Curiosities of the Church 
 
WORKS BY WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S. 
 
 Mr. William Andrews has produced several books 
 of singular value in their historical and archaeologi- 
 cal character. He has a genius for digging among 
 dusty parchments and old books, and for bringing 
 out from among them that which it is likely the 
 public of to-day will care to read. — Scots77ian. 
 
 HISTORIC YORKSHIRE. 
 
 Cuthbert Bede, the popular author of " Verdant 
 Green," writing to Society, says : " Historic York- 
 shire," by William Andrews, will be of great interest 
 and value to everyone connected with England's 
 largest county. Mr. Andrews not only writes with 
 due enthusiasm for his subject, but has arranged 
 and marshalled his facts and figures with great skill, 
 and produced a thoroughly popular work that will 
 be read eagerly and with advantage. 
 
 HISTORIC ROMANCE, 
 
 Strange Stories, Characters. Scenes, Mysteries, and Memor- 
 able Events in the History of Old England. 
 
 In his present work Mr. Andrews has traversed a 
 wider field than in his last book, " Historic York- 
 shire," but it is marked by the same painstaking 
 care for accuracy, and also by the pleasant way in 
 which he popularises strange stories and out-of-the- 
 way scenes in English history. There is much to 
 amuse in this volume, as well as to instruct, and it 
 is enriched with a copious index. — Notes and Queries. 
 
 A fascinating work. — Whitehall Review. 
 
 FAMOUS FROSTS and FROST FAIRS 
 in Great Britain. 
 
 Chronicled from the Earliest to the Present Time. 
 
 The work is thoroughly well written, it is careful 
 in its facts, and may be pronounced exhaustive on 
 the subject. Illustrations are given of several frost 
 fairs on the Thames, and as a trustworthy record 
 this volume should be in every good library. The 
 usefulness of the work is much enhanced by a good 
 index. — Public Opinion, 
 
 A great deal of curious and valuable information 
 
 is contained in these pages A comely volume. 
 
 — Literary World. 
 
 Not likely to fail in 'miQ,XQ%i,— Manchester Guardian 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/curiositiesofchuOOandr_0 
 
CHAINED BIBLE IN CUMNOR CHURCH. 
 
Studies of Curious Customs 
 Services and Records 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S. 
 
 Author of "Historic Romance," "Famous Frosts and Frost Fairs," 
 "Historic Yorkshire," etc. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 METHUEN & CO., i8, Bury Street, W.C. 
 
 1890 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In writing this book, my desire has been not merely 
 to produce an entertaining volume, but one of an instructive 
 character, throwing light on the manners, customs, and 
 everyday life of bygone times, which have a connection 
 with the English church. 
 
 It would be impossible to prepare a book of this class 
 without having recourse to the works of other authors, 
 more especially some of the older writers. I have tried, 
 however, to render every acknowledgement to those to 
 whom I am indebted for information. 
 
 My best thanks are due to the Editors of the 
 following periodicals for kindly allowing me to reproduce 
 from their pages some of the articles I wrote for them, 
 and which now re-appear here, viz., the British Workivoman, 
 Chajuhers's Journal^ Christian World Magazine^ Home 
 Chimes^ and the Leisure Hour, A number of the papers 
 were printed simultaneously in several leading provincial 
 journals. 
 
 I have only to add that if this volume meets with 
 a welcome from the press and the public similar to that 
 which has been accorded to my former works, I shall 
 have every reason to feel grateful. 
 
 WILLIAM ANDREWS. 
 
 Hull Literary Club, 
 
 May 1st, 1890. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Early Religious Plays i 
 
 The Caistor Gad-Whip Manorial Service 23 
 
 Strange Serpent Stories 30 
 
 Church Ales 39 
 
 Rush-bearing 51 
 
 Fish in Lent 63 
 
 Concerning Doles 74 
 
 Church Scrambling Charities 85 
 
 Briefs 90 
 
 Bells and Beacons for Travellers by Night ... 93 
 
 Hour-Glasses in Churches 100 
 
 Chained Books in Churches no 
 
 Funeral Effigies 124 
 
 Torch-light Burials 127 
 
 Simple Memorials of the Early Dead 14 r 
 
 The Romance of Parish Registers 152 
 
 Dog VVhippers and Sluggard Wakers 173 
 
 Odd Items from Old Accounts 182 
 
 Index ^97 
 
EARLY RELIGIOUS PLAYS 
 
 BEING THE STORY OF THE ENGLISH STAGE 
 IN ITS CHURCH CRADLE DAYS. 
 
 HE origin of the drama in England 
 is not, like that of many institutions, 
 lost in the dim past. It is clear 
 that in the days of our Saxon 
 ancestors there was no attempt at 
 dramatic representations. We know that they 
 had a poetic literature, but it was not dramatic 
 in form. 
 
 The introduction of the Miracle-play into 
 this country from the Continent forms the 
 starting point in our histrionic annals. The 
 clergy were our first actors, and the churches 
 our first theatres. The earliest pieces were 
 Scriptural— or at all events, of a pious character 
 —and well calculated to teach the doctrines of 
 the church. In investigating this matter, we 
 find three generic names of the plays— namely, 
 
 A 
 
2 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Mysteries, Miracle-plays, and Moralities. Bibli- 
 cal events only were dealt with in the 
 Mysteries. It was the chief aim of the authors 
 to represent the prophetic history of the Old 
 Testament, and its fulfilment in the New. The 
 primary object was to illustrate the Redemption 
 of the world accomplished by the Nativity, the 
 Passion, and the Resurrection. Incidents chiefly 
 obtained from the legends of the saints and the 
 church were the materials employed in the 
 composition of Miracle-plays. In the Moralities 
 allegorical means were used to inculcate reli- 
 gious truths, without directly using Scriptural 
 or legendary events. The foregoing distinctions, 
 according to Ward, in his History of Dramatic 
 Literature," and other authorities, were first 
 used by the earlier writers, but at a later period 
 the terms became confounded. 
 
 The first authentic record of a performance 
 in England is the Miracle of St. Catharine," 
 which was acted at Dunstable, about the year 
 mo, by pupils of a learned Norman named 
 Geoffrey. He had been a student at the 
 University at Paris, and subsequently taught a 
 school at Dunstable. In 1119 he became Abbot 
 of St. Albans. The earliest plays which have 
 come down to us are by a monk called Hilarius, 
 
EARLY RELIGIOUS PLAYS. 3 
 
 an Englishman who passed some years in France 
 studying under Abelard. He wrote a number 
 of pieces, fifteen of which still remain, including 
 ''The Image of St. Nicholas," believed to be 
 the first Miracle-play produced in England. A 
 second piece is '' The Raising of Lazarus," and a 
 third the story of " Daniel." This prolific play- 
 writer was also the author of numerous Latin 
 lyrics. A good idea of the early Miracle-play 
 may be formed from the following outline of 
 one of the pieces of Hilarius. We must 
 suppose ourselves to be in a church dedicated 
 to St. Nicholas, and the time to be St. Nicholas' 
 Day. The image of the saint has been removed 
 from its shrine, and in its place is a living actor 
 dressed to represent the figure. In the service 
 a break is made, and the acting of the Miracle 
 commences. A man performing the character 
 of a rich heathen enters the door of the church, 
 and at the shrine of St. Nicholas deposits his 
 worldly treasures, saying that he is undertaking 
 a long journey, and calls upon the Saint to 
 protect his property. He has just departed 
 when a band of thieves quietly enter and steal 
 his treasures. Ere long the heathen returns, 
 and is enraged when he discovers that his goods 
 have been stolen. He takes a whip and thrashes 
 
4 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 the image of the Saint. It moves, and descends 
 from the niche, and goes out, reasons with the 
 robbers, and also threatens to denounce them 
 to the people. At this miracle the thieves are 
 terrified, and without delay restore all the stolen 
 goods. Once more the statue is in its place, and 
 motionless. A song of joy is heard ; it is the 
 pagan singing ; and his words of gratitude are 
 adapted to a popular tune of the period. He 
 is in the act of adoring the image when St. 
 Nicholas appears on the scene. He urges the 
 man to worship God, and only God, and to 
 praise the name of Christ. The heathen is 
 converted by St. Nicholas, and the piece closes 
 with the adoration of the Almighty. After this 
 the church service is resumed. 
 
 In The Raising of Lazarus," the chief 
 performer was the officiating priest, who repre- 
 sented Lazarus rising from the tomb and ad- 
 monishing the people. This piece, like that of 
 ''The Image of St. Nicholas," was an interlude 
 in the church service, and was performed by 
 priests. In course of time the laity took part in 
 the representations, which were generally per- 
 formed by members of the local guilds. The 
 plays were, in the first instance, acted in 
 churches, afterwards in churchyards, and sub- 
 
EARLY RELIGIOUS PLAYS. 5 
 
 sequently in the streets in various parts of the 
 town. The stages on which the plays were 
 produced usually consisted of three floors, the 
 highest representing Heaven, the next Earth, 
 and the lower one Hell. The stage was on 
 
 LOST SOULS. 
 Froiu a Fresco of " The Day of Jtidginent,'" in ihe Chapel of 
 the Holy Cross, Stratford-on-Avon. 
 
 wheels, and could be conveniently wheeled 
 from one part of the town to another. It is 
 recorded that on one occasion the lower region 
 was accidentally set on fire, and however appro- 
 priate the incident, great uneasiness was mani- 
 fested by the occupants. Such disasters rendered 
 
6 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 repairs necessary. Here are two or three 
 
 items from the accounts of the Coventry 
 
 Mysteries : — 
 
 Item, payd for mending hell-mowthe .... 
 Item, payd for makynge of hell-moth new . . xxj^. 
 Item, payd for kepyng of fyre at hell-mothe . . iiijV. 
 
 Hell was generally represented by the imita- 
 tion of a whale's open jaws, behind which a fire 
 was lighted in such a manner as not to injure the 
 damned who had to pass into this gaping mouth, 
 or the actors personating the demons inside. 
 We have a good representation of Hell Mouth 
 in the picture of a Fresco of the Day of Judg- 
 ment, discovered in the year 1804 over the 
 great arch separating nave and chancel in the 
 Chapel of the Holy Cross, Stratford-on-Avon. 
 Our illustration of it is reproduced from an 
 engraving in Thomas Sharp's Coventry Mys- 
 teries." We give another illustration of Hell 
 Mouth from an ancient German v^ood-cut 
 formerly in the possession of Francis Douce, 
 the Shakespearean scholar. The design is 
 singularly spirited, and its execution vigorous. 
 
 It w^ill not be without interest to give a few 
 particulars of the costumes of some of the 
 performers. The man who personated God 
 had his face gilded. The hair of his wig was 
 
EARLY RELIGIOUS PLAYS. 7 
 
 also gilded. According to Mr. Symonds, special 
 apology was made at Chester for the non- 
 appearance of this personage on one occasion ; 
 and the reason assigned was that this gilding 
 
 HELL MOUTIL 
 
 Fiom an old German Print. 
 
 ''disfigured the man." He adds, ''How well- 
 founded the excuse was can be gathered from a 
 contemporary account of shows at Florence, 
 where it is briefly said that the boy who played 
 the Genius of the Golden Age, with body gilded 
 
8 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 for the purpose, died after the performance." 
 The cause of death was, of course, the effectual 
 closing of the pores of the skin by the pro- 
 cess of gilding, and this, physiologists have 
 shown, produces fatal effects. Christ, the Good 
 Shepherd, was dressed in a long sheep-skin. 
 It was an easy matter to distinguish the Devil, 
 for he wore horns and tail, and his beard was of 
 a bright red colour, to indicate the flames of the 
 region in which he dwelt. Judas Iscariot also 
 wore a wig of a fiery red colour. The Coventry 
 accounts contain numerous items respecting 
 Judas. In 1573 there appears : — 
 
 Paid to Fawston for hanging Judas, iiij^. 
 
 The same man took another part on the same 
 occasion, for we read : — 
 
 Pd. Fawston for coc-croyng, iiijV. 
 
 Five years later it is stated : — 
 
 1578 p'\ for a new hoke to hange Judas, vjV. 
 
 Masks were worn in these performances, and 
 loose heads were made for some of the actors of 
 particular parts. 
 
 Four sets of the ancient plays are still in 
 existence, and are known as the Chester, 
 Wakefield, Coventry, and York series. It is said 
 that plays Were first acted at Chester in 1268, 
 
EARLY RELIGIOUS PLAYS. 
 
 9 
 
 being a century earlier than they were per- 
 formed in London. A monk named Ralph 
 Higden, who died about 1363, wrote a series of 
 twenty-five plays, which were acted by the 
 Chester Trade Guilds, on Monday, Tuesday, and 
 Wednesday in Whitsun week. On the first day 
 the following pieces were produced : — 
 
 1. The Barkers and Tanners bring forth the FalHng of 
 
 I.ucifer. 
 
 2. Drapers and Hosiers — The Creation of the World. 
 
 3. Drawers of Dee and Water-leaders — Noe and his 
 
 Shippe. 
 
 4. Barbers, Wax-chandlers, and Leeches — Abraham and 
 
 Isacke. 
 
 5. Cappers, Wire-drawers, and Pinners — King Balak, and 
 
 Balam, with Moses. 
 
 6. Wrights, Slaters, Tylers, Daubers, and Thatchers — 
 
 The Nativity of our Lord. 
 
 7. Paynters, Brotherers, and Glaziers — The Shepherds' 
 
 Offering. 
 
 8. Vintners and Merchants — King Herod and the Mounte 
 
 Victorial. 
 
 9. Mercers and Spisers — The Three Kings of Coline. 
 
 On the Tuesday the following plays were 
 performed : — 
 
 1. Gouldsmiths and Masons — The Slayinge of the Chil- 
 
 dren by Herod. 
 
 2. Smiths, Forbers, and Pewterers — Purification of our 
 
 Lady. 
 
 3. Bouchers — The Pinackle, with the Woman of Canaan. 
 
 4. Glovers and Parchment-makers — The Arisinge of 
 
 Lazarus from Death to Life. 
 
 5. Corvesers and Shoemakers— The Coming of Christe 
 
 to Jerusalem. 
 
 B 
 
lO CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 6. Bakers and Millners — Christe's Maundye with His 
 
 Disciples. 
 
 7. Boyers, Flechers, Stringers, Cowpers, and Torners — 
 
 The Scourginge of Christe. 
 
 8. Ironmongers and Ropers— The Crucificinge of Christe. 
 
 9. Cookes, Tapsters, Hosiers, and Inn-keepers — The 
 
 Harrowinge of Hell. 
 
 The next list, acted on the Wednesday, 
 concluded the series : — 
 
 1. Skynners, Cardmakers, Hatters, Poynters, and Girdlers 
 
 — The Resurrection. 
 
 2. Fullers and Fusters — The Castell of Emmaus and the 
 
 Apostles. 
 
 3. The Taylors — Ascension of Christe. 
 
 4. F'ishmongers, Whitsonday — Making of the Creed. 
 
 5. Shermin — Profetts afore the Day of Dome. 
 
 6. Hevvsters and Bell-founders — Antichriste. 
 
 7. Weavers and Walkers — Domesday. 
 
 It will be observed that we have followed 
 the old style of spelling ; and from the 
 titles, it will be seen that the subjects covered a 
 wide range, and dealt with the chief incidents of 
 Bible history. 
 
 Noah's Flood was a popular piece, and 
 under slightly different names occurs in several 
 of the ancient collections of Mysteries. A 
 few extracts from a version of this piece will 
 serve to illustrate the nature of these composi- 
 tions. The play opens with the entrance of an 
 actor representing God, who, after lamenting 
 the universal wickedness of the world, deter- 
 
EARLY RELIGIOUS PLAYS. 
 
 II 
 
 mines to destroy it and all the '^folke that are 
 
 thereone." Noah next appears, and is told by 
 
 God to construct an ark, by means of which to 
 
 save himself and family. Noah's sons enter, 
 
 and, after conversation, prepare to build 
 
 the ark, Noah (the orthography is somewhat 
 
 modernised) saying — 
 
 O Lord, I thank thee, loud and still, 
 
 That to me art in such will. 
 
 And spares me and my household to spill. 
 
 As I now smoothly find. 
 
 Thy bidding, Lord, I shall fulfil. 
 
 And never more thee grieve nor grill (provoke), 
 
 That such grace hath sent me till 
 
 Amongst all mankind. 
 
 Have done, you men and women all. 
 
 Go we work, bout din (without noise). 
 
 And I am ready bound. 
 
 After this the wife and sons of Noah say a few 
 words relating to their respective duties during 
 the construction. Noah commences the building 
 of the shippe," and the play proceeds as 
 follows : — 
 
 Noah : 
 
 Now in the name of God, I begin 
 To make the ship that we shall in. 
 That we may be ready for to swim 
 At the coming of the flood. 
 These boards here pin I together 
 To bear us safe from the weather. 
 That we may row hither and thither 
 And safe be from the flood. 
 Of this tree will I make the mast, 
 Tied with cables that will last, 
 
12 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 With a sail yard for each blast, 
 
 And each thing in their kind ; 
 
 With topcastle and bowsprit. 
 
 Both cords and ropes I have all mette (measured) 
 
 To sail forth at the next wet, 
 
 This ship is at an end. 
 
 Wife, we shall in this vessel be kept, 
 
 My children and thou I would ye in leapt. 
 
 Noah's Wife : 
 In faith, Noah, I would as lief thou slept ! 
 For all thy frynish (nice) fare 
 I will not do after thy rede (advice). 
 
 Noah : 
 
 Good wife, do now as I thee bid. 
 
 Noah's Wife : 
 I'faith I'll not, till I see more need, 
 Though thou stand all day and stare. 
 
 Noah next laments the ''crabbed" nature of 
 womankind. The ark, however, is at length 
 finished, and after receiving from God a list of 
 the animals that are to enter into it with him, 
 Noah enters the ark with all his family except 
 his wife. Here considerable liberty is taken 
 with the Biblical version, and a strange scene is 
 witnessed. Noah's wife, a person of exceedingly 
 whimsical temper, in reply to her husband's 
 appeal to her to enter the ark, gives vent to a 
 volley of strong language, saying that unless her 
 '' gossips " are allowed to go in with her she 
 will not out of this town," and tells him to 
 ''row where he lists," and get a new wife. At 
 
EARLY RELIGIOUS PLAYS. 
 
 13 
 
 last the dutiful Japhet compels his mother to 
 enter by main force, and immediately upon her 
 entrance she gives herself the task of boxing 
 Noah's ears. He remarks — 
 
 Ha, ha, marry, this is hot. 
 
 It is good for to be still. 
 
 Ha, children, methinks my boat removes. 
 
 Our tarrying here grieves me ill. 
 
 Over the land the water spreads, 
 
 God, do as thou wilt. 
 
 Ah, great God, thou art so good 
 
 That [who] works not thy will is wood (mad). 
 
 Now all this world is one flood, 
 
 As I see well in sight. 
 
 This window I will shut anon, 
 
 And into my chamber I will go 
 
 Till this water so great mowe (may) 
 
 Be slacked through Thy might. 
 
 The window of the ark is now closed for a short 
 time, supposed to be during the period of the 
 Flood, after which it is opened, and Noah thanks 
 God for granting him such grace. The Almighty 
 repHes, and blesses the Patriarch, the play 
 finishing with the following : — 
 
 My bow between you and me 
 In the firmament shall be. 
 By every token that you shall see. 
 That such vengeance shall cease. 
 Man shall never more 
 
 Be wasted with water, as he hath been before ; 
 But for sin that grieveth me sore. 
 Therefore this vengeance. 
 
14 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 My blessing, Noah, I give thee here, 
 To thee, Noah, my servant dear ; 
 For vengeance shall no more appear ; 
 And now farewell, my darling dear. 
 
 The Wakefield plays are sometimes called 
 the Townley, or Widkirk Mysteries. They are 
 
 named the Townley plays on account of the 
 MSS. being preserved by the Townley family of 
 Lancashire. The title Widkirk is believed to 
 
EARLY RELIGIOUS PLAYS. I5 
 
 indicate Woodkirk, a place a short distance 
 from Wakefield, where it is said the plays were 
 performed. They are twenty-two in number, 
 and, to enable the common people to understand 
 them, they were written in the North Country 
 dialect. To this series belonged two Shepherds* 
 plays, one being extremely comical, the mirth- 
 provoking shepherd being a sheep-stealer. 
 Professor Morley says that it must have 
 exacted roars of laughter from a rough and 
 hearty Yorkshire audience, and is so cleverly 
 dramatized that, apart from the religious close, 
 which can be completely separated from it, this 
 Wakefield Shepherds' Play may justly be ac- 
 counted the first English farce." In this play 
 the First Shepherd gives utterance to the 
 following realistic and detailed complaint, which, 
 however, is not wanting in a certain wit : — 
 
 Lord, what these weathers are cold and I am ill happid ! 
 
 I am near hand dold, so long have I nappid ; 
 
 My legs they fold, my fingers are chappid ; 
 
 It is not as I would, for I am all lappid in sorrow. 
 
 Then the Second Shepherd has to say — 
 
 Benste (Benedicite) and Dominus ! what may this bemean ? 
 Why fares this world thus of have we not seen. 
 Lord, these wethers are spiteous, and the weathers full keen, 
 And the frost so hideous they water my een, 
 
 No lie. 
 Now in dry, now in wete. 
 Now in snow, now in sleet, 
 When my shoon freeze to my feet. 
 
 It is not all easy ! 
 
i6 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The play continues in a similar strain to the 
 end, when the shepherds are gladdened by the 
 tidings of the birth of the Saviour of the world, 
 and they joyfully set out to offer their gifts for 
 his gracious acceptance. 
 
 Another of the Wakefield plays, which is of 
 a notable description, is that entitled Abra- 
 ham," opening with an apostrophe to the 
 Almighty which lacks the ludicrous character of 
 the instances already given, for which reason it 
 is quoted here. 
 
 Abraham : Adonay (Lord) thou God veray (true) 
 Thou hear us when we to thee call ! 
 As thou art he that best may, 
 Thou art most succour and help of all ! 
 Mightful Lord ! to thee I pray, 
 Let once the oil of mercy fall ! 
 Shall I ne'er abide that day ? 
 Truly yet I hope I shall. 
 Mercy, Lord Omnipotent ! 
 Long since he this world has wrought 
 Whither are all our elders went ? 
 This muses mickle in my thought. 
 From Adam unto Eve assent, 
 Eat of that apple spared he nought. 
 For all the wisdom that he ment, 
 Full dear that bargain has he bought 
 From Paradise that bade him gang : 
 He went mourning with simple cheer. 
 And after lived he here full lang, 
 More than three hundred year. 
 In sorrow and in travail Strang. 
 
EARLY RELIGIOUS PLAYS. 
 
 17 
 
 To which the following rejoinder, made by the 
 person undertaking the part of God — 
 
 I will help Adam and his kind, 
 
 Might I love and lewte [loyalty] fmd ; 
 
 Would they to rne be true, and blin [cease] 
 
 Of their pride and of their sin : 
 
 My servant I will found and frast [prove and try], 
 
 Abraham, if he be trast [trusty], 
 
 On certain wise I will him prove 
 
 If he to me be true of love. 
 
 Abraham ! Abraham ! 
 
 Then says — 
 
 Abraham : Who is that? ware, let me see, 
 I heard one neven [name] my name. 
 
 God : It is I, take tent [heed] to me 
 That formed thy father Adam, 
 And everything in [its] degree. 
 
 After which follow God's command to Abraham 
 to sacrifice Isaac, and the ensuing events. 
 
 No city in England has been more celebrated 
 than Coventry for Miracle-plays. The famous 
 Coventry plays consist of some forty pageants, 
 in acts opening with the Creation and ending 
 with the Last Judgment. 
 
 York was another city famed for its religious 
 plays, and to which considerable attention has 
 been paid. In 1885 was issued from the 
 Clarendon Press a valuable volume, entitled 
 The York Mystery Plays," edited by Miss Lucy 
 Toulmin Smith, which should be consulted by 
 
 c 
 
i8 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 all who make a study of this subject. A book 
 by the late Robert Davies, F.S.A., on the 
 
 Municipal Records of York" (London, 1843), 
 contains much information bearing on this theme. 
 There is in ''Historic Yorkshire," by William 
 Andrews, F.R.H.S., a chapter on '' Mystery 
 Plays in Yorkshire." In a small work on '' The 
 Drama in York," by George Benson, a pains- 
 taking antiquary, who takes a deep interest in 
 the history of the city, are some important 
 particulars related in a popular form. Here, on 
 the celebration of the Corpus Christi Festival 
 was the chief time for the exhibition of the 
 plays. The pieces represented an extended 
 period, opening with the Creation and ending 
 with Domesday. Between these two events the 
 chief occurrences narrated in the Bible were 
 dealt with. The plays were performed in the 
 streets of the city at an early period, and two 
 popular pieces were ''The Credo" (Creed) and 
 
 Paternoster " (the Lord's Prayer). '• The 
 Guildhall, completed in 146 1," says Mr. Benson, 
 "had for one of its objects the providing of a 
 commodious theatre in which the favourite plays 
 could be exhibited to greater advantage than in 
 the open air. In the year 1483, this hall was the 
 scene of a brilliant spectacle, the King, Richard 
 
EARLY RELIGIOUS PLAYS. I9 
 
 III., the Queen, the Prince Edward, the 
 Courtiers, the Lord Mayor and civic dignitaries 
 witnessing the performance of the Credo Play 
 on the Sunday afternoon." 
 
 At Hull the Miracle-plays were usually per- 
 formed on Plough Monday, by the members of 
 the trade guilds. The representatives of each 
 guild had their peculiar dresses, badges, banners, 
 &c., and as they marched through the streets to 
 the sound of music and the pealing of church 
 bells, they must have presented an imposing and 
 brilliant sight. After parading the principal 
 streets they proceeded to the Holy Trinity 
 Church, where, for the entertainment and in- 
 struction of the people, a play was performed. It 
 was, as a rule, the play of Noah. In the church 
 was suspended an Ark, which was brought out, 
 and in it the piece was acted. It was covered 
 with paintings of animals, which were supposed to 
 have been in the Ark at the time of the Flood. 
 There are some curious entries in the Hull 
 Trinity House Books, relating to the fees paid 
 
 to actors, &c. 
 
 Here are a few extracts : — 
 
 Item for a payr of new mytens to Noye 4d. 
 
 „ amending Noye Pyleh 4d. 
 
 „ payd to Nicholas Helpby for wrytg the play yd. 
 
 „ for a rope to hyng the shipp in ye Kyrk 2d. 
 
20 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Item paid for drink to Noe 4d. 
 
 ix galons of ale 13d. 
 
 „ for taking down shype, and hyngyng up agayn ... 2s. 
 
 for wyr when the shype went about 2d. 
 
 In 142 1 a new " shype " was required, and it cost 8s. 4d. 
 In 1447 the wages of Robert Brown, who represented 
 
 God, were 6d. 
 
 And so continued until 1484, when Thomas Sawers 
 
 played the part, and was paid 8d. 
 
 Which, in 1487, was increased to lod. 
 
 In 1520 the payment went up to is. 
 
 And so continued until 1529. 
 
 In 1469 the wages of Noye and his wyff were 2 id. 
 
 In 1470 the wages of Noye and his wyfF were 23d. 
 
 In 1485 the payments were separated and also reduced, 
 
 to Noye 8d. 
 
 To Noye's whyff I2d. 
 
 In 1520 the payment had been increased to Noe 2s. 
 
 Noe's whyff i8d. 
 
 Ancient church books contain many items 
 bearing on this subject. In the account of St. 
 Mary's, Leicester, under the year 1491, is the 
 item — 
 
 Paid to the players on New Year's Day, at Even, in 
 
 the Church 
 
 A few years later it is recorded — 
 
 1499 — Paid for a play in the Church in Dominia 
 
 infra octav Epiph iji. 
 
 In the accounts of St. Martin's Church, Leicester, 
 we find — 
 
 1560 — Pd to the plears for ther paynes vijV. 
 
 In the chapel-wardens' accounts of Bewdley, 
 under the year 1572, we read — 
 
 Paid unto the quenes plaiers in the church 6s. Sd. 
 
EARLY RELIGIOUS PLAYS. 
 
 21 
 
 Bonner, Bishop of London, did his utmost to 
 stop acting in churches. We learn that in 1 542 
 he issued a proclamation to the clergy of his 
 diocese, prohibiting all manner of common plays, 
 games, or interludes, to be played, set forth, or 
 declared within their churches or chapels." A 
 writer of a tract, published in 1572, speaks 
 strongly about the clergy neglecting their duty, 
 and adverts to acting in churches. Says the 
 author : — He againe posteth it (the service) 
 over as fast as he can gallop ; for either he hath 
 two places to serve, or else there are some 
 games to be played in the afternoon, as lying for 
 the whetstone, heathenish dauncing for the ring, 
 a beare or a bull to be bayted, or else jack-an- 
 apes to ryde on horse-back, or an enterlude to 
 be played ; and if no place else can be gotten, it 
 must be done in the church." At a later period 
 it appears that the actors claimed in some 
 parts of the country, as a sort of right, to per- 
 form in the church. There appears in the 
 Syston parish registers, under date of 1602, the 
 item, Paid to Lord Morden's players, because 
 they should not play in the church, xij^/." 
 
 The religious plays ended with the Reforma- 
 tion, and in their place the secular drama took a 
 firm footing in the country. 
 
THE GAD-WHIP. 
 
THE CAISTOR GAD-WHIP 
 MANORIAL SERVICE. 
 
 T the Parish Church of Caistor, 
 Lincolnshire, on every Pahii Sun- 
 day, until a comparatively recent 
 period, there was performed one of 
 the most singular of our English 
 manorial services. The property held by this 
 old custom is said to have comprised the Manor 
 of Broughton, and 2,200 acres of land lying in 
 the parish of Broughton^ near Brigg, Lincoln- 
 shire. This land was sold in 1846, and to 
 describe the ceremony we cannot do better than 
 quote the particulars of the sale circulated at 
 the time, in which it was stated : 
 
 This estate is held subject to the perform- 
 ance on Palm Sunday in every year, of the 
 ceremony of cracking a whip in Caistor Church, 
 in the said county of Lincoln, which has been 
 regularly and duly performed on Palm Sunday, 
 from time immemorial, in the following manner : 
 
24 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The whip is taken every Pahn Sunday by 
 a man from Broughton to the parish of Caistor, 
 who, while the minister is reading the first 
 lesson, cracks it three distinct times in the 
 church porch, then folds it neatly up, and retires 
 to a seat. At the commencement of the second 
 lesson, he approaches the minister, and kneeling 
 opposite to him with the whip in his hand, and a 
 purse at the end of it, held perpendicularly over 
 his head, w^ves it thrice, and continues it in a 
 steadfast position throughout the whole of the 
 chapter. The ceremony is then concluded. 
 
 The whip has a leather purse tied at the 
 end of it, which ought to contain thirty pieces 
 of silver, said to represent, according to Scripture, 
 ' the price of blood.' Four pieces of w^ch-elm 
 tree, of different lengths, are affixed to the stock, 
 denoting the different gospels of the holy Evan- 
 gelists. The three distinct cracks are typical of 
 St. Peter's denial of his Lord and Master three 
 times ; and the waving it over the minister's 
 head as an intended homage of the Blessed 
 Trinity." 
 
 The Lord of the manor washing to suppress 
 this service, presented, in 1836, a petition, of 
 which the following is a copy : 
 
 To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in 
 Parliament assembled. 
 
THE CAISTOR GAD-WHIP MANORIAL SERVICE. 25 
 
 The petition of the undersigned, Sir Culling 
 Eardley Smith, of Bedwell Park, in the county 
 of Hertford. 
 
 Sheweth, that your petitioner is lord of 
 the manor of Hundon, near Caistor, in the 
 county of Lincoln. 
 
 ''That the lord of the manor of Broughton, 
 near Brigg, in the same county, yearly, on 
 Palm Sunday, employs a person to perform 
 the following ceremony in the parish church 
 of Caistor : — 
 
 '' A cart-whip of the fashion of several 
 centuries since, called the gad-whip, with four 
 pieces of wych-elm bound round the stock, 
 and a leather purse attached to the extremity 
 of the stock, containing thirty pence, is, during 
 divine service, cracked in the church porch, 
 and while the second lesson is reading, is 
 brought into the church, and held over the 
 reading-desk by the person who carries it. It 
 is afterwards deposited with the tenant of 
 Hundon. 
 
 '' That the performance of this superstitious 
 ceremony is utterly inconsistent with a place 
 of Christian worship. 
 
