<$ H C 
 
 BOUGHT FROM GIFTS 
 FOR THE PURCHASE OF ENGLISH 
 HISTORY AND LITERATURE 
 
 Subscription ok 1910 
 
 V PRINCETON. N. J. ^ 
 
 DA 690 .T17 W28 1853 
 Warter, John Wood, 1806-1876* 
 Appendicia et pertinentiae 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/appendiciaetpertOOwart 
 
appnttitna ft )3erttnenti'ae; 
 
 OR, 
 
 PAROCHIAL FRAGMENTS 
 
 RRLATINO TO 
 
 THE PARISH OF WEST TARRING, 
 
LONDON : 
 GILBERT AND R1V1NGTON, PRIN'TI KS, 
 
 ST. John's square. 
 
apjjcntuna ft ftfrtuinttiar ; 
 
 NOV 4 I9ip 
 
 PAROCHIAL FRAGMENTS \ 
 
 RELATING TO 
 
 THE PARISH OF WEST TARRING, 
 
 AND THE CHAPELRIES OF 
 
 HEENE AND DURRINGTON, 
 
 IN THE COUNTY OF SUSSEX; 
 
 CONTAISING 
 
 A LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 AN HISTORICAL 
 
 AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF HIS (SO CALLED) PALACE AT WEST TARRING, 
 AND OF THE FIGS HE INTRODUCED ; 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LEARNED JOHN SELDEN, 
 
 AND SELDEN'S COTTAGE AT SALVINGTON, &C. &C. &C. 
 
 JOHN WOOD WARTER, B.D. 
 
 VICAR OF WEST TARRING, &0. &.C. &C. 
 
 in 3iD of Ifjc i-irstovatiou of tfjr (fffjuvrfi of SiSifst {Eavntig. 
 
 " With Hezekiah be a good Churchman; first, repair God's house, and let it never be 
 said that our Churches lie like barns, and that Our Father lets down what Pater 
 Noster set up."— R. Harris, Sermons, p. 19G, folio, 1652. 
 
 "A good man finds every place he treads upon holy ground; to him the world is God's 
 temple. He is ready to say with Jacob, ' How dreadful is this place ! this is none oilier than 
 the house of God.'"'— John Smith's Select Disc, p. 4C7. 
 
 LONDON: 
 FRANCIS & JOHN RIVINGTON, 
 
 st. paul's church yard, and Waterloo place. 
 1853. 
 
[i LIBRARY 
 
 1916 
 
 " Thus I entertain 
 
 The antiquarian humour, and am pleased 
 To skim along the surfaces of things, 
 Beguiling harmlessly the listless hours." 
 
 Wordsworth. The Exci 
 
 " He that teaches others well, and practises contrary, is like a fair candlestick, 
 bearing a goodly and bright taper, which sends forth light to all the house, but 
 round about itself there is a shadow and circumstant darkness." 
 
 Jeremy Taylor, iii. 104. 
 
 " As the greatest learning of a Christian is to know the Cross of Christ, so the 
 greatest learning of a Churchman is to build the Body of Christ." 
 
 Bp. Reynolds, iv. 309. 
 
 " The hour so spent shall live, 
 Not unapplauded in the Book of Heaven, 
 For dear and precious as the moments are 
 Permitted man, they are not all for deeds 
 Of active virtue. Give we none to vice 
 And Heaven will not strict reparation ask 
 For many a summer's day and winter's eve 
 So spent as best amuses us." 
 
 Hurdis. The Village Curate, 
 
preface. 
 
 " Smooth is my style, my method mean and plain, 
 Free from a railing or invective strain ; 
 In harmless fashion here I do declare 
 Mine own rich wants, poor riches, and my care; 
 And therefore at my wants let no man grieve, 
 Except his charges will the same relieve." 
 
 Taylor the Water Poet's Motto. 
 
