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diff --git a/38182-h/38182-h.htm b/38182-h/38182-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6fcc138 --- /dev/null +++ b/38182-h/38182-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7560 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + Curious Church Customs, Edited by William Andrews—A Project Gutenberg eBook + </title> + + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + + body {margin-left: 12%; margin-right: 12%;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right; font-style: normal;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + + hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .giant {font-size: 200%} + .huge {font-size: 150%} + + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .poem {margin-left: 15%;} + .note {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%;} + .hang {margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;} + .index {margin-left: 20%;} + + .right {text-align: right;} + .center {text-align: center;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .smcaplc {text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + p.dropcap:first-letter{float: left; padding-right: 3px; font-size: 250%; line-height: 83%; width:auto;} + .caps {text-transform:uppercase;} + + a:link {color:#0000ff; text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:#6633cc; text-decoration:none} + + .spacer {padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;} + .spacer2 {padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + + .verts {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%;} + + .border {border-style: double; color:#990033; width: 25em; margin: auto; padding-top: 2em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +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.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>CURIOUS CHURCH CUSTOMS.</h1> + +<p> </p><p> </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> </p><p> </p> + +<p class="center"><span class="giant">Curious Church Customs</span><br /> +<span class="huge">And Cognate Subjects.</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><small>EDITED BY</small><br /> +<span class="huge">WILLIAM ANDREWS</span>, F.R.H.S.,<br /> +<small>AUTHOR OF<br /> +“CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH,” “OLD CHURCH LORE,”<br /> +“BYGONE ENGLAND,” ETC.</small></p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center">HULL:<br /> +WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO., THE HULL PRESS.<br /> +<br /> +LONDON:<br /> +SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, & CO., LTD.<br /> +1895.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center">HULL:<br /> +PRINTED BY WILLIAM ANDREWS AND CO., THE HULL PRESS.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </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> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<h2>Contents.</h2> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td> </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’ 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> </p><p> </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> </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> </p> +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">In</span> 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<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 “sports,” 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’ 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> of Winchester, or in honour of the Holy Child Jesus.”</p> + +<p>The following is the statute of Dean Colet, <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 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.”</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’ 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’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<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.”</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’ +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.</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:—“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.”</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 “The Catechism of the Offices of all +Degrees,” 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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">“<i>Father.</i>—What if he preach not, neither can preach?</p> + +<p class="hang"><i>Son.</i>—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.”</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’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<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’ 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 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<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:—“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.”</p> + +<p>In the recently published and highly-interesting churchwardens’ accounts +of St. Mary’s, Reading, are the following entries for the year 1556-7:—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td>“I’tm payed for the morrys daunsers and the<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mynstrelles mete and drinke at Whitsuntide </span></td><td><span class="spacer"> </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’tm payed to them the Sondy after Mayday</td><td> </td> + <td align="right">xx.d</td></tr> +<tr><td>Pd to the painter for paynting of their Cottes</td><td> </td> + <td align="right">ii.s.viij.d</td></tr> +<tr><td>Pd for a peir of showes for the morris daunsers</td><td> </td> + <td align="right">iiij.s</td></tr> +<tr><td>Pd for iiij dozen belles for the morrys daunsers</td><td> </td> + <td align="right">ij.s</td></tr> +<tr><td>Pd for sowing of the morrys Cottes</td><td> </td> + <td align="right">vij.d</td></tr></table> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<p class="blockquot">“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.”</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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“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!”</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’s visitation articles runs as follows:—</p> + +<p class="blockquot">“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.”</p> + +<p>Still more explicit is the 61st article of the provincial visitation of +Archbishop Grindal:—</p> + +<p class="blockquot">“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?”</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, +“Churches not to be profaned,” says:—</p> + +<p class="blockquot">“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.”</p> + +<p>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 <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’s accounts of St. Michael’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:—</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"> </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—</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:—</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"> </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’s edition of <i>Stowe’s London</i> it is recorded that:—</p> + +<p class="blockquot">“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.”</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> </p><p> </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> </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 “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.</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’s solemnities that the day is often known as “pancake-day,” 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 “pancake-bell.” 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, +“Peace and good neighbourhood.”</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 “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<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 “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.</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’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.</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 “well-dressing,” 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’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.</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 +“Haxey Hood,” 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 “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.</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’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 +“Light of the World.”</p> + +<p>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<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 “Paul’s Pitcher +Day.”</p> + +<p>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?</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">“Last Easter I put on my blue<br /> +Frock coat, the vust time, vier new;<br /> +Wi’ yaller buttons aal o’ brass,<br /> +That glittered in the zun like glass,<br /> +Bekaze ’twer Easter Zunday.”</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 +“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.