 That it is generally supposed that it is 
 a penance for murder, and that, in the event 
 
26 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 of the performance being neglected, the lord 
 of the manor of Broughton would be liable to 
 a penalty to the lord of the manor of Hundon. 
 
 That your petitioner, being extremely 
 anxious for the discontinuance of this indecent 
 and absurd practice, applied to the lord of 
 the manor of Broughton for that purpose, who 
 declined entering into any negociations until the 
 deed should be produced under which the 
 ceremony was instituted, which deed (if it ever 
 existed) your petitioner is unable to produce. 
 
 ^' That your petitioner subsequently applied 
 to the Bishop of Lincoln to use his influence 
 to prevent the repetition of the ceremony, and 
 offered to guarantee the churchwardens against 
 any loss in consequence of refusal to permit it. 
 
 That your petitioner believes there are 
 no trustees of a dissenting chapel who would 
 permit the minister or officers of their chapel 
 to sanction such a desecration. 
 
 ^'That the ceremony took place, as usual, 
 on Palm Sunday this year. 
 
 Your petitioner therefore prays that your 
 lordships will be pleased to ascertain from the 
 Bishop of the diocese why the ceremony took 
 place ; that, if the existing law enables any 
 ecclesiastical persons to prevent it, the law may 
 
THE CAISTOR GAD-WHIP MANORIAL SERVICE. 27 
 
 hereafter be enforced ; and that, if the present 
 law is insufficient, a law may be passed enabling 
 the Bishop to interfere for the purpose of saving 
 the National Church from scandal. 
 
 And your petitioner will ever pray, &c." 
 The foregoing had not the desired effect, 
 as the ceremony was repeated in 1837, and 
 continued until the land was sold in 1846. 
 The origin of this custom has not been ascer- 
 tained. Some allege a tradition that the gad- 
 whip service was a self-inflicted penance by a 
 former nun of the Broughton estate, for killing a 
 boy with such a whip. In our opinion, the 
 tradition has been made for the whip, and is 
 an idle tale. Doubtless great changes have 
 been made in the performance of this service, 
 which refers us back to a custom connected with 
 the Roman Catholic Church known as the Pro- 
 cession of the Ass. In the observance of this 
 ceremony, it was the practice for a man repre- 
 senting the Saviour to mount a wooden figure 
 of an ass on wheels, which was drawn by a 
 number of men. Prior to the procession starting, 
 a priest explained to those assembled what Christ 
 had done for them, and how he had ridden into 
 Jerusalem on an ass, and how the multitude 
 had strewn in the way palm branches. The 
 
28 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 procession then set out, two priests, singing 
 psalms, walking in front of the figure, which 
 was moved with difficulty, as the assembly threw 
 
 THE PROCESSION OF THE ASS. 
 
 willow branches on the ground for the w^heels 
 to pass over. The persons who had strewn 
 the branches carefully gathered them up, as it 
 
THE CAISTOR GAD-WHIP MANORIAL SERVICE. 29 
 
 was believed that they were an infallible pro- 
 tection against storms and lightnings during the 
 ensiling year. 
 
 The term gad is the correct old spelling 
 of the word which we now spell goad, in its 
 two meanings of (i) a prick, (2) the pole to 
 which the prick is fastened. Thus, a gad-^y 
 is a goad-^jj or stinging fly ; and a gad also 
 came to mean a wand, a measuring rod, a fishing 
 rod, &c., and a gad-whip meant a long whip 
 for goading oxen. It is from the Anglo-Saxon 
 gad, a goad, the point of a weapon, a prick. 
 
 Shakespeare says : — • 
 
 I will go get a leaf of brass, 
 And with a gad of steel will write these words — 
 
 Ti/i/s Andro?iiciis, IV. I. 
 
 The whip last used in this singular ceremony 
 is in our possession. 
 
STRANGE SERPENT STORIES. 
 
 LD world tales about dragons, fiery 
 serpents, large worms, and ferocious 
 wild boars, which have been the 
 terror of certain districts in England, 
 are numerous and curious. The 
 legends are not confined to any particular locality, 
 but perhaps are more plentiful in the northern 
 counties than any other part of the country. 
 Some of the strangest stories are linked with 
 the Church, and of these we will give examples. 
 
 The tale of the Worm of Sockburn is of 
 great antiquity, and of importance on account 
 of its connection with an old tenure of land. 
 For more than six hundred years the manor 
 of Sockburn was held by the singular service 
 of presenting a falchion to the Bishop of Dur- 
 ham on his first entering the diocese. 
 
 Far back, in the davs when the first Richard 
 occupied the throne of England, it is recorded 
 that Hugh Pudsey, the joUye Bishop of 
 
STRANGE SERPENT STORIES. 3 1 
 
 Durham," bought from the king the title of 
 Earl of Sadberge for himself and his successors. 
 
 On the first arrival of a newly-appointed 
 bishop, it was the duty of the lord of the manor 
 of Sockburn, or his representative, to meet his 
 grace at the middle of Sockburn Ford, or on 
 Croft Bridge, which spans the River Tees. 
 
 THE SOCKBURN FALCHION; 
 
 After hailing him Count Palatine and Earl of 
 Sadberge, he presented him with a falchion, 
 saying as follows : — 
 
 My Lord Bishop, I here present you with 
 the falchion wherewith the champion Conyers 
 slew the worm, dragon, or fiery flying serpent 
 which destroyed man, woman, and child ; in 
 memory of which, the king then reigning gave 
 him the manor of Sockburn, to hold by this 
 tenure, that upon the first entrance of every 
 bishop into the county this falchion should be 
 presented." 
 
32 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The Bishop, after receiving the weapon in 
 his hand, promptly and politely returned it, 
 and at the same time wished the lord of Sock- 
 burn health and a long enjoyment of the manor. 
 
 The last time the ceremony was performed 
 was in April, 1826, when the steward of Sir 
 Edward Blackett, the lord of Sockburn Manor, 
 met on Croft Bridge Dr. Van. Mildert, the 
 last Prince-Bishop of Durham. At an inquest 
 held on the death of Sir John Conyers, in the 
 year 1396, there is a mention of the tenure. 
 
 The falchion was formerly kept at the manor 
 house of Sockburn, and it is sketched in the 
 Visitation of Durham in 1666." The blade is 
 broad, and two feet five inches long, and on the 
 pommel of the weapon are two shields ; on 
 one side are the three lions of England as 
 borne by the Plantagenet monarchs, from John 
 to Edward III., and the eagle displayed on 
 the other side is said to belong to Morcar, the 
 Saxon Earl of Northumberland. The relic was 
 also represented on one of the stained glass 
 windows of Sockburn Church. On a marble 
 monument, placed to the memory of an old 
 member of the Conyers family, the serpent and 
 falchion were sculptured. 
 
 The parish church of St. Andrew's, Bishop 
 
STRANGE SERPENT STORIES. 33 
 
 Auckland, contains an old wooden effigy repre- 
 senting a knight in a suit of chain armour, 
 cross-legged, with his feet resting on an animal, 
 supposed to be a boar. It is generally believed 
 that this monument was erected in remembrance 
 of a courageous son of the Pollard family, who 
 slew a wild boar which destroyed man and 
 beast, and spread dismay through the country- 
 side. Prior to Pollard appearing, many were 
 the futile attempts to slay it, or drive it from 
 the district. The king offered a princely guer- 
 don " to anyone who would bring its head to 
 his palace, and the Bishop of Durham, who 
 passed the greater part of the year at Auckland 
 Castle, promised a large reward to the knight 
 who slew the monster. A member of the 
 ancient and honourable family of Pollard deter- 
 mined to kill the brute, or die in the attempt. 
 He armed himself, mounted his trusty steed, 
 and rode to the lair of the boar, and noted its 
 track. After tying his horse to a tree, out of 
 the regular course of the brute, he climbed 
 a beech tree under which the monster passed, 
 and shook down a large quantity of ripe beech- 
 mast. There he waited until the boar came, 
 and had the satisfaction of seeing it feed vor- 
 aciously on the beechmast. In time it showed 
 
 E 
 
34 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 signs of drowsiness, and commenced moving 
 from the place. Pollard, feeling now that the 
 period for action had arrived, left his hiding-place, 
 and made an onslaught on the boar. After its 
 hearty meal, it was not in a fighting humour, 
 but, nevertheless, it made a fierce resistance, 
 and taxed to the utmost the prowess of 
 the knight, the encounter lasting the greater 
 part of the night. The welcome rays of the 
 sun burst forth as he severed the head from 
 the trunk of the beast. He cut out its tongue, 
 and placed it in his wallet. Feeling weary, 
 he decided to rest for a short time under the 
 wide-spreading branches of a tree. A deep 
 sleep came over him, and led to a serious dis- 
 appointment, for when he awoke he discovered 
 that the head had been taken away. Great 
 was his despair, for he had not the trophy to 
 take to the king, to obtain the promised prize. 
 Instead of going to his sovereign, he mounted 
 his horse, and rode to the bishop to tell his 
 tale and show the tongue. He arrived at the 
 Castle gate just as his lordship was about to 
 dine. He rejoiced to hear the good news, and 
 as a reward promised as much land as the knight 
 could ride round during the hour of dinner. 
 When he next came before the prelate, he 
 
STRANGE SERPENT STORIES. 35 
 
 Startled him by intimating that he had ridden 
 round his castle, and claimed it, and all it 
 contained, as his meed. The bishop was loth 
 to part with his stronghold, but was bound to 
 admit the validity of the claim, and eventually 
 made a compromise by granting him an exten- 
 sive freehold estate known to this day as Pol- 
 lard's Lands. The broad acres were to be held 
 on condition that the possessor met every Bishop 
 of Durham on his first coming to Auckland, and 
 presented to him a falchion, saying : — 
 
 My Lord, I, on behalf of myself, as well 
 as several others, possessors of Pollard's Lands, 
 do humbly present your lordship with this 
 falchion at your first coming here, wherewith^ 
 as the tradition goeth, he slew of old a mighty 
 boar which did harm to man and beast. And 
 by performing this service we hold our lands." 
 
 Respecting the missing head, it is related 
 that during the period Pollard slept, the Lord 
 of Mitford Castle, near Morpeth, passed, saw 
 what had occurred, seized the head, and rode 
 with all speed to the king, and gained the 
 reward. The champion Pollard also sought an 
 interview with his majesty, and giving the facts, 
 showed that the head presented had not a tongue. 
 He was dismissed however without any recom- 
 
36 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 pense, the king declining to entertain a second 
 claim. 
 
 Dr. Longley, created Bishop of Durham in 
 the year 1856, was the last bishop to whom 
 the falchion was presented. 
 
 The crest of the Pollard family is an arm 
 holding a falchion. 
 
 Amongst the dragon stories of Yorkshire, 
 the legend of the worm of Sexhow is not so 
 widely known as some others, although the 
 particulars respecting it are of more than local 
 interest. Sexhow is a hamlet in the parish of 
 Rudby, Cleveland. Years agone, according to 
 tradition, there came to this retired place a most 
 pestilential dragon or worm. Like the greater part 
 of the monsters we hear about, it had a voracious 
 appetite, and it drank daily the milk of no less 
 than nine cows. If perchance it was not 
 sufficiently fed it made a hissing noise, which 
 startled the neighbourhood. Its breath was 
 poisonous, and many of the inhabitants died after 
 breathing it. The distressed folk feared that it 
 would depopulate the place. Happily, however, 
 a strange knight, attired in complete armour, 
 came that way and encountered the worm. 
 After a great fight he slew the monster. The 
 knight after his mighty deed quietly passed on 
 without even giving his name. 
 
STRANGE SERPENT STORIES. 37 
 
 The skin of the worm was taken to the parish 
 church and suspended over the pew belonging 
 to the hamlet of Sexhow, where it remained as a 
 reminder of terrible suffering and of the knight's 
 victory. 
 
 Herefordshire folk lore is enriched with a 
 romantic story of a Man and Dragon Fight. A 
 local poet asks : — 
 
 Who has not heard, of Herefordian birth, 
 
 Who has not heard, as winter evenings lag on, 
 
 That tale of awe to some — to some of rnirth, 
 
 Of Mordesford's most famous huge green dragon? 
 
 Who has not seen the figure on its church. 
 At western end, outspread to all beholders — 
 
 Where leaned the beggar-pilgrim on his crutch, 
 
 And asked its meaning — body, head, and shoulders ? 
 
 There still we see the place and hear the tale, 
 
 Where man and monster fought for life and glory ; 
 
 No one can righteously the facts assail, 
 
 For even the Church itself puts it before ye. 
 
 At the junction of the Lug and Wye is 
 situated the village of Mordesford, famous in 
 legendary lore as being the place where a man 
 fought and killed a winged-serpent. For some 
 time man and beast fell an easy prey to this 
 monster, and it caused much distress in the 
 district. No champion could be found in the 
 country with sufficient courage to combat with 
 it, and it passed its days undisturbed in a well- 
 wooded steep hard by the village. At last a 
 release came from an unexpected quarter. A 
 
38 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Strong man for a serious crime had been 
 condemned to death, and a pardon was offered 
 to him if he would undertake to slay the dragon. 
 He was fearful to meet the monster ; but the 
 love of life was strong in his nature, and the 
 mere chance of saving his neck induced him to 
 accept the perilous proposal. The serpent was 
 wont at certain times to slake its thirst at the 
 confluence of the above two streams. Here the 
 criminal concealed himself, and at a favourable 
 opportunity commenced his dangerous struggle. 
 The fight w^as long and furious, but at last it 
 ended in the dragon being slain. The culprit 
 did not, however, enjoy the reward of his hard- 
 won victory, for the poisonous breath of the 
 vanquished foe deprived him of life. A large 
 green dragon, web-footed, having expanded 
 wings, was painted on the east-end of Mordesford 
 Church in remembrance of the event. 
 
 A large number of legends might be cited ; 
 but there is a sameness about them which 
 becomes wearisome, and perhaps the foregoing 
 fairly represent the English examples. Their 
 origin is a puzzle, which many have tried to solve 
 and failed. We may rest assured that hidden 
 under these old chivalrous stories is some 
 foundation of truth, but what that foundation is 
 must ever remain an interesting study. 
 
CHURCH-ALES. 
 
 N the days of old, social meetings 
 known as Whitsun-Ales and 
 Charch-Ales were extremely popu- 
 lar, and formed an important feature 
 in the church life of England. 
 They were instituted to obtain money for 
 repairing the church, for helping the poor, and 
 for various other charitable purposes. The 
 feasts were also an excellent means of bringing 
 rich and poor together, and creating a friendly 
 feeling amongst all conditions of people. 
 
 Whitsun-Ales most probably derived their 
 origin from the Agapae or Love Feasts of the 
 early Christians. Not a few of the quaint 
 carvings which are to be found in many ancient 
 churches are supposed to be a representation of 
 the festivity at Church-Ales. 
 
 Some weeks prior to the time fixed for the 
 feast, the churchwardens brew^ed a large quantity 
 of strong ale. On the day appointed for holding 
 
40 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 it, not only [did the inhabitants where it was held 
 observe a general holiday, but people from the 
 surrounding districts came in large numbers to 
 show their good-will, and by spending their 
 money to swell the receipts of the meeting. 
 The parishioners blessed with plenty came well 
 provided with provisions for their own consmnp- 
 tion, and to offer to a friend or to give to a 
 needy neighbour, for in the good old times 
 charity was more freely exercised than in these 
 days of compulsory poor rates. 
 
 Music and song always formed an important 
 feature in the festival. A preacher named Wil- 
 liam Kethe, in the year 1570, denounced the 
 practice of holding Church-Ales. In one of his 
 published sermons, preached at Blandford, we 
 obtain some facts about the manner of spending 
 the holiday, which was usually held on a Sunday. 
 He names the following as Sunday Church-Ale 
 sports of the period : — Bull-baiting, bear-baiting, 
 bowls, dice and card playing, dancing and other 
 diversions, as well as singing songs. Students of 
 Shakespeare will remember that the dramatist in 
 Pericles thus refers to a song : — 
 
 It hath been sung at festivals, 
 On Ember eves, and holy ales. 
 
 The Morris dance was also an attraction, and is 
 
42 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 alluded to in Shakespeare's Henry V. The 
 
 Dauphin says : — 
 
 I say 'tis meet we all go forth 
 To view the sick and feeble parts of France, 
 And let us do it with no show of fear ; 
 No, with no more than if we heard that England 
 Were busied with a Whitsun Morris dance. 
 
 Speaking of Shakespeare we are reminded of 
 a story which links his name with a Whitsun- 
 Ale. The tradition has often been told, and the 
 compiler of an amusing volume called The 
 Curiosities of Ale and Beer," furnishes one or 
 two particulars which other writers have over- 
 looked. The author after adverting to the 
 far-famed potency of the ale of Bidford in 
 Shakespeare's day, goes on to state how the poet 
 and some of his friends attended the Whitsun- 
 Ale there. They accepted a challenge from 
 the Bidford men to try their powers as 
 ale-drinkers. The Bidfordians," it is related, 
 proved the better men, and the others 
 endeavoured to return to Stratford. They had 
 not gone far, however, when, overcome by the 
 power of the ale, they were forced to rest a mile 
 out of Bidford. Here sleep overcame them, 
 and their nap lasted from Saturday night till 
 Monday morning, when they were aroused by a 
 labourer on his way to work. Shakespeare's 
 
Church-ales. 43 
 
 companions urged him to return and renew the 
 
 contest, but he refused. * I have had enough/ 
 
 he said, ' I have drunk with 
 
 ' Piping Pebworth, dancing Marston, 
 Haunted Hillbro, hungry Grafton, 
 Dudging Exhall, papist Wixford, 
 Beggarly Broom, and drunken Bidford.' 
 
 These villages are all visible from the spot 
 where the Bard's long sleep is related to have 
 taken place, and it is said they retained their 
 characteristics until very recently. The tree 
 near to the place, a wild apple or crab, long known 
 as * Shakespeare's Crab,' was cut down some 
 time in the early part of this century by the lady 
 of the Manor, who is said to have given the 
 somewhat Irish reason for this act of Vandalism, 
 that the tree was gradually being demolished by 
 curiosity hunters. A fresh crab-tree has recently 
 been planted upon the spot, and will, it is hoped, 
 hand down to future generations the memory of 
 the poet's youthful escapade." 
 
 We may infer from an old document relating 
 to the parish of Walsall, Staffordshire, that 
 sometimes persons were fined for neglecting to 
 attend Church-Ales. We find it stated that in 
 the year 1496, John Arundel, Bishop of 
 Lichfield and Coventry, by a decree of confirma- 
 tion, under the seal of the diocese, directed to 
 
44 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 the Mayor of Walsall and his brethren, for the 
 advantage of Walsall Church, declaring that 
 they (the mayor and his bretheren) shall keepe 
 the drynkynges iiii. times in the year, and hee 
 that is absent at any of these drynkynges to 
 forfeit a pounde of waxe to burn for the light of 
 the chapell of Soynte Kateryn, in the sayd 
 church." In the Bodleian Library there is 
 preserved a pre-Reformation agreement anent 
 Church-Ales. It is therein stated that the 
 parishioners of Elvaston and Okebrook, in 
 Derbyshire, agree jointly to brew four ales 
 betwixt this (the time of the contract) and the 
 feast of St. John Baptist next coming ; and that 
 every inhabitant of the said town of Okebrook 
 shall be at the several ales ; and every husband 
 and his wife shall pay twopence, and every 
 cottager one penny ; and all the inhabitants of 
 Elvaston shall have and receive all the profits 
 and advantages coming of the said ales, to 
 the use and behoof of the said church of 
 Elvaston." John Aubrey, the antiquary, who 
 was born in 1626 and died in 1700, relates in his 
 
 Natural History of Wiltshire " some interesting 
 facts on this subject. There were no rates for 
 the poor in my grandfather's days ; " says he, 
 
 but for Kingston Saint Michael (no small 
 
CHURCH-ALES. 45 
 
 parish) the Church-Ale of Whitsuntide did the 
 business. In every parish is (or was) a church 
 house to which belonged spits, crocks, &c., 
 utensils for dressing provision. Here the house- 
 keepers met and were merry, and gave their 
 charity. The young people were there too, and 
 had dancing, bowling, shooting at butts, &c., 
 the ancients sitting gravely by and looking on. 
 All things were civil, and without scandal." In 
 the same county at Castle-Combe, the Church- 
 Ale was conducted with considerable success. 
 No one in the parish was permitted to brew until 
 the church ale was sold. 
 
 In 1602 was published a Survey of 
 Cornwall," from the pen of Richard Carew, and 
 it contains a description of the custom as 
 conducted in his time. For the Church-Ale," 
 says this author, two young men of the parish 
 are yearly chosen by their last foregoers to be 
 wardens, who make collection among the 
 parishioners of whatsoever provision it pleaseth 
 them voluntarily to bestow. This they employ 
 in brewing and baking against Whitsuntide, upon 
 which holy-days the neighbours meet at the 
 church-house, and there merrily feed on their own 
 victuals. When the feast is ended, the wardens 
 yield in their accounts to the parishioners, and 
 
46 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 such money as exceedelh the disbursement is 
 laid up to defray any extraordinary charges 
 arising in the parish." 
 
 The Puritans had a great antipathy to the 
 feasts and ceremonies of the church, and Whit- 
 sun-Ales were strongly condemned by not a few 
 of their writers and preachers. Many good and 
 leading men recognised in the feasts a power for 
 good that merited a warm support. Pierce, 
 Bishop of Bath and Wells, in a letter to 
 Archbishop Laud, shewed : ''By the benevolence 
 of the people at their pastimes, many poor 
 parishes have cast their bells and beautified their 
 churches, and raised stock for the poor." He 
 adverts to lawful sports and pastimes being 
 practiced in the churchyard after prayers in the 
 afternoon of Sunday. The church-ales were 
 very popular in the north of England, and 
 according to Hutchinson's '' History of North- 
 umberland " it was the practice to hold them in 
 tents and booths erected in the churchyards. 
 Here great feasts were displayed, and vast 
 abundance of meat and drink." Various enter- 
 tainments for the enjoyment of the people were 
 provided, including interludes, '' being," it is 
 stated '* a species of theatrical performance, 
 consisting of a rehearsal of some of the passages 
 
CHURCH-ALES. 47 
 
 in Holy Scripture personated by actors." Thorn- 
 ton, the historian of Nottinghamshire, says that a 
 shepherd kept ale to sell in Thorpe church. He 
 was the last of the inhabitants of the place, which 
 had been depopulated by enclosure. 
 
 In 1 65 1 the Puritans got from Judge 
 Richardson an order to stop church-ales in 
 Somerset. The circumstance was brought under 
 the notice of the King, and he directed the 
 order of the Judge to be annulled. Seventy-two 
 of the most learned and orthodox clergymen of 
 the county certified that on these days (which 
 generally fell on a Sunday) the service of God 
 was more solemnly performed, and the services 
 better attended, than on other days." 
 
 Many entries bearing on church-ales appear 
 in old accounts of churchwardens, and it may 
 not be without interest to reproduce a few 
 examples. In the year 1526 we find that the 
 amount realised by a church-ale is set down at 
 £^ 15s., being equal to about £100 at the 
 present value. The accounts of St. Mary's 
 Church, Reading, state : — 
 
 1557. Item payed to Morrys Dauncers and the Mynstrells 
 mete and drink at Whytsontide \\]s. \\\\d. 
 
 The book of St. Laurence, Reading, also 
 
48 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 contains payments relating to Whitsun-Ales, and 
 amongst others the following : — 
 
 1504. Item, Payed for bred and ale spent to one of the 
 
 church at Whitsontyd ijs. 
 
 Itenci for wyne at same tyme xiiijd. 
 
 At a vestry meeting held at Brentford in 
 1 62 1, several articles were agreed upon with 
 regard to the parish stock by the churchwardens. 
 According to Brand's Popular Antiquities/' the 
 preamble stated that the inhabitants had for 
 many years been accustomed to have meetings at 
 Whitsuntide, in their church-house and other 
 places, there in friendly manner to eat and drink 
 together and liberally spend their monies, to the 
 end neighbourly society might be maintained, 
 and also a common stock raised for the repairs 
 of the church, maintaining orphans, placing poor 
 children in service, and defraying other charges. 
 In 1624 the gains of the Whitsun-Ales are put 
 down as follows : — 
 
 Imprimis, cleared by the pigeon-holes 19 o 
 
 by hocking 7 3 7 
 
 „ „ by riffeling 2 o o 
 
 „ ,, by victualling 802 
 
 ;£'22 2 9 
 
 Pigeon-holes was a gaine similar to our modern 
 bagatelle. A writer on Whitsuntide customs 
 
CHURCH-ALES. 49 
 
 describes " hocking as stopping the way with 
 ropes, and pulling up the passengers for a dona- 
 tion. It was a very popular sport at Whitsuntide, 
 but appears to have been last practised about 
 1640. The game is very ancient, being 
 mentioned by Herodotus. Its introduction into 
 this country could not have been later than the 
 eleventh century, when it is supposed to have 
 been instituted to commemorate the emancipation 
 of England from Danish tyranny by the death of 
 Hardicanute, which occured about Pentecost." 
 
 Church-Ales were held in different parts of 
 Derbyshire, say Cox and Hope in their ^' Chroni- 
 cles of All Saints', Derby," to help to obtain 
 money for building "the beautiful tower, a tower 
 described by Hutton, the historian, as the pride 
 of the place." The entries in the church-books 
 relating to three of the parishes are as follow : — 
 
 The A ell of Chaddesdyn, 
 Made by Thos. parker, thos. Hornby, whose sm mounted to 
 xxv//. v\]s. vj^. thereof spendeth there i necessary expences 
 xxxiiijy, xd. 
 
 The entry relating to Brailsford reads thus : — 
 
 The Aell at Brayllsford. 
 Made by Edmund Torner, Ric-plesley, whoos sm mownteth 
 to vj//. \us. m]d. The sm spended there xiiij^. yd. 
 
 And the third entry is : — 
 
 " The Aell made at VVorsworth. 
 Made by X for Thakkar, Wyllm Seybrug. whoos sm 
 mowntith— Spended of this same sm for necessarys 
 xxviij^. \}d. 
 
 G 
 
50 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Rudder's *' History of Gloucestershire " was 
 published in 1779, and it states that ''a custom 
 existed at Wickham for the lord of the manor to 
 give a certain quantity of malt to brew ale to be 
 given away at Whitsuntide, and a certain quantity 
 of flour to make cakes. Every one w^ho kept a 
 cow sent curd ; others plums, sugar, and flour. 
 A contribution of sixpence from each person was 
 levied for furnishing an entertainment, to which 
 every poor person of the parish who came w^as 
 presented with a quart of ale, a cake, and a piece 
 of cheese, and a cheesecake." 
 
 We gather from Miss Baker's Glossary of 
 Northamptonshire Words" (pub. 1854), that 
 Whitsun or Church-Ales were celebrated at 
 Kingsutton early in the present century, in a 
 barn specially fitted up for the occasion. It is 
 stated that The lord, as the principal, carried a 
 mace made of silk, finely plaited with ribbons, 
 and filled with spices and perfumes for such of 
 the company to smell as desired it. Six morris- 
 dancers were amongst the performers." The 
 same authority states that a Church-Ale was 
 held at Greatworth^ in 1785, and that the unruly 
 were punished by Deing obliged to ride a 
 wooden-horse, and if still more riotous, were put 
 in the stocks, which was termed being my lord's 
 organist. 
 
RUSH-BEARING. 
 
 pN Lakeland, and one or two other 
 ) parts of the country, lingers the 
 ) ancient custom of rush-bearing. 
 J It is one of those usages which 
 ij come down to us from antiquity, 
 
 and link the present, with its matter of fact 
 ways, to an older England, with its merry 
 sports and pastimes. In tracing the origin of 
 this custom we must go far back in our history, 
 to the ruder days of our fore-elders. At a time 
 long before rooms were paved or laid with 
 wood, and before carpets came into use, floors 
 were strewn with rushes. A few sweet herbs 
 were generally blended with the rushes to give 
 a pleasant odour. 
 
 Our first Norman king recognised the 
 importance of providing rushes for his palace. 
 He granted land at Aylesbury on the following 
 conditions, which are fully set forth in Blount's 
 Tenures of Land " : — Finding straw for the 
 
52 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 bed of our lord the king, and to straw his 
 chamber, and by paying three eels to our lord the 
 king when he should come to Aylesbury in 
 winter. And also finding for the king, when 
 he should come to Aylesbury in summer, straw 
 for his bed, and moreover grass or rushes to 
 strew his chamber, and also paying two green 
 geese ; and these services aforesaid he was to 
 perform thrice a year, if the king should happen 
 to come three times to Aylesbury, and not 
 oftener." 
 
 King John, in 1207, slept at the house of 
 Robert de Leveland, at Westminster ; and the 
 Barons of the Exchequer were directed to pay 
 for the straw bought on account of the visit of 
 the King. A charge was made in the house- 
 hold roll of Edward II. for John de Carleford 
 making a journey from York to Newcastle, for 
 a supply of rushes for strewing the king's 
 chamber. It is recorded that straw and rushes 
 would be permitted to remain on the floors 
 until they became rotten and offensive. The 
 refined feelings of Thomas a Beckett prompted 
 him to keep his house in a clean and tasteful 
 state. Every day in the winter he had his 
 dining-room strewn with clean straw, and in 
 summer with fresh gathered rushes. One 
 
RUSH-BEARING. 53 
 
 authority suggests that he did this to enable 
 those knights who came to dine with him, and 
 could not be seated on benches, to sit on the 
 floor without soiling their fine dresses. 
 
 Rushes were used as a token of respect. In 
 The Taming of the Shrew, Grumio asks, Is the 
 supper ready, the house trimmed, rushes 
 strewed, cobwebs swept?" After the coron- 
 ation of Henry {Henry IV., Act V., Scene 5), 
 when the procession is returning, the grooms 
 cry : 
 
 More rushes, more rushes. 
 In other plays of Shakespeare are allusions to 
 rushes. Several of the older poets and drama- 
 tists also refer to the subject. William Browne, 
 in his Britannia's Pastorals ' in a description 
 of a wedding, thus writes : 
 
 Full many maids, clad in their best array. 
 In honour of the bride, come with their flaskets 
 Fill'd full with flowers : others in wicker baskets 
 Bring forth the marish rushes, to o'erspread 
 The ground whereon to church the lovers tread. 
 
 In the old play of the Two Noble Kinsmen, 
 
 the gaoler's daughter is represented carrying 
 
 ^^strewings" for the two prisoners' chambers. 
 
 In The Valentinian, by Beaumont and Fletcher, 
 
 occur the two lines which follow : — 
 
 Where is the stranger ? Rushes, ladies, rushes, 
 Rushes as green as summer for this stranger. 
 
54 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The wits of the Elizabethan age had an old 
 saying, to the effect that many strewed green 
 rushes for a stranger who would not give one to 
 a friend. It was deemed an act of politeness to 
 cover the floor with fresh rushes for a guest, 
 and if this were not done the host was said not 
 to care a rush for him. It is from this practice 
 that we derive the common expression of not 
 caring a rush or straw for anyone. Strewing 
 rushes on the floor prevailed in the palaces of 
 Queen Elizabeth, and to a much later period 
 amongst the middle classes. To this day the 
 old usage is maintained at the Hull Trinity 
 House. This link with the past has greatly 
 interested several of our American friends 
 whom we have conducted over the ancient 
 building. Will Carleton, of Brooklyn, the 
 author of Farm Ballads," and the Rev. Dr. 
 Robert Collyer, ^^the poet preacher" of New 
 York, were delighted with the old custom. 
 
 We have many notes from old parish 
 accounts, journals, and books respecting strew- 
 ing churches with rushes. A work issued in 
 1587, entitled ''The Herbell to the Bible," 
 refers to the ''sedge and rushes, the whiche 
 manie in the countrie doe use in summer-time 
 to strew their parlors or churches, as well for 
 coolness as for pleasant smell." 
 
RUSH-BEARING. 55 
 
 In the olden times the parishioners carried 
 to the church, usually at the Feast of Dedica- 
 tion, rushes to cover the floor, and it was from 
 this practice arose the popular merry-making of 
 rush-bearing. The old church-wardens' accounts 
 contain numerous items bearing on this subject ; 
 perhaps it will not be without interest to re- 
 produce a few examples. The books of St. 
 Mary-at-Hill, London, contain the following 
 entries. : — 
 
 1493. — For 3 burdens of rushes for new pews 3d. 
 