 The following circular will explain the object of the present 
 volume : — 
 
 " It is proposed to restore, in the simplest way, but consistently 
 with its original architectural features, the noble old Church of 
 West Tarring, a sometime Peculiar of Canterbury, in the Diocese 
 of Chichester. It is a fine old Structure, with the Nave unreduced 
 and a striking Clerestory, the lancets being, like the ancient 
 windows of the Temple, small without and large within. The 
 Church, like many others in this country, is dedicated to St. 
 Andrew. The body is of the age of Edward I. The chancel 
 and tower (of flint work and stone quoins) of the age of Edward 
 IV. ; — so, at least, is supposed. The spire, though rather out 
 of the perpendicular from an early strain on the timbers, rises in 
 elegant dimensions from the tower, and is a well-known sea-mark. 
 To the whole country round it silently points to heaven, and is an 
 imposing object from all quarters. 
 
 Connected with the parish are the well-known names of Thomas 
 
vi 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 a Bcckot, and the learned John Selden, who was born in the 
 hamlet of Salvington. That Thomas a Becket introduced the 
 celebrated fig-trees of the district round, and for which West 
 Tarring is so notorious, is as good a tradition as any other. The 
 old Parsonage House still bears the name of Thomas a Becket's 
 Palace, — and in disturbed times, and when Lambeth was unsafe, 
 it might have been a convenient hiding-place, — but there can be 
 little doubt but that in later days it was the residence of the 
 monks, six of whom, I suspect, were attached to the chantry of 
 the Virgin. — The population of the parish (almost all poor), 
 including the chapelries of Heene and Durrington, is rather over 
 a thousand, — lying wide apart. — The sum wanted is 1700/., of 
 which 1400/. is raised." 
 
 It is necessary to state that the whole of what follows, some 
 few intercalatory sentences and corrections of errors excepted, 
 was written many years ago. The original work comprehends 
 the history of all the parishes in this neighbourhood, — details 
 which were intended to enliven heavier matter, — together with an 
 account of the old Episcopal residence — Amberley Castle. Half- 
 a-dozen drawings relative to these parishes are likewise in hand, — 
 that is to say, of West Tarring Church, of the old Palace of 
 Thomas a Becket, of Selden's Cottage, of Durrington and Heene 
 Chapels, and of Patching ; but it was judged unadvisable to add 
 to the expenses of the Work. If a second edition should be 
 called for, and the lovers of our old Churches should come over 
 and help us in our time of need, these drawings can be prepared 
 for that, and made available for the purchasers of the first. The 
 Introduction to the original work is retained as best showing the 
 scope and intent of it, and the Author sees no reason to modify 
 any of the opinions contained in it. The Life of Becket, it 
 should be observed, was printed in the last number of the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Vll 
 
 ■' English Review." The curious " Monomachia" of Richardus 
 Brunseus did not fall into my hands till many years after that life 
 w as written. As it is a rare book I subjoin the title. " S. 
 Thomcv Cantuarensis et Henrici II. illustris Anglorum Regis 
 Monomachia, de Libertate Ecclesiasticd cum subjuncto ejusdem 
 argument i Dialogo. Utmmque publicabat Richardus Brun.eus. 
 Coloniae Agrippinse. Anno M. DC. XXVI." Lowndes, in his 
 " Bibliographer's Manual," says there is a copy in the British 
 Museum. Mine was picked up from a Catalogue of T. Thorpe's. 
 
 In speaking of the old Brewhouse, Brasinium, or Brase-nose 
 of West Tarring, I forgot to state that an old quern was found 
 there about Christmas 1828, an engraving of which is inserted 
 amongst the additions and corrections of Cartwright's " History 
 of the Rape of Bramber," who calls it " a double mortar of fine 
 grit-stone." I am not aware what has now become of it. It 
 was in the possession of the late Frederick Dixon, Esq., of 
 Worthing, and I drew out for him a hasty sketch of the use to 
 which querns were formerly applied. I suspect the old one 
 found here was turned by a handle like a grindstone. The word, 
 however, was applied more generally, as for example in " Browne's 
 Britannia's Pastorals," Book ii., Song i. : — 
 
 " Wherein a miller's knave 
 Might for his horse and quern have room at will." 
 
 The only other quern I recollect to have seen was in Perth- 
 shire, in the summer of 1826, if I remember right, and in the 
 neighbourhood of Dalguise. 
 