</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> </p><p> </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> </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—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<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 “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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> 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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“<span class="smcap">Let vs remember the 5 of November.</span>”</p> + +<p>The churchwardens’ 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:—“1608 Item paid for Rynging the vth of November vi<sup>d</sup>.”</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 “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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> “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.”</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’ 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,<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’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 +<i>Gentleman’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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Jesu For Yi Moder Sake Save All<br /> +Ye Sauls That Me Gart Make<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Amen.”</span></p> + +<p>At Semperingham, on an early sixteenth bell, there is to be found a very +useful piece of advice:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Be Not Ouer Busie;”</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:—“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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“William Pavlin chimed so well<br /> +He payd for casting of this bell. 1589.”</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’ 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<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 “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. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>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.</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:—“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.”<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 “A hand bell—gone, we cannot tell how, the same +year,” (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: “ij. hande +belles, sold to Robertt Aestroppe one of the sayd churchwardens to make a +mortar off.”<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’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<sup>d</sup>;” 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.”<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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“<span class="smcap">’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’n to save ye:</span><br /> +Then keep the terms and e’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>”<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’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<sup>d</sup>.” The <i>Daily Telegraph</i>, of 1st September, 1893, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>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.”</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’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<sup>d</sup>.” 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<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’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 “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 <i>Sir John le Spring</i>:—</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>“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">·</span><span class="spacer">·</span><span class="spacer">·</span><span class="spacer">·</span><span class="spacer">·</span><span class="spacer">·</span><span class="spacer">·</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.”</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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Beg ye of God your soul to save<br /> +Before we call you to the grave.”</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 “existing” must only be +taken to mean that it was in use at the place named when the note +concerning it was made.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </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> </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—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:—</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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">My treble voice<br /> +Makes hearts rejoice.</p> + +<p>Bruton has a recast bell saying—</p> + +<p class="poem">Once I’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—</p> + +<p class="poem">My sound is good that once was bad,<br /> +Lett’s sing my sisters and be glad.</p> + +<p>Badgworth, Gloucester, has a similar inscription—</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—</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—</p> + +<p class="poem">Me melior vere,<br /> +Non est Campana sub aere,</p> + +<p>and one of Hurstpierpoint, which says—</p> + +<p class="poem">If you have a judicious ear<br /> +You’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—</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—</p> + +<p class="poem">My sound is good, my shape is neat,<br /> +’Twas Bayley made me so compleat.</p> + +<p>Or the size, as at Bexhill, Sussex—</p> + +<p class="poem">Although I am both light and small,<br /> +I will be heard above you all.</p> + +<p>S. Mary’s, at Devizes, has another version—</p> + +<p class="poem">I am the first, altho’ 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—</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’s hundred pound.</p> + +<p>A Devon bell has—</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—</p> + +<p class="poem">At proper times my voice I’ll raise<br /> +And sound to my subscribers’ 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’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’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,<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—</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—</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—</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—</p> + +<p class="poem">Hethatvillpvrchashonovrsgaynemvstancientlatherstilmayntayne.</p> + +<p>“Lather” is an old English term meaning “to make a noise.” A bell at +Lichfield, which was destroyed in 1652, bore the following:—</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—</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—</p> + +<p class="poem">Arise, and go about your business.</p> + +<p>A Coventry bell, dated 1675, says—</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’s, Ticehurst, where the bells +have—</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’ll keep time you’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—</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 ’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 ’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’ names. At Coventry on a +peal of bells, cast in 1774, are the following inscriptions—</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’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’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’s, Nottingham, the appended lines appear:—</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’ 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’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.—</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:—</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’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’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 & spend the future well.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td valign="top" align="right">4.</td> + <td>When Men in Hymen’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’ Grandsires and Tripples with Pleasure men range,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Till Death calls the Bob & brings on the Last Change.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td valign="top" align="right">6.</td> + <td>When Vict’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 & agree<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">They’d live in tunefull Harmony.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td valign="top" align="right">8.</td> + <td>Possess’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 & mellows ev’ry Sound;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">So in a just & well pois’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’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:—</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—a Rutland bell—</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:—</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:—</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—</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—</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—</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:—</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—</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—</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—</p> + +<p class="poem">Sancta Paule, ora pro nobis.</p> + +<p>Washington, in Sussex, one bearing—</p> + +<p class="poem">O Sancte Stephane.