 1504. — Paid for 2 berdens ryssbes for the strewyng the 
 
 newe pewes 3d. 
 
 In the accounts of the parish of St. 
 Margaret's, Westminster is an item : — 
 1544. — Paid for rushes against the Dedication Day... is. 5d. 
 
 Charges were made at Kirkham, Lancashire, 
 as follow : — 
 
 1604. — Rushes to strew the church cost this year ... 9s. 6d. 
 163 1.— Paid for carrying the rushes out of the 
 
 church in the sickness time 5s. od. 
 
 The old parish accounts at Castleton, Derby- 
 shire, include an item as under : — 
 
 1749. — Pd. at rush cart for ale is. 8d. 
 
 Down to the year 1820 the floor of Castleton 
 Church was unpaved, and it was covered with 
 rushes. 
 
56 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 It is Stated in a Lincolnshire history, 
 published in 1834, that on the morning- of St. 
 Bartholomew's Day a company of village 
 maidens, dressed in their holiday attire, used to 
 march in procession to the small chapel of 
 Donington, and cover the floor with rushes ; 
 they next proceeded to a piece of land known as 
 the Play Garths," where they were met by the 
 inhabitants, and the remainder of the day was 
 spent in rustic games. 
 
 We get a good idea of a rush-bearing in the 
 olden days from a manuscript account quoted by 
 Dr. Whittaker, the historian, whose works 
 attracted so much favourable attention during 
 the first quarter of the present century. The 
 notes relate to Wharton, by Morecambe Bay, 
 Lancashire, and appear to have been written 
 about the close of the eighteenth century. 
 
 The vain custom of dancing, excessive 
 drinking, &c.," states Lucas, the writer, 
 
 having been for many years laid aside, the 
 inhabitants and strangers spend the Sunday 
 nearest St. Oswald's in duly attending the service 
 of the church, and making good cheer, within 
 the rules of sobriety, in private houses ; and 
 the next in several kinds of diversions, the 
 chiefest of which is usually a rush-bearing, 
 
RUSH-BEARING. 57 
 
 which is on this manner. They cut hard rushes 
 from the marsh, which they make up into long 
 bundles, and then dress them in fine linen, 
 silk ribands, flowers, &c. ; afterwards the 
 young women of the village who perform the 
 ceremony that year take up the burdens erect, 
 and begin the procession (precedence being 
 always given to the churchwarden's burden), 
 which is attended not only with multitudes of 
 people, but with music, drums, ringing of bells, 
 and all other demonstrations of joy they are 
 able to express. When they arrive at the church 
 they go in at the west end (the only public use 
 that I ever saw that door put to), and setting 
 down their burdens in the church, strip them of 
 their ornaments, leaving the heads or crowns of 
 them decked with flowers, cut papers, &c., in 
 some part of the church, generally over the 
 cancelli. Then the company return to the town, 
 cheerfully partake of plentiful collation provided 
 for that purpose, and spend the remaining part of 
 the day, and frequently a great part of the night 
 also, in dancing, if the weather permits, about 
 the may-pole adorned with greens and flowers, 
 or else some other convenient place." It will be 
 observed that in the foregoing sketch the rush- 
 cart is not named ; in many places it formed the 
 
 H 
 
58 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 chief attraction of the rural rejoicings. Elijah 
 Ridings, a Lancashire bard, in his best poem, 
 *^The Village Festival," pays particular 
 •attention to it. He writes : — 
 
 Behold the rush-cart and the throng 
 
 Of lads and lasses pass along ! 
 
 Now watch the nimble morris-dancers, 
 
 Those bhthe, fantastic, antic prancers, 
 
 Bedecked with gaudiest profusion 
 
 Of ribbons in a gay confusion 
 
 Of brilliant colours, richest dies, 
 
 Like wings of moths and butterflies ; 
 
 Waving white kerchiefs here and ther'e, 
 
 And up and down and everywhere. 
 
 Springing, bounding, gaily skipijing. 
 
 Deftly, briskly, no one tripping, 
 
 All young fellows blithe and hearty, 
 
 Thirty couples in the party ; 
 
 And on the footpaths may be seen 
 
 Their sweethearts from each lane and green 
 
 And cottage home ; all fain to cee 
 
 This festival of rural glee ; 
 
 The love betrothed, the fond heart plighted, 
 
 And with the witching scene delighted ; 
 
 In modest guise and simple graces. 
 
 With roses blushing on their faces. 
 
 Behold the strong-limbed horses stand, 
 
 The pride and boast of English land. 
 
 Fitted to move in shafts or chains. 
 
 With plaited, glossy tails and manes ; 
 
 Their proud heads each a garland wears 
 
 Of quaint devices— suns and stars. 
 
 And roses, ribbon-wrought, abound ; 
 
 The silver plate, one hundred pounds, 
 
 With green oak boughs the cart is crowned, 
 
 The strong, gaunt horses shake the ground. 
 
RUSH-BEARING IN LANCASHIRE. 
 
60 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The rushes were neatly tied in bundles, and 
 piled up into a pyramid, decorated with ribbons, 
 &c. In front of the load a sheet was suspended 
 on which were fastened the valuable articles 
 lent. Arranging this sheet," says Bamford, 
 the Lancashire poet, was exclusively the work 
 of girls and women ; and in proportion as it 
 was happily designed and fitly put together or 
 otherwise was the praise or disparagement 
 meted out by the public ; a point on which 
 they would not be a little sensitive. The sheet 
 was a piece of white linen, generally a good bed 
 sheet ; and on it were pretty rosettes, and quaint 
 compartments and borderings of all colours and 
 hues which either paper, tinsel, ribbons, or 
 natural flowers could supply. In these com- 
 partments were arranged silver watches, trays, 
 spoons, sugar tongs, tea-pots, quart tankards, 
 drinking cups, or other fittingarticlesof ornament 
 and value, and the more numerous and precious 
 the articles were, the greater was the deference 
 that party which displayed them expected from 
 the wondering crowd." On the Sunday follow- 
 ing the rush-bearing the banners and garlands 
 were hung up in the church. Music and morris 
 dancers formed an attractive feature in the 
 festival. We give an illustration of a Lan- 
 
RUSH-BEARING. 
 
 6l 
 
 cashire rush-bearing from sketches supplied by 
 a Rochdale correspondent in May, 1825, to 
 Mr. William Hone for his Year Book." 
 
 The rush-bearing at Grasmere is conducted 
 much on the same lines as the one formerly 
 celebrated at Warton, already described. The 
 children are supplied with wooden standards, 
 which they dress with rushes, mosses, flowers, 
 and ribbons, forming crosses, shields, wreaths, 
 triangles, crowns, &c. 
 
 The juveniles assemble on the Saturday 
 
 evening in the village with their decorated 
 
 standards, and headed by a brass band, march 
 
 to the village church. Mr. Will Carleton 
 
 witnessed the pleasing custom in 1884, and 
 
 wrote an account of it. The bouquets," he 
 
 says, were so large and the children so small, 
 
 that the procession looked like a little garden of 
 
 flowers creeping away upon their stems ; or as 
 
 says the poet — 
 
 " Like a string of rainbows 
 Appears that cortege bright 
 Winding among the crooked lanes 
 In the golden evening light. 
 
 The mountains, listening around, took up 
 
 the musicians' instrumental song, and echo after 
 
 echo went flying over the little fair heads as 
 
 they moved slowly toward the church. The 
 
62 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 murmuring river welcomed them as their feet 
 pattered on aged doorstone, and those old 
 walls smiled to see the children come with their 
 flowers once more. After the bouquets had been 
 tastefully bestowed until the venerable sanctuary 
 looked as if it were adorned for a wedding, 
 there were some appropriate religious cere- 
 monies, and an old hymn was sung." A copy 
 of the rush-bearers' hymn is as follows : — 
 
 Our fathers to the house of God, 
 
 As yet a building rude, 
 Bore offerings from the flowery sod, 
 
 And fragrant rushes strew'd. 
 
 May we, their children, ne'er forget 
 
 The pious lesson given. 
 But honour still, together met, 
 
 The Lord of Earth and Heaven. 
 
 Sing we the good Creator's praise. 
 Who sends the sun and showers, 
 
 To cheer our hearts with fruitful days 
 And deck our world with flowers. 
 
 There, of the great Redeemer's grace. 
 
 Bright emblems here are seen ! 
 He makes to smile the desert place. 
 
 With flowers and rushes green. 
 
 After the service the children are treated to 
 refreshments, and afterwards enjoy sports on 
 the village green. 
 
 A similar custom is still kept up at 
 Ambleside, and in a few old Lancashire towns 
 and villages the rush-cart may even yet be seen. 
 
FISH IN LENT. 
 
 UMPTUARY laws formed a 
 curious feature in the every-day 
 life of the olden time, and amongst 
 the more important were those 
 regulating the Lenten fare of the 
 people. Our forefathers were not permitted to 
 partake of flesh meat in Lent unless in delicate 
 health, and then the privilege was granted by 
 license ; but a like privilege could be secured 
 by payment varying according to the rank of 
 the petitioner. Some people broke the laws, 
 and had to suffer severely for their offences. 
 We may give as an instance the landlady of the 
 Rose Tavern," St. Catherine's Tower, London, 
 in whose house during the Lent of 1563 was 
 found a quantity of raw and cooked meat. She^ 
 on this account, was put into the pillory, and 
 four women who had partaken of the forbidden 
 meat were put in the stocks all night. A few 
 years prior to the foregoing case strenuous 
 
64 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 measures were adopted to enforce fasting at 
 this season of the year. In 1548 was passed an 
 Act of Parliament imposing a penalty of ten 
 shillings, and ten days' imprisonment, for the 
 first offence ; and twenty shillings and twenty 
 days' for its repetition." The informer received 
 one half of the fine. In the reign of Elizabeth 
 the penalties were increased to sixty shillings, 
 and three months' close imprisonment. The 
 Crown, the informer, and the poor of the parish 
 where the cases occurred, each received one- 
 third of the fines. The Queen's subjects were 
 very unwilling to comply with her sumptuary 
 regulations. Church books and municipal 
 records contain many references to this matter. 
 We learn from the archives of Weymouth that 
 the local authorities of the town in 
 
 1568-9— Paid horse-hire to go to Dorchester to sett 
 
 the proclamation for eating flesh \\d. 
 
 Not a few attempts were made in the Eliza- 
 bethan era to check fine dressing as well as 
 Lenten feasting. The Queen's attire was 
 fantastic and full of variety, but her humble 
 subjects were not permitted to make much 
 display. The use of hats for example was a 
 luxury reserved for the rich. If a man occupy- 
 ing a humble position presumed to put on a hat 
 
FISH IN LENT. 65 
 
 he was subjected to a fine. By an Act passed 
 in the thirteenth year of the reign of EHzabeth, 
 every person under a certain degree was 
 obliged on Sundays and holidays to wear a 
 woollen cap manufactured in England, under a 
 penalty of 3s. 4d. for every-day he broke the 
 law. This statute was repealed in the thirty- 
 ninth year of her reign. In the churchwardens' 
 accounts of Fulham is an item : — 
 
 1758 — Paid for discharge of the parish of Ful- 
 ham for wearing liats contrary to 
 statute 5s. 2d. 
 
 It is believed that this amount refers to hats 
 imported from Germany. An attempt was made 
 in this reign to prevent women having their 
 gowns, kirtles, and waistcoats mingled with silk. 
 The regulations in respect to the clothing of 
 apprentices were very strict. They were 
 obliged to wear caps, and their doublets were 
 made of leather, wool, or fustian. They were 
 not allowed to put on ruffles, cuffs, or loose 
 collars. In 1579, two members of the Iron- 
 mongers' Company, and the Grocers' Company, 
 were stationed in the busy thoroughfare of 
 Bishopsgate, London, from seven a.m. to six 
 p.m., to examine the dresses of the people to 
 see that these sumptuary laws were not broken. 
 
66 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The chief Lenten food in the olden time was 
 fish, and large quantities of it were consumed. 
 In the 31st year of the reign of Edward III. the 
 following sums were paid from the Exchequer 
 for fish supplied to the royal household : Fifty 
 marks for five lasts (9,000) red herrings, twelve 
 pounds for two lasts of white herrings, six 
 pounds for two barrels of sturgeon, twenty-one 
 pounds five shillings for 1,300 stock-fish, thirteen 
 shillings and ninepence for eighty-nine congers, 
 and twenty marks for three hundred and twenty 
 mulwells." Herring pies were an appreciated 
 dish in bygone days. Formerly an annual 
 customary duty or service which the city of 
 Norwich rendered to the reigning monarch 
 consisted of delivering at Court, twenty-four 
 herring pies. Mr. John Glyde, who has brought 
 together much curious old world lore in his 
 Norfolk Garland," refers the origin of this 
 remarkable feudal tenure to the times before the 
 foundation of Yarmouth, when the valley of the 
 Yare was still an estuary. At that period 
 Norwich was an important fishing station. The 
 sea is now some eighteen miles away. The 
 course of procedure," says Mr. Glyde, was this : 
 Out of their official allowance, the sheriffs of 
 the city for the time being, annually made 
 
FISH IN LENT. 67 
 
 provision, according to a prescribed formula, for 
 the manufacture of these pies, which were forth- 
 with transmitted to the lord of the manor of 
 Carleton, to be by him or his tenant carried to 
 the royal palace and placed on the sovereign's 
 table." Blomefield, the local historian, furnishes 
 some curious notes on this subject. He 
 reproduces a letter dated, Hampton Court, 
 iiij Oct., 1629," from the officers of the royal 
 household, addressed to the mayor and sheriffs 
 of Norwich, in which it was asserted that the 
 pies were not well baked in good and strong 
 pastye as they ought to have been." Divers 
 of them," it is further stated, also, were found 
 to contain no more than four herrings, whereas 
 the tenure required five to be put in every pye 
 at least." It was also said that they were not 
 made from the first new herrings which had 
 reached the city. Other exceptions were taken 
 to their goodness, and his Majesty demanded 
 better satisfaction. In 1754 the cost of the pies, 
 independent of carriage, is put down at two 
 pounds. 
 
 The household books of Leconfield Castle, 
 Holderness, Yorkshire, give a good example of 
 the fish consumed daily in a nobleman's mansion 
 during Lent in the olden time. Here is a bill of 
 
68 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 fare for about the year 1430, for food to be 
 placed before the Earl and Countess Percy : — 
 First, for my Lord and Lady, a loaf of bread 
 in trenchers ; two manchets of finest meal, 
 weighing six ounces ; a quart of beer ; a quart of 
 wine ; two pieces of salt fish ; six baconed 
 (smoked) herrings ; four white herrings, or a 
 dish of sproits (sprats). On flesh days the bread 
 as before ; a quart of wine ; half a chine of 
 mutton, or a piece of boiled beef." 
 
 The times fixed for meals appear to us as 
 strange as the food provided. Seven was the 
 hour for breakfast, ten the hour for dinner, four 
 for supper, and between eight and nine o'clock 
 in the evening a meal known as liveries" was 
 served in the bed-chambers. My Lord and 
 Lady Percy had bread as at breakfast, a gallon 
 of beer, and a quart of wine. The w^ine was 
 mixed with spices and brought to the table hot. 
 They then retired to rest. 
 
 It may not be out of place to here mention a 
 curious Lenten custom. Amongst the ancient 
 officers of the Royal Household, that of the 
 King's Cock-Crower was perhaps the most 
 singular. It was his duty to crow instead of cry 
 the hours of the night, as was the usual practice 
 of the watchman at other seasons of the year. 
 
FISH IN LENT. 69 
 
 This strange service was discontinued by the 
 earliest of the Hanoverian monarchs. It is re- 
 corded by several v^riters that on the first Ash 
 Wednesday after their accession to the throne, 
 the Prince of Wales, subsequently George II., 
 v^as seated at the supper table, and before the 
 chaplain had said grace, the cock-crower suddenly 
 entered the room and crowed half-past ten o'clock. 
 The Prince was greatly surprised at the perform- 
 ance. Presuming the tremulation of the crow 
 was for mockery, he concluded that it was 
 intended as an insult, and promptly prepared to 
 resent it. He had an imperfect knowledge of 
 the English language, and it was with much diffi- 
 culty that he was made to understand that a com- 
 pliment and not an insult was intended, and that 
 the usage was in strict accordance with court 
 etiquette. After this time the custom was dis- 
 continued. The intention," says a writer in the 
 Gentleman's Magazine in 1785, ''of crowing the 
 hour of the night was undoubtedly to remind 
 waking sinners of the august effect the third 
 crowing of the cock had on the guilty apostle St. 
 Peter ; and the limitation of the custom to the 
 season of Lent was judiciously adopted ; as, had 
 the practice continued throughout the year, the 
 impenitent would become as habituated and as 
 
70 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 indifferent to the crow of the mimic cock, as 
 they are to that of the real one, or to the cry of 
 the watchman." 
 
 As we have previously stated, the clergy 
 granted licenses to infirm folks who required 
 meat during the time of Lent. Our old church 
 books contain many details bearing on this 
 matter. Payments were sometimes made for 
 permission to eat meat in Lent. In the 
 church books of St. Martin Outwich, London, it 
 is stated under the year 1525, Received of the 
 Lady Atham for the use of the poore, for license 
 to eat flesh, £0 13s. By the way, at this 
 
 church was buried Mrs. Abigail Vaughan, who 
 left a legacy of four shillings per annum to 
 purchase faggots for burning heretics. In the 
 parish books of St Mary's, Leicester, is a record 
 of a license to Lady Barbara Hastings to eat 
 flesh in Lent on account of her great age. The 
 following is extracted from the parish register of 
 Wakefield :— 
 
 To all people to whom these presents shall come, James 
 Lister, Vicar of Wakefeld, and preacher of God's Word, sendeth 
 greeting ; whereas Alice Lister, wife of Richard Lister, Gierke, 
 who now sojourneth with her sonne William Faulden, of Wake- 
 feld, by reason of her olde age and many yeares, and stubborne 
 and long continued sicknesse, is become so weake and her 
 stomache so colde, not able to digeste colde meates and fish, 
 who by counsel of physicians is advised to abstaine from and 
 
FISH IN LENT. 
 
 71 
 
 to forbeare the eating of all manner of fruites, fish, and milk 
 meates, know ye therefore, for the causes aforesaide and for 
 the better strengthening and recovering of her health, I, the 
 saide James Lister, do herebye give and grante libertie and 
 license to her, the said Alice Lister, att her will and pleasure 
 att all tymes, as well as during the time of Lent, and all other 
 fasting dales and fish daies exhibiting by the lawes, to eate 
 flesh and to dress and eate such kind of flesh as shall be best 
 agreeing to her stomache and vveake appetite. In witness 
 hereof, I, the said James Lister, have hereunto sett my hand 
 the eight dale of Februarie, in ye sixt yeare of the reigne of 
 oure Sovereigne Lord Charles, by the Grace of God, King of 
 England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the 
 Faithe, etc., and in the year of our Lord God 1630. James 
 Lister, Vicar. 
 
 The plague raged in HtiU in the year 1636, 
 and the town was not plentifully supplied with 
 fish. The Mayor and Aldermen petitioned the 
 Archbishop of York, for a general dispensation 
 to enable the inhabitants to eat meat in Lent, as 
 it was believed that fish diet increased the 
 sickness. The Archbishop, in reply, stated that 
 the law did not enable him to grant general 
 dispensation, but that, in cases of sickness, all 
 persons must obtain from their ministers licenses 
 to eat flesh under certificate from their 
 physicians. 
 
 Before the days of Queen Elizabeth, accord- 
 ing to R. E. Chester Waters, in his volume on 
 Parish Registers," the Sovereigns, as heads of 
 the church, granted dispensations to eat meat in 
 
72 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Lent. He says that, in the 5 Edward VI., Sir 
 Philip Hoby obtained a license under the Privy 
 Seal for himself and all who dined with him at 
 his table during his natural life, ' to eat meat and 
 dishes made of milk either in Lent or on any 
 other fast days, freely and without punishment.' " 
 For money payments, licenses might be obtained 
 from the Crown for certain kinds of flesh, except- 
 ing beef, at all times of the year, and veal from 
 Michaelmas till May, The cost of the dispensa- 
 tion for a Lord of Parliament or his wife was 
 26s. 8d., and the money was placed in the poor 
 men's box of the parish, where those obtaining 
 the license were located. A knight or his wife 
 paid 13s. 4d., and for persons of inferior degree 
 the charge was 6s. 8d. each. A process costing 
 4d., might be obtained for six persons for eight 
 days. We make this statement on the authority 
 of John Timbs, F.S.A., drawing our information 
 from a Garland of the Year." 
 
 During Lent the butcher's business was 
 suspended, and in the works of Taylor, " The 
 Water Poet," we read : — 
 
 The cut-throat butchers, wanting throats to cut, 
 At Lent's approach their bloody shambles shut, 
 For forty days their tyranny doth cease ; 
 And men and beasts take truce and live in peace. 
 
 When the Puritans were in power they set at 
 
FISH IN LENT. 73 
 
 defiance law and custom in respect to Lenten 
 
 fare. I have often noted," writes Taylor, in 
 
 his " Jack a Lent," that if any superfluous 
 
 feasting or gormandizing, paunch-cramming 
 
 assembly do meet, it is so ordered that it must 
 
 be either in Lent, upon a Friday, or a fasting : 
 
 for the meat doth not relish well, except it be 
 
 sauced with disobedience and contempt of 
 
 authority. And though they eat sprats on a 
 
 Sunday, they care not, so that they may be full 
 
 gorged with flesh on the Friday night. 
 
 Then all the zealous Puritans will feast, 
 In detestation of the Romish beast." 
 
 James IL caused to be inserted in the London 
 Gazette^ in the year 1687, a proclamation enjoin- 
 ing abstinence from meat during Lent, but 
 saying that on certain conditions for giving alms 
 to the poor, licenses to eat meat in any part of 
 England might be obtained from an office in St. 
 Paul's Churchyard. A year later the Revolution 
 occurred, and the reign of James IL ended, and 
 with it closed all attempts to enforce statutes 
 respecting Lenten fare. The laws remained a 
 dead letter until 1863, when with other obsolete 
 laws they were repealed by the Statute Law 
 Revision Act. 
 
 J 
 
CONCERNING DOLES. 
 
 I EASTING at funerals may be 
 I traced back to remote times in 
 " the history of various nations. 
 ! Amongst the Jews at an early 
 si period we find a commendable 
 custom prevailing. It was the practice when 
 one of their race died for the friends and neigh- 
 bours to prepare the feast for the burial, so that 
 those in the house of mourning might be spared 
 additional trouble in their days of sorrow. 
 Under the Greeks and Romans, the feasting in 
 course of time took the form of sumptuous 
 banquets. A redeeming feature of the usage 
 was the practice of giving a portion of the 
 provisions to the poor — a charitable custom, 
 which induced the early fathers of the Church 
 to continue funeral feasts. Doles were used 
 at funerals," we gather from St. Chrysostom, 
 to procure the rest of the soul of the deceased, 
 that he might find his judge propitious." The 
 
CONCERNING DOLES. 75 
 
 Christians were not content merely to give food ; 
 other alms were also distributed. St. Chry- 
 sostom observes in one of his homilies : Would 
 you honour the dead? Give alms." Under 
 the early Christians " this festival," according 
 to Mrs. Stone, in God's Acre,'' was of quite a 
 religious character, generally at the tomb of 
 the deceased. There was divine service ; the 
 holy sacrament was administered, and a collec- 
 tion of alms made for the poor. There was a 
 feast, shared both by the clergy and people, but 
 more especially bestowed on the widow and 
 orphan. The softening influence of grief was 
 ever directed by the Church into heart-opening 
 channels of charity and good-will. In time the 
 amount and quantity of such doles came to be 
 specially described and appointed in the will of 
 the dying person." In England, the distribution 
 of doles at funerals has come down to com- 
 paratively recent times. Even to the present 
 day, in not a few instances bread is given at the 
 graves of the persons who bequeathed it, and in 
 this manner a custom is maintained which was 
 instituted before the Christian era. 
 
 Torchbearers usually attended funerals in 
 the days of old ; they were poor men and 
 women, who carried lights before the dead, 
 
76 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 emblematic of the glorified existence the departed 
 were to enjoy beyond the grave. These people 
 often received articles of dress in addition to 
 food and money. Some interesting details 
 have been recorded in which torchbearers played 
 an important part. We find it stated that 
 Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, in 1399 
 appointed that fifteen poor men should bear 
 torches at her funeral, each having a gown and 
 hood lined with white, breeches of blue cloth, 
 shoes, and a shirt, and twenty pounds amongst 
 them." In 141 1 we learn that ^^Joan, Lady 
 Hungerford, appointed poor women to bear 
 torches, and each to be clad in russet with 
 linen hoods, stockings and shoes." Twelve 
 was the number of people in 1428 to bear 
 torches at the funeral of Thomas, Lord Poyning, 
 and each was to receive a gown of black cloth 
 and twelvepence in money. Coming down to 
 1543, we find at the funeral of Andrew, Lord 
 Windsor, twenty-eight poor men attended, and 
 were rewarded with a frieze gown and sixpence. 
 
 At some places, doles were sent to the homes 
 of the inhabitants ; and bearing on this subject 
 there is an important note in the History of 
 Leicestershire" by Nichols. In the account of 
 Strathern, in Framland Hundred, it is stated : 
 
CONCERNING DOLES. 77 
 
 In 1790 there were four hundred and thirty- 
 two inhabitants, the number taken by the last 
 person who carried about bread, which was 
 given for dole at a funeral ; a custom formerly 
 common throughout this part of England, 
 though now fallen much into disuse. The 
 practice was sometimes to bequeath it by will ; 
 but, whether so specified or not, the ceremony 
 was seldom omitted. On such occasions, a 
 small loaf was sent to every person without any 
 distinction of age or circumstances, and not to 
 receive it was a mark of particular disrespect." 
 
 Of the many dolesnowdistributed atthetombs 
 of the donors, a few may be named. On the 8th 
 of October, 1708, there died at Hull, William 
 Robinson — a gentleman who had formerly filled 
 the office of sheriff of that town — who left suffi- 
 cient 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. 
 Money was left at the commencement of the 
 seventeenth century by Leonard Dare for 
 purchasing bread for the poor of South Pool. 
 In his will, dated November 28th, 161 1, he 
 directed the churchwardens on Christmas Day, 
 Lady day, and Michaelmas day, ^^to buy, bring, 
 and lay on his tombstone threescore penny 
 
78 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 loaves of good wholesome bread," and to dis- 
 tribute the same to the poor of the parish. If 
 the instructions were not observed on the fore- 
 going days, the will provided that a pound a 
 year be paid to the mayor and burgesses of 
 Totness. John Smith, of Acklam, Yorkshire, 
 died in 1681, and left two pounds per annum to 
 the poor of the parish, to be paid on his tomb- 
 stone. Over the remains of another Yorkshire- 
 man, in the churchyard of Kildale, is a tomb 
 bearing an inscription as follows : Here lyeth 
 the body of Joseph Dunn, who dyed ye loth 
 day of March 17 16, aged 82 years. He left 
 to ye poor of Kildale, xxs. ; of Commondale, 
 xxs. ; of Danby, xxs. ; of Westerdale, xxs. ; to 
 be paid up on his gravestone by equal portions 
 on ye ist May and ye nth November for ever." 
 
 Two quaint customs are still enacted 
 annually in London on Good Friday. The 
 vicar of St. Bartholomew's the Great, Smithfield, 
 drops in a row twenty-one sixpences on a 
 certain lady's grave. The money is picked up 
 by the same number of widows kneeling, 
 having previously attended service at the church 
 where a sermon is preached. The details of 
 the other charity are singular. Peter Symonds, 
 a native of Winchester, who followed the trade 
 
CONCERNING DOLES. 79 
 
 of mercer in London, by his will, dated 1586, 
 left a sum of money for a sermon to be preached 
 in the parish church of All-Hallows, Lombard 
 Street, London ; and at the close of the service, 
 sixty scholars of Christ's Hospital are to be 
 presented with a bunch of raisins and a bright 
 penny. He further left property for purchasing- 
 sixty loaves of bread to be given on Whit- 
 sunday to poor persons on his grave in Liver- 
 pool Street. The railway now covers the site 
 of his tomb, and the bread is distributed in 
 front of the schoolroom in Bishopsgate church- 
 yard. Symonds did not forget the claims of his 
 native city, and left to its inhabitants several 
 charities, including the founding of an alms- 
 house for the perpetual maintenance of six poor 
 old unmarried men and four poor young children. 
 He also provided for keeping a poor scholar at 
 Oxford and one at Cambridge. Respecting 
 another of his bequests, some strange directions 
 were contained in his will, as follow : Leave 
 was to be obtained from the bishop or the dean 
 to place his picture in the body of the cathedral, 
 w^ith a small table before it, on which were to 
 be placed twelve penny loaves of good wheaten 
 bread, which immediately after the service were 
 to be given to twelve poor persons at the will of 
 
8o CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 the mayor ; except on one Sunday in each 
 quarter, when the bishop or dean was to 
 nominate the recipients." 
 
 At a little later period, another remarkable 
 bequest was made to the city of Winchester. 
 Richard Budd, a native, and a resident there, 
 left a sum of money to the dean and chapter on 
 condition that they should toll the great bell of 
 the cathedral, and have read certain prayers 
 prior to the execution of condemned prisoners 
 in the city. 
 
 Robert Dowe, on the 8th of May, 1705, 
 gave to the vicar and churchwardens of St. 
 Sepulchre's Church, London, fifty pounds on 
 the understanding that through all futurity they 
 should cause to be tolled the big bell the night 
 before the execution of the condemned criminals 
 in the prison of Newgate. After tolling the 
 bell, the sexton came at midnight, and after 
 ringing a hand-bell, repeated the following 
 lines : — 
 
 All you that in the condemned hold do lie, 
 Prepare you, for to-morrow you shall die : 
 Watch all and pray ; the hour is drawing near 
 That you before the Almighty must appear : 
 Examine well yourselves ; in time repent. 
 That you may not to eternal flames be sent : 
 And when St. Sepulchre's bell to-morrow tolls, 
 The Lord above have mercy on your souls ! 
 
CONCERNING DOLES. 
 
 8l 
 
 Next morning, when the sad procession 
 passed the church on its way to Tyburn, a brief 
 pause was made at the gate of St. Sepulchre's 
 Church, and the clergyman said prayers for the 
 unfortunate criminals, and at the same time the 
 passing-bell tolled its mournful notes. 
 
 Sir Roger de Tychborne was a valiant knight 
 who lived in the days of the second Henry, 
 and resided in his stately Hall in Hampshire. 
 His wife, Lady Mabella, was the means of the 
 celebrated Tichborne Dole " being instituted. 
 
 This dame," so runs the old legend, being 
 bedridden and extremely ill, petitioned her 
 husband for the means of establishing a dole of 
 br-ead, to be given to all poor persons who 
 might ask for it on every succeeding feast of 
 the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 
 He promised her as much ground as she could 
 walk round in the neighbourhood of the house 
 while a certain brand or billet was burning, 
 supposing that, from her long infirmity, she 
 would only be able to go round a small portion 
 of his property. The venerable dame, however, 
 ordered her attendants to convey her to the 
 corner of the park, where, being deposited on 
 the ground, she seemed to acquire a renovation 
 of strength, and to the surprise of her anxious 
 
 K 
 
82 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 and admiring lord, who began to wonder where 
 the pilgrimage might end, she crawled round 
 several rich and goodly acres. The field which 
 was the scene of her extraordinary feat retains 
 the name of the ' Crawls ' to this day. It is 
 situated at the entrance of the park, and con- 
 tains an area of twenty-three acres. Her task 
 been completed, she was reconveyed to her 
 chamber, when, summoning her family to her bed- 
 side, she predicted the prosperity of the family 
 while that annual dole existed ; and left her 
 malediction on any one of her descendants who 
 should be so mean or covetous as to discontinue 
 it, prophesying that when this happened, the 
 family would become extinct from failure of 
 heirs-male, and that this would be foretold by a 
 generation of seven sons being followed imme- 
 diately after by a generation of seven daughters 
 and no son." 
 
 In years gone by, about nineteen hundred 
 small loaves of bread were baked and given to 
 those who made application for them, and if any 
 persons remained unserved after the doles had 
 been distributed, they were presented with two- 
 pence each. Men and women came from all 
 parts of the country ; and even a week before 
 the doles were given away, a number of folks as- 
 
CONCERNING DOLES. 83 
 
 seinbled in the neighbourhood to await the event. 
 It gave rise to much rioting ; and about the com- 
 mencement of the present century, the doles were 
 discontinued, and in their place a sum of money 
 was given to the neighbouring poor. Supersti- 
 tious people used to preserve the bread as a cer- 
 tain remedy for several ailments, notably ague. 
 