 As to the opinions expressed in this little work they are my 
 own, and must be dealt with as such ; but as regards the errors, 
 I entreat the Reader to deal with them lightly, and, if he can, to 
 encourage the sale of the Book amongst his friends and neigh- 
 
viii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 bours, it being altogether a labour of love and a work of charity. 
 And in this respect, at least, that saying of the ever-memorable 
 Mr. John Hales, of Eaton, is to the point : ■" He that knows 
 how to do well himself, will most willingly approve what is well 
 done by another.' 1 '' 
 
 JOHN WOOD WARTER. 
 
 Vicarage, West Tarring, 
 June 21st, 1853. 
 
Contents;, 
 
 d-c. ite. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Church and her Troubles — Jackson's and Pearson's Sentiments — The 
 Church as Established in these Realms — Increase of material Churches in 
 the Land — Cry raised against the Church as in the days of the Great 
 Rebellion — Rallying of her Sons — Good Feeling of the Laity — Church 
 Property not always defended by the Clergy — Misrepresentations as to the 
 enormous Revenue of the Church — Cathedrals and Cathedral Property — 
 Question of Redistribution — The Working Clergy not to be deluded by 
 Words — The Liturgy of our Church, its excellence and beauty. — The barrier 
 against False Doctrine ; &c. — Creed:. — the Athanasian Creed — English 
 Version of the Bible — the best translation in the world — Our Bishops and 
 their authority — the more they mingle with the People the better — out of 
 sight out of mind — Bishop Wilson's Wisdom on this head — Preaching 
 Bishops, the Life of their Dioceses — their sacred trust and duty in the 
 distribution of Preferments— Good Old Latimer's Sentiments — Catholic 
 Views not necessarily extreme ones — Abraham and the Fire Worshipper 
 — Mrs. Southey's Poem on pp. 1—56 
 
 No. I. 
 
 PAROCHIAL FRAGMENTS. 
 $c. $c. $c. 
 
 English Version of the Bible — Old James Long the Parish Clerk — Mortuaries 
 — the Corpse Present — Principale Legatum — The learned Selden — History 
 of Tithes— Seidell's Cottage— His History, &c pp. 59 — 90 
 
 INTERCHAPTER. 
 
 Life of Thomas a Becket, or, Thomas Becket . 
 
 pp. 03—181 
 
X 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 PAROCHIAL FRAGMENTS, 
 
 #c. $c. $c. 
 
 Authorities for Becket's Life — his Character — Gratian and the Decretals — 
 Amalfi — Discovery of the Compass — Knights and Hospital of St. John — The 
 Papacy — Becket and Henry — Becket's Shrine at Canterbury— The Canter- 
 bury Tales— Sir Fhilip Sidney's Defence of Poesy — Southey's Poetry — Uses 
 of Poetry — Becket's Palace at West Tarring — Brasinium — Brew-house, or 
 Brase-nose of West Tarring — Brase-nose in Oxford and at Stamford — Becket 
 and the Wild Beasts — Navelwort and Osmunda Regalis Fern — Fig-trees of 
 West Tarring — probably introduced by Becket — A Fig for you — Figa — 
 Tody-Todito — The Indian Fig-tree — description of in the Curse of Kehatna 
 — Monks and Monasteries— Herbert of Boshain — The Venerable Bede — 
 Bishop Wilfrid — The Anglo-Saxons — Distinction of Literature and Intellect, 
 Theodore, Adrian, and Benedict Biscof — Monastic Discipline — Question of 
 the Monasteries — Latimer and Malvern Priory — Holy Cross, Winchester — 
 Hospital of — Burton's Anatomie of Melancholie, his Opinions on the subject 
 — Day of Monasteries gone by — The Abbot of Aberbrothok — Benedictines 
 and Cistercians, Agriculturists — Maitland's Dark Ages — Education in the 
 Monasteries— Monastic and Cathedral Schools — School of St. Alban's — The 
 Scholastic Prebend — Education of the People . . . . pp. 165— 230 
 
 No. III. 
 
 PAROCHIAL FRAGMENTS, 
 
 $c. $c. $c. 
 
 History of West Tarring, Peculiar of the See of Canterbury— - The Church of 
 West Tarring — dedicated to St. Andrew — St. Andrew's Cross, &c. &c. 
 
 pp. 233-244 
 
 No. IV. 
 
