childe Bishop's sermone; and after be at the
+hyghe masse, and each of them offer a 1d. to the Childe Bishop, and with
+them maistors and surveyors of the scole."
+
+The ceremonies attached to this boyish parody of a most solemn office
+varied considerably, but it is known to have existed in all the cathedral
+churches of France and Spain, as well as in many parts of Germany and
+Switzerland. In England, every cathedral, which possesses post-reformation
+records, yields abundant evidence of the Child-Bishop customs. We found
+interesting mention of it in several places when setting in order the
+chaotic mass of capitular muniments at Lichfield. An inventory of 1345
+names four small choir copes for the use of boys on the feast of Holy
+Innocents. The next century names a mitre, cope, sandals, gloves, and
+staff for the Nicholas Bishop. An invariable part of the proceedings seems
+to have been a sermon from the Boy Bishop, delivered from the usual
+pulpit. He was doubtless well drilled in the discourse by the chancellor,
+or by his substitute, the choir school master. Indeed, several of the
+sermons that were learnt by rote by the Boy Bishop are still extant. At
+Salisbury, the whole details are set forth in the printed procession of
+the cathedral church. In the order of the procession, on the eve of
+Innocents' Day, the dean and canons residentiary walked first, and were
+followed by the chaplains; the boy-bishop, with his boy-prebendaries,
+closing the procession as the position of the greatest dignity. The
+boy-bishop and his attendants took the highest places in choir, the canons
+carrying the incense, tapers, etc. At the conclusion of compline the boy
+gave the benediction, and until the close of the procession on the
+following evening none of the clergy of any condition were allowed to
+ascend to the upper part of the sanctuary, which was reserved for the
+choir boys and their prelate.
+
+In most churches the boys performed all the ceremonies, and said all the
+offices save mass during this period; in some they were even permitted to
+make a travesty of mass. On the Continent, a variety of indecent levities
+were by degrees admitted, such as the boy being dressed in a bishop's
+robes reversed, and old shoes being burnt instead of incense; and when
+they had raised sufficient scandal in the church itself, they then paraded
+the streets, or sought to make levies in the market-place. To the credit
+of the church, it should be remarked that these excesses were on several
+occasions interdicted by pre-reformation councils, though apparently with
+but partial success. The Council of Basle, which sat in 1431, issued the
+following stringent canon:--"This sacred synod, detesting that foul abuse
+frequent in certain churches, in which, on certain festivals of the year,
+certain persons with a mitre, staff, and pontifical robes, bless men after
+the manner of bishops, others being clothed like kings and dukes, which is
+called the Feast of Fools, of Innocents, or of Children in certain
+countries; others practising vizarded and theatrical sports; others making
+trains and dances of men and women, move men to spectacles and
+cachin-nations; hath appointed and commanded as well ordinaries as deans
+and rectors of churches, under pain of suspension of all their
+ecclesiastical revenues for three months space, if they suffered these and
+such like plays and pastimes to be any more exercised in the church, which
+ought to be the house of prayer, nor yet in the churchyard, and that they
+neglect not to punish the offender by ecclesiastical censures and other
+remedies of law."
+
+Boy-bishoping was by no means confined in England to the cathedral and
+large collegiate churches, but it was so generally prevalent and popular
+that it appears to have prevailed wherever there was a choir school,
+attached to any church, whether in town or country. The churchwardens'
+accounts of St. Mary Hill, London, 1485-6, contain the two following
+entries:--"Item, six copes for children of dyvers sortes. Item, a myter
+for a bishop at Seint Nycholas tyde, garnyshed with sylver and anelyd, and
+perles and counterfete stones." The same accounts make mention of the
+purchase of properties for a like purpose in 1549-50 during Queen Mary's
+reign. We have met references to a like children's pageant in
+comparatively out-of-the-way places of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and West
+Somersetshire.
+
+So far as England was concerned, the show of the boy-bishop, which the
+Church had failed to suppress or to keep within decent limits was
+summarily put an end to (save for a slight revival in the days of Mary
+Tudor) by a vigorous proclamation of Henry VIII. This proclamation,
+issued on July 22nd, 1542, thus concludes:--"Whereas heretofore dyvers and
+many superstitious and chyldish observancies have been used, and yet to
+this day are observed and kept in many and sundry partes of this realme,
+as upon Saint Nicholas, the Holie Innocents, and such like, the children
+be strangelie decked and apparayled to counterfeit priests, bishops and
+women, and to be ledde with songs and dances from house to house, blessing
+the people, and gathering of money; and boys do singe masse and preach in
+the pulpitt, with such unfittinge and inconvenient usages, rather to the
+derysyion than anie true glorie of God, or honour of His Sayntes. The
+Kynge's Majestie wylleth and commandeth that henceforth all such
+superstitious observancies be left and duly extinguished throughout all
+this realm and dominions."
+
+The writings of the early reformers, as well as allusions in secular
+literature of the sixteenth century, help to prove how well-known, nay
+almost universal, was this boyish sporting and strange burlesquing of
+things sacred throughout England. In "The Catechism of the Offices of all
+Degrees," issued by Thomas Beacon, Chaplain to Archbishop Cranmer, in the
+time of Edward VI., occurs the following passage:--
+
+    "_Father._--What if he preach not, neither can preach?
+
+    _Son._--Then is he a Nicholas bishop and an idol, and indeed no better
+    than a painted bishop on a wall: yea, he is, as the prophet saith, 'A
+    dumb dog, not able to bark;' he is also, as our Saviour Christ saith
+    'Unsavoury salt, worth for nothing but to be cast out, and to be
+    trodden under foot of men.' Wo be to those rulers that set such idols
+    and white daubed walls over the flock of Christ, whom he hath
+    purchased with His precious blood! Horrible and great is their
+    damnation."
+
+At the first blush, any connection with dancing and church attendance or
+worship may seem profane and impossible; but further reflection at all
+events qualifies any too hasty generalisation. Emotions of joy and sorrow
+universally express themselves among mankind in movements and gestures of
+the body. Efforts were therefore made in early days, particularly among
+the more demonstrative people of the east and south, to reduce to measure,
+and to strengthen by unison, pleasureable emotions of joy. The dance is
+spoken of throughout the Old Testament as symbolical of rejoicing, and the
+rejoicing in their feasts is emphatically and repeatedly enjoined upon the
+Israelites. So, too, with both Romans and Egyptians, the dance, in
+certain circumstances, was associated with religious ceremonies, and was
+intended to express the thankful worship of the body. The dances led by
+Miriam, by Jephthah's daughter, by Judith, and doubtless too by Deborah,
+soon occur to the mind. David also himself led the dance on the return of
+the Ark of God from its long exile; whilst from the mention in association
+of "damsels," "timbrels," and "dances" as elements of religious worship in
+Psalms cxvii, cxlix, and cl, it may be concluded that David incorporated
+these joyous movements in the formal rites of the established Tabernacle
+service. In later Judaism the dance certainly survived in the religious
+festivities of the feast of Tabernacles. It may therefore have come to
+pass that early Christians, realising the joyous feature of their special
+creed, expressing its constant belief in the "resurrection of the body,"
+may have desired in all honesty and innocency to occasionally associate
+the dance with festal service. The results were, however, unfortunate;
+pagan practices of a like character were, as a rule, of a licentious
+nature, and it became necessary to try and suppress all such forms of
+expression of joy or thanksgiving. St. Augustine mentions with abhorrence
+that dancers invaded the resting place of St. Cyprian at night and sang
+songs there, a custom that died out on the institution of vigils. Pope
+Eugenius II. (824-7) prohibited dancing in churches, thereby showing how
+usual the custom became. In 858 the Bishop of Orleans condemned the
+dancing of women in the presbytery on festivals. The Council of Avignon,
+which sat in 1209, prohibited the theatrical dances in churches which were
+sometimes the accompaniment of the vigils of Saints' days. The Councils of
+Bourges in 1286, and of Bayeux in 1300, condemned all dances which took
+place in church or churchyards.
+
+In the later mediaeval period Morris-dancing was associated with churches,
+and the wardens not infrequently had in their possession certain
+properties that were necessary for its due performance. The Morris-dancing
+was occasionally actually performed within the churches, that is in the
+nave or at the west end; the mummers not going forth on their Whitsuntide
+round until the first dance had been given within the sacred fabric. Nor
+is it difficult for the antiquary to trace the connection between the
+Morris-dancing and the active expression of Christianity. When the Fifth
+Crusade succeeded in effecting the capture of Constantinople, the Latins
+in their joy celebrated the event by solemn dances in the great church of
+St. Sophia. The usual, nay almost invariable, subject of the mumming-play,
+as apart from the miracle-play, was one drawn from the crusading legend.
+St. George rescuing a Christian maid from her Turkish masters was the
+usual stock piece, whilst the joy of victory was invariably celebrated in
+the Morris (that is the Moorish) dance.
+
+The earliest of the Kingston-upon-Thames churchwarden accounts, which
+cover the last years of Henry VII. and the reign of Henry VIII., have
+various references to these dances. In the inventory of church property
+for 1537-8 are enumerated:--"A fryers cote of russet and a kyrtele welted
+with red cloth, a mowrens (Moor's) cote of buckram, and four morres
+daunsars cotes of white fustian spangelid, and too gryne satin cotes, and
+disarddes cote of cotton, and six payre of garters with belles."
+
+In the recently published and highly-interesting churchwardens' accounts
+of St. Mary's, Reading, are the following entries for the year 1556-7:--
+
+  "I'tm payed for the morrys daunsers and the
+      mynstrelles mete and drinke at Whitsuntide    iii.s.iiij.d
+  I'tm payed to them the Sondy after Mayday                 xx.d
+  Pd to the painter for paynting of their Cottes     ii.s.viij.d
+  Pd for a peir of showes for the morris daunsers         iiij.s
+  Pd for iiij dozen belles for the morrys daunsers          ij.s
+  Pd for sowing of the morrys Cottes                       vij.d
+
+The churchwardens' accounts of St. Helen's, Abingdon, for the second year
+of Queen Elizabeth (1559) show that "two dozen of morres belles were
+bought by the parish for a shilling."
+
+An injunction of Henry VIII. laid down the principle, now so generally
+accepted, that "all soberness, quietness, and godliness ought there (in
+the churches) to be used," and enjoined that "no Christian person should
+abuse the same by eating, drinking, buying, selling, playing, dancing, or
+with other profane or worldly matters." But this injunction was often
+treated as a dead letter up to the close of the century in which it was
+issued. In Stubb's "Anatomie of Abuses," first printed in 1585, we read:--
+
+    "The wild heades of the parish, flocking together, chuse them a grawnd
+    captain of mischief, whom they innoble with the title of my Lord of
+    Misrule. Then marche these heathen companie towards the church and
+    churchyard, their pipers pypyng, drummers thonderyng, their stumpes
+    dauncyng, their belles jyngling, their handkerchefes swyngyng about
+    their heads like madmen, their hobbie-horses and other monsters
+    skyrmishyng amongst the throng; and in this sorte they go to the
+    church (though the minister be at praier or preachyng) dauncing and
+    swyngyng their handkerchiefs over their heads in the churche, like
+    devilles incarnate, with such a confused noise that no man can heare
+    his owne voyce. Then the foolish people, they looke, they stare, they
+    laugh, they fleere, and mywnt upon the formes and pewes to see these
+    goodly pageants solemnized in this sort. Then, after this, about the
+    church they go againe and againe, and so fourthe into the churchyard,
+    where they have commonly their summerhalls, their bowers, arbours and
+    banquetyng houses set up, wherein they feast, banquet and dance all
+    that day, and peradventure, all that night too, and thus these
+    terrestrial furies spend the sabbath daie."
+
+In the days of the antiquary, Sir John Aubrey, who died in 1697, there was
+Christmas dancing in various Yorkshire churches, accompanied with songs of
+Yule.
+
+The mounted reindeer antlers, as well as the dresses and other properties
+of the remarkable horn dancers of Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire, are still
+kept in the parish church, where we recently had an opportunity of
+examining them when investigating the history of this highly interesting
+survival. The dance still continues year by year, and there seems no doubt
+that the tradition is true which assigned to the performers a preliminary
+dance through the churches before they started on their rounds through the
+parish and neighbourhood, collecting money for church purposes. There are
+those living who can recollect the accompanying music being played in the
+church porch, whilst the dancers executed their steps in the adjacent
+parts of the churchyard.
+
+A singular and attractive relic of the custom of dancing in churches is
+still practiced three times a year in the great cathedral of Seville,
+namely on the feasts of the Immaculate Conception, and of Corpus Christi,
+and on the last three days of the Carnival. Ten choristers, dressed in the
+costume of pages of the time of Philip III., with plumed hats, dance a
+stately but most graceful measure, for about half-an-hour, within the iron
+screens in front of the high altar. They are dressed in blue and white for
+the Blessed Virgin, and in red and white for Corpus Christi. The boys
+accompany the minuet-like movements with the clinking of castanets. During
+the measure, a hymn, arranged for three voices with orchestral
+accompaniment, is sung in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. The refrain to
+the verses is as follows:--
+
+  "Tu nombre Divino,
+  Jesus, invocamos,
+  Y Dios Te adoramos
+  Por nos encarnado,
+  Yen hostia abreviado
+  De celico pan!"
+
+The canons of the Church of England, as well as the visitation articles of
+several of our bishops soon after the Reformation, afford plain proof of
+the not infrequent continuance of sports and feastings within the
+churches.
+
+The 48th of Bishop Hooper's visitation articles runs as follows:--
+
+    "Item, that the churchwardens do not permit any buying, selling,
+    gaming, outrageous noises, tumult, or any other idle occupying of
+    youth, in the church, church porch, or churchyard, during the time of
+    common prayer, sermon, or reading of the homily."
+
+Still more explicit is the 61st article of the provincial visitation of
+Archbishop Grindal:--
+
+    "Whether the ministers and churchwardens have suffered any lords of
+    misrule, or summer lords or ladies, or any disguised persons, or
+    others, in Christmas or at May-games, or any morris-dancers, or at any
+    other times to come, unreverently into the church or churchyard, and
+    there to dance, or play any unseemly parts, with scoffs, jests, wanton
+    gestures, or ribald talk, namely in the time of Common Prayer; and
+    what they be that commit such disorder, or accompany or maintain
+    them?"
+
+The 88th Canon of the Church of England (1603), under the heading,
+"Churches not to be profaned," says:--
+
+    "The churchwardens or questmen, and their assistants, shall suffer no
+    plays, feasts, banquets, suppers, church-ales, drinkings, temporal
+    courts or leets, lay-juries, musters, or any other profane usage to be
+    kept in the church, chapels or churchyard."
+
+With regard to plays in churches, it has to be recollected that the
+mediaeval Miracle Play, particularly in England, had its origin in an
+elaboration of the liturgy at special seasons, in order to bring home
+Christian truths more closely to the understanding of an unlettered
+people. The primitive Passion play consisted in the solemn removal of the
+Crucifix on Good Friday, the laying it away beneath the altar or in a
+specially constructed "sepulchre," the setting of a watch to guard it and
+the raising it again with joyous anthem on the Resurrection morn of
+Easter. After the third lesson, before the _Te Deum_ at mattins on Easter
+Day (according to the English use), the clergy walked in procession to the
+high altar, where two singingmen took the parts SS. Peter and John, whilst
+three altos, in albes, represented the three Maries, to each of whom
+certain words were assigned. The same colloquy was repeated at Mass as
+part of the sequence. So, too, with Nativity plays, they had their origin
+in the parts assigned to the choir boys and singing men, as representing
+angels, shepherds, wise-men, etc. A manger was always erected in one part
+of the church, and as the play developed a throne for Herod was placed in
+another position, whilst a distant corner was supposed to represent Egypt.
+
+As the Miracle Plays grew in importance and popularity, their
+representation in churches became increasingly impossible, if any regard
+was to be had to scenic effects. Hence the actors ceased to be the clergy
+and choir, their place being taken by members of trade-gilds, or by
+wandering players. Occasionally, however, these playing troops were
+allowed to use the churches, of which, if space permitted, a variety of
+instances, many of our own culling, could be given. Nay, the authorities,
+both in pre-reformation and post-reformation times were occasionally lax
+enough to suffer secular country dramas and rude representations of
+historic scenes to be given by the players in the naves of the parish
+churches.[1]
+
+In the churchwarden's accounts of St. Michael's, Bath, under the year
+1482, are several entries pertaining to the miracle players, who doubtless
+performed in the church, and who certainly partook of their refreshment in
+the same place. The players received a preliminary refresher on their
+arrival, which is thus expressed in the original:--
+
+  _Propotatione le players in recordacione ludorum
+      diversis vicibus_                               _iij.d._
+
+They seem to have been paid chiefly in kind, as the accounts are charged
+with--
+
+    Two bushels of corn, two dozen pots of beer, and cheese, to the value
+    of 1.s. 1.d. for the play. The wardens also paid for this play 20.d.
+    for skins, which would be used for disguisements, and 3.s. for
+    staining diverse properties that were provided for the occasion.
+
+Another entry relative to the same visit, has, we think, been
+misinterpreted by Rev. Prebendary Pearson, when he edited these accounts
+in 1878. The entry reads:--
+
+  _Et Johi Fowler pro cariando le tymbe a cimiterio
+      dicto tempore ludi_                             _v.d._
+
+Mr. Pearson thought this meant a tomb (_tymba_), but it is far more likely
+that it was a bulky platform of timber, placed in the churchyard when not
+in use, and only brought into the church when it was required to serve as
+a stage.
+
+With regard to feasting in churches, one of the canons put forth in 1571
+specially enjoined the churchwardens to disallow the holding of feasts,
+drinking parties, banquets, and public entertainments within the walls of
+churches. The Church-ales, Clark-ales, and Bid-ales, about which so much
+has been written, were originally held within the fabric, and a variety of
+other drinking and eating customs in the same place were at one time
+prevalent, lingering on for some time after the Reformation in certain
+places, and even lasting almost to our own days in occasional retired
+parishes.
+
+Funeral banquets, for the entertainment of mourners, were not infrequently
+held in the church when the ceremony was over, or even on the next Sunday.
+
+In Strype's edition of _Stowe's London_ it is recorded that:--
+
+    "Margaret Atkinson, widow, by her will, October 18th, 1544, orders
+    that the next Sunday after her burial there be provided two dozens of
+    bread, a kilderkin of ale, two gammons of bacon, three shoulders of
+    mutton, and two couples of rabbits, desiring all the parish, as well
+    as rich as poor, to take part thereof, and a table be set in the midst
+    of the church, with everything necessary therto."
+
+We have seen wills pertaining to Porlock and Cutcombe, Somersetshire, to
+Scropton, Derbyshire, and to Easingwold, Yorkshire, all of the latter part
+of the sixteenth century, which expressly provide for the refreshment of
+the mourners within the church.
+
+Occasionally, too, parochial charities provided that the bequest in kind
+should be consumed in the church. This was the case with regard to a small
+seventeenth century charity, by the terms of which a certain quantity of
+bread and beer were to be distributed in the parish church of
+Barton-le-Street, Yorkshire, on Holy Thursday to the children of the
+parish, to be by them consumed within the church, close to the tomb of the
+testator. This custom prevailed until about 1820, when it was abandoned in
+favour of the churchyard. The reformed custom prevailed for some twenty
+years, when it in turn gave way to a distribution of the fund in money to
+the aged poor.
+
+Sad and quaint instances of the occasional evil uses of churches in recent
+times, even during the present century, could be gleaned, such as
+cock-fighting, card-playing, etc.; but the record would be of no profit,
+for they would not be examples of any once established custom, but mere
+freaks of wanton impiety.
+
+
+
+
+Holy Day Customs.
+
+BY THE REV. GEO. S. TYACK, B.A.
+
+
+It is not surprising that a multitude of quaint customs has sprung up
+around the holy days of the church. For these were the holidays of the
+people in "Merrie England" of the bygone times; the seasons when gossips
+met to talk, and young folk to play, and all the country-side was gathered
+first in the church, and then on the village green, or round their
+neighbours' hospitable hearths. By sermon or by eloquent device of ritual,
+the parish priest endeavoured to imprint upon the simple minds of his
+flock the great truth which the holy day commemorated; and they, on their
+part, as free for the day from responsibility as from labour, showed their
+joy in a hundred different jests and homely sports. Within the church and
+without, therefore, was there ample scope for curious customs to grow up,
+some of which, even though the origin and meaning have been lost, live on
+among us to the present day.
+
+The word _feast_, in the sense of a banquet, is now so familiar to us,
+that we are in danger of altogether forgetting that originally it
+contained no allusion to eating and drinking. But so universal is the idea
+that on all days of rejoicing a meal of special dainties should form part
+of the celebration, that long before we English had wrought the word into
+its present form, the Roman poets had begun to use its Latin original in
+the sense of a festal banquet. Certainly no high day is complete and
+national with us unless it include a dinner amongst its pleasures. We
+find, therefore, in surveying the holy day customs of yore, signs of much
+merry-making of this kind, and particularly of the dedication of special
+viands to certain occasions.
+
+From time immemorial, for instance, Christmas cheer was incomplete without
+its mince-pies and plum-pudding; the former emblematic, so some say, by
+their shape, of the manger-bed of the Infant Redeemer, and the latter by
+its rich ingredients of the offerings of the three kings. The pancakes of
+Shrove Tuesday are equally universal, and form so conspicuous a part of
+the day's solemnities that the day is often known as "pancake-day," and
+the bell which formerly summoned the faithful to the shriving was
+similarly named the "pancake-bell." In many parts of the country, as for
+example at Crowle, in North Lincolnshire, the bell is still rung under
+that name.
+
+Mid-Lent, or Mothering Sunday, has its peculiar fare in simnel cakes. Few
+days in the year have received so many titles as this one. It is Mothering
+Sunday from the ancient practice of priests and people going, on that day,
+in pilgrimage to the mother-church of the district, from which arose also
+a traditional habit of children visiting their parents on the same
+occasion. At this family re-union simnels were the proper fare. But the
+day is also Bragget Sunday, from the draughts of bragget, or mulled ale,
+with which, in some parts, notably in Lancashire, the cakes were washed
+down. Again it is Fag-pie Sunday, from another refection sacred to it in
+the same county, namely a pie of figs and spices. Refreshment Sunday, and
+the Sunday of the Five Loaves, have reference to the Eucharistic Gospel
+for the day.
+
+The following Sunday, Passion Sunday, has its special dish in _carlings_,
+or peas fried in butter; and on Palm Sunday figs were again thought
+appropriate. A strange custom, existing till comparatively recent times at
+Sellack, in Hertfordshire, was the distribution to those present at church
+on Palm Sunday of buns and cider by the churchwardens, with the words,
+"Peace and good neighbourhood."
+
+Even the great fast of the year has its peculiar food in the hot cross
+buns of Good Friday. These are probably a survival of the heathen practice
+of offering consecrated cakes to the gods. They were originally unleavened
+cakes, made, it is said, from the dough out of which the hosts for the
+altar were baked, a fact which suggests a connection with the Pascal
+regulations of the Jews. The stamp of the cross probably marks the effort
+of the church to give a Christian significance to a practice that was
+found to be practically ineradicable.
+
+Easter, the "Queen of Festivals," has no fare so unmistakably assigned to
+it as some other holy days. Hare-pie is the correct thing in some places,
+and at Hallaton, in Leicestershire, there is an endowment for providing
+hare-pie, bread, and ale, for distribution at this season. At Twickenham
+two large cakes were formerly divided among the young folk of the parish
+at Easter; a harmless practice which the Puritans suppressed in 1645,
+with the result that often attends the efforts of busy-bodies, matters
+were altered for the worse; for, thenceforward, penny loaves were
+purchased with the money, and flung from the Church Tower to be scrambled
+for. At Biddenden, in Kent, a large number of cakes and loaves are given
+away on this day, on the former of which is impressed the image of two
+females, joined together at hip and shoulder. These are the "Biddenden
+Maids," Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst, who are said to have been born in the
+village, in the year 1100, thus strangely joined, and in whose memory the
+rent of a plot of land, called the "Bread and Cheese Land," is thus
+distributed.
+
+Other viands traditionally connected with certain holy days are the great
+spiced-cakes on Twelfth Night, and Valentine Buns given to children in
+Leicestershire, on S. Valentine's Day. A special "brand" of toffee is made
+at Bozeat, in Northamptonshire, for S. Andrew's Day; and roast goose has
+long been considered essential to the due observance of Michaelmas.
+
+Reference was made above to the survival of heathen customs among us, in a
+dress more or less Christian; and there can be no doubt that such is the
+fittest description of very many holy day practices. Some usage was found
+in vogue, in itself harmless enough, but allied by long association with
+the superstitions of paganism. In some cases the mere conservatism of
+popular feeling kept these alive, after all meaning had died out of them;
+but in many instances the church took them up, and gave to the dry bones
+of the heathen custom a soul of Christian meaning. Conspicious among such
+are the use of mistletoe, and the burning of the Yule-log, as adjuncts to
+the gaiety and brightness of the Feast of the Nativity. Mistletoe was the
+most sacred of plants in the days of the Druids; and it is certainly one
+of the most extraordinary examples of the tenacity of life displayed by
+popular customs, that a tradition of special privilege should still cling
+to the mistletoe in spite, not only of the passage of so many centuries,
+but even of the exterminating wars waged against the Druids by the Romans,
+and against the Britons generally by the English. It was these same
+English forefathers of ours who taught us to burn the Yule-log in
+sacrifice to Thor the Thunderer.
+
+Again, there can be little question that the "well-dressing," or
+decoration of springs of water with moss and flowers, so common in
+Derbyshire, had its origin in the worship of the nymphs or goddesses of
+stream and river; yet now in almost every case it has become part of the
+celebration of some Christian festival. At Tissington, which claims to
+have the only real survival of the custom, it takes place on Ascension
+Day; at Derby, and Wirksworth, at Whitsuntide; at Barton on the Thursday
+nearest to S. John the Baptist's Day. A pagan rite still existing without
+Christian "baptism," is found in the bon-fires that yearly crown the
+Cornish hill-tops on the night of Midsummer Day.
+
+Some sports and games were in the past traditionally associated with
+certain church festivals, for reasons which in most cases are not very
+clear. In Derbyshire, particularly in the county-town, and in Ashbourne,
+Shrove Tuesday was marked by the playing in the streets of a rough and
+unorganised game of football, in which a large part of the populace took
+part. School children were very generally supposed to have the privilege
+of demanding a holiday on that day, or even of enforcing one by locking
+the master out of the school-house. At Haxey, in North Lincolnshire, the
+"Haxey Hood," is always thrown on the Feast of the Epiphany. This curious
+sport consists in the struggle for a roll of coarse sacking, about three
+inches in diameter, and two feet long, known locally as the "hood," and is
+the occasion of much wild excitement. This is said to have no connection
+with the holy day, except that it is a commemoration of some local contest
+that chanced originally to happen on that day. A similar reason is given
+for the fact that the town of Stamford formerly celebrated S. Brice's Day
+with the brutal sport of bull-running.
+
+Other curious customs, such as the cracking of a gad-whip in Caistor
+Church, on Palm Sunday, by which a local land tenure was maintained, and
+which survived until 1846, were evidently associated, each with its
+special day, by a merely arbitrary arrangement, having no allusion
+whatever to the festival. To the same class belongs, perhaps, the ceremony
+of washing the tomb of Molly Grime, at Glentham, in Lincolnshire, by seven
+old spinsters, every Good Friday. This was regularly done until 1832, a
+neighbouring property being charged with the payment of one shilling each
+to the washers, but since that date, the tomb has been abandoned to a
+condition more typical of its occupant's name. Another strange usage, the
+meaning of which it is hard to conjecture, was the pinning of bits of
+coloured rag to the back of the women on their way to church, on Palm
+Sunday, a sport once found full of amusement by the lads of Leigh, in
+Lancashire.
+
+Another class of holy day usages consists of endeavours to reproduce, in
+some more or less realistic manner, the fact commemorated by the festival,
+with a result that to us seems grotesque at times, if not profane.
+
+Amongst the more obvious of these, we must reckon the singing of carols at
+Christmas, a memorial of the angelic hymn heard by the shepherds at
+Bethlehem; and the doll laid in a decorated box, rudely representing the
+Holy Child in His manger-bed, which children frequently carry from door to
+door at that season. The miners of Llwynymaen, when asking for Christmas
+gifts, used at one time, it is said, to carry boards to which lighted
+candles were fixed, in allusion no doubt originally to the coming of the
+"Light of the World."
+
+The cruel custom of stoning a wren to death on S. Stephen's Day, once
+generally prevalent, is well-known, and was an obvious endeavour after
+commemorative realism. At Padstow, in Cornwall, the same scene was
+enacted less objectionally on the Eve of the Conversion of S. Paul, by the
+stoning of a pitcher, whence that day was locally known as "Paul's Pitcher
+Day."
+
+The royal offering of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, at the Chapel Royal,
+S. James's, on the Feast of the Epiphany, was once a ceremony of real
+dignity, but is now rather a paltry business, interesting chiefly as one
+of the most curious of survivals. The royal charities on Maunday Thursday,
+are really a portion of an otherwise lapsed custom, which recalled the
+action of our Lord on the day before His Crucifixion. Down to the reign of
+James II. the king attended by some of the great officers of his court,
+washed the feet of a number of poor people on this day, and then
+distributed money, food, and clothing among them. The lads of Kendal have
+a different way of keeping the day; in parties of a dozen or so, they
+drag, or used to drag, tin cans through the streets, beating them with
+sticks, until they were quite demolished. Can this, one wonders, be in any
+way related to that Good Friday custom of Spanish sailors, the beating and
+hanging in effigy of Judas the Traitor?
+
+An old Dorset poet, Barnes, says, referring to a well-known Easter custom:
+
+  "Last Easter I put on my blue
+  Frock coat, the vust time, vier new;
+  Wi' yaller buttons aal o' brass,
+  That glittered in the zun like glass,
+  Bekaze 'twer Easter Zunday."
+
+No good luck can attend you, so the belief was, unless you wear at least
+one new thing on Easter Day. The fancy probably arose from an idea of the
+"newness of life" of which the festival speaks to us. Easter eggs again
+were obviously used at first as supplying a fitting emblem of the
+Resurrection. As a rule they are simply treated as pretty ornaments, but
+at Liege, in Belgium, boys have a kind of game with them, similar to an
+English lad's use of chestnuts, knocking two together; the boy whose egg
+remains unbroken the longest being proclaimed the conqueror.
+
+The subject of holy day practices is an immense one, especially when one
+wanders into all the bye-paths of local peculiarities. All of them, no
+doubt, had their meaning in times past, and therefore their use; if some,
+having now become unintelligible or even foolish forms, drop year by year
+into disuse, we can scarcely, from mere love of the olden days, regret
+them. But all the more tenaciously should we cling to those old customs,
+which have still a living soul in them, still a lesson to teach. Our
+forefathers, with their ready wit in finding means for impressing truth on
+the mind through the medium of the eye, showed a deeper knowledge of human
+nature than some of their sons, who boast so freely of the superior wisdom
+of the nineteenth century.
+
+
+
+
+Church Bells: When and Why they were Rung.
+
+BY FLORENCE PEACOCK.
+
+
+Bells filled a much more important place in the lives of our ancestors
+than they do in ours. From the time that Britain became Christian until
+the Reformation, there was scarcely an event in public or private history
+into which they did not enter--they were rung to celebrate the birth of an
+heir to the rich and noble, they were heard at his daughter's marriage,
+and the marriages of his dependants; they sounded alike for high and low,
+rich and poor, when the soul was passing away; and again some hours after
+death had taken place; as well as at the funeral. On these occasions, and
+upon many others, it was the universal custom to ring them, but there were
+also what may be termed local events in honour of which they were chimed;
+these differed in various parts of the country; in many cases adjoining
+parishes followed totally different rules in this respect. Some of these
+customs are so quaint that they are worth recording, not only as memorials
+of a past that we can but dimly enter into, but as throwing considerable
+light upon the manners and doings of our forefathers.
+
+As far as we are aware no complete collection of these old usages relating
+to the ringing of Church Bells has ever been made, though there is much
+valuable information to be found upon the subject in the various books
+upon bells which have been published during the last twenty-five years. It
+is said that year by year fewer bells are heard to ring upon the
+twenty-ninth of May, but "Oak-apple Day," as it is still called in many
+parts of England, is yet celebrated by the bells of Swineshead, amongst
+other places; and also by sprays of oak leaves being worn, though in the
+northern and eastern counties, if the season be a late one, it is somewhat
+difficult to obtain them. Some six or seven years ago many of the engines
+of trains running upon the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway
+were decked with branches of oak on that day; and it is no uncommon thing
+to see the plough boy adorn the heads of his horses with sprays of oak
+leaves in memory of King Charles's escape. There is an entry in the
+churchwardens' accounts belonging to the church of St. Mary at
+Stamford:--"1709 Pd. Richard Hambleton for ale for the Ringers on ye 29
+May ... 00 06 00." We find three years later the ringers at the church of
+All Saints in the same town received five shillings for ringing the bells
+upon the twenty-ninth of May. At Waddington it has been the custom from
+sometime which is now forgotten to ring one or two strokes on the tenor
+bell to publish the fact that an apprentice belonging to the parish is
+"out of his time." The fifth of November was a day of general bell-ringing
+all over the country, and we believe they are still sounded in many parts
+of England to call to mind the escape of King, Lords, and Commons from the
+Gunpowder Plot; Guy Fawkes is to be seen burning through the length and
+breadth of the land, and crackers and bonfires are usual. There is a
+curious inscription upon the second bell at Owmby, commemorating the
+events of 1605; it is dated 1687, and bears upon it:--
+
+  "LET VS REMEMBER THE 5 OF NOVEMBER."
+
+The churchwardens' accounts of S. John the Baptist at Stamford contain the
+following entry:--"1608 Item paid for Rynging the vth of November vi{d}."
+
+In some places the bells are rung to summon people to attend the vestry
+meeting which is held on the Monday after Easter Sunday, to elect the
+churchwardens for the following term of office, to pass the church
+accounts for the year, and to transact various other business; this is
+done amongst other places at Bottesford and Epworth (the latter celebrated
+as being the birth-place of John Wesley, the former for possessing the
+most perfect specimen of an Early English church to be found in the
+northern part of Lincolnshire).
+
+On Shrove Tuesday it was the general custom in pre-Reformation times to
+call the people to church, that they might confess their sins before Lent;
+this was done by one of the bells being rung, or more likely tolled, but
+in later times the real reason for which its sound was heard has been
+forgotten by the people, and where the custom has been kept up it has now
+got to be called "The Pancake Bell," because it is usual to have pancakes
+upon this day, the last of feasting, before the fast of Lent begins, and
+Shrove Tuesday is often known by the name of "Pancake Tuesday." This bell
+is rung in a great many places, though the present writer never happened
+to hear it: noon is the usual time for it to be heard, and at Navenby it
+used to be rung by the eldest apprentice in the place, but this part of
+the custom is now obsolete. Our forefathers believed that the ringing of
+church bells had the effect of allaying storms; this is illustrated by an
+entry in the Spalding churchwardens' accounts:--"1519 It'm pd. for ryngng
+when the Tempest was, iijd."
+
+In some parts of the country the bells were rung on the fifth of August to
+celebrate the escape of James I. from the Gowrie Plot; there are charges
+for ringing on this day to be found in the churchwardens' accounts of
+Kirton-in-Lindsey at various times during the seventeenth century. In the
+same parish there was also the custom of ringing what is in some parts of
+the country known as the "Market Bell," but here it was, and we believe is
+still, called the "Winter Ringing," because it was only done during the
+months of November, December, and January, from seven until eight o'clock,
+on Tuesday and Thursday evenings--on the former night to guide people home
+who had attended the Gainsborough market, and upon the latter to aid
+those who had been to Brigg market to find their way back again. This was
+a useful precaution when the country was unenclosed, as the sound of the
+bells told people when they were going in the right direction; the same
+was done in the neighbouring parish of Scotton on the Tuesday night. The
+custom is still kept up at Kirton-in-Lindsey during November and December,
+but we believe the bells are not heard upon these two evenings after
+Christmas, the modern idea being that the ringers are practising for that
+great festival of the Church.
+
+Bells very often had names bestowed upon them; there is one in St. Mark's
+Church, Lincoln, always spoken of as "Old Kate," and "Great Tom" of Oxford
+has a world-wide reputation. Many old bells have unfortunately been sold,
+in some cases to obtain money with which to repair the churches; in others
+we fear the money merely went into the pocket of the holder of the living,
+or those of the churchwardens; it was for the former reason that two bells
+at Cadney were parted with during the last century. A writer in the
+_Gentleman's Magazine_, in 1849 (p. 158), states that there is reason to
+believe that, since the death of Edward VI., not less than four hundred
+bells have, from one cause or another, been lost in Lincolnshire alone.
+
+In some parishes the bells are rung at the close of the morning service
+upon Sunday, and at Harpswell it was, until very lately, the custom to
+ring a bell at noon if by any chance there should be no morning service.
+It is popularly said, but on what authority we know not, that this bell
+was meant to warn those who were preparing dinner that the time for that
+important meal had nearly arrived. The custom of ringing a bell at the
+conclusion of the morning service still obtains at Kirkleatham.
+Inscriptions upon bells are very common, sometimes they are in English,
+but on the older bells it is more usual to find them in Latin. There is a
+bell at Alkborough which is believed to be of the early part of the
+fourteenth century, with the following inscription upon it:--
+
+  "Jesu For Yi Moder Sake Save All
+  Ye Sauls That Me Gart Make
+                              Amen."
+
+At Semperingham, on an early sixteenth bell, there is to be found a very
+useful piece of advice:--
+
+  "Be Not Ouer Busie;"
+
+and a bell at Benniworth merely puts on record the year in which it was
+made:--"Anno Domini 1577;" is by no means an uncommon thing to find only a
+date upon bells. Many of them have the names of the churchwardens for the
+time being, or the name of the giver of the bell or bells; at Burgh we
+find:--
+
+  "William Pavlin chimed so well
+  He payd for casting of this bell. 1589."