 In Anthony TroUope's novel, Barchester 
 Towers," there is a graphic picture of the Hos- 
 pital of St. Cross, near Winchester. It is called 
 The Alms-house of Noble Poverty," and no 
 wayfarer has presented himself at the door of it 
 since the days of King Stephen to the present 
 hour who has not been entitled to receive a meal 
 of bread and beer. The stranger has only to 
 knock to receive a horn of ale and a dole of 
 bread, known as the wayfarers' dole." These 
 charities were once common in this country ; but 
 we believe the Hospital of St. Cross is the only 
 one which remains. In the days of yore, a 
 charity existed at Sprotborough, near Doncaster, 
 somewhat similar to that at Winchester. On a 
 cross bearing a brass plate were the following 
 lines : 
 
 Whoso is hungry, and Hsts well to eat, 
 
 Let him come to Sprotborough for his meat; 
 
 And for a night and for a day, 
 
 His horse shall have both corn and hay, 
 
 And none shall ask him when he goes away. 
 
84 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Doles of bread are given every Sunday in 
 the parish church of Hessle and in several other 
 churches in the neighbourhood of Hull. We 
 have observed the same custom in other parts of 
 the country. 
 
 Doles of fish are verv numerous, and with 
 particulars of a few examples we close our paper. 
 John Thake, in his will, drawn up in 1537, left 
 his house and land on condition that his heirs, 
 annually on Friday, in the first week in Lent, 
 gave to the poor of Clavering, in Essex, one 
 barrel of white herrings and a cade of red her- 
 rings. At Dronfield, Derbyshire, in 1577, 
 Richard Stevenson left half a hundred of herrings, 
 and as much bread as could be made from a 
 strike" of good wheat. The doles were to be 
 distributed every Friday during Lent for ever. 
 At Farnham Royal, Buckinghamshire, in 1664, 
 David Slater gave money to purchase bread and 
 herrings and a pair of kid gloves annually for the 
 parson of the parish for the time being. The 
 gloves were to be purchased ready for the first 
 Sunday in Lent. At Newmarket, in Suffolk, 
 there was a bequest of fish and fagots. 
 
CHURCH SCRAMBLING CHARITIES. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 0 1 
 
 o If^ 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 0 b^v^jik 
 
 
 iN the olden time the ways of dis- 
 tributing some of the English 
 charities were extremely curious, 
 and scrambling in churches and 
 graveyards for bread, cheese, and 
 
 other edibles was perhaps the most remarkable. 
 These old-time charities were somewhat 
 numerous, and we here present particulars of a 
 few of them. 
 
 Long, long, ago, so runs the old story, two 
 poor pauper sisters w^ere walking to London to 
 claim an estate, and were weary, footsore, and 
 hungry. The good folk at Paddington gave 
 them relief. In course of time the claimants 
 obtained possession of their property, and left, 
 as a token of gratitude, a bequest of bread and 
 cheese, to be thrown from the church of St. 
 Mary's, Paddington, amongst the poor assembled 
 in the graveyard. This custom was observed 
 from a remote period down to the first quarter 
 
86 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 of this century, and perhaps even to a later time. 
 It is noticed in a newspaper for the year 1821 
 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. 
 We gather from a quaint paragraph in the pages 
 of the Gncb Street Journal^ dated December 21st, 
 1736, that ale was also given. On Sunday," 
 it is stated, after divine service, was performed 
 the annual ceremony of throwing bread and 
 cheese out of the Paddington church steeple 
 among the spectators, and giving them ale. 
 The custom was established by two women, who 
 purchased five acres of land to the above use, 
 in commemoration of the particular charity 
 whereby they had been relieved when in extreme 
 necessity." 
 
 At Barford, Oxfordshire, a piece of land is 
 known as White-bread Close," and the rent was 
 formerly spent in buying bread, which was 
 thrown amongst the people and scrambled for at 
 the church door. It appears from a corres- 
 pondent of the Gentleman'' s Magazine for 1824, 
 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 
 
CHURCH SCRAMBLING CHARITIES. 87 
 
 of this gross abuse."' A large number of boys 
 from the neighbouring villages attended, and 
 joined the lads of Barford in the scramble. It 
 is conjectured that a member of a wealthy local 
 family named Shepherd was the founder of the 
 charity, to keep in remembrance his marriage. 
 
 Rudder, in his History of Gloucestershire," 
 and other writers notice a quaint scrambling 
 custom at St. Briavel's, Gloucestershire. The 
 best account of the ancient usuage is given in the 
 pages of the Gentleman'' s Magazine for 1816, which 
 reads as follows : — On Whit Sunday, at St. 
 Briavel's, in Gloucestershire, several baskets, full 
 of bread and cheese cut into small squares of an 
 inch each, are brought into the church ; and im- 
 mediately after divine service is ended, the 
 churchwardens, or some other persons, take 
 them up into the galleries, whence their contents 
 are thrown among the congregation, who have a 
 grand scramble for them in the body of the 
 church. This occasions as great a tumult and 
 uproar as the amusements of the village wake, 
 the inhabitants being always extremely anxious to 
 attend worship on this day. The custom is 
 holden for the purpose of preserving to the poor 
 of St. Briavel's and Hewelsfield the right of cut- 
 ting and carrying away wood from 3000 acres of 
 
88 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 coppice land, and for which each house-keeper is 
 assessed twopence, to buy the bread and cheese 
 which are given away." This is the most 
 remarkable of the scrambling customs which 
 have come under our notice. 
 
 Leicestershire history furnishes facts about 
 another scrambling charity. According to an 
 account written in 1822, " a piece of land was 
 bequeathed to the use and advantage of the 
 rector of Haloughton, for providing two hare- 
 pies, and two dozen penny loaves, to be scrambled 
 for on Easter Monday annually. The land, be- 
 fore the enclosure took place, was called ' Hare- 
 crop Leys,' and at the time of dividing the fields, 
 in 1770, a piece was alloted to the rector in lieu 
 of the said Leys. The custom is still continued, 
 but instead of the hare the rector provides two 
 large raised pies, made of veal and bacon. 
 These are divided into parts, and put into a 
 sack; the penny loaves are cut into quarters and 
 put in a basket. Thus prepared, the men leave 
 the rectory, and are soon joined by the women 
 and children, who march to a place called ' Hare- 
 pie Bank,' about a quarter of a mile south of the 
 town. In the course of this journey the pieces 
 of bread are occasionally thrown for scrambling, 
 but the pies are carried to the grand rustic 
 
CHURCH SCRAMBLING CHARITIES. 89 
 
 theatre of confusion." On arrival at the appointed 
 place, "the pies are promiscuously thrown/' and, 
 says the notice, every frolicsome athletic youth 
 who is fond of the sport rushes forward to seize 
 a bit and carry it away. Confusion ensues, and 
 what began in juvenile sport has occasionally ter- 
 minated in a boxing match." This ludicrous 
 custom appears to afford the inhabitants much 
 amusement. Blount, in his Tenures of Land 
 and Customs of Manors," notices the usage at 
 length. 
 
 Mr. Tuke, of Wath, near Rotherham, who 
 died in the year 1810, left, amongst other strange 
 bequests, forty dozen penny loaves to be thrown 
 from the church leads at twelve o'clock on 
 Christmas Day for ever. This is the latest in- 
 stance of a scrambling custom with which we 
 are acquainted. 
 
BRIEFS. 
 
 UR old church books include many 
 items on briefs. They were Royal 
 letters which were sent to the clergy, 
 directing that collections be made 
 for certain objects. These docu- 
 ments were stamped with the Privy Seal, and 
 it was ordered that they be read in church after 
 the saying of the Nicene Creed. It was further 
 directed that they be entered in the parish 
 register. Briefs were granted for a variety of 
 objects, such, for example, as the rebuilding of 
 St. Paul's after the fire of London, for a fire 
 at Drury Lane Theatre, rebuilding churches, 
 the redemption of English slaves taken by 
 pirates, &c. With a view of rendering briefs 
 effective, it was ordered in 1677 that the 
 preamble be pathetically penned as the occasion 
 requires to move the people to liberality upon so 
 pious and charitable a work." We may infer 
 from the smallness of the sums collected, and an 
 entry in the Diary of Samuel Pepys, that the 
 
BRIEFS. 
 
 91 
 
 injunction was necessary. Under date of June 
 
 30th, 1661, Pepys wrote : — To church, where 
 
 we observe the trade of briefs is come now up 
 
 to so constant a course every Sunday, that we 
 
 resolve to give no more to them." 
 
 It will not be without interest to furnish a 
 
 copy of a brief, and we select one of some 
 
 historical importance : — 
 
 Charles II. by the grace of God, &c. 
 Whereas we are credibly informed by the humble 
 petition of the inhabitants of the town corporate of Scarborough, 
 in the North Riding of the County of York, as also by a cer- 
 tificate subscribed with the hands of divers of our Justices of the 
 peace for the said Eist and North Ridings, inhabiting near 
 unto the said Corporation, that during the late wars our said 
 town of Scarborough was twice stormed, and the said in- 
 habitants disabled from following their ancient trade ; whereby 
 they are much impoverished and almost ruined in iheir estates; 
 and that nothing might be wanting to make their condition 
 more deplorable, their two fair churches were by the violence 
 of the cannon beaten down ; that in one day there were three- 
 score pieces of ordnance discharged against the steeple of the 
 upper church there, called Saint Mary's, the choir thereof beaten 
 down, and the steeple thereof so shaken that notwithstanding 
 the endeavours of the inhabitants to re[)air the same, the steeple 
 and bells upon the loth day of October last [1659] fell and 
 brought down with it most part of the body of the said church; 
 the other, called St. Thomas's church, was, by the violence of 
 the ordnance, quite ruined and battered down; so that the said 
 church, called St. Mary's, must be rebuilt or otherwise the said 
 inhabitants will remain destitute of a place wherein to assembly 
 themselves for the public worship of Almighty God. And that 
 the charges for the rebuilding the church, called St. Mary's, 
 will cost ^2,500 at the least, which of themselves they are not 
 able to disburse, their fortunes being almost ruined by the 
 calamities of the late war as aforesaid, &c. 
 
92 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 A book preserved with the parish registers at 
 
 Hessle, near Hull, contains a list of the briefs 
 
 received and read in the church from 1731 to 
 
 1777. The mode of entering the documents 
 
 is as follows: — 
 
 Dunbar Harbour in ye shire of East Lothian. May ye 
 20th, 1739. A Brief then read in ye Parish Church of Hesle 
 in ye County of Hull, for ye making of ye Harbour of Dunbar 
 safe and commodious in ye Shire of East Lothian in Scotland. 
 The charge of making ye said Harbour safe and beneficial 
 amounts unto ye sum of nine thousand seven hundred eighty- 
 five pounds and upwards, and the sum of ten shillings and 
 eightpence halfpenny collected thereupon from House to 
 House. 
 
 The collection for the foregoing was small, 
 but much larger than for rebuilding Gateshead 
 Church made in the same year. Only two 
 shillings and one penny were gathered for the 
 latter object, and a year later only two shillings 
 for rebuilding the church at Congleton. 
 
 The granting of briefs gave rise to much 
 abuse, and to check it, stringent Acts of Parlia- 
 ment were passed in the reigns of Queen Anne 
 and George IV., and finally they were stopped by 
 Lord Palmerston, when Prime Minister, 
 declining to advise the Crown to continue their 
 issue. 
 
BELLS AND BEACONS 
 FOR TRAVELLERS BY NIGHT. 
 
 TOWNSMAN visiting the country 
 during the long dark nights 
 experiences much difficulty in find- 
 ing his way about the gloomy lanes 
 and sparingly-lighted village streets. 
 He realises how tiresome and dangerous it was 
 in the olden days to travel at night over the 
 dreary common, wild wolds, and lonely heaths, 
 unenclosed, with their indifferently constructed 
 roads. Gratitude for delivery from perilous 
 positions often induced people to leave money 
 setting up on high lamps, and for the ringing of 
 bells to guide the way-farer on his journey. 
 
 According to an old tradition, a lady was 
 lost on the Lincolnshire wolds, and feared that 
 she would have to remain wandering about in 
 the cold until daybreak. Happily, however, 
 on the still night air were wafted the welcome 
 sounds of the bell of St. Peter's Church, 
 Barton-on-Humber, which enabled her to direct 
 
94 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 her steps to the town over the ahnost trackless 
 country. She was so grateful when she found 
 herself in safety that in her will she left a piece 
 of land to the parish clerk, on condition that he 
 should ring one of the church bells from seven 
 to eight o'clock every evening except Sunday, 
 commencing on the day of carrying the first 
 load of barley in every year till the following 
 Shrove Tuesday. Some twenty years ago the 
 ringing, which had been faithfully performed 
 from time out of mind, was discontinued, on 
 account of the annoyance the noise caused to 
 the inhabitants dwelling near the church. The 
 parish clerk still receives the proceeds of the 
 land, although the notes of the bell (welcome to 
 some persons) are no longer heard as day gives 
 way to night. 
 
 At the village of Hessle, near Hull, a bell is 
 still rung every night, except Sunday, at seven 
 o'clock. It is asserted by some of the inhabi- 
 tants that a lady was lost near the place on a 
 dark night, and that she was enabled to find her 
 way by hearing the ringing of the church bells. 
 Thankful for the assistance thus rendered, she 
 left a piece of land to the parish clerkon condition 
 that he should ring a church bell every evening. 
 The deeds and papers preserved at the church 
 
BELLS AND BEACONS. 95 
 
 do not throw any light on the origin of this 
 custom, which is most probably derived from 
 the ancient practice of ringing the Curfew bell. 
 
 A Woodstock worthy, named John Carey, 
 left ten shillings annually to be paid for a bell 
 being rung from the old church tower at 8 p.m., 
 for the guidance of travellers in the neighbour- 
 hood of the town. The Corporation of Wood- 
 stock have the management of this old bequest. 
 Mr. Carey clearly set forth in his will that if the 
 clerk or sexton neo^lected to rinor the bell some 
 Other persDQ must be selected to perform the 
 duties. A similar bequest was made in the year 
 1664 by Richard Palmer, who bequeathed a sum 
 of money to pay a salary to the sexton of Work- 
 ingham Church, Berkshire, for ringing the 
 greatest bell half an hour every evening, at 
 eight o'clock, from the loth of September to the 
 nth of March in every year. He desired that 
 strangers and others, who should happen on 
 winter nights, within hearing of the said bell, to 
 lose their way in the country, might be informed 
 of the time of night, and receive some guidance 
 into the right way. 
 
 Dunston Pillar is a conspicuous object in the 
 county of Lincoln, and was erected in the year 
 1 75 1 for the purpose of directing travellers over 
 
96 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Lincoln Heath. It had on its summit a large 
 lantern, which was lighted at night. We have 
 heard it related in the district that, on one occa- 
 sion, a post-boy who had received instructions to 
 keep the light to the right hand on his way home, 
 spent the night driving round the pillar. In 
 1 8 TO the lantern was removed and a statue of 
 George III., at the cost of Lord Buckingham- 
 shire, placed at the top of the pillar. 
 
 On the towers of churches in bygone times 
 lanterns were frequently lighted on dark nights 
 to enable wayfarers to direct their steps in the 
 right direction. Formerly a lighted lantern cast 
 its welcome rays from the tower of St. Mary's 
 Church, Beverley, to guide travellers over the 
 wild wolds in the neighbourhood of the town. 
 A beacon lamp was formerly suspended in the 
 centre of All Saints' Church steeple in the 
 city of York, for the aid of benighted folks in 
 the Forest of Galtres. We have seen it stated 
 that a lantern was formerly lighted on one of 
 the towers of a church at Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
 In reply to our inquiries, the Rev. J. R. Boyle, 
 F.S.A., said I have often heard the statement 
 to which you refer. I imagine it has found its 
 way into the guide books, but, I am afraid^ it 
 rests on no foundation. The only church in 
 
BELLS AND BEACONS. 97 
 
 the Steeple of which such a custom was ever 
 practicable is that of St. Nicholas, now the 
 Cathedral. In the preparation of my chapter on 
 that church in 'Vestiges of Old Newcastle and 
 Gateshead,' I examined every accessible source 
 of information, but failed to find the least 
 evidence of the custom to which you refer. I 
 suppose the story must have originated from an 
 extract, printed by G. B. Richardson, from the 
 Corporation Accounts. In 1 566 there are pay- 
 ments for wax for the lanterne of the Church. 
 But the word ' lanterne ' is not here used in its 
 modern architectural sense." At Lamborne, in 
 addition to a lighted lantern, a bell was tolled to 
 guide persons who crossed the bleak downs in 
 winter time. 
 
 It is stated in Sinclair's Statistical Account 
 of Scotland " that the parish schoolmaster of 
 Corstorphine, Edinburghshire, has the profits of 
 a piece of land known as Lamp's Acre." The 
 proceeds of the land were to cover the cost of 
 keeping lighted a lamp placed on Corstorphine 
 Church in winter time, to direct the traveller on 
 the Edinburgh road, which was both difficult 
 and dangerous to travel along. John Wardell 
 wished to shed some light on the dark streets of 
 London, and in his will, dated August 29th, 
 
 M 
 
98 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 1656, he left sufficient property to pay the church- 
 wardens of St. Botolph, Billingsgate, says 
 Edwards in his Remarkable Charities," to 
 provide a good and sufficient iron-and-glass 
 lantern with a candle for the direction of 
 passengers to go with more security to and from 
 the waterside all night long, to be fixed at the 
 north-east corner of the parish church of St. 
 Botolph, from the Feast Day of St. Bartholomew 
 to Lady Day. The clerk received a sovereign a 
 year for attending to the lantern. It appears 
 from the Reports of Charities " that the annuity 
 is now applied to supporting a gas lamp placed 
 in the position indicated in the will. We find 
 the particulars of another bequest for maintaining 
 a lantern lighted with a candle, in the will of 
 John Cooke, dated the 12th of September, 1662. 
 He gave definite instructions as to the size of 
 candles to be used, and further stated that the 
 lantern had to be hanged out at the corner of St. 
 Michael's Lane, next Thames Street, from 
 Michaelmas to Lady Day, between the hours of 
 nine and ten o'clock at night, until four or five in 
 the morning. A gas lamp has taken the place of 
 the old lantern with its candles of a particular 
 size. The facts about the lighting of the streets 
 of London are full of historic interest, but do not 
 
BELLS AND BEACONS. 99 
 
 come within the scope of the present article. 
 We have mentioned lanterns, and may further 
 state, on the authority of Chambers's Book of 
 Days," that in accordance with the old local rule 
 of London, as established by the Lord Mayor in 
 1416, all householders of the better class, rated 
 above a low rate in the books of their respective 
 parishes, should hang a lantern, lighted with a 
 fresh and whole candle nightly, outside their 
 houses, for the accommodation of foot passengers, 
 from All-hallows' evening to Candlemas day. 
 
 Hang out your lights ! " was once the familiar 
 cry of the old London watchmen. We have 
 seen a print of the period of James L represent- 
 ing one of the guardians of the night, bearing 
 the following lines : — 
 
 A light here, maids, hang out your Hght, 
 And see your horns be clear and bright, 1 
 That so your candle clear may shine, 
 Continuing from six till nine ; 
 That honest men that walk along 
 May see to pass safe without wrong. 
 
HOUR-GLASSES IN CHURCHES. 
 
 HE Puritans were greatly in favour 
 of long sermons, and in their 
 churches, near the pulpit, were 
 placed hour-glasses, for the pur- 
 pose of showing the length of 
 time occupied in preaching. A discourse 
 usually lasted from one to two hours. If a 
 clergyman finished preaching under an hour, he 
 was regarded as a lazy man, and obtained little 
 respect from his critical congregation. All our 
 ancestors did not, however, delight in long ser- 
 mons. It is recorded in Frosbroke's *^ British 
 Monachism," that it was the practice of a rector 
 of Bilbury, Gloucestershire, to take a couple of 
 hours in the delivery of his sermons. The 
 squire of the parish had no taste for his wordy 
 expositions ; and after hearing the text given 
 out, withdrew to enjoy his pipe, returning to 
 be present at the benediction. Sir Roger 
 L' Estrange tells a good story of a tedious 
 
HOUR-GLASSES IN CHURCHES. lOI 
 
 preacher. On one occasion, after listening for 
 an hour and three-quarters to a sermon, the 
 assembly were tired out, and also suffered from 
 cold. The sexton, observing their distressed 
 condition, determined to deliver them from their 
 trying position. He accordingly addressed the 
 minister as follows : ^' Pray, sir, be pleased, 
 when you have done, to leave the key under the 
 door." He then quietly departed, and shortly 
 afterwards the preacher, profiting by the hint, 
 closed the service. A famous divine, named 
 the Rev. Daniel Burgess, frequently preached 
 for three hours at a time. One day he was 
 directing all his eloquence against the sin of in- 
 temperance, and after two turns of the glass he 
 noticed that many of his hearers were restless 
 and yawning. But he was fully resolved to 
 continue his sermon, observing that he had 
 much more to say against drunkenness, and, 
 turning the hour-glass, said, ^^We will have 
 
 another glass, and then ." He pleasantly 
 
 secured their attention for some time longer. 
 Bearing on this theme there is, in James Maid- 
 ment's Third Book of Scottish Pasquils," an 
 amusing anecdote which is well worth repro- 
 ducing. " A humorous story," it is stated, 
 has been preserved of one of the Earls of 
 
102 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Airly, who entertained at his table a clergyman 
 who was to preach before the Commissioner next 
 day. The glass circulated, perhaps, too freely ; 
 and whenever the divine attempted to rise, his 
 
 lordship prevent- 
 ed him, saying, 
 ^Another glass — 
 and then!' After 
 conquering his 
 lordship, the 
 guest went home. 
 The next day the 
 latter selected for 
 his text, ^ The 
 wicked shall be 
 punished, and 
 that right airly ! ' 
 Inspired by the 
 subject, he was 
 by no means 
 sparing of his 
 oratory, and the 
 hour-glass was disregarded, although he was 
 repeatedly warned by the precentor, who, in 
 common with Lord Airly, thought the discourse 
 rather lengthy. The latter soon knew why he 
 was thus punished, by the reverend gentleman 
 
 HOUR-GLASS 
 
 St. Alban's Church, Wood Street, London. 
 
HOUR-GLASSES IN CHURCHES. IO3 
 
 (when reminded) always exclaiming-, not sotto 
 voce^ ' Another glass — and then ! ' " 
 
 It is related of the celebrated Dr Isaac 
 Barrow, a minister who flourished in the reign 
 of the second Charles, that one day he preached 
 out a large congregation, which included the 
 Lord Mayor and other members of the Corpora- 
 tion of London. When he had completed his 
 sermon, only an apprentice remained to keep 
 him company. " He was," writes his biographer, 
 " intolerably tedious in his sermons, and was 
 three hours and a half in delivering a sermon on 
 charity before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen ; 
 and on one occasion, when preaching in West- 
 minster Abbey, the servants of the church caused 
 the organ to be struck up against him, and he 
 was fairly blown out of the pulpit." Some 
 preachers find it difficult to bring their discourses 
 to a termination, and to this class must be 
 referred a minister of Kilellan, who preached 
 one day from eleven o'clock until six without 
 a break. 
 
 LordMacaulay, in his History of England," 
 writing about Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salis- 
 bury, under the year 1687, alludes to the hour- 
 glass. He was," says the historian, often 
 interrupted by the deep hum of his audience ; 
 
104 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 and when, after preaching out the hour-glass, 
 which in those days was part of the furniture of 
 the pulpit, he held it in his hand, the congrega- 
 tion clamorously encouraged him to go on till 
 the sand had run off once more." 
 
 Several of the poets refer to the hour-glass. 
 Shakespeare, for example, in Henry V.," 
 says : — 
 
 Jumping o'er times ; 
 Turning the accomplishment of many years 
 Into an hour-glass. 
 
 In the " Merchant of Venice," he adverts to 
 
 the sandy hour-glass." Says Francis Quarles 
 
 in his Feast for Worms " : — 
 
 Man's life's an hour-glass, which being run, 
 Concludes that hour of joy, and so is done. 
 
 Gay, in his Pastorals," sings : — 
 
 He said that heaven would take her soul, no doubt, 
 And spoke the hour-glass in her praise quite out. 
 
 Butler, in his Hudibras," thus refers to it : — 
 
 Gifted brethren preaching by the carnal hour-glass. 
 
 Here are four lines from Longfellow : — 
 
 A handful of red sand from the hot clime 
 
 Of Arab deserts brought. 
 Within this glass becomes the spy of Time, 
 
 The minister of thought. 
 
 Hogarth and other artists introduce the 
 hour-glass into their pictures. In the frontis- 
 piece of Dr. Young's volume, entitled 
 
HOUR-GLASSES IN CHURCHES. IO5 
 
 England's Shame ; or, a Relation of the Life 
 and Death of Hugh Peters," published at 
 London in 1663, there is a portrait of Peters 
 preaching, in his hand holding an hour-glass, 
 and saying, I know you are good fellows, so 
 let's have another glass." 
 
 Parish books of the olden time contain many 
 entries relating to this subject. We reproduce 
 a few items. The first is extracted from the 
 accounts of St. Katherine's Church, Aldgate, 
 London : — 
 
 1564. Paid for an hour-glass that hangeth by the pulpit 
 where the preacher doth make a sermon, that he may 
 know how the hour passeth away, one shiUing. 
 
 According to an old parish book, in 1616, a 
 bequest was made of *^an hower glass with a 
 frame of irone to stand it in." The Chamber- 
 lain's accounts of Stratford-on-Avon state, in 
 the year 161 3 : — 
 
 Paid Walton for setting up the hour-glasse iiijV. 
 
 The Prestbury churchwarden's accounts include 
 some entries such as follow : — 
 
 1623. Itm. ffor an hower-glasse xvjV. 
 
 „ Itm. ffor a sett for same xxd. 
 
 Some years later the parishioners of this parish 
 paid a certain sum ^*for the houre-glass gilding." 
 
 N 
 
I06 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The accounts of Hartshorn, Derbyshire, in- 
 clude : — 
 
 1630. Ite. pd. for the Houre-glasse, and forrailes 
 
 vsed about the Pulpit 00.00.08. 
 
 An entry in the Bewdley chapel accounts re- 
 cords : — 
 
 1632. Pd. Edward Walker for an hour-glasse for 
 
 the Chappell 00.00.08. 
 
 The following three items are from the Wilmslow 
 
 parish accounts : — 
 
 1635. Paide for a houre-glasse for church xdf. 
 
 1645, Paide for an houre-glasse is. 
 
 1655. Paide for mendinge the churche houre-glasse 0.6 Jd. 
 
 In the Leek churchwarden's accounts is an 
 
 entry : — 
 
 1664. Paid for an houre-glasse 0.0.8 
 
 Many items similar to the foregoing might be 
 given. 
 
 Of the few remaining specimens of the hour- 
 glass, a fine one is preserved in the church of St. 
 Alban's, Wood Street, London. It is mounted 
 on a spiral column near the pulpit, and the 
 minister can conveniently reach it when 
 preaching. The frame is brass gilt, the design 
 chaste, and the workmanship of a superior order. 
 It is pleasing to learn that the old relic is guarded 
 with zealous care. This curiosity of the olden 
 days attracts much attention from visitors to the 
 church. 
 
HOUR-GLASSES IN CHURCHES. 
 
 107 
 
 At Hurst Church, Berkshire, a fine example 
 may still be seen. The bracket which supports 
 the hour-glass is a curious and interesting piece of 
 ironwork. It is ornamented with the lion and uni- 
 corn, and leaves, pomegranates, &c., are skilfully 
 wrought and artistically painted and gilded. The 
 letters E. A. and the year 1636 appear on the 
 bracket. The initials are stated to 
 be those of Elizabeth Armour, the 
 supposed donor, who was connected 
 with the parish. A small iron plate 
 is inscribed : — As this glasse runneth, 
 so man's life passethe." An |^hour- 
 glass and stand may still be seen in 
 the church of St. Edmund,^ South 
 Burlingham, Norfolk. We have 
 notes of two hour-glass stands in 
 churches of the same county ; one 
 at Salhouse, near Norwich, and the flixtonHour- 
 other at Edinthorpe, near North glass stand. 
 Walsham. About thirty years ago an hour-glass 
 stand stood at Flixton, but when the church was 
 restored it was destroyed. Happily, however, 
 a drawing was made, which we reproduce. It is 
 a good example of the stand usually placed in 
 country churches. In the church of Keyingham, 
 near Hull, there is the old hour-glass stand still 
 
I08 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 remaining. At Leigh, in Kent, is an early and 
 interesting stand attached to the fine Jacobean 
 pulpit of the parish church. A drawing of it is 
 given in Parker's Glossary of Architecture." 
 At ClifFe, near Rochester, there is an excellent 
 
 example. The pulpit 
 bears the year 1636 
 on it. The carved 
 wooden bracket for 
 the stand is on the left 
 side of the preacher. 
 
 At Compton Bas- 
 sett, Wiltshire, at the 
 end of a short iron 
 bar ornamented with 
 fleur-de-lys and fastened to the pulpit, is a half- 
 hour-glass. We have found several references 
 to half-hour-glasses. One is at All Saints' Church, 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne, in an inventory of the 
 church goods made about 1632. The Rev. 
 Andrew Edgar, in his valuable volume on Old 
 Church Life in Scotland," referring to the parish 
 records of Mauchline, mentions : — In 1672, 
 there was a half-hour glass bought for los., in 
 1677 another was bought for lis., and in 1688 a 
 third was purchased for 12s. In the last- 
 mentioned year the precaution was adopted of 
 
 Hour-glass Stand at Cliffe. 
 
HOUR-GLASSES IN CHURCHES. IO9 
 
 procuring for the glass an iron case at the cost of 
 £2 Scots." It is stated by one writer that, 
 where the smaller glasses were used, the con- 
 gregations were satisfied with sermons half the 
 usual length. At the restoration of the Chapel 
 Royal, Savoy, in 1867, an eighteen-minute pulpit- 
 glass was placed in the church, and several 
 journalists, commenting on the subject, regarded 
 it as a protest on the part of Her Majesty against 
 long sermons. It indicates how matters have 
 changed in regard to the regulation length of 
 sermons since the days of the old Puritans. 
 
CHAINED BOOKS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 T was not until the year 1476 that 
 William Caxton, a London mercer, 
 introduced printing into this country. 
 He set up his press in the Almonry, 
 near Westminster Abbey. Many 
 years passed before printed books became com- 
 mon in England. The works produced were few 
 in number, and published at a price beyond the 
 reach of the people, and, as a rule, they were only 
 to be found in the mansions of the wealthy, the 
 seats of learning, and in the religious houses. On 
 account of the great value of books, precaution 
 was taken to prevent them being stolen. 
 Valuable volumes were generally chained to a 
 reading-desk, a pillar, or to some other thing from 
 which they could not be removed. Historians 
 have had much to say about battles, but respect- 
 ing books they are almost silent. We have it on 
 good authority that, in the earlier part of the 
 fourteenth century, the Royal Library at Paris 
 
CHAINED BOOKS IN CHURCHES. Ill 
 
 only contained the works of four classical 
 writers, Cicero, Ovid, Lucan, and Boetbius ; 
 the remainder of the collection, consisting of 
 about 900 volumes, being made up of books on 
 devotion, chronicles, medicine, romances, 
 geomancy, &c. Charles V. is credited with 
 having collected the greater part of the books, 
 which were kept with great care in one of the 
 towers of the Louvre. This library was pur- 
 chased in 1425 by the Duke of Bedford, and, it 
 is said, became the foundation of the famous 
 library established by Humphrey, Duke of 
 Gloucester, at the Oxford University. It is 
 recorded as a matter of history, that the prior and 
 convent of Rochester threatened sentence of 
 everlasting damnation against anyone who should 
 either purloin or deface a fine copy of Aristotle's 
 Physics," which was in their possession. In 
 the reign of Henry VI. books were so difficult 
 to obtain, on account of their high prices, that 
 we find it was one of the rules of St. Mary's 
 College, Oxford, that no student be permitted to 
 retain a book in the library longer than one hour 
 at a time, so that others might not be prevented 
 using it. Kings borrowed books from their 
 subjects. An old chronicler states that Henry 
 v., having a taste for reading, had borrowed 
 
112 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 a number of volumes, which, afler his death, 
 were claimed by their owners with the same 
 anxiety as a landed estate. 
 