 PAROCHIAL FRAGMENTS, 
 
 eye. eye. eye. 
 
 Chaucer's Legend of Good Women — The Good Parishioner — Durrington 
 Chapel — Clapham Common— Patching Church — Morels and Truffles — 
 Ilccne Chapel— Ileene— The Palm Tree — Mrs. Heman's Poem on pp. 247 — 272 
 
CONT BNTS. 
 
 xi 
 
 No. V. 
 
 PAROCHIAL FRAGMENTS, 
 8fc. $c. 8rc. 
 
 Evil of Benefices in Plurality — Act to restrict such evil — Houses of Residence 
 — Dilapidations — Sir Robert Peel's Church Extension Bill — Appropriators 
 and Impropriators— Kennett's Case of Impropriations, &c. — Rector and Vicar, 
 origin of— Queen Anne's Bounty ; Ecclesiastical Commission — Parochial 
 Ministration — Old Parochial System — New Churches and Schools — Dr. 
 Arnold and Sir Robert Peel — Lord Bacon on Non-Residents and Pluralities 
 — Archbishop Parker's Opinion — Value of Satirists— Skelton, &c. — The 
 Ecclesiastical Commission — Patching and Tarring — Ecclesiastical Commis- 
 sioners — West Tarring, &c. — Sinecures — Ecclesiastical Pensioners — Burke's 
 View of — Augmentation of Small Livings— Consolidation of Sinecure Recto- 
 ries and Vicarages — Sinecure Rectory and Vicarage of West Tarring — 
 Ecclesiastical Commission — their ignoring of the Charities of West Tarring — 
 Proper grief for Parochial wrongs — Tithe Commutation and Repeal of Corn 
 Laws — Settled Payments undesirable — White Kennett's Opinion — Increased 
 Value of Money — Owen, Blakeway — Good Names — W. G. Rowland — 
 Shrewsbury's Benefactor — Shrewsbury, the First of Towns— why ?— Vicar, 
 Parson, Curate, &c. — Patrimony of the Church devoured — Vicarages highly 
 Rated in the King's Books— Dean Coletand St. Paul's School — Erasmus on 
 the Education of Children — Underpaid Clergy — Faultof Governments, &c. — 
 The Church and Church Principles — Church Reform — Revaluation of 
 Benefices — General desire to Reform abuses — Little Children like to the 
 Kingdom of Heaven — Roman Catholic Legend— Archbishop Gerson — Mrs. 
 Southey's Poem on pp. 275 — 334 
 
 No. VI. 
 
 PAROCHIAL FRAGMENTS, 
 #c. $c. 8fc. 
 
 Country Walk — Tarring to Broadwater — Broadwater Church — Fine 
 Monumental Brass, in Memory of John Maplcton— The Manor of Broad- 
 water — Offington, or, Offingtous— Edict of Nantes — D'Aubuz — Daubus, or, 
 Daubuz — Daubuz's Commentary on the Revelation — Daubuz's of Yorkshire 
 — Cornwall — Offington — Cissbury Encampment — The South Downs — Com- 
 plaint of the Forests — Drayton's Poly-Olbion — Andredswalde — Anderida, 
 Andrcd Ccastre — Anderida, Caer-Andred, or, Andredsccastre — The Wheat- 
 ear, or, English Ortolan — Dotterels— Fuller's Works — Albourne-Place — 
 Albournc-Placeand Bishop Juxon — Chankenbury — Shirleys and Gorings — 
 Wiston-Place — Findon — Muntham — Highden — Devotional Feelings — 
 Kindon— Clapham— The Nightingale's Song .... pp. 337—3(1!) 
 
awntWrfa tt pottoeitWae; 
 
 OR, 
 
 Paror&fal ^fragments, 
 
 &c Ac. Ac. 
 
 B 
 
" Never did any public misery 
 Rise of itself ; God's plagues still grounded ai'e 
 On common stains of our humanity : 
 
 And to the flame which ruineth mankind 
 Man gives the matter, or at least gives wind." 
 