+
+Most likely he was one of the ringers, but whether he gave the bell, or
+only paid for its recasting, we do not know. In certain parishes the bells
+are tolled before midnight on the thirty-first of December for the dying
+year; then comes a few minutes pause, and a joyous peal heralds the advent
+of the new year. This is done, amongst other places, at Kirton-in-Lindsey;
+the writer heard 1893 tolled out and 1894 ushered in with a peal on those
+beautiful bells; and we know that it was the custom there in 1632, for we
+find under that date in the churchwardens' accounts:--"Item to the ringers
+of new yeare day morninge xijd." The church of this parish is dedicated to
+S. Andrew, and in 1658, there is an entry as follows:--"It' to the ringers
+on St. Andrewes day 0 1 0." The patron saint of Scotland seems in some
+parts of England to be held in high esteem; in Lincolnshire alone there
+are no less than sixty-eight churches dedicated to him. There is a curious
+tradition about the most widely known bell in Lincolnshire; it is to the
+effect that, when at the recasting of "Great Tom of Lincoln" in the
+Minster Yard, sometime during the January of 1610-11, that certain of the
+pious citizens determined to do all that lay in their power to make the
+tone of the bell as pure as possible, and therefore threw into the molten
+mass of metal much treasure in the form of silver tankards, spoons, and
+sundry other objects formed of that precious metal. That there is not the
+slightest truth in the story was clearly proved when the bell was once
+more recast in 1834, for upon a piece of the metal of which it was
+composed being assayed, it was found to contain a very small proportion of
+silver. It is strange that this belief in the power of silver to add
+sweetness to the tone of bells should be such a general one; we find it
+existing in almost all the countries of Europe, in spite of the fact that
+the experiment of mixing an undue proportion of this metal has always been
+found to impair their sound. The writer was once informed that the reason
+the bells of S. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London, are so wonderfully sweet
+and clear in tone is owing to the fact that Nell Gwynn, who gave them to
+the church, insisted upon having a quantity of silver thrown into the
+metal when it was fusing. Poor pretty, sinning Nell, she was religious
+after a manner, and she has lain in S. Martin's Church upwards of two
+hundred years, whilst the bells she gave have sounded, and still sound,
+above her grave. She left a bequest to the ringers, the interest of which
+was to be devoted to purchasing a leg of mutton for them to sup upon every
+Monday evening.
+
+Sacring bells were, it is believed, to be found in all churches before the
+Reformation; they were rung to inform the congregation that the Elevation
+of the Host was about to take place. There is some difficulty in
+distinguishing between this bell and the Sanctus Bell, they seem in many
+cases to be the same, and in others separate. A small sacring bell was
+discovered in Bottesford Church (Lincolnshire) during its restoration in
+1870. When the plaster was removed from the west end of the southern aisle
+it was seen that one of the stones in the wall was merely loosely placed
+in position, not built firmly in like the rest of the masonry; it was
+removed, and behind it, in a hole evidently made on purpose to receive
+it, was the bell. This bell is now in the possession of the Society of
+Antiquaries, and a full description of it is given in _Proceedings of the
+Society of Antiquaries_, 2nd series, vol. 5, p. 24.
+
+There was formerly a small bell at Hemswell, named the Agnus Bell; it may
+perhaps have been so called by reason of its being rung at the Elevation,
+which was immediately followed by the singing of the _Agnus Dei_. The
+following alludes to it:--"Itm ... an agnus bell gone owtt of the fore
+sayd churche, no man knoweth how, ano dome a thowssand five hundreth three
+schore and fowre."[2]
+
+In many churches, bells and other articles were returned in 1566 as lost
+or missing, and no reasonable explanation of the apparently gross
+carelessness given. There can be but little doubt that they were secretly
+taken away in order that they might escape destruction; in some cases it
+may be that they were hidden like the bell at Bottesford, but it is
+probable that more often they were taken to the houses of the people who
+saved them; and that in after years they were lost or destroyed. Under
+Glenthworth, there is an entry, which seems to point to the fact that the
+bell was thus disposed of "A hand bell--gone, we cannot tell how, the same
+year," (1566).[3]
+
+It seems to have been by no means uncommon to turn these small hand bells
+into mortars; we find this was done at Hemswell in 1566: "ij. hande
+belles, sold to Robertt Aestroppe one of the sayd churchwardens to make a
+mortar off."[4]
+
+Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne on November 17th, 1558, S. Hugh's Day,
+and there are many entries to be found in churchwardens' accounts for
+ringing the bells upon that day after this date. At Kirton-in-Lindsey
+there is the following statement in 1581:--"Item for mending the belles
+aganst Sant Hew day viij{d};" and then again in 1597:--"Item vpon Sante
+Hue daye viij." No doubt the first entry means that either the wooden
+framework, or else the cords of the bells needed some slight repairs; it
+could not have been the bells themselves. There is another entry in the
+Kirton-in-Lindsey accounts that is interesting, though of a somewhat later
+date. In 1630 we find:--"Item bestowed of the ringers in ayle for Joye of
+the younge Prince xij." This was for ringing the bells upon the birth of
+Charles II.
+
+In reading of these loyal payments one is reminded of the inscription upon
+the first bell at Witham-on-the-Hill, which evinces a very different
+spirit:--
+
+  "'TWAS NOT TO PROSPER PRIDE OR HATE
+    WILLIAM AUGUSTUS JOHNSON GAVE ME;
+  BUT PEACE AND JOY TO CELEBRATE,
+    AND CALL TO PRAYER TO HEAV'N TO SAVE YE:
+  THEN KEEP THE TERMS AND E'ER REMEMBER
+    MAY 29{TH} YE MUST NOT RING
+  NOR YET THE FIFTH OF EACH NOVEMBER
+    NOR ON THE CROWNING OF A KING."[5]
+
+The Harvest Bell was rung in various parts of the country; at
+Barrow-on-Humber it was heard very early in the morning at daybreak in the
+eighteenth century, and then again late in the evening during the weeks of
+harvest. In some parishes it used to be the custom to ring a bell at eight
+o'clock in the morning as a signal that people might then begin to glean.
+In the Louth churchwardens' accounts, in 1556, is the following:--"To
+william east for knylling the bell in harvest forgathering of the pescodes
+iiij{d}." The _Daily Telegraph_, of 1st September, 1893, says:--"The
+'harvest bell' is rung at the Parish Church, Driffield, at five a.m. and
+eight p.m. every day during harvest, the custom is a very old one."
+
+Advent was celebrated in some places by the ringing of the bells, usually,
+but not invariably, in the evening; the reason for this being that the
+ringers were at work during the day, and therefore it could only be done
+when the hours of labour were ended. On S. Thomas's Day the bells were
+often rung; and it was a very widely spread, though not a universal,
+custom to ring them very early on the morn of Christmas Day. In the
+Kirton-in-Lindsey churchwardens' account we see what the ringers obtained
+for so doing in 1630:--"It' given to the Ringers at Christenmaise day at
+morne xij{d}." The bells are, or were until lately, rung at five o'clock
+on Christmas morning at South Kelsey. In various parts of England they
+were rung in a great variety of ways during Lent and upon Good Friday; on
+Easter Sunday, too, there has always been great divergence as to the
+custom of bell-ringing. The Banns Peal is still to be heard in some
+places; this is a peal rung after the publication of banns of marriage, it
+is usually chimed after morning service on the first Sunday that the banns
+are "put up," but this is by no means the universal practice, in some
+parishes it is rung on the first and third Sundays, in others on the third
+alone, and it varies yet again at Elsham and Searby, where it is given
+upon all three Sundays. Peals at Baptism are much rarer, but still there
+are parishes where it has been from time unknown usual to ring them. The
+curfew is yet to be heard in many places, though the hour varies, it being
+often rung at nine, and in some instances at seven o'clock, instead of at
+eight.
+
+In pre-Reformation times the Passing Bell, instead of being rung as it now
+is after death, was then really and truly a "passing-bell," for it was
+heard when a person was supposed to be at the point of death, in order
+that those in whose ears it sounded might of their charity pray for a soul
+so soon to be beyond human help. After the spirit had returned unto Him
+who gave it, the Soul Bell was rung, that the living might pray for the
+dead; this soul-bell, besides being rung a few hours after death, was
+sounded again at stated intervals, at the month's end, the three months'
+end, and so on. Surtees, the northern antiquary, alludes to this custom in
+the ballad of _Sir John le Spring_:--
+
+  "Pray for the soul of Sir John le Spring,
+    When the black monks sing and the chantry bells ring.
+  Pray for the sprite of the murdered knight,
+    Pray for the rest of Sir John le Spring.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  And aye the mass-priest sings his song,
+    And patters many a prayer,
+  And the chantry bell tolls loud and long,
+    And aye the lamp burns there."
+
+There are numerous ways of indicating the age and sex of the departed by
+the manner in which the passing-bell is tolled; we have been informed that
+in Lincolnshire alone there are between seventy and eighty different
+methods by which this is done.
+
+Some few bells have upon them inscriptions showing they were meant to be
+rung as passing-bells. The third bell at Brant Broughton has on it:--
+
+  "Beg ye of God your soul to save
+  Before we call you to the grave."
+
+It is possible that some of the customs here spoken of as now existing may
+recently have fallen into oblivion, but the term "existing" must only be
+taken to mean that it was in use at the place named when the note
+concerning it was made.
+
+
+
+
+Inscriptions on Bells.
+
+BY WILLIAM ANDREWS.
+
+
+High up in the dusty belfry, whose grey shadows rarely see the face of
+man, the bells swing to and fro with unwearying zeal. But in addition to
+the lessons which pour from their eloquent mouths, should we scale the
+tall ladders of the bell tower and invade the regions of the owl and the
+bat, we shall find other teaching--that graven on the sides of the bells
+themselves--the inscriptions. Let us therefore glance over the wide field
+of interesting information thus presented to us. Allusions to the pitch of
+the bell are often the subject. A bell of Churchill, Somerset, has the
+following:--
+
+  Although my waiste is small
+  I will be heard amainst you all,
+          Sing on my jolly sisters.
+
+While Berrow, Somerset, is more brief:--
+
+  My treble voice
+  Makes hearts rejoice.
+
+Bruton has a recast bell saying--
+
+  Once I'd a note that none could beare,
+  But Bilbie made me sweet and clear.
+
+And similarly Compton Martin--
+
+  My sound is good that once was bad,
+  Lett's sing my sisters and be glad.
+
+Badgworth, Gloucester, has a similar inscription--
+
+  Badgworth ringers they were mad
+  Because Rigbe made me bad,
+  But Abel Rudhall you may see
+  Hath made me better than Rigbe.
+
+At Blakesley, Northamptonshire, the tenor bears--
+
+  I ring to sermon with a lusty bome,
+  That all may come and none may stay at home.
+
+More pronounced is the self-congratulation of a bell of East Dean--
+
+  Me melior vere,
+  Non est Campana sub aere,
+
+and one of Hurstpierpoint, which says--
+
+  If you have a judicious ear
+  You'll own my voice is sweet and clear.
+
+Rye Church, in Sussex, alludes in its bells to the marriage chimes induced
+by the liberality of the bridegroom--
+
+  In wedlock bands, all ye who join
+    With hands your hearts unite.
+  So shall our tuneful tongues combine
+    To bless the nuptial rite.
+
+At other times it is the shape that is celebrated. At Combe, Somerset, a
+bell says--
+
+  My sound is good, my shape is neat,
+  'Twas Bayley made me so compleat.
+
+Or the size, as at Bexhill, Sussex--
+
+  Although I am both light and small,
+  I will be heard above you all.
+
+S. Mary's, at Devizes, has another version--
+
+  I am the first, altho' but small,
+  I will be heard above you all.
+
+Again, names of donors are often inscribed upon bells, and these are
+handed down to us from very early dates; or sometimes the fact of
+subscription is mentioned in general terms of gratitude. So Bagborough,
+Somerset, says--
+
+  Bouth owld and young did agree full well
+  To pay for casting of this bell,
+  Because a true tale it should tell.
+
+And Bath Abbey has a very terse bell couplet,
+
+  All you of Bath that heare mee sound
+  Thank Lady Hopton's hundred pound.
+
+A Devon bell has--
+
+  Squire Arundel the great my whole expense did raise,
+  Nor shall our tongues abate to celebrate his praise.
+
+These hints, or downright references on bells to the pecuniary means of
+their erection, may be supplemented by the inscription at Buxted, which
+promises as follows--
+
+  At proper times my voice I'll raise
+  And sound to my subscribers' praise.
+
+But in the last two centuries such expressions of gratitude for
+subscriptions to casting or re-casting are common enough. So in a similar
+strain speaks the bell of Alderton,
+
+  I'm given here to make a peal
+  And sound the praise of Mary Neale.
+
+At Binstead, too, a bell says
+
+  Dr. Nicholas gave five pound
+  To help cast this peal tuneable and sound.
+
+Bells at first bore strictly religious inscriptions; afterwards that rule
+became more relaxed, and irrelevant matters often find expression. After
+1600 the claims of religion to be alone regarded on bells may be said to
+be almost entirely passed over. Marlborough's victories are commemorated
+on the bells of S. Helen's, Worcester, and those of Ottery and S. Martin,
+Exeter, have medals on which are represented grotesque pieces levelled at
+the churchmen in the most approved style of mediaeval satire. Sometimes,
+nay, most often, the poetical attempts in the inscriptions are, to say
+the least, somewhat wanting in an indefinite something that goes to make
+true poetry. Yet the simple appeals of some of them do not fall
+unregarded. So when rich men give bells we find such an inscription as
+this--
+
+  Of your charite prai for the soulles of John Slutter, John
+    Hunt, and Willem Slutter.
+
+An instance has been given of historical events being inscribed upon
+bells. A further one is that of the bell of Ashover, Derbyshire, which
+upon re-casting was inscribed--
+
+  This old bell rung the downfall of Buonaparte and broke, April, 1814.
+
+At Tadcaster it is recorded on the fifth bell--
+
+  It is remarkable that these bells were moulded in the great frost,
+  1783. C. and R. Dalton, Fownders, York.
+
+An extremely curious inscription appears on a bell at Pucknowle,
+Dorsetshire, dated 1629. It reads without stop or space--
+
+  Hethatvillpvrchashonovrsgaynemvstancientlatherstilmayntayne.
+
+"Lather" is an old English term meaning "to make a noise." A bell at
+Lichfield, which was destroyed in 1652, bore the following:--
+
+  I am ye bell of Jesus, and Edward is our King,
+  Sir Thomas Heywood first caused me to ring.
+
+Many inscriptions on bells are, or contain, allusions to the vigilance of
+monastic times. Such is one at Ashill, Somerset, which simply says--
+
+  I call to wake you all.
+
+As pithy an inscription appears on the bell of S. Ives, which is rung
+early in the morning. It is--
+
+  Arise, and go about your business.
+
+A Coventry bell, dated 1675, says--
+
+  I ring at six to let men know
+  When too and fro their worke to goe.
+
+Patriotic expressions are common; among such is Brusford,
+
+  Come let us ring
+  For Church and King.
+
+And Hurstpierpoint,
+
+  Ye people all who hear us ring
+  Be faithful to your God and King.
+
+Sometimes a whole set of bells bore inscriptions which may be read
+continuously. An instance is at S. Mary's, Ticehurst, where the bells
+have--
+
+  1. I am she that leads the van,
+     Then follow me now if you can.
+
+  2. Then I speak next, I can you tell,
+     So give me rope and ring me well.
+
+  3. Now I am third, as I suppose,
+     Mark well now time and fourth close.
+
+  4. As I am fourth, I will explain
+     If you'll keep time you'll credit gain.
+
+  5. Now I am fifth, as I suppose,
+     Then ring me well and tenor close.
+
+  6. This is to show for ages yet to come
+     That by subscription we were cast and hung
+       And Edward Lulham is his name
+       That was the actor of the same.
+
+Northfield bells, Worcestershire, give an account of the contest in the
+vestry-room which led to the completion of the peal--
+
+  1. Though once but five we now are six.
+
+  2. And 'gainst our casting some did strive.
+
+  3. But when a day of meeting there was fixed.
+
+  4. Appeared nine 'gainst twenty-six.
+
+  5. It was Wm. Kettle that did contrive
+     To make us six that were but five.
+
+Another bell bears the date and churchwardens' names. At Coventry on a
+peal of bells, cast in 1774, are the following inscriptions--
+
+  1. Though I am but light and small
+     I will be heard above you all.
+
+  2. If you have a judicious ear
+     You will own my voice both sweet and clear.
+
+  3. Such wondrous power to music given,
+     It elevates the soul to heaven.
+
+  4. Whilst thus we join in cheerful sound,
+     May love and loyalty abound.
+
+  5. To honour both God and King
+     Our voices shall in concert ring.
+
+  6. Music is medicine to the mind.
+
+  7. Ye ringers all that prize
+       Your health and happiness,
+     Be sober, merry, wise,
+       And you'll the same possess.
+
+  8. Ye people all who hear me ring
+     Be faithful to your God and King.
+
+  9. In wedlock's bands all ye who join
+       With hands your hearts unite:
+     So shall our tuneful tongues combine
+       To laud the nuptial rite.
+
+  10. I am and have been called the common bell
+      To ring when fire breaks out to tell.
+
+On the bells of S. Peter's, Nottingham, the appended lines appear:--
+
+            Our voices shall with joyful sound
+            Make hills and valleys echo round.
+
+            We celebrate th' auspicious morn
+            On which the Son of God was born.
+
+            Our voices shall in concert ring
+            To honour God and King.
+
+  The bride and groom we greet in holy wedlock join'd,
+  Our sounds are emblems of hearts in love combined.
+
+            I toll the funeral knell,
+              I hail the festal day.--
+            The fleeting hour I tell,
+              I summon all to pray.
+
+The longest continuous bell inscriptions we have noted are from Bakewell,
+Derbyshire, and on a peal of eight bells. They run thus:--
+
+  1. When I begin Our merry Din,
+       This Band I lead from Discord Free;
+     And for the Fame of human Name,
+       May ev'ry Leader copy Me.
+
+  2. Mankind like Us, too oft are found
+     Possess'd of Nought but empty Sound.
+
+  3. When of departed Hours We toll the Knell,
+     Instruction take & spend the future well.
+
+  4. When Men in Hymen's Bands unite,
+     Our Merry Peals produce Delight;
+     But when Death goes his dreary Rounds,
+     We send forth sad and solemn Sounds.
+
+  5. Thro' Grandsires and Tripples with Pleasure men range,
+     Till Death calls the Bob & brings on the Last Change.
+
+  6. When Vict'ry crowns the Public Weal
+     With Glee We give the merry Peal.
+
+  7. Would Men Like Us join & agree
+     They'd live in tunefull Harmony.
+
+  8. Possess'd of deep sonorous Tone
+     This Belfry King sits on his Throne;
+     And, when the merry Bells go round,
+     Adds to & mellows ev'ry Sound;
+     So in a just & well pois'd State,
+     Where all Degrees possess due Weight,
+     One greater Pow'r, One greater Tone
+     Is ceded to improve their own.
+
+During a recent visit to Bakewell church we copied an epitaph blending in
+a remarkable degree business, loyalty and religion:--
+
+    To the Memory of
+    Matthew Strutt.
+
+    Of this town, farmer, long famed in these parts for veterinary skill.
+    A good neighbour, and a staunch friend to Church and King. Being
+    churchwarden at the time the present peal of bells were hung. Through
+    zeal of the House of God, and unremitting attention to the airy
+    business of the belfry he caught a cold, which terminated his
+    existence May 25, 1798, in the 68 year of his age.
+
+A beautiful Latin inscription has one--a Rutland bell--
+
+    Non clamor sed amor cantat in aure dei, _i.e._, It is not noise, but
+    love that sings in the ear of God.
+
+And it is in the same county that we find the modern use of the death-bell
+described,
+
+  I sound not for the souls of the dead but the ears of the living.
+
+Cheltenham, too, bears out the spirit of this inscription in the
+following:--
+
+  I to prayer the living do combine
+  The dead shall hear a greater sound than mine.
+
+The offices of the various bells form a large proportion of their legends,
+particularly those uses which are the most common. Thus the death bell at
+Axbridge, Somerset, states,
+
+  For homesoever this bell doth toll
+  The Lord have mercy on that sole!
+
+Many Somersetshire bells have the following and similar inscriptions:--
+
+  I to the church the living call,
+  And to the grave I summon all.
+
+Brent, Somerset, has a bell with--
+
+  When I doth toll pray mind your souls
+    And in God put your trust,
+  As may be well with you at last
+    When you come to doust.
+
+And Backwell, in the same county--
+
+  I sound to bid the sick repent,
+  In hopes of life when breath is spent.
+
+A bell at Stratton, Cornwall, is shorter--
+
+  I call the quick to church and dead to grave.
+
+A bell in Ghent describes the purposes for which it was used: it is not an
+uncommon form in the Netherlands. Translated it reads:--
+
+  My name is Roelant;
+  When I toll it is for a fire,
+  When I swing then there is storm in Flanders.
+
+Religious sentiments and quotations are found in thousands on bells old
+and new. Such are--
+
+  Te deum Laudamus.
+
+On the bell at Peterborough Cathedral
+
+  Venite Exultemus Domino.
+
+In Westminster Abbey
+
+  Christie audi nos.
+
+Sometimes a letter of the inscription is found inverted; rarely a whole
+word. Such, however, is the case at Clapham, in Bedfordshire, where the
+line runs--
+
+  God save the = hcruhC
+
+The prayers for the dead mark the religious changes of the country, and
+not less the invocations to the saints, which form one branch of bell
+lore. Elstead has a bell inscribed--
+
+  Sancta Paule, ora pro nobis.
+
+Washington, in Sussex, one bearing--
+
+  O Sancte Stephane.
+
+And Balcombe, in the same county, one--
+
+  Vox Augustini Sonat in aure Dei.
+
+The uses to which bells were dedicated may be further exampled from their
+inscriptions. S. Michael, Coventry, has a bell bearing--
+
+  I am, and have been called the common bell
+  To ring when fire breaks out to tell.
+
+And at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, dated 1652, a bell piously says--
+
+  Lord, quench this furious flame,
+  Arise, run, help put out the same.
+
+We may here appropriately conclude with some lines inscribed upon the
+tower of Batley Church, Yorkshire, in memory of a former set of bells:
+
+    "The Requiem of the late three bells of Batley Church, two of which
+    were introduced into the tower in the 17th century, and the third or
+    last in the 18th century, and were taken down in the 19th century, at
+    the close of the year of our Lord 1851, bearing the following
+    respective dates and inscriptions, viz., upon the middle bell: Tho.
+    Deighton G. O. 1658; largest bell, 1684 Gloria in Altissimis Deo. Ric.
+    Mann, Churchwarden; last and least bell, Dalton of York fecit 1791. To
+    Father, Son, and Holy Ghost Eternal glory raise.
+
+    "Author of the following lines, Mr. Luke Blakeley, of Upper Batley;
+    third of that name in the family, and nephew of Mr. Luke Blakeley of
+    the same place, who died Jan. 17th, in the year of our Lord 1836, and
+    was interred in Batley Churchyard.
+
+      "One hundred years, yea almost two,
+        We've hung in that turret grey,
+      And many changes we have seen
+        As time has fled away.
+
+      We seen the bride and bridegroom gay,
+        We've chimed their joy to tell;
+      Alas! before the day has clos'd
+        We've toll'd the funeral knell.
+
+      We've merrily rung for victories gain'd
+        O'er Britain's enemies;
+      Then mourned for the brave who bled
+        To gain those victories.
+
+      We've highly lauded pomp and power,
+        Then call'd on men to pray,
+      A requiem rung with the weeping and sad,
+        Then revell'd with the gay.
+
+      We've seen the scourge of civil war
+        Approach where we have stood.
+      We've seen oppression's cruel hand
+        Reeking with kindred blood.
+
+      Our solemn tolling for the dead
+        Falls on the mourner's ear,
+      Then the bereav'd and aching heart
+        Feels desolate and drear.
+
+      Dirges we've rung for Kings and Queens
+        As they to the tomb went down,
+      Then joyfully welcom'd the heir
+        Who came to wear the crown.
+
+      We saw the star of Brunswick rise
+        And beam upon our strand,
+      We see its full refulgent ray
+        Illumine this happy land.
+
+      Victoria the sceptre sways,
+        And bright her virtues shine,
+      Long may she live, long may she reign
+        Best of her royal line.
+
+      We joyfully hail'd her natal day,
+        We hail'd her to the throne,
+      We blithely hail'd her nuptial hour,
+        For her we ne'er shall moan.
+
+      We're taken from that turret grey
+        Where we for long have hung,
+      Like worn out lumber thrown away,
+        Forever mute, each tongue.
+
+      And now our changes all are rung
+        Here ends our dying song;
+      Our last our final peal is done:
+        Farewell! Farewell! Ding Dong."[6]
+
+
+
+
+Laws of the Belfry.
+
+BY WILLIAM ANDREWS.
+
+
+The ringing chambers of many old churches contain curious rules in poetry
+and prose for regulating the conduct of the ringer and the visitor. Some
+of the orders are extremely quaint, and all appear framed as a ready means
+of obtaining money in fines to be spent in beer. In bygone times there
+appears to have been a close connection between the belfry and the cellar.
+One of the best examples which has come under our notice is from
+Hathersage, Derbyshire, and dates back to about 1660:--
+
+  You gentlemen that here wish to ring,
+  See that these laws you keep in every thing;
+  Or else be sure you must without delay,
+  The penalty thereof to the ringers pay.
+
+  First, when you do into the bell-house come,
+  Look if the ringers have convenient room;
+  For if you do be an hindrance unto them,
+  Fourpence you forfeit unto these gentlemen.
+
+  Next if you do here intend to ring,
+  With hat or spur, do not touch a string;
+  For if you do, your forfeit is for that,
+  Just fourpence down to pay, or lose your hat.
+
+  If you a bell turn over, without delay,
+  Fourpence unto the ringers you must pay;
+  Or if you strike, misscall, or do abuse,
+  You must pay fourpence for the ringers' use.
+
+  For every oath here sworn, ere you go hence,
+  Unto the poor then you must pay twelvepence;
+  And if that you desire to be enrolled
+  A ringer here, these words keep and hold!
+
+  But whoso doth these orders disobey,
+  Unto the stocks we will take him straightway,
+  There to remain until he be willing
+  To pay his forfeit and the clerk a shilling.
+
+A similar set of rules were adopted at Chapel-en-le-Frith, in the same
+county.
+
+The following quaint lines are from St. Peter's, Shaftesbury:--
+
+  What musick is there that compar'd may be
+  To well-tuned bells' enchanting melody?
+  Breaking with their sweet sounds the willing air,
+  They in the list'ning ear the soul ensnare,
+  When bells ring round and in their order be,
+  They do denote how neighbours should agree;
+  But if they clam the harsh sound spoils the sport,
+  And 'tis like women keeping Dover Court.
+  Of all the music that is played or sung
+  There's none like bells, if they are well rung.
+  Then ring your bell--well if you can,
+  Silence is best for ev'ry man;
+  In your ringing make no demur,
+  Pull off your hat, your belt, and spur;
+  And if your bell you overset
+  The ringer's fee you must expect!
+  Fourpence you are to pay for that.
+  But that if you do swear or curse,
+  Twelvepence is due, pooll out your purse,
+  Our laws are old, they are not new,
+  Both clerk and ringers claim their due.
+
+We have from Tong, Salop, the following curious dated example:--
+
+  If that to ring you do come here,
+  You must ring well with hand and ear;
+  Keep stroke of time and go not out,
+  Or else you forfeit, out of doubt.
+  Our law is so constructed here,
+  For ev'ry fault a jugg of beer.
+  If that you ring with spur or hat,
+  A jugg of beer must pay for that.
+  If that you take a rope in hand,
+  These forfeits you may not withstand.
+  Or, if that you a bell o'erthrow,
+  It will cost sixpence ere you goe.
+  If in this place you swear or curse,
+  Sixpence you pay--out with your purse.
+  Come! pay the clerk, it is his fee,
+  For one that swears shall not go free.
+  These laws are old, and are not new,
+  Therefore the clerk must have his due.
+                                  GEORGE HARRISON, 1694.
+
+From the belfry of Dunster, Somersetshire, are the following lines:--
+
+  You that in ringing take delight,
+    Be pleased to draw near;
+  These articles you must observe
+    If you mean to ring here.
+
+  And first, if any overturn
+    A bell, as that he may,
+  He forthwith for that only fault
+    In beer shall sixpence pay.
+
+  If anyone shall curse or swear
+    When come within the door,
+  He then shall forfeit for that fault
+    As mentioned before.
+
+  If anyone shall wear his hat
+    When he is ringing here
+  He straightway then shall sixpence pay
+    In cyder or in beer.
+
+  If anyone these articles
+    Refuseth to obey,
+  Let him have nine strokes of the rope,
+    And so depart away.
+
+The foregoing bears the date of 1787. We have a shorter set of orders from
+Bowden:--
+
+  You ringers all, observe these orders well!
+  He pays his sixpence that o'erturns a bell;
+  And he that rings with either spur or hat,
+  Must pay his sixpence certainly for that;
+  And he that rings and does disturb ye peal,
+  Must pay his sixpence or a gun of ale.
+  These laws elsewhere, in ev'ry church are used,
+  That bell and ringers may not be abused.
+
+It is stated in Halliwell's "Dictionary of Archaisms and Provincialisms"
+_gun_ is a North country word for a large flagon of ale.
+
+From All Saints' Church, Hastings, we have the following lines:--
+
+  I. H. S.
+
+  1.
+
+  This is a belfry that is free
+  For all those that civil be;
+  And if you please to chime or ring
+  It is a very pleasant thing.
+
+
+  2.
+
+  There is no musick play'd or sung,
+  Like unto bells when they're well rung;
+  Then ring your bells well, if you can,
+  Silence is the best for every man.
+
+
+  3.
+
+  But if you ring in spur or hat,
+  Sixpence you pay, be sure of that;
+  And if a bell you overthrow,
+  Pray pay a groat before you go.--1756.
+
+Similar verses to the foregoing we have seen in several places. From the
+parish church at Grantham we have the following example, dating back to
+about the middle of the last century:--
+
+  He that in Ringing takes delight,
+    And to this place draws near,
+  These Articles set in his sight
+    Must keep if he Rings here.
+
+  The first he must observe with care
+    Who comes within the door,
+  Must if he chance to curse or swear,
+    Pay Sixpence to the poor.
+
+  And whosoe'er a noise does make,
+    Or idle story tells,
+  Must Sixpence to the Ringers take
+    For melting of the Bells.
+
+  If any like to smoke or drink,
+    They must not do so here,
+  Good reason why--just let them think
+    This is God's House of Prayer.
+
+  Young men that come to see and try,
+    And do not Ringing use,
+  Must Six Pence give the company,
+    And that shall them excuse.
+
+  So that his hat on's head does keep,
+    Within this sacred place,
+  Must pay his Six Pence ere he sleep;
+    Or turn out with disgrace.
+
+  If any one with spurs to's heels
+    Ring here at any time,
+  He must, for breaking articles,
+    Pay Six Pence for his crime.
+
+  If any overthrow a Bell,
+    As that by chance he may,
+  Because he minds not Ringing well,
+    He must his Six Pence pay.
+
+  Or if a noble minded man
+    Come here to Ring a bell,
+  A Shilling is the Sexton's fee,
+    Who keeps the church so well.
+
+  At any should our Parson sneer,
+    Or Wardens' rules deride,
+  It is a rule of old most clear
+    That such sha'nt here abide.
+
+  The Sabbath-day we wish to keep,
+    And come to church to pray;
+  The man who breaks this ancient rule
+    Shall never share our pay.
+
+  And when the bells are down and ceased,
+    It should be said or sung,
+  May God preserve the Church and King,
+    And guide us safely home.
+
+In September, 1875, we visited Holy Trinity Church, Hull, to ascertain if
+any Ringers' Regulations were to be found in the church. We learned, on
+enquiry, a number of quaint orders were hung up in the ringing chamber
+some years ago, but a mischievous boy mutilated them with a knife, so that
+they were taken down. The person in charge, however, kindly submitted for
+our inspection the disfigured orders, and after considerable trouble, we
+were able to make a transcript which, we think, will prove interesting:--
+
+    ORDERS.
+
+    Agreed upon by the sexton and ringers of the Holy Trinity Church,
+    Kingston-upon-Hull, approved of and allowed by the Rev. William Mason,
+    vicar, Mr. George Maddison, and Mr. Thomas Bell, churchwardens, of
+    the same church, the first day of May, Anno Domini 1730, and confirmed
+    by the Rev. John Healey Bromby, vicar, Thomas Mitchell, and Charles
+    Anthy. Forrester, churchwardens, the first day of May, 1838.
+
+    It is ordered, that every person who shall ring any bell with hat or
+    spurs on, shall forfeit and pay sixpence for the use of the ringers.
+
+    It is ordered, that every person who shall pull any bell from off her
+    stay and cannot set her again, shall forfeit and pay for use
+    aforesaid, one shilling.
+
+    It is ordered, that every person who shall throw any bell over, shall
+    forfeit and pay for the use aforesaid, sixpence, and over and above
+    this in case anything be broken by such overthrow, such person shall
+    also pay the charge of repairing the same again.
+
+    It is ordered, that every person so soon as he has set his bell shall
+    immediately hank up the strop or rope, or in default thereof shall
+    forfeit and pay for use aforesaid, sixpence.
+
+    It is ordered, that if any person shall untruss himself upon the lead
+    in any part, or cut and mark the same with a knife or any other thing,
+    such offender shall forfeit and pay for the use aforesaid, sixpence.
+
+    It is ordered, that any person who shall have read any of these orders
+    with his hat upon his head shall forfeit and pay for the said use,
+    sixpence.
+
+Next appears the names of the vicar, churchwardens, ringers, who held
+office in 1730, and a similar list is given for 1838, when the above
+orders were reprinted at the expense of Mr. W. Green, a sidesman.
+
+The following "Articles and Orders to be Observed by Ringers" at Stow, in
+the county of Lincoln, were written by William Swift, school-master, and
+used to hang in the ringing chamber of the church:--
+
+  All you who hath a mind to Learn to Ring             s. d.
+  Must to the sexton Admission Money bring.            2  6
+  These Articles observed strict must be,
+  Or your expelled this society.
+  Two Nights a Week, Sirs, you must meet, or pay
+  This Forfeiture to us without delay,                 0  2
+  Or when the Sexton for you tolls a bell
+  You must appear, or else this Forfeit tell.          0  2
+  And when you come upon this Belfry
+  If that you noise or talk, this forfeit pay,         0  1
+  When you Round peals can Ring, you must pay down
+  To be a change man, Sirs, Just half-a-crown,         2  6
+  On the first change that you have Learned to Ring,
+  One shilling more must pay, Sirs, that's the thing,  1  0
+  And every Ringer must spend more or Less,
+  As he thinks meet, to wish you good Success,         0  2
+  If you would learn to prick a peal in score,
+  Unto these College youths you must pay more.         1  0
+  When you know Bob, Hunt, Single Dodge compleat
+  You'll not deny our College youths a treat,          2  6
+  On our Feast-Day, the Twenty-ninth of May,
+  Each member must, Sirs, just one shilling pay,       1  0
+  When our accompts are passed, Sirs, for Truth,
+  And you are stiled a College youth,
+  New Stewards then are chose, and by and by
+  If that you do the Stewardship deny,
+  Your fine must pay--as in the margin see,            1  6
+  Then from your Stewardship one year are free.
+  These Rules peruse well before you enter,
+  It's a hard task on which you venture.
+  When once a member you are freely made,
+  These Articles must justly be obey'd.
+  So now, my Lads, admission money bring,              2   6
+  And we will Learn you presently to ring.
+
+  JOHN MARSHALL,         WILLIAM SMITH,
+  MASTER.                   NOTARY.
+
+  March 1st, 1770.
+
+The following on a card was also placed in the belfry of Stow Church:--
+
+  We ring the quick to church, the dead to grave,
+  Good is our use, such usage let us have.
+  Who swears or curses, or in chol'ric mood
+  Quarrels or strikes, although he draws no blood,
+  Who wears his hat, or overturns a bell,
+  Or by unskilful handling mars a peal,
+  Let him pay sixpence for each single crime,
+  'Twill make him cautious 'gainst another time.
+  So, when the bells are ceased, then let us sing
+  God bless our Holy Church--God save the Queen.
+
+The foregoing are a few examples of the many curious ringers' regulations
+which found a place in belfrys in bygone times. Mr. J. Potter Briscoe, in
+his "Curiosities of the Belfry" (London, 1883), gives a complete
+collection of these old-time rules in prose and poetry.
+
+
+
+
+Ringers' Jugs.
+
+BY ISAAC J. REEVE.
+
+
+The old time belfry laws were the means of many persons being fined, and
+the money so obtained was spent in ale. Ringers' Jugs were by no means
+uncommon, and some were curious examples of the potters' art.
+
+There is a curious jug or pitcher belonging to the ringers of Hadleigh. It
+is a "vas ansatum" having two ears, is circular in shape, swelling out in
+the middle, and being more contracted at the ends. It is brown earthenware
+glazed. It holds sixteen quarts, and bears this inscription, very rudely
+indented, apparently with a chisel when the clay was soft, the first word
+M E, or perhaps M. E. I., is in italics, the rest in Roman capitals:--
+
+    Me, Thomas Windle, Isaac Bunn, John Mann, Adam Sage, George Bond,
+    Thomas Goldsborough, Robert Smith, Henry West. (No doubt the names of
+    the eight ringers.)
+
+Below the names,--
+
+  If you love me doe not lend me,
+  Euse me often and keep me clenly,
+  Fill me full or not at all,
+  If it be strong, and not with small.
+
+Below all, in the front, is the word Hadly, underneath one handle is the
+date, 17 F. G. 15, and under the other, 17 R. O. 15, the letters probably
+the initials of the potters. The jug is in the possession of Mr. Pettitt,
+of the Eight Bells Inn, who holds it for the ringers, of whom he is the
+leader. It is still occasionally used on the occasion of any profitable
+wedding, and filled every Christmas by mine host, when the ringers
+assemble for a frolic, with strong beer, which goes by the name of old
+King William, and strangers going in are expected to pay sixpence to
+assist in keeping it full, according to its own request.
+
+The ringers' pot--a brown glazed jug with handle, holding about two
+gallons--having the following inscription in rude letters--
+
+  Here you may see what
+  I request of Hanst (honest) Gentlemen
+  My Baly (belly) filed of the Bast I com
+  But now and then, 1716,
+
+was formerly carried from house to house by the bell-ringers of Ixworth,
+in Suffolk, to receive whatever beer the liberal parishioners might be
+disposed to bestow. It has been disused about thirty years. It was
+probably made at the celebrated pottery in the neighbouring parish of
+Wattisfield.