 At the Reformation, in the reign of Henry 
 VIII., the Bible was translated and printed in 
 English. In 1537 it was ordered to be set up in 
 the churches, at the joint expenses of the incum- 
 bent and his parishioners. The education of the 
 people had been neglected, and only a com- 
 paratively few could read. Learned men often 
 read the Bible aloud, and gathered around them 
 listeners who were anxious to hear the Scriptures 
 read. Of the large number of Bibles ordered to 
 be set up, we do not know of any that remain at 
 the present time in their original positions. Old 
 parchments, however, contain numerous items 
 relating to the matter. Here is an example, 
 extracted from the accounts of St. Martin's 
 Church, Leicester : — 
 
 1548-9. Item : p"^ ij chenes and naylls for the 
 bybell 
 
 The finest specimen of a chained Bible in 
 England is to be seen at the ancient church of 
 Cumnor, near Oxford. It is strongly bound in 
 wood covers, strengthened with iron, and 
 fastened with a strong iron chain to the desk- 
 board of a pew. It bears the date of 161 1 on its 
 
CHAINED BOOKS IN CHURCHES. II3 
 
 title-page, and so is a copy of King James's, or 
 the Authorized Version of the Bible. At the 
 Hampton Court Conference, held January, 1604, 
 it was stated by Dr. Reynolds, a notable Puritan 
 divine, that a great national want was a new trans- 
 lation of the Scriptures. It was agreed that a new 
 version was desirable. The King took a deep 
 interest in the work, and issued a letter in July 
 of the same year, stating that fifty-four scholars 
 had been appointed to make the translation. 
 His Majesty requested the bishops to give 
 intimation of any livings to the value of twenty 
 pounds becoming vacant, so that he might com- 
 municate with the patrons, and recommend one 
 of the translators. Out of fifty-four selected, 
 only forty-seven engaged in the undertaking. 
 They appear to have worked with considerable 
 industry ; they commenced their labours in 1607 
 and completed them in 16 10, and a year later the 
 Bible was published. Baker, the printer and 
 patentee, appears to have borne the cost ; he 
 paid ;^3,500 for the right of publishing it. 
 
 The sight of the large old Church Bibles 
 reminds us of the days of yore, when persons 
 suspected of witchcraft were often weighed 
 against them. We find in turning over the pages 
 of the '^Annual Register," under the year 1759, 
 
 o 
 
114 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 the following allusion to the practice: — *'One 
 Susanna Hannokes, an elderly woman, of Win- 
 grove, near Aylesbury, was accused by a 
 neighbour of bewitching her spinning-wheel, so 
 that she could not make it go round, and offered 
 to take oath of it before a magistrate ; on which 
 the husband, in order to justify his wife, insisted 
 upon her being tried by the Church Bible, and 
 that the accuser should be present. Accordingly 
 she was conducted to the parish churchy where 
 she was stript of all her clothes to her shift and 
 under-coat, and weighed against the Bible, when, 
 to the no small mortification of her accuser, she 
 over-weighed it, and was honourably acquitted 
 of the charge." The belief in witchcraft lingered 
 for a long time in this country ; and even as late 
 as 1768 that great and good man, the Rev. John 
 Wesley, wrote in his journal : — " The giving up 
 witchcraft is in effect giving up the Bible." The 
 laws against witches were repealed in 1736, with 
 little opposition, although not long prior to this 
 year Mrs. Hicks, together with her daughter, a 
 child of nine, was executed at Huntingdon, on 
 July 28th, 1716, for raising a storm of wind by 
 pulling off her stockings and making a lather of 
 soap in a basin in league with the devil." They 
 were the last persons hanged in England for 
 witchcraft. 
 
CHAINED BOOKS IN CHURCHES. II 5 
 
 In the church of St. Botolph, Boston, Lincoln- 
 shire, may still be seen the staple and a single 
 link of the chain to which, in former days, the 
 Bible was attached. The Corporation Records 
 of this town for the year 1578 state that it was 
 agreed that a Dictionarye shall be bought for 
 scollers of the Free Schoole ; and that boke be 
 tyed in a cheyne and set upon a deske in the 
 scoole, whereunto any scoller may have accesse 
 as occasion shall serve." Bibles were not the 
 only books chained in churches, for at St. Mary's 
 Church, Bridlington, even at the present time may 
 be seen chained to adesk thefoUowing works(after 
 the title of each is the date of publication) : — 
 Jewell's Controversial Works," 161 1 ; Heylin's 
 Ecclesia Vindicata," 1681 ; Hooker's ^'Eccle- 
 siastical Politie," 1 682, and Comber's Companion 
 to the Temple," 1684. In the church of St. 
 Crux, York, until quite recently might be seen 
 a chained copy of A Replie unto Mr. Hardinge's 
 x\nsweare. Imprinted at London, Fleete Streate, 
 Henry Wykes, 1566." A popular book to set 
 up " in the church was Foxe's '' Book of Martyrs." 
 We have notes of this work recently seen at 
 Winsham Church, Somerset. At Mancetter, 
 Foxe's book and the following are chained in the 
 church : The Paraphrases of Erasmus upon 
 
Il6 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 the New Testament " (two vols.) ; Jewell's 
 Defence and Apology," 1609. Robert Glover 
 and Mr. Lewis, of this place, are in the list of the 
 noble army of martyrs." The house where 
 Mr. Glover was arrested adjoins Mancetter 
 Church, and is a fine example of a half-timbered 
 homestead of the olden days. He was burnt at 
 Coventry, September 19, 1555. The church of 
 St. Michael's, Alnwick, has in it an old wrought- 
 iron lectern, to which is chained a Book of 
 Homilies." In the chancel of Breadsall Church 
 is a reading-desk to which are fastened several 
 chained books, including Bishop Jewell's works, 
 a History of the Reformation," &c. The Rev. 
 J. Eastwood's ''History of Ecclesfield," (London, 
 1862) gives an interesting list of '' Bookes 
 chayned in the church in 1606." The books 
 were numerous and important. We gather from 
 ''Illustrations of Manners and Expenses" by 
 Nichols, that at Grantham were many chained 
 books, but the titles are not given. 
 
 Single chained books may often be found in 
 churches at the present day, but, say Willis and 
 Clark in " The Architectural History of the 
 University of Cambridge," so far as we have 
 been able to discover there are only three collec- 
 tions of books in England now attached to the 
 
CHAINED BOOKS IN CHURCHES. II7 
 
 shelves by chains, namely : ''The Chapter Library 
 in Hereford Cathedral ; a library in the vestry 
 of the Parish Church of All Saints, in the same 
 city ; and the library attached to Wimborne 
 Minster." At Hereford Cathedral the collection 
 of books consists largely of Monastic Books and 
 extends to 2,000 volumes of which 1,500 are 
 chained. Here are five ancient bookcases com- 
 plete and portions of two others. In the work 
 by Willis and Clark it is stated^that '' each case 
 
 BOOKCASE 
 In the Library^ Hereford Cathedral. 
 
 is 9 feet 8 inches long, 2 feet 2 inches wide, and 
 about 8 feet high. The material is unplaned oak, 
 very rough ; the ends are 2 inches thick, made 
 of three boards, fastened together with strong 
 
Il8 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 wooden pegs. The vertical supports which 
 sustain the first shelf are also 2 inches thick ; 
 but the divisions between the upper shelves, 
 made of rough boards which do not meet, and 
 all the shelves, are only one inch thick. The 
 whole structure seems to be quite original, with 
 the exception of the cornice, the brackets which 
 support the desk, and frames to contain the 
 catalogue. The latter occur on three cases only, 
 and are known to have been added in the 17th 
 century by Thomas Thornton, D.D., Canon 
 Residentiary." We are enabled by the favour 
 of Messrs. C. J. Clay & Son, of the University 
 Press, Cambridge, to include two illustrations 
 from ^^The Architectural - History of the 
 University of Cambridge." One is a drawing 
 of a Bookcase in the Chapter Library, Hereford 
 Cathedral, made by the permission, and with 
 the kind assistance of the Rev. John Jebb, D.D., 
 Canon of Hereford. The other is a picture of 
 bookcases and desks in the library of the 
 University of Leyden ; from a print dated 1610. 
 It will be observed in the latter that those who 
 consulted the books were obliged to stand. In 
 the valuable work by Willis and Clark is the 
 best account of chained books which has come 
 under notice. 
 
I20 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The library at All Saints' Church, Hereford, 
 is interesting on account of shewing the survival 
 of the ancient custom of chaining books in com- 
 paratively modern times. Some of the works 
 were published in 1706 and 1707. William 
 Brewster, M.D., in 17 15, bequeathed the books 
 to the parish. The ironwork and chains appear 
 to have been copied from the Hereford Cathedral 
 Library. 
 
 In a room of the eastern tower of Wimborne 
 Minster, Dorsetshire, is an important collection 
 of chained books. Mr. H. R. Plomer has recent- 
 ly inspected this library, and from his account we 
 gather that it contains some 240 volumes. 
 
 The books," says Mr. Plomer, are ranged 
 on shelves round the sides of the room, with 
 their backs turned inwards, each book being 
 attached to the shelf by a small chain fastened 
 to an iron rod." The library was formed in 
 1686, and the greater part of the works were 
 presented by the Rev. W. Stone, a former rector 
 of the parish. A manuscript volume of prayers, 
 the book of the monks, written in 1343, is the 
 oldest work in the collection. It is not 
 finished, as the initial letters are omitted. The 
 Breeches Bible, dated 1595, strongly bound in 
 wood, is there. Walton's Polyglot Bible, 
 several well-known commentaries, numerous 
 
CHAINED BOOKS IN CHURCHES. 121 
 
 works of the Old Fathers, Camden's Life of 
 Elizabeth," Barnes' Life of Edward the 
 Third," Chamberlayn's State of England," 
 1670 ; also a copy of Sir Walter Raleigh's 
 
 History of the World," bearing date 1614. 
 Of this latter work, Mr. Plomer says that 
 
 several pages of this book have been burnt, 
 and tradition has made Matthew Prior, the 
 poet, the culprit ; the story being that, whilst 
 reading in the library by the aid of a candle, 
 he fell asleep over the volume, and the candle 
 committed the ravages. Judging from the 
 appearance of the holes, it is much more likely 
 that they were made, as suggested by a corres- 
 pondent of Notes and Queries, with a red-hot 
 poker. By whatever mischance the accident 
 occurred, the destroyed part of each page has 
 been neatly patched, and the text restored — that 
 also,and with more probability, a work attributed 
 to Matthew Prior." 
 
 At the Annual Meeting of the Library 
 Association of the United Kingdom, held in 
 London in October, 1889, Mr. William Blades 
 read a paper full of curious out-of-the-way 
 matter On Chained Libraries." He refers to 
 Seldon's books being sent to the Bodleian 
 Library, Oxford, stating that £2^ los. was 
 
122 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 paid for new chains. Mr. Blades goes on to 
 say that taking the chains at a cost of sixpence 
 each, they would serve for 1,120 volumes. In 
 the reign of Henry III. the whole library of 
 Oxford University consisted of only a few books, 
 some of which were chained, and some locked 
 in chests in St. Mary's Church. In 1683 the 
 library of King's College, Cambridge, was in 
 chains, and among the rules for the guidance of 
 the scholars was this : ^ For the rendering his 
 business about the library more easy, each per- 
 son that makes use of any books in the said 
 library is required to set them up again decently, 
 without entangling the chains.'" This entangle- 
 ment must have been very incommodious, as it 
 was a fault easily committed when the chains 
 hung so close together. It will be gathered 
 from the foregoing, and the following note by 
 Mr. Blades, that the cost of chains w^as not a 
 serious matter. In the school-house of 
 Tavistock, in the year 1 588, a * Dictionarrie ' 
 was secured by a chain which cost gd. In the 
 churchwarden's accounts at Ecclesfield, in the 
 year 1589, are the following entries : — 
 
 Item, Pd. to the Vicar when he laid down the English 
 
 Paraphrase of Erasmus ijj'. 
 
 Item, chains for two books x\]d. 
 
 At Wigtoft, Lincolnshire, chaining was much 
 
CHAINED BOOKS IN CHURCHES. 1 23 
 
 cheaper, as the payment for securing an Erasmus 
 was only 4d." 
 
 In The Library for December, 1889, in 
 which Mr. Blades' paper is printed, are the 
 following extracts drawn from the accounts 
 connected with the church of St. Michael, 
 Cornhill. The years to which they refer are 
 from 1456 to 1475 : — 
 
 Payd for ij cheynys to teye wh ij sautye (psalter) 
 
 bokys lying in the chapel of Saint Catryn... ijj-. \]d. 
 For amendyng of a cheyne for a boke in oure 
 
 Lady Chapell iiij<^. 
 
 Payde for wryting of the copy of Pynchon's 
 
 testament iijj". iiij^. 
 
 Payde at Seynt Bartilmewe's Spytell for the same 
 
 testament viij^. 
 
 It'm, for pap. and for wryting of Pynchon's last 
 
 testament \]s. ]d. 
 
 Payd to Danvers for counsell of the same 
 
 testament \\]s. m]d. 
 
 Payd to Calop, for ij rolles of p'chemyn 
 
 (parchment) to make with this boke xxs. 
 
 Payd for makyng and byndyng of the same 
 
 boke, and for clapces (clasps) iijj. iiij^. 
 
 Payde to S. Will'm for v queyres of prykked song ix^. \]d. 
 Payed to Sir William Barbour for prykkyng of 
 
 a masse x^. 
 
 Payde to Roberd's clerk for prekyng of a masse 
 
 in the cherche boke xy]d. 
 
 Payd to the scolle-me of Polles, for wrytyng 
 
 of the masse in Englysh and ye Benedicities v^. 
 
 Payd for viij sawlters (psalters) in Englyshe \]s. \\\]d. 
 
 Of Mr. Hurst, for a massy ng boke \s. 
 
 We may congratulate ourselves that we are 
 living in an age when books may be owned by 
 all, and that chains are no longer necessary to 
 retain them in a particular place. 
 
FUNERAL EFFIGIES. 
 
 HE origin of the practice of carrying 
 waxen effigies at funerals may be 
 traced back to an early period of 
 history. In Saxon and Norman 
 eras it was customary, when a mon- 
 arch died, to enbalm the body, then to dress it 
 in the most costly regal robes, and on an open 
 bier to carry it with much ceremony to its final 
 resting place. Many interesting and important 
 particulars may be gleaned from ancient 
 chronicles respecting the stately funerals of 
 mediaeval times. In the year 1189, died Henry 
 II., and an old chronicler describes the King's 
 burial as follows : — He was cloathed in Royal 
 Robes, his Crown upon his Head, white gloves 
 upon his Hands, Boots of Gold upon his Legs, 
 gilt Spurs upon his Heels, a great rich ring 
 upon his Finger, his Sceptre in his Hande, his 
 Sworde by his side, and his Face uncovered and 
 all bare." Prior to interment the body lay in 
 
FUNERAL EFFIGIES. 125 
 
 State, and on either side of it lighted tapers 
 were placed, and attendants standing by, with 
 hoods drawn over their heads. 
 
 In course of time a change was brought 
 about in the manner of conducting royal 
 obsequies. The body was enclosed in a leaden 
 coffin, while an effigy of wood skilfully carved 
 was employed to represent the deceased. This 
 
 FUNERAL OF RICHARD II. 
 
 figure was dressed in a similar manner to the 
 corpse of preceding kings, and carried on a 
 bier in front of the funeral procession. In a 
 small picture representing the funeral of Richard 
 II., from an early manuscript of Froissart, we 
 get an illustration of the effigy which formed 
 such an important feature in the funerals of 
 
126 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 royalty, and of the leading men and women of 
 this kingdom in bygone days. 
 
 One important circumstance must not be 
 lost sight of. In early times burials were much 
 longer deferred than they are at the present day. 
 In support of this assertion, it may be stated 
 that the Black Prince died on June 8th, 1376, 
 and was not buried until after Michaelmas of 
 the same year; and, says Emily S. Holt in ^*Ye 
 Olden Time," from whom we draw the 
 information, his widow Joan, who died August 
 7th, 1385, was still unburied on the 7th 
 December following, when letters were issued 
 by the peers to attend her funeral." 
 
 Finally the faces of the dead were modelled 
 in wax, instead of being carved in wood. Some 
 of these waxen figures are still preserved at 
 Westminster Abbey, and for a long period were 
 one of the sights of London. Amongst the 
 effigies at Westminster may be mentioned those 
 of Queen Elizabeth, Charles II., William and 
 Mary, Queen Anne, Sheffield, Duke of Bucking- 
 ham, and Lord Nelson. The figures were 
 withdrawn from view on account of the sneers 
 of sightseers who failed to appreciate their 
 antiquarian importance. 
 
TORCH-LIGHT BURIALS. 
 
 N bygone times it was the custom to 
 bury royalty, the nobility, and the 
 more wealthy of the English people 
 at night. For centuries the usage 
 was maintained, and many were the 
 weird scenes the nocturnal funerals presented in 
 the quiet country lanes, in the streets of towns, 
 and in our ancient churches. Torches lent a lurid 
 light to the ceremony. 
 
 Respecting royal funerals, a volume might be 
 written ; but here we must content ourselves 
 with directing attention to two. The one is that 
 of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the other that of 
 George II. The circumstances which brought 
 about the tragic death of Mary, Queen of Scots, 
 on the scaffold at Fotheringhay Castle on the 
 morning of the 8th of February, 1587, do not 
 come within the scope of this chapter. The 
 headless body of the Queen was placed in a 
 leaden casket in a chamber at Fotheringhay. 
 
128 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 After earnest appeals from Mary's faithful 
 servants, and remonstrances from her son, for 
 the body to receive Christian burial, Queen 
 Elizabeth gave directions for its interment with 
 state ceremonials at Peterborough Cathedral. 
 The 1st of August, 1587, was the day fixed for 
 the funeral. It appears from a carefully-compiled 
 account of the funeral in Fotheringhay and 
 Mary, Queen of Scots," by the late Cuthbert 
 Bede, that some days before that date, officials 
 were sent down to make arrangements. ^' On 
 the evening of Sunday, July 30th," says Cuthbert 
 Bede, the Garter King-of-Arms, with five 
 heralds, and forty horsemen, arrived at the 
 Castle, bringing with them a funeral car, drawn 
 by four caparisoned horses. The car was covered 
 with black velvet, on which were escutcheons 
 bearing the arms of Scotland, with little pennons 
 round about it. The leaden coffin, placed in an 
 outer coffin, was carried down the stairs, and 
 lifted on the car, by torch-light, by the bare- 
 headed heralds, habited in their coats and tabards. 
 Then, at ten o'clock, the procession started for 
 Peterborough, by torch-light, and a mourning 
 train of men and women, who had been faithful 
 to the Queen of Scots in the days of captivity, 
 followed her murdered remains as they were 
 
TORCH-LIGHT BURIALS. I 29 
 
 borne away, in mock state, from Fotheringhay 
 Castle, her last prison, and the scene of her sham 
 trial and cruel death." The torch-light pro- 
 cession presented a strange spectacle as it slowly 
 moved along the quiet country lanes. The 
 distance travelled was a little over ten miles, and 
 the Cathedral of Peterborough was reached 
 between one and two o'clock in the morning. 
 The coffin was placed in the vault without 
 ceremony, the state ceremonial being performed 
 next day. 
 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, was buried by Old 
 Scarlett, the celebrated sexton, who interred two 
 generations of his fellow-creatures before he 
 passed away, on July 2nd, 1591, at the ripe old 
 age of ninety-eight years. He also buried 
 Catharine, the divorced wife of Henry VHL, 
 who died at Kimbolton Castle, Huntingdonshire, 
 in the year 1535. A portrait of old Scarlett was 
 placed in the west end of Peterborough Cathedral. 
 We are, by the courtesy of Messrs. W. and R. 
 Chambers, enabled to reproduce a representation 
 of it from their Book of Days." In that work 
 is a notice of this sexton, in which it is stated 
 respecting his portrait : And what a lively 
 effigy — short, stout, hardy, and self-complacent, 
 perfectly satisfied, and perhaps even proud of his 
 
 Q 
 
130 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 profession, and content to be exhibited with all its 
 insignia about him ! Two queens had passed 
 through his hands into that bed which gives a 
 lasting rest to queens and to peasants alike. An 
 officer of Death, who had so long defied his 
 principal, could not but have made some 
 impression on the minds of bishop, dean, 
 prebends, and other magnates of the Cathedral, 
 and hence, as we may suppose, the erection of 
 this lively portraiture of the old man, which is 
 believed to have been only once renewed since 
 it was first put up. Dr. Dibdin, who last copied 
 it, tells us that ^ Old Scarlett's jacket and trunk- 
 hose are of a brownish red, his stockings blue, 
 his shoes black, tied with blue ribbons, and the 
 soles of his feet red. The cap upon his head is 
 red, and so also is the ground of the coat 
 armour.' " 
 
 The following lines below this portrait are 
 characteristic of his age : — 
 
 You see old Scarlett's picture stand on hie ; 
 But at your feet here doth his body lye. 
 His gravestone doth his age and death-time shew, 
 His office by heis token [s] you may know. 
 Second to none for strength and sturdy lymm, 
 A scare-babe mighty voice, with visage grim ; 
 He had inter'd two queenes within this place, 
 And this townes householders in his life's space 
 Twice over; but at length his own time came, 
 What he for others did, for him the same 
 Was done : no doubt his soule doth live for aye, 
 In heaven, though here his body clad in clay. 
 
TORCH-LIGHT BURIALS. I3I 
 
 From the time of the burial of Mary, Queen 
 of Scots, to that of George 11. , one hundred and 
 seventy-three years passed. The remains of the 
 King were laid at rest on the night of November 
 
 OLD SCARLETT, THE PETERBOROUGH SEXTON. 
 
 nth, 1760, in Westminster Abbey, and the 
 funeral formed an imposing sight. Foot-guards 
 were drawn up in lines to enable the procession to 
 
132 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 pass to the Abbey without interruption. Every 
 seventh guard held a torch. The sacred pile 
 was ablaze with light, and many notable men 
 were present. The interment took place in the 
 chapel of Henry VII., and here was some con- 
 fusion. The Yeomen of the Guard were unable 
 to bear the great weight of the coffin, and cried 
 for assistance. The officiating Bishop blundered 
 very much in reading the burial service, and 
 altogether the final scene was one of disorder, and 
 caused much disappointment to the officials who 
 had planned the pageant. 
 
 Many well-known representatives of literature 
 and the drama have been buried at night. 
 Abraham Cowley filled a foremost place amongst 
 the poets of his period. He was born in London 
 in the year 16 18, and was the posthumous son of 
 a respectable stationer in Cheapside. His educa- 
 tion was received at Westminster, where he was 
 a king's scholar ; and in his eighteenth year he 
 proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge, and 
 subsequently became a member of it. He 
 lisped in numbers," publishing in his thirteenth 
 year a volume of verse. Few men have been 
 more esteemed by their contemporaries than 
 Cowley, and he died at Chertsey amidst feelings 
 of profound regret, on the 28th July, 1667. 
 
TORCH-LIGHT BURIALS. 1 33 
 
 " His death," it is stated in Spence's " Anecdotes." 
 ^'was occasioned by a mean accident whilst his 
 great friend, Dean Sprat, was with him on a visit 
 there. They had been together to see a 
 neighbour of Cowley's, who (according to the 
 fashion of those timesj made them too 
 welcome. They did not set off for their 
 walk home till it was very late, and had 
 drank so deep that they lay out in the fields 
 all night. This gave Cowley the fever that 
 carried him off." Pope related the foregoing to 
 Spence ; but Cowley's biographer, Sprat, gives a 
 widely-different account of the poet's death. He 
 says — One day in the heat of summer, he had 
 stayed too long amongst his labourers in the 
 meadows, and was seized with a cold, which, 
 being neglected, proved fatal in a fortnight." 
 When the King, Charles II., heard of his death, 
 he said, Mr. Cowley had not left a better man 
 behind him in England." The body of Cowley 
 was brought to Westminster by water, and 
 amidst great pomp buried at night in the Abbey, 
 near to the graves of Chaucer and Spenser. In the 
 dim light of the church stood the most eminent 
 men of the day paying their respects to the 
 departed worthy. Said the London Gazette of the 
 time — He had been the greatest Ornament of 
 
134 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 the nation, as well by the candour of his life as by 
 the Excellency of his Writings." 
 
 The remains of Joseph Addison were laid 
 to rest in Westminster Abbey, at midnight, on 
 June 26th, 17 19. His body had previously lain 
 in state in the Jerusalem Chamber. When it was 
 being taken to its final resting place, Bishop At- 
 terbury," writes Macaulay, one of those Tories 
 who had loved and honoured the most accom- 
 plished of the Whigs, met the coach, and led the 
 procession by torch-light round the shrine of St. 
 Edward and the graves of the Plantagenets, to 
 the chapel of Henry the Seventh. Here the 
 coffin was lowered into a vault beside that of his 
 patron, Montague, the Earl of Halifax. A 
 number of the Westminster boys held tapers, 
 and by their light the Bishop impressively read 
 the church service. The solemn service inspired 
 some of Thomas Tickell's best lines. In a poem 
 addressed to the Earl of Warwick, after asking — 
 What mourner ever felt poetic fires ? 
 
 He says — 
 
 Slow comes the verse that real woe inspires : 
 
 Grief unaffected suits but ill with art, 
 
 Or flowing numbers with a bleeding heart. 
 
 Says the poet next — 
 
 Can I forget the dismal night that gave 
 My soul's best part for ever to the grave ? 
 
TORCH-LIGHT BURIALS. 1 35 
 
 How silent did his old companions tread, 
 
 By mid-night lamps, the mansions of the dead, 
 
 Through breathing statues, then unheeded things. 
 
 Through rows of warriors, and through walks of kings ! 
 
 What awe did the slow solemn knell inspire : 
 
 The pealing organ ; and the pausing choir ; 
 
 The duties by the lawn-robed prelate paid : 
 
 And the last words, that dust to dust conveyed ! 
 
 While speechless o'er thy closing grave we bend. 
 
 Accept these tears, thou dear departed friend. 
 
 Oh, gone for ever ! take this long adieu ; 
 
 And sleep in peace, next thy loved Montague. 
 
 A little later, on the night of September 25th, 
 1 72 1, the poet, Matthew Prior, was buried at 
 the feet of Spenser, in the Abbey. In the same 
 shrine a few years afterwards, on a dark 
 December night, on the 23rd of the month, 
 another poet, John Gay, was interred in the 
 Abbey. The poet Pope, and Lord Chesterfield, 
 were amongst the mourners. 
 
 The first actor buried in Westminster Abbey 
 was Thomas Betterton. He was a man of great 
 talents, and won a leading place on the stage, 
 and it has been said of him that he was not a 
 greater actor than he was a true and honourable 
 gentleman." One writer speaks of his having 
 a royal funeral," adding that " he was worthy of 
 it, for he was a king on the stage." Sir Richard 
 Steele, his old friend, who was present, made it 
 the theme of an interesting paper in the 
 
136 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Tatler." On the night of the 2nd of May, in 
 1 7 10, he was interred in the East Cloister. 
 Sixty-seven years later died Samuel Foote, the 
 famous comedian. At the time of his death, 
 which occurred at an inn in Dover, on October 
 2 1st, r777, he w^as on his way to the Continent 
 in search of health. A monument was placed to 
 his memory in St. Mary's Church, Dover, and it 
 is generally supposed that he was buried there ; 
 but such is not the case. We gather from the 
 
 Recollections of Bannister" that Mr. Jewell, 
 at the representation of half the actors and 
 dramatists of the day, brought the body to 
 London in order that it might be publicly interred 
 in Westminster Abbey ; but after he had taken 
 the step no funds were forthcoming, and he 
 buried his friend at his own expense in the 
 Cloisters." The ceremony was performed 
 privately by torch-light on a dark November 
 night. 
 
 Cowper's friend, Mrs. Unwin, died at East 
 Dereham, Norfolk, on December 17th, 1796. 
 The pair had spent together many happy years. 
 It appears from the life of the poet that he was 
 barely conscious of his loss. ^' On the morning 
 of her death," says Goldwin Smith, he asked 
 the servant whether there w^as life above stairs ? " 
 
TORCH-LIGHT BURIALS. 1 37 
 
 On being taken to see the corpse, he gazed at it 
 
 for a moment, uttered one passionate cry of 
 
 grief, and never spoke of Mrs. Unwin more." 
 
 She was buried on the 23rd of the same month, 
 
 by torch-hght, in the church of Dereham. A 
 
 marble tablet was placed to her memory, and 
 
 it bears the following epitaph : 
 
 Trusting in God, with all her heart and mind, 
 
 This woman prov'd magnanimously kind ; 
 
 Endur'd affliction's desolating hail, 
 
 And watch'd a poet thro' misfortune's vale. 
 
 Her spotless dust, angelic guards defend ! 
 
 It is the dust of Unwin, Cowper's friend ! 
 
 That single title in itself is fame, 
 
 For all who read his verse revere her name. 
 
 On April 25th, 1800, Cowper died, and in the 
 same church his remains were laid to rest. Of 
 the poet and his friend it has been said — They 
 were lovely in their lives, and in death they are 
 not divided." 
 
 Robert Kitchingham, in the year 1716, died 
 at the age of 100 years, at AUerton Hall, Leeds. 
 He left directions that the custom which had 
 been observed in the family for four centuries be 
 carried out, namely : — that of bearing his body 
 from the hall by torch-light. His ancestors had 
 their vault in St. Peter's, Leeds, but he desired 
 his body to be borne to Chapel-Allerton. This 
 was done on the i6th May, when one hundred 
 
 R 
 
138 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 torches were carried. The room where the 
 body lay was draped with black ; the neighbour- 
 ing gentry, as pall-bearers, wore black scarves, 
 and fifty pounds was distributed amongst the poor 
 in the chapel-yard at the time of the interment. 
 His wife, Mary, received burial in the same manner. 
 She was the sister of the Rev. Henry Robinson, 
 Vicar of Leeds, who swam the Aire to escape 
 the Parliamentary besiegers of Leeds, and for 
 some time remained concealed at Allerton Hall. 
 
 When the murdered Earl of Northumberland 
 was buried in Beverley Minster, in 1489, some 
 fourteen thousand persons attended the funeral, 
 many thousand torches were borne in the pro- 
 cession, and the expenses of torch bearers formed 
 a heavy amount in the costly funeral. 
 
 We obtain, from a copy of an undertaker's 
 
 account for September, 1780, a good idea of the 
 
 cost of a funeral of a person of the middle station 
 
 of life. It amounts to a little over ^61, and 
 
 includes items as follow : 
 
 To 32 men, carrying ye lights at 2s. 6d o o 
 
 To 32 branches for ditto o 5 4 
 
 To 681bs. of wax candles for ditto, at 3s. per lb. 10 4 o 
 To 2 beadles attending ye corps with silk 
 
 dressings and gowns i 10 o 
 
 The History of Skipton," by W. Harbutt 
 Dawson, published in 1882, contains notes of 
 great interest bearing on this subject. It appears 
 
TORCH-LIGHT BURIALS. 1 39 
 
 that down to the commencement of this century 
 torch-light funerals were very general in the old 
 Yorkshire town of Skipton. It was," says Mr. 
 Dawson, "in by-gone times an invariable custom 
 to bury at midnight a woman who had died at 
 the birth of her first child." He further states 
 that generally, too, her coffin was carried under 
 a white sheet, the corners of which were 
 supported by four females." Night funerals 
 were open to not a few grave objections, and in 
 1803 a town's meeting was held to consider them. 
 The meeting agreed with a representation made 
 by the Rev. Robert Dyneley, the curate, that 
 great inconvenience does frequently arise from 
 the custom of delaying funerals till a very late 
 and unreasonable hour in the evening. It was 
 resolved to prevent the delays which in most 
 cases were alike inconvenient to the officiating 
 minister and the well-disposed part of the 
 parishioners, and it was ordered that all funerals 
 be henceforth solemnised at or before six o'clock 
 in summer, and at or before four o'clock in the 
 winter — summer from the 2tst March to the 21st 
 October ; winter from the 21st October to the 
 2 1st March. 
 
 In the West of England are traces of 
 nocturnal burials. We gather from the Rev. 
 
140 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Robert Stephen Hawker's Cornish ballad, 
 entitled Annot of Benallay," that when ''The 
 Flower of Benallay " was borne to her grave : 
 
 At lone midnight the death-bell tolled, 
 
 To summon Annot's clay ; 
 For common eyes must not behold 
 
 The griefs of Benallay. 
 