 Lord Brooke, Inqimit. upon Fame and Honour. 
 
 " 9ai»ju«ffiot 8e dpirai ij Tt firoXju/a. Kai r) iv Woiti Trapptjiria 7rpo£ roiig 
 afieivovg, uj Kai rb Kojfwcbv aipfvdwt; paWov i) KtofitKwQ tipijnOai Soxiiv 
 "Av Trcivff 6 SovXoc; >/iry^«J(ti)' pavOdvy 
 Tlovrjpbg iarac /iiraSiSuv 7rfippi;(7i'oj." 
 
 Philo Jud^hus. Quis Rertun Ditinarum Hares. § 1. 
 
 " Sad events may sometimes be improved by men's censures, further than they 
 were intended by God's justice ; and it is more wisdom seriously to observe them 
 to the instructing of ourselves than rigidly to apply them to the condemning of 
 others." 
 
 Fuller's Church History, b. iii. p. 16. 
 
Jntrofcucttoiu 
 
 " The Church's proper arms be tears and prayers, 
 Peter's true keys to open earth, and sky, 
 Which if the priest out of his pride's despair 
 Will into Tybris cast, and Paul's sword try ; 
 God's sacred word he thereon doth abandon, 
 And runs with fleshly confidence at random. 
 
 " Mild people therefore honour God your king, 
 Reverence your priests, but never under one 
 Frail creature both your soul and body bring, 
 But keep the better part to God alone. 
 The soul his image is, and only he 
 Knows what it is, and what it ought to be." 
 
 Lord Brooke. — Of Church. 
 
 There is a most remarkable and striking passage in the works 
 of that great, but much-neglected and long-forgotten divine, 
 Thomas Jackson, with which, having to say somewhat of the 
 Church's troubles, and of the trials of her members in particular, 
 I would wish to preface this Introduction : — " This lower hemis- 
 phere," says he, " or invisible part of the world, is but as the 
 devil's chess-board, wherein hardly can our souls move back, 
 or forth, but he sets out one creature or other to attack them ; 
 nor have we any other means to avoid his subtlety, but by look- 
 ing unto the hills from whence cometh our help, or into that 
 part of this great sphere, which is altogether hid from the world's 
 eye, where ice may behold more for us, than those that be against 
 vs '. And seeing we come in danger of Satan's check, either by 
 
 1 2 Kings vi. 10. 
 
 it 2 
 
4 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 fear, causing our souls to draw back, or love of some worldly 
 creatures alluring them being on the listes they are to combat in ; 
 if we view that host of heavenly soldiers which are for us, we 
 may always have one of the same rank more potent to remove all 
 fear, or diminish the love of any visible creature, or other incum- 
 brance which Satan can propose unto us, and which, unless we 
 be negligent in our affairs, may, as we say, give our antagonist 
 the check-mate. If he tempt us unto wantonness, by presenting 
 enticing looks of amiable, but earthly, countenances to our sight, 
 we have sure hopes of being as the angels of God, and consorts 
 of His glorious unspotted Lamb, to encourage us unto chastity. 
 If with pleasantness or commodiousness of our present habita- 
 tions, he seek to detain us from the place of our appointed resi- 
 dence, or discharge of necessary duties, we have the beauty of 
 the New Jerusalem to ravish our thoughts with a longing after it, 
 to cause us choose the readiest way that leads unto it, rather 
 than take up our rest in princely palaces. If with honour, he go 
 about to entrap us, or terrify us with worldly disgrace, we may 
 contemn the one by looking upon that shame, and confusion of 
 face, wherewith the wicked, though in this life most honourable, 
 shall be covered in the day of vengeance, and loathe the other, 
 by fixing the eyes of our faith upon that glorious promise made 
 to all the faithful, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the king- 
 dom prepared for you 2 . If tyrants by his instigation threaten us 
 with fear of death, which is the utmost of their despite, faith 
 sets another before our eyes, whom we must fear more than 
 only such as can kill the body. If with sickness and languish- 
 ment, we may by faith feel the inward man daily grow, as the 
 outward man decays. Finally, let him assault us what way he 
 can, the affliction can be but light, and for a moment, in 
 comparison of that excellent and eternal weight of glory, which 
 we hope shall be revealed, of which hope faith is the only 
 substance V 1 
 
 * Matt. xxv. 34. 
 