+
+A similar kind of jug, both in shape and size, to that of Hadleigh,
+belongs to the ringers of Clare. On one side is a crown in faint relief,
+under that a bell in large proportion, and on it impressed in italics:--
+
+      Campane
+  Sonant canore.
+
+Beneath the clapper is this,--
+
+  Clare Ringers,
+      1729.
+
+Near the base there is an aperture for a tap to draw off the beer, there
+being no spout or lip.
+
+At Hinderclay, in Suffolk, is a ringers' pitcher, still preserved in the
+church tower, of form and size similar to the Hadleigh jug: it is thus
+inscribed:--
+
+    By Samuel Moss this pitcher was given to the noble society of ringers,
+    at Hinderclay, viz., Tho. Sturgeon, Ed. Lock, John Haws, Ric. Ruddock,
+    and Relf Chapman, to which society he once belonged, and left in the
+    year 1702.
+
+          From London I was sent
+          As plainly doth appear,
+          It was to this intent--
+          To be filled with strong beer.
+      Pray remember the pitcher when empty.
+
+A similar pitcher is in the adjoining church tower of Garboldisham,
+Norfolk.
+
+At the Mackworth Arms, at Swansea, a similar kind of jug may be seen in a
+niche on the staircase, but the colour is light yellow, and the
+workmanship of a superior order, it has but one handle, and the following
+inscription in two lines:--
+
+  Come fill me well with liquor sweet, and that is good when friends do
+      meet,
+  When I am full then drink about, I ne'er will fail till all is out.
+
+Underneath were representations of flowers, birds, and fishes.
+
+There is in the Norfolk and Norwich Museum a large jug, which was
+presented in July, 1831, by the Rev. G. R. Leathes, of Shrophan. It is of
+brown earth, glazed, dated 1676, and inscribed:--
+
+  John Wayman,
+  J.F.
+  Come Brother, shall we join?
+  Give me your twopence--here is mine.
+
+This most likely belonged to a company of Shrophan ringers. It has but one
+handle, and is rather curiously ornamented.
+
+    NOTE.--This article was written about twenty-five years ago.--EDITOR.
+
+
+
+
+Customs and Superstitions of Baptism.
+
+BY THE REV. CANON BENHAM, B.D., F.S.A.
+
+
+The present paper is, of course, in no sense a discussion of the
+_doctrine_ of Christian Baptism. The names by which this Sacrament has
+been called, however, express, to some degree, the views which have been
+taken of it in the Christian Church, and these names must be briefly
+recounted. One of the earliest titles was _Indulgentia_, "remission of
+sin." This is a title as old as the third century, and the idea has found
+expression in the Nicene Creed. _Palingenesia_, "new birth," is an
+expression equally old. It will be remembered that one of the earliest
+symbolical names of our Lord Jesus Christ was _Ichthus_, "Fish;" it is
+found on the walls of the Roman Catacombs. Now this is really an acrostic,
+the letters which made it up are the initial letters of the sentence,
+"Jesus Christ, Son of God, our Saviour," and Tertullian, the first writer
+of the Latin Church, says, "We are fishes, born in water, conformable to
+the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Ichthus." Justin Martyr (middle of the
+second century) speaks of the baptismal water as "the water of life," and
+Cassiodorus (fifth century) calls it _fons divinus_, "the divine
+fountain," whence comes our name "Font." S. Chrysostom and other Greek
+fathers use the name "Illumination," (_Photismos_,) and S. Augustine calls
+it _Salus_, "Salvation," as he calls the Lord's Supper "Life." Another
+word was _Sphragis_, "Seal," because it was the seal of a covenant made
+between God and man. This title is as old as the second century. The same
+idea is conveyed in Augustine's expression, _Character Dominicus_, "the
+Divine, _i.e._, stamp mark."
+
+Baptism was rejected by some of the early heretics, chiefly by the
+Gnostics, who asserted that all religion lay in knowledge, and under
+pretence of exalting spiritual worship, would admit of no external or
+corporeal symbols whatsoever, and also by the Manichaeans, who, holding
+that all matter is in itself evil, consistently rejected the religious use
+of water. Some early heretics also objected to the use of water only,
+asserting that this was no better than the baptism of John, whereas our
+Lord was to baptize also with fire, and they seem, while baptizing with
+water, to have also touched the ears with fire. Others, by some chemical
+art, created an appearance of fire on the surface of the water. (Bingham,
+iii. 414.)
+
+But to come down to later times, there are curious records which tell how
+the matter used in the Baptismal rite was not always water as it is with
+us. A letter of Pope Gregory to Archbishop Sigurd of Norway (A.D. 1241)
+says "Forasmuch as we learnt from you, that it is sometimes the custom, on
+account of the want of water, for infants in your country to be baptized
+in ale, we hereby decree that as according to the Gospel Doctrine, it is
+necessary that they be born of water and of the Holy Spirit, they ought
+not to be accounted as baptized who are baptized in ale." And there are
+Bulls and decrees of Councils to the same effect. In _Notes and Queries_
+(ii. 5, 524) is a quotation from an unpublished diary of the sixteenth
+century, telling how "at Prestone, Aug. 30, 1574, one Griffith ap Bedo Du,
+which dwelt at Pilleth, at the christening of his son would not have the
+same to be christened as the manner is, in water, but upon a proud stomach
+caused the water to be voided out of the font, and filled it with wine,
+and so caused his son to be therein christened." And the diarist goes on
+to say that all the country round noted from that time that "he and his
+continued to grow to decay in substance and credit until his race was
+extinguished."
+
+Controversies concerning Infant Baptism, as well as concerning Immersion
+as distinguished from affusion, or pouring water upon the baptized, would
+be out of place here. The latter practice, rendered necessary in our
+northern climate, has led to the use of the font. Nevertheless, baptism by
+immersion is not unknown in the Church of England. Under the Church of S.
+Lawrence, Reading, there is a baptistery under the pews, and in 1866,
+these pews were temporarily removed and a family of Quakers were baptized
+in it. At Trinity Church, Marylebone and at Scarborough, there are records
+within the last few years of adults baptized by immersion. In the parish
+church of Cranbrook, in the Weald of Kent, is a curious bath for
+immersion, of which the following is the history. John Johnson, who was
+Vicar there at the end of the seventeenth century, found on entering upon
+the incumbency that there were many of his parishioners who were
+unbaptized, and who, though they were desirous of attending his ministry,
+were in favour of being baptized by immersion. The Anabaptists were strong
+in that district during the Commonwealth. He therefore resolved to meet
+their views. There was a flight of steps leading up, on the inside, into
+the Parvise or room over the southern porch. At the top of these steps, on
+the landing so to speak, he constructed a deep bath, reaching down in fact
+to the floor of the church, so that the minister could take the person to
+be baptized up the steps and there immerse him. This charitable concession
+to the convictions of his people is still to be seen. I believe, however,
+that there are only two records of it having been used since its erection.
+Similar baptisteries are to be seen at Ebbw Vale, Aberdare, and elsewhere.
+
+The Canons of the Church order that the font shall be of stone. In some
+churches may still be seen a small vessel of plaster or earthenware, in
+which a little water is put for baptism, so as to save filling the font.
+But it is illegal, and is now rarely seen. Bishop Wilberforce, wherever he
+found them on Visitations, ordered their removal. In the case of private
+baptisms, some clergy keep a basin which they carry with them, similarly
+to a pocket Communion set, and use it for no other purpose. And this
+certainly seems the more reverent method. Others however use any basin
+which may be handy, and then send it back to its ordinary use with a view
+to prevent any feeling of superstition. It seems from the following
+passage in Pepys's diary, that the clergy were in the habit of performing
+public as well as private baptisms in private houses:--
+
+"Lord's Day. My wife and I to Mr. Martin's where I find the company almost
+all come to the christening of Mrs. Martin's child, a girl. After sitting
+long, till the church was done, the parson comes and then we to christen
+the child.... After the christening comes in the wine and sweetmeats,
+etc...."
+
+A statute dating from the time of Henry III. runs as follows:--"If really
+from necessity the child shall be baptized at home, the water on account
+of the sanctity of baptism shall either be poured into the fire, or
+carried away to the church to be poured into the Baptistery and _the
+vessel shall be burnt at the same time, or shall be deputed to the use of
+the Church_."
+
+One of the most confessedly difficult passages in the New Testament is S.
+Paul's question, "What shall they do who are baptized for the dead? If the
+dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them?" (1 Cor.
+XV. 29). Bingham discusses this text at some length. Two main lines of
+interpretation have been followed by the various commentators. The one is,
+that there was a custom among some of the early heretics, that when anyone
+died without baptism, another was baptized in his stead. S. Chrysostom
+says that this was practised among the Marcionites with a great deal of
+ridiculous ceremony, which he thus describes:--"After any catechumen was
+dead, they hid a living man under the bed of the deceased, then, coming to
+the dead man, they spake to him and asked him whether he would receive
+baptism? And he making no answer, the other answered for him, and said,
+'He would be baptized in his stead.' And so they baptized the living for
+the dead, as if they were acting a comedy upon the stage; so great was the
+power of Satan in the minds of these vain men. Afterward, when anyone
+challenged them upon this practice, they had the confidence to plead the
+apostle's authority for it." Bingham proceeds to reject this
+interpretation on two grounds; 1st, that it was superstitious and
+delusive, "Any Jew or Gentile might easily be made a Christian by having
+another, after his death, baptized for him." This objection, however, is
+not conclusive, it does not follow that S. Paul approved of the practice,
+no doubt he would account it a superstition. But he is employing the
+_argumentum ad hominem_. "What do these people mean by their practice if
+they do not believe in a resurrection?" The second objection is more
+cogent, viz.: that the interpretation in question was not accepted by any
+early Christian writer.
+
+The other line of interpretation which Bingham adopts, shall be given in
+his own words. "But S. Chrysostom gives a much more rational account of
+the apostle's argument, for he supposes him to refer to the Catholic
+custom, of making every catechumen at his own baptism, with his own mouth
+declare his belief of the resurrection of the dead by repeating the creed
+of which that was a part, and so being baptized into that faith, or hope
+of the resurrection of the dead. And, therefore, he puts them in mind of
+this saying, 'If there be no resurrection of the dead, why art thou then
+baptized for the dead, that is, the body? For, therefore, thou art
+baptized for the dead, believing the resurrection of the dead, that the
+body may not remain dead, but revive again.' So that 'baptizing for the
+dead,' is an elliptical expression for being baptized into the faith or
+belief of the resurrection of the dead. And so I think Tertullian is to
+be understood when he says in opposition to the error of the Marcionites,
+"That to be 'baptized for the dead' is to be 'baptized for the body,'
+which is declared to be dead by baptism;--that is, we are baptized into
+the belief of the resurrection of the body, both whose death and
+resurrection are represented in baptism." And the interpretation of
+Epiphanius comes pretty near these, when he says, "It refers to those who
+were baptised upon the approach of death, in the hopes of the resurrection
+from the dead; for they shewed thereby that the dead should rise again,
+and that therefore they had need of the remission of sins, which is
+obtained in baptism." The same sense is given by Theodoret, and
+Theophylact, and Balsamon, and Zonaras, and Matthew Blastaras among the
+Greeks; and it is embraced by Bishop Patrick, and Dr. Hammond, as the most
+natural and genuine exposition of this difficult passage of the apostle."
+
+The use of Sponsors in the administration of baptism dates from the
+earliest times. Their duties varied according as the baptized person were
+an infant or an adult. For the most part at first, parents were sponsors
+for their own children, and it was the exception when they were not. "The
+extraordinary cases," says Bingham, "in which [the baptized] were
+presented by others were commonly such cases where the parent could not,
+or would not, do that kind office for them; as when slaves were presented
+to baptism by their masters; or children when parents were dead, brought
+by the charity of any who would show mercy on them; or children exposed by
+their parents, which were sometimes taken up by the holy virgins of the
+church" (iii. 552.) Sponsors for children were called on, 1st, to answer
+in their name to all the interrogatories of baptism; 2nd, to be guardian
+of their spiritual life for the future. In the case of adults their duty
+was to admonish and instruct them both before and after baptism. Very
+commonly sponsors for adults were deacons or deaconesses. Only one sponsor
+originally was required, in the case of adults, a man for a man and a
+woman for a woman. For children there was no restriction as to the sex of
+the sponsor.
+
+Sponsors were called "spiritual parents," and out of this relationship
+grew the practice in the Roman Catholic Church, which forbade sponsors, or
+godparents, from marrying within the forbidden degrees of spiritual
+relation. The first notice of this occurs in the laws of Justinian, which
+forbid a man to marry a woman, whether she be slave or free, to whom he
+has stood godfather, "because nothing induces a more parental affection,
+or juster prohibition of marriage, than this tie, by which their souls are
+in a divine manner, united together." This was afterwards extended to
+prohibition between a godfather and the mother of the child, and the
+prohibition took final shape in the decrees of Trent, which further forbid
+marriages between the sponsors themselves, nor may the baptizer marry the
+baptized. A host of troubles and difficulties are on record in the pages
+of history, arising out of these prohibitions.
+
+It is uncertain when proxies were first allowed. The first English record
+appears to be the case of Jane, the daughter of Thomas Godfrey, of Grub
+Street, who was baptized at S. Giles', Cripplegate, in 1615. Mr. Godfrey
+kept a diary, in which he writes, "My gossips were Mrs. Jane Hallsye, wife
+of Mr. John Hallsye, one of the Citty Captains, and my sister Howlt, and
+Sir Multon Lombard, who sent Mr. Michael Lee for his deputy. My brother
+Thomas Isles afterwards bestowed a christening sermon on us."
+
+In mediaeval times a child on being baptized was arrayed by the priest in a
+white robe, which had been anointed with sacred oil, and was called a
+Chrismale. This robe was called the Chrisom, and if the child died within
+a month, it was shrouded in this robe, and was called a Chrisom-child.
+Parochial registers very frequently have the expression applied to
+children who are buried, and it will be remembered by readers of
+Shakespeare. Sometimes the cloth was called the Christening Palm. Later,
+say a hundred years ago, though the arraying by the minister was not in
+use, a newly baptized child was arrayed in a palm or pall to be brought
+down to see company.
+
+In Perthshire, it is said, a child who was about to be privately baptized
+was placed in a clean basket covered over with a cloth, in which was
+placed a portion of bread and cheese. The basket was then hung on the iron
+crook over the fire, and turned round three times. It was to counteract
+the malignant spells of witches and evil spirits. Here is an inventory of
+christening garments of the seventeenth century (_Notes and Queries_):--
+
+1. A lined, white figured satin cap.
+
+2. A lined, white satin cap, embroidered with sprays in gold coloured
+silk.
+
+3. A white satin palm, embroidered to match. Size 44 in. by 34 in.
+
+4. A pair of deep cuffs, white satin, similarly embroidered, trimmed with
+lace, evidently intended to be worn by the bearer of the infant.
+
+5. A pair of linen gloves or mittens for the baby, trimmed with narrow
+lace, the back of the fingers lined with coloured figured silk.
+
+6. A palm, 54 in. by 48 in., of rich still yellow silk lined with white
+satin.
+
+According to Sarum use, yellow was the altar colour for confessors'
+festivals. This yellow pall may have been considered specially suitable at
+the child's being first openly pledged to confess the faith of Christ
+crucified. Another name for the christening palm is the christening sheet
+or "cude cloth." This is a superstition that if it is not burned within a
+year of the child's birth it will never be able to keep a secret.
+
+The gift of "Apostle Spoons" by sponsors is said, by Stow, to have
+originated in the days of Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare, on being godfather
+to one of Ben Jonson's children, gave him "a dozen of Latten spoons." In
+the days of James I. it was the fashion for sponsors to give shirts with
+little bands or cuffs wrought with silk or blue thread, but this did not
+last, they went back to spoons or cups.
+
+Brand quotes from "The Comforts of Wooing":--"The godmother hearing when
+the child was to be _coated_, brings it a gilt coral, a silver spoon and
+porringer, and a brave new tankard of the same metal." According to
+Shipman the custom of making presents at baptisms declined in the time of
+the Commonwealth.
+
+Pepys, however, observed the custom:--"Nov. 24th. At my goldsmith's,
+bought a basin for my wife, to give the parson's child, to which the other
+day she was godmother. It cost me L10 14s. besides graving, which I do
+with the cypher's name, Daniel Mills."
+
+Christening tongs were also a favourite present, which were of the same
+size as an ordinary pair of sugar tongs, but were in the form of a stork
+standing upright upon the claws which partly form the handle. When opened
+for the purpose of grasping the sugar, the body, which is hollow,
+discloses the image of a baby in swaddling clothes.
+
+This no doubt originated in the old Teutonic fiction that newly-born babes
+were brought by storks.
+
+Here are a few Scottish notes of gifts _from_ the child to its parents.
+They are all from various columns of _Notes and Queries_:--
+
+In 1871, a gentleman was met in one of the principal streets of Edinburgh
+by a very respectably dressed female, with a nurse carrying a child. They
+stopped him, and the former presented him with a paper bag containing a
+biscuit, a bit of cheese, and a bit of gingerbread. On his expressing
+surprise, she said, "Oh! sir, it is the christening bit."
+
+In country places in Scotland, it was a custom, now nearly exploded, for
+the mother on the way to baptism to take a supply of bread and cheese, a
+"whang" or slice of which she gave to the first person she met on the
+country road after leaving church, and it was accounted a high insult to
+refuse it. Probably the provision was part of the "blythe" meat presented
+to the friends in the house, who had assembled after the birth to offer
+congratulations. Such offerings may perhaps be traced to the period when
+the old Romans inhabited the Caledonian regions.
+
+In 1855, at Candleriggs, a silver coin was given in return for the
+eatables. The appearance of copper was, if possible, to be avoided.
+
+In Fifeshire, before starting for the kirk, the "christening-piece,"
+consisting of shortbread, cheese, and oatcake, was made up into a white
+paper parcel tied with ribbon; this the mother held in her right hand as
+she left the house, and presented to the first person met by her, whether
+stranger or friend, gentle or simple. The "christening-piece" was always
+gladly accepted, and in return kind wishes were expressed for the future
+happiness of the child.
+
+It is noticeable that at the other end of Great Britain we have the same
+idea.
+
+At Looe, in Cornwall, the gift was generally a small cake made for the
+purpose, and called the "christening crib," crib being a provincialism for
+a bit of bread. At Polperro, three miles from Looe, a gift termed the
+"kimbly" was also made to the person who brought the first news of a birth
+to those interested in the new arrival.
+
+This custom was still practised in Devonshire in 1883.
+
+Where children are brought in batches to be baptized, as is often the case
+in large towns, it is curious to note that superstitions exist about the
+precedence of sexes, though in different places the ideas are contrary.
+Thus in the North of England there are places where the parents are very
+anxious that the girls should be taken first, on the ground that otherwise
+the boys will be beardless. In Surrey and Worcestershire the same desire
+is expressed; in the West of Scotland the males have precedence. The old
+ideas can hardly be classed under superstitions. In those churches, where
+now-a-days ancient rules are revived, Holy Communion is always
+administered to men before women, and Confirmation to boys. Maskell, in
+his _Monumenta Ritualia_, Eccl., Angl., 1-23, quotes the following rubric
+from Bishop Leofric's missal:--"Et accipiat presbyter eos a parentibus
+eorum, et baptizantur primi masculi deinde feminae, sub trina mersione,
+Sanctam Trinitatem semel invocando."
+
+Cases are on record where a cottager's tenth child was christened with a
+sprig of myrtle in its cap to mark it as the tithe child; it is said that
+a Rector of Compton recognized such a tithe child, and sent him to school.
+
+One of the silliest and most mischievous pieces of legislation was the Act
+23, George III., c. 67. It enacted that after the 1st of October, 1783,
+stamp duty of 3d. should be paid to His Majesty on the entry of every
+marriage, birth, or christening, in the register of every parish,
+precinct, or place in Great Britain, under penalty of L5 for each entry.
+And that the churchwardens should provide a book for each entry, and the
+parson, vicar, curate, and other person receiving the duty was to be
+allowed 2s. in the L for his trouble. By 25 George III., c. 75, the tax
+was extended to dissenters. People were furious, and the poor parson, who
+was supposed to be charging for his own benefit, got the hardest words.
+The Act was repealed by 34 George III., c. 11, the tax ceasing October
+1st, 1794.
+
+In conclusion, we will put together a few odds and ends of folk lore. In
+Ayrshire, in the end of the last century, when a child was taken to a
+distance to be baptized, a quantity of salt was placed round it before
+leaving the house, to ward off evil.
+
+In Worcestershire, it is considered that if an engaged couple stand as
+god-parents to the same child, it is a sure sign that their engagement
+will never end in marriage. This is clearly a relic of what we have
+already noticed, the mediaeval church law by which those persons who stood
+in any spiritual relationship to one another were thereby debarred from
+contracting marriage.
+
+In Dalston, Carlisle, there is a belief that if the baptism of a child
+takes place after it has been "shortened," the baby will not only be noisy
+and disagreeable in church during the administration of the sacrament, but
+will remain bad-tempered and ill-natured for ever afterwards.
+
+The belief still prevails in many rural districts that children dying
+unbaptized wander in woods and solitudes lamenting their hard fate. In
+Sweden parents will, therefore, carry a child miles away in the depth of
+winter to the minister to have it baptized before it is half-a-day old.
+There are, however, methods by which it is supposed even if baptism be
+deferred, that the devil's power over the child can be neutralized. One is
+to wrap it in red cloth and lay it in its cradle, with a psalm book and a
+pair of scissors placed crosswise upon its breast.
+
+"In presenting a child to the minister, its head must be on the right arm
+of the male parent." (West of Scotland).
+
+Brand quotes from a book on Scotland, published in 1793, the statement
+that the inhabitants of Kirkwall and S. Ola would consider it as an
+unhappy omen were they by any means disappointed in getting their
+children baptized on the very day which they had previously fixed in
+their minds for that purpose.
+
+The same compiler has this:--In the North, when the child was taken to
+church to be christened, a little boy was engaged to meet the infant on
+leaving the house, because it was deemed an unlucky omen to encounter a
+female first.
+
+It is supposed to be lucky for children to cry at baptisms, as if they are
+quiet and good then it shows they are too good to live. The idea arose
+from the custom of exorcism. When the devil was going out of a possessed
+person it cried and rent him sore; therefore the tears and struggles of
+the infant would be convincing proof that the evil one had departed. In
+Ireland, the nurses pinch the baby rather than let it be silent or
+cheerful.
+
+In Scotland (to quote Brand once more), on their return from church, they
+take the newly baptized child and vibrate it three or four times gently
+over a flame, saying thrice, "Let the flame consume thee now or never."
+This is possibly derived from a feast called Amphidromia, held at Athens,
+by private families on the fifth day after the birth of the child, when it
+was the custom of the gossips to run round the fire with the infant in
+their arms, and then, having delivered it to the nurse, they were
+entertained with feasting and dancing.
+
+Another Scotch fancy is that it is unlucky to tell the names of infants
+before baptism.
+
+In one of Dekker's plays (1630) occurs the following:--I am the most
+wretched fellow, sure some _left-handed priest christened me_, I am so
+unlucky.
+
+In Greece, while the father is alive, none of his sons are baptized with
+his name; thus a father and son never have the same Christian name at the
+same time. But on the death of the father it is customary for one of his
+sons to adopt his name. The eldest son always bears the name of his
+paternal grandfather (a common custom in Scotland), even though the latter
+be alive. On the other hand, for the obvious reason of identification, an
+illegitimate son always takes the baptismal name of his father. It is
+probable that this practice arises from a belief that the father would die
+on giving to his son precisely his own name, and that the Greek church
+does not allow the variation of a second Christian name.
+
+
+
+
+Marriage Customs.
+
+BY ENGLAND HOWLETT, F.S.A.
+
+
+In all ages, and in all countries, a halo of interest attaches to the
+marriage ceremony, and formerly, when superstition was so rife in the
+country, it naturally followed that all sorts of curious customs arose in
+connection with marriage--customs which, at the time of their
+inauguration, were full of meaning and real interest, but many of which in
+process of time, and owing to an altered state of society, have fallen
+either into oblivion, or become so changed as to be hardly recognisable.
+
+Marriage, in one form or other, is the oldest institution of society, and
+the source of its most ancient laws. The primitive ceremonies of marriage
+are of immense number, and many of them have left distinct survivals in
+modern customs. As regards Christian Europe, in 1085 Hildebrand declared
+Marriage to be a sacrament of the Church; and, at the Reformation, Calvin
+declared it to be an institution of God. The School of Grotius, on the
+other hand, describes it as a contract of partnership.
+
+The Anglo-Saxon marriage ritual was for the parties, with their
+attendants, to come to the porch of the Church: here they were met by the
+priest; first he blessed the ring and gave it to the bridegroom, who
+placed it on the middle finger of the bride's left hand. After this the
+priest recited a form of blessing over the parties; then he led them into
+the Chancel where they remained while mass was celebrated, towards the
+close of which they received the solemn nuptial benediction, and
+afterwards the Pax, and the holy communion.
+
+Before the Council of Trent a valid marriage in the eyes of the church
+might be effected by a simple declaration of the parties to be man and
+wife; no witnesses were necessary under these circumstances, and the
+presence of a priest might also be dispensed with. It will at once be seen
+that a practice such as this was open to very great and grave abuse where
+the interested parties were only too often the only witnesses of the
+declaration. After the Council of Trent, and in all countries where the
+discipline of Trent is received and promulgated, the presence of the
+parish priest is absolutely necessary to constitute a valid marriage in
+the eyes of the Roman Church by mere declaration of the parties to be man
+and wife, and under no circumstances can marriages such as these be
+recognized by the law.
+
+It was customary in many places for the priest to entwine the ends of his
+stole round the joined hands of the bride and bridegroom, at the words
+"Those whom God hath joined together," in token of the indissoluble union
+thereby effected. Most probably this practice led to the familiar
+expression "Tying the knot." Neither the Roman nor the Sarum Missals
+contain any direction for this ritual, which would appear to be a pure
+innovation on the part of the priests.
+
+In ancient Rome the Patrons or Patricians only might marry with each
+other. If a Patrician married a client or vassal, their children were not
+allowed to take Patrician rank; because these clients or vassals had not
+connubium, or right of marriage with their Patrons. Under Caesar's rule a
+married woman was allowed the use of more ornaments, and more costly
+carriages, than the laws of Rome permitted to women generally. A married
+man who had three children born at Rome, or four born in Italy, or five in
+the provinces, enjoyed freedom from certain duties and charges: this no
+doubt was done to encourage the marriage tie, which at that time had
+become exceedingly lax.
+
+The drinking of wine in the Church at weddings is enjoined by the Hereford
+Missal. The Sarum Missal directs that sops immersed in wine, as well as
+the liquor itself, and the cup containing it, should be blessed by the
+priest. The beverage was drunk not only by the bride and bridegroom, but
+by the rest of the company. A distinct survival of this custom, although
+in a debased form, lingered beyond the middle of the present century, at
+Whitburn, in Durham, where the custom of giving what they called
+_Hot-Pots_ was kept up; that is, on the conclusion of the marriage service
+the bride and bridegroom were served in the porch with steaming compounds
+of brandy, ale, sugar, eggs, spices, etc., the bridesmaids also partook of
+this, and the remainder was distributed amongst the guests. The custom of
+nuptial drinking appears also to have prevailed in the Greek Church: and
+the Jews have a custom at the present day, when a couple are married, to
+break the glass in which the bride and bridegroom have drunk, to remind
+them of mortality.
+
+The use of torches at weddings is very ancient. At Rome the practice was
+that two children should lead the bride, and a third carry before her a
+torch of white thorn. The Greeks used also a nuptial torch, which was
+carried by the bride's mother. Lamps and flambeaux are used at Japanese
+weddings, and torches are still used at Turkish marriages.
+
+Knives formerly formed part of the accoutrements of a bride. This is
+easily accounted for by the fact that anciently it formed part of the
+dress for women to wear a knife sheathed and suspended from their girdles.
+A bride says to her jealous husband, in Dekker's _Match me in London_,
+1631:
+
+  "See at my girdle hang my wedding knives!
+  With those despatch me."
+
+The use of bridesmaids at weddings is of remote antiquity. Amongst the
+Anglo-Saxons the bride was led to the Church by a matron, who was called
+the bride's woman, and followed by a company of young girls who were
+called bridesmaids. It was at one time the custom for the bridesmaids to
+lead the bridegroom to Church, and for the bridegroom's men to conduct the
+bride. This is clearly alluded to in the _Collier's Wedding_:
+
+  "Two lusty lads, well drest and strong,
+  Step'd out to lead the bride along:
+  And two young maids of equal size,
+  As soon the bridegroom's hands surprise."
+
+The bridegroom's men were anciently called Bride Knights, which was an
+appropriate name at the period when they actually fulfilled that office.
+
+Bride cake is of ancient origin: it is a relic of the Roman period, when
+the marriage ceremony consisted principally of the contracting parties
+partaking of a cake made of flour, salt, and water, in the presence of the
+Pontifex Maximus, or High Priest, and ten witnesses. The form of the cake
+has varied in different ages. Ben Jonson refers to it in the _Tale of a
+Tub_, iii., 8:
+
+  "The maids and her half-valentine have ply'd her,
+  With courtise of the Bride cake and the bowl,
+  As she is laid awhile."
+
+As feasting was connected with nearly all religious ceremonies, and as
+each feast speedily appropriated its particular article of food, the bride
+cake became inseparably associated with the bridal feast. Anciently, small
+cakes were made for weddings, and distributed amongst the guests; the
+ingredients of these doubtless changed from age to age, but there is
+little doubt the cake was always a sweet one which, in the early days,
+would be sweetened with honey with spices in it, and, after their
+introduction, currants. In the seventeenth century it was usual for the
+bride and bridegroom to kiss over the cake, and many are the superstitions
+connected with it.
+
+It was formerly the custom for the brides to go to church with their hair
+hanging loose behind. Anne Boleyn's was thus dishevelled when she went to
+the altar with Henry VIII. Webster refers to this practice in _The White
+Devil_:
+
+  "And let them dangle loose as a bride's hair."
+
+Nuptial garlands or wreaths are of great antiquity; they were equally used
+by both the Jews and the Heathens. The Roman custom was for the bride to
+have a chaplet of flowers or herbs upon her head, whilst among the
+Anglo-Saxons, after the benediction in the church, both the bride and
+bridegroom were crowned with flowers. In the Eastern church the chaplets
+used at marriages were first blessed by the priest. Wreaths made of ears
+of corn were frequently worn by brides in the time of Henry VIII., and
+myrtle was also much used for this purpose. In many churches it was usual
+to keep a crown of metal for the use of brides, and for which they would
+pay a fee. In the churchwardens' accounts of St. Margaret's, Westminster,
+for the year 1540, is the following entry:--"Paid to Alice Lewis, a
+goldsmith's wife, of London, for a serclett to marry Maydens in, the 26th
+day of September, L3 10s. 0d."
+
+Marriage by proxy was probably practised by the heathen Romans, and even
+so late as the middle ages was not at all uncommon, although then it had
+become confined principally to the aristocracy, and later on few instances
+are to be met with, except in the case of Royalty. Henry VIII. married
+Anne of Cleves by proxy. So also James II., when Duke of York, in 1673,
+was married by proxy to Mary of Modena. The church always looked with
+great disfavour on this form of marriage, and for this reason the parties
+were generally re-married on the arrival of the bride in her husband's
+country, or at the home of the bridegroom.
+
+Amongst the ancient Northern nations a knot appears to have been
+considered as the symbol of love, faith, and friendship, pointing out, as
+it were, the indissoluble tie of affection and duty; hence it is that
+knots or bows of ribbon came to be used as wedding favours, a particular
+form of which came to be known as the _True Lovers' Knot_. The peasantry
+of France wore the bridal favour on the arm, whereas in England it was
+formerly worn in the hat, and consisted of ribbons of various colours; in
+later years white ribbon alone was used. Curiously enough Rosemary was not
+only carried at funerals, but was also worn at weddings, and appears to
+have been considered as an insignia of a wedding guest: on these occasions
+the sprigs of Rosemary were frequently gilded, or dipped in scented water.
+Bay leaves were also used for a similar purpose, but not so generally as
+the Rosemary.
+
+Wedding rings were used both by the Greeks and Romans, but then only at
+the ceremony of betrothal, and not that of marriage. The Anglo-Saxon
+bridegroom at the betrothal gave a _Wed_, or pledge, and a ring was placed
+on the maiden's right hand, where it remained until marriage, and was then
+transferred to the left. During the reigns of George I. and George II.,
+the wedding ring was often worn on the thumb. The placing of the ring on
+the book is a remnant of the ancient custom of blessing the ring by
+sprinkling Holy Water in the form of a cross, and this is still done in
+the Roman Church. One of the earliest forms of rings was the Gemel, or
+double ring, and this was used as a pledge before marriage: they were
+generally made in three parts, and broken in the presence of a witness,
+who retained the third part. In Germany, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, it
+was a common custom for the engaged couple each to give to the other a
+plain gold ring, much resembling a wedding ring. In the last century,
+wedding rings were frequently inscribed with poesys. Dr. John Thomas, who
+was Bishop of Lincoln in 1753, married four times. The motto or poesy on
+the wedding ring at his fourth marriage was:--
+
+  "If I survive
+  I'll make them five."[7]
+
+King Henry VIII. gave Anne of Cleves a ring with the poesy:--
+
+  "God send me well to keep."
+
+It was a general custom in the middle age for the bridegroom to place the
+ring first on the thumb of the bride, then on her second finger, and then
+on her third, at the name of each person of the Trinity, "leaving it" as
+the rubric directs, on her fourth finger at the word _Amen_; thus
+signifying by action, not less than by word, that he was undertaking the
+duties of the married state, "in the name of the Father, of the Son, and
+of the Holy Ghost." The reason assigned for the fourth finger being
+appointed as the final resting place of the wedding ring, is because on
+that finger there is generally believed to be a certain vein which
+proceeds to the heart. The left hand most probably was appointed because
+the virgins espoused to the church wore the ring of their celestial
+nuptials on the right hand.
+
+The nuptial kiss was a solemn ceremony which was duly directed both by the
+Sarum and York Uses. At the "Sanctus," in the bridal mass, both the bride
+and the bridegroom knelt near the altar; if neither of them had been
+married before, a pall, or as it used to be called, the "care-cloth," was
+held over them at its four corners by as many clerics. After the "Pater
+Noster," and just before the "Pax," the priest turning himself towards the
+married couple gave them the nuptial blessing. The care-cloth was then
+removed, and the bridegroom arose from his knees and received the kiss of
+peace from the priest; he then turned to his bride and kissed her upon
+the cheek. In the York Use the care-cloth was held by only two clerics.
+Although the solemn ceremonial of the nuptial kiss has long since ceased
+to be a regular portion of the marriage service, still, in many rural
+districts, it is customary for the bridegroom to kiss the bride while they
+are before the altar, and in sight of the congregation assembled. At
+Halse, a village in Somersetshire, it is still a recognised custom amongst
+the labouring classes for the bridegroom, after he has placed the ring on
+the bride's finger, to take her in his arms and kiss her fervently, and it
+is a somewhat remarkable feature that instead of this causing any
+amusement amongst the spectators, it is treated as a solemnity, and would
+certainly appear to be a distinct survival of the nuptial kiss. A similar
+custom still prevails at Bishops Lydeard, in Somersetshire.
+
+There is a rule in Hindoo law which forbids a younger sister to be married
+before the elder; nor is a younger brother allowed to be married before
+the elder. There would seem to be a curious resemblance between these
+rules and the rules of the Old Testament days, when Laban refused to let
+his younger daughter marry before Leah. We get another instance of a
+restraint on marriage, in 1367, when the memorable Parliament of Kilkenny
+was held, which passed the Statute of Kilkenny. By this statue it was
+declared high treason for any person of English origin to marry into an
+Irish family.
+
+Poor maidens who might otherwise lose their chance of matrimony for want
+of a dowry were sometimes provided for by funeral doles. "I will," says
+Richard Trowler, A.D. 1477, "that X_l._ be disposed of at my burying among
+poor people, and that X_l._ be given to the marriage of poor maidens not
+having father or mother." Johanne Beauchamp, Lady of Bergavenny, devised
+"to the marriage of poer maydens dwellyng withyn my lordship, C_l_, and to
+the makying and emending of febull brugges and foul weyes, C_l_." There
+certainly seems to be a curious analogy between this custom and the laws
+of ancient Greece, by which the State provided a dowry for those maidens
+who, through poverty or plainness, would otherwise have remained
+unmarried.
+
+With regard to the seasons for celebrating marriage, the Church was
+formerly very strict. The parish register for St. Mary's, Beverley,
+contains the following entry under date November 25, 1641:--
+
+  "When Advent comes do thou refraine,
+  Till Hillary set ye free again,
+  Next Septuagessima saith thee nay,
+  But when Low Sunday comes thou may,
+  Yet at Rogation thou must tarrie,
+  Till Trinitie shall bid thee marry."
+
+The above appears to have been a popular verse to inscribe in registers,
+for, with slight variations, it is to be met with in several parishes.
+_Philomath's Almanac_, for the year 1674, contains similar rules in
+prose:--
+
+    "TIMES PROHIBITING MARRIAGE THIS YEAR.
+
+    Marriage comes in on the 13th of January, and at Septuagessima Sunday
+    it is out again until Low Sunday, at which time it comes in again, and
+    goes not out till Rogation Sunday. Then it is forbidden until Trinity
+    Sunday, from whence it is unforbidden till Advent Sunday, but then it
+    goes out, and comes not in again till the 13th of January next
+    following."
+
+With regard to the publication of Banns of Marriage, it appears to have
+been the custom in the primitive ages that the Church should be forewarned
+of marriages. The earliest existing canonical enactment on the subject in
+the English church, is that in the eleventh canon of the Synod of
+Westminster, in the year 1200, which enacts that "no marriage shall be
+contracted without banns thrice published in the church, unless by the
+special authority of the Bishop." Anciently, before the publication of
+banns, it was the custom for the curate to affiance the two persons to be
+married in the name of the Trinity; and at this period the banns were
+sometimes published at Vespers as well as at Mass.