</p> + +<p>And Balcombe, in the same county, one—</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—</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—</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>“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>“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">“One hundred years, yea almost two,<br /> +We’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’ve chimed their joy to tell;<br /> +Alas! before the day has clos’d<br /> +We’ve toll’d the funeral knell.<br /> +<br /> +We’ve merrily rung for victories gain’d<br /> +O’er Britain’s enemies;<br /> +Then mourned for the brave who bled<br /> +To gain those victories.<br /> +<br /> +We’ve highly lauded pomp and power,<br /> +Then call’d on men to pray,<br /> +A requiem rung with the weeping and sad,<br /> +Then revell’d with the gay.<br /> +<br /> +We’ve seen the scourge of civil war<br /> +Approach where we have stood.<br /> +We’ve seen oppression’s cruel hand<br /> +Reeking with kindred blood.<br /> +<br /> +Our solemn tolling for the dead<br /> +Falls on the mourner’s ear,<br /> +Then the bereav’d and aching heart<br /> +Feels desolate and drear.<br /> +<br /> +Dirges we’ve rung for Kings and Queens<br /> +As they to the tomb went down,<br /> +Then joyfully welcom’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’d her natal day,<br /> +We hail’d her to the throne,<br /> +We blithely hail’d her nuptial hour,<br /> +For her we ne’er shall moan.<br /> +<br /> +We’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.”<a name='fna_6' id='fna_6' href='#f_6'><small>[6]</small></a></p></div> + + + +<p> </p><p> </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> </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:—</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’ 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’s, Shaftesbury:—</p> + +<p class="poem">What musick is there that compar’d may be<br /> +To well-tuned bells’ enchanting melody?<br /> +Breaking with their sweet sounds the willing air,<br /> +They in the list’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 ’tis like women keeping Dover Court.<br /> +Of all the music that is played or sung<br /> +There’s none like bells, if they are well rung.<br /> +Then ring your bell—well if you can,<br /> +Silence is best for ev’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’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:—</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’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’erthrow,<br /> +It will cost sixpence ere you goe.<br /> +If in this place you swear or curse,<br /> +Sixpence you pay—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:—</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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">ringers all, observe these orders well!<br /> +He pays his sixpence that o’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’ry church are used,<br /> +That bell and ringers may not be abused.</p> + +<p>It is stated in Halliwell’s “Dictionary of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> Archaisms and Provincialisms” +<i>gun</i> is a North country word for a large flagon of ale.</p> + +<p>From All Saints’ Church, Hastings, we have the following lines:—</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’d or sung,<br /> +Like unto bells when they’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.—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:—</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’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—just let them think<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This is God’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’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’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’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’ rules deride,</span><br /> +It is a rule of old most clear<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That such sha’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’ 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:—</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 “Articles and Orders to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> 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:—</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"> </span></td> + <td align="center">s.</td><td><span class="spacer2"> </span></td> + <td align="center">d.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Must to the sexton Admission Money bring.</td><td> </td> + <td align="center">2</td><td> </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> </td> + <td align="center">0</td><td> </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> </td> + <td align="center">0</td><td> </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> </td> + <td align="center">0</td><td> </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> </td> + <td align="center">2</td><td> </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’s the thing,</td><td> </td> + <td align="center">1</td><td> </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> </td> + <td align="center">0</td><td> </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> </td> + <td align="center">1</td><td> </td> + <td align="center">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>When you know Bob, Hunt, Single Dodge compleat</td></tr> +<tr><td>You’ll not deny our College youths a treat,</td><td> </td> + <td align="center">2</td><td> </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> </td> + <td align="center">1</td><td> </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—as in the margin see,</td><td> </td> + <td align="center">1</td><td> </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’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’d.</td></tr> +<tr><td>So now, my Lads, admission money bring,</td><td> </td> + <td align="center">2</td><td> </td> + <td align="center">6</td></tr> +<tr><td>And we will Learn you presently to ring.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="5"><span class="spacer"> </span><span class="spacer"> </span><span class="smcap">John Marshall</span>, + <span class="spacer"> </span> + <span class="smcap">William Smith</span>,</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="5"><span class="spacer"> </span><span class="spacer"> </span><span class="spacer2"> </span><span class="smcap">Master</span>. + <span class="spacer"> </span><span class="spacer"> </span><span class="spacer"> </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:—</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’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 /> +’Twill make him cautious ’gainst another time.<br /> +So, when the bells are ceased, then let us sing<br /> +God bless our Holy Church—God save the Queen.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> +<h2>Ringers’ Jugs.</h2> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By Isaac J. Reeve.</span></p> + +<p> </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’ Jugs were by no means +uncommon, and some were curious examples of the potters’ art.</p> + +<p>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:—</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,—</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’ pot—a brown glazed jug with handle, holding about two +gallons—having the following inscription in rude letters—</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:—</p> + +<p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Campane</span><br /> +Sonant canore.</p> + +<p>Beneath the clapper is this,—</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’ pitcher, still preserved in the +church tower, of form and size similar to the Hadleigh jug: it is thus +inscribed:—</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—<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:—</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’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:—</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—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>—This article was written about twenty-five years ago.—<span class="smcap">Editor.</span></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </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> </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>, “remission of +sin.” This is a title as old as the third century, and the idea has found +expression in the Nicene Creed. <i>Palingenesia</i>, “new birth,” 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>, “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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> 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 <i>fons divinus</i>, “the divine +fountain,” whence comes our name “Font.” S. Chrysostom and other Greek +fathers use the name “Illumination,” (<i>Photismos</i>,) and S. Augustine calls +it <i>Salus</i>, “Salvation,” as he calls the Lord’s Supper “Life.” Another +word was <i>Sphragis</i>, “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, <i>Character Dominicus</i>, “the +Divine, <i>i.e.</i>, stamp mark.”</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 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<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 “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 <i>Notes and Queries</i> +(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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> noted from that time that “he and his +continued to grow to decay in substance and credit until his race was +extinguished.”