 Pope aims his satire at the display of lights at 
 funerals, thus writing : 
 
 When Hopkins dies, a thousand lights attend 
 The wretch, who living, saved a candle's end. 
 
 We will close this chapter with a few lines on a 
 man of far different character to those we have 
 previously mentioned. The notorious highway- 
 man, Claude Du Vail, was executed at Tyburn 
 on January 21st, 1670, and his body afterwards 
 conveyed to a tavern in St. Giles, where it 
 lay in state. The room containing the body was 
 hung with black, and lit up with six wax tapers, 
 and eight men attired in long black cloaks 
 solemnly watched it. Subsequently he was 
 buried by torch-light under the middle aisle of 
 Covent Garden Church, and a large crowd, 
 chiefly composed of women, assembled to witness 
 the burial of Du Vail. Over his grave w^as 
 placed a white marble stone, bearing the Du Vail 
 arms and a curious epitaph concluding with the 
 following couplet : — 
 
 Old Tyburn's glory, England's illustrious Thief, 
 Du Vail, the Ladies' joy; Du Vail, the Ladies' grief. 
 
SIMPLE MEMORIALS OF THE 
 EARLY DEAD. 
 
 HE poetical practice of carrying 
 garlands before the corpses of 
 maidens at their funerals, and after- 
 wards suspending those mementoes 
 over the seats the deceased had 
 occupied in the church, once prevailed in nearly 
 all parts of the country, and still lingers in a 
 few rural districts. This beautiful rite may be 
 traced back to a remote period. At the burial 
 feasts of the Anglo-Saxons, flowers formed a 
 touching feature. In later times garlands made 
 of artificial flowers were adopted, because they 
 retained their beauty for a much longer time 
 than those formed of real flowers. 
 
 The works of dramatists and poets of bygone 
 times have numerous allusions to this theme. 
 Shakespeare, in Hamlet (V., i.) puts into the 
 mouth of the priest these words : 
 
 Yet here she is allow'd her virgin crants, * 
 Her maiden shewments, and the bringing home 
 Of bell and burial. 
 
 * ** Grants " means garlands. 
 
142 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 A Derbyshire poet named William Sampson, 
 writing in 1636, on the death of a maiden, says : 
 
 . The Temple was with garlands hung, 
 
 Of sweet-smelling flowers, which might belong 
 Unto some bridall ! noe ! heaven knows the cause, 
 'Twas otherwise decreed in Nature's Lawes ; 
 Those smelling sweetes with which our sense was fed, 
 Were for the buriall of a maiden dead. 
 
 We cull from an old ballad the following lines in 
 which references are made to garlands : 
 
 But since I'm resolved to die for my dear, 
 
 I'll chuse six young virgins my coffin to bear ; 
 
 And all those young virgins I now do chuse. 
 
 Instead of green ribbands, green ribbands, green ribbands, 
 
 Instead of green ribbands, a garland shall wear. 
 
 And when in the church in my grave I lie deep, 
 
 Let all those fine garlands, fine garlands, fine garlands, 
 
 Let all those fine garlands hang over my feet. 
 
 And when any of my sex behold the sight ; 
 
 They may see I have been constant, been constant, 
 
 They may see I'm constant to my heart's delight. 
 
 A couplet in Gay says : 
 
 To her sweet memory flow'ry garlands strung 
 On her empty seat aloft were hung. 
 
 Miss Anna Seward, who was born at Eyam, 
 Derbyshire, in the year 1742, in one of her 
 poems thus refers to the custom in her native 
 village : 
 
 Now the low beams with paper garlands hung 
 In memory of some village youth or maid, 
 
 Draw the soft tear, from thrill'd remembrance sprung ; 
 How oft my childhood marked that tribute paid ? 
 
SIMPLE MEMORIALS OF THE EARLY DEAD. 1 43 
 
 The gloves suspended by the garland's side, 
 White as its snowy flowers with ribands tied ; 
 
 Dear Village ! long those wreaths funereal spread, 
 Simple memorial of the early dead. 
 
 The foregoing lines first appeared in the Morning 
 Chronicle of September 25th, 1792. Miss 
 Seward appended to her poem a note stating 
 that ^' The ancient custom of hanging a garland 
 of white roses made of writing paper, and a pair 
 of white gloves, over the pew of the unmarried 
 villagers who die in the flower of their age, 
 prevails to this day in the village of Eyam, and 
 many other villages in the 
 Peak.' The garlands 
 remained in Eyam church 
 only for a few years after 
 Miss Seward had written 
 her poem. Early in the 
 present century the church 
 was repewed, and the gar- 
 lands taken down and 
 
 destroyed. It appears funeral garland 
 from a letter dated March Ma^/oc/e church. 
 
 31st, i860, written by William Wood, the 
 historian of Eyam, to the late Mr. Lie welly nn 
 Jewitt, F.S.A., the well-known antiquarian 
 author, that it is half-a-century since a funeral 
 garland was seen at this village. It was 
 
144 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 carried," says Wood, before the corpse of a 
 Miss Alice Heathcote, a young woman under 
 twenty ; it is little above twenty years ago. 
 The garland and two baskets of flowers in this 
 instance were thrown in the grave on to the 
 cofiin ; or rather most of the flowers were 
 strewn between the church gates and the church 
 door ; and the remainder with the garland into 
 the grave." 
 
 Until quite recently five garlands were sus- 
 pended in the north aisle of Ashford Church, 
 Derbyshire. One bore the date of April 12th, 
 1747 ; and another the following : — 
 
 Be always ready, no time delay, 
 I in my youth was called away, 
 Great grief to those that's left behind, 
 But I hope I'm great joy to find. 
 
 Ann Swindel, 
 
 Aged 22 years 
 
 Dec. 9th, 1798. 
 
 One is still preserved in the church of South 
 Wingfield near Alfreton. It was carried at the 
 funeral of Ann Kendall, who died of a broken 
 heart on May 14th, 1745. The story of her 
 death is very sad. The heartless conduct of 
 her lover killed her, but according to local 
 tradition he did not long survive her death. 
 She had only a short time been laid in her grave, 
 
SIMPLE MEMORIALS OF THE EARLY DEAD. 1 45 
 
 when, as he was riding past the churchyard on 
 horseback, the church bells commenced to toll, 
 and the unexpected sounds startled his horse so 
 that it stumbled, throwing him to the ground 
 and breaking his neck by the fall. The families 
 of the deceived and the deceiver are now extinct 
 in the village, but the tale is still told of Miss 
 Kendall's fall and her lover's tragic death. 
 
 We have found traces of funeral garlands 
 at Ashover, Bolsover, Fairfield, Matlock, 
 Tissington, Hope, and other Derbyshire 
 villages. Rhodes, author of " The Peak 
 Scenery," writing in 1818 about Hathersage, 
 says In this church we observed the traces of 
 a custom that once generally prevailed in various 
 parts of the kingdom, but is now almost totally 
 disused. When unmarried women died, they 
 were usually attended to the grave by the com- 
 panions of their early years, who, in performing 
 the last offices of friendship, accompanied the 
 bier of the deceased with garlands tastefully 
 composed of wreaths of flowers, and every 
 emblem of youth, purity, and loveliness that 
 imagination could suggest. When the body 
 was interred, the garlands were borne into the 
 church, and hung up in a conspicuous situation 
 in memory of the departed. There is something 
 
 s 
 
146 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 extremely simple and affecting in this village 
 custom, and we cannot but regret that it is now 
 almost entirely discontinued. In Hathersage 
 there were several of these memorials of early 
 dissolution, but only one of recent date ; the 
 others were covered with dust, and the hand of 
 Time had destroyed their freshness. 
 
 William Howitt, the popular author, was a 
 Derbyshire man, and was born at Heanor in 
 1795. He wrote some charming notes on this 
 subject. He never saw a garland carried at a 
 funeral, but recollected seeing them in the church 
 of his native village. His mother in her 
 younger days helped to prepare them for the 
 funerals of her friends. Large sums would often 
 be expended in ribbons, artificial flowers, and 
 costly materials for forming a garland, and we 
 have seen it recorded that at Glossop, Derby- 
 shire, the young men of the place on one 
 occasion gave thirty pounds for one which was 
 carried at the funeral of a maiden beloved by 
 all of them. 
 
 We gather from a carefully written description 
 of funeral garlands, contributed to the Anti- 
 quarian Repertory," published in the year 
 1784, that in some instances these memorials of 
 the early dead were extremely ornamental. 
 
SIMPLE MEMORIALS OF THE EARLY DEAD. 1 47 
 
 The account is well worth reproducing ; — The 
 lower rim, or circlet, was a broad hoop of wood, 
 whereunto was fixed at the sides thereof two 
 other hoops, crossing each other at the top at 
 right angles, which formed the upper part, being 
 about one third longer than the width. These 
 hoops were wholly covered with artificial flowers, 
 dyed horn, and silk, and more or less beautiful 
 according to the skill or ingenuity of the 
 performer. In the vacancy inside, from the top, 
 hung white paper cut in the form of gloves, 
 whereon was written deceased's name, age, etc., 
 together with long slips of various coloured 
 paper, or ribbons ; these were many times inter- 
 mixed with gilded or painted shells of blown 
 eggs, as further ornaments, or it may be as 
 emblems of bubbles, or the bitterness of this life ; 
 while other garlands had only a solitary hour- 
 glass hanging therein as a more significant 
 symbol of mortality." 
 
 We have found not a few traces of funeral 
 garlands in the North of England, and they 
 must have been general during the earlier half 
 of the last century, more especially in country 
 districts. In a volume dealing with the dialect 
 of Craven, in Yorkshire, it is recorded that in 
 many of the churches of the Deanery of Craven 
 
148 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 were to be seen garlands. Two girls, it is 
 stated, bore the garlands before the corpse, and 
 during the reading of the funeral service it was 
 placed on the coffin. At Bolton Abbey, one 
 was suspended in the church which had been 
 carried at the funeral of a young woman aged 
 about 21 years. At Grassington it was the 
 practice, on the death of a young maiden, for a 
 girl nearest in age and appearance to the 
 deceased to carry before the corpse a chaplet of 
 white flowers, which was afterwards hung up in 
 the church. In a charming little work now out 
 of print, and we presume seldom seen, called 
 Gleanings in Craven," we find an impressive 
 account of a village funeral of a little over a 
 century ago. " I heard a funeral dirge swell- 
 ing from the distance," says the author, and 
 looking through a little window I could see a 
 procession wending along a lane which made an 
 angle with the principal street, and as it was 
 not far from the inn, I could distinctly hear the 
 Psalmist's truthful words : — 
 
 But howsoever fresh and fair, 
 
 Its morning beauty shows ; 
 'Tis all cut down and wither'd quite, 
 
 Before the ev'ning close. 
 
 The procession now passed the door, pre- 
 ceded by two children dressed in white, holding 
 
SIMPLE MEMORIALS OF THE EARLY DEAD. 1 49 
 
 between them a chaplet of white flowers ; they 
 were followed by six young women dressed 
 alike in white, singing with much feeling 
 the Ninetieth Psalm — they were to relieve 
 the six young women who followed them, 
 holding the pieces of ribbon attached to the 
 handles of the coffin of their young friend. — 
 There were no relatives following for she was 
 an orphan. ... I followed the procession, 
 remaining at some distance from the grave, 
 which was happily situated under the only tree 
 in the churchyard. The clergyman, an elderly 
 gentleman, read the beautiful service very 
 impressively, until his voice was drowned in the 
 grief of his listeners, and it was only by the 
 inclination of the heads of those at the grave 
 side that I could tell all was concluded. At 
 last came the heavy fall of earth — the signal to 
 the living that they are left — and all parted to 
 their several homes in silence and in sorrow." 
 Mr. W. H. Dawson, the historian of Skipton, 
 contributed to Andrews' Modern Yorkshire 
 Poets " a poem on The Burial of the Craven 
 Yeoman." The strewing of flowers and the 
 singing of psalms formed a beautiful feature in 
 the funerals of gentle and simple, which in a 
 measure yet lingers in some of the remote parts of 
 
150 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Craven. The yeoman's funeral was impressive. 
 
 Not with gaudy, not with gloomy 
 Rites they bore his corse along, 
 
 But the way was bright with flowers, 
 And the air was sweet with song. 
 
 In the History of Thirsk," by Jefferson, 
 
 published in 1821, is a notice of Garlands in 
 
 Topcliffe Church. Some notes are also included 
 
 in the appendix, mainly compiled from the 
 
 Gentleman's Magazine," for June, 1747, and 
 
 they are described in the same words we have 
 
 reproduced in this chapter from the Antiquarian 
 
 Repertory." Wolsingham and Stanhope, in the 
 
 county of Durham, are named in Brand's 
 
 Popular Antiquities," as places where garlands 
 
 were to be seen. 
 
 " In this church," says Nichols, writing about 
 Waltham in Framland Hundred, under every 
 arch a garland is suspended ; one of which is 
 customarily placed there whenever any young 
 unmarried woman dies." 
 
 Sir Henry Ellis, in 1794, saw garlands of 
 white paper hanging in the Church of Paul's 
 Cray, in Kent. 
 
 At Llandovery," says a contributor to 
 ^' Chambers's Book of Days," the garlands and 
 gloves hang a year in the church, and are then 
 taken down, and on each anniversary of the death 
 
SIMPLE MEMORIALS OF THE EARLY DEAD. 151 
 
 of the virgin, the grave is by some friend 
 decorated with flowers, and a pair of white gloves 
 is laid upon it. These gloves are taken away by 
 the nearest relative who visits the grave that 
 day." 
 
 At Abbots Ann, near Andover, may be seen 
 in the church a number of garlands ranging in 
 date from 1740 to 1884, forming an interesting 
 link between the past and the present. 
 
 We have particulars of several other churches 
 where the garlands were only suspended in the 
 churches for twelve months, and of other churches 
 where they were buried in the graves of the 
 maidens in whose honour they were carried. 
 Many other places might be named, but we have 
 mentioned sufficient to show how general was 
 the custom in different parts of the country. It 
 still lingers at a few retired places where modern 
 display has not swept away these simple and 
 poetical ancient customs. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF PARISH 
 REGISTERS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 0 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 1/ 
 
 o y 
 
 
 1 / ° ° 
 V o 0 
 
 
 
 
 
 NGLISH parish registers date back 
 to the days of Henry VIII. 
 Shortly after the Reformation it was 
 deemed desirable to keep an account 
 of christenings, marriages, and burials 
 
 in each parish. An order was given in 1536 for 
 establishing registers, but it does not appear to 
 have been generally acted upon, for only eight 
 registers are known to exist prior to 1538. It 
 was generally believed that the records were 
 devised with a view of creating a new tax, and 
 they were the first of the popular grievances 
 which the insurgents of the Pilgrimage of Grace 
 widely circulated to stir up the people against the 
 leaders of the Reformed Church. When those in 
 authority saw that the project met with disfavour, 
 registers were allowed to stand in abeyance for a 
 couple of years until the strife had abated. On 
 September 29th, 1538, Thomas, Lord Cromwell, 
 
THE ROMANCE OF PARISH REGISTERS. 1 53 
 
 .the Vicar-General of the Kingdom, issued the 
 
 following injunction: — "The curate of every 
 
 parish shall keep one book or register, which 
 
 book he shall every Sunday take forth, and in the 
 
 presence of the churchwardens, or one of them, 
 
 write and record in the same all the weddings, 
 
 christ'nings, and burials made the whole week 
 
 before ; and for every time that the same shall 
 
 be omitted, shall forfeit to the said church iij5. 
 
 iiijii.," &c. Some 812 registers, dating back to 
 
 1538, have come down to our time. 
 
 The old churchwardens' accounts contain 
 
 entries of payments for registers. The following 
 
 is from St. Margaret's, Westminster : — 
 
 1538. — Paid for a book to registre in the names of 
 
 buryals, weddings and christ'nings 2d. 
 
 Many clergymen turned their registers into 
 common-place books, and recorded in them 
 particulars of national and local events, remark- 
 able conditions of the weather, and a variety of 
 other topics of more or less importance. It is 
 chiefly from such memorabilia that we shall 
 select illustrations for this chapter. 
 
 The notes on marriages are amongst the more 
 interesting passages in the old records. Formerly 
 the season for marriage was strictly kept in the 
 Church, and allusions to it are preserved in prose 
 
 T 
 
154 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 and poetry in old registers and other books. 
 
 The Rev. Nicholas Osgodly, vicar of St. Mary's, 
 
 Beverley, wrote at the commencement of his 
 
 register the following lines : — 
 
 Rules for Marriage, the Time, &c. 
 When Advent comes do thou refraine 
 Till Hillary sett ye free againe, 
 Next Septuagesima saith the nay, 
 But when Lowe Sunday comes thou may. 
 Yet at Rogation thou must tarry 
 Till Trinitie shall bid thee marry. — Nov. 25, 1641. 
 
 The register of Everton, Nottinghamshire, 
 
 supplies another version of these rhyming 
 
 regulations, as follows : — 
 
 Advent marriage doth deny, 
 But Hilary gives thee liberty. 
 Septuagesima says thee nay. 
 Eight days from Easter says you may. 
 Rogation bids thee to contain. 
 But Trinity sets thee free again. 
 
 Little notice is taken of the foregoing regu- 
 lations at the present time. During the reign of 
 our beloved Queen, Lent has been a favourite 
 season for royal weddings, although an old 
 couplet says : — 
 
 If you marry in Lent 
 You will live to repent. 
 
 In Scotland the prejudice is greater against 
 the month of May than the time of Lent. Lock- 
 hart observed that it was a classical as well as 
 Scottish prejudice, and it will be remembered 
 
THE ROMANCE OF PARISH REGISTERS. 1 55 
 
 that Sir Walter Scott hurried away from London 
 so that his daughter Sophia might be married 
 before the inauspicious month commenced. 
 
 During the Commonwealth, couples were 
 joined together by a magistrate. In 1654 an Act 
 was passed, directing that no marriage be cele- 
 brated without a certificate from the registration 
 proving that the banns had been published three 
 " successive Lord's Days at the close of the 
 morning exercise, in the public meeting place, 
 commonly called the church or chapel, or, if the 
 parties preferred, in the market-place, on three 
 successive market days." In many towns the 
 bellman proclaimed the banns in the public 
 markets. At Boston, Lincolnshire, the announce- 
 ments in the market-place were more popular 
 than those of the church. It appears from the 
 registers in the years 1656, 1657, and 1658, there 
 were proclaimed in the market-place, 102, 104, and 
 108, and in the church during those years, 48, 
 31, and 52 banns. The following is an entry of 
 a marriage, drawn from the parish register of 
 Winteringham : — 
 
 The purpose of marriage betwixt Thomas Wressell, of this 
 parish, aud Margaret Davison, of Burton-super-Stather, was 
 first time published in our market, upon Saturday, April 19th, 
 the 26th, and the 3rd May, 1656. They were married." 
 
 Armed with a certificate, the pair who wished 
 
156 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 to be united in wedlock appeared before the 
 
 nearest justice of peace, and the man, taking the 
 
 woman by the hand, pronounced plainly and 
 
 distinctly the following words : — 
 
 I (A. B.) do here, in the presence of God, the searcher of 
 all hearts, take thee (C. D.) for my wedded wife, and do also, 
 in the presence of God and before these witnesses, promise to 
 be unto thee a loving and faithful husband. 
 
 The woman in like manner declared that she 
 would be ^' a loving, faithful, and obedient wife." 
 They were then pronounced man and wife. The 
 Puritans, knowing the wedding ring to be 
 of heathen origin, felt that it should be omitted 
 from the ceremony. Butler, in his HudibraSj 
 aims his shots of ridicule at those who would 
 banish it. He thus writes : — 
 Others were for abolishing 
 
 This tool of matrimony, a ring, " .'.i ' t 
 
 With which th' unsanctify'd Bridegroom 
 
 Is married only to a thumb 
 
 (As wire or ringing of a pig 
 
 That used to break up ground and dig) 
 
 The Bride to nothing but her will, 
 
 That nulls the after marriage still. 
 
 The Act only remained in operation until 1658, 
 when the old rites of religion were allowed to be 
 performed by those who preferred them. 
 
 The marriage of the deaf and dumb is now 
 performed by the manual process. In the days 
 of yore it was attended with much more cere- 
 
THE ROMANCE OF PARISH REGISTERS. 1 57 
 
 mony. The parish register of St. Martin's 
 Leicester supplies some curious details on this 
 subject. Under date of February 15, 1576, it is 
 stated : — 
 
 Thomas Tilsye and Ursula Russel were maryed; and 
 because the sayde Thomas was and is naturally deafe, and also 
 dumbe, so that the order of the form of marriage used usually 
 amongst others, which can heare and speake, could not for his 
 parte be observed. After the approbation had from Thomas, 
 the Bishoppe of Lincolne, John Chippendale, doctor in law, and 
 commissarye, as also of Mr. Richd. Davye, then Mayor of the 
 town of Leicester, with others of his brethren, with the rest of 
 the parishe, the said Thomas, for the expressing of his mind 
 instead of words, of his own accord, used these signs : first he 
 embraced her with his arms, and took her by the hand, putt a 
 ring upon her finger, and layde his hande upon his hearte, and 
 then upon her hearte, and held up his hands toward heaven. 
 And to show his continuance to dwell with her to his lyves 
 ende he did it by closing of eyes with his handes,and digginge 
 out of the earth with his foote, and pullinge as though he 
 would ring a bell, with diverse other signes. 
 
 The register of St. Botolph, Aldgate, London, 
 has a detailed record of a similar marriage which 
 was celebrated in 16 18. Before the happy pair 
 wete united, the Lord Chief Justice of the King's 
 Bench was consulted, and he said such marriages 
 were legal. 
 
 The old parish of Dudbrook, near Halstead, 
 Essex, furnishes two notable instances of devoted 
 worshippers of Hymen. An inscription on a 
 tablet says that Robert Hogan was the husband 
 
158 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 of seven wives successively." An entry in the 
 
 parish register records that : 
 
 Mary Blewitt, ye wife of nine husbands successively, buried 
 eight of ym, b ut last of all ye woman dy'd and was buried, 
 May 7th 1 68 1. 
 
 In the margin of the register it is written, 
 
 This was her funeral text." 
 
 The following romantic record appears in 
 
 the parish register of Bermondsey Church, and 
 
 was entered in 1604 : — 
 
 August. — The forme of a solemn vowe made betwixt a man 
 and his wife; the man havinge bene long absent, through which 
 occasion the woman being married to another man, took her 
 again as followeth : The man's speech — Elizabeth, my beloved 
 wife, I am right sorie that I have so long absented mysealfe 
 from thee, whereby thou shouldst be occasioned to take 
 another man to thy husband. Therefore I do now vowe and 
 promise, in the sight of God and this companie, to take thee 
 again as my oune; and will not onley forgive thee, but also dwell 
 with thee, and doe all other duties unto thee as I promised at 
 our marriage. The woman's speech-Kalph, 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 do renounce and forsake him, and do promise to keep 
 mysealfe only unto thee during life, and to perform all dufies 
 which I first promised unto thee in marriage." The entry 
 concludes as follows: ''The first day of August, 1604, 
 Raphe Goodchild, of the parish of Barkinge, in Thames 
 street, and Elizabeth, his wife, weare agreed to live together, 
 and thereupon gave their hands one to another, making either 
 of them vows so to doe, in the presence of VVillm. Stere, 
 parson ; Edward Coker, and Richd. Eire, clerk." 
 
 Yorkshire history supplies an account of a 
 woman being twice married to the same man. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF PARISH REGISTERS. 1 59 
 
 "On the ist October, 1827," it is stated that 
 " Samuel Lumb, sen., of Sowerby, 83 years of 
 age, was married, at Halifax, to Mrs. Rachael 
 Heap, to whom he had been previously married 
 about 25 years before. Her first husband had 
 entered the army, and was, at the time of her 
 first marriage with Mr. Lumb, supposed to be 
 dead. In a few years, however, he returned, 
 and demanded his wife, whom he found living 
 with Mr. Lumb, and by whom she had three 
 children. However, after some negotiation. Heap 
 agreed to sell her, and Mr. Lumb bought her, 
 and she was actually delivered to him in a halter, 
 at Halifax Cross. At her last marriage she was 
 given away at the altar by Mr. Lumb's grandson." 
 Her first husband had died a few months prior to 
 the last marriage. 
 
 The Sheldon register contains the record of a 
 strange marriage. It is therein stated : — 
 
 6th January, 1753. 
 The man was 14 years of age. 
 Marr'd. — Cornelius White and Ellen Dale, of Sheldon. 
 The woman 70. 
 
 A correspondent of the Derby Mercury^ in 
 
 a letter dated two days after the wedding, 
 
 gave a racy account of the matter, and, in 
 
 course of his communication, it is stated that 
 
 the bride was a gentlewoman and a widow, and 
 
l60 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 that the youthful bridegroom had the consent 
 of his parents to take Mrs. Dale for his wife. 
 
 As she was rendered incapable of walk- 
 ing by a complication of disorders," says the 
 writer, she was carried in her chair from her 
 house to the chapel, about a hundred yards 
 distant, attended by a numerous concourse of 
 people, where the ceremony was performed with 
 becoming seriousness and devotion ; after which 
 she was reconducted in the same manner, the 
 music playing, by her orders, the Duke of 
 Rutland's Hornpipe before her, to w^hich (as she 
 was disabled from dancing) she beat time with 
 her hands on her petticoats till she got home, 
 and then she called for her crutches, commanded 
 her husband to dance, and shuffled herself as well 
 as she could." Further details are supplied of 
 the merrymaking at the marriage, including the 
 ringing of the church bell and other demon- 
 strations of joy. She did not long survive her 
 marriage, for in the same paper and in the same 
 month is a record of her death and funeral. This 
 says she was handsomely interred " at Bakewell 
 Church, and ''a funeral sermon preached on the 
 occasion to a numerous and crowded audience, 
 by the Rev. Gentleman who had lately performed 
 the nuptial ceremony." 
 
THE ROMANCE OF PARISH REGISTERS. l6l 
 
 In one of our papers contributed to Chambers's 
 Journal for February i8th, 1888, on ''Some 
 Armless Wonders," we state that there is a record 
 in the parish register of St. James' Church, 
 Bury St. Edmunds, of the marriage of an armless 
 woman. It is stated on the 5th November, 
 1832: 
 
 Christopher Newsam married Charity Morrell. Charity 
 Morrell being entirely without arms, the ring was placed upon 
 the fourth toe of the left foot, and she wrote her name in this 
 register with her right foot. 
 
 The same article includes a notice of Sarah 
 
 Tissington, the armless wonder of Carsington, 
 
 Derbyshire. The particulars respecting her 
 
 which have come down to us are brief, but full 
 
 of interest, and occur in the parish register of 
 
 her native village, under date of September 29, 
 
 1688, and are as follows : 
 
 Sarah Tissington, a poor young woman, born into the world 
 without any hands or arms, yet was very nimble and active in the 
 use of her feet, with which she could not only take up things 
 from the ground, and play at most childish games with her 
 playfellows when she was a child ; but also when grown up, she 
 could knit, dig in the garden, and do divers other services 
 with her feet. She was aged twenty-four or twenty-five years, 
 and departed this life the day and year aforesaid, born and 
 buried at Carsington. 
 
 Several entries have come under our notice 
 relating to settling quarrels. It was not an 
 uncommon custom to make up misunderstandings 
 
 u 
 
l62 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 under the shadow of the church instead of in a 
 court of law. Such reconciliations were frequently 
 recorded in the parish book. The earliest register 
 at Twickenham, Middlesex, contains the following : 
 
 The fourth day of Aprell in 1568 in the presence of the 
 hole paryshe of Twycknam was agreement made betwyxt Mr. 
 Parker and hys Wyffe, & Hewe Rythe and Sicylye Daye, of 
 a slander brought up by the sayde Rythe and Sicylye Daye 
 upon the aforesayde Mr. Parker. 
 
 The 10 daye of Aprell 1568 was agreement made between 
 Thomas Whytt and James Heme, and have consented that 
 whosoever giveth occasion of the breaking of Christen love and 
 charyty betwyxt them, to forfeit to the poor of the paryshe 3s. 
 & 4d. being dewlye proved. 
 
 This practice may be traced back to an early 
 period in our annals. We have a note of a great 
 quarrel being made up m the reign of Edward 
 III., and the fact enrolled in the missal of 
 Eastbourne Priory. We find it stated that in 
 the year 1691, John Hall left to the Weavers' 
 Company a dwelling-house, with instructions to 
 pay out of the rent ten shillings per annum to the 
 churchwardens of St. Clement, Eastcheap, London, 
 to provide on the Thursday night before Easter 
 two turkeys for the parishioners, on the occasion 
 of their annual reconciling or love feast for the 
 settlement of quarrels or disputes. 
 
 Fools found a place in the great halls of the 
 nobility until the period of the Civil War, when 
 
THE ROMANCE OF PARISH REGISTERS. 1 63 
 
 they appear to have fallen into disfavour. 
 
 Records of their deaths appear in parish registers. 
 
 The following is from St. Anne's, Blackfriars : — 
 
 1580 William, foole to my Lady Jerningham, bur. 21 
 March. 
 
 The one as follows is from St. John's, New- 
 castle-on-Tyne : — 
 
 1589. Edward Errington the Towne's FooU, bur. 23 Aug. 
 died in the peste. 
 
 Alderman Hornby, in a note on the last entry, 
 questions the accuracy of a statement occurring 
 in a local work, that Errington, like the fools in 
 the palace of the king and the hall of the noble, 
 was employed for the amusement of the Corpor- 
 ation. He believes that he was an idiot kept at 
 the expense of the town. 
 
 A famous fool, named Dicky Pearce, died in 
 1728, at the age of 63 years, and was buried at 
 Beckley, and Swift wrote the following epitaph 
 for his gravestone : 
 
 Here lies the Earl of Suffolk's Fool, 
 
 Men call him Dicky Pearce ; 
 His folly served to make men laugh, 
 
 When wit and mirth were scarce. 
 Poor Dick, alas ! is dead and gone, 
 
 What signifies to cry ? 
 Dickys enough are still behind 
 
 To laugh at by and by. 
 
 The last fool retained in an English family 
 
164 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 was the one at Hilton Castle, Durham, who died 
 in the year 1746. 
 
 Ben Jonson had the misfortune to kill an 
 actor in a duel in Hoxton Fields. THe poor 
 player's burial is thus recorded in the parish 
 register of St. Leonard's, Shoreditch : 
 
 1598. Gabriel Spencer being slayne, was buryed 24 Sept. 
 
 Jonson was made a prisoner, and narrowly 
 escaped the gallows. " Indeed," says J. A. 
 Symonds, it is now proved by a document 
 brought recently to light, that he was tried and 
 convicted of felony, that he pleaded guilty, 
 claimed benefit of clergy, and was set at large 
 with the letter T branded on his left thumb." 
 His peril made an impression on his mind, and 
 caused him to give religious matters serious con- 
 sideration, and to amend his wayward life. 
 
 A large number of Danish soldiers came 
 
 over to this country to join the army of William, 
 
 Prince of Orange. At Beverley two of the 
 
 Danes quarrelled, and had an encounter, which 
 
 unhappily proved fatal to one of the men. The 
 
 register of St Mary's states : — 
 
 1689 December 16. — Daniel Straker, a Danish trooper, 
 buried. 
 
 ,, December 23. — Johannes Frederick Bellow, a Danish 
 trooper, beheaded for killing the 
 the other, buried. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF PARISH REGISTERS. 1 65 
 
 A tablet on the south side of St. Mary's 
 relates to the melancholy circumstance. We 
 give an illustration of the monument. 
 
 TABLET AT ST. MARY'S CHURCH, BEVERLEY. 
 
 This is a remarkable instance of a foreign law- 
 being enforced on English soil. 
 
 The parish register of West Hallam, under 
 date of April 13, 1698, states : 
 
 Katherine the wife of Tho. Smith alias Cutler v;as found felo 
 de se by ye Coroners inquest & interred in ye crosse ways 
 near ye wind mill on ye same day. 
 