+
+Forbidding the banns of marriage is now a very rare occurrence; formerly,
+it was not so, and it was customary to interdict a marriage sometimes for
+the sole purpose of making a comparative stranger prove his bona-fides.
+The parish register of Frampton, near Boston, Lincolnshire, contains the
+following entry on January, 1, 1653:--"The marriage of Edward Morton and
+Jane Goodwin was objected to by John Ayne, Thomas Appleby, and William
+Eldred: because in the first place, the said Edward Morton was a stranger,
+and they did not know where he had lived until a short time before, or
+whether he was married or single; therefore they desired the marriage
+might be deferred until he brought a certificate of these things. And
+secondly because they have been informed and do believe that he is a very
+poor man, and therefore they wish him to get some sufficient man to be
+bound with him to secure the town from any charge of him or his."
+
+An interesting custom is still kept up at Laceby, a village in North
+Lincolnshire, where the bells ring a merry peal at the close of the
+service in which the third publication of banns has taken place. A similar
+custom prevailed at North Kelsey, in Lincolnshire, the practice there
+being to ring the peal of bells on the Monday evening after the last
+publication of banns, but in this latter case the custom appears to have
+fallen into disuse many years ago. Bells frequently bear inscriptions
+relating to the marriage peals; the fifth bell at Coton-in-the-Elms,
+Derbyshire, dated 1786, has inscribed on it:--
+
+  "The bride and groom we greet
+    In holy wedlock joined,
+  Our sounds are emblems sweet
+    Of hearts in love combined."
+
+In the early part of the century it appears to have been a common practice
+in most parts of the country for the clerk, after the publication of the
+banns of marriage, to rise and say, "God speed them well;" and in some
+places it was usual for the congregation to respond "Amen." At Hope, in
+Derbyshire, this was done not only on the publication of banns, but also
+at the solemnization of the marriage, immediately after the abjuration--"I
+require and charge you both." The practice has fallen into the same
+oblivion which has overtaken the old parish clerk--at one period so
+self-important an individual in the church, and now, except in remote
+villages, so insignificant an official. The custom appears to have
+lingered for some time at Croxton Kerrial, near Melton Mowbray, and at
+Birkby, a village near Northallerton.
+
+The following extract from the parish registers for Chalgrave,
+Bedfordshire, for the year 1655, furnishes an instance of the manner in
+which weddings were frequently conducted during the Commonwealth, in
+pursuance of Cromwell's Act of Parliament, August 24, 1653, and by which
+the presence of a priest was entirely dispensed with:--"Henry Fisher and
+Sarah Newson, of Chalgrave, published three severall Lords dayes in one
+p{sh} meeting house called the church ended xxiij{rd} of Sept{b} and no
+exception made against it, and the said Henry Fisher and Sarah Newson was
+married the xxix{th} Sept{b}, as by certificate doth appear by Francis
+Austeres Esq, and in psents of Will: Martin and Abraham Newson." In the
+parish registers of Launceston, Cornwall, is the following
+entry:--"Hereaf{r} follow marriages by laymen, according to the prophanes,
+and giddynes of the times without precedent or example in any Christian
+Kingdom or Commonwealth, from the birth of Christ unto this very year
+1655.
+
+"1655, The 28{th} daye of October were married by John Hicks, Gent. and
+Maior of this Town, John Heddon and Mary Harvey. Their banns being
+published in the Markett Place att Launceston three severall Markett
+dayes, viz., the 11{th}, the 18{th}, and the 25{th} of this instant
+October, without contradiction."
+
+The following extract from the register of St. Mary's Church, Bermondsey,
+1604, instances a curious custom of re-uniting husband and wife who had
+been long separated:--
+
+    "The form of a solemn vowe made betwixt a man and his wife, having
+    been long absent, through which occasion the woman beinge married to
+    another man, took her again as followeth:--
+
+    _The Man's speach._ Elizabeth, my beloved wife, I am right sorie that
+    I have so long absented myself from thee, whereby thou shouddest be
+    occasioned to take another man to be thy husband. Therefore I do now
+    vowe and promise in the sight of God, and this companie, to take thee
+    again as mine owne, and will not only forgive thee, but also dwell
+    with thee, and do all other duties unto thee, as I promised at our
+    marriage.
+
+    _The Woman's speache._ Raphe, my beloved husband, I am right sorie
+    that I have in thy absence taken another man to be my husband: but
+    here, before God, and this companie, I renounce and forsake him, and
+    do promise to keep mysellfe only unto thee during life, and to perform
+    all duties which I first promised unto thee in our marriage.
+
+    The first day of August, 1604, Raphe Goodchild of the parish of
+    Barkinge, in Thames Street, and Elizabeth his wife, were agreed to
+    live together, and thereupon gave their hands one to another, makinge
+    either of them a solemn vowe so to do in the presence of us:
+
+    WILLIAM STEVE, Parson,
+    EDWARD COKER, and RICHARD EIVES, Clerk."
+
+In Germany a sect of the Moravians called _Herrnhuters_ have a most
+curious method of selecting their life partners: the men and women of a
+marriageable age are collected in a house which has a suite of three
+rooms, each opening into the other, the young men in one end room and the
+young women in the other; then the doors from these two rooms are thrown
+open into the middle room, which is perfectly darkened. After this
+follows a sort of general scramble, or "catch who can," and whichever girl
+the man catches becomes his wife. This method of selecting a wife seems
+somewhat risky, but it is possible that even in a darkened room a couple
+with a prior attachment might manage to tumble into each other's arms, and
+so, while adhering in the letter to the custom of their sect, bring about
+the union dictated by their hearts.
+
+The throwing of an old shoe after a newly-married couple on their
+departure is general all over the country, but in Kent the custom is
+accompanied by a little more detail than is usually observed in other
+parts of the country. The principal bridesmaid throws the shoe, the other
+bridesmaids run after it, the belief being that the one who gets it will
+be the first to be married. She then throws the shoe amongst the
+gentlemen, and it is supposed that the one who is hit will also be married
+before the others.
+
+The custom of showering rice over the bride and bridegroom is a universal
+one, although in some parts wheat is substituted, this was formerly
+general in Nottinghamshire and Sussex. The practice appears to find a
+parallel in Poland, when, after the nuptial benediction has been given by
+the priest, the father receives the newly-married couple at the door of
+their house, and strews some barley corns over their heads. These corns
+are carefully gathered up and sown. If they grow it is considered an omen
+that the married pair will enjoy a life of happiness. Grain of any sort is
+symbolical of plenty, and no doubt at different periods and in different
+countries that grain has been selected which could be procured the most
+easily. An old Spanish ballad of the sixteenth century, _The Cids
+Wedding_, refers to the custom, except that ears of wheat appear to have
+been used instead of threshed wheat:--
+
+  "All down the street the ears of wheat are round
+      Ximena flying."
+
+Wedding Biddings were usual down to the end of the last century: these
+were entertainments given previously to the wedding, and the guests were
+each expected to bring a present. An account of these presents was
+preserved, and it was expected that the giver should receive a gift of
+equal value on their own marriage. In Cumberland, at these entertainments,
+a bowl or plate was fixed in some convenient part of the house where each
+of the company contributed in money in proportion to his ability or
+inclination. In some districts the bidding was publicly done by a herald
+with a crook or wand adorned with ribbons, who gave a general invitation
+according to a prescribed form.
+
+Gretna Green was the invariable resort of runaway couples, owing to the
+flaw in the Old Scottish law which required nothing more than an
+acknowledgment before witnesses in order to constitute a valid marriage.
+The Marriage Act of 1856 has, however, rendered such unions impossible,
+for by its provisions, which are common to both countries, it is necessary
+that one of the parties shall have resided for at least twenty-one days in
+the parish where the marriage takes place. The old romantic interest once
+attached to Gretna Green is now fast becoming a thing of the past.
+
+The following extract from the register of St. Martin's Parish, Leicester,
+is interesting as showing how, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, a marriage
+was celebrated in a case where a bridegroom was deaf and dumb.
+
+    "Decimo quinto Februarii. 18. Eliz.: reginae.
+
+    Thomas Filsby and Ursula Russet were married; and because the said
+    Thomas is naturally deaf and dumb, could not for his part observe the
+    order of the form of marriage, after the approbation had of Thomas,
+    the Bishop of Lincoln, John Chippendale, LL.D., and Commissary, and
+    Mr. Richard Davis, of Leicester, and others of his brethren, with the
+    rest of the parish, the said Thomas for expressing of his mind instead
+    of words, of his own accord used these signs: First he embraced her
+    with his arms, took her by the hand, and put a ring on her finger, and
+    laid his hand upon his heart and held up his hands towards heaven; and
+    to show his countenance to dwell with her till his life's end, he did,
+    by closing his eyes with his hands, and digging the earth with his
+    feet, and pulling as though he would ring a bell, with other signs
+    approved."
+
+An interesting feature in the marriage announcements a century ago, was
+the detail given respecting the fortune of the bride. Matters which now we
+regard as more or less private were then openly advertised to the world.
+_Williamson's Liverpool Advertiser_ for 1759, contains the following
+notice: "Liverpool, May 25. On Tuesday last was married at Hale, Dr.
+Zachariah Leafe, of Prescot, to Miss Martha Clough, of Halewood, an
+agreeable young lady of 18 years of age, with a very genteel fortune."
+_The Leeds Intelligencer_, for July 3, 1764, announces:--"On Thursday last
+was married Mr. John Wormald, of this town, merchant, to Miss Rebecca
+Thompson, daughter of the late ---- Thompson, Esqr., of Staincliffe Hall,
+near Batley, an agreeable young lady with a fortune of upwards of L4,000."
+These are no uncommon instances, and almost any newspaper of the period
+would furnish similar examples.
+
+It was a common custom, down to about 1850, for butchers' boys, in their
+blue coats, and sometimes also with a large white favour, to attend in the
+front of houses where weddings had that day taken place, and play on their
+cleavers with knuckle bones; the "Butchers' Serenade" it was called.
+Hogarth, in his delineation of the marriage of the industrious apprentice
+to his master's daughter, introduces a set of butchers coming forward with
+marrow bones and cleavers.
+
+A bridegroom was often called upon to pay toll. It was a Somersetshire
+custom for the village children, on the occasion of a wedding, to fasten
+the churchyard gates with a wreath of evergreens and flowers; a floral
+bond which always required a "Silver Key" to unlose. A writer to _Notes
+and Queries_, in January, 1858, states that on the occasion of his
+marriage, some years previously, when passing through the village
+adjoining that in which the marriage had taken place, his carriage was
+stopped by the villagers, holding a band of twisted evergreens and
+flowers, who good naturedly refused to let the carriage pass until toll
+had been paid.
+
+At Burnley, in Lancashire, an old custom prevailed by which all persons
+married at St. Peter's Church, in that town, paid a fine to the boys at
+the Grammar School; the money thus obtained being applied, according to
+the records, for the maintenance of the school library. This custom
+appears to have been kept up down to the year 1870, about which time
+Burnley Grammar School was rebuilt, and, on its re-opening, the practice
+of paying fines to the boys was discontinued.
+
+It is a common saying in Lancashire that a bride should wear at her
+wedding:--
+
+  "Something old and something new,
+  Something borrowed, something blue."
+
+This saying, and the practice of it, is common in other parts of England;
+the writer knows a lady who, when married at Bedford, five years ago,
+carried out the couplet to the letter; on this same bride being brought by
+her husband to his home in Lincolnshire, at the end of the honeymoon, the
+custom of lifting the bride over the threshold was observed; the bride and
+bridegroom got out of the carriage a few yards from the house, and he
+carried her up the steps, and into the hall. This was formerly a common
+practice in the North of England, and in Scotland, and is the remains of
+an old Roman custom which has survived the onslaught of time and change.
+
+It was an old custom to strew the path from the house of the bride to the
+church with sawdust or sand, and so recently as the year 1876 a "sawdust
+wedding" took place from a house in Sunderland. The custom would
+originate, no doubt, in a desire to secure a clean path for the bride to
+walk upon, and this was often ornamented with devices, which would be
+easily done with either material.
+
+"Keeping the doorstep warm" was a custom practised most commonly in the
+North of England. As soon as the bride and bridegroom had gone away, and
+the old shoe had been thrown, a servant, or sometimes the guests, would
+pour a kettle of boiling water over the front doorstep, as an auspice that
+there would soon be another wedding from the same house--keeping the
+threshold warm for another bride they called it.
+
+In these prosaic nineteenth century days, there is not much attention paid
+to the selection of the day of the week for the marriage ceremony. Our
+ancestors had many proverbs and couplets, all more or less pointing to
+certain and the same day, to avoid or select for the event.
+
+  Monday for wealth,
+  Tuesday for health,
+  Wednesday best day of all,
+  Thursday for losses,
+  Friday for crosses,
+  Saturday no luck at all.
+
+The practice of inserting wedding announcements in newspapers is almost
+universal, and the addition of "no cards" appears as often as not. Our
+neighbours on the other side of the Atlantic have, however, quite outdone
+us by the following addition to a wedding announcement in the _Quebec
+Morning Chronicle_, of November 7th, 1868:--"No cards. No Cake. No Wine."
+
+
+
+
+Burial Customs.
+
+BY ENGLAND HOWLETT, F.S.A.
+
+
+The burial of the dead furnishes many instances of curious customs, some
+of which, with modifications, survive to our own day, while a large number
+have become entirely obsolete, or meaningless. In the middle ages
+especially, it naturally followed that a great deal of superstition should
+be attached to death and burial, and superstition often originated a
+custom which survived long after any importance was attached to the
+origin.
+
+The Egyptians made futile attempts to preserve the body by embalming--this
+practice originated no doubt in the opinion which it was said they held,
+that so long as a body remained uncorrupted, so long the soul continued in
+it. The Greeks usually, but not universally, burnt their dead, and
+interred their ashes in urns. The actual origin of cremation is lost in
+obscurity, most probably the primary idea was the purification of the body
+by fire. It is supposed the early practice of the Romans was to bury, but
+their later practice was to burn, and cremation was held by them in
+honour, the bodies of suicides and young children not being allowed to be
+burnt.
+
+In ancient times burial was always without the walls of the cities and
+towns; indeed before the time of Christianity it was not lawful to bury
+the dead within the cities, but they used to be carried out into the
+fields, and there deposited. About the end of the sixth century, St.
+Augustine obtained of King Ethelbert a Temple of Idols (used by the King
+before his conversion), and made a burying place of it; and Saint Cuthbert
+afterwards obtained (A.D. 752) leave from the Pope to have yards made to
+the churches, suitable for the burial of the dead.
+
+In the ordinary funerals of Christian Anglo-Saxons, the corpse was simply
+wrapped in linen, and carried to the grave by two persons, one holding the
+head, and the other the feet; the priest then censed the body, and whilst
+it was being deposited in the grave, offered up prayers and benedictions.
+At the obsequies of persons of distinction, hymns were sung by the
+attendant priests, who accompanied the body in procession. At this period
+the body of a deceased person was always watched by the relatives and
+friends from the moment of death to the time of burial; the "wake" of the
+present day being the survival of this custom.
+
+It was a common practice, when the body was embalmed, to take out the
+heart and bowels, and inter them in a different church to that in which
+the body was buried; testators sometimes made a request in their wills for
+this to be done. The custom appears to have prevailed from the twelfth to
+the eighteenth century. The heart of Richard the First was buried at
+Rouen, his bowels at Chaluz, and his body at Fontevand. In 1838, the
+King's heart was discovered under the pavement of the sanctuary in Rouen
+Cathedral, enclosed in a leaden case, with the inscription:--
+
+    Richard Coeur de Lion.
+  Duc de Normandie. Roi D'Angleterre.
+
+Coeval with the introduction of church bells has been the appropriation of
+one of them to the service of the dying; originally this bell was tolled
+when one was yielding up life in order that all who heard it might offer
+up prayer for the departing spirit, and after death another bell was rung,
+called the "soul bell." The "Passing Bell," as it is now most
+inappropriately called, is not rung until some hours after death, and
+corresponds more nearly to the original "soul bell." In some districts it
+is always rung exactly twenty-four hours after death, the tenor bell being
+used for an adult, and the treble for a child; the big bell is generally
+reserved for funerals. In rural districts after the "passing bell" has
+tolled, the sex of the deceased is indicated most generally by tolling
+twice for a woman and thrice for a man, to this is often added the age by
+giving one toll for each year.
+
+In the middle ages it was customary at the funeral of any great person to
+have his horse led, and armour borne, before his corpse, the horse being
+afterwards claimed as a mortuary due to the church at which the burial
+took place; the armour was either reserved for the next of kin of the
+deceased, or else was hung up in the church. No doubt much of the armour
+suspended over tombs is mere "undertaker's trappings," although often
+considered genuine and of antiquity.
+
+Over the tombs of bishops, the Episcopal mitre and pastoral staff was
+sometimes suspended, as in the case of those in Winchester Cathedral
+hanging over the tomb of Bishop Morley, who died in 1696; and of those in
+Bromsgrove Church, Worcestershire, suspended over the Monument of Dr.
+Hall, Bishop of Bristol, who died in 1710.
+
+The hearse, so often mentioned in wills and funeral directions, was not a
+carriage for the conveyance of the body like that in use at the present
+day, but was a four square framework of timber, from each corner of which
+rose a rafter slanting, and all four rafters met at the top; this was
+covered with black cloth, and at the funerals of persons of distinction
+was set up for a time in the choir, for the reception of the body during
+the service; it was surrounded with rails, and fringed and ornamented
+according to the rank of the deceased. Until the Reformation, hearses were
+garnished with numerous lights as well as with pencils and escocheons, but
+with the change of faith the lights were discontinued. These hearses were
+introduced about the fourteenth century, and they continued to be used
+until the civil wars of the seventeenth century.
+
+In Shropshire there is a custom of "ringing the dead home," viz.: chiming
+all the bells, instead of ringing only one, while the funeral is on its
+way to the church. When the procession nears the churchyard gate the
+chiming is stopped and a minute bell is tolled. The sexton's fees at Much
+Wenlock, as laid down in 1789, include "a chime if required before the
+funeral, 0 1 0." At Hatherleigh, a small town in Devonshire, it was the
+prevalent custom to ring a lively peal on the church bells after a
+funeral, as elsewhere after a wedding.
+
+Even in the present day, in some remote rural districts, and especially in
+Hampshire, the practice still prevails of leaving open the outer door of
+the house, through which the corpse has been carried, until the mourners
+return from church, and in some places the custom extends also to the
+windows; this arises from a superstition that if the doors or windows be
+shut there will certainly be another death in the house within a year. In
+some districts there is a belief that if, when the moment of death
+approaches, all the doors and windows of the house are opened, the spirit
+will leave the body more easily.
+
+It was an ancient practice to put an hour glass into the coffin before
+burial, as an emblem of the sand of life being run out. Some antiquaries
+are of opinion that little hour glasses were anciently given at funerals,
+like rosemary, and by the friends of the deceased either put into the
+coffin or thrown into the grave.
+
+The custom which still prevails of sewing up a corpse in flannel,
+originated, doubtless, in the Act of Parliament, 18 and 19, Charles II.,
+which was passed for the encouragement of the woollen trade, and required
+all bodies to be buried in woollen shrouds; two amending statutes were
+passed, 1678 and 1680, requiring at the funeral an affidavit to be
+delivered to the priest stating that the requirements of the law had been
+carried out; otherwise penalties were incurred. These acts were repealed
+by 54 George III., although long before that time the penalties for
+noncompliance with the law had ceased to be enforced. During the operation
+of the acts for burying in woollen, the law was sometimes evaded by
+covering the corpse with hay, or flowers, notification of which is
+sometimes met with in the parish registers.
+
+Burial in armour was not at all uncommon in the middle ages, and was
+considered a most honourable form of burial. Sir Walter Scott, in "The Lay
+of the last Minstrel," thus refers, to it:
+
+  "Seem'd all on fire that Chapel proud,
+  Where Roslin's Chiefs uncoffin'd lie,
+  Each Baron for a sable shroud
+  Sheathed in his iron panoply."
+
+Clement Spelman, of Narburgh, Recorder of Nottingham, who died in 1679, is
+immured upright, enclosed in a pillar in Narburgh Church, so that the
+inscription is directly against his face: this must surely be a solitary
+instance of burial in a pillar, although there are many other instances of
+burial in an upright position. Thomas Cooke, who was a Governor of the
+Bank of England, from 1737 to 1739, and who had formerly been a merchant
+residing in Constantinople, died at Stoke Newington, 12th August, 1752,
+and by his directions his body was carried to Morden College, Blackheath,
+of which he was a trustee, it was taken out of the coffin, and buried in a
+winding sheet upright in the ground, according to the Eastern custom.[8]
+Ben Jonson was buried at Westminster in an upright position: possibly this
+may have been on account of the large fee demanded for a full-sized grave.
+It was for a long time supposed that the story was invented to account for
+the smallness of the gravestone, but on the grave being opened some years
+since, the dramatist's remains were discovered in the attitude indicated
+by tradition. The following quotation from Hearne's "Collection of
+Antiquarian Discourses," Vol. I., p. 212, shows that the upright position
+of burial was anciently adopted in the case of captains in the army:
+
+    "For them above the grounde buryed, I have by tradition heard, that
+    when anye notable Captayne dyed in battle or campe, the souldyers used
+    to take his bodye and to sette him on his feet uprighte, and put his
+    launce or pike into his hand, and then his fellowe souldyers did
+    travell and everye man bringe so much earthe, and laye about him as
+    should cover him, and mount up to cover the top of his pike."
+
+At Messina there is a church attached to one of the monasteries--St.
+Jacomo--in which several monks are buried in a sitting posture, and may be
+seen through a grating in a vault below the church.
+
+From the earliest ages to within about one hundred years ago, it appears
+to have been customary to bury either with or without a coffin. The
+following is an extract from a Terrier of lands, fees, etc., belonging to
+Caistor Vicarage, Lincolnshire, dated 1717: "For every grave in the
+churchyard and without coffin, four pence, if with coffin, one shilling."
+Amongst the Vestry Minutes of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, dated 5th March,
+1564: "Item, that none shall be buryd within the Church, unless the dead
+corpse be coffined in wood." The late John Bernard Palmer, first Abbot of
+the Cistercians in England since the Reformation, was buried in the
+Chapter House, at Loughborough, without a coffin. In the days when burial
+without a coffin was general, the body was shrouded, tied at the head and
+feet, and carried to the grave in a closed bier, which was generally
+provided by the parish for this purpose.
+
+A singular custom was wont to prevail at Gainsborough, of distributing
+penny loaves on the occasion of a funeral, to whosoever might demand them.
+Prior to the Reformation it was a common practice for our ancestors to
+direct in their wills that doles of bread and other alms should be given
+to the poor at their funerals; by this they performed a double
+act--relieving the corporal wants of the poor, and securing their prayers
+for the repose of their own souls. In some parts of Yorkshire, and
+elsewhere, it is still customary to send to friends immediately after
+death a paper bag of biscuits, and a card with the name, etc., of the
+deceased; this would not appear to be connected with a dole to purchase
+prayers, and may possibly find an origin in, and be the last remains of,
+the ancient ceremonial of the pagan burial feasts. At Amersden, in
+Oxfordshire, it was the custom at the burial of every corpse for a cake
+and flagon of ale to be given to the minister in the church porch
+immediately after the funeral.
+
+The curious and repulsive practice of sin eating is now obsolete. Aubrey,
+in "Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme," thus refers to it:--
+
+    "In the County of Hereford was an old custome at funeralls to have
+    poor people who were to take upon them the sinnes of the party
+    deceased. The manner was that when the corps was brought out of the
+    house and layd on the Biere, a Loafe of Bread was brought out, and
+    delivered to the Sinne eater over the corps, so also a Mazer-bowle of
+    Maple full of beer, w{ch} he was to drinke up, and six pence in money,
+    in consideration whereof he took upon him all the sinnes of the
+    Defunct, and freed him (or her) from walking after they were dead."
+
+The origin of this strange custom was most likely connected in some way
+with the ceremony of the Scape Goat under the old Law. (Leviticus, cap.
+xvi., v. 21).
+
+Tradition authorises the expectation that our Lord will appear in the
+east; therefore all the faithful dead are buried with their feet towards
+the east to meet Him. Hence in Wales the east wind is called "The wind of
+the dead men's feet." The eastern portion of a churchyard is always
+looked on as the most honoured--next the south--then the west, and last of
+all the north, from the belief that in this order the dead will rise. A
+curious instance of this belief is furnished by an epitaph on a tombstone,
+dated 1807, on the north side of Epworth Churchyard, Lincolnshire, the
+last two lines of which run as follow:--
+
+  "And that I might longer undisturbed abide
+  I choosed to be laid on this Northern side."
+
+Felons, and notorious bad characters, were frequently buried on the north
+side of the church.
+
+In Suffolk most of the churches have both a north and south door, and,
+where old customs are observed, the body is brought in at the south door,
+put down at the west end of the aisle, and carried out by the north door.
+In Lincolnshire the north is generally reserved entirely for funerals, the
+south and west doors being reserved for christenings and weddings.
+
+The burning of lights and torches at funerals has always been a mark of
+honour to the dead, and to have a great number was a special mark of
+honour to the deceased. Testators frequently made provision in their wills
+for the burning of torches, both as to the number to be used, and their
+price; these torches were generally provided by the churchwardens, and
+consequently they were an article of profit to the church. Churchwardens'
+accounts furnish numerous instances of the charge to the friends of the
+deceased according to the consumption of wax.
+
+The following extract from the will of John Woodford, of Barsby, in the
+parish of Ashby Folville, Leicestershire, dated 13th February, 1543,
+instances the custom of making minute testamentary arrangements for
+burial:--
+
+    "And my bodie to be burryed within the parishe Churche of our Ladie in
+    Ashbie-folwell Aforesaid as neare to the grave or Tombe of my cozin
+    John Woodforde as maye be convenyentlie thought, or els in the crosse
+    oyle before the pulpitt. Also I bequeath to our Mother Church of
+    Lyncolne iiij{d.} Also to the Highe Altar xij{d.} Also I will that
+    there be provided of Waxe xiij Tapers of the price of ij{d.} a peece.
+    Also I will that fyve poor men of the same parishe be chosen to beare
+    fyve Torches about my hearse Att my burryall. And they doing shall
+    have for their labour ij{d.} peece. Also I bequeath to the same Church
+    those fyve Torches And they to be burned att principall Feasts and
+    other Feasts as shall be convenyent. Also I will that every priest
+    that cometh to my Burriall to have iiij{d.} and their dynner. And if
+    there be no dynner, Then every priest for to have viij{d.} a peece.
+    And the same priests of their charritie for to say dirge and Masse
+    Att my burriall or els Att home within their parish for my soule and
+    for all my good Frends soules and for all xyen soules. Also I will
+    that they shall ring att my Burriall and to have for their labour
+    ij{d.} a peece."
+
+The Arvel Dinner appears to be an ancient custom. This was properly a
+solemn festival on the day of interment, and when the corpse was exposed
+to view. The relations and friends were invited to attend so that, having
+inspected the body, they might avouch that the death was a natural one,
+and thus exculpate the heir and all others entitled to the deceased's
+possessions from accusations of having used violence.
+
+In Scotland the custom still prevails of taking down the window blinds at
+the death, and hanging white sheets across the windows. The custom also
+prevails in the north of England, and in many families a special sheet
+reserved for the death chamber is kept for the purpose, and often used
+from generation to generation.
+
+In many parts of Scotland, too, it is still customary for the nearest
+relatives of the deceased to lower the body into the grave, and wait by
+the side until the grave is filled up.
+
+In country districts in Wales a custom still exists of setting up a chest
+in the middle of the chancel at the time of a funeral, and before leaving
+the church the mourners all file round and put their offerings in; this is
+really intended for the clergyman's fee, but if the people are poor he
+often returns part of it (to a widow, for instance).
+
+There is at least one instance that it was customary for the parish to
+provide an umbrella for the use of the clergyman on public occasions, more
+especially at funerals. The parish accounts at St. John's, Chester,
+contain the following entries:--
+
+  1729 Paid Mr. George Marsh for an
+       Umbrell for the parish use                      00 10 6{0.}
+
+  1786 Paid for an Umbrell for Mr.
+       Richardson to read the Burial service under      1  6 0{0.}
+
+It was a general belief that if a corpse was carried over fields on the
+way to burial, it established a public right of way for ever, hence it
+became customary, when, for convenience, or in some cases out of
+necessity, a corpse was taken across fields, or over any private ground,
+for the undertaker to stick a number of pins in each gate as the
+procession went through. The pins were accepted by the owner of the land
+as a payment for the privilege of the corpse being carried through, and
+acted as an acknowledgment that the right of way was granted only for the
+particular occasion.
+
+There is an ancient custom amongst the Russians to give the deceased two
+written documents placed in his coffin, containing (1) The confession of
+his sins: (2) The absolution given by the priest.
+
+One of the ancient customs connected with Swedish funerals was to place a
+small looking-glass in the coffin of an unmarried female, so that when the
+last trump sounds she might be able to arrange her tresses. It was the
+practice for Scandinavian maidens to wear their hair flowing loosely,
+while the matrons wore it bound about the head, and generally covered with
+some form of cap, hence the unmarried woman was imagined as wakening at
+the judgment day with more untidy locks than her wedded sisters, and more
+in need of a glass.
+
+It was customary, in carrying a corpse to burial, to rest the bier at any
+cross which might be in the way, whilst prayer was offered up; and,
+indeed, it was very general to erect a cross at any spot where the bier of
+a celebrated person had been rested on its way to interment.
+
+In the fifteenth century a most revolting custom originated of
+representing on tombs a skeleton, or worse still, a corpse in a state of
+corruption; this was followed by the more becoming custom of representing
+the effigies of corpses enveloped in shrouds tied at the head and feet.
+
+At Skipton it was an invariable practice to bury at midnight a woman who
+had died at the birth of her first child; the coffin was carried under a
+white sheet, the corners of which were held by four women. A custom
+prevailed in Lancashire when a mother died within a month of the birth of
+her child, of taking the baby to the funeral, and holding it over the
+grave as though to look in.
+
+Towards the end of the fourteenth century arose the practice of carrying a
+waxen effigy of the deceased either on or before the coffin in the funeral
+procession. The earliest instance of this practice is in the case of King
+Henry V., whose effigy formed the first of those figures which are still
+preserved in Westminster Abbey. This custom was only observed in the case
+of royalty, and persons of high position; the expense of a waxen
+representation of the deceased would prevent poor people from following
+it. The wax effigy of Oliver Cromwell lay in state while the body itself
+was being embalmed, so that most probably the actual corpse was never
+exposed to public view. The practice appears to have been discontinued
+shortly after the Restoration.
+
+A custom prevailed and continued even down to recent years of making
+funeral garlands on the death of young unmarried women of unblemished
+character. These garlands were made sometimes of metal, and sometimes of
+natural flowers or evergreens, and commonly having a white glove in the
+centre, on which was inscribed the name, or initials, and age of the
+deceased. This garland was laid on or carried before the coffin during its
+passage to the grave, and afterwards frequently hung up in the church,
+generally being suspended from the roof. It was usual in the primitive
+church to place crowns of flowers on the heads of deceased virgins.
+
+There was an order in the Church of England up to the year 1552, that if a
+child died within a month of baptism he should be buried in his chrisom in
+lieu of a shroud. The chrisom was a white baptismal robe with which, in
+mediaeval times, a child, when christened, was enveloped. A sixteenth
+century brass in Chesham Bois Church, in Buckinghamshire, represents
+Benedict Lee, chrisom child, in his chrisom cloth. The inscription
+underneath the figure stands thus:--
+
+  Of Rog{r} Lee gentilma, here lyeth the son Benedict Lee
+  Crysom who{s} soule ihu pdo.
+
+Formerly it was a general custom to erect crosses at the junction of four
+cross roads, on a place _self-consecrated_ according to the piety of the
+age; suicides, and notorious bad characters, were frequently buried near
+to these, not with the notion of indignity, but in a spirit of charity,
+that, being excluded from holy rites, they, by being buried at cross
+roads, might be in places next in sanctity to ground actually consecrated.
+
+The practice of placing a pewter plate containing a little salt on a
+corpse may possibly have originated in salt being considered an emblem of
+eternity. In Scotland the custom has generally been to place both salt and
+earth separate, and unmixed--the earth being an emblem of the corruptible
+body, and the salt an emblem of the immortal spirit. Salt has also been
+used to preserve a corpse. The body of Henry I., who died in Normandy, was
+cut and gashed, sprinkled with salt, wrapped in a bull's hide, and brought
+to Reading Abbey to be buried.
+
+Testators frequently bequeathed palls by their wills for the general use
+of the parish; the following is an extract from the will of William
+Parkyns of Brympton, Berkshire, who died in 1558:--"Item, I will that mine
+executours buye one new pall, price 13s. 4d., the which I give unto the
+parish churche at Brympton to be laide uppon any personne, or personnes,
+that shall die within the said parishe and be brought to the churche."
+
+In several rural districts in England, especially in the north, when a
+funeral takes place, a basin full of sprigs of box is placed at the door
+of the house where the corpse lies, and each person who attends the
+funeral takes a sprig of box as he enters the house, carries it in the
+funeral procession, and finally throws it into the grave of the deceased.
+
+At Exford, near Minehead, it was formerly the custom for burials always to
+take place on a Sunday when possible, the burial service being dovetailed
+into the usual afternoon service. The corpse being brought into the
+church, was placed in front of the reading desk, and remained there during
+the service: the funeral psalms were read instead of the psalms for the
+day, and the funeral lesson instead of the second lesson. The burial
+service was concluded after the sermon, and the entire congregation would
+generally remain to the end. The custom appears to have fallen into disuse
+about thirty years ago.
+
+Funeral cake or biscuit appears to be general in all parts. In Whitby, a
+round, flat, and rather sweet, sort of cake biscuit is baked expressly for
+use at funerals, and made to order by more than one baker in the town; it
+is white, slightly sprinkled with sugar, and of a fine even texture
+within. In Lincolnshire sponge finger biscuits are used. In Cumberland a
+custom prevailed of giving to each person who attended the funeral a small
+piece of rich cake, carefully wrapped up in white paper and sealed. This
+used to be carried round immediately before the "lifting of the corpse."
+Each visitor selected one of the sealed packets and carried it home
+unopened.
+
+Funeral Bidders are most probably derived from the Romans, who used to
+send a public crier about inviting people to the solemnization of a
+funeral. In the northern countries each village had its regular "Bidder,"
+who when "bidding" to the funeral generally knocked on the door with a
+key. In towns the crier frequently did the "bidding," having first called
+the attention of the people by his bell.
+
+
+
+
+Concerning the Churchyard.
+
+BY JOHN NICHOLSON.
+
+
+In the life of St. Willebald[9] we are told "that it was an ancient custom
+of the Saxon nation on the estates of some of their nobles and great men,
+to erect, not a church, but the sign of the Holy Cross, dedicated to God,
+beautifully and honourably adorned, and exalted on high for the common use
+of daily prayer." It is the exception rather than the rule, for Domesday
+Book to mention a church in connection with a village, and it is possible
+that our Kirkbys, and place names having Kirk as a prefix, acquired that
+addition when the church was built in the churchyard ready for it--a
+churchyard already consecrated and hallowed by years of divine service and
+sacred memories.
+
+What better place than this, in the whole township, could be found for the
+hearing of disputes and the settling of cases; here, where the bishop sat
+with the sheriff, where the clerics were lawyers, where oaths could be
+taken on everything that was holy, and round which all a man's sacred
+associations clustered. The churchyard was a court of justice; but in
+later times, the ecclesiastical authorities discouraged the holding of
+secular pleas in churches and churchyards. In 1287 a synod held at Exeter,
+said "Let not secular pleas be held in churchyards," but as late as 1472,
+a presentment from the parish of "Helemsay et Staunforthbrig" (Helmsley
+and Stamfordbrig) shews "that all the parishioners there hold pleas and
+other temporal meetings in the church and churchyard."[10]
+
+The great church festivals were much abused by traders. At these great
+gatherings, dealers in all kinds of goods appeared on the scene, spread
+their wares on the tombstones, and could with difficulty be kept out of
+the sacred edifice itself. Their noisy shoutings, the assemblage of
+pleasure seekers, and the tumult attending such gatherings interfered
+seriously with the Divine service proceeding inside the church. A
+presentment, in 1416, from St. Michael-le-Belfry, in the city of York,
+states "the parishioners say that a common market of vendibles is held in
+the churchyard on Sundays and holidays, and divers things, and goods, and
+rushes, are exposed there for sale, and horses stand over the bodies of
+the dead there buried, and defile the graves, to the great dishonour and
+manifest hindrance of divine worship, on account of the clamour of those
+who stand about." (_Ibid._, p. 248.) While so late as 1519, the
+churchwardens of Riccall, in Yorkshire, complain that "pedlars come on
+festival days into the porch of the church and there sell their
+merchandise." (_Ibid._, p. 271.)
+
+Annual fairs were sometimes held in churchyards, especially where there
+was some saintly shrine or relic, which attracted crowds for the period of
+some anniversary. Perhaps Thomas-a-Beckett's shrine at Canterbury was the
+most celebrated, but the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham almost surpassed
+it. The common people held the idea that the Milky Way pointed towards
+Walsingham, and they called it Walsingham Way accordingly; while
+Glastonbury was called a second Rome for the number and sacredness of its
+relics. When the pilgrims had paid their devotion to the relics, they
+needed to eat and drink, and they were not averse to spend the rest of the
+day in amusement. Accordingly, minstrels, players, jugglers, and the
+like, supplied that demand, and the pilgrimage became a fair.
+
+On Sundays and holidays, the churchyard became a public playground. In
+pre-Reformation days, a holiday was a holy-day, when man went not forth to
+his labour. Then there were no eight hours day, no Early Closing
+Associations, but work, work, work, from early morn till late night, the
+only cessation of toil being on Sundays and Saints' days, hence termed a
+holy-day. On that day, people went to matins and mass in the morning, and
+spent the rest of the day in amusements, not always elevating or refined.
+The Synod of Exeter, already quoted, says, "We strictly enjoin on parish
+priests that they publicly proclaim in their churches, that no one presume
+to carry on combats, dances, or other improper sports in the churchyards,
+especially on the eves of the feasts of saints; or stage plays or farces,
+by which the honour of the churches is defiled and sacred ordinances
+despised." Again, at Salton, Yorkshire, in 1472, "it is ordered, by the
+consent of the parishioners, that no one use improper and prohibited
+sports within the churchyard, as, for example, wrestling, football, and
+handball, under penalty of twopence forfeit."[11] The ordinance seems to
+have been disregarded, or to have had only a temporary effect, for in
+1519, a second complaint is made (_Ibid._, p. 270), when the
+ecclesiastical authorities commanded, "Let them desist on pain of
+excommunication."