</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’s diary, that the clergy were in the habit of performing +public as well as private baptisms in private houses:—</p> + +<p>“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....”</p> + +<p>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 <i>the +vessel shall be burnt at the same time, or shall be deputed to the use of +the Church</i>.”</p> + +<p>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. +<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:—“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<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>. “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.</p> + +<p>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<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, +“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.”</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> “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.</p> + +<p>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<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, “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.</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’, 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.”</p> + +<p>In mediæval 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>):—</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’ +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.</p> + +<p>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<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 “The Comforts of Wooing”:—“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.” According to +Shipman the custom of making presents at baptisms declined in the time of +the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p>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.”</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>:—</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, “Oh! sir, it is the christening bit.”</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 +“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.</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 “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.</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 “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.</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’s missal:—“Et accipiat presbyter eos a parentibus +eorum, et baptizantur primi masculi deinde feminae, sub trina mersione, +Sanctam Trinitatem semel invocando.”</p> + +<p>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.</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 £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.</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 mediæval 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 “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.</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’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>“In presenting a child to the minister, its head must be on the right arm +of the male parent.” (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:—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, “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<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’s plays (1630) occurs the following:—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> </p><p> </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> </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—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’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 +“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.</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 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<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’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’s <i>Match me in London</i>, +1631:</p> + +<p class="poem">“See at my girdle hang my wedding knives!<br /> +With those despatch me.”</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’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 <i>Collier’s Wedding</i>:</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +“Two lusty lads, well drest and strong,<br /> +Step’d out to lead the bride along:<br /> +And two young maids of equal size,<br /> +As soon the bridegroom’s hands surprise.”</p> + +<p>The bridegroom’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">“The maids and her half-valentine have ply’d her,<br /> +With courtise of the Bride cake and the bowl,<br /> +As she is laid awhile.”</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’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">“And let them dangle loose as a bride’s hair.”</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’ 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.”</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’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’ 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’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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“If I survive<br /> +I’ll make them five.”<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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“God send me well to keep.”</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, “leaving it” 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, “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.</p> + +<p>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<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’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. “I will,” says +Richard Trowler, <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 1477, “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.” Johanne Beauchamp, Lady of Bergavenny, devised +“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>.” 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’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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“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.”</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’s Almanac</i>, for the year 1674, contains similar rules in +prose:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">“<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.”</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 “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.</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:—“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.”</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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“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.”</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, “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.</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’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<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.” In the +parish registers of Launceston, Cornwall, is the following +entry:—“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>“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.”</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span><i>The Man’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’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.”</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 “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.</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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“All down the street the ears of wheat are round<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ximena flying.”</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’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>“Decimo quinto Februarii. 18. Eliz.: reginæ.</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’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.”</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’s Liverpool Advertiser</i> 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.” +<i>The Leeds Intelligencer</i>, 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<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 £4,000.” +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’ 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.</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 “Silver Key” 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’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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Something old and something new,<br /> +Something borrowed, something blue.”</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 “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.</p> + +<p>“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.</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 “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 <i>Quebec +Morning Chronicle</i>, of November 7th, 1868:—“No cards. No Cake. No Wine.”</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </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> </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—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 “wake” 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’s heart was discovered under the pavement of the sanctuary in Rouen +Cathedral, enclosed in a leaden case, with the inscription:—</p> + +<p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Richard Cœur de Lion.