 3 See Jackson's Works, vol. i. p. 638. Ed. folio. The image of the chess-board 
 was no uncommon one with our earlier divines. Hall used it. "The world is 
 a large chess-board, every man hath his place assigned him ; one is a king, another 
 a knight, another a pawn, and each hath his several motion," <&c. — Of Contentation, 
 § viii. Works, vol. iii. p. 502. Ed. folio. Jackson also again and again uses 
 the same image, e. g. vol. iii. pp. 515. fi65. &c. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 5 
 
 Sentiments such as these, drawn from that deep well of com- 
 fort, the Scriptures of truth, were they duly impressed on men's 
 minds, would balance them in sorrow, and strengthen their hearts 
 and hands, when standard-bearers of Christian truth are almost 
 fainting, and the banners of Sion, to the outward eye, are soiled 
 and tarnished ; — I say to the outward eye, because within the 
 Church is all glorious, and a King's daughter. In the words of 
 the Canticles, Thou art beautiful, 0 my love, as Tirzah ; comely 
 as Jerusalem ; terrible as an army with banners*. . . . And how 
 should it be otherwise, when the Apostle tells us that Christ also 
 loved tlte Church, and pave himself for it; that he might sanctify 
 and cleanse it icith the washing of water by the word: that he 
 might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or 
 wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and icithout 
 blemish 5 . 
 
 But here a question should be answered which is constantly 
 asked : " See we," says an objector, " any such Church ? Are 
 any tokens left of that Holy Catholic Church, in which the 
 saints profess to believe ? Is not all rather division, than unity, 
 and seem not the gates of hell to prevail, as it were, in defiance 
 of His word, who is the Head of the Church, even Christ V 
 
 Having quoted one great luminary of the Church, with re- 
 ference to her troubles and trials, let me answer these questions, 
 in the words of another, whose exposition of the Creed can never 
 be studied too much. " The Church, as it embraccth all the 
 professors of the true faith of Christ, containeth in it not only 
 such as do truly believe, and are obedient to the word, but those 
 also which are hypocrites and profane. Many profess the faith, 
 which have no true belief ; many have some kind of faith, which 
 live with no correspondence to the Gospel preached. Within 
 therefore the notion of the Church are comprehended good and 
 bad, being both externally called, and both professing the same 
 faith : For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a field in which 
 wheat and tares grow together unto the harvest ; like unto a net that 
 was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind ; like unto a 
 floor in which is laid up xoheat and chaff; like unto a marriage- 
 feast, in which some have on the wedding garment, and some not. 
 
 * See Ts. xlv. 14. Solomon's Song, vi. 4. 
 
 Ei hcs. v. 2o -27. 
 
6 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 This is that ark of Noah, in which were preserved beasts clean 
 and unclean ; this is that great house, in which there are not only 
 vessels of gold, and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and 
 some to honour, and some to dishonour. There are many called, 
 of all which the Church consisteth ; but there are few chosen of 
 those which are called, and thereby within the Church. I con- 
 clude, therefore, as the ancient Catholics did against the Dona- 
 tists, that within the Church, in the public profession and 
 external communion thereof, are contained persons truly good 
 and sanctified, and hereafter saved ; and together with them 
 other persons void of all saving grace, and hereafter to be 
 damned ; and that Church containing these of both kinds, may 
 well be called holy, as St. Matthew called Jerusalem the holy 
 city, even at that time when our Saviour did but begin to preach, 
 when we know that there was in that city a general corruption 
 in manners and worship. 
 