+
+In days when men went about armed with sword and dagger, it was sure to
+happen that a hasty quarrel would lead to stroke of sword or stab of
+dagger, without heed to the sacred character of the place, or to the fact
+that the assault constituted sacrilege, and desecrated "God's Acre" by
+bloodshed.
+
+Whitsuntide used to have a special feast of its own, known as Whitsun Ales
+or Church Ales, an institution by which money was obtained for repairing
+the church, helping the poor, and various charitable purposes. The
+churchwardens brewed the ale, and on the appointed day half the
+country-side assembled to join in the festivities;--music and song,
+baiting of bulls, bears, and badgers, bowls and ball, dice and
+card-playing, dancing and merry-making. The Church Ales were very popular
+in the North of England, where it was the practice to hold them in tents
+and booths erected in the churchyards. In 1651, in Somerset, seventy-two
+clergymen of the county certified that during these Church Ales, which
+generally fell on a Sunday, "the service of God was more solemnly
+performed, and the service better attended, than on other days."
+
+As an instance of what could be accomplished at one of these Church Ales,
+we may mention that "in 1532, the little village of Chaddesden spent 34s.
+10d. on an 'Aell' for the benefit of the great tower of All Saints',
+Derby, which was then being built, and earned by it L25 8s. 6d.,--near
+L400 of our money." (Lichfield, Diocesan Hist., S.P.C.K.)
+
+Doles are often distributed in the churchyard. William Robinson, at one
+time Sheriff of Hull, when he died in 1708, left money to purchase a dozen
+loaves of bread, costing a shilling each, to be given to twelve poor
+widows at his grave every Christmas Day. Leonard Dare, in 1611, directed
+that on Christmas Day, Lady Day, and Michaelmas Day, the churchwardens
+were "to buy, bring and lay on his tombstone, threescore penny loaves of
+good wholesome bread," which were to be distributed to the poor of the
+parish. A quaint custom is still enacted annually in London on Good
+Friday. The vicar of St. Bartholomew's the Great, Smithfield, drops
+twenty-one sixpences in a row on a certain lady's grave. The money is
+picked up by the same number of widows kneeling, who have previously
+attended service at the church, where a sermon is preached.[12]
+
+A quaint old custom, once not infrequently practised, was that of
+scrambling bread and cheese and other edibles in the churchyard. A story
+is told of two poor sisters walking to London to claim an estate. Arriving
+at Paddington, weary, hungry, and footsore, their miserable condition
+aroused sympathy, and the good folk of Paddington gave them relief. In
+course of time, their claim was established, and as a token of gratitude
+they left a bequest of bread and cheese, to be thrown from the top of the
+church of St. Mary's, Paddington, among the people assembled in the
+churchyard below. This custom was continued into this present century, for
+in 1821, it is noticed in the newspapers as an annual practice to throw
+bread and cheese from the belfry of the church at eight o'clock on the
+Sunday before Christmas Day. At Barford, Oxfordshire, is a piece of land,
+known as White-bread Close, the rent of which was formerly spent in
+buying bread to be scrambled for at the church door. A correspondent of
+the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1824, says that the "distribution
+occasioned such scenes of indecent riot and outrage, even fighting in the
+church itself, that a late curate very properly effected the suppression
+of a practice productive of this gross abuse." Mr. Tuke, of Wath, near
+Rotherham, who died in 1810, left a bequest whereby forty dozen penny
+loaves were to be thrown from the church leads at twelve o'clock on
+Christmas Day for ever. This is the latest instance of a scrambling custom
+with which we are acquainted.[13]
+
+Bells were frequently cast in churchyards, and from the editor of this
+volume we have received some interesting notes on this subject. "In the
+days of the early bell founders," says Mr. William Andrews, "the country
+roads were little better than miry lanes, full of ruts and holes, and
+where the moisture of the winter was often not evaporated during the
+summer. For this reason bells were mostly cast in the immediate vicinity
+of the churches, or monastic establishments, they were intended to grace.
+The monks, too, were not unwilling to retain the usage as an opportunity
+for a religious service; they stood round the casting pit, and, as the
+metal was poured into the mould, would chant psalms and offer prayers.
+Southey, in 'The Doctor,' says:--'The brethren stood round the furnace,
+ranged in processional order, sang the 150th Psalm, and then, after
+certain prayers, blessed the molten metal, and called upon the Lord to
+infuse into it His grace, and overshadow it with His power, for the honour
+of the saint to whom the bell was to be dedicated, and whose name it was
+to bear.'
+
+"Sometimes the bells were cast in the interior of the building, as at St.
+Albans, where, in the beginning of the 14th century, the great bell called
+the 'Amphibalus,' being broken, was cast in the hall of the sacristy. In
+some places, Kirkby Malzeard, and Haddenham, for instance, the bells were
+cast in the church itself. But most frequently the churchyard was chosen
+for the purpose. At Scalford, during excavations made some time ago, there
+were found traces of a former furnace, and also a mass of bell metal,
+which had evidently been melted on the spot; about 1876, the churchyard of
+Empingham yielded a similar instance. The bells of Meaux Abbey were cast
+within the precincts. Coming down to more recent times we find the
+bell-founders obviating risks of transit by the same means. The 'Great
+Tom' of Lincoln, in 1610, and the great bell of Canterbury, in 1762, were
+cast in the yards of their respective cathedrals. It was customary also
+for bell craftsmen to settle awhile in a particular locality, and thence
+extend their business from that centre to the churches around. This was
+done in 1734 by Daniel Hedderly, of Bawtry, at Winterton, in Lincolnshire,
+and by Henry Bagley, who advertised in 1732, that he would 'cast any ring
+or rings of bells in the town they belong.' Latterly, however, the
+improved roads and means of transit have enabled bells to be cast in their
+proper foundries, and then conveyed to their posts of office."
+
+Sundials were most commonly placed on the south wall of the church, but
+many a churchyard is graced by these obsolete time-keepers. At Kilham,
+East Yorkshire, opposite the door of the south porch of the church, a
+stone coffin has been sunk, head foremost, about half its length in the
+ground, and on the foot of this coffin a sundial was placed in 1769, and
+is still in a good state of preservation.
+
+Wimborne Minster, Dorset, boasts a dial which must not be missed. It is
+dated 1732, and is to be found under the yew tree in the Minster yard,
+though its original position was on the gable of the north transept. It is
+of stone, 6 ft. in height; its south face is 4 ft. in width, and its east
+and west faces 3 ft. respectively, each of which bears a gnomon--a
+somewhat unusual feature.
+
+A few miles from Canterbury, in Chilham churchyard, stands a beautiful
+sundial, the graceful stone pedstal of which was designed by the famous
+Inigo Jones.
+
+Sundials have become well nigh useless owing to improved methods of
+keeping time, but one loves to see these relics which link us to a past
+which, with all its disadvantages, has many pleasant bye-paths for the men
+of to-day.
+
+The stocks were sometimes placed in the churchyard, though more frequently
+near the village cross or in the market place. In 1578, tenpence was paid
+"for a hinging locke to the stockes in the Mynster Yearde,"[14] and again
+in 1693 "for rebuilding the gallows in the Horse faire, and the stocks in
+the Minster yard, L5 5s. 10d." The stocks at Beverley Minster were
+movable, and placed in the yard when required for use.
+
+A strange scene was enacted in St. Paul's churchyard, in May, 1531.
+According to Fox, the well known writer on martyrs, Bishop Stokesley
+"caused all the New Testament of Tyndal's translation, and many other
+books which he had bought, to be openly burnt in St. Paul's churchyard."
+
+A curious act of penance was performed in Hull, in 1534, by the vicar of
+North Cave. He had made a study of the work of the Reformers, who had
+settled in Antwerp, and sent their books over to England. In a sermon
+preached in the Holy Trinity Church, Hull, he advocated their teaching,
+and for this he was tried for heresy and convicted. He recanted, and as an
+act of penance, one Sunday, he walked round the church barefooted, with
+only his shirt on, and carrying a large faggot in his hand to represent
+the punishment he deserved.
+
+Crosses have always been deemed a fitting emblem and suitable ornament for
+churchyards. Many ancient, interesting, and valuable crosses are yet to be
+found, notably at Ilkley, Crowle, Bakewell, and Eyam, the latter of which
+lay in pieces in a corner of the churchyard, until restored by John
+Howard, the philanthropist.
+
+One result of church restoration by vicars, strangers to the place and
+people, and but newly installed, is the formation of a rubbish heap, in
+some neglected or unseen corner of the churchyard. Here are thrown,
+carelessly, cruelly, wantonly, costly stones of marble, alabaster, or
+granite, removed from the interior of the church, because there is no
+representative to plead for their safety. Boys clamber over the wall, make
+houses of the slabs, and for one brief hour, "dwell in marble halls," then
+go home and carry off the smaller pieces to ornament a rockery. It has
+been my good fortune, on more than one occasion, to rescue a monumental
+slab from destruction, and place it in the hands of the present
+representative of the family mentioned thereon.
+
+Let us go through this little wicket gate which gives entrance to this
+village churchyard. As the gate clicks behind us, we find ourselves close
+to a handsome modern cross, raised on four circular steps. Here let us sit
+awhile and find rest for body and soul. The grass is closely cut between
+the graves, the little grassy mounds themselves have been made into tiny
+flower gardens. All around is evidence of care and pride in work; it is
+somebody's hobby as well as his living. Round the larger family graves,
+tasteful iron railings are fixed, and creeping plants and climbing roses
+rob the erection of its rigidity. At the beginning of the eighth century,
+a wise Northumbrian monarch was laid to rest in this "garden of sleep,"
+and for twelve centuries the long roll of those joining the majority has
+been added to here in this quiet place, until the very dust on which we
+walk is sacred. Like Moses in the desert we are on holy ground--it is
+"God's Acre."
+
+
+
+
+Altars in Churches.
+
+BY THE REV. GEO. S. TYACK, B.A.
+
+
+The altar, although it is the most important and most conspicuous article
+of church furniture, is not one that provides much material for gossip of
+the quaint and curious kind. And this is natural: a decent reverence
+having protected the Christian "Holy of Holies" from the vagaries that
+have sometimes invented grotesque customs in connection with other parts
+of the church. This feeling of sanctity arises most obviously from the
+fact that on the altar the sacred mystery of the Eucharist is offered; but
+in early times it was intensified by the knowledge that beneath that altar
+rested the remains of some saint or martyr. In the first ages it was so
+far customary thus to commemorate the church's departed heroes, that
+_confessio_, or _martyrion_ (that is, the grave of a confessor or martyr),
+became recognized names for the altar.
+
+In later times the custom was reversed; the altar was no longer reared
+over the bones of the saint, but the body of anyone whom the church
+specially wished to honour was buried beneath the altar; and even now,
+when interments within churches are forbidden, the same natural feeling
+often finds expression in the burial of a parish priest immediately
+without the east wall, as near as possible to the altar that he served.
+
+Probably it was the thought of security guaranteed by the sacredness of
+the altar which suggested to the monks of Canterbury the making of a
+grated vault beneath the high altar of the cathedral, in which to store
+their treasures. Here, before the Reformation, was kept a collection of
+gold and silver vessels, so large and costly, that in the opinion of
+Erasmus, Midas and Croesus would seem but beggars in presence of it.
+This altar was itself lavishly adorned, and all its glory had not
+disappeared in the days of Archbishop Laud, one of whose offences was the
+adorning of it with "a most idolatrous costly glory cloth."
+
+For richness of material no altar that the world has seen could well excel
+the one erected in the Cathedral of S. Sophia by the Emperor Justinian. It
+was "a most inimitable work, for it was artificially composed of all sorts
+of materials that either the earth or the sea could afford, gold, silver,
+and all kinds of stones, wood, metals, and other things; which being
+melted and mixed together, a most curious table was framed out of this
+universal mass." The result, one cannot but think, with all its splendour,
+must have been somewhat barbaric. Other altars we read of in the early
+ages made of gold, or of pure silver, and others, like that presented to a
+church by Pulcheria according to Sozomen, adorned with gold and precious
+stones.
+
+There seems never to have been any very definite rule in force as to the
+material of which an altar should be made. It is true that the Council of
+Epaone (A.D. 517) decreed that "no altar should be consecrated except it
+were of stone;" but in practice, metal and wooden altars still continued
+to be used, both in the east and the west.
+
+The custom of having a tabernacle permanently on the altar for the
+reservation of the Blessed Sacrament did not become usual until the
+twelfth century, but as early as the middle of the ninth century, Leo IV.
+mentions a pyx suspended for the same purpose above it. In fact we find
+traces as far back as the sixth of the use of pyxes in the form of doves
+made of gold or silver; and in England this custom continued until the
+Reformation. The pyx at Durham Cathedral, which hung from a hook still to
+be seen in the roof, was in the form of a pelican "in her piety," that is,
+feeding her young with her heart's blood; a figure which has been copied
+in the lectern now in use.
+
+As the usual ornaments of the altar and its ministers became more numerous
+and more costly, it was inevitable that the question of responsibility for
+their provision should arise. Such a dispute came for settlement before
+Walter de Gray, Archbishop of York (1216-1256) in 1253, and he drew up a
+catalogue of such necessary things as the parishioners were to provide.
+
+It will perhaps surprise some people to know that the custom of placing
+vases of flowers on the altar, so far from being a modern innovation, is
+one of the most ancient ways of adorning it. S. Augustine speaks of a
+young man taking a flower from an altar in an oratory dedicated to S.
+Stephen; and elsewhere we read of flowers, skilfully interwoven, as a
+decoration of the altar.
+
+Anciently altars had no covering, except the linen clothes placed on the
+top, but as early as the sixth century Gregory of Tours speaks of a silk
+pall as a covering for one. It was in the eighth century, however, and by
+the influence of Pope Leo III., that altar-cloths came generally into use.
+The name for this in the Roman Missal is _Pallium_, or pall, and that name
+is still preserved in our English Coronation Service, where the gift of a
+pall is prescribed as part of the oblation to be made by the Sovereign. In
+accordance with this direction, and the custom of her ancestors, Queen
+Victoria, at her coronation, made an offering of a pall of cloth-of-gold,
+which was presented at the altar steps.
+
+In marked contrast to the reverence shown to the altar in almost all ages
+and places, is a custom that for some couple of centuries existed at S.
+Ives in Huntingdonshire. A certain Dr. Robert Wilde, dying there in 1678,
+left a sum of L50, the interest of which was to be annually expended in
+the purchase of Bibles, each of which was not to exceed 7s. 6d. in price.
+The following extraordinary method of distributing these volumes was also
+enjoined. Six boys and six girls of the parish having been selected, were
+to stand at the altar and cast thereon with three dice, those making the
+highest aggregate number of points to have the Bibles. The occasion was to
+be further improved by the preaching of an appropriate sermon by the
+Vicar, for which he was to receive the sum of 10s. A piece of ground, now
+known as "Bible Orchard," was bought with the legacy, and the distribution
+has duly taken place ever since in accordance with the donor's wishes,
+except that in recent years a small table has been placed at the chancel
+step for the dice throwings, and the desecration of the altar avoided.
+
+So strange a custom, however good the founder's intention, could scarcely
+begin, much less take root, and live among us now; when we see on every
+hand efforts to treat God's altar-throne with the reverence, and to adorn
+it with such dignity, as becomes it. And we may surely see in the revived
+life and widened usefulness of the English Church of to-day, a fulfilment
+of the Divine promise, "Them that honour Me, I will honour."
+
+
+
+
+The Rood Loft and its Uses.
+
+BY JOHN T. PAGE.
+
+
+The word _rood_ or _rod_ is of Saxon origin, and signifies a cross, or
+crucifix. It was universally adopted in Roman Catholic times to denote the
+cross on which Christ suffered death, and thus instead of the Holy Cross
+we invariably read of the Holy Rood.
+
+The annals of legendary lore record that on the 3rd of May, A.D. 328, the
+true cross was found by St. Helena, buried deep in the ground at
+Jerusalem. Cosroes, King of Persia, on plundering the city, carried the
+precious relic away with him, but it was recovered again by Heraclius,
+Emperor of the Eastern Empire, who, in the year 629, made a pilgrimage to
+Jerusalem, and restored it to the Holy Sepulchre.
+
+Ever since then the 14th of September has been celebrated as the Festival
+of the Holy Rood, or Holy Cross. Crosses had been set up in churches as
+far back as the year A.D. 431, and henceforward until the time of the
+Reformation they continued to be an important article of church
+furniture.
+
+From the earliest times it had been customary to separate that part of the
+Church at the east end where the altar stood, from the body of the nave,
+where the common people assembled for worship. For this reason we find the
+arches between the chancel and the nave in Anglo-Saxon and Norman Churches
+very narrow, so that a curtain could easily be stretched across the
+opening. Later on this curtain was displaced by a screen of open woodwork,
+and in some cases stone was used instead of wood. This screen was
+generally carried up to the capitals of the columns which supported the
+chancel arch, and was surmounted by a substantial cross-beam. Upon the
+beam was constructed a loft or gallery, in the centre of which stood the
+rood, or crucifix. Access was generally gained to the rood loft by a newel
+staircase cut either in the north or south wall of the chancel, and
+occasionally the staircase existed on both sides. In some churches the
+rood loft extended across the side aisles as well, and this necessitated
+the erection of a specially constructed turret at the east end of one of
+the aisles.
+
+The rood itself was always set in the centre of the loft, in such a
+position that it could be well seen by the assembled worshippers. Not only
+was the body of the Saviour represented as hanging upon the cross, but it
+was flanked on each side by attendant images of the Virgin Mary and St.
+John. These all faced the west, in accordance with a tradition that Christ
+was crucified with His face in that direction. It must not, however, be
+taken for granted that a rood loft existed in every church. Sometimes the
+rood was simply fixed on the cross-beam immediately over the screen, the
+gallery in this case being dispensed with.
+
+It is a moot point as to when the rood was first set up in the English
+Church, but as there are scarcely any remains of screen-work of earlier
+date than the fourteenth century, it could not have been long before that
+time. There are, it is true, a few solitary specimens of thirteenth
+century work, but most of that which still exists is of fifteenth century
+date. Looking at examples of this period we generally find the rood loft
+projected a little forward over the screen, the angle thus formed being
+filled with groined work, springing from the protruding supports of the
+screen beneath. The upper part of the screen was filled with open work
+carving, which sometimes partook of the character of an elaborate
+symbolical design. The lower part was nearly always plain, but in
+conjunction with the upper surface was often elaborately painted and
+gilded.
+
+When the Reformation came, the roods were all swept away by order, but the
+rood lofts in some cases became utilised as galleries for the singers. In
+the churchwardens' account books, belonging to the parish of Stratton,
+Cornwall, under date 1549, occurs an entry of a sum of money "payd for
+takyng downe y{e} Rode and y{e} pagents y{n} y{e} rode lofte." It does not
+appear that any of the roods escaped destruction, but representations of
+the rood, and its attendant images of St. John and the Virgin Mary, were
+sometimes carved in stone and inserted in the walls of churches, and of
+these a few still remain. It is therefore possible to obtain from these
+stone carvings a very good idea of how the rood looked when it was set up
+in the rood loft. Mr. Bloxam mentions examples at Romsey, Hants;
+Sherborne, Dorset; Burford, Oxon, and Evesham, Worcester; and the writer
+may add that a fine specimen is to be seen over the south doorway of
+Stepney Church, Middlesex.
+
+It it presumed that an altar sometimes stood in the loft in front of the
+rood. The fact that at Maxey Church, Northamptonshire, a piscina is to be
+found in the south wall of the clerestory would seem to enforce such a
+theory. On special occasions lights and other decorations occupied a place
+in the loft near the rood. It has also been stated that the Gospel and
+Epistle, and various other parts of the service, were read from the rood
+loft.
+
+Very good examples of a late Perpendicular rood screen and loft exist at
+Bugbrook Church, Northamptonshire. The screen consists of three
+compartments, of which the central one is the widest. It is ten feet seven
+inches high, and at the base of the loft, measures nineteen feet three
+inches across. The lower part of the central compartment, which went to
+form the doors, is missing. The upper part is arched, and down the centre
+of the arch runs a mullion. This description of the upper portion
+corresponds with the two side compartments, where, however, the mullions
+are continued down to the ground. The lower parts on each side are filled
+with plain panels, which have apparently been inserted in later times. A
+series of elaborate vaulting springs from the main supports of the
+structure, and upholds to the rood loft, which projects over the top of
+the screen. The vaulting is covered with fan tracery, the spaces between
+the ribs being filled in with a rich design. The loft is between three and
+four feet in width, and the cross beam on which it rests is seven inches
+wide. Admission to the loft is gained from the south side, through a
+narrow arched opening in the wall. The steps originally descended into the
+south aisle, but there are only five of them now remaining.
+
+The counties of Devon and Somerset probably contain some of the finest
+examples of rood screens and rood lofts. On one at least of these the rood
+has lately been replaced, for in a recent number of _Notes and
+Queries_,[15] Mr. Harry Hems, of Exeter, writes as follows:--"The only
+rood screen I recollect for the moment having the three figures upon it,
+is at St. Andrew's, Kenn. I placed them there some seven or eight years
+ago."
+
+There seems now to be a general inclination towards a revival of the rood
+screen. Even in our most recently built churches, a temporary screen,
+festooned with flowers or other decorations, may often be seen erected on
+the occasion of harvest festivals, and such-like celebrations. Whether or
+no the setting up of the rood in the rood loft will ever again become
+customary in the English Church, is a question time alone can solve.
+
+
+
+
+Armour in Churches.
+
+BY J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.
+
+
+The memorial brasses, the incised slabs, and especially the effigies of
+knights and men-at-arms, which abound in our churches, tell us far more of
+the successive stages and development of English arms and armour, both of
+an offensive and defensive character, than all the manuscript inventories
+or actual collections of weapons that are yet extant. And not only do our
+churches thus yield the most valuable and trustworthy evidence as to the
+armour of our forefathers, by its faithful pourtrayal on the memorials of
+the departed, but they also afford a sanctuary in numerous cases for
+actual armour.
+
+It was for many centuries a custom of Christendom--apparently more
+particularly in England than elsewhere--to suspend over the tomb the
+principal arms of the departed warrior, which had previously been carried
+in the funeral procession. Hearne, the well-known antiquary of last
+century, says that the custom originated with Canute placing his crown
+upon the head of the crucifix at Winchester, when he found that the waves
+refused to obey him; but it is somewhat difficult to follow the reasoning
+which makes this a precedent for the hanging up of the dead man's armour.
+
+The custom is twice noted by Shakespeare. In "Hamlet," Laertes says:--
+
+  "His means of death, his obscure burial--
+  No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,
+  No noble rite, nor formal ostentation."
+
+Iden, in "Henry VI.," remarks:--
+
+  "Is't Cade that I have slain, that monstrous traitor,
+  Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed,
+  And hang thee o'er my tomb, when I am dead."
+
+The armour in our churches may be divided into two classes; firstly, that
+which had actually been worn by the person commemorated, and secondly,
+that which was specially constructed for funeral purposes.
+
+The most deeply interesting and the oldest of genuine armour still
+preserved within English churches, is that which pertained to the Black
+Prince, and which hangs above his well-known tomb in the cathedral church
+of Canterbury. In June, 1894, this armour was exhibited at Burlington
+House, in the rooms of the Society of Antiquaries, when we had special
+opportunities of examining it. The great tilting helm of iron weighs seven
+pounds. The leathern cap inside it is almost worn away. The gilded
+long-tailed lion which forms the crest is of leather. The great shield of
+France and England quarterly is also of embossed leather. The gauntlets
+are of latten, and still retain the inner leather gloves. The
+sword-scabbard and buckle are of the same material; the sword itself is
+unfortunately missing, and is said to have been appropriated by Oliver
+Cromwell when visiting Canterbury.
+
+The surcoat, which laced up the back, is of velvet, and well padded. It is
+not a little remarkable that the arms of neither shield nor surcoat bear
+any label or mark of cadency, but are simply royal arms. Mr. St. John Hope
+ingeniously conjectures that this singular omission can only be accounted
+for on the supposition that the relics were really those of Edward III.,
+and not of his son, the Black Prince, and that they were hung up over the
+son's tomb by the king's order as a mark of his deep affection.
+
+At the same exhibition the actual shield of Henry V., from Westminster
+Abbey, was also shown.
+
+Sir David Owen, by his will, dated February 20th, 1529, desires that "my
+body be buried in the priory of Esseborne, after the degree of a banneret,
+that is with helmet and sword, my war armour, my banner, my standard, and
+my pendant."
+
+Sir Godfrey Foljambe, of Walton, by his will, in 1532, left his "carcase
+to be buried in the chappell of St. George besides my lady wife in
+Chesterfield ... my sword, helmet, with the crest upon the head, and my
+coat-of-arms to be hanged over my tomb, and there to remain for ever."
+
+Several of our parish churches still retain arms or armour or other
+accoutrements that had actually been worn by the person commemorated.
+Among them, to our own knowledge, may be mentioned Bonsall, Derbyshire;
+Brington, Northamptonshire; Addington, Surrey; Sheriff Hutton, Yorkshire;
+Broadwater, Sussex; St. Michael Carhayes, Cornwall; St. Mary Redcliffe,
+Bristol; Brabourne, Kent; and Longbridge Deverill, Wilts.
+
+Occasionally, however, and particularly in the sixteenth and seventeenth
+centuries, the armour carried in the funeral procession, and subsequently
+suspended over the tomb, was merely supplied by the undertaker or heraldic
+official, and was of a cheap and imitative character, not intended to
+last. Sir William Dugdale states (in 1667) the actual price of such sham
+armour. A knight's helmet, gilt with silver and gold, was L1; the crest,
+carved and coloured, 13s.; the sword, with velvet scabbard, 10s.;
+gauntlets, 10s.; and gilt spurs, 5s. Light helmets and breastplates of
+this funeral-trophy description, from which all gilt and beauty has long
+since disappeared, are still to be found in some of our churches, and
+occasionally may be seen among discarded lumber in parvises, as at Raunds,
+Northamptonshire.
+
+There is, however, a yet more important aspect of armour in churches to be
+considered. Every parish in England, from the time of Edward I. downwards,
+was bound to keep ready for use a certain amount of armour, and a man or
+men, according to the population of the township, properly trained to the
+use of this armour. This armour had to be viewed twice a year by the
+constables, and a report as to its condition made to the justices. Not
+infrequently, when a suitable "church-house" was wanting, the "townes
+armour" of our English villages, and even of country towns, was kept in
+the church itself, particularly in the parvise or room over the porch.
+
+When the parish armour was carefully viewed throughout England at the time
+of the expected Spanish invasion in the reign of Elizabeth, returns show
+that much of it was in safe quarters within the consecrated walls of our
+churches. We have met with various instances of inventories or mention of
+"townes armour" in old constable accounts. One of the fullest of these is
+in the parish books of Repton, Derbyshire. In 1590 is this entry:--
+
+    "A Note of the armoure of Repton receaved into the handes of Rycharde
+    Weatte, berjinge Constable.
+
+    Imprimis ij corsletts w{th} all that belongeth unto them.
+
+    It. ij platt' cotts (coats of plate armour).
+
+    It. ij swordes and iij daigers and ij gyrgells.
+
+    It. ij calevers w{th} flaxes and tuch boxe.
+
+    It. ij pyckes and ij halberds.
+
+    It. for the Tr'band Souldiar a cote and bowe and a shiffe of arrowes
+    and a quiver."
+
+In 1616, the inventory is as follows:--
+
+    "Receaved by Christopher Ward Constable from John Couttrell the Townes
+    Armore.
+
+    2 Corsletts with 2 pickes.
+
+    2 Culivers.
+
+    One flask and tuch boxe.
+
+    V headpeeces; towe of them ould ones.
+
+    2 howlboardes.
+
+    One payre of Banddelrowes.
+
+    2 oulde girdles.
+
+    3 new girdles; towe of them with ye sowldiers.
+
+    3 payre of hanggers in the sowldiers keepinge.
+
+    3 swordes with towe daggers.
+
+    Allsoe the swordes in sowldiers keepinge.
+
+    Allsoe 2 platte coottes y{t} Clocksmith not delivered."
+
+This armour was kept in the parish church at Repton; up to the year 1840
+some of it still remained in the parvise or room over the south porch.
+
+In the first year of Elizabeth, it is recorded that there was in the
+parish church of Darley, Derbyshire, "within ye steepul both harnes and
+weapons in redynes for one billman and for one archer."
+
+In Cussans' county history of Hertfordshire, it is recorded that some
+"twenty years ago," the south porch of Baldock church was enlarged by
+removing the floor of the parvise. This chamber, which had remained closed
+for many years, was found to be nearly filled with armour, helmets, pikes,
+and other weapons. It was assumed by Cussans that this was a collection
+of armour, heaped together from tombs over which they had been suspended,
+but there can be no doubt it was merely the old store of town's armour.
+
+
+
+
+Beating the Bounds.
+
+BY JOHN T. PAGE.
+
+
+In those early days, when deities were called into existence at the sweet
+will of every potentate, we note the fact that somewhere between the years
+715-672 B.C., King Numa Pompilius introduced to the Roman citizens, the
+worship of the god Terminus. He originated a plan, by which the fields of
+the citizens were separated from each other by means of boundary stones,
+which stones were dedicated, and made sacred to the god Terminus. The
+Terminalia, as the festival of Terminus was called, was celebrated
+annually on the 23rd of February. On this day the people turned out in
+force, and visiting the different boundary stones, decked them with
+flowers, and performed sacrificial rites amid great rejoicings.
+
+From the seventh century B.C., to the end of the nineteenth century of the
+Christian era is a long stride, but it is pretty generally considered that
+in this annual Terminalia of the ancient Romans, we have the germ of the
+custom known as "Beating the Bounds," which in many parishes throughout
+England is still carried out annually.[16]
+
+The early Christians readily adapted some of the best heathen customs to
+their own requirements, and thus we soon find them making a perambulation
+round their fields, accompanied by their bishops and clergy. They repeated
+litanies, and implored God to avert plague and pestilence, and to enable
+them in due season to reap the fruits of the earth. "The Litanies or
+Rogations then used gave the name of Rogation Week to this time. They
+occur as early as the 550th year of the Christian era, when they were
+first observed by Mamertius, Bishop of Vienna, on account of the frequent
+earthquakes that happened, and the incursions of wild beasts, which laid
+in ruins and depopulated the city."[17]
+
+Some idea of the importance which eventually came to be attached to this
+Rogation time, may be gathered from an old sermon, still extant, in which
+the preacher, after animadverting upon a growing misuse of the festival by
+certain people, tells them that for this cause "it is merveyle God
+destroye us not in one daye,"--and then proceeds as follows:--"In these
+Rogation Days, it is to be asked of God, and prayed for, that God of his
+goodness wyll defende and save the corne in the felde, and that he wyll
+vouchsave to pourge the ayer. For this cause be certaine Gospels red in
+the wide felde amonges the corne and grasse, that by the vertue and
+operation of God's word, the power of the wicked spirites, which kepe in
+the air and infecte the same (whence come pestilences and the other kyndes
+of diseases and syknesses) may be layde downe, and the aier made pure and
+cleane, to th' intent the corne may remaine unharmed, and not infected of
+the sayd hurteful spirites, but serve us for our use and bodely
+sustenaunce."
+
+In order that we may now get a better idea of what these processions were
+like, we cannot do better than turn to Shaw's _History of
+Staffordshire_.[18] We there learn that "Among the local customs which
+have prevailed (at Wolverhampton), may be noticed that which was popularly
+called 'Processioning.' Many of the older inhabitants can well remember
+when the sacrist, resident prebendaries, and members of the choir,
+assembled at Morning Prayers on Monday and Tuesday in Rogation Week, with
+the charity children, bearing long poles clothed with all kinds of flowers
+then in season, and which were afterwards carried through the streets of
+the town with much solemnity, the clergy, singing men and boys, dressed in
+their sacred vestments, closing the procession, and chanting in a grave
+and appropriate melody, the Canticle, Benedicite Omnia Opera, etc.... It
+was discontinued about 1765."
+
+In the seventeenth century mention is often made of the Rogation week
+processions in the Articles of Enquiry in the different Archdeaconries. As
+an example we may cite the following from the Archdeaconry of Middlesex,
+under date 1662. "Doth your minister or curate, in Rogation Dayes, go in
+Perambulation about your Parish, saying and using the Psalms and Suffrages
+by Law appointed, as _viz._, Psalm 103 and 104, the Letany and Suffrages,
+together with the Homily, set out for that end and purpose? Doth he
+admonish people to give thanks to God, if they see any likely hopes of
+plenty, and to call upon him for mercy, if there be any fear of scarcity:
+and do you, the Churchwardens, assist him in it?"
+
+The judicious Hooker "would by no means omit the customary time of
+Procession, persuading all, both rich and poor, if they desired the
+preservation of love and their parish rights and liberties, to accompany
+him in his Perambulation: and most did so: in which Perambulation he would
+usually express more pleasant discourse than at other times, and would
+then always drop some loving and facetious observations, to be remembered
+against the next year, especially by the boys and young people."[19]
+
+As might have been expected, some very curious entries appear in the
+churchwardens' books of different parishes relative to expenses incurred
+on the occasion of the annual procession. From the parish books of St.
+Margaret, Westminster, the following have been culled:--
+
+    "1555. Item, paid for spiced bread on the Ascension-Even, and on the
+    Ascension Day, 1s."
+
+    "1556. Item, paid for bread, wine, ale, and beer, upon the
+    Ascension-Even and Day, against my Lord Abbott and his Covent cam in
+    Procession, and for strewing herbs the samme day, 7s. 1d."
+
+    "1559. Item, for bread, ale, and beer, on Tewisday in the Rogacion
+    Weeke, for the parishioners that went in Procession, 1s."
+
+    "1560. Item, for bread and drink for the parishioners that went the
+    Circuit the Tuesday in the Rogation Week, 3s. 4d."
+
+    "Item, for bread and drink the Wednesday in the Rogation Week, for Mr.
+    Archdeacon and the Quire of the Minster, 3s. 4d."
+
+    "1585. Item, paid for going the Perambulacion, for fish, butter,
+    cream, milk, conger, bread and drink, and other necessaries, 4s.
+    8-1/2d."
+
+    "1597. Item, for the charges of diet at Kensington for the
+    Perambulation of the Parish, being a yeare of great scarcity and
+    deerness, L6 8s. 8d."
+
+    "1605. Item, paid for bread, drink, cheese, fish, cream, and other
+    necessaries, when the worshipfull and others of the parish went the
+    Perambulation to Kensington, L15."
+
+By way of accessories, the customs of "whipping" and "bumping" gradually
+came to form part of the perambulation ceremony. In order that the
+boundaries of the parishes might be indelibly impressed on the minds of
+the younger portion of the community, it was deemed advisable to bump some
+promising boy painfully against the boundary stones; or better still, to
+publicly whip him while he strove to impress on his memory the exact
+position of the same land-marks.
+
+As a set off against this public humiliation, the boys had a present of
+money given to them, and accordingly there appears an entry in the
+Chelsea parish books, in 1670, as follows:--
+
+  "Given to the boys that were whipt, 4s."[20]
+
+The process of "bumping" has been carried on until quite recently, for on
+June 8th, 1881, the _Guardian_ reported a case in which three men who were
+engaged in "Beating the Bounds" were fined L5 each for forcibly "bumping"
+the senior curate of Hanwell. They met the curate and "asked him to go and
+be 'bumped.' Upon his declining, two of the defendants took hold of his
+arms and dragged him to the stone, one of the party taking him by the leg
+and lifting him bodily from the ground. On reaching the stone, they
+'bumped' him against a man."
+
+It would take too long to mention all the numerous observances which still
+linger on in various places in connection with this ancient and
+interesting custom. In most parishes where it is still kept up, the
+ceremony is performed annually on Ascension Day. A friend of the writer
+thus describes the way in which it is carried out in one of the outlying
+districts of London:--
+
+"We assembled, by invitation, at the Vestry Hall, about 10 o'clock a.m. I
+should think there were thirty or forty gentlemen present, including the
+rector, churchwardens, and various officers of the parish, and about the
+same number of schoolboys. The gentlemen wore rosettes, and carried rods,
+and the boys were provided with long willow wands decked with blue
+ribbons. The parish beadle, carrying the mace, marched in front. When we
+came to any of the boundary stones of the parish, they were duly examined
+to see if they were in their proper position, and then the boys gave three
+cheers, and beat them with their wands. We marched through private houses
+and warehouses, over walls, ditches, canals, etc., and were taken down the
+river in a barge, until at last we came to our starting-point again about
+4-30 in the afternoon. The churchwardens then presented each of the boys
+with a new shilling and dismissed them."
+
+In these days of ordnance maps, there may be very little practical utility
+in "Beating the Bounds," but as Wordsworth says:--
+
+        "Many precious relics
+  And customs of our rural ancestry
+  Are gone or stealing from us."
+
+Time is ever busy blotting out the land-marks which our ancestors reared
+with so much patience for our behoof. It is well, therefore, if
+occasionally, with reverential spirit, we try to set in order the
+fragments of those that still remain. In so doing, we may perchance cull
+some useful lesson, and ere they pass away for ever, haply profit by the
+experiences which they record.
+
+
+
+
+The Story of the Crosier.
+
+BY THE REV. GEO. S. TYACK, B.A.
+
+
+The staff of authority, which we have in so many forms, as sceptre,
+crosier, mace, wand, or otherwise, has its origin in each case in one of
+two ideas. Sometimes it is an instrument of correction; thus the
+churchwarden's staff, the wand or rod of a royal usher, and of a beadle,
+and probably also the mace of a mayor, were all, like the fasces of a
+Roman governor, intended to correct the unruly, or to forcibly clear a
+way, when necessary, for the progress of the dignitary before whom they
+were borne. In other cases this symbol of authority, as it has now become,
+was originally nothing more or less than the trusty staff on which the
+aged ruler leaned, as on a modern walking stick. All language points to
+the fact that age was at first considered an essential condition of
+dignity and authority, for almost all terms of respect imply the seniority
+of the person addressed. Sir, sieur or monsieur, signor, senor, are of
+course but varied forms of the word _senior_; and we have more particular
+instances in the terms sire, senator, and alderman, in matters of state,
+with patriarch, father (applied to a bishop or a priest) and pope, abbot,
+priest, presbyter, or elder, in the Church. Thus it came to pass that in
+the earliest times the aged ruler was usually seen supporting his weight
+of years by the help of his staff; and the step from this familiar sight
+to the idea that the staff symbolized his rule, was simple and natural.