</span><br /> +Duc de Normandie. Roi D’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 “soul bell.” The “Passing Bell,” 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 “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.</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 “undertaker’s trappings,” 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 “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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +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.</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 “The Lay +of the last Minstrel,” thus refers, to it:</p> + +<p class="poem">“Seem’d all on fire that Chapel proud,<br /> +Where Roslin’s Chiefs uncoffin’d lie,<br /> +Each Baron for a sable shroud<br /> +Sheathed in his iron panoply.”</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’s remains were discovered in the attitude indicated +by tradition. The following quotation from Hearne’s “Collection of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>Antiquarian Discourses,” 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">“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</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: “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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> 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.</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—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 “Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme,” thus refers to it:—</p> + +<p class="blockquot">“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.”</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 “The wind of +the dead men’s feet.” 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—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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“And that I might longer undisturbed abide<br /> +I choosed to be laid on this Northern side.”</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’ +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:—</p> + +<p class="blockquot">“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.”</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’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’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’s, Chester, +contain the following entries:—</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"> </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> </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 +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> inscription +underneath the figure stands thus:—</p> + +<p class="poem">Of Rog<sup>r</sup> Lee gentilma, here lyeth the son Benedict Lee<br /> +Crysom who<sup>s</sup> soule ihū pdō.</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—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.</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:—“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.”</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 “lifting of the corpse.” +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 “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.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </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> </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 “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.</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’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.”<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 “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.” (<i>Ibid.</i>, 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.” (<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’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’ 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> twopence forfeit.”<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, “Let them desist on pain of +excommunication.”</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 “God’s Acre” 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;—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, “the service of God was more solemnly +performed, and the service better attended, than on other days.”</p> + +<p>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., <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 “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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> 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.<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’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<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’s Magazine</i> 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.<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. “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<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 ‘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.’</p> + +<p>“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<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 ‘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.”</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—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 +“for a hinging locke to the stockes in the Mynster Yearde,”<a name='fna_14' id='fna_14' href='#f_14'><small>[14]</small></a> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>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.”</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, “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.</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’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 “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.”</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </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> </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 “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 +<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 Crœsus 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.”</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 “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.” 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 “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.</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 “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.</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 £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 “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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </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> </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’ 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<sup>e</sup> Rode and y<sup>e</sup> pagents y<sup>n</sup> y<sup>e</sup> 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.</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:—“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.”</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> </p><p> </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> </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—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<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’s armour.</p> + +<p>The custom is twice noted by Shakespeare. In “Hamlet,” Laertes says:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“His means of death, his obscure burial—<br /> +No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o’er his bones,<br /> +No noble rite, nor formal ostentation.”</p> + +<p>Iden, in “Henry VI.,” remarks:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Is’t Cade that I have slain, that monstrous traitor,<br /> +Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed,<br /> +And hang thee o’er my tomb, when I am dead.”</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’s tomb by the king’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 “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.”</p> + +<p>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.”</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’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.</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 “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.</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 +“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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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’ 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’band Souldiar a cote and bowe and a shiffe of arrowes +and a quiver.”</p></div> + +<p>In 1616, the inventory is as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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.”</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, “within ye steepul both harnes and +weapons in redynes for one billman and for one archer.”</p> + +<p>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<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’s armour.