 " Of those promiscuously contained in the Church, such as 
 are void of all saving grace while they live, and communicate 
 with the rest of the Church, and when they pass out of this life, 
 die in their sins, and remain under the eternal wrath of God ; as 
 they were not in their persons holy while they lived, so are they 
 no way of the Church after their death, neither as members of it, 
 nor contained in it. Through their own demerit they fall short 
 of the glory unto which they were called, and being by death 
 separated from the external communion of the Church, and having 
 no true internal communion with the members and the head 
 thereof, are totally and finally cut off from the Church of Christ. 
 On the contrary, such as are efficiently called, justified, and 
 sanctified, while they live, are truly holy, and when they die, are 
 perfectly holy ; nor are they by their death separated from the 
 Church, but remain united still by virtue of that internal union 
 by which they were before conjoined both to the members and 
 the head. As, therefore, the Church is truly holy, not only by 
 an holiness of institution, but also by a personal sanctity in re- 
 ference to these saints while they live, so is it also perfectly holy 
 in relation to the same saints glorified in heaven. And at the 
 end of the world, when all the wicked shall be turned into hell, and 
 consequently all cut off from the communion of the Church, when 
 the members of the Church remaining being perfectly sanctified, 
 
INTRODUCTION'. 
 
 7 
 
 shall be eternally glorified, then shall the whole Church be truly 
 and perfectly holy. 
 
 " Then shall that be completely fulfilled, that Christ shall 
 present unto himself a glorious Church, which shall be holy, and 
 without blemish. Not that there are two Churches of Christ ; 
 one, in which good and bad are mingled together ; another, in 
 which there are good alone ; one, in which the saints are im- 
 perfectly holy ; another, in which they are perfectly such ; but 
 one and the same Church, in relation to different times, admitteth 
 or not admitteth the permixtion of the wicked, or the imperfec- 
 tion of the godly. To conclude, the Church of God is universally 
 holy in respect of all, by institutions and administrations of 
 sanctity ; the same is further, yet at the same time perfectly 
 holy, in reference to the saints departed, and admitted to the 
 presence of God ; and the same Church shall hereafter be most 
 completely holy in the world to come, when all the members 
 actually belonging to it shall be at once perfected in holiness, and 
 completed in happiness V 1 
 
 Much may be said respecting the Church and its members 
 individually ; but it is a chance if any thing be said more to the 
 purpose than what has been now quoted. It answers the ques- 
 tioning spirit, and is in itself unanswerable. Whoever fall out 
 by the way, and lose their election, the fault is all their own. 
 He that purchased to Himself an universal Church, by the pre- 
 cious blood of His dear Son, willed the salvation of all men to be 
 set forth, (as it is in the first Ember Prayer,) through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. It was with the weaker capacities of the 
 creature in view, nowise forgetful of mortal man's transgression, 
 that the poet sang, — 
 
 " And though these sparks were almost quench'd with sin, 
 Yet they whom that Just One hath justified, 
 Have them increased with heavenly light within, 
 And, like the widow's oil, still multiply'd 7 ." 
 
 To contemplate the Church aright, we must look upon it, 
 though immarcessible as amaranth, subject nevertheless to 
 eclipse, so that faithless and unbelieving men might consider the 
 
 c Pearson on the Creed. Article ix. 8 The Holy Catholic Church." Vol. i. 
 p. 518. 
 
 7 Sir John Davies. " Immortality of the Soul." 
 
8 
 
 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 light darkened in the midst thereof. And such periods will 
 occur more or less frequently, as the members of that body, of 
 which Christ is the head, shall need the more or the less to be 
 purified and cleansed. Sometimes the furnace of affliction may 
 be for trial, but oftener, it is to be feared, for correction. The 
 humbler members of that Church to which we belong— a part of 
 the Holy Catholic Church throughout all the world — will most 
 readily accede to this. That it has never failed, is because of 
 our Redeemer's promise ; that it has often been shorn of its 
 beams, and marred of its original and perfect beauty, is of man's 
 infirmity : — 
 
 " And if physitians in their art can see 
 In each disease there is some sparke divine, 
 Much more let us the name of God confesse 
 In all these sufferings of our guiltinesse 8 ." 
 
 Again, when we look to the ruder shocks which the Church 
 meets with in its opposition to the world, we may be sure it is 
 all for good. Though the mountain of the Lord's house shake 
 at the tempest of the same, moral, like natural tempests, in the 
 end, purify and refine. Winds and storms fulfil the Almighty's 
 word ; and the volcano, by giving vent to combustible matter, 
 does the same ; thus, as it has been said, preventing the world 
 from being burnt up before its time. 
 