+The sceptre, therefore, which was the needful support of Homer's old
+councillors, has become the emblem of royal power; and the crutch-stick of
+the aged bishop is transfigured into the crosier.
+
+This being the case, it is obviously impossible to fix the exact date at
+which the crosier, or any other of these staves of office, came to be
+recognized simply as such, the progress from the first idea being in all
+cases a gradual development. We find the episcopal staff, however,
+mentioned in connection with S. Caesarius of Arles, who was bishop of that
+See from A.D. 501 to 542, and it is also referred to by Gregory, Bishop of
+Tours, in the same century, and again in the proceedings of the Fourth
+Council of Toledo a little later.
+
+In primitive times it was made of wood, usually of elder, or, as some
+say, of cypress, and in the form of a T; and the name expressive of that
+shape seems to have lingered long, at least in England. Pilkington, Bishop
+of Durham, from 1561 to 1577, speaks once and again of the "cruche and
+mitre." But as the symbolical idea grew and the wealth of the church
+increased, the staff naturally became handsomer in design and materials,
+as being expressive of the episcopal dignity. Jewels and the precious
+metals were employed in its adornment, and comparatively soon it assumed
+the crook shape, now its universal form, significant of the office of the
+Bishop as the Chief Shepherd of his diocese. In the Eastern Church the
+curved staff is said to be reserved for the Patriarchs.
+
+The pastoral idea of the clerical, and especially of the episcopal office,
+probably arose from our Lord's assumption of the title of "the Good
+Shepherd," and was further emphasized by His charge to S. Peter, "Feed My
+sheep, feed My lambs." In allusion to this, the figure of the Saviour
+presenting that Apostle with a crooked staff is familiar in Art, and the
+thought finds expression in several writers of the English Church. Jewell,
+Bishop of Salisbury (1560-1571) writes, "Their crosier's staff signifies
+diligence in attending the flock of Christ," and William Tyndale speaks of
+"that Shepherd's crook, the bishop's crose." More authoritative is the
+allusion in the Ordinal, where, at the consecration of a bishop, the
+rubric runs, "Then shall the Archbishop put into his hand the pastoral
+staff, saying, Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd, not a wolf, feed
+them, devour them not." The words still stand in our prayer-books,
+although the accompanying significant act has not been enjoined since the
+first book of Edward VI., of 1549.
+
+Most of the early examples of the use of the crosier in England are found
+in the carvings of bishops' tombs. We have, for instance, in their
+Cathedral the effigies of Bartholomew of Exeter, Bishop of that diocese
+from 1161 to 1184, bearing a staff, the butt of which pierces a dragon at
+his feet; and of Simon of Apulia, who followed in the same See in 1214 to
+1224, with the same insignia. Other figures might be mentioned at York,
+Salisbury, Worcester, Wells, and indeed in most of our Cathedrals, the
+form of the crosier varying little in the several cases, except in
+richness of design. The curious and more than questionable custom of
+making, in a kind of sport, a Boy Bishop, is commemorated at Salisbury by
+the tomb of one such, whose effigy bears the crosier along with the other
+marks of his sham dignity.
+
+The finest specimen of an ancient staff still preserved among us, is that
+of William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester (1367-1405), bequeathed by
+that great prelate himself to New College, Oxford.
+
+After the Reformation, in the general decline of ceremonial and symbolism,
+the pastoral staff and the mitre fell alike into disuse in England,
+surviving only as senseless decorations, or heraldic additions to the
+tombs or arms of bishops, who had never used either the one or the other,
+had perhaps never even seen them. At the present time the use of the
+crosier has once more become almost universal in the English dioceses, and
+the added dignity of the mitre promises soon to be scarcely less
+frequently found.
+
+But besides the bishops, the abbots of the most important monastic
+foundations formerly bore and wore crosier and mitre in token of their
+authority, the mark of difference being that while the bishop had his
+crosier carried with the crook turned outwards as a sign of his rule over
+the whole diocese, the abbot carried his, usually one of simpler design,
+crook inwards, to signify the purely domestic or internal character of
+his government.
+
+The English mitred abbots sat and voted in the House of Lords until the
+dissolution of their communities under Henry VIII. They were the heads of
+the following abbeys, namely, S. Albans, Glastonbury, Westminster, Bury S.
+Edmund's, Bardney, Shrewsbury, Crowland, Abington, Evesham, Gloucester,
+Ramsey, York (S. Mary's), Tewkesbury, Reading, Battle, Winchcourt,
+Hide-by-Winchester, Cirencester, Waltham, Thorney, Canterbury (S.
+Augustine's), Selby, Peterborough, Colchester (S. John's), and Tavistock,
+twenty-five in all, of which the last was considerably the latest addition
+to the list.
+
+One of the earliest examples of the abbatial staff in England is on the
+tomb of Abbot Vitalis (died 1082) in the cloister of Westminster Abbey,
+and another early instance of its use is supplied by the effigy of Abbot
+Andrew (1193-1200) in Peterborough Cathedral. Parker, the last Abbot of
+Gloucester, lies buried in the Cathedral there, and Philip Ballard de
+Hanford, the last Abbot of Evesham, in Worcester Cathedral, each with his
+crosier.
+
+Before leaving this subject an effort should be made to remove a
+misconception. A common modern fallacy is that there is a distinction
+between the crosier and the pastoral staff, the latter name being assigned
+to the crook of a bishop, and the former to the processional cross borne
+before an Archbishop. The late Dean Hook, if he was not the originator of
+the idea in an article in his "Church Dictionary," at any rate did much to
+propagate it thereby, and it is now frequently found in books of
+reference. But the use of the words in the past is all against it. It is
+true that crosier comes from the Latin _crux_, a cross, but from the same
+root too, come crook and crutch; so that nothing can be proved from the
+derivation. It would seem that the original form of the word was _crose_,
+as it is given in a quotation used above, whence the chaplain who bore it
+was a crosier. From this it became the crosier's staff, the crosier-staff,
+and finally the crosier; all having reference to the crook of Episcopal
+Authority.
+
+
+
+
+Bishops in Battle.
+
+BY EDWARD LAMPLOUGH.
+
+
+After William, Duke of Normandy, came in with great toil and rout of war,
+on Senlac's evil day, it was not difficult to apply the poet's lines to
+many a proud prelate of the Anglo-Norman epoch:--
+
+  "Princely was his hand in largess, heavy was his arm to smite,
+  And his will was leaded iron, like the mace he bore in fight."
+
+Not that English Bishops had not found it necessary to take the field in
+pre-conquest times, when the old Danish wars convulsed the island, and the
+inhabitants suffered severely from the unbridled passion and cruelty of a
+barbarous and heathen soldiery.
+
+Many a grand old Anglo-Saxon prelate found himself called upon as a
+Christian and a patriot to take his station in the van of the king's army,
+to bar the path of the invader, and fence with sword and spear the ancient
+churches and the fruitful plains of his beloved island.
+
+The old English chroniclers have preserved for us the names of a few of
+those warrior bishops. Ealstan, Bishop of Sherborne, may be specially
+referred to. A.D. 823, he assisted Prince Ethelwulf during an expedition
+into Kent, and in 845 he was one of the commanders in the great victory
+over the Danes at the mouth of the Parret. He died, full of years and
+honours, in that unhappy and troublous 867, having held the Bishopric of
+Sherborne fifty years. His successor, Bishop Heahmund, was not so
+fortunate; he fought under Ethelred and Alfred during the sanguinary and
+disastrous campaign of 871, and was slain at Marden, when victory remained
+with the Danes. When Edmund Ironsides encountered Canute at Assingdon, and
+was betrayed by that infamous traitor Edric Streon, among those who
+swelled the huge death-mounds was Ednoth, Bishop of Dorchester, and Abbot
+Wulsy, but Hoveden asserts that "they had come for the purpose of invoking
+the Lord on behalf of the soldiers."
+
+Another Bishop of Sherborne was slain on the eve of Brunnanburgh, A.D.
+937. When the two armies were within striking distance, and prepared for
+what was certain to prove a sanguinary and stubborn conflict, Anlaf,
+disguised as a harper, entered the lines of Athelstan's army, and, by the
+merit of his performance, was admitted into the royal presence, and
+received several pieces of gold in reguerdon of his skill. Too proud to
+carry away his minstrel's fee, he secreted it beneath the turf, before
+passing out of the camp. During the performance he had been narrowly
+scrutinised by one of Athelstan's soldiers, who had formerly served the
+Northumbrian Prince, and was suspicious that the talented minstrel was no
+other than the warlike Anlaf. After witnessing Anlaf's disposal of his
+fee, his suspicion was confirmed, and he hurried to Athelstan to warn him
+of the danger that might result from Anlaf's visit. His having once sworn
+fealty to the Northumbrian Prince was alleged as a sufficient reason for
+not betraying him into the king's hands, and Athelstan readily accepted
+the explanation. Nevertheless, he removed his tent to a distant and less
+exposed position; and when, some time afterward, the Bishop of Sherborne
+arrived, with his contingent of warriors, he pitched his tent on the
+recently vacated ground. That night, when the watch-fires burnt low, and,
+save the weary sentinels, the royal army was buried in slumber, Anlaf
+burst in with sword and spear, and a sudden storm of midnight battle
+convulsed the whole camp. After a fierce struggle the enemy was driven
+out, but when day dawned the Bishop of Sherborne was found, cold and
+still, in the midst of the slain.
+
+Such was the nature of the military service of the church during the
+pre-conquest period, and similar service was not infrequently rendered
+after the Normans came in, when sudden storms of invasion swept across the
+Scottish borders, to burst on the dark and bloody battle-ground of
+Northumbria.
+
+With the memorable battle of Northallerton, or the Standard, A.D. 1138,
+the church was in a very special degree connected, and indeed the
+priesthood had suffered severely from the barbarous Scotch. Thus Wendover,
+"they slew priests upon the altars, cut off the heads of the crucifixes,
+and placed them on the decapitated corpses, putting in their places the
+bloody heads of their victims; wherever they went, it was one scene of
+cruelty and terror; women shrieking, old men lamenting, and every living
+being in despair." The evil grew so intolerable that the aged Thurston,
+Archbishop of York, incited the northern barons to unite against the
+enemy, exerting himself with almost superhuman energy to organise the
+movement, appealing to the religious feelings of the people by processions
+of the clergy, by sermons and exhortations, and when the army arrayed
+itself for battle, its serried ranks surrounded the famous standard,
+"consisting of the mast of a ship securely lashed to a four-wheeled car or
+wain. On the summit of this mast was placed a large crucifix, having in
+its centre a silver box containing the consecrated host, and below it
+waved the banners of the three patron saints:--Peter of York, Wilfred of
+Ripon, and John of Beverley." Thurston, incapacitated from being present
+by the infirmities of age, had delegated Ralph Nowel, the titulary Bishop
+of Orkney, to act for him, and he it was, according to the old writers,
+who exhorted the army to make a brave defence when the Scots bore down
+upon them, and the dreadful conflict commenced. The battle resulted in a
+glorious victory for the Anglo-Norman men-at-arms and the peasant archers
+of Northumbria, but the name of Archbishop Thurston is always primarily
+and honourably associated with this memorable event.
+
+Under somewhat similar circumstances, A.D. 1319, William de Melton,
+Archbishop of York, seconded by the Mayor, Nicholas Fleming, hastily
+raised a tumultuary army of 10,000 men, burghers and peasants, necessarily
+undisciplined and ill-armed, and utterly unfitted to dispute the field
+with a powerful and veteran army, marching under Bruce's most experienced
+and fortunate captains, Randolph and Douglas. The armies struck at Myton
+Meadows, near the confluence of the Swale and Ure, on September the 13th.
+With everything in their favour the Scots resorted to ambuscade, and,
+sweeping down upon the startled enemy, in an instant covered the field
+with dead and wounded men, driving before them a wild rout of fugitives.
+Sir Nicholas Fleming, then in the seventh year of his mayoralty, was
+slain; it was with the utmost difficulty that the Archbishop effected his
+escape, for the Scots spared none, and night alone covered the remnant of
+the army from the exterminating sword. Nearly 4,000 of the Englishmen were
+destroyed, including 300 priests, attired in full canonicals, from which
+tragic circumstance the rude Scots jestingly referred to the battle as the
+"Chapter of Mitton."
+
+The bearer of the Archbishop's cross secreted it on the field, and it fell
+into the hands of a peasant, who, for some days, concealed it in his hut,
+no doubt tempted by its value, but conscience operated so powerfully that
+the good fellow was constrained to restore it to the Archbishop.
+
+A dour revenge the English Bishops took upon their Scottish adversaries in
+1346, when King Edward was encamped before Calais, and luckless David
+Bruce came over the border with 50,000 men at his back, in the month of
+October. Queen Philippa bestirred herself with heroic energy on this
+occasion, and marched with the army to the north. It was largely swollen
+by the vassals of the church. The Bishop of Durham commanded in the first
+division; William de la Zouche, Archbishop of York, and the Bishop of
+Carlisle, led the second division; the Bishop of Lincoln the third; and
+the Archbishop of Canterbury the fourth. Edward Baliol and the principal
+nobles of Northumbria shared the command with the prelates.
+
+During the furious struggle that ensued the monks of Durham assembled on
+the rising ground known as the Maiden's Bower, and knelt in prayer around
+the banner-cloth of St. Cuthbert, or occupied themselves in manufacturing
+a fair wooden cross, as a memorial of the event.
+
+The battle terminated in a signal triumph to the English army, despite
+the distinguished valour of the Scottish host, and the closing scene was
+one of peculiar interest. Almost alone amid the wreck of the field, David
+Bruce disdained to surrender, although "he had two spears hanging in his
+body, his leg almost incurably wounded, and his sword beaten out of his
+hand," and John Copeland, a sturdy Northumbrian squire, was bent upon his
+capture, and ultimately succeeded in carrying him off in triumph to his
+castle of Ogle, but not until the fiery Scot had dashed out two of his
+teeth by a buffet of his gauntleted fist.
+
+Most unsaintly, perhaps, of all the English bishops who loved the music of
+twanging bow-strings and clashing steel, was "Weymundus or Reymundus,"
+first Bishop of Sodar and Man. When a monk of Furness Abbey he was famous
+as an illuminator and transcriber of MSS.; but accompanying several of the
+brethren on a mission to the Isle of Man, the rude Manxmen were so deeply
+impressed by his eloquence, dignity, and commanding stature, that they
+procured his elevation to the Bishopric.
+
+Wymund the Saxon, as the Bishop is generally called, was incited by an
+unworthy ambition to claim the crown of Scotland, then worn by David I.
+Assuming the name of Malcolm Macbeth, he gave out that he was the son of
+Angus, Earl of Moray, recently slain at the battle of Strickathrow, and
+who was the heir of Macbeth's son and successor, Leelach. Obtaining a
+number of large boats, he repeatedly attacked the neighbouring islands,
+finding numerous intrepid and desperate adventurers ready to follow him
+for love of adventure and plunder. He soon made his name widely known and
+feared, and Somerled, Lord of the Isles, was induced to bestow upon him
+the hand of his daughter, who bore him a son, Donald Macbeth. Knights and
+men-at-arms were despatched to foil his invasions of the mainland, but by
+availing himself of forest and mountain fastnesses, he avoided his more
+powerful enemies, escaping by his boats when hard pressed. Many of the
+bishops paid him black-mail, but one tough old prelate, a man after his
+own heart, met him in open field, axe in hand, and smote him to the earth,
+and defeated and scattered his following. Wymund escaped, however, and
+soon took the field again.
+
+Ultimately David pacified the claimant by a grant of lands, and Wymund
+returned to the Isle of Man, or, according to William of Newbridge, to
+the Abbey of Furness, where his severities so enraged the monks that they
+fell on him, bound him, and destroyed his sight and virility. He was then
+handed over to King David, who shut him up in Roxburgh Castle, but, after
+some years, transferred him to Byland Abbey, where his stories of
+adventure by land and sea long delighted the good fathers.
+
+Somerled, endeavouring to maintain the claim of Wymund's son, was slain in
+battle near Renfrew, by the Lord High Steward and the Earl of Angus. The
+wicked and vexatious claims of Wymund were terminated in 1164 by the
+capture and imprisonment of his son.
+
+The necessities of the times justified many of the prelates in assuming
+arms, and Wymund must be regarded as an exceptional character, neither
+true priest nor bishop. Nevertheless several of the English bishops appear
+to have been quite willing to make arms a profession, while others, as
+Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, combined the ecclesiastical and baronial offices,
+employing both in the furtherance of their personal ambition. When the
+Conqueror arrested his ambitious half-brother, it will be remembered that
+he arrested him not as the churchman, but as the Earl of Kent.
+
+Odo was a principal figure, with Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutance, at Senlac,
+when the Norman Duke conquered Harold's crown; and he was held in
+well-deserved reprobation for the sanguinary revenge that he exacted for
+the slaying of Walcher, Bishop of Durham, and his following of a hundred
+French and Flemish men-at-arms, at Gateshead, on the 14th of May, 1080.
+
+The death of the Conqueror let Odo loose upon society again, and he
+returned to England, where he was well received by Rufus, and his
+forfeited estates restored. His unprincipled ambition, and his rage
+against Archbishop Lanfranc, induced him to organise a conspiracy against
+the king, in which he was supported by Bishop Gosfrith, William, Bishop of
+Durham, and a number of the Anglo-Norman nobles. Raising a Saxon army,
+Rufus reduced Tunbridge and Pevensey Castles, in the latter of which he
+secured the arch-traitor. Nevertheless Odo was permitted to proceed to
+Rochester Castle, for the purpose of opening negotiations. The bravest of
+the revolted nobles occupied the fortress, and Odo remained with them, a
+willing captive, but the ruse deceived no one. After a tedious siege the
+castle was compelled to surrender, and Odo issued forth, amid sounding
+trumpets, and the menaces of the English soldiery, to depart over sea,
+with the bitter curses of the islanders ringing in his ears. The Bishop of
+Durham was also reduced to extremities, and, with many of the revolted
+Normans, sent after Odo, as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records.
+
+Men of Odo's stamp were not wanting among the bishops, when Stephen seized
+the crown, barely seventy years after the Battle of Hastings, when the
+direct male line of the Conqueror failed. During the period of almost
+unparalleled suffering that followed, bishops were seen in the hostile
+camps, leading the mercenary soldiery, and even gambling for their share
+of the spoils collected by those ruthless marauders. They were armed in
+complete mail, bore truncheon and lance, and bestrode heavy war-steeds,
+like warlike knights and captains of the mercenaries.
+
+Henry, Bishop of Winchester, acted a prominent part in the war between
+Stephen and Matilda, changing sides as policy and ambition dictated, and
+when, after the revolt of the Londoners, he again espoused his brother's
+cause, he had to retire from Winchester, leaving Matilda in the
+possession of the castle, while her troops closely invested the episcopal
+palace. He speedily re-entered Winchester with a considerable force at his
+back, and Matilda's soldiery rushed in confusion to the churches, which
+they essayed to defend. The Bishop was not to be denied, and to avoid the
+long and dubious strife, and heavy loss of life that would attend the
+storming of the holy edifices, he set fire to them, and afterwards gave
+his undivided attention to the castle, which he reduced to extremities,
+after a leaguer of six weeks, but the ex-empress effected her escape.
+
+With reference to the military proclivities of our bishops, it is due to
+them to point out that as councillors and ambassadors they were naturally
+in great request at court, where their superior education and training
+enabled them to serve the state and crown to advantage. The nation was
+continually at war, kings and courtiers were warriors, hence the bishops
+were accustomed to both court and camp, and vied with the proudest baron
+in the splendour of their apparel, and the number of their attendant
+knights and men-at-arms.
+
+The following brief extract from Hallam, relating to feudal tenures in
+Anglo-Saxon England, throws some little light on the military service of
+some of the bishops in pre-conquest times, although, no doubt, many
+churchmen considered it a holy war that they waged against the heathen
+Danes in defence of their country and religion:--
+
+    "All the freehold lands of England, except _some_ of those belonging
+    to the Church, were subject to three great public burdens: military
+    service in the king's expeditions, or at least in defensive war; the
+    repair of bridges, and that of royal fortresses. These obligations,
+    and especially the first, have been sometimes thought to denote a
+    feudal tenure. There is, however, a confusion into which we may fall
+    by not sufficiently discriminating the rights of a king as chief lord
+    of his vassals, and as sovereign of his subjects. In every country,
+    the supreme power is entitled to use the arm of each citizen in the
+    public defence. The usage of all Nations agrees with common reason in
+    establishing this great principle. There is nothing therefore
+    peculiarly feudal in this military service of landholders; it was due
+    from the allodial proprietors upon the continent, it was derived from
+    their German ancestors, it had been fixed, probably, by the
+    legislatures of the Heptarchy upon the first settlement in Britain."
+
+We can easily imagine the Anglo-Saxon kings calling upon the bishops for
+assistance against the Danes.
+
+The Conquest was followed by the imposition of the feudal system, binding
+the church to perform military service to the crown. This, at first
+regarded as a hardship, agreed well with the warlike spirit of the times,
+and although the bishops appointed their feudal advocates to fight their
+battles, protect their interests, and lead their vassals to the field, yet
+they sometimes took the field in person, and rode amid the lances of the
+men-at-arms. The military advocates held their lands of the church, and,
+in court and field, their service was honourable. Indeed the title of
+advocates of the church was bestowed upon Pepin and Charlemagne.
+
+Thus the regulations of the feudal period encouraged the military
+disposition of the prelates, who, when the invaders burst in, readily
+raised the cry to arms. It will be remembered that when Hotspur and
+Douglas carried on their great trial at arms on Otterburne field, by the
+cloud-drifted light of the moon, the Bishop of Durham was marching with
+10,000 men to ensure the defeat of the invaders. However, he arrived too
+late; the battle was over, Douglas slain, and the two Percies prisoners,
+and the Scots strongly posted to resist attack. A second battle must have
+been sanguinary, and the result doubtful, therefore the bishop decided
+not to take upon himself the responsibility of fighting, but withdrew his
+warriors, leaving the Scots to return unmolested to their own country.
+
+Chief among the amateur soldiers of the church in King Edward the First's
+days, was the proud and magnificent Bishop of Durham, Anthony de Beck,
+Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Lord of the Isle of Man. At Falkirk he drew an
+unrighteous sword against Wallace and the Scottish patriots. Previous to
+the battle he celebrated a soldier's mass on the field, clothed in
+knightly mail as he was, the long kite-shaped shield slung over his
+shoulder, the sword girt at his thigh. The ceremony over, he was ready to
+charge Wallace's schiltrons and archers, but the first column preceded
+him, led by the Earl Marshal, and Lincoln, and Hereford. He saw man and
+horse impaled on the huge Scottish spears, and the charging files rolled
+back in blood, while the Scottish arrows drifted into their ranks. He
+appreciated the valour of the enemy, and proposed to await the arrival of
+the numerous archers, who would speedily, and with little loss to
+themselves, shoot down the Scottish schiltrons. The men-at-arms were,
+however, eager to close, and Rudulf Basset scornfully advised the Lord
+Bishop to stick to his mass, while he led the charge. Thus rebuked, the
+bishop gave the word, leading, sword-in-hand, and furiously assailed the
+Scottish left, to be hurled back, again and again. The treacherous retreat
+of the Scottish cavalry left the schiltrons exposed to certain
+destruction, and the English archers shot them down without mercy.
+
+When Edward III. lay before Calais, he paid Thomas Hatfield, Bishop of
+Durham, 6s. 8d. per day, and his following in proportion, viz.:--three
+bannerets at 4s., 48 knights at 2s., 164 esquires at 12d., 81 archers on
+horseback at 6d. each per day.
+
+Perhaps the most notable of the fighting bishops was Henry Spencer, of
+Norwich. When the whole of England lay in panic terror at the mercy of the
+revolted villeins, when drawbridges were raised, gates closed, and knights
+and nobles hid themselves behind stone walls, Henry Spencer bade trumpets
+sound, and sallied forth with his men-at-arms, attacking the marching
+peasants wherever he met them. Emboldened by his example, a few gentlemen
+associated themselves with him, and he extended his operations to
+Cambridge and Huntingdon, which were soon pacified. When John Littester,
+the dyer, leader of the Norfolk villeins, despatched deputies to the king,
+the alert bishop intercepted them, and incontinently struck off their
+heads. A body of the villeins had entrenched themselves at North Walsham.
+Spencer marched against and stormed their position, being the first to
+enter, sword-in-hand. A furious and protracted conflict followed, ending
+in the defeat of the peasants, who were pursued and cut to pieces with
+unsparing severity. Those spared of the sword and lance Spencer strung up
+to the nearest tree, first receiving their hurried confession, then
+granting them absolution. He dispersed the revolted peasantry of Suffolk,
+and set a marked example to the nobility.
+
+During these events, that man of many enemies, John of Gaunt, had retired
+into Scotland. So obnoxious was he to the peasantry, that when his wife,
+Constance of Castille, sought refuge in his Castle of Pontefract, the
+cowardly retainers refused to admit her, and she had to proceed through a
+wild country, by torchlight, for night had closed in, to her lord's Castle
+of Knaresborough, where she found a safe haven until Lancaster's return.
+
+The ambitious prelate soon found a wider field for his arms.
+
+When, in consequence of a division among the cardinals, two rival popes
+were elected, Urban VI. and Clement VII., Europe divided on the question,
+and France and England were naturally in opposition, the former power
+giving its adhesion to Clement, the latter to Urban, for England feebly
+strove to retain some portion of the conquests of Edward III. and the
+Black Prince. Clement, defeated, found refuge at Avignon, and, obedient to
+his protector, preached a crusade against Richard II. and the English.
+Urban excommunicated Clement as an anti-pope, and commissioned Bishop
+Spencer to conduct a crusade against him. The bishop found numerous
+enthusiastic supporters, and parliament met to consider whether they
+should ally themselves with the Flemings, or co-operate with Lancaster,
+from Spain, against the national enemy. The former scheme was adopted, but
+the French overran Flanders, and beleagured Ghent, the only town that held
+out against them. Immediate and energetic action was demanded, and the
+council resolved to support the bishop, who proposed to drive the French
+out of Flanders, and then carry the war into their own country. For this
+purpose certain subsidies were be paid to him.
+
+The bishop, however, altered his mind, and proposed, in return for the
+fifteenth granted by the laity, to serve one year with 2,500 men-at-arms
+and 2,500 mounted archers. His offer being accepted, William de Beaucham
+was appointed his lieutenant, and in the month of May, 1383, he carried a
+body of troops, and numerous volunteers, to Calais, where he awaited the
+arrival of his lieutenant with the remainder of the forces. These were
+delayed, it was alleged by the design of John of Gaunt, and the bishop had
+no alternative but to employ his headstrong and impatient crusaders.
+Gravelines was assaulted, and carried.
+
+Dunkirk immediately surrendered, but the Count of Flanders, engaged in the
+interests of France, marched against the crusaders. Sir Hugh de Calverley
+had reinforced the bishop, and a battle ensued, resulting in the defeat of
+the enemy, and the surrender of Cassel, Dixmuyde, Bourburg, Newport, and
+Popperen.
+
+The King of France hastily took the field with 100,000 men, for the
+position appeared alarming. Norwich had also received succours, forwarded
+by that gallant merchant, Sir John Philpot, but the new crusaders were
+rogues and miscreants of the darkest stain, and were influenced by the
+prospect of unbounded licence and plunder. In his vexation, Spencer
+requested Philpot to suspend his supply of naked ruffians, but he had to
+put a bold face on, and match his 90,000 soldiers, crusaders, and thieves,
+against the army of France. There was, however, a difference of opinion,
+amounting to a mutiny in the army, and the mortified bishop found himself
+constrained to besiege Ypres. Several furious assaults were delivered, but
+the steady courage of the veteran garrison, posted behind strong defences,
+foiled the fury of the ill-conducted attacks, and the depression of defeat
+rested upon the army, which avenged itself by casting off all restraint,
+and spreading over the country for the purpose of plunder, while the
+pilgrims deserted in large numbers. The French army approached, and the
+bishop beat a hasty retreat to Dunkirk, leaving his materials of war
+behind. Bourburg was occupied by Sir Hugh de Calverley and Sir Thomas
+Trivet, and the King of France closed them in, threatening to put every
+man to the sword if the place was not immediately surrendered. The threat
+was vain, and twice the French fell on, to be bloodily repulsed, when King
+Charles tendered the garrison quarter, and they marched out and proceeded
+to Calais. From Bourburg the King carried his army to Gravelines, where he
+found every prospect of a tough struggle, and wisely concluded to treat
+rather than fight. The bishop took time to consider the terms proposed,
+and sent messages to King Richard for succours; but before troops could be
+collected and embarked, the truce expired, and, agreeable to his
+undertaking, the bishop dismantled Gravelines, marched the remains of his
+forces to Calais, and embarked for England.
+
+In Parliament he met with a warm reception for having failed to carry out
+his engagements, and although his defence entitled him to an honourable
+acquittal, he was found in default for not having served out his full
+time, and for the insubordination of his troops. He was mulcted in a
+severe pecuniary penalty, and the temporalities of his Bishopric were
+seized. Several of the knights, whose insubordination had tended to
+produce the miscarriage of the expedition, as Thomas Trivet, Henry
+Ferners, William Ellingham, and William Harrendon, were fined and
+imprisoned.
+
+So ended the bishop's campaign, in which, however, he manifested the
+spirit and capacity of a good captain, but success was, with such a
+soldiery and so powerful an enemy, absolutely impossible.
+
+Pope Martin V. was one of the most determined opponents of the Hussites,
+and spared no pains in inciting Europe to move in a crusade against those
+stubborn heretics, whose extermination was most ardently desired.
+
+A.D. 1426, a crusading army was utterly defeated, with a loss of not less
+than 15,000 men, before the walls of Aussig. The crusaders mustered not
+less than 70,000 trained soldiers, supported by 180 pieces of artillery,
+with 3,000 wagons for transport of stores. Quarter was neither given nor
+accepted, and the defeated and demoralised army was closely pursued. This
+memorable battle was fought on the forenoon of Sunday, the 16th of June.
+
+  "Then fourteen counts and lords of might
+  Did from their coursers all alight,
+  Their sword-points deep in earth did place
+  And to the Czechians sued for grace.
+  For prayers and cries they cared not aught,
+  Silver and gold they set at naught,
+  E'en as themselves had made reply,
+  So every man they did to die."
+
+It was the inhumanity, or bigotry, of the Germans that settled the
+question of quarter, raised by the Hussites before the battle, and
+afterwards maintained with unsparing severity.
+
+The Germans having failed, the Pope turned to the English, then winning
+bloody laurels in France. Henry de Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, John of
+Gaunt's son, and Henry IV.'s brother, was selected for the enterprise. On
+receiving the Pope's bull, he prepared to raise soldiers and money for the
+crusade. The preaching of the crusade in England met with little or no
+response. Ready as the islanders were to exchange the rude courtesies of
+warfare with their Scottish neighbours, to cross the Channel to destroy
+the armies and ravage the vineyards and cornfields of France, and,
+earlier, to take the crusaders' cross and embark for Palestine, it may be
+questioned if they had ever a genuine disposition for fighting the battles
+of the popes. Indeed the friction was rough and frequent between Rome and
+Britain.
+
+In the city of Mechlin, Beaufort published the papal bull. It was
+instantly and enthusiastically responded to. A somewhat mixed army was
+assembled. The figures of the historians, 90,000 foot and 90,000 horse,
+are not easily acceptable, but doubtless the army was a considerable one.
+
+Numerous nobles and knights, including three electors of the empire,
+marched with and assisted Beaufort, and strengthened the army with their
+retainers. Perhaps the army lacked cohesion; no doubt its bravest soldiers
+admitted the terrible might and energy of the foe. Probably those who were
+not accustomed to arms--townsfolk, artisans, shepherds, and
+peasants--would be easily influenced by doubt and fear when they found
+themselves opposed to an enemy whose reputation for valour and severity
+was so terrible.
+
+Winchester had been created a cardinal, and the Pope's legate-a-latere,
+but he was fated to attain no honour by arms.
+
+Again invaded by a cruel and presumptuous enemy, both Catholics and
+Hussites united to defend Bohemia.
+
+In the June of 1427, the crusaders crossed the borders, and encamped
+before Meiss. Although greatly inferior in numbers, the Bohemians advanced
+and offered battle. The martial appearance of these iron veterans, the
+knowledge of their dreadful reputation, curiously effected the crusaders.
+Instead of pushing on to cross the river and open the attack, they stood
+at gaze. Awed and daunted by the ominous spectacle before them, their
+ranks shook with a sudden panic, weapons clashed wildly, standards went
+down. Horse and foot were inextricably mixed as the first of the
+panic-stricken wretches broke and fled. A dreadful scene followed. Almost
+in a moment the huge army was transformed into a confused rout of
+fugitives. As quickly were the waters of the Meiss darkened by the iron
+ranks of the Hussites as they pressed forward, to fall upon the
+panic-stricken crusaders with axe and iron-flail, sword and spear, while
+bullets and arrows were poured incessantly into the flying masses, and the
+fugitives fell as thick and fast as sere leaves in an autumnal gale.
+
+The crusading army had committed many outrages during the course of its
+triumphant march, and as the guilty and licentious wretches, losing all
+order and cohesion, rushed madly before the flashing steel of the
+pursuers, the peasantry rose against them on every side, pitiless
+avengers, whose wrath could be alone satiated by blood. The whole of
+Bohemia was enriched by the enormous spoil of the vanquished.
+
+The Pope, in condoling with Beaufort, spoke hopefully of the success of a
+new crusade, but the Englishman was satisfied with the extent, if not the
+character, of his experience.
+
+Richard Scrope had a brief and most unfortunate experience of military
+operations. His appearance in arms was purely the result of the
+complications that followed the deposition of Richard II. and the
+enthronement of Bolingbroke. Lord Scrope, High Chancellor of England, had
+devotedly served Edward III. and his grandson, Richard of Bordeaux, and
+after that dark tragedy at Pontefract, that secured, for the time being,
+the throne of Lancaster, he endowed a chantry in his castle of Bolton,
+where daily service was performed for the repose of the dead king's soul.
+The old man was spared, but the king's hand fell heavily upon his sons.
+First to fall was the Earl of Wiltshire, who was captured in Bristol
+Castle, and dragged to the block with indecent haste, and on no sufficient
+cause, by Bolingbroke's command. This alone might have pre-disposed the
+Archbishop to ally himself with the King's enemies, when many of the
+nobles repented that they had set up the son of John of Gaunt in the place
+of the son of the heroic Black Prince. The avenging of his brother's blood
+could scarcely fail to influence the Archbishop, but no doubt he was
+wrought upon by the King's enemies, and felt called upon, if not to avenge
+the slaying of the King, at least to endeavour to correct his government,
+and arrest the shedding of blood which so deeply stained the early years
+of Henry's reign.
+
+The princely power of the Archbishops in Northumbria, and the personal
+esteem in which Scrope was held, made his appearance in arms peculiarly
+dangerous to the King. Lord Mowbray associated himself with Scrope, and no
+sooner was the standard of revolt uplifted than the hardy Yorkshiremen
+flocked to support their Archbishop. Scrope published a terrible and
+undeniable indictment against the blood-stained Henry. He was accused of
+treason, usurpation, regicide, the withholding of the crown from the Earl
+of March, the lineal heir, with other charges not to be refuted.
+
+Ralph, Earl of Westmoreland, and Prince John, were despatched against
+Scrope and Mowbray, but they found the northern army so formidable that
+they dared not strike. On approaching the Archbishop they found him ready
+to enter into negotiations for the correcting of the King's government,
+and the Earl of Westmoreland, with a treachery that was infamous at a
+time when treachery and perjury were common, pretended to grant all
+Scrope's demands, and, as a ratification of the terms of pacification,
+proposed the disbanding of the two armies. This was unsuspiciously acceded
+to, and the northern army was immediately disbanded, although the royal
+army maintained its formation. Danger of rescue past, the Earl of
+Westmoreland, with infamous treachery, arrested Scrope, Mowbray, and
+several of their captains. "The King was then at Pontefract, and when the
+Archbishop and the other captives were brought thither to him, they were
+ordered to be carried from thence to York, where they were condemned to
+death by the judges, Fulford and Gascoign. Judgment was no sooner passed,
+but the Archbishop was set upon a lean deformed horse, with his face
+backward; and that Bishop, whose grave age commanded every man's respect,
+having been always accompanied with holiness of life, incomparable
+learning, and a lovely person, was now loaded with all sorts of disgrace
+and reproaches, and so conducted to the place of execution, where his head
+was cut off, June 8th, 1405, by an unskilful executioner, who scarcely
+effected it at five strokes. He was buried on the eastern part of the new
+works, where certain miracles were said to have been done by the merits of
+this martyr, and the King to be smitten with an incurable leprosy. It is
+certain he was the first archbishop that was condemned to death by a legal
+trial. The Pope excommunicated the authors of this archbishop's death, but
+was easily intreated to absolve them a little time after." To augment the
+bitterness of death, Scrope was removed to his palace of Bishopthorpe for
+execution, and his head was piked and exposed on the walls of York.
+
+Mowbray, Sir Robert Plumpton, Sir John Lamplugh, and other unfortunates,
+also suffered decollation.
+
+During the great rebellion that cost Charles Stuart his crown and head,
+another Archbishop of York took up arms, to figure obscurely during a
+struggle in which he certainly was not called upon to assume the soldier's
+painful and difficult part. A changeful and troublous history is that of
+John Williams. In 1621 he was elevated to the Bishopric of Lincoln, and
+Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, but his fortunes waned as Laud rose to
+power; he lost the Seals, and at the coronation of Charles I. it was his
+duty, as Dean of Westminster, to read divine service, but Laud took his
+place. He was further affronted by being forbidden to sit in the House,
+and Laud brought him into the Star Chamber for having written the "Holy
+Table." He was suspended, fined L10,000, and imprisoned in the Tower
+during the King's pleasure. He obtained his release November 16th, 1640.