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </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> </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 “Beating the Bounds,” 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. “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.”<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 “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.”</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’s <i>History of +Staffordshire</i>.<a name='fna_18' id='fna_18' href='#f_18'><small>[18]</small></a> 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<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.”</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. “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?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>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.”<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’ 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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">“1555. Item, paid for spiced bread on the Ascension-Even, and on the +Ascension Day, 1s.”</p> + +<p class="hang">“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.”</p> + +<p class="hang">“1559. Item, for bread, ale, and beer, on Tewisday in the Rogacion +Weeke, for the parishioners that went in Procession, 1s.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p> +<p class="hang">“1560. Item, for bread and drink for the parishioners that went the +Circuit the Tuesday in the Rogation Week, 3s. 4d.”</p> + +<p class="hang">“Item, for bread and drink the Wednesday in the Rogation Week, for Mr. +Archdeacon and the Quire of the Minster, 3s. 4d.”</p> + +<p class="hang">“1585. Item, paid for going the Perambulacion, for fish, butter, +cream, milk, conger, bread and drink, and other necessaries, 4s. +8½d.”</p> + +<p class="hang">“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.”</p> + +<p class="hang">“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.”</p></div> + +<p>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.</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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Given to the boys that were whipt, 4s.”<a name='fna_20' id='fna_20' href='#f_20'><small>[20]</small></a></p> + +<p>The process of “bumping” 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 “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.”</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:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>“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.”</p> + +<p>In these days of ordnance maps, there may be very little practical utility +in “Beating the Bounds,” but as Wordsworth says:—</p> + +<p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 3em;">“Many precious relics</span><br /> +And customs of our rural ancestry<br /> +Are gone or stealing from us.”</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> </p><p> </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> </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’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’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. Cæsarius 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 “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.</p> + +<p>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)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> 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.</p> + +<p>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,<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’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.</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 “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 <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’s staff, the crosier-staff, +and finally the crosier; all having reference to the crook of Episcopal +Authority.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </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> </p> +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">After</span> 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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“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.”</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’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 “they had come for the purpose of invoking +the Lord on behalf of the soldiers.”</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’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<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, +“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<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, +“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.</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’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.”</p> + +<p>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<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’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 “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.</p> + +<p>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.</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’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’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’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’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’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’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:—</p> + +<p class="blockquot">“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’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.”</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’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<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.:—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’s Castle +of Knaresborough, where she found a safe haven until Lancaster’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’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">“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’en as themselves had made reply,<br /> +So every man they did to die.”</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’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.</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—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.</p> + +<p>Winchester had been created a cardinal, and the Pope’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’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<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’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.</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’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’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<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’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.</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’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 “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.</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’s house at Gloded, on the 25th of March, 1650, being the 68th +anniversary of his birth.</p> + +<p>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<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.” 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.”</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> </p><p> </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>“The treasures of antiquity laid up<br /> +In old historic rolls I opened.”<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">—<span class="smcap">Beaumont.</span></span></td></tr></table> + +<p> </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 “Bygone England.”</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 “carols” 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 mediæval copyist; but a “scriptorium,” 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 +“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.</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 “scriptoria” 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 “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.</p> + +<p>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.</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 +“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.</p> + +<p>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<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’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.</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’, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>“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.</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 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.</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, “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.”<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">“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.”</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, “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<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">“Barnaby bright, Barnaby light,<br /> +The longest day and the shortest night.”</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’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.