 It was formerly the practice to bury suicides 
 
 at midnight, with a stake driven through their 
 
1 66 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 bodies, at cross-roads. On October 29th, 1887, 
 appeared in the Local Notes and Queries" of 
 the Nottinghamshire Guardian^ a curious note on 
 this subject. About one and a half miles south 
 of Boston, on what was called the low road to 
 Freiston, a very ancient hawthorn tree marked 
 the spot, and the tree itself was said to have 
 sprung from the stake which was driven through 
 the body of the self-murderer." In 1823, the 
 Royal Assent was given to an Act to alter and 
 amend the law relating to the interment of the 
 remains of any person found Felo de s^." It 
 directed that the bodies of suicides be buried 
 without a stake being driven through their bodies, 
 and that the interments be in the churchyard or 
 other burial ground, and be made within twenty- 
 four hours after the coroner's inquest, and 
 between the hours of nine and twelve at night. 
 
 It was believed for a long period in this 
 country that the body of a dead person might be 
 seized for debt. Hidden away in ancient parish 
 registers, old newspapers, and magazines are 
 particulars of authenticated instances of funerals 
 being stopped on their way to the graveyard. 
 The following are amongst the more notable 
 cases, and form a strange chapter in English 
 history. The first example we have found occurs 
 
THE ROMANCE OF PARISH REGISTERS. 1 67 
 
 in the parish register of Sparsholt, Berkshire. 
 
 It is therein stated that : 
 
 The corpse of John Matthews, of Fawler, was stopt on the 
 churchway for debt, August 27, 1689. And having laine there 
 fower days, was by Justices warrant buryied in the place to 
 prevent annoyances— but about sixe weeks after it was by an 
 Order of Sessions taken up and buried in the Churchyard by 
 the wife of the deceased. 
 
 A gravestone in North Wingfield, Derbyshire, 
 
 contains an epitaph referring to this theme. The 
 
 following is a copy of the inscription : 
 
 In memory of Thomas, 
 son of John and Mary Clay, 
 who departed this life December i6th 1724, 
 in the 40th year of his age. 
 
 What though no mournful kindred stand 
 
 Around the solemn bier, 
 No parents wring the trembling hand, 
 
 Or drop the silent tear, 
 No costly oak adorned with art 
 
 My weary limbs inclose : 
 No friends impart a winding-sheet 
 
 To deck my last repose. 
 
 We learn that Clay was a man of intemperate 
 habits, and at the time of his death was indebted 
 to the village innkeeper to the extent of twenty 
 pounds. The publican determined to seize the 
 body ; but the parents carefully locked the door 
 until the time appointed for the funeral. As soon 
 as it was opened, the innkeeper rushed into the 
 house and seized the corpse, which he removed 
 to the open street, and placed it on a form in 
 
1 68 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 front of the residence of the parents of the 
 departed. After the body had been exposed for 
 some days it was committed to the ground by the 
 publican in a bacon chest. 
 
 Some interesting details of an attempt to stop 
 a funeral were published in the Tijnes, September 
 5th, 1794. On Tuesday last," says the report, 
 the corpse of a gentleman, as it was proceeding 
 in a hearse to the burial ground, was arrested by 
 a Sheriff's officer and his followers, under a 
 warrant as usual granted against the body. The 
 friends who followed immediately left their 
 coaches, and told the officer if he chose he was 
 welcome to the body, but he should have neither 
 coffin, shroud, nor any particle in which the body 
 was enveloped, and if he took them by force he 
 should be indicted for a highway robbery, as 
 those matters were the property of the executors; 
 nay, they went further, and said, that as the 
 deceased had, by his will, bequeathed his body 
 to his executors, no execution would hold good 
 against the corpse, the process must be against 
 them. The bailiff, very properly being persuaded 
 that the spirit of the law meant the living, not 
 the dead body, marched off without insisting on 
 the legality of his capture. This is the first 
 instance of the kind that has happened since the 
 
THE ROMANCE OF PARISH REGISTERS. 1 69 
 
 arrest of the dead body of a sheriff of London, 
 not many years since." The latest recorded 
 instance of seizing a body for debt is given in the 
 pages of the Gentleman's Magazine. It is stated 
 under date of October i6, 1811, as follows: 
 As a funeral procession was preparing to 
 proceed from Hoxton to Shoreditch burial- 
 ground, the ceremony was prevented by a sherift's 
 officer and his assistants, who, having presented 
 a writ, removed the body into shell, and conveyed 
 it away. The authors of this disgraceful pro- 
 ceeding applied the following day to the minister 
 of Shoreditch to inter the corpse, which he very 
 properly refused to do, unless the service was 
 read over it, which would insure the security of 
 the body in holy ground. The sheriffs have 
 caused inquiry to be instituted into the circum- 
 stances of the case, and finding that, though the 
 officer did not disturb the body himself, he 
 improperly left it with the plaintiff without having 
 made any communication at the sheriff s office, 
 they have dismissed him from his employment." 
 
 Since the foregoing case we have not found 
 any further account of the dead being detained 
 for debt. 
 
 The facts about Mrs. Elizabeth Woodcock, 
 who lived eight days and nights without food 
 
 V 
 
170 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 under the snow, are familiar to most readers who 
 ramble in literary byways. Her case and that of 
 others are fully set forth in the pages of 
 Chambers's ''Book of Days/' vol. i., p. 342, but 
 no mention is made of the following remarkable 
 case, which is given in the parish register of 
 Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire : 
 
 On March the i6th, 17 16, one Phoenix, a girl of about 13 
 years of age, a parish apprentice with Mr. Ward, of Peak 
 Forest, went from George Bowden's house, of Lane End, 
 about five o'clock in the morning, towards her master's house. 
 She sat down on Peaslow between the ruts on G. Bowden's 
 part (or road), and stayed that day and the next, and the 
 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday following, two of which days — 
 viz., the i6th and 17th — were the most severe for snowing and 
 driving that hath been in the memory of man. She was found 
 alive on Monday, about one o'clock, by W. Jackson, of 
 Sparrow Pit, and W. Longden, of Peak Forest, and after 
 slender refreshment of a little hot milk, was carried to her 
 master's house, and is now (March 25, 17 17) very well, only a 
 little stiffness in her limbs. This was the Lord's doing, and 
 will be marvellous in future generations. She eat no meat 
 during the six days, nor was she hungry, but very thirsty, and 
 slept much. 
 
 The Youlgreave register contains a most 
 interesting account of the ''great snow of 16 14-5." 
 It commenced on the i6th of January, and on 
 some of the hills it remained until VVhitsun 
 week. Says the record : 
 
 Uppon May-day, in the morning, instead of fetching in 
 flowers, the youthes brought in flakes of snow, wch lay above 
 a foot deep uppon the moores and mountaynes. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF PARISH REGISTERS. I7I 
 
 The following summer [1615] was very dry, 
 
 and amongst other particulars of it we find in the 
 
 register that : 
 
 There was no rayne fell uppon the earth from the 25111 day 
 of March till 2nd day of May, and then there was but one 
 shower, after which there fell none tyll the i8th day of June, 
 and then there fell an other ; after yt there fell none at all till 
 the 4th day of August, after which tyme there was sufficient 
 rayne uppon the earth ; so that the greatest pt of this land, 
 especially the south pts, were burnt upp both corne and hay. 
 An ordinary sumer load of hay was at 2/., and little or none 
 to be gott for money. 
 
 The winter of 1623 was severe. The Wad- 
 hurst, Sussex, register states : 
 
 This year fell the greatest snow which was in man's 
 memory ; it did abide from the end of January till April. 
 
 We will conclude with a strange story from 
 the register at Ashover, Derbyshire. It runs 
 thus : 
 
 1 660. Dorothy Matley, supposed wife of John Flint, of 
 this parish, forswore herselfe ; whereon the ground open, and 
 she sanke over hed March ist ; and being found dead she was 
 buried March 2d./ 
 
 Bunyan introduces this remarkable record into 
 his ^'Life of Mr. Badman," first published in 1680. 
 It is stated that Dorothy was washing one day 
 upon the top of a steep hill, about a quarter of a 
 mile from Ashover, and was there taxed by a lad 
 for taking of two single pence out of his pocket, 
 but she violently denied it, wishing the ground 
 might swallow her up if she had them. She also 
 
IJ2 
 
 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 used the same wicked words on several other 
 occasions that day." Then follows the narrative 
 of one George Hodgkinson, a man of good 
 report." He says that he saw the woman, and 
 her tub and sieve, twisting round, and sinking 
 into the ground. She cried for help, and when 
 the man was thinking how he might assist her, 
 it is asserted that immediately a great stone, 
 which appeared on the earth fell in upon her 
 head, and broke her skull, and then the earth fell 
 in upon her and covered her. She was after- 
 wards digged up and found about four yards 
 within the ground, and the boy's two single 
 pence in her pocket, but the tub and sieve could 
 not be found.." 
 
 We have in this article reproduced some of 
 the extracts given in The History of Parish 
 Registers in England," by J. S. Burn (London, 
 1862), also a few from ''Parish Registers in 
 England," by R. E. Chester Waters, B.A. 
 (London, 1883). In the pages of Henderson's 
 '' Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties " (London, 
 1879), ^"^^ have found information of a suggestive 
 character. Dr. Cox's valuable volumes on the 
 *' Derbyshire Churches " have also been drawn 
 upon, and many parish registers consulted. 
 
DOG WHIPPERS AND SLUGGARD 
 WAKERS. 
 
 WO quaint offices, known as Dog 
 Whippers and Sluggard Wakers, 
 existed in the olden time in the 
 church. The duties of the two 
 positions were frequently performed 
 by one person, and on this account we treat the 
 two together in this chapter. Not a few persons 
 in bygone ages felt it a duty to leave part of 
 their worldly wealth to pay persons for going 
 about the church during the time of public 
 service, to keep awake the congregation, and to 
 drive out any stray dogs which might find their 
 way into the building. At Claverley, Shrop- 
 shire, one Richard Dovey, in the year 1659, 
 left certain property near the church on condition 
 that eight shillings per year be paid out of the 
 rent to a poor man to awaken sleepers in the 
 church and to drive out dogs. In 1725, at 
 Trysull, Staffordshire, John Rudge left a pound 
 a year to be paid quarterly, for a poor man to 
 
174 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 walk about the parish church during the time 
 of preaching the sermon to keep folks awake. 
 He had also to keep dogs out of the church. 
 Another Staffordshire man named Richard 
 Brooke left a piece of land, part of the proceeds 
 of the rent were to be paid to keep boys quiet in 
 the church and churchyard, in the time of divine 
 service. At Chislet, Kent, is a piece of land 
 known as ^' Dog-whipper's Marsh," from which 
 a payment of ten shillings a year was to be 
 devoted to paying for the services of keeping 
 order in the church during the time of public 
 worship. We also find it recorded by Edwards 
 in his " Remarkable Charities," that from time 
 immemorial an acre of land in the parish of 
 Peterchurch, Herefordshire, has been appro- 
 priated to the use of a person for keeping dogs 
 out of the church, such person being appointed 
 by the minister and churchwardens. 
 
 There were various modes of awaking 
 sleepers. It was the practice in one church for 
 the beadle to walk quietly round the sacred 
 edifice carrying in his hand a long staff, at one 
 end of which was a fox's brush, and at the 
 other a knob. If he caught a lady asleep 
 he gently tickled her face with the brush, but if 
 a man were found napping, a sensible rap with 
 
DOG WHIPPERS AND SLUGGARD WAKERS. 1 75 
 
 the knob end of the rod was bestowed upon him. 
 At Dunchurch a sluggard waker was employed. 
 He is described by a correspondent as a 
 respectable-looking man, having much of the 
 air of a churchwarden. He says that he carried 
 a long stout wand, with a fork at the end of it. 
 
 At intervals," he states, he stepped stealthily 
 up and down the naves and aisles of the church, 
 and whenever he saw an individual whose senses 
 were buried in oblivion, he touched him with his 
 wand so effectually that the spell was broken, 
 and in an instant he was recalled to all the 
 realities of life. I watched as he mounted, with 
 easy steps, into the galleries. At the end of one 
 of them, there sat in the front seat a young man 
 who had very much the appearance of a farmer, 
 with his mouth open, and his eyes closed, a 
 perfect picture of repose. The official marked 
 him for his own, and having fitted his fork to the 
 nape of his neck, he gave him such a push, that, 
 had he not been used to such visitations, it 
 would probably have produced an ejaculatory 
 start highly inconvenient on such occasions. 
 But no, everyone seemed to quietly acquiesce in 
 the usage, and whatever else they might be 
 dreaming of, they certainly did not dream of the 
 infringement upon the liberties of the subject, 
 
176 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 nor did they think of applying for a summons 
 on account of the assault." 
 
 In the earlier years of the present century at 
 Holy Trinity Church, Warrington, a masculine 
 sort of woman named Betty Finch was employed 
 as the bobber." She is described as walking 
 majestically along the aisles during the service, 
 armed with a long stick like a fishing-rod, which 
 had a ^^bob" fastened to the end of it, and 
 when she caught any one sleeping or talking 
 she gave him a nudge." Her son was 
 engaged in the belfry, and often truthfully sang : 
 
 My father's a clerk, 
 
 My sister's a singer, 
 My mother's the bobber, 
 
 And I am a ringer. 
 
 In Baslow Church, an ancient chapel of 
 Bakewell, Derbyshire, there is still preserved 
 the dog-whipper's implement. There are also 
 persons alive or recently deceased who can 
 recollect its use. The thong of the whip is 
 about three feet long, and is fastened to a long 
 ash stick, round the handle of which is a band 
 of twisted leather. In the church of Clynnog- 
 fawr, in North Wales, is an instrument for 
 dragging dogs out of the church. It is a long 
 pair of lazy tongs " with sharp spikes fixed at 
 the end. 
 
DOG WHIPPERS AND SLUGGARD WAKERS. 1 77 
 
 It will not be without interest if we next 
 furnish a few examples of entries bearing on this 
 subject, extracted from our old parish accounts. 
 Wakefield churchwardens' accounts present the 
 following items : 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 1616— Paid to Gorby Stork for whippinge 
 
 doggs o 2 6 
 
 1624 — Paid to the dogwhippar 020 
 
 1625) Paid to Lyght Owler for whippinge 
 
 1628 1 dogs o I 4 
 
 [Mr. W. S. Banks says *' Dog-whipper is the name by which the 
 verger was called for a century or more. The name has come down to our 
 own time in the form of ' Dog-nawper.' ' Nawpin ' is striking on the 
 
 head."] 
 
 1664 — Dog whipper for his qr. wages o 4 o 
 
 1 703... For hatts, shoes, and hoses for sexton 
 
 and dog-whipper o 18 6 
 
 [These officers were clothed down to 1820, and there are payments 
 on this account throughout,] 
 
 Barnsley churchwardens' accounts record : 
 
 1647 — To Richard Hodgson's wife for whip- 
 ping dogs 00 02 00 
 
 At East Witton, Yorkshire, w^as an official 
 known as the dog-whipper, who received a 
 salary of eight shillings a year. 
 
 Mr. John Nicholson, Librarian of the Hull 
 Literary Club, author of '^The Folk-Lore of 
 East Yorkshire," writes us an interesting note 
 respecting the office of ^Mog-noper," the East 
 Yorkshire designation for dog-whipper. The 
 office and person," says Mr. Nicholson, ^^are 
 
 w 
 
178 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 now obsolete ; but many years ago, the dog- 
 noper was an important and indispensable 
 personage, plurality of offices being a great 
 source of strength. He was not unfrequently 
 beadle, sexton, constable, dog-noper and slug- 
 gard waker all in one. When such was the 
 case, on the occasion of a funeral, he headed the 
 procession from the house of mourning to the 
 gate of the churchyard, bearing in his hand his 
 rod of office, decorated by a piece of black crape. 
 While the bearers rested a moment at the lych- 
 gate, he went to the belfry to toll the death bell, 
 until all the mourners entered the church. It is 
 related that on one occasion, he had suspected 
 that the grave was not large enough, and while 
 the mourners aw^aited his signal for leaving the 
 church, he went up to the coffin, measured it 
 with his spade, and ejaculated, * She won't go 
 in ! She won't go in ! ' So there was a tem- 
 porary delay until the grave was made larger. 
 
 ''In rural districts, where the parish was ex- 
 tensive, and some of the worshippers from 
 solitary farmhouses, lived miles away from the 
 church, something was gained if spiritual profit 
 could be combined with worldly advantage. So 
 the farmer would take his sheep-dog with him, 
 and look after his flocks and herds by the way. 
 
DOG WHIPPERS AND SLUGGARD WAKERS. 1 79 
 
 Arrived at the church, the dog entered with him, 
 
 and crouched under the seat, for a time, until other 
 
 canine brethren were discovered near at hand. 
 
 Restlessness followed the discovery, then motion, 
 
 then locomotion, until two or three met in the 
 
 aisle. There might only be a sniff and friendly 
 
 greeting, if so, all well ; but if the collision 
 
 produced growls and snarls, culminating into 
 
 warfare, then could the office of dog-noper be 
 
 glorified. Bearing down upon the combatants, 
 
 who were oblivious to the cries of their owners, 
 
 he with his stout cudgel quickly made third man 
 
 among them, and as the beaten dogs slunk to 
 
 their places to lick their bruises, he returned to 
 
 his post near the door with a glad heart, proud 
 
 of having ' something attempted, something 
 
 done ; ' and as the congregation settled in their 
 
 places, and the noise subsided, the clergyman 
 
 resumed the service. 
 
 ^^When children sing ; 
 
 Bells is ringin', 
 Cats is singin', 
 
 And dogs is gannin' ti chotch, 
 they give us a fairly good picture of the days of 
 the dog-noper. When the church bells were 
 ringing for service, the cats were left at home, 
 to bask before the fire, and sing ' three-thrums ' 
 on the hearthrug, while the dogs went to church 
 
l8o CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 with their masters, and lay under the seat of the 
 pew until the service was over." 
 
 From the parish accounts of Burnley, 
 Lancashire, we have the following item : — 
 1728-9, April 29. — For whipping dogs 040 
 
 We have extracted entries from the accounts 
 of four Lincolnshire parishes. 
 
 At Croft it is stated, in the old town's book, 
 under the year 171 8 : — 
 
 For dog's whipping ... 00 07 06 
 
 In the churchwardens' account of Kirton-in- 
 Lindsey : — 
 
 1 81 7 — For dog whipping o 6 8 
 
 The Louth churchwardens' accounts for the 
 year 1 550, contain a charge of twopence to the 
 bellman for beating the dogges out of the 
 church." Similar entries occur at intervals until 
 1705, when we find one shilling paid for the 
 performance of the duties. 
 
 In the churchwardens' accounts of Barton-on- 
 Humber is an entry : 
 
 1740 — Paid Brocklebank for waking sleepers 020 
 
 We have next items from the accounts of 
 
 three Derbyshire parishes. The churchwardens' 
 
 accounts of South Wingfield contain an entry : 
 
 Accounts of Robert Smith, churchwarden of ye hamlet 
 of Oakerthorpe, for ye yeare of 1728, September 28. 
 Paid to dog-whipper for his wages, is. 8d. 
 
DOG WHIPPERS AND SLUGGARD WAKERS. l8l 
 
 The parish accounts of Castleton record : 
 
 1 722...Paid to sluggard waker o lo o 
 
 From the register of Youlgreave we have two 
 items : 
 
 1609 — To Robt. Walton, for whipping ye dogge forth of 
 
 ye churche in time of divyne service, is. 4d. 
 161 7 — Robert Benbowe for whipping out ye dogges, 2s. 
 
 The parish church accounts of Worksop, 
 
 Nottinghamshire, contain entries as under : 
 
 1597— Paid to Old Verde, for whipping of dogs, 9d. 
 1616 — For whipping dogges out of ye church one whole 
 year, i2d. 
 
 The accounts of the parish of Forest Hill, 
 
 near Oxford, furnish an example : 
 
 1694 — Pd. to Tho. Mills, for whipping dogs out of church, 
 one shilling. 
 
 In the foregoing jottings we have only given 
 a few examples of payments made for the ancient, 
 service of whipping dogs out of the church and 
 awaking sluggards, but we think sufficient to show 
 that the usage was kept up vigorously in different 
 parts of the country. 
 
 We have received for this and other sketches 
 in this work important suggestions and notes 
 from Mr. H. Syer Cuming, the learned author 
 of many able papers on popular antiquities. His 
 studies in the byways of history have brought to 
 light much that is curious and historically 
 valuable. 
 
 1 
 
ODD ITEMS FROM OLD ACCOUNTS. 
 
 OME curious and interesting glimpses 
 of bygone time may be obtained 
 from old parish accounts. They 
 deal with many subjects, including 
 manners, customs, superstitions, 
 social and religious life, and other topics. In this 
 chapter we give a number of items of a mis- 
 cellaneous character of more or less historical 
 importance. 
 
 Cure by Royal Touch. 
 From the time of Edward the Confessor 
 down to the days of Queen Anne, with a few 
 exceptions, the English sovereigns have touched 
 for the cure of scrofula, a malady more generally 
 known under the name of king's evil. Holinshed 
 has a note in his Chronicle" on this subject. 
 He states, in his account of Edward the Con- 
 fessor, that it was believed he was inspired 
 with the gift of prophecy and of healing diseases 
 by touch. ''He used to help," says Holinshed, 
 
ODD ITEMS FROM OLD ACCOUNTS. 1 83 
 
 " those that were vexed with the disease com- 
 monly called king's evil, and left that virtue, as it 
 were, a portion of inheritance to his successors, 
 the kings of this realm." Shakespeare introduces 
 this superstition in Macbeth. Old parish books 
 and accounts include items bearing on this topic. 
 Here is a copy of an entry in the Ecclesfield 
 accounts : 
 
 1 64 1. — Giiien to John Parkin wife towards her 
 trauell to London to get cure of his 
 Ma"^ for the disease called the Euill, 
 which her sonen Thorn is visited wthall £0 6s. 8d. 
 
 A journey from Yorkshire to London in the 
 
 days of the First Charles was a most serious 
 
 undertaking, and would be the theme of much 
 
 talk amongst the villagers. Dr. Samuel Johnson, 
 
 when a child, was taken to London by his mother, 
 
 and touched by Queen Anne for this complaint. 
 
 He says, in " An Account of the Life of Dr. 
 
 Samuel Johnson, from his Birth to his Eleventh 
 
 Year, Written by Himself" — This year [1712] 
 
 in Lent I was taken to London to be touched 
 
 for the Evil by Queen Anne I always 
 
 retained some memory of this journey, although 
 
 I was but thirty months old." The touch was 
 
 without any effect. With the death of the 
 
 Queen passed away this singular ceremony ; but 
 
 the reference to it remained in the Litany as late 
 
 as 1719. 
 
184 curiosities of the church. 
 
 Bargaining with a Conjuror. 
 
 The village officials of Bramley, near Leeds, 
 seem to have been very superstitious. Their 
 credulity prompted them to spend money in such 
 a manner as would not satisfy the ratepayer of 
 the present time. The overseers' accounts con- 
 tain disbursements as under : 
 
 1783, Dec. 8th. — Expenses on bargaining with 
 
 conjuror from Skipton to cure 
 Matthew Hudson's daughter is. od. 
 
 1784, Feb. ist. — Astrological Doctor for Hud- 
 
 son's daughter i2s. 6d. 
 
 We gather from previous entries that this 
 female was subject to fits, but we have not been 
 able to discover whether or not the strange mode 
 of treatment proved beneficial. 
 
 Bishops and their Beer. 
 
 The old chapel accounts of Bewdley for the 
 
 year 1593 include an item : 
 
 Pd. for a galland of beere given to the Beishopp of 
 
 Hereford iiijV. 
 
 Some of the bishops in years gone by appear 
 
 to have enjoyed their pipe and glass. It is said 
 
 of Dr. Reynolds, a Bishop of Lincoln, that in the 
 
 year 1724 he held a confirmation at St, Mary's 
 
 Church, Nottingham, and that after concluding 
 
 the service he retired to the vestry and desired 
 
 the parish clerk to go and obtain for him a 
 
ODD ITEMS FROM OLD ACCOUNTS. 1 85 
 
 supply of ale, pipes and tobacco. He proceeded 
 without delay, and on his return met the vicar, 
 who inquired for whom he was taking the 
 refreshments, and on being told, ordered him to 
 leave the church at once, saying that so long as 
 he remained vicar of St. Mary's, neither Bishop 
 nor Archbishop should make it a tippling house. 
 
 Treating Parsons. 
 Particulars frequently occur in old church 
 accounts of money spent in treating strange 
 ministers when they preached. Generally the 
 treating'' consisted of paying for wine, but 
 occasionally sugar would be given, and some- 
 times small sums of money. Numerous entries 
 similar to the following occur in the Worksop 
 accounts : 
 
 161 7. For a quart of wine and sugar bestowed 
 
 upo' two preachers x^. 
 
 In the chapel accounts of Bewdley we find 
 
 amongst other quaint entries : 
 
 1649. Pd. a quart of sack given a minister o .. i .. 4 
 t66o. For 4 qts. of sack for 4 ministers 
 
 that preached 00 .. 06 .. 08 
 
 Colne (Lancashire) accounts include a number 
 
 of disbursements which come under this heading. 
 
 The first amount we reproduce gives the price 
 
 of a sermon : 
 
 1732. Pd. to parson Holt for preaching 00.. 02 ..00 
 
 X 
 
CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 A year later we read : 
 
 1733. Gave old Parson Torner 00 .. 00 .. 06 
 
 Gave an old Parson 00 .. 01 ., 01 
 
 The next is a quaint item : 
 
 1735. Spent on a strange Parson o .. 3 .. 6 
 
 Presenting the Bishop with a Loaf 
 OF Sugar. 
 
 In the olden time it appears to have been the 
 practice of the churchwardens to make a present 
 to the bishop of the diocese when he visited a 
 church. The accounts of the parish of St. 
 James's, Bristol, contain items for sugar loaves 
 given to bishops. The following are examples of 
 
 the entries : 
 
 1626. For a sugar loaf that was given my 
 
 lord at Christmas 15s. od. 
 
 1629. Paid for a sugar loaf for the Lord 
 
 Bishop (Robert Wright) 15s. lod. 
 
 1634. Paid for two sugar loaves bestowed 
 
 on the Lord Bishop 6 o 
 
 We have found in old municipal and other 
 accounts charges for sugar presented to dis- 
 tinguished visitors and gentlemen for whom 
 those in authority wished to show their appre- 
 ciation. 
 
 Mixing Mortar with Ale. 
 
 An old tradition still lingers in Derbyshire, 
 respecting the famous Bess of Hardwick, to the 
 
ODD ITEMS FROM OLD ACCOUNTS. 1 87 
 
 effect that a fortune-teller told her that her 
 death would not happen as long as she continued 
 building. She caused to be erected several 
 noble structures, including Hardwick and Chats- 
 worth, two of the most stately homes of old 
 England. Her death occurred in the year 1607, 
 during a very severe frost, and at a time when 
 the workmen could not continue their labours, 
 although they tried to mix their mortar with hot 
 ale. Malt liquor in the days of yore was believed 
 to add to the durabihty of mortar, and items 
 bearing on this matter occur in parish accounts. 
 
 The following entries are extracted from the 
 parish books of Ecclesfield, South Yorkshire : 
 
 1619. Itm. 7 metts [/.^. bushels] of lyme for 
 poynting some places in the church 
 
 wall, and on the leades iji-. iiiy/. 
 
 Itm. For II gallands of strong liquor 
 
 for the blending of the lyme iijj-. viijV/. 
 
 Two years later we find mention of ''strong 
 liquor " for pointing and ale for drinking : 
 
 1 62 1. For a secke of malt for pointing steeple viijj-. 
 
 To Boy wyfe for Brewing itt vjd. 
 
 For xvij gallons of strong Lycker vij^. \jd 
 
 For sixe gallons of alewch. webesttowed 
 of the workmen whilst they was 
 pointing steeple ij^. 
 
 For eggs for pointing church ijs. 
 
 Many of the old parish accounts contain 
 items similar to the foregoing. 
 
i 88 curiosities of the church. 
 
 Early School Hours. 
 
 Formerly the schoolboy commenced his tasks 
 
 at a much earher hour than he does now. At 
 
 Bewdley, the church bell was rung at five o'clock 
 
 in the morning to call the scholars of the grammar 
 
 school to their studies. Payments for ringing 
 
 the bell occur in the church accounts, and the 
 
 following may be quoted as an example : 
 
 To John Glover for ringing the schollers bell this two 
 
 years ended at St. Mary's day last, 1612 xxs. 
 
 The ringing was kept up until 1801, when it 
 
 was regarded as a nuisance. It gave rise to the 
 
 following epigram : 
 
 Ye rascally ringers, ye merciless foes. 
 
 Who persecute every friend of repose ; 
 
 I wish, for the quiet and peace of the land, 
 
 You had round your necks what you hold in your hands. 
 
 In the regulations draw^n up in the early part 
 
 of the sixteenth century for the conducting of 
 
 St. Paul's School, it is directed that The 
 
 children shall come into the school at seven of 
 
 the clock, both winter and summer, and tarry 
 
 there until eleven ; and return against one of the 
 
 clock, and depart at five." 
 
 Students Begging. 
 
 In the days of yore, it was a common custom 
 for poor students to go about the country 
 collecting money to pay their university expenses. 
 
ODD ITEMS FROM OLD ACCOUNTS. 1 89 
 
 Old account books contain many references to 
 the practice. The disbursements appear to have 
 been small, except in cases where the recipients 
 were natives of the parish where the money was 
 given. The largest amount we have noticed 
 occurs in the accounts of the burgesses of 
 Sheffield, and reads as follows : 
 
 1573. Gave to William Lee, a poore scholler of 
 Sheffield, towards the settynge him 
 to the universytie of Cambridge, and 
 buyinge him bookes and other 
 furnyture xii. iiii. 
 
 The Leverton, Lincolnshire, churchwardens' 
 accounts state : 
 
 1562. Gave to a pore scoUer of Oxford 2s. od. 
 
 Ten years later, in the overseers' accounts of 
 
 the same parish, is an entry as under : 
 
 1572. Relief to Thomas Berry, a pore scolar of 
 
 Oxford i6d. 
 
 In the parish register of Cawthorne, Yorkshire, 
 
 under date of August 2, 1663, it is recorded : 
 
 Collected in ye parish church of Cawthorne, for 
 Thomas Carr, a poor scholler who was 
 going to Cambridge, and borne in ye parish 
 of Eccklesfield, the sum of 6s. 6d. 
 
 According to the churchwardens' accounts of 
 Kirkby Wharfe, in the year 1697, two poor 
 scholars were presented with sixpence. 
 
 Happily, students in our day pursue their 
 studies at college under more satisfactory con- 
 ditions than those of our ancestors. 
 
I go CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Fined for Swearing. 
 
 An entry in the parish books of Prestwich, 
 
 Lancashire, states : 
 
 1655. — Received of the wife of George Hulton, 
 
 for swearing and other misdemeanour £0 i6s. 8d. 
 
 The above fine was inflicted during the Common- 
 wealth. At this period the laws against swearing 
 were very severe. 
 
 In 1650 a law was passed called An Act for 
 the better preventinge and suppressienge of the 
 detestable sin of prophane swearing and cursing." 
 It directed that a record of all convictions be 
 kept by the justice of the peace, and the names 
 of the offenders so convicted to be published 
 quarterly. The amounts of the fines were 
 graduated according to the rank of the off'enders. 
 
 The fines for the first offence were : a lord, 
 30s. ; a baronet or knight, 20s. ; an esquire, 10s ; 
 a gentleman, 6s. 8d. ; all inferior persons, 3s. 4d. 
 
 For the second offence, double the aforesaid. 
 For the tenth offence, he or she be adjudged a 
 common swearer, or curser, and be bound with 
 sureties to the good behaviour during three 
 years." If the offenders did not pay the fines 
 they were put in the stocks. 
 
 Acts of Parliament were passed in the reigns 
 of James I. and William and Mary to check 
 
ODD ITEMS FROM OLD ACCOUNTS. I9I 
 
 swearing. They were repealed in the time of 
 George II , and another made to ''more 
 effectually prevent profane swearing," and it was 
 ordered that it be read quarterly in all parish 
 churches and chapels. The Gentleman'' s Magazine 
 contains a note of a fine on account of the non- 
 observance of a clause in this Aq\., On July 
 6th, 1772," it is stated, a rich vicar and a poor 
 curate paid into the hands of the proper officer 
 £1 5 ; the first £10, the latter for neglecting 
 to read in church the Act against cursing and 
 swearing." 
 
 Hanging Gipsies. 
 