+
+Not unnaturally his suffering made him an object of interest to the
+Puritan party, but he was loyal to Charles, and by preaching before him in
+condemnation of the discipline of Geneva he won the royal favour, and he
+was raised to the Archbishopric of York. The evil times had closed in, and
+for leading the bishops in their protest against the House of Lords, he
+was committed to the Tower, where he remained some time. Then came the
+war.
+
+When Captain Hotham and Sir Thomas Fairfax were earning their spurs by the
+most daring exploits against the Royalists of Yorkshire, Hotham received
+some cause for offence from the Archbishop, and irefully vowed to cut off
+his head.
+
+A friendly warning of the threat reached the Archbishop late on the 3rd of
+October, and, appreciating the spirit of the young dare-devil, the prelate
+left Cawood Castle in hot haste. Not long after, Hotham and his fiery
+riders spurred up in hot haste, and finding their intended victim had
+escaped, they solaced themselves by sacking the castle.
+
+Joining the king at Oxford, Williams received the royal commission and
+instructions, and proceeded to fortify his castle at Aberconway, but,
+apparently from some unworthy suspicion of his loyalty, the king appointed
+another commandant to the castle, and Williams, in deep disgust, retired
+to his house at Penryn, placed it in a state of defence, and gave in his
+adhesion to parliament.
+
+Assisted by Colonel Mitton, he besieged Abergavenny, in South Wales, and
+reduced the stronghold to the obedience of parliament. He expired at Lady
+Mostyn's house at Gloded, on the 25th of March, 1650, being the 68th
+anniversary of his birth.
+
+Thus an old Yorkshire history: "While he was in his greatness, he was
+characterized a person of a generous mind, a lover and encourager of
+learning and learned men (being himself very learned), hospitable and a
+great benefactor to the public; but when, through anger and disgust, he
+sided with the parliament and Puritans, he was styled by the Royalists a
+perfidious prelate, the shame of the clergy, and the apostate archbishop,
+which how much he deserved, considering his provocations, let the reader
+judge. He hath many things in print, etc." Lord Campbell adds this tribute
+to the memory of this unfortunate prelate, for truly unfortunate he must
+be esteemed, "He will always be memorable in English history, as the last
+of a long line of eminent ecclesiastics, who, with rare intervals, held
+for many centuries the highest judicial office in the kingdom, and
+exercised a powerful influence over the destinies of the nation."
+
+Such are a few of the romantic and interesting facts relating to the
+military experience of English bishops, which are scattered through the
+pages of our national history. In some cases we cannot blame, in others we
+must actually applaud, our fighting bishops for patriotism, courage, and
+conduct of no common order; and where we may be disposed to censure, we
+may justly pause, and weigh the character of the times, the usages of the
+church, and admit that in their day and generation, they were not acting
+so opposite to their character and profession as we may be disposed to
+regard them, if we do so from the higher spiritual conditions of our own
+more favoured and settled times.
+
+
+
+
+The Cloister and its Story.
+
+BY S. W. KERSHAW, F.S.A.
+
+  "The treasures of antiquity laid up
+  In old historic rolls I opened."
+                                  --BEAUMONT.
+
+
+Fair and famed are the monastic ruins of our land, from Fountains and
+Rievaulx among the Yorkshire dales, to Tintern on the silvery Wye, and
+Netley near the placid Solent, one and all alike tell a tale of their past
+annals, making up, verily, a treasured page of "Bygone England."
+
+With these buildings are closely connected one of their great agencies,
+when, as dispensers of learning, in the early ages, darkness and ignorance
+was all around. Just as the legendary dictum arose, that the exquisite
+lantern of Ely Cathedral became a guiding light to the traveller, in the
+fens and morasses of Eastern England, so these religious homes were the
+beacon spots of learning.
+
+In that remote period of way-faring, it was the custom for some churches
+to have a fire lighted in an iron framework on the top of an angle
+turret, to direct the steps of the stranger, especially through those vast
+woods which covered our land, and of which a famous example existed in the
+forest of Galtres, in Yorkshire.
+
+The visitor to Gloucester Cathedral will have noticed its exquisite
+cloisters, and have seen the screens or "carols" where the monkish scribe
+sat diligently to copy his chronicle, or the artist to illuminate its
+page.
+
+The examples at Gloucester are almost unique as an illustration, so to
+speak, of the workshops of the mediaeval copyist; but a "scriptorium," or
+room, was arranged in most monastic houses, as the more general place of
+labour.
+
+As the chief homes and nurseries of religion, these houses attracted their
+different leaders and schools of learning. With Bede in Northumbria, and
+Augustine in Kent, two great missionary scholars, the memories of ancient
+lore seem to be recalled. In quick succession arose the vast abbeys of our
+land, at St. Albans, Glastonbury, York, Canterbury, Lindisfarne, and
+Hexham, spreading their influence far and wide, with a host of lesser
+foundations. Their erection, often due to the zeal of some noted
+ecclesiastic or pious layman, is closely connected with our church
+history and customs, revealing many a vivid picture of olden days. Their
+abbots and priors can show many illustrious names, and Matthew Paris,
+Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, St. Cuthbert, and William of Malmesbury, are
+but a tithe of the roll-call of writers and chroniclers.
+
+It is, however, the work which remains to this day as the evidence and
+link of an almost forgotten agency, through the preservation of our early
+documents, that the moving history of those times is recalled. The
+"scriptorium" under the abbot's direction, with specially trained scribes,
+was the great literary workroom, rules and admonitions were hung on its
+walls, expressive of the care to be taken in copying, the work was
+portioned out, and no monk could exchange his allotted task for another.
+
+There were those specially selected, to insert the rubricated letters and
+designs of the border page, while others prepared the vellum, or attended
+to the binding. In the larger monasteries, especially of the Cistercians,
+there were smaller "scriptoria" for the more learned of the community,
+distinguished also by their skill and attainments.
+
+The transcription of Missal or Service books was often made, not only for
+the great houses, but for the smaller ones, unable to maintain so large a
+staff, and then both "scriptorium" and cloister became a ceaseless centre
+of labour. Books were often lent from one monastery to another to be
+copied, and besides the actual staff, hired writers were also employed,
+thus rapidly developing the learning of those early times. Special grants
+of money were made to support this constant occupation--tithes and other
+aids procured the vellum, the ink, and the colours for the artist; thus,
+by degrees, came into existence those grand volumes which, despite time
+and decay, have survived to our day. The abbey chronicle and the abbot's
+letters became one great monastic diary, each containing a record of
+events and customs which shadowed forth many a noted incident or rare
+tradition.
+
+In the Christ Church letters, at Canterbury, we hear of Prior Chillenden's
+love of building, and mention of the grey old walls of that city, portions
+of which are now standing, is found in this correspondence.
+
+Truly can it be said, that the abbey and its literature grew together,
+that the annals of the one were the foundation stones of the other. The
+"Chronicle," perhaps the most typical form of monastic work, gave
+expression to endless literary fragments, some, undoubted forgeries, as
+one scribe often copied the errors of a preceding writer. The lives of
+saints, and their legends, were lightly interwoven in this day-book of the
+religious house, and the famous miracles of Thomas a Becket, repeated in
+all their varying allurements, formed the staple theme for many a
+credulous monk.
+
+On the other hand, the "Chronicle" recorded important events, especially
+the building of a noted minster, oratory, or shrine. Ingulphus treated of
+Croyland; William of Malmesbury, of Glastonbury; Gervase, the burning of
+Canterbury, and many like instances. In these volumes we often find
+allusions to the means used to raise money for building, and the curious
+customs arising out of this effort. When a cathedral wanted repair, the
+bishop selected from among his clergy a few preachers, and along with them
+a saint's shrine, in which relics were enclosed and carried by young
+clerks in procession. On reaching a town, these relics were taken to the
+church and left on one of the altars, and those who could afford, threw
+their offerings on the same.
+
+Processions to some noted spot formed another source of revenue, and the
+picturesque though fanciful custom of strewing the churchyard cross with
+boughs on Palm Sunday, may have been another of the quaint usages to
+attract the devotee to make his offerings.
+
+Fairs, too, were held, sometimes in the very cathedral precincts, and
+mystery and miracle plays also combined to increase the funds required for
+a grand fabric, or village church. A leading feature in the archivist's
+work were the bishop's registers, to be found in every diocese, and
+varying greatly in their interest and contents. Those of Canterbury and
+York form a unique collection of church history, while others are models
+of exactness or statesmanlike precision.
+
+As we turn over their pages, we recall the names of William of Wykeham
+(Bishop of Winchester), Bishop Alcock (Ely), Chichele, the munificent
+founder of All Souls', Oxford, while among lesser dignitaries may be
+classed Abbot Islip, of Westminster, and John of Whethampstead, for St.
+Alban's, whose registers and minute books betoken their care and
+knowledge, as "Supervisors" of the noble buildings under their charge.
+Perhaps the register of St. Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury (1078-1107), may
+fairly be taken to represent the idea of what is usually found to
+illustrate the growth, maintenance, and customs connected with those
+stately fabrics and minsters of our land. As St. Osmund was one of the
+prelate-architects, so to speak, and having much to do with the building
+of that cathedral, there are, naturally, endless allusions to antiquarian
+lore, indeed, his register can well be likened to a storehouse of local
+customs, and ecclesiological learning.
+
+On one page is an account of the maintenance of Savernake forest, over
+which the Dean and chapter of Sarum had certain rights. On another, we
+find a description of the stones and ornaments for the church, while
+elsewhere are the charters for the bestowal of land, towards the endowment
+of canonries and other preferments, and to these last were attached seals
+of deep historical value.
+
+This register may be taken then as the keystone to the annals of Sarum
+diocese, and what the keen inquirer finds in this as a typical book, may
+equally be said of several other episcopal archives. In their silent,
+though not less expressive, language, they have handed down those
+incidents on which hang the story of many an effort to build a costly
+shrine, a sculptured porch, or greater still, the minsters and abbeys
+which have made England of the past so rich an inheritance for us of
+to-day.
+
+The fullest scope for the mediaeval artist was found in the pictured
+chronicle, or the illuminated missal, that task on which painter and
+scribe devoted their best talents, and with this embellishment is
+interwoven many an old usage or fanciful legend.
+
+The monastery garden supplied endless designs for the exquisite
+plant-forms and scrolls which mingled so gracefully with the written text
+or the printed page. In the gifted words of the late Lady Eastlake, who
+said, "Here on these solid and well-nigh indestructible parchment folios,
+where text and picture alternately take up the sacred tale--the text
+itself a picture, the picture a homily--the skill of the artist has
+exhausted itself in setting forth the great scheme of salvation."[21]
+
+Flowers also supplied an un-ending theme for symbolism which always
+allied itself to sacred and legendary art, and tradition asserts that the
+monks reared an appropriate flower for each holy-day, and that certain
+flowers were dedicated to saints. The ivy a type of immortality, the oak
+of virtue and majesty, the lily, and the rose, all had their significance
+on the vellum book.
+
+Mingled with the border designs were satirical allusions in the form of
+grotesques and other drolleries, evidently aimed at the jealousies of the
+secular and regular clergy, one against the other, or both against the
+mendicant friars. What was found on the illuminated page, was echoed in
+the architectural carvings of the time, and the fantastic wood work in
+some of our cathedrals and many churches, especially in the stalls of
+Christ Church, Hants, repeat the teachings of the caustic monk in his
+cloistered seclusion.
+
+It was reserved for the architect-artist to perpetuate in stone the
+beauties of the floral world, and nothing speaks a stronger though mute
+language than the foliage sculptured on the arches, doorways, and nooks of
+our minsters, churches, and abbey ruins.
+
+  "Ivy, and vine, and many a sculptured rose,
+  The tenderest image of mortality,
+  Binding the slender columns, whose light shafts
+  Cluster like stems in corn-sheaves."
+
+Not only was symbolism embodied in these carvings, but as an exercise and
+offering of devotion to the Unseen, the best efforts were lavished on it
+by the skilled master-workmen of the time.
+
+Thus the scribe, the illuminator, the architect were all striving in a
+kind of companion rivalry, each illustrating by his efforts some phase of
+artistic labour, or reviving a long-forgotten custom.
+
+However much we may dissociate legend with truth, we cannot always ignore
+it, mingled though it may be with monkish ignorance and superstition.
+
+The tale of many a noble structure has been veiled under the guise of the
+chronicle or the monastic ledger book, and the foundation of Waltham Abbey
+is said to have originated from a 12th century MS., entitled, "De
+inventione Sancte Crucis." Around the grand church of Minister in Thanet,
+gathers a pretty story, in that Dompneva, wife of Penda, King of Mercia,
+asked Ethelbert to grant her land in Thanet, on which she might build a
+monastery. In answer to how much she required, "Only as much as my deer
+can run over at one course." The King gave her the wide tract of land run
+over by the deer, and she founded the cloister on the spot where now
+stands Minister church. Local names have sometimes been associated with
+the story of the cloister. The Bell-rock with its lighthouse was so called
+from the bell which the monks tolled, to warn the mariner of his danger.
+
+The smallest item on the parchment page can have an extended meaning; the
+sign of the cross was found in many old deeds, which often contained an
+invocation to the Trinity, and the famous story of St. Helena, and the
+finding of the cross, has its incidents oft repeated in the MS., the
+printed book, the panel or fresco painting, as well as in the marvellous
+pieces of the sacred wood, so greatly venerated by the faithful! Of St.
+Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, there is a drawing, said to be by his
+own hand, in the illumination of a manuscript in the Bodleian Library, and
+of dedication of churches to saints, the name is legion. St. Barnabas Day
+is specially linked with English life and manners, it was the longest day
+according to the old style, and the old rhyme,
+
+  "Barnaby bright, Barnaby light,
+  The longest day and the shortest night."
+
+Every form of chronicled lore, be it register, fabric roll, charter, or
+brief, teems with some peculiar custom which is a moving history, an
+heirloom from the old world, helping to connect the past and the present.
+
+Architectural items enter largely into the varied forms of church
+documents; the Indulgence often gave full particulars as to the repairs of
+a building, a fact most valuable for supplying the date at which any
+portion was built or renewed. Cathedral archives of whatever class, are
+sure to abound in allusions to the fabric or its annals, sometimes going
+so far as to sketch some portion in the marginal pages, of which an
+example is found in a drawing of old St. Paul's in the 14th century,
+occurring in a MS. called the "Flores historiarum." The statutes of our
+minsters are rich in ecclesiastical lore, the mediaeval fraternities or
+guilds are often mentioned in them, and in the statutes of St. Paul's a
+most curious custom is mentioned of waits parading the streets of London,
+to give notice of the feast of the Transfiguration, and carrying with them
+a picture or banners of that event.
+
+The antiquarian enthusiast on these subjects cannot do better than consult
+the work on "English Guilds" published by the Early English Text Society,
+and that of the "Statutes of St. Paul's," by Dr. Sparrow Simpson, 1873.
+
+Fabric rolls and inventories are an endless source of detailed
+information, in both of these, most minute descriptions are given; the
+painting and drawing of images, the materials, even to the pencils and
+brushes, being mentioned. Perhaps the most elaborate is that of the
+expense rolls for St. Stephen's chapel, in the old palace of Westminster,
+a bill of charges that helps to identify the kind of work done at that
+time, and the general artistic treatment in the reign of Edward III.
+
+The following entries may be given as a typical illustration:--
+
+  William de Padryngton, mason, for making twenty
+  angels to stand in the tabernacles, by task work
+  at 6/8 per each image                                 L6 13s. 4d.
+
+  For seven hundred leaves of gold, bought for the
+  painting of the tabernacles in the Chapel             L1 8s. 0d.
+
+The following item shows that there were artists who designed the work
+afterwards carried out by inferior craftsmen.
+
+  Hugh de St. Alban's and John de Cotton, painters,
+  working on the drawings of several images.            L0 9s. 0d.
+
+An examination of this expense roll, of which this is not a tithe of the
+entries, printed in Smith's history of Westminister, will well repay
+attention.
+
+With those graceful chantries, which adorn most of our minsters, are
+closely connected the service books of the middle ages, for it was usual
+to insert in the blank spaces of the collects the names of the founders of
+the chantry chapels.
+
+Indeed, the subtle way in which our old documents, of whatever class,
+interweave themselves with the annals of our mediaeval buildings, whether
+as regards the general plan, the design of some sculptured porch, the
+pictured images on walls, or the many-coloured votive chapel, each and all
+illustrating a quaint legend or significant custom, is too numerous to
+indicate.
+
+"Nor was all this labour spent in vain; their homes for centuries were in
+the silence of the sanctuary; their authors have mingled with the dust of
+the convent cemetery; over them have passed the rise and fall of the
+kingdoms of this world; but through them history has been transmitted with
+a continuity and fulness not to be found in any other form of art, or, it
+may be said in any form of literature."[22]
+
+  "Mid all the light a happier age has brought,
+  We work not yet as our forefathers wrought."
+
+
+
+
+Shorthand in Church.
+
+BY WILLIAM E. A. AXON, F.R.S.L.
+
+
+When Job Everardt published in the year 1658, his "Epitome of
+Stenographie," he had certainly no intention of minimising the value of
+his art, but, on the contrary, was quite ready to magnify the office of
+the shorthand writer. The engraved title-page is ornamented by eleven
+emblematical pictures, and stenography is declared to be "Swifter than the
+swift of foot" (Amos ii. 15); "Swifter than a post" (Job ix. 25); "Swifter
+than a weaver's shuttle" (Job vii. 20); "Swifter than waters" (Job xxiv.
+18); "Swifter than clouds" (Isaiah xix. 1); "Swifter than ships" (Job ix.
+26); "Swifter than horses" (Jer. iv. 13); "Swifter than dromedaries" (Jer.
+ii. 23); "Swifter than roes" (1 Chron. xii. 8); "Swifter than leopards"
+(Heb. i. 8); "Swifter than eagles" (2 Sam. i. 23). It may be remarked in
+passing that the worthy Everardt consistently spells than _then_ in the
+text to each of these emblems. We have left to the last the picture which
+holds the place of honour. Here we see a worthy divine, robed in a black
+gown, set off with white collars and cuffs, and with his head covered by a
+furred skull cap. He stands in a low pulpit, his hands rest on the
+comfortable cushion, which is unencumbered either by book or MS. Opposite
+to him, and occupying the whole of a comfortable form or very wide chair,
+is a stenographer. He wears his hat, as was often customary in church
+during the seventeenth century; he has impressive white hands; he has not
+taken off his cloak, but on a fold of it allows a book to rest, in which,
+with an impossible pen, he is taking down the sermon, and stares with
+fixed gaze as the divine asserts "My tongue is as the pen of a swift
+writer," and seems almost inclined to dispute the assertion that any
+tongue could keep pace with his nimble stylus.
+
+It must be confessed that the early stenographers--to confine our
+attention to them--were not at all in the habit of under-valuing their
+art. Here is what this same Everardt, "dropping into poetry" like Silas
+Wegg, has to say in a triple acrostic:--
+
+  Secret,  short,  swift  this  Writer iS, the Sun's course seemes but slow to hiS
+  The Teacher's nimble tongue comes shorT   this  Writer  waits  his  nexT  reporT
+  Eagles  arE swift,  his  pen  doth fleE   his  quill  an  Eagle's  seems  to  bE
+  Noe clouds  can flee,  Nor  waters  ruN  swifter theN his quick strokes have doN
+  One  postin g Swiftly  TO    and    frO   his  Oft-turn'd  quill  doth  even  SO
+  Galley  or ship with Sailes and   FlagG  the  Weavers  shuttle,  Leopard,  StagG
+  Roe,   Dromedary,   Horse    oR    Ha'R:   oR  the  swift  swiming  Dolphin ra'R
+  And  the   quick  Scribes,  As  ShemajA    Baruch,     EzrA,     E L I S H A M A
+  Paint  forth,  as  Patterns  in  a  maP  this  ARTS  true  Portrature  and  shaP
+  Haste Haste to learn what it doth teacH  Swiftness  and  Shortness botH to reacH
+  Yea     both     in       StenographyLY   much    more     in    this    EPITOMY
+
+After this ingenious torturing of the Queen's English, it is not
+surprising to find,
+
+  "In steed [sic] of Tenne command{ts.} Lords Pray'r, Creed:
+  Heer's Three and Thirty Languages to Reade,"
+
+that is to say, the sentence "But the just shall live by his faith," in
+that number of tongues, first in his stenographic characters, and then
+transliterated into longhand. His dedication is written in the style of a
+sermon, and in an introductory verse he does not fail to claim that by his
+art are
+
+  "... Sermons writ even from the lip,
+  And sudden thoughts before they slip."
+
+His good opinion of his own stenography, and powers of versification,
+sustains him to the end of his book, and he bids us adieu in this wise:--
+
+  "Herewith Farewell; If you can tell
+  What yet more fair, short, swift maybee,
+  Let the world know it, candedly [sic] show it
+  Or if not, Follow this with mee."
+
+William Hopkins "Flying Penman" (1695), has the following commendation
+signed by one whose surname has since become famous in divinity:--
+
+  "Virgil, who largely wrot about the Gnat
+  That saveing Man's life his own ruine gat,
+  Might have emploi'd his pen about this Fly
+  With greater pleasure and Utility,
+  A Fly this is, but of more noble kind
+  Than in the winged crue you ere did find:
+  A Flying Man; the Flying-Pen-man 'tis
+  Whose wing the fleeing game doth never miss.
+  The Eagle strikes down and eats up his prey
+  Destroying all that he doth bear away,
+  But what this Pen-man takes he doth preserve,
+  And makes it better to all uses serve,
+  When fleeting words would vanish with their sound
+  He doth them stay, and them deliver bound,
+  By Lines of Characters wherein they rest
+  As in a dwelling that doth please them best.
+  The Art of Spelling at first was thought
+  Strange, and they deem'd immortal who it taught,
+  Spelling by Characters excelleth all
+  That under any other Art doth fall.
+  Some Charactors creep, some go, these do Fly
+  Showing their authors great agility,
+  And this ability he doth impart
+  By certain rules of a defusive Art."
+                                    EDWARD BEECHER.
+
+Hopkins gives a long list of theological words, and of abbreviations of
+such phrases as "the blood of the saints," "the breath of the Almighty,"
+"the candle of the Lord," etc. In reporting the words of preachers, he
+advises the use of a book, with a margin ruled off, in which to "set down
+the numbers and names of all the heads contained in the sermon. All these
+heads," he says, "with parts of the Inlargements used upon them may be
+taken by such who hardly ever wrote before." This statement must be
+received _cum grano salis_.
+
+The system best known as that of Jeremiah Rich, who appears to have copied
+it from his uncle, William Cartwright, was one that seems to have been
+favoured by the divines of the seventeenth century. It was modified by Dr.
+Doddridge, and taught in his academy for the training of Nonconformist
+ministers, and then came into use in most of the older dissenting
+colleges, so that twenty years ago there were many who had thus been
+trained and conned the dumpty little bibles and psalm books that were
+engraved in Rich's system. That system has had many names attached to it.
+Let us take that which bears the impress of "Botley's learned hand." One
+of his eulogists tells us
+
+  "Sermons this art transfers, its oft known
+  The countrey reaps what's in the City sowne;
+  The sacred pulpit is not its confine
+  The general good is this art's main designe."
+
+Botley's "Maximum in Minimo," which appeared in 1659, is avowedly Jeremiah
+Rich's "Pen's dexterity compleated." The theological uses of the system
+are further asserted by ingenious devices for indicating such phrases as
+"to be joyned in love to those that are not of the people of God," "to
+embrace the cross of Christ," etc. This character = [symbol] signifies "to
+be miserable as the world is miserable," whilst [symbol] meant "a saint is
+a 1000 times better than the world." So in Noah Bridge's "Stenographie,"
+issued in the same year, there are phraseograms for "in the name of the
+Lord," "wherefore said the psalmist," etc.
+
+The "New Method of Short and Swift Writing," which was given away to
+purchasers of Dr. Chamberlen's "anodyne necklace for children's teeth," is
+declared to be "necessary for all Ministers of State, Members of
+Parliament, Lawyers, Divines, Students, Tradesmen, Shopkeepers,
+Travellers, and in fine, all sorts of persons from the highest to the
+lowest quality, degree, rank, station, and condition whatsoever, and write
+down presently whatever they hear or see done." The theologian here is
+somewhat lost in an indiscriminate crowd.
+
+That shorthand was used for the purpose of obtaining copies both of plays
+and of sermons in the seventeenth century is sufficiently well-known.
+There is a curious tract which professes to be a shorthand report of a
+discourse, by no less a person than our "Cromwell, chief of men," and
+although it is but a satire, its curious titlepage is nevertheless
+evidence of the common belief,--founded doubtless on the common
+practice,--that stenography could secure verbatim reports of the
+exhortations of preachers, whether clerical or lay. The tract professes to
+be,--
+
+    "A most Learned, Conscientious and Devout Exercise or Sermon of
+    Self-Denyal, (Preached or) Held forth the last Lords-day of April, in
+    the year of Freedom the 1st, 1649. At Sir P. T.'s House in
+    Lincolns-Inn-Fields. By Lieutenant General Oliver Cromwell,
+    Immediately before his going for Ireland, as it was then faithfully
+    taken in Characters, By Aaron Gueredo. And now published for the
+    Benefit of the New Polonian Association, and late Famed Ignoramus
+    furies of this city. Humbly Dedicated to the Worthy
+    Protestant-Hop-Merchants, and the rest of the Ignoramus-Brethren.
+    London: Printed in the Year of Freedom 43."
+
+The sermons of Tobias Crisp, which gave rise to a long controversy, were
+printed from "shortwriting," in 1642-43, and also those of Stephen Crisp,
+the Quaker, in 1694.
+
+The quarrel between the preacher and the reporter was not long in breaking
+out. Here is the indignant complaint of Dr. Calamy in the preface of one
+of his discourses.--
+
+    "The iniquity of the times hath necessitated the printing of the
+    ensuing Sermon. There is a Fellow, (who he is I know not) who hath for
+    his own private advantage, published it very imperfectly and
+    corruptly. And herein hath not only sinned against the 8th Commandment
+    in taking away another man's goods without his leave, but also against
+    the 9th Commandment, in bearing false witness against his neighbour.
+    For he makes me to say not only such things which I never said, but
+    which are very absurd and irrational. As for example: That the Body is
+    the worse part of the Soul. That the party deceased had not only dona
+    sanaia, but selutifera. That I should tell a story of one good Pell, a
+    Minister, born without doubt in Utopia, for of such a man I never
+    either read or heard. To make some satisfaction to the living and the
+    dead, here you have the same sermon in a truer edition with some few
+    additions then omitted for want of time. If this unhappy necessity may
+    contribute anything to thy good, or to the perpetuating of the Memory
+    of the Reverend, Learned, and godly Minister (at whose Funeral it was
+    preached), I shall not much repent for what I have done, though I am
+    assured, that he that brought me into this necessity, hath cause to
+    repent of this, his irregular and unwarrantable practice. ("The
+    Saint's Transfiguration," a Sermon preached at the Funeral of Dr.
+    Samuel Bolton, by Edmund Calamy, B.D., October 19, 1654. London,
+    1655)."
+
+The preacher had of course alluded to Conradus Pellicanus, the German
+theologian, whose name the stenographer had but partially caught, and set
+down as "Pell!" _Hinc illae lachrymae_--of angry indignation.
+
+The stenographers of the last century followed closely in the footsteps of
+their predecessors. James Weston's "Stenography" of which various editions
+appeared between 1727 and 1740, has an engraving showing a cathedral, in
+which a bewigged divine is preaching to a crowd of fashionably dressed
+ladies and gentlemen, many of whom are busy with pen and notebook.
+Underneath the picture is the motto,--
+
+  "Be perfect in this useful art, and then
+  No word from pulpit can escape your pen."
+
+This idea was conveyed by Aulay Macaulay, whose "Polygraphy" has for a
+frontispiece a pretty engraving, in which two gentlemen and a lady are
+seen taking down the words which, from the preacher's gestures, we may
+suppose to be both impressive and profitable.
+
+In the nineteenth century, as in the seventeenth, the church is much
+frequented by stenographers, but more it is to be feared for practice in
+shorthand than for perfection in piety. The first ambition of the boy who
+is learning shorthand is to "report" a sermon by the preacher whose
+ministry he attends. Mr. Thomas Allen Reed has given an amusing account of
+his first exploit in this direction, when he was still struggling with the
+early difficulties of the system he soon after abandoned for phonography.
+He says, "I did not, however, relinquish my practice, and in a few weeks I
+resolved on making a grand attempt to take down the Sunday sermon. I rose
+early in the morning with the sense of a weighty responsibility resting
+upon me. I sharpened my pencil with the gravity of a senator, and folded
+several sheets of paper together, in the profound conviction that I was
+undertaking a serious, if not a formidable, duty. I did my best to conceal
+my emotions, but my heart was beating all the way to the church. As to the
+preliminary service, I understood as little of it as if it had been read
+in Cherokee. I stood when I ought to have knelt, and knelt when I should
+have sat or stood, and demeaned myself like a youth whose religious
+education had been sadly neglected. At length the clergyman entered the
+pulpit, and I took my sheets of paper from the Bible in which I had
+concealed them, and my pencil from my pocket. If I did not feel like
+Bonaparte's soldiers, that the eyes of posterity were upon me, I devoutly
+believed that every eye in the church was directed to my note book. The
+colour mounted my cheeks (as it very often did at that period of my life,)
+and my whole frame trembled. I had a strong impulse to abandon my project,
+but I summoned all my energy to the task, and awaited the commencement of
+the sermon. 'The 12th chapter of Isaiah and the 3rd verse,' said the
+minister in solemn tones. This presented no great difficulty. I am sorry
+to say that, stenographically speaking, I burked Isaiah, and contented
+myself with the long-hand abbreviation, Is., and as to the text itself, I
+thought the first three words would suffice. And now for the sermon. 'The
+remarkable words, my brethren, of this important prophecy.' Laboriously I
+followed the deliberate utterances of the speaker, but when I reached the
+prophecy I floundered about in a maze of dire confusion. I thought it
+began with ph, and I accordingly started as I had been instructed, with
+the stenographic equivalent, f, but, finding that this would not do, I
+crossed it out. Then I tried p, r, and getting a good deal confused,
+plunged madly into the alphabet, the result being a combination of
+characters altogether beyond description. But where was the preacher?
+Away in the distance, almost out of sight and hearing. I was fairly
+beaten, but not quite disheartened. When another sentence was begun I made
+a fresh start, this time I was pulled up by the word 'synonymous,' I knew
+there were some n's and m's in it, but not how many. I must have written
+three or four of each, and while I was jerking out these segments of
+circles (their forms were the same as in Phonography,) the clergyman was
+remorselessly pursuing the intricacies of a long sentence, which I was
+compelled wholly to abandon. I made several other efforts with the like
+result. At length I secured an entire sentence of about twenty words, and
+felt very proud of the achievement. Some half-dozen such sentences
+rewarded my labour during the sermon. How I racked my brain in the
+afternoon in poring over these fragments! My memory (not then a bad one)
+was utterly useless. I had not the slightest conception of the drift of
+the sermon, but I was determined to make some kind of a transcript, and it
+was made. I presented it to my mother as my first attempt, and I believe
+she kept it carefully locked up in a drawer among her treasures. It was
+fortunate for my reputation that it never afterwards saw the light."
+(Leaves from the Notebook of Thomas Allen Reed, vol. 1, p. 12; vol. 2, p.
+24).
+
+The professional reporting of sermons is now an important department of
+the stenographer's work. The late Mr. Spurgeon's sermons were thus
+reported by Mr. Reed. Dr. Cumming had his own reporter, as had Beecher,
+and as Talmage and others have. Dr. Joseph Parker's discourses were
+"specially reported" by his wife. It is to the phonographic skill of a
+lady that we owe the preservation of many of the lectures, sermons, and
+prayers of the late George Dawson. The sermons of the Rev. Thomas T. Lynch
+were also reported by Mr. Reed. Yet the preacher had a strong dislike to
+his discourses being reported and printed, "especially without his
+revision." There, no doubt, is the rub. Dr. Morley Punshon had a strong
+dislike to be reported, and some letters that passed between him and Mr.
+Reed are given in the _Phonetic Journal_, July 30th, 1881. His objections
+were that the reporter was sometimes inaccurate, and that the preacher
+alone had a right to decide whether he would or would not address the
+larger congregation to be reached by the press. And he urged very strongly
+that the arguments used by Macaulay as to the unauthorised publication of
+his speeches were equally applicable to the case of sermons. It is still a
+rather doubtful point whether sermons are covered by the law of copyright,
+and many single sermons and even volumes have been published without the
+sanction, and sometimes against the wishes, of the preachers. But as it
+has been held by the law courts that a professor's lectures cannot be
+legally published without his consent, it is possible that some day a
+preacher may arise who will test the question and ask the judges to say if
+the pulpit is as much protected as the teacher's desk. The late Bishop
+Fraser is said to have jocularly declared that there was no heresy that
+had not been attributed to him by the slips of note-takers and condensers.
+
+Shorthand has been extensively used for the MS. of preachers, as by Dr.
+Chalmers, Job Orton, and a host of other preachers,--so many, indeed, that
+to deal with stenography in the pulpit would need a larger space than is
+here available.
+
+Perhaps the most original use of shorthand in church was that due to the
+conscientiousness and business instincts of the late Rt. Hon. W. H. Smith.
+Ecclesiastical patronage he felt to be a great responsibility. When there
+was a minister to be appointed he sought the best information as to those
+who were recommended to him as suitable. Sometimes he corresponded with
+friends likely to know; "at other times he used to send his confidential
+shorthand writer to attend the services of clergymen who might be suitable
+for the vacancy, and bring him verbatim reports of the sermons, with
+confidential memoranda of their appearance, views, abilities, and other
+details. It was only after carefully examining this information that he
+would proceed to make the appointment."
+
+Those clergymen who owed their promotion to the testimonials thus obtained
+might say with Job Orton's pious fervour, "Blessed be God for shorthand."
+
+
+
+
+Reminiscences of our Village Church.
+
+BY THE REV. CANON BENHAM, B.D., F.S.A.
+
+
+I propose in the following notes to write my recollections of a village
+church. They extend over nearly sixty years, and will, no doubt, describe
+a growth and change which might have been observed in a thousand English
+churches.
+
+But first, let me say a few words of this church before my recollection of
+it; not long before, for I am indebted to my mother's reminiscences for
+the few trifles with which I open. It was a heavy looking edifice, not
+attractive to the eye as compared with the "storied windows, richly
+dight," which mark the churches of the beautiful Gothic revival of our own
+times. This was a plain building, flint, with queer old stone facings, a
+heavy tower, "churchwarden" windows with diamond panes, with not an atom
+of beautiful tracery from one end to the other.
+
+And yet that church, if you had been taught how to look for it, contained
+features of the deepest interest to an antiquary. Within, were heavy
+Norman pillars between nave and aisles, and a round-headed flattened
+chancel arch, unmistakably Saxon. For that church was built by S. Wilfred
+of York in the 8th century, and built so substantially, that there it was
+in the 19th century, sturdy and strong, though successive generations had
+bepewed it and begalleried it, and put in square ugly windows, and a
+three-decker, in fact, had used their utmost endeavours to disfigure it.
+They could not destroy the simple Norman capitals, but they had
+whitewashed them, and had written up, with the best intentions, texts on
+the walls, in which my youthful eyes discovered two or three blunders in
+spelling. It is no wonder that the old Rector, who liked to see everything
+graceful and artistic, but who had never learned the principles of
+Architecture scientifically, failed to appreciate S. Wilfred's ancient
+work, and yearned to see something more graceful in its place. But of that
+presently. Let me go back for eighty years. The incumbent in those days
+was an old foxhunter, very fat and of enormous appetite. One day he came
+in from a long run across country. "Wilthon," said he (he used to lisp)
+"What ith there for my dinner?" "A goose, sir," said Wilson. "Bring him
+up, Wilthon, I'll goothe him." And he finished the goose and picked every
+bone clean. A well-known politician, who died only recently, was born in
+the village, and the old rector was called on to baptize him. "Name thith
+child," said he, and the answer was duly given, "James Edwin Thorold." The
+rector stared, for such exuberance of nomenclature was very uncommon in
+those days. "What?" he said in amazement. The name was repeated. "Bleth my
+thoul, what a lot of nameth," said he, "thay it onthe more." The name was
+said a third time, and the baby was duly christened. A lady who witnessed
+this, and who still lives, told me of this. She was twelve years old. My
+grandfather, in those days, was leader of the choir. They sat in a
+gallery, and had a fiddler and a trombone to accompany them. The trial of
+Queen Caroline, in 1820, raised the passions of the whole country to fever
+heat, and the rustics, for the most part, took the queen's side. When the
+news came down, that Government had abandoned the "bill of pains and
+penalties" for depriving her of the title of queen, there were processions
+through the street, and every window that did not display a candle, by way
+of illumination, got a stone through it. On the following Sunday my
+grandfather gave out the Psalm, which of course was Tate and Brady's,
+"35th Psalm, 11th and three following verses, _False witnesses with forged
+complaints_." It was sung with tremendous energy, and the old rector was
+furious, not unreasonably, and sent the whole choir to Coventry for some
+time. He used to put on his surplice in the chancel, before the people,
+and exchange it in the reading desk for the black gown, and used to preach
+one sermon on Sundays. He died about 1826, and was succeeded by one who
+was a brilliant scholar, a canon of a northern Cathedral, and a man who
+according to his lights was zealous for the decencies of worship. Thus he
+built a vestry, put the clerk into a black gown, and started a verger with
+a long coat and red collar, knee breeches, and a long staff of office, who
+always preceded him to the reading desk. I am now come within the sphere
+of my own recollections. This old rector lived until 1844, and my early
+ideas of the proprieties of the church service were all drawn from him.