</p> + +<p>The antiquarian enthusiast on these subjects cannot do better than consult +the work on “English Guilds” 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 “Statutes of St. Paul’s,” 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’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:—</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"> </span></td> + <td align="right" valign="bottom">£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> </td> + <td align="right" valign="bottom">£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’s and John de Cotton, painters,<br />working on the drawings of several images.</td> + <td><span class="spacer"> </span></td> + <td align="right" valign="bottom">£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’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 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.</p> + +<p>“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.”<a name='fna_22' id='fna_22' href='#f_22'><small>[22]</small></a></p> + +<p class="poem">“Mid all the light a happier age has brought,<br /> +We work not yet as our forefathers wrought.”</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </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> </p> +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">When</span> 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<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 “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.</p> + +<p>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:—</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, short, swift this Writer i<b>S</b>,</td> + <td>the Sun’s course seemes but slow to hi<b>S</b></td></tr> +<tr><td><b>T</b>he <b>T</b>eacher’s nimble tongue comes shor<b>T</b></td> + <td>this Writer waits his nex<b>T</b> repor<b>T</b></td></tr> +<tr><td><b>E</b>agles ar<b>E</b> swift, his pen doth fle<b>E</b></td> + <td>his quill an <b>E</b>agle’s seems to b<b>E</b></td></tr> +<tr><td><b>N</b>oe clouds can flee, <b>N</b>or waters 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 posting Swiftly T<b>O</b> and fr<b>O</b></td> + <td>his <b>O</b>ft-turn’d quill doth even S<b>O</b></td></tr> +<tr><td><b>G</b>alley or ship with Sailes and Flag<b>G</b></td> + <td>the Weavers shuttle, Leopard, Stag<b>G</b></td></tr> +<tr><td><b>R</b>oe, Dromedary, Horse o<b>R</b> Ha’<b>R</b>:</td> + <td>o<b>R</b> the swift swiming Dolphin ra’<b>R</b></td></tr> +<tr><td><b>A</b>nd the quick Scribes, <b>A</b>s Shemaj<b>A</b></td> + <td>Baruch, Ezr<b>A</b>, E L I S H A M <b>A</b></td></tr> +<tr><td><b>P</b>aint forth, as <b>P</b>atterns in a ma<b>P</b></td> + <td>this ARTS true <b>P</b>ortrature and sha<b>P</b></td></tr> +<tr><td><b>H</b>aste <b>H</b>aste to learn what it doth 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 both in StenographyL<b>Y</b></td> + <td>much more in this E P I T O M <b>Y</b></td></tr></table> + +<p>After this ingenious torturing of the Queen’s English, it is not +surprising to find,</p> + +<p class="poem">“In steed [sic] of Tenne command<sup>ts.</sup> Lords Pray’r, Creed:<br /> +Heer’s Three and Thirty Languages to Reade,”</p> + +<p>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</p> + +<p class="poem">“... Sermons writ even from the lip,<br /> +And sudden thoughts before they slip.”</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:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“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.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>William Hopkins “Flying Penman” (1695), has the following commendation +signed by one whose surname has since become famous in divinity:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Virgil, who largely wrot about the Gnat<br /> +That saveing Man’s life his own ruine gat,<br /> +Might have emploi’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 ’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’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.”<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 “the blood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> 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 <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’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</p> + +<p class="poem">“Sermons this art transfers, its oft known<br /> +The countrey reaps what’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’s main designe.”</p> + +<p>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 = <span class="huge">☉</span> signifies “to +be miserable as the world is miserable,” whilst <img src="images/circle.jpg" alt="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.</p> + +<p>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<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 “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,—</p> + +<p class="blockquot">“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.”</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>“shortwriting,” 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.—</p> + +<p class="blockquot">“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, <span class="smcaplc">B.D.</span>, October 19, 1654. London, 1655).”</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 “Pell!” <i>Hinc illae lachrymae</i>—of angry indignation.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Be perfect in this useful art, and then<br /> +No word from pulpit can escape your pen.”</p> + +<p>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.</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 “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<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. ‘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<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 ‘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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> afterwards saw the light.” +(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’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 <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’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.</p> + +<p>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.</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; “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.”</p> + +<p>Those clergymen who owed their promotion to the testimonials thus obtained +might say with Job Orton’s pious fervour, “Blessed be God for shorthand.”</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </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> </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’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.</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’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<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. “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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> course was Tate and Brady’s, +“35th Psalm, 11th and three following verses, <i>False witnesses with forged +complaints</i>.” 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> 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.</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’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 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.</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 “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,<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 “missionary deputation,” 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’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<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> </p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/the_end.jpg" alt="Ye Ende" /></div> + + + +<p> </p><p> </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, “Curiosities of the Belfry,” <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’ serenade, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Caistor gad-whip, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /> +<br /> +Canute’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’ 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’ 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’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’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’ 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’ 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’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’ 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> </p><p> </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 & CO.,<br /> +THE HULL PRESS.</span></p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><strong><i>SECOND EDITION.<span class="spacer"> </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 “Historic Romance,” “Famous Frosts and<br /> +Frost Fairs,” “Historic Yorkshire,” 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—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.</p> + +<p class="center"><strong>ILLUSTRATED.</strong></p> + +<p class="center"><br /><strong>Press Opinions.</strong></p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Newbery House Magazine.</i></p> + +<p>“An extremely interesting volume.”—<i>North British Daily Mail.</i></p> + +<p>“A work of lasting interest.”—<i>Hull Examiner.</i></p> + +<p>“The reader will find much in this book to interest, instruct, and +amuse.”—<i>Home Chimes.