 We have found several allusions to gipsies. 
 The laws against them in Tudor times were ex- 
 tremely severe. It is recorded in the parish 
 register of St. Nicholas, Durham, under date of 
 August 8th, 1592, that '' Simson, Arington, 
 Featherstone, Fenwicke, and Lancaster were 
 hanged for being Egyptians." This wandering 
 race first attracted prominent notice in the days 
 of Henry VIIL, when they appear to have been 
 suspected of committing felonies. A law was 
 passed in 1530, which enacted that no such person 
 should henceforth come into this realm, and 
 those in the country should depart within 
 
192 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 fourteen days or forfeit their goods. In 1554, in 
 
 the reign of Mary, an Act was passed making it 
 
 felony without the benefit of the clergy or privilege 
 
 of sanctuary to remain in the realm after twenty 
 
 days from the proclamation of this Act. One of 
 
 the clauses provided that such Egyptians as were 
 
 prepared to give up their naughty idle and 
 
 ungodly life," and enter the service of an honest 
 
 householder, might remain. A few years later, 
 
 in the reign of Elizabeth, in 1562, an Act was 
 
 passed making the continuance of gipsies in 
 
 England more than a month a capital offence. 
 
 It was under this statute that the five gipsies at 
 
 Durham w^ere executed. In the life of Sir 
 
 Matthew Hale, the famous judge, it is stated 
 
 that at one Suffolk Assize no less than thirteen 
 
 gipsies were condemned to death for breaking 
 
 this law. The Act was not repealed until 1783. 
 
 The Constables' accounts of Repton, Derbyshire, 
 
 contain the following entry : 
 
 1602. — It. given to the gipsies ye xxx daye of 
 
 Januarye to avoyde ye towne xx^. 
 
 The foregoing is a remarkable payment, and 
 speaks well for the kindly disposition of Derby- 
 shiremen in the days of yore. The imputation 
 of gipsies carrying off children may be traced 
 back to an early period of their history in 
 
ODD ITEMS FROM OLD ACCOUNTS. 1 93 
 
 England. In Wellington Church, Somerset," 
 says George Roberts, in his ''Social History," ''is 
 the effigy of Judge Popham, who tried Guy 
 Faux and his fellow conspirators of the Gun- 
 powder Plot. The tradition is that he was 
 recovered from the gipsies who had carried him 
 off, and that his wanderings with them, continued 
 as they were for several years, restored his 
 delicate constitution to a healthy state." 
 
 Looking after Spiritual and Moral 
 Welfare. 
 
 Down to a comparatively recent period it was 
 the custom of the churchwardens on a Sunday, 
 during Divine service, to visit public-houses 
 situated in their respective parishes, and ascertain 
 that no persons were in them that ought to be 
 at church Neglecting to attend the church was 
 a serious matter in the days of old. Some notes 
 appear on this theme in the books of St. James's 
 Church, Bristol. On July 6, 1 598, Henry Anstey, 
 a resident in the parish, had, in answer to a 
 summons, to appear before the vestry for not 
 attending that church. At the same vestry, in the 
 year 1679, four persons were found guilty of 
 walking " on foot to Bath on Lord's-day," and 
 were each fined twenty shillings. 
 
 Y 
 
194 CURIOSITIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 We gather from the following disbursements 
 in the same parish records that the churchwardens 
 also looked sharply after the morals of the people : 
 
 1627. — Item, for a warrant for her that laid the child 
 
 at Mr. Sage's doore is. 
 
 To the woman that kept that child is. 
 
 Spent at the Bell when we went about that 
 
 child IS. 
 
 More in charge about that child is. 
 
 Ringing Church Bells for Successful 
 Race-horses. 
 
 From the accounts of St. Edmund's Church, 
 
 Salisbury, is this item : 
 
 1646. Ringing the race-day, that the Earle of Pem- 
 broke his horse winne the Cuppe vs. 
 
 Ringing church bells when horses won races 
 was not confined to Salisbury. In the olden days 
 the practice was common in many parts of the 
 country. 
 
 Watching a Man the Night before 
 Marriage. 
 
 The accounts of the parish of Great Staughton, 
 
 Huntingdonshire, include some quaint entries. 
 
 Perhaps the following is the most remarkable : 
 
 Dec, 1647. — Item, paid for wages spent upon the 
 man that watched John Pickle all night and the 
 next daie till he was married is. od. 
 
 Many changes have occurred in the social 
 
ODD ITEMS FROM OLD ACCOUNTS. 1 95 
 
 and domestic life of England since the days 
 when men had to be watched to prevent them 
 escaping the married state. 
 
 Death of the Old Year and Birth of the 
 New Year. 
 
 The Poet Laureate wrote some fine lines on 
 the close of the old year and the commencement 
 of the new, in which the familiar words occur : 
 Ring out the old, ring in the new. 
 
 A reference to this pleasing ceremony appears 
 in the church accounts at Ecclesfield : 
 
 1 756. For ringing the old year out and the new one in 5s. 
 
 Several curious bell-ringing customs at this 
 season still linger in Yorkshire. Thus, at Dews- 
 bury, one of the church bells is tolled as at a 
 funeral. This custom is known as the Devil's 
 Knell," the moral of which is that Satan died 
 when Christ was born 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abbots Ann, Andover, Funeral Garlands 
 
 at, 151. 
 Abelard, 3. 
 Acklam, Yorks. , 78. 
 Addison, Jos., burial of, 134. 
 Airly, Lord, and the ' Hour-glass,' loi. 
 Ale used for Mixing Mortar, 186. 
 Alfreton, 144. 
 
 Allerton Hall, Leeds, 137, 138. 
 Alnwick, St. Michael's Church, Chained 
 
 Book in, 1 16. 
 Ambleside, Custom of Rush-bearing 
 
 at, 62. 
 
 Andrews's Historic Yorkshire, quoted, 18 ; 
 Modern Yorkshire Poeis, quoted, 149 ; 
 "Some Armless Wonders," quoted, 
 161. 
 
 Annual Register, quoted, 113. 
 
 Anstey, Henry, summoned for not going 
 
 to Church on Lord's-day, 193. 
 Antiquarian Repertory, Q^\xo\.tdi, 146, 150. 
 Arington, hanged for being an Egyptian, 
 
 191. 
 
 Aristotle's "Physics," Prior of Rochester 
 and the copy of, iii. 
 
 Armour, Elizabeth, donor of an Hour- 
 glass to Hurst Church, 107. 
 
 Arundell, John, Bp. of Lichfield and 
 Coventry, on Church-Ale Customs, 
 43- 
 
 Ashford Church, Derby, Funeral Gar- 
 lands in, 144. 
 
 Ashover, 145, 171. 
 
 Ass, Procession of the, 27, 28. 
 
 Atterbury, Bp., 134. 
 
 Aubrey's, John, Nat. Hist, of Wiltshire, 
 quoted, 44. 
 
 Aylesbury, 51, 52, 114. 
 
 Baker's, Miss, Glossary of Northampton- 
 shire, quoted, 50. 
 
 Bamford, on Rush-Bearing Customs in 
 Lancashire, 60. 
 
 Banks, W. S., on " DogWhippers," 177. 
 
 Barford, " White-Bread Close," 86, 87. 
 
 Bannister, John, Recollections, quoted, 
 136. 
 
 Barker, printer of the Bible, 113. 
 Bargaining with a Conjuror, 184. 
 Barnsley Churchwardens' Accounts on 
 
 " Dog- Whipping," 177. 
 Barrow, Dr. Isaac, 103. 
 Barton-on-Humber, St. Peter's Church, 
 
 93 ; Custom of Waking Sleepers at, 
 
 180. 
 
 Baslow Church, Dog-Whip"per's Imple- 
 ment at, 176. 
 Bath, four persons found guilty for 
 
 walking to, on Lord's-day, 193. 
 Beaumont and Fletcher's Valentinian, 
 
 quoted, 53. 
 Beckley, burial of Dicky Pearce at, 163. 
 " Bede's, Cuthbert," Fotheringay and 
 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, quoted, 128, 
 Bedford, Duke of, purchases the Royal 
 
 Library of Paris, III. 
 Bellow, J. F., Danish Trooper buried at 
 
 Beverley, 164. 
 Bells and Beacons for Travellers by 
 
 Night, 93-99. 
 Benbowe, Robt. , Dog-Whipper, 181. 
 Benson, Geo., Drama in York, quoted, 
 
 18. 
 
 Berkshire, Workingham Church, 95. 
 
 Bermondsey Church Registers, 158. 
 
 Berry, Thos., "a poor Scholar of 
 Oxford," 189. 
 
 Betterton, Thos., burial of, 135. 
 
 Beverley, Yorks., Minster, burial of the 
 Earl of Northumberland in, 138 ; 
 St. Mary's, Lantern on the tower of, 
 96 ; Parish Registers of, 154 ; Tablet 
 to Danish Soldiers at, 164, 165. 
 
 Bewdley, Chapel-wardens' Accounts at, 
 20 ; Hour-glass at, 106 ; Treating 
 Ministers, 185 ; Early School Bell 
 rung at, 188. 
 
 Bideford, 42. 
 
 Bishops and their Beer, 184. 
 Blanford, 40. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Bishop presented with a Loaf of Sugar, 
 1 86. 
 
 Blades, Wm., " On Chained Libraries," 
 
 121, 122, 123. 
 
 Blewitt, Mary, wife of seven husbands, 
 158. 
 
 Blount's Tem(resofLa7id,(\\xo\.Qdiy 51, 89. 
 Bodleian Library, 44 ; Chained Books 
 
 in, 121, 122. 
 Bolsover, 145. 
 
 Bolton Abbey, Funeral Garland at, 148. 
 
 Bonner, Bp. of London, on the pro- 
 hibition of Plays in Churches, 21. 
 
 Boston, Lincolnshire, 115, 155, 166 ; 
 Banns of Marriage published in the 
 Market-place, 155 ; Chained Books 
 in St. Botolph's Church, 115. 
 
 Bowden, Geo., 170. 
 
 Boyle, Rev. J. R., F.S.A., on the 
 
 Lantern on a Church Tower, New- 
 castle, 96 ; His Vestiges of Old 
 Newcastle and Gateshead, quoted, 97. 
 
 Brailsford, Church Books, quoted, 149. 
 
 Bramley, Yorks., 184 
 
 Brand's Popular Antiquities, quoted, 48, 
 150. 
 
 Breadsall Church, Chained Books in, 1 16. 
 
 Brewster, Win., M. D., bequeaths his 
 Library to All Saints' Church, Here- 
 ford, 120. 
 
 Bridlington, St. Mary's Church, Chained 
 
 Books at, 115. 
 Briefs, 90-92. 
 Brigg, 23. 
 
 Bristol, curious entries in the books of 
 
 St. James's Church at, 193. 
 Brocklebank, Mr., 180. 
 Brooke, Richard, Bequest of, 1 74. 
 Broughton, Manor of, 22,23, 24, 26, 27. 
 Brown, Robt., an actor in the Hull 
 
 Miracle Plays, 20. 
 Browne's, Wm., Britannia's Pastorals, 
 
 quoted, 53. 
 Budd, Richard, bequest of, 80. 
 Bull-baiting, Bear-baiting, &c., 40. 
 Burlingham, South, Norfolk, Hour-glass 
 
 in St. Edmund's Church at, 107. 
 Bunyan's Life of Mr. Badman, quoted, 
 
 171. 
 
 Burgess, Rev. Daniel, loi. 
 
 Burn, J. S., History oj Parish Registers, 
 
 quoted, 172. 
 Burnet, Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury, 103. 
 Burnley, Lancashire, Dog-whipping 
 
 Customs at, 180. 
 Burton-super-Stather, Lincolnshire, 155. 
 Butler's Hiidibras, quoted, 104, 156. 
 
 Bury St. Edmunds, St. James Church, 
 Marriage of an Armless Woman at, 
 161. 
 
 Caister, 24, 25. 
 
 Cambridge, 79, 16, 118, 122, 189; Carr 
 assisted to a Scholarship at, 189 ; 
 Chained Books in King's College 
 Library, 122 ; Symonds's Scholarship 
 at, 79 ; Willis and Clark's Architec- 
 tural History of Cambridge, quoted, 
 116, 118. 
 
 Carew's, Richard, Survey of Cornwall, 
 
 quoted, 45. 
 Carey, John, 95. 
 Carleton, Will, 54, 59. 
 Carr, Thomas, "a poor scholler," sent 
 
 to Cambridge, 189. 
 Carsington, Derby, 161. 
 Castle-Combe, Church Ale Customs at, 
 
 45. 
 
 Castleton, Derby, Rush-bearing Custom 
 at, 55 ; " Sluggard- waker " at, 181. 
 
 Cawthorne, Yorkshire, Custom of 
 making Collections for Poor Scholars 
 at, 189. 
 
 Chained Books in Churches, 1 10-123. 
 Chambers's Book of Days, quoted, 99, 
 
 129, 150, 170. 
 Chaddesden, 49. 
 Chapel- Allerton, 137. 
 Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derby, 170. 
 Charles V. and the Royal Library, Paris, 
 
 III. 
 
 Chatsvvorth, 186. 
 Chester Trade Guilds, 9. 
 Chesterfield, Lord, 135. 
 Chippendale, John, LL. D. , 157. 
 Chislet, Kent, Dog-whipper's Marsh'' 
 at, 174. 
 
 Church Scrambling Charities, 85-89. 
 Church Ales, 39-50. 
 Clavering, Essex, Doles at, 84. 
 Claverley, Shropshire, 173. 
 Clay, John, 167; Mary, 167; Thomas, 
 167. 
 
 Cliffe, Rochester, Hour-glass at, 108. 
 Clynnog-fawr, N. Wales, instrument for 
 
 dragging dogs out of church at, 176. 
 Cock-Crower, King's, 68 ; the Custom 
 
 discontinued, 69. 
 Collyer, Rev. Dr. Robt., 54. 
 Colne, Lancashire, 185. 
 Compton-Bassett, Wiltshire, Hour-glass 
 
 at, 108. 
 Concerning Doles, 74-84. 
 Conyers, Champion, 31. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 199 
 
 Congleton Church, " Brief," for repair of, 
 92. 
 
 Cooke, John, Bequest of, 98. 
 Corstorphine, Bequest to Schoolmaster 
 of, 97. 
 
 Coventry, Extracts from the Registers on 
 Miracle Plays, 6, 17 ; Mr. Glover 
 burnt at, 116. 
 
 Cowley, Abraham, burial of, 132, 133. 
 
 Cowper, William, burial of, 137. 
 
 Cox, Rev. J. C, LL.D., 172. 
 
 Cox and Hope's Chronicle of All Saints' 
 Church, Derby, quoted, 49. 
 
 *' Crants," meaning of, 141. 
 
 Craven, 147, 149. 
 
 Croft, Lincolnshire, Dog- Whipping Cus- 
 tom at, 180. 
 
 Cromwell, Thomas, Lord, proclamation 
 for keeping Parish Registers, 152. 
 
 Cuming, H. Syer, 181. 
 
 Cumnor, Oxford, Chained Bible at, 112. 
 
 Cure by Royal Touch, 182. 
 
 *• Daniel," A Miracle Play, 3. 
 Dale, Ellen, 159. 
 Dare, Leonard, 77. 
 
 Davies, Robert, F. S.A. , Municipal 
 
 Records of York, 18. 
 Davye, Richard, Mayor of Leicester, 157. 
 Dawson, W. H., "The Burial of the 
 
 Craven Yeoman," 149 ; History of 
 
 Skipton, quoted, 138, 139. 
 Daye, Sicylye, 162. 
 
 Dead, Simple Memorials of the, 140-15 1. 
 Derby Mercury, quoted, 159. 
 "Devil's Knell," tolling for the dead, 
 195- 
 
 Dewsbury, Bell Ringing Custom at, 195. 
 Dialect of Craven, quoted, 147. 
 Dibdin, Dr., on "Old Scarlett," 130. 
 " Dog-noper," John Nicholson on, 177. 
 Dog-Whippers and Sluggard- Wakers, 
 173-181. 
 
 Donington, Lincolnshire, Rusn-bearmg 
 
 Custom at, 56. 
 Dorchester, 64. 
 
 Dorset, Wimborne Minster, Chained 
 
 Books in, 117, 118. 
 Dover, Monument of S. Foote in St. 
 
 Mary's Church, 136. 
 Dovey, Richard, leaves a bequest to pay 
 
 for waking sleepers, 173. 
 Dowe, Robert, bequest of, 80. 
 Drama, Origin of, in England, i. 
 Dronfield, Derby, Dole at, 84. 
 Drury Lane Theatre, 90. 
 Dudbrook, Essex, 157. 
 
 Dunbar Harbour, "Brief" for repair 
 of, 92. 
 
 Dunchurch, Sluggard- Waker of, 175. 
 Dunn, Joseph, leaves a Dole, 78. 
 Dunstable, 2. 
 
 Durham, curious entries in St. Nicholas 
 Church Registers on hanging 
 Egyptians, 191 ; Croft Bridge, 31 ; 
 Custom of presenting a Falchion 
 to the Bishop of, 30, 31. 
 
 Du Vail, Claude, Execution of, 140. 
 
 Dyneley, Rev. Robert, 139. 
 
 Early School Hours at Bewdley, 188. 
 
 Eastbourne Priory, 162. 
 
 Eastwood's, Rev. J., History of Eccles- 
 field, quoted, 1 16. 
 
 Ecclesfield, Yorkshire, Chained Books 
 in, 116; Churchwardens' Accounts 
 on Chained Books, 122 ; Custom of 
 collecting money for poor scholars, 
 T89; Liquor used for mixing mortar 
 at, 187 ; Ringing out the Old Year 
 at, 195. 
 
 Edgar's, Rev. A., Old Church Life in 
 
 Scotland, quoted, 108. 
 Edinthorpe, Norfolk, Hour-glass at, 107. 
 Edwards's Rejuarkable Charities, quoted, 
 
 98. 
 
 Elvaston, to Brew Church Ales, 44. 
 Errington, Edward, 163. 
 Everton, Notts., Registers at, 154. 
 Eyam, Derby, 142, 143 ; Funeral Gar- 
 land Customs at, 142, 143. 
 
 Fairfield, 145. 
 
 Farnham Royal, Bucks., Doles at, 84. 
 Faux, Guy, 193. 
 
 Featherstone, hanged for being an 
 
 Egyptian, 191. 
 Fenwicke, hung for being an Egyptian, 
 
 191. 
 
 Finch, Betty, employed as" bobber," 
 176. 
 
 Fined for Swearing, 190. 
 Fish in Lent, 63 — 73. 
 Flint, John, 171. 
 
 Flixton Church, Hour-glass at, 107. 
 Foote, Samuel, burial of, at Dover, 136. 
 Fosbrooke's British Monachisfn, quoted, 
 100. 
 
 Fotheringhay Castle, 127. 
 
 Foxe's Book of Martyrs, a copy chained 
 
 at Winsham Church, 115. 
 Freiston, 166. 
 
 Froissart's Chronicles, quoted, 125. 
 Funeral Effigies, 124-126. 
 
200 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Fulham, Churchwardens' Accounts at, 
 quoted, 65. 
 
 Gad, meaning of the word, 29 
 Gad-whip, The Caister, Manorial 
 
 Service, 23-29. 
 Gateshead Church, "Brief" for repair 
 
 of, 92. 
 
 Gay's, John, Pastorals, quoted, 104 ; 
 Poems, 142. 
 
 Gentlemaji's TJ/a^o-as/Vz^, quoted, 69. 86, 87. 
 
 Gleanings in Craven, quoted, 148. 
 
 Gloucester, Bilbury, 100 ; Hewelsfield, 
 87 ; Scrambling Customs at, 87. 
 
 Gloucester, Eleanor, Duchess, Torch- 
 light burial of, 76 ; Humphrey, 
 Duke of. III. 
 
 Clyde's, John, Norfolk Garland, quoted, 
 66. 
 
 Grantham, 116. 
 
 Grassington, 148. 
 
 Griibb Street Journal, quoted, 86. 
 
 Halifax, 159. 
 
 Hannokes, Susanna, accused of bewitch- 
 ing a Spinning-wheel, 114. 
 
 Hardicanute, 49. 
 
 Hastings, Lady B., 70. 
 
 Hathersage, 145, 146. 
 
 Hawker, Rev. R. S., Cornish Ballads, 
 quoted, 140. 
 
 Heanor, Derby, 146. 
 
 Heap, Mrs. Rachel, 159. 
 
 Heathcote, Miss Alice, 144. 
 
 Helpby, Nicholas, author of Noah," 19. 
 
 Henry V. and the borrowed books, in. 
 
 " Herbell to the Bible, The," quoted, 54. 
 
 Hereford. I17, 118, 120. 
 
 Hessle, Doles at, 84 ; Book of *' Briefs " 
 at, quoted, 92 ; Custom of Ringing 
 the Bell at, 94. 
 
 Hicks, Mrs., execution of, for witchcraft, 
 114. 
 
 Hicken, Ralph, Miracle Plays by, 9. 
 Hilarius, Abbot, 2, 3. 
 Hoby, Philip, 72. 
 
 *' Hocking," game of, 48, 49 ; Herodotus 
 
 on, 49. 
 Hodgkinson, George, 172. 
 Hogan, Robert, husband of seven 
 
 wives, 157. 
 Hogarth, William, 104. 
 Holinshed's Chronicle, quoted, 183. 
 Holt, Emily S., Ye Olden Time, 
 
 quoted, 126. 
 Hone's William, Year Book, quoted, 61, 
 Hope, Derby, 145. 
 
 Hornby, Alderman, 163 ; Thomas, 49. 
 Hour-glasses in Churches, 100-109. 
 Howitt, William, 146. 
 Hoxton, 169. 
 
 Hull, 19, 54, 71, 77, 84, 92, 94, 107 ; 
 
 Dole at, 77 ; Miracle Plays at, 19 ; 
 
 Trinity House, Custom of Strewing 
 
 Rushes at, 54 ; Records of on 
 
 Miracle Plays, 19. 
 Hundon. 25, 26. 
 
 Hungerford, Joan, Lady, buried by 
 
 Torch-light, 76. 
 Huntingdon, 114. 
 
 Hutchinson's History of Northumberland, 
 
 quoted, 46. 
 Hutton's History oj Derby, quoted, 49. 
 
 *' Image of St. Nicholas, The" Miracle 
 Play, 3. 4- 
 
 Jefferson's History of Thirsk, quoted, 150. 
 Jewitt, L., F.S. A., 143. 
 Jonson, Ben., 164. 
 
 Kendall, Ann, funeral Garland of, 144, 
 145- 
 
 Kethe, Rev. William, denounces the 
 
 Custom of Church Ales, 40. 
 Keyingham, Hour-glass at, 107. 
 Kildale, 78. 
 Kingsutton, 50. 
 
 Kirkham, Lancashire, Rush-bearing at, 
 55. 
 
 Kirtoin-Lindsey, 180. 
 
 Kitchingham, Robert, death of, 137. 
 
 Leckonfield Castle, Holderness, Yorks., 
 Lenton Customs at, 67, 68. 
 
 Leeds, 137, 138, 184. 
 
 Leicester, Harecrop - Leys," 88; St. 
 Martin's Church, 157 ; Chained 
 Bible at, 112; St. Mary's Church 
 Registers, quoted, 20 ; Scrambling 
 Customs at Haloughton, 88. 
 
 Leigh, Kent, Hour-glass at, 108. 
 
 L'Estrange, Sir Roger, 100. 
 
 Lincolnshire, Caister Gad- whip Manorial 
 Service, 23-29 ; Dunstan Pillar, 95. 
 
 Llandovery, Funeral Garlands at, 150. 
 
 London, All-Hallow's Church, Lom- 
 bard Street, 79 ; Christ's Hospital, 
 Symonds's bequest to, 79 ; Liverpool 
 Street Burial Ground, 79 ; St. 
 Botolph's, Billingsgate, 98; St. 
 Mary-at-Hill Registers on Rush- 
 bearing, 55 ; St. Mary's Church, 
 Paddington, 85, 86 ; St. Paul's, 73, 
 90; St. Sepulchre's Church, 80, 81 ; 
 
INDEX. 
 
 201 
 
 Westminster Abbey, 103 ; Registers 
 
 of, on Rush-bearing, 55. 
 Longfellow's, H. W., lines on the 
 
 Hour-glass, 104. 
 Louth, 186. 
 Lumb, Samuel, 159. 
 
 Macaulay, Lord, History of England, 
 
 quoted, 103, 134. 
 Maidment's, James, Third Book of Scottish 
 
 Pasquils, quoted, loi. 
 Mancetter, 115. 
 Matley, Dorothy, 171. 
 Matlock, 145. 
 
 Mauchline, Hour-glasses at, 108, 109. 
 Miracle Plays — Noah's Flood, 10-14; 
 
 St. Catherine, 2 ; Raising of Lazarus, 
 
 3-4 ; St. Nicholas, 3. 
 Morecombe Bay, 56. 
 Morley, Professor H., on the Wakefield 
 
 Miracle Plays, 15. 
 Morrell, Charity, the Armless Woman, 
 
 161. 
 
 Morris dancers, 40, 42, 47, 50, 60. 
 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne, 96 ; St. Nicholas's 
 
 Church, 97. 
 Newgate, 80. 
 Newmarket, 84. 
 Newsam, Christopher, 161. 
 Nichols's History of Leicestershire, 
 
 quoted, 76, 88. 
 Nicholson, John, on " Dog-noper," 177- 
 
 179. 
 
 Northumberland, Church Ales Customs 
 in. 46 ; Earl of, buried at Beverley, 
 138. 
 
 Norwich, *' Herring-pies, 66, 67. 
 
 Odd Items from Old Accounts, 182-195. 
 Okebrook. to Brew Church Ales, 44. 
 Osgodly, Rev. N., Vicar of .St. Mary's 
 
 Beverley, 154. 
 Oxford, St. Mary's College Library, in ; 
 
 Symonds's Scholarship at, 79- 
 
 Palmer, Richard, 95. 
 Parish Registers, The Romance of, 152- 
 172. 
 
 Parker, Thomas, 49. 
 Parker's Glossary of Architecture, quoted, 
 108. 
 
 Pepys', S., Diary, quoted, 90, 91. 
 Percy, Earl of Northumberland, 68, 138. 
 
 — Countess, 68, 
 Peterborough, 128, 129. 
 Peters, Rev. Hugh, 105. 
 
 Pierce, Bishop of Bath and Wells, on 
 Church-Ales, 46. 
 
 " Pigeon-holes," game of, 48. 
 
 Plays, Early Religious, I -2 1. 
 
 Plesley, Richard, 49. 
 
 Plomer, H. R., account of Wimborne 
 Library, 120, 121. 
 
 Poyning, Thomas, Lord, buried by torch- 
 light, 76. 
 
 Prestbury Churchwardens' Accounts on 
 
 Hour-glasses, 105. 
 Prior, Matthew, 121. 
 Pudsey, Hugh, Bishop of Durham, 30. 
 
 Quarles, Francis, Feast of Wonns^ 
 quoted, 104. 
 
 '•Raising of Lazarus, The," Miracle 
 
 Play, 3, 4- 
 Reading, St. Mary's Church Register, 
 
 quoted, 47 ; St. Laurence Register, 
 
 quoted, 47-48. 
 Reynolds, Dr., 113. 
 Rhodes's Peak Scenery, quoted, 145. 
 Richardson, G. B., 97. 
 Richardson, Judge, ordered the discon- 
 tinuance of Church Ale Customs in 
 
 Somerset, 47. 
 Ridings, Elijah, " The Village Festival," 
 
 quoted, 58. 
 Robinson, Rev. Henry, Vicar of Leeds, 
 
 138 : William, leaves a Dole, 77. 
 Rochester, 108, in. 
 Rudder's History of Gloucestershire, 
 
 quoted, 50, 87. 
 Rudge, John, bequest of, 173. 
 Rush-bearing, 51-62. 
 Russel, Ursula, 157. 
 
 St. Chrysostom on Doles, 74, 75. 
 
 Sampson, William, Poet, 142. 
 
 Sawers, Thomas, an actor in the Hull 
 
 Miracle Plays, 20. 
 Scarborough, petition from, 91. 
 Scarlett, Old, the Sexton, 129, 130. 
 Serpent Stories, Strange, 30-38. 
 Seward, Anna, on Funeral Garlands, 
 
 142, 143. 
 Seybrug, William, 49. 
 Shakespeare, quoted, 29, 40, 41, 53, 104, 
 
 141, 183. 
 " Shakespeare's Crab," 43. 
 Sheldon, 159. 
 Shoreditch, 169. 
 
 Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, 
 
 quoted, 97. 
 Slater, David, his " Dole," 84. 
 
202 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Smith, Sir C. E., 25 ; John, 78 ; Miss 
 L. T., York Mystery Plays, quoted, 
 17 ; Robert, 180. 
 
 Sockburn, The Worm of, 30 ; Sockburn 
 Ford, 31. 
 
 Somerset, Church- Ale Customs in, 47. 
 South Pool, 77. 
 Sparsholt, Berkshire, 167. 
 Spencer, Gabriel, killed by Ben Jonson, 
 164. 
 
 Sprotborough, 83. 
 
 Stevenson, Richard, his " Dole," 84. 
 Stones, Mrs., GocVs Acre, quoted, 75. 
 Straker, Daniel, Danish Trooper, 164, 
 165. 
 
 Stratford-on-Avon, 42 ; Chamberlain's 
 
 Accounts of, 105. 
 Strathern, 76. 
 Swindel, Ann, 144. 
 
 Symonds, J. A., on Ben Jonson, 164 ; 
 
 Peter, leaves a Dole, 78-79. 
 Syston Church Registers, extract from, 21. 
 
 Taylor, John, "The Water Poet," 
 
 quoted, 72. 
 Thake, John, 84. 
 
 Thoroton's History of Nottinghamshire, 
 
 quoted, 47. 
 Thorpe, Nottinghamshire, Church Ale 
 
 Customs at, 47. 
 Tilsye, Thomas, 157. 
 Timbs', John, Garland of the Year, 
 
 quoted, 72. 
 Tissington, 145. 
 
 Tissington, Sarah, the Armless Woman, 
 161. 
 
 Torch-light Burials, 127-140. 
 
 Totness, 78. 
 
 Townley Mysteries, 14. 
 
 Trollope's, Anthony, Barchester Towers^ 
 
 quoted, 83. 
 Trysull, Staffords, 73. 
 Tuke, Mr., his bequest, 89. 
 Tych borne, Sir Roger de, 81 ; Lady 
 
 Mabella, 81 ; her " Dole," 81, 82. 
 
 Unwin, Mrs., burial of, 136, 137. 
 
 Wadhurst, Sussex, 171. 
 
 Wakefield, 14-17; Miracle Plays at, 14- 
 
 17 ; Parish Registers on Fish Eating 
 
 in Lent, 70; Woodkirk, 15. 
 Walsall, Fines imposed for not attending 
 
 Church Ales, 43, 44.. 
 Wardell, John, Bequest of, 97. 
 Ward's History of Dramatic Literature, 
 
 quoted, 2. 
 
 Warrington, Mrs. Finch employed as 
 
 " bobber " at, 176. 
 Waters's, R. E. Chester, Parish Registers ^ 
 
 quoted, 71. 
 Wath, Rotherham, 89. 
 Weymouth, 64. 
 Wharton, 56. 
 White, Cornelius, 159. 
 Whitsun-Ales, 39. 42, 46. 
 Wickham, Lord of the Manor of, 50. 
 Wigtoft, Lincolnshire, Chained Books at, 
 
 123. 
 
 Willis and Clarke's Architectural History 
 
 of Cambridge, quoted, 116, 117, 118. 
 Winchester, 78, 80, 83 ; Richard Budd of, 
 
 80; Hospital of St. Cross, 83 ; The 
 
 * Wayfarer's Dole,' 83. 
 Windsor, Andrew, Lord, buried by 
 
 Torch-light, 76. 
 Wingfield, North, Epitaph at, 167. 
 Wingfield, South, 144. 
 Wood, William, History of E,>am, 
 
 quoted, 143. 
 Woodcock, Mrs. Elizabeth, Buried 
 
 Under the Snow, 170. 
 Winsham, Sussex, 1 15. 
 Woodstock, Custom of Ringing the 
 
 Church Bell at, 95. 
 Worksop, 181. 
 Wressell, Thomas, 155. 
 
 York, 115 ; All Saints' Church, Beacon 
 Lamp on the Steeple, 96 ; Miracle 
 Plays, 17-19. 
 
 Youlgreave, 170, 180. 
 
 Young's, Dr., England'' s Shame, quoted, 
 104-105. 
 
SECOND EDITION. 
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 OLD COUNTRY LIFE. 
 
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