+For he had a reason for everything, and expressed it pleasantly, and he
+was very kind to me personally. Is it any wonder that for many a year I
+tried all questions of ritual--I am not sure that I have ceased even
+now--with "What would Doctor B. have thought about this?" He never
+preached one sermon in the church during his whole incumbency. I
+understood that it was the danger of a sudden failure of voice, to which
+he was subject, that prevented him. Anyhow that was the fact. But he
+established afternoon sermons, and his curate always preached them. He
+himself used regularly to say the Prayers, and never since his day have I
+ever heard anybody read the lessons so well as he did. I never hear the
+first chapter of the Hebrews without recalling the magnificent roll of his
+voice, as he brought out of it the points of the opening argument. He was
+keen upon chanting, and vocal music, and we always sang the Canticles, and
+the metrical Psalms--as I think very well--and a few Sanctuses. The only
+case of chanting the Prayer Book Psalms was certainly curious. He had
+heard in Westminster Abbey, the 137th Psalm, "By the waters of Babylon,"
+sung to a chant which much delighted him, and on the 28th day of the
+month, when that Psalm occurs, we chanted it to the music referred to. All
+the other Psalms were read.
+
+We used to be told at school that on Sundays we got a taste of Heaven, for
+we went to church and sang God's praises. I do not quarrel with the
+teaching even now, I think there is something in it. But I used to think,
+in those tender pinafore years, that in Heaven there would be one
+improvement, namely, that we should not stand on cold damp stones and feel
+half perished. There were forms running up the centre of the church, the
+whole length of it, on the cold bricks, no arrangement at all for
+kneeling, and on these forms we sat during lessons, prayers, sermon; and
+many a cold in the head did I catch. The best singers among the boys, of
+whom I was not one, went into the gallery. The old Rector established a
+school in the village, and we learned the Tonic Sol-Fah, and the singing
+was said to be the best for miles round. I think it was in 1842, two years
+before his death, that the fiddles and clarionettes were disestablished,
+and the music was entirely vocal.
+
+There was one feature of his incumbency which I must not forget, I mean
+his church catechising. It had always been a favourite doctrine of his,
+that catechising in church should be a feature of church work, and every
+Sunday afternoon in Lent, the boys were marshalled round the reading desk
+and catechised. Perhaps rather unfortunately, he had a keen sense of fun,
+and occasionally a bit of humour in his questions, or his comments, set
+the congregation in a titter. But there was no question that those who
+listened picked up a great amount of Biblical and ecclesiastical
+knowledge.
+
+One mistake as I know now, the dear old rector made. He did not know of
+the archaeological interest of the church, disfigured as it had been by
+country carpenters and painters and white-washers, and he built a new one,
+designed by Sir G. Gilbert Scott, then a very young man. And so S.
+Wilfred's Church was pulled down, and a modern building, handsome enough,
+has taken its place. But before it was finished the old rector died. So
+now my recollections pass on to another building and another idea of
+service.
+
+The new church was certainly more comfortable for the schoolboys, and the
+singing still continued good. But the new rector made some alterations in
+matters on which his predecessors had been strong. He was a very
+pronounced Puritan, and forbade the school children to turn eastward for
+the Creeds. He forbade such simple anthems as "Lord of all power and
+might," and Cecil's "I will arise." But he had his very good points. He
+was young and active, and visited his people assiduously, established a
+monthly Communion, and worked up a regular branch of the Church Missionary
+Society, which nobody in the village had ever heard of before. I grew up
+to manhood during his incumbency, and though I regarded his Puritan
+practices, and listened to his Calvinistic sermons and tirades against
+Popery with extreme dislike, I see now that he was a man who was most
+faithful to his convictions, and no man could be more earnest for the
+spiritual welfare of his people. He was no scholar, I doubt whether he
+could have read a page of the Greek Testament in his later days. But he
+was the kind friend of the sick and the aged, and looked after the young
+people of his flock, and when they went forth into the world gave them
+loving and sensible counsels. His wife was as sweet and saintly a
+character as ever I knew, and their large family have all proved the
+wisdom of their training. One son has earned himself a name as respected
+as it is widely known.
+
+His successor was a man of like views, better read, and a kindly-hearted
+man. But he was less in his parish. Though he kept no curate, he was
+constantly absent as a "missionary deputation," and his congregation, who
+had never been instructed in church principles, fell away. He died, and
+his successor, who was only there for a year or two, was, I am told, a
+failure, greatly owing to weak health; and so we come down to present
+times. An organ has been given to the church, thanks to a generous layman;
+the choir march in procession to their places in the chancel, they do a
+respectable choral service, and of course turn eastward for their Creed.
+The parson looks thoroughly well after them, and loves them. There are
+regular week-day services, and a fair attendance on holy days, and the
+Sunday congregation is steadily increasing. It had gone down terribly.
+
+Such is an impartial review of the church life in an out-of-the-way
+country village. My own special old Rector (for I owe more to him than I
+could ever tell), the builder of the church, was one of the original
+movers in the celebrated movement of 1833, was in fact one of the persons
+present at the meeting at Hadleigh Rectory, under the presidency of Hugh
+James Rose, which led to the starting of the _Tracts for the Times_.
+
+His name appears both in Palmer's Narrative, and in Newman's
+Correspondence. He was a great friend of John Keble. But as the Tract
+Movement declined visibly towards Rome he regarded it with increasing
+dislike, and in his last years expressed that dislike with emphasis. I
+have sometimes wondered what position he would take up if he lived in our
+own day, and am inclined to think that the present Archbishop of
+Canterbury would be regarded by him as best expressing his own views.
+Peace to them every one, everlasting Light and Rest.
+
+
+Ye Ende
+
+
+
+
+Index
+
+
+  Abbatial staff, 196
+
+  Abbots Bromley, horns at, 13
+
+  Advent ringing, 46
+
+  Agnus Bell, 43
+
+  Ale, baptized in, 80
+
+  Ales, Church, 19, 151-152
+
+  Altars in churches, 161-166
+
+  Andrews, William, F.R.H.S., Inscriptions on Bells, 49-63;
+    Laws of the Belfry, 64-73;
+    Bells cast in churchyards, 154-156.
+
+  Anglo-Saxon burials, 127
+
+  Anglo-Saxon marriage, 100
+
+  Anglo-Saxon prelates, 198-201
+
+  Annointing at baptism, 89
+
+  Announcements of fortunes at marriages, 121
+
+  Apostle Spoons, 90
+
+  Armour, burial in, 132
+
+  Armour in Churches, 174-181
+
+  Armour at funerals, 129, 178
+
+  Arvel Dinner, 139
+
+  Ascension Day customs, 188-189
+
+  Axon, W. E. A., Shorthand in Church, 246-260
+
+
+  Banns, forbidding, 113
+
+  Banns peal, 46
+
+  Baptism, earliest titles of, 78
+
+  Baptism rejected, 79
+
+  Barton-le-Street, curious customs at, 20
+
+  Batley bells, poem on, 61-63
+
+  Beating the Bounds, 182-190
+
+  Bell inscriptions, 35, 39, 40, 45, 49, 63
+
+  Bells cast in churches and churchyards, 154
+
+  Bells lost, 38-39
+
+  Benham, Rev. Canon, B.D., F.S.A., Customs and Superstitions of Baptism,
+        78-98;
+    Reminiscences of our Village Church, 261-270
+
+  Bibles, throwing dice for, 165
+
+  Biddenden Maids, 25
+
+  Bidding at weddings, 119
+
+  Bidding for funerals, 146
+
+  Bishops in Battle, 198-231
+
+  Black Prince, armour of, 175
+
+  Blinds taken down at death, 139
+
+  Bragget Sunday, 23
+
+  Bread and beer distributed at a tomb, 20
+
+  Bridegrooms, 104
+
+  Box at funerals, 145
+
+  Boy-bishop, 2-8
+
+  Bozeat toffee, 25
+
+  Bridesmaids, 103
+
+  Briscoe, J. Potter, "Curiosities of the Belfry," 73
+
+  Bull-running, 28
+
+  Burial Customs, 126-146
+
+  Burial without city walls, 127
+
+  Bumping children, 187-188;
+    a curate, 188
+
+  Buns and cider, 24
+
+  Burning books, 158
+
+  Burnley marriage custom, 123
+
+  Butchers' serenade, 122
+
+
+  Caistor gad-whip, 28
+
+  Canute's crown, 175
+
+  Card-playing, 20
+
+  Carling Sunday, 23
+
+  Caroline, Queen, trial of, 26;
+
+  Catechising, 266
+
+  Chanting in Church, 265
+
+  Choir in the olden days, 263-264
+
+  Christening bit, 92;
+    garments, 89;
+    tongs, 91;
+    folk-lore, 94-98
+
+  Chrisom, 143
+
+  Christmas, 13, 22, 29, 46
+
+  Church-Ales, 19, 151, 152
+
+  Churchwardens' accounts, 186-187
+
+  Churchyards, 127
+
+  Cider, 24
+
+  Cock-fighting, 20
+
+  Coffins, burials without, 134-135
+
+  Collecting at funerals in Wales, 139-140
+
+  Commonwealth, marriages under, 115
+
+  Corpse, and right of way, 140
+
+  Costume at weddings, 123
+
+  Cox, Rev. J. C., LL.D., F.S.A., on Sports in Churches, 1-20;
+    Armour in Churches, 174-181
+
+  Cremation, 127
+
+  Cromwell, satire on, 252
+
+  Cross roads, burial at, 144
+
+  Crosses, burial, 141, 144, 158
+
+  Crusaders, 218, 224
+
+  Customs and superstitions of baptism, 78-98
+
+
+  Dancing in churches, 8-15
+
+  Dates on bells, 40
+
+  Day for marriage, 125
+
+  Dead, baptism of, 84
+
+  Dead, ringing home, 130
+
+  Deaf and dumb marriages, 120-121
+
+  Dice cast on the Altar, 165
+
+  Disputes settled in churchyards, 147
+
+  Doles at funerals, 135, 152
+
+  Domesday Book, churches mentioned in, 147
+
+  Dowry for poor maidens, 111
+
+  Druids, 26
+
+
+  Easter, 24, 36
+
+  Easter Eggs, 31
+
+  Eastern portion of churchyard, burial in, 136-138
+
+  Edward III., armour of, 176
+
+  Embalming, 126
+
+  Epitaph, curious, 58, 137
+
+
+  Fairs held in churchyards, 149, 237
+
+  Feast, 22
+
+  Feasts, burial, 136
+
+  Feasting in churches, 19
+
+  Feudal tenures, 211
+
+  Fig-pie Sunday, 23
+
+  Font, use of, 81
+
+  Football, 27
+
+  Foxhunting parson, 262
+
+  Funeral banquets, 19
+
+
+  Garlands at funerals, 143
+
+  Garlands, nuptial, 105
+
+  Gifts at christening, 92-93
+
+  Girls baptised first, 94
+
+  Gold and silver, altars made of, 163
+
+  Good Friday, 24, 28
+
+  Good Shepherd, 193
+
+  Grain at weddings, 119
+
+  Great Rebellion, 227, 231
+
+  Great Tom of Lincoln, 41
+
+  Gretna Green marriages, 120
+
+  Gowrie Plot, 37
+
+  Gunpowder Plot, 35-36
+
+
+  Hats worn in church, 247
+
+  Hampshire burial superstitions, 131
+
+  Handbells, 44
+
+  Hare-pie, 24
+
+  Harvest Bell, 45
+
+  Haxey Hood, 27
+
+  Heart burial, 128
+
+  Hearse, 130
+
+  Hindoo marriage custom, 110
+
+  Holy Cross, 147, 167
+
+  Holy Day Customs, 21-32
+
+  Horn-dancers, 13-14
+
+  Horse claimed at a mortuary, 129
+
+  Hot cross buns, 24
+
+  Hot pot at weddings, 102
+
+  Hour-glasses in coffins, 131
+
+  Howlett, England, F.S.A., Marriage Customs, 99-125,
+    Burial Customs, 126-146
+
+  Hucksters' stalls in churches, 1
+
+  Husband and Wife re-united, 117
+
+
+  Images, 244
+
+  Immersion, 81
+
+  Inscriptions on Bells, 49-63
+
+
+  Kershaw, S. W., F.S.A., The Cloister and its story, 232-245
+
+  Kendal Custom, 30
+
+  Kissing, 109
+
+  Knives, 103
+
+
+  Lamplough, Edward, Bishops in Battle, 198-231
+
+  Lights to guide travellers by night, 232
+
+  Longest day, 242
+
+  Laws of the Belfry, 64-73
+
+
+  Market Bell, 37
+
+  Marriage Customs, 99-125
+
+  Mass on the field of battle, 213
+
+  May 29th, ringing on, 34
+
+  Maunday Thursday, 30
+
+  Midnight burials, 142
+
+  Mince-pies, 22
+
+  Miracle Play, 16-18
+
+  Mistletoe, 26
+
+  Mitred Abbots, 196
+
+  Molly Grime, 28
+
+  Monks of Durham, 204
+
+  Moravian marriage customs, 117
+
+  Morris dancers, 10-12
+
+  Mothering Sunday, 23
+
+  Mulled ale, 23
+
+  Myton, battle of, 203
+
+
+  New Year's eve ringing, 40
+
+  Nicholson, John, Concerning the Churchyard, 147-160
+
+  Notorious characters buried north side of the church, 137
+
+
+  Oak-apple day, 34
+
+
+  Palm Sunday at Leigh, 29
+
+  Palls, 145
+
+  Page, John T., The Rood Loft and its uses, 167-173;
+    Beating the Bounds, 182-190
+
+  Pancakes, 22, 37
+
+  Pancake bell, 23
+
+  Parish Armour, 178-181
+
+  Parish Clerks, 114
+
+  Passing Bell, 47, 128
+
+  Pastoral staff, 129
+
+  Paul's Pitcher Day, 30
+
+  Paying toll at weddings, 122
+
+  Peacock, Florence, Church Bells, when and why they were Rung, 33-48
+
+  Penance performance in Hull, 158
+
+  Preaching from Shorthand, 259
+
+  Private baptism, 83
+
+  Proxy, marriage by, 106
+
+  Processioning, 184
+
+  Puritan, 267
+
+
+  Quakers baptized, 81
+
+  Quarrels in churchyards, 151
+
+
+  Reeve, Isaac J., Ringers' Jugs, 74-77
+
+  Refreshment Sunday, 23
+
+  Reminiscences of our Village Church, 261-270
+
+  Reporting, objections to, 258
+
+  Revival of the rood screen, 172
+
+  Rice at wedding, 118
+
+  Rings, wedding, 107
+
+  Ringers' Jugs, 74-77
+
+  Rival Popes, 216
+
+  Rome, ancient, marriage in, 10
+
+  Rood Loft and its Uses, 167-173
+
+  Roods swept away at the Reformation, 170
+
+  Rogation Week, 183
+
+  Rosemary at funerals, 131
+
+  Rubbish heap in churchyards, 159
+
+  Russian burial customs, 141
+
+
+  St. Andrew, 40-41
+
+  St. Hugh's Day, 44
+
+  Saints and martyrs buried under the altar, 161
+
+  Salt at funerals, 144
+
+  Sand strewing at weddings, 124
+
+  Sanctus Bell, 42
+
+  Sawdust strewing at weddings, 124
+
+  Saxon Church, 261-262
+
+  Screens in churches, 168-169
+
+  Scrope, Richard, 224-227
+
+  Scriptorium, 233-235
+
+  Scrambling customs, 153-154
+
+  Seasons for marrying, 111
+
+  Secular uses of churches, 1
+
+  Sceptre, 192
+
+  Seville, dancing at, 14-15
+
+  Shakespeare on armour, 175
+
+  Sitting posture, buried in a, 134
+
+  Shrines, 236
+
+  Shrove Tuesday, 22-36
+
+  Shoes at weddings, 118-124
+
+  Shorthand in Church, 246-260
+
+  Simnels, 23
+
+  Skeletons represented on tombs, 142
+
+  Smith, W. H., shorthand reports for, 259-260
+
+  Spencer, Bishop of Norwich, 214, 216
+
+  Sponsors, 86
+
+  Sports in Churches, 1-20
+
+  Sports in churchyards, 150-151
+
+  Staff of authority, 191
+
+  Standard, battle of, 201-202
+
+  Stocks, 157
+
+  Story of the Crosier, 191-197
+
+  Sunday burials, 145
+
+  Sunday of the Five Loaves, 23
+
+  Sundials, 156-157
+
+  Swedish funerals, 141
+
+
+  Taxes on baptism, 94
+
+  Torches at funerals, 137-138
+
+  Tracts of the Times started, 269
+
+  Trading in churchyards, 148
+
+  True Lovers' Knot, 107
+
+  Twickenham cakes, 24
+
+  Tyack, Rev. G. S., B.A., on Holy Day Customs, 21-32.
+    Altars in Churches, 161-166.
+    The Story of the Crosier, 191-197
+
+
+  Umbrella, parish, 140
+
+  Upright burial, 133
+
+
+  Viands connected with Holy Days, 25
+
+
+  Washing feet, 30
+
+  Waxen effigies, 142
+
+  Wedding bells, 114
+
+  Wedding biddings, 119
+
+  Well-dressing, 27
+
+  Welsh custom, 29
+
+  Whitby funeral cakes, 146
+
+  Whitsuntide, 11
+
+  Wine, baptized in, 80
+
+  Wine drinking in church at weddings, 102
+
+  Wills about armour, 177
+
+  Wool stored in churches, 1
+
+  Woollen, burial in, 132
+
+  Wren stoning, 29
+
+  Wymund, the Saxon, 205-207
+
+
+  Yule-log, 26
+
+  Yule, songs of, 13
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] The two best recent books on the subject are Pollard's _English
+Miracle Plays_ (Clarendon Press, 1890,) and Bate's _The English Religions
+Drama_ (Macmillan, 1893.)
+
+[2] Peacock's _Church Furniture_.--p. 103.
+
+[3] Peacock's _Church Furniture_.--p. 85.
+
+[4] _Ibid._--p. 103.
+
+[5] _English Bells and Bell Lore_, 1888, T. North, cp. 16, p. 191.
+
+[6] At the bottom of the plate occurs the name of the engravers, Sellers
+and Nelson, Leeds.
+
+[7] See Edward's _History and Poetry of Finger Rings_, Cap. 5, p. 221.
+
+[8] See Robinson's "History and Antiquities of Stoke Newington."
+
+[9] Acta SS. Ord. Benedict, sec. iii., part 2.
+
+[10] York Fabric Rolls, p. 256.
+
+[11] York Fabric Rolls, p. 255.
+
+[12] Andrews' "Curiosities of the Church."
+
+[13] Andrews' "Curiosities of the Church," p. 89.
+
+[14] York Fabric Rolls, p. 116.
+
+[15] 8th S. V. 150, Feb. 24th, 1894.
+
+[16] In some parishes a Triennial or even Septennial visit to the
+boundaries is considered sufficient.
+
+[17] Brand.
+
+[18] Vol. ii., part i., p. 165.
+
+[19] Walton's "_Life_."
+
+[20] Lysons' "_London_," ii., 126.
+
+[21] "History of Our Lord," by the late Mrs. Jameson, continued by Lady
+Eastlake.
+
+[22] "History of Our Lord," by the late Mrs. Jameson, 1864.
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF PUBLICATIONS OF WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO.,
+
+THE HULL PRESS.
+
+
+_SECOND EDITION. Bound in cloth gilt, demy 8vo. 6s._
+
+Curiosities of the Church:
+
+Studies of Curious Customs, Services, and Records,
+
+By WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.,
+
+AUTHOR OF "HISTORIC ROMANCE," "FAMOUS FROSTS AND FROST FAIRS," "HISTORIC
+YORKSHIRE," ETC.
+
+
+CONTENTS:
+
+    Early Religious Plays: being the Story of the English Stage in its
+    Church Cradle Days--The Caistor Gad-Whip Manorial Service--Strange
+    Serpent Stories--Church Ales--Rush Bearing--Fish in Lent--Concerning
+    Doles--Church Scrambling Charities--Briefs--Bells and Beacons for
+    Travellers by Night--Hour Glasses in Churches--Chained Books in
+    Churches--Funeral Effigies--Torchlight Burials--Simple Memorials of
+    the Early Dead--The Romance of Parish Registers--Dog Whippers and
+    Sluggard Wakers--Odd Items from Old Accounts--A carefully compiled
+    Index.
+
+ILLUSTRATED.
+
+
+Press Opinions.
+
+"A volume both entertaining and instructive, throwing much light on the
+manners and customs of bygone generations of Churchmen, and will be read
+to-day with much interest."--_Newbery House Magazine._
+
+"An extremely interesting volume."--_North British Daily Mail._
+
+"A work of lasting interest."--_Hull Examiner._
+
+"The reader will find much in this book to interest, instruct, and
+amuse."--_Home Chimes._
+
+"We feel sure that many will feel grateful to Mr. Andrews for having
+produced such an interesting book."--_The Antiquary._
+
+"A volume of great research and striking interest."--_The Bookbuyer (New
+York.)_
+
+"A valuable book."--_Literary World (Boston, U.S.A.)._
+
+"An admirable book."--_Sheffield Independent._
+
+"An interesting, handsomely got up volume.... Mr. Andrews is always chatty
+and expert in making a paper on a dry subject exceedingly
+readable."--_Newcastle Courant._
+
+"Mr. William Andrews' new book, 'Curiosities of the Church,' adds another
+to the series by which he has done so much to popularise antiquarian
+studies.... The book, it should be added, has some quaint illustrations,
+and its rich matter is made available for reference by a full and
+carefully compiled index."--_Scotsman._
+
+
+_Elegantly bound in cloth gilt, demy 8vo., price 6s._
+
+Old Church Lore,
+
+By WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.,
+
+_Author of "Curiosities of the Church," "Old-Time Punishments," "Historic
+Romance," etc._
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+    The Right of Sanctuary--The Romance of Trial--A Fight between the
+    Mayor of Hull and the Archbishop of York--Chapels on Bridges--Charter
+    Horns--The old English Sunday--The Easter Sepulchre--St. Paul's
+    Cross--Cheapside Cross--The Biddenden Maids Charity--Plagues and
+    Pestilences--A King Curing an Abbot of Indigestion--The Services and
+    Customs of Royal Oak Day--Marrying in a White Sheet--Marrying under
+    the Gallows--Kissing the Bride--Hot Ale at Weddings--Marrying
+    Children--The Passing Bell--Concerning Coffins--The Curfew
+    Bell--Curious Symbols of the Saints--Acrobats on Steeples--A
+    carefully-prepared Index.
+
+ILLUSTRATED.
+
+
+PRESS OPINIONS.
+
+"A worthy work on a deeply interesting subject.... We commend this book
+strongly."--_European Mail._
+
+"An interesting volume."--_The Scotsman._
+
+"Contains much that will interest and instruct."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+"The author has produced a book which is at once entertaining and
+valuable, and which is also entitled to unstinted praise on the ground of
+its admirable printing and binding."--_Shields Daily Gazette._
+
+"Mr. Andrews' book does not contain a dull page.... Deserves to meet with
+a very warm welcome."--_Yorkshire Post._
+
+"Mr. Andrews, in 'Old Church Lore,' makes the musty parchments and records
+he has consulted redolent with life and actuality, and has added to his
+works a most interesting volume, which, written in a light and easy
+narrative style, is anything but of the 'dry-as-dust' order. The book is
+handsomely got up, being both bound and printed in an artistic
+fashion."--_Northern Daily News._
+
+
+"Valuable and interesting."--_The Times._
+
+"Readable as well as instructive."--_The Globe._
+
+"A valuable addition to any library."--_Derbyshire Times._
+
+The Bygone Series.
+
+In this series the following volumes are included, and issued at 7s. 6d.
+each. Demy 8vo., cloth gilt.
+
+These books have been favourably reviewed in the leading critical journals
+of England and America.
+
+Carefully written articles by recognised authorities are included on
+history, castles, abbeys, biography, romantic episodes, legendary lore,
+traditionary stories, curious customs, folk-lore, etc., etc.
+
+The works are illustrated by eminent artists, and by the reproduction of
+quaint pictures of the olden time.
+
+  BYGONE CHESHIRE, edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE DERBYSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE ESSEX, edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE ENGLAND, by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE KENT, edited by Richard Stead, B.A.
+  BYGONE LANCASHIRE, edited by Ernest Axon.
+  BYGONE LEICESTERSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE LINCOLNSHIRE (2 vols.), edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE LONDON, by Frederick Ross, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, by William Stevenson.
+  BYGONE SCOTLAND, by David Maxwell, C.E.
+  BYGONE SOUTHWARK, by Mrs. E. Boger.
+  BYGONE SURREY, edited by George Clinch and S. W. Kershaw, F.S.A.
+  BYGONE WARWICKSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+  BYGONE YORKSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, F.R.H.S.
+
+
+Price 4s. 6d. Demy 8vo.
+
+"A handsome gift book."--_Barnsley Independent._
+
+"A welcome addition to fairy books."--_The Scotsman._
+
+"A very delightful volume, and eminently qualified for a gift book.... The
+stories are bright and interesting."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+The New Fairy Book,
+
+Edited by WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.
+
+Author of "Bygone England," etc.
+
+This Volume contains Fifteen New Fairy Stories by Popular Authors.
+
+Many charming original illustrations are included.
+
+It is beautifully printed in bold clear type, and bound in a most
+attractive style.
+
+
+PRESS OPINIONS.
+
+"We hope the book will get into many children's hands."--_Review of
+Reviews._
+
+"We can recommend the stories for their originality, and the volume for
+its elegant and tasteful appearance."--_Westminster Gazette._
+
+"The stories are good."--_The World._
+
+"All the stories in the collection are well written. The illustrations are
+excellent."--_The Spectator._
+
+"A tasteful volume, and illustrated profusely."--_The Literary World._
+
+"In this volume it has been the editor's desire to furnish a fresh
+collection of fairy stories, written by authors who love children, and
+know exactly the kind of tales that gives them pleasure. Something more
+than providing enjoyment is attempted. Useful life lessons may be learnt
+from the book, which contains a most interesting collection of fairy
+stories, each telling its tale and pointing its moral in the happiest
+manner."--_The Gentlewoman._
+
+"It is certain to become popular."--_Yorkshire Post._
+
+"Type and illustrations are worthy of the Hull Press, which is saying a
+great deal."--_The News._
+
+"The stories comprised in this volume deserve to be widely known and
+appreciated. There are some excellent illustrations, and the whole 'get
+up' reflects the highest credit alike on editor and publishers. It
+promises to be one of the books of the season."--_Stamford Mercury._
+
+"'The New Fairy Book' is sure to win its way to the possession and favour
+of quite a host of young people. The stories are evidently, as the editor
+gives assurance, written by authors who love children and know the kind of
+tales that give them pleasure. The book is well printed, attractively
+bound, and freely illustrated."--_Liverpool Post._
+
+"'The New Fairy Book' is the title of a richly bound volume containing
+fifteen fairy tales, edited by William Andrews. The tales are brimful of
+such fairy romance as youthful readers delight in. Fairy kings, queens,
+princes, and princesses, pass in bright procession through the pages,
+everyone of which presents some delightful picture from the imaginative
+pen. The scenes amid which these fairy personages move are not the less
+beautiful, and from first page to last there is not to be found a single
+dull or uninteresting page. The tales have been judiciously edited, and
+worthily fulfil the editor's aim to 'furnish a fresh collection of fairy
+stories written by authors who love children.' Very many young readers
+will warmly thank him for so faithfully performing his loving
+task."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+"Mr. Andrews' 'New Fairy Book' is a delightful production. So far as
+binding, illustrations, and printing go, it leaves nothing to be desired,
+and from this standpoint alone must be pronounced a goodly book. But the
+contents are equally choice. Mr. Andrews has drawn around him a number of
+skilled story-tellers, who have one and all written with charm and
+originality. This Fairy Book differs from most of the others we have seen,
+inasmuch as the tales are--as the title of the volume
+indicates--absolutely new. It is true that they contain a number of the
+old ingredients, but then the makers of fairy tales must always work more
+or less from the time honoured recipe. This the contributors to the 'New
+Fairy Book' have done, but their effects are novel and surprising, for
+they serve up the dishes in varied ways of their own devising. The result
+is much to our taste. There are fifteen stories in all, simple in style,
+engaging and fresh in manner, with here and there a weird episode, here
+and there something amusing. Ghosts, elves, ogres, giants, princes, and,
+of course, fairy queens flit in and out of the scenes; castles of
+enchantment, and all the favourite features of fairyland are present; and
+so we are transported to the real kingdom of the fairies, and soon find
+ourselves absorbed in the adventures of wondrous heroes and the antics of
+imps. All this is as it should be, and the volume will afford genuine
+entertainment to all who read it--and there should be many--these long
+winter nights."--_Birmingham Gazette._
+
+"'The New Fairy Book,' edited by William Andrews, is a somewhat ambitious
+attempt to add to the delightful repertoire of nursery stories with which
+the literature of all civilised countries abounds. The writers include
+several well known names, and though the titles chosen suggest in some
+cases old and familiar stories, it is due to the editor and the authors to
+say that they have discharged their really very onerous functions with
+great skill and excellent judgment. The volume is published as a
+collection of new stories, and if it should meet with the success it truly
+deserves, editor and writers will have every reason to be
+thankful."--_Leeds Mercury._
+
+
+Bygone England:
+
+Social Studies in its Historic Byways and Highways.
+
+BY WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.
+
+CONTENTS:--Under Watch and Ward--Under Lock and Key--The Practice of
+Pledging--The Minstrel in the Olden Time--Curious Landholding
+Customs--Curiosities of Slavery in England--Buying and Selling in the
+Olden Time--Curious Fair Customs--Old Prejudices against Coal--The
+Sedan-Chair--Running Footmen--The Early Days of the Umbrella--A Talk about
+Tea--Concerning Coffee--The Horn-Book--Fighting Cocks in
+Schools--Bull-Baiting--The Badge of Poverty--Patents to wear Nightcaps--A
+Foolish Fashion--Wedding Notices in the Last Century--Selling Wives--The
+Story of the Tinder Box--The Invention of Friction Matches--Body
+Snatching--Christmas under the Commonwealth--Under the Mistletoe Bough--A
+carefully prepared Index.
+
+"We welcome 'Bygone England.' It is another of Mr. Andrews' meritorious
+achievements in the path of popularising archaeological and old-time
+information without in any way writing down to an ignoble level."--_The
+Antiquary._
+
+"A delightful volume for all who love to dive into the origin of social
+habits and customs, and to penetrate into the byways of
+history."--_Liverpool Daily Post._
+
+"There is a large mass of information in this capital volume, and it is so
+pleasantly put that many will be tempted to study it. Mr. Andrews has done
+his work with great skill."--_London Quarterly Review._
+
+
+Fcap. 4to. Bevelled boards, gilt tops. Price 4s.
+
+Famous Frosts and Frost Fairs in Great Britain.
+
+Chronicled from the Earliest to the Present Time.
+
+BY WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.
+
+This work furnishes a carefully prepared account of all the great Frosts
+occurring in this country from A.D. 134 to 1887. The numerous Frost Fairs
+on the Thames are fully described, and illustrated with quaint woodcuts,
+and several old ballads relating to the subject are reproduced. It is
+tastefully printed and elegantly bound.
+
+"The work is thoroughly well written, it is careful in its facts, and may
+be pronounced exhaustive on the subject. Illustrations are given of
+several frost fairs on the Thames, and as a trustworthy record this volume
+should be in every good library. The usefulness of the work is much
+enhanced by a good index."--_Public Opinion._
+
+"A very interesting volume."--_Northern Daily Telegraph._
+
+"A great deal of curious and valuable information is contained in these
+pages.... A comely volume."--_Literary World._
+
+"The work from first to last is a most attractive one, and the arts alike
+of printer and binder have been brought into one to give it a pleasing
+form."--_Wakefield Free Press._
+
+
+Biblical and Shakespearian Characters Compared.
+
+Studies of Life and Literature.
+
+By the Rev. JAMES BELL.
+
+Between the Hebrew Bible and Shakespeare there exist some interesting and
+instructive points of resemblance, especially in respect of their ways of
+life and character. No doubt certain inevitable differences also exist
+between them, but these do not hide the resemblance; rather they serve to
+set it, so to speak, in bolder relief.
+
+The author in this volume treats of this striking resemblance, under
+certain phases, between Hebrew Prophecy and Shakespearian Drama.
+
+The following are the chief "Studies" which find a place in the
+work:--Hebrew Prophecy and Shakespeare: a Comparison--Eli and Hamlet--Saul
+and Macbeth--Jonathan and Horatio--David and Henry V.--Epilogue.
+
+The foregoing list of subjects will give some notion of the drift and
+style of the book, which, it is hoped, is a contribution towards a better
+study of the Bible in connection with our literature and moral experience.
+
+
+The following short extracts are selected from a large number of reviews
+of Mr. Bell's book:--
+
+"One of the most suggestive volumes we have met with for a long
+time."--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
+
+"An interesting book."--_North British Daily Mail._
+
+
+Second and cheaper edition. Crown 8vo. Price 1s.
+
+The Studies of a Socialist Parson.
+
+By the Rev. W. H. ABRAHAM, M.A. (London).
+
+The volume consists of sermons and addresses, given mostly at the St.
+Augustine's Church, Hull. The author in his preface says, "It is the duty
+of the clergyman to try and understand what Socialism is, and to lead men
+from the false Socialism to the true."
+
+CONTENTS:--The Working-man, Past and Present: A Historical Review--Whither
+are we going?--National Righteousness--The True Value of Life--Christian
+Socialism--Jesus Christ the True Socialist--Socialism, through Christ or
+without Him?--The Great Bread Puzzle--Labour Day, May 1, 1892--The People,
+the Rulers, and the Priests--Friendly Societies--Trades' Unions--The
+People's Church--On some Social Questions--The Greatest Help to the True
+Social Life--The Great I Am--God as a Present Force--Signs of the Times.
+
+The following are selected from a large number of favourable notices:--
+
+"The volume is deserving of all praise."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+"An admirable contribution to the solution of difficult problems. Mr.
+Abraham has much that is valuable to say, and says it well."--_Spectator._
+
+"Eminently readable."--_Northern Daily News._
+
+"The book is nicely printed and got up."--_Eastern Morning News._
+
+
+Crown 8vo., 140 pp.; Fancy Cover, 1s; Cloth Bound, 2s.
+
+Stepping Stones to Socialism.
+
+By DAVID MAXWELL, C.E.
+
+CONTENTS:--In a reasonable and able manner Mr. Maxwell deals with the
+following topics:--The Popular meaning of the Word Socialism--Lord
+Salisbury on Socialism--Why There is in Many Minds an Antipathy to
+Socialism--On Some Socialistic Views of Marriage--The Question of Private
+Property--The Old Political Economy is not the Way of Salvation--Who is My
+Neighbour?--Progress, and the Condition of the Labourer--Good and Bad
+Trade: Precarious Employment--All Popular Movements are Helping on
+Socialism--Modern Literature in Relation to Social Progress--Pruning the
+Old Theological Tree--The Churches: Their Socialistic Tendencies--The
+Future of Earth in Relation to Human Life--Socialism is Based on Natural
+Laws of Life--Humanity in the Future--Preludes to Socialism--Forecasts of
+the Ultimate Form of Society--A Pisgah-top View of the Promised Land.
+
+
+The following are selected from a large number of favourable notices:
+
+"The author has evidently reflected deeply on the subject of Socialism,
+and his views are broad, equitable, and quite up to date. In a score or so
+of chapters he discusses Socialism from manifold points of view, and in
+its manifold aspects. Mr. Maxwell is not a fanatic; his book is not dull,
+and his style is not amateurish."--_Hull Daily Mail._
+
+"There is a good deal of charm about Mr. Maxwell's style."--_Northern
+Daily News._
+
+
+Bound in cloth gilt, demy 8vo., price 7s. 6d. Only 500 copies printed, and
+each copy numbered.
+
+The Monumental Brasses of Lancashire and Cheshire.
+
+With some Account of the Persons Represented.
+
+_Illustrated with Engravings from Drawings by the Author._
+
+By JAMES L. THORNELY.
+
+"Mr. Thornely's book will be eagerly sought by all lovers of monumental
+brasses."--_London Quarterly Review._
+
+"Local archaeologists will give a hearty welcome to this
+book."--_Manchester Guardian._
+
+"Mr. Thornely has produced a very interesting volume, as he has not only
+figured every monumental brass within the two counties to which he has
+confined his researches, but in every case he has given a description
+also, and in some instances the genealogical information is of a high
+order of value."--_The Tablet._
+
+"The book is wonderfully readable for its kind, and is evidently the
+result of careful and painstaking labour. The chapters are well condensed,
+nowhere burdened with verbiage, yet sufficiently full to serve the purpose
+in view. The illustrations of the various brasses are exceedingly well
+done, and add much value and interest to the work, which should become
+popular in Lancashire and Cheshire."--_Warrington Guardian._
+
+
+The Press on Messrs. William Andrews & Co.'s Printing and Binding.
+
+"The book is very handsomely got up."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+"A remarkably handsome volume, typographically equal to the best
+production of any European capital."--_North British Daily Mail._
+
+"The book is entitled to unstinted praise on the ground of its admirable
+printing and binding."--_Shields Daily Gazette._
+
+"Will bear comparison with the best work of the first publishing firms in
+London or Edinburgh, the printing and paper being everything the most
+fastidious could desire."--_Boston Independent._
+
+"The book is handsomely brought out."--_Scotsman._
+
+"Beautiful work in typography and binding."--_Yorkshire Post._
+
+"Very pretty binding."--_Publishers' Circular._
+
+"Most elegantly bound and tastefully printed."--_Hull Daily Mail._
+
+"Beautifully bound and printed."--_Daily Chronicle._
+
+"The letterpress is beautifully clear."--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
+
+"The printers' part is perfectly done."--_India._
+
+"The book is handsomely got up."--_Manchester Guardian._
+
+"The book is excellently printed and bound."--_Library Review._
+
+"Handsomely printed."--_Newcastle Chronicle._
+
+A notice of "Bygone Scotland" concludes as follows:--"The book forms a
+splendid addition to the works of the same series all printed at the 'Hull
+Press,' and, like all its predecessors, is printed in the exceptionally
+beautiful style which marks the productions of Mr. Andrews' establishment.
+The volume is handsomely bound, and well illustrated. Mr. Andrews is a
+bookmaker par excellence."--_Printing World._
+
+  THE HULL PRESS,
+  1, DOCK STREET, HULL.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.
+
+Superscripted characters are indicated by {superscript}.
+
+The original text contains two circular symbols which are represented by
+[symbol] in this text version.
+
+The original text contains two letters with diacritical marks that are
+not represented in this text version.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Curious Church Customs, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURIOUS CHURCH CUSTOMS ***
+
+***** This file should be named 38182.txt or 38182.zip *****
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