</i></p> + +<p>“We feel sure that many will feel grateful to Mr. Andrews for having +produced such an interesting book.”—<i>The Antiquary.</i></p> + +<p>“A volume of great research and striking interest.”—<i>The Bookbuyer (New +York.)</i></p> + +<p>“A valuable book.”—<i>Literary World (Boston, U.S.A.).</i></p> + +<p>“An admirable book.”—<i>Sheffield Independent.</i></p> + +<p>“An interesting, handsomely got up volume.... Mr. Andrews is always chatty +and expert in making a paper on a dry subject exceedingly +readable.”—<i>Newcastle Courant.</i></p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </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 “Curiosities of the Church,” “Old-Time Punishments,”<br /> +“Historic Romance,” etc.</i></p> + +<p class="center"><strong>CONTENTS.</strong></p> + +<p class="hang">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.</p> + +<p class="center"><strong>ILLUSTRATED.</strong></p> + +<p class="center"><br /><strong>PRESS OPINIONS.</strong></p> + +<p>“A worthy work on a deeply interesting subject.... We commend this book +strongly.”—<i>European Mail.</i></p> + +<p>“An interesting volume.”—<i>The Scotsman.</i></p> + +<p>“Contains much that will interest and instruct.”—<i>Glasgow Herald.</i></p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Shields Daily Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>“Mr. Andrews’ book does not contain a dull page.... Deserves to meet with +a very warm welcome.”—<i>Yorkshire Post.</i></p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Northern Daily News.</i></p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p>“Valuable and interesting.”—<i>The Times.</i></p> + +<p>“Readable as well as instructive.”—<i>The Globe.</i></p> + +<p>“A valuable addition to any library.”—<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> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><strong>Price 4s. 6d. Demy 8vo.</strong></p> + +<p>“A handsome gift book.”—<i>Barnsley Independent.</i></p> + +<p>“A welcome addition to fairy books.”—<i>The Scotsman.</i></p> + +<p>“A very delightful volume, and eminently qualified for a gift book.... The +stories are bright and interesting.”—<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 “Bygone England,” 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>“We hope the book will get into many children’s hands.”—<i>Review of +Reviews.</i></p> + +<p>“We can recommend the stories for their originality, and the volume for +its elegant and tasteful appearance.”—<i>Westminster Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>“The stories are good.”—<i>The World.</i></p> + +<p>“All the stories in the collection are well written. The illustrations are +excellent.”—<i>The Spectator.</i></p> + +<p>“A tasteful volume, and illustrated profusely.”—<i>The Literary World.</i></p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>The Gentlewoman.</i></p> + +<p>“It is certain to become popular.”—<i>Yorkshire Post.</i></p> + +<p>“Type and illustrations are worthy of the Hull Press, which is saying a +great deal.”—<i>The News.</i></p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Stamford Mercury.</i></p> + +<p>“‘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.”—<i>Liverpool Post.</i></p> + +<p>“‘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.”—<i>Dundee Advertiser.</i></p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Birmingham Gazette.</i></p> + + +<p>“‘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.”—<i>Leeds Mercury.</i></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </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>:—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.</p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>The +Antiquary.</i></p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Liverpool Daily Post.</i></p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>London Quarterly Review.</i></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </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>“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.”—<i>Public Opinion.</i></p> + +<p>“A very interesting volume.”—<i>Northern Daily Telegraph.</i></p> + +<p>“A great deal of curious and valuable information is contained in these +pages.... A comely volume.”—<i>Literary World.</i></p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Wakefield Free Press.</i></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </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 “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.</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’s book:—</p> + +<p>“One of the most suggestive volumes we have met with for a long +time.”—<i>Birmingham Daily Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>“An interesting book.”—<i>North British Daily Mail.</i></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </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’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.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Contents</span>:—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.</p> + +<p>The following are selected from a large number of favourable notices:—</p> + +<p>“The volume is deserving of all praise.”—<i>Glasgow Herald.</i></p> + +<p>“An admirable contribution to the solution of difficult problems. Mr. +Abraham has much that is valuable to say, and says it well.”—<i>Spectator.</i></p> + +<p>“Eminently readable.”—<i>Northern Daily News.</i></p> + +<p>“The book is nicely printed and got up.”—<i>Eastern Morning News.</i></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </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>:—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.</p> + +<p>The following are selected from a large number of favourable notices:</p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Hull Daily Mail.</i></p> + +<p>“There is a good deal of charm about Mr. Maxwell’s style.”—<i>Northern +Daily News.</i></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </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>“Mr. Thornely’s book will be eagerly sought by all lovers of monumental +brasses.”—<i>London Quarterly Review.</i></p> + +<p>“Local archæologists will give a hearty welcome to this +book.”—<i>Manchester Guardian.</i></p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>The Tablet.</i></p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Warrington Guardian.</i></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><strong>The Press on<br /> +Messrs.</strong><br /> +<span class="giant">William Andrews & Co.’s</span><br /> +<strong>Printing and Binding.</strong></p> + +<p>“The book is very handsomely got up.”—<i>Dundee Advertiser.</i></p> + +<p>“A remarkably handsome volume, typographically equal to the best +production of any European capital.”—<i>North British Daily Mail.</i></p> + +<p>“The book is entitled to unstinted praise on the ground of its admirable +printing and binding.”—<i>Shields Daily Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Boston Independent.</i></p> + +<p>“The book is handsomely brought out.”—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> + +<p>“Beautiful work in typography and binding.”—<i>Yorkshire Post.</i></p> + +<p>“Very pretty binding.”—<i>Publishers’ Circular.</i></p> + +<p>“Most elegantly bound and tastefully printed.”—<i>Hull Daily Mail.</i></p> + +<p>“Beautifully bound and printed.”—<i>Daily Chronicle.</i></p> + +<p>“The letterpress is beautifully clear.”—<i>Birmingham Daily Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>“The printers’ part is perfectly done.”—<i>India.</i></p> + +<p>“The book is handsomely got up.”—<i>Manchester Guardian.</i></p> + +<p>“The book is excellently printed and bound.”—<i>Library Review.</i></p> + +<p>“Handsomely printed.”—<i>Newcastle Chronicle.</i></p> + +<p>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.”—<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> </p><p> </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’s <i>English +Miracle Plays</i> (Clarendon Press, 1890,) and Bate’s <i>The English Religions +Drama</i> (Macmillan, 1893.)</p> + +<p><a name='f_2' id='f_2' href='#fna_2'>[2]</a> Peacock’s <i>Church Furniture</i>.—p. 103.</p> + +<p><a name='f_3' id='f_3' href='#fna_3'>[3]</a> Peacock’s <i>Church Furniture</i>.—p. 85.</p> + +<p><a name='f_4' id='f_4' href='#fna_4'>[4]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>—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’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’s “History and Antiquities of Stoke Newington.”</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’ “Curiosities of the Church.”</p> + +<p><a name='f_13' id='f_13' href='#fna_13'>[13]</a> Andrews’ “Curiosities of the Church,” 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’s “<i>Life</i>.”</p> + +<p><a name='f_20' id='f_20' href='#fna_20'>[20]</a> Lysons’ “<i>London</i>,” ii., 126.</p> + +<p><a name='f_21' id='f_21' href='#fna_21'>[21]</a> “History of Our Lord,” by the late Mrs. Jameson, continued by Lady +Eastlake.</p> + +<p><a name='f_22' id='f_22' href='#fna_22'>[22]</a> “History of Our Lord,” by the late Mrs. Jameson, 1864.</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +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-h.htm or 38182-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/1/8/38182/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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