 What has been here said applies to the Church at large ; but as 
 regards that pure (as we hope) and apostolical branch of it, esta- 
 blished in this kingdom, the storm has at different times fallen 
 upon it, and yet, by the blessing of God, it has revived and lifted 
 up her head, fair as the rose of Sharon, and beautiful as the lily of 
 the valleys. Amongst other times of danger and distress, one 
 might mention those of the Great Rebellion, and the Revolution ; 
 — more recently that atheistic burst at the end of the last century, 
 and the shock received some ten or twelve years ago, when all 
 abettoivs of mischief rejoiced, and they had reason to hope that 
 what is called the Establishment, would fall to the ground, and 
 become the prey of the spoiler. On the last occasion there were 
 many thoughtful and wise men who deemed it next to impossible 
 that we could weather the storm ; but, at the same time, they 
 
 s Lord Brooke. " A Treatise of Wanes." 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 9 
 
 were not slow to deliver their opinion, that if the present order of 
 affairs ecclesiastical were overturned, many now living would see 
 it restored. Meanwhile the members must suffer ; and it was 
 recollected that there had been much inertness, much supine- 
 ness, much indifference ! Church preferment had been made a 
 mere political engine of ; and many were thrust into her bene- 
 fices with little other intent than to "eat a piece of bread." 
 Nay more, good men scrutinized their own doings, and sifted their 
 own hearts, and confessed then, as they will for ever, that they had 
 been unworthy and unprofitable servants, saying, They made me 
 keeper of the vineyard ; but mine own vineyard have I not kept 9 / 
 
 The result of all this, by God's mercy, is what we now see. 
 Individuals have suffered, and are impoverished ; the revenues of 
 the Church are curtailed, and are dispensed by other hands than 
 they ought to be ; but the Church itself suffers no damage. It 
 rises under the pressure from without; it becomes more and 
 more aware of its own strength and vitality : the little one 
 becomes a thousand ; the scant remnant is increased, like the 
 widows cruse of oil, and handful of meal. The grace of God, it 
 may seem, and we may hope, is proportionably bestowed upon us, 
 as upon the Churches of Macedonia, of which St. Paul tells, 
 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy 
 and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality n . 
 That saying of the prophet is once more verified in us : / will go 
 and return to my place, till they achioicledge their offence: in their 
 affliction they will seek me early 1 . And all this is come to pass. 
 The stagnant waters have been moved, and the pestilence 
 averted. New churches are springing up on every side. The 
 great societies for the dissemination of Christian knowledge are 
 better supported. The education of the people is made a matter 
 of conscience. The Propagation of the Gospel is looked upon as 
 a real thing ; and when the State, by a measure as impolitic as 
 wicked, gave up the clergy reserves in Canada 2 , the Church of 
 this land put herself in the gap, and did what she could in the 
 
 9 Solomon's Song, i. 6. 10 2 Cor. viii. 2. 1 Hosea v. 15. 
 
 2 It will be seen by the Preface that these pages were written some years ago. 
 In this day's" Times," April 29, 1853, appears the following : The Canada Clergy 
 Reserves' Bill was read a third time and passed, after some opposition from the 
 Karl of WitiiLOw." 
 
10 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 present distress. Doubtless it is not expedient for the Church 
 to boast — yea, rather to mourn, for her short-comings and 
 backwardness — but it is expedient, it is her bounden duty, to 
 acknowledge the hand of God in all this ! 
 
 But is it intended to be said that the clergy of the Establish- 
 ment had forgotten their duties to God and man — their high 
 position, and their ordination vows ? Is such a reproach as this 
 to be cast on the labourers in the Lord's vineyard ? and can it be 
 truthfully averred that, some twelve or fourteen years ago, the 
 ministrations of the sanctuary were asleep ? Certainly not. As 
 was stated, there had been great remissness in many quarters, 
 and the heavenly functions, as well as the awful and tremendous 
 privilege of rightly and duly administering the sacraments, had 
 been lightly esteemed by the unworthy. But there was a rem- 
 nant according to the election of grace, and a great one too. 
 The world had its own, but so had the Church too, and it was 
 even in accordance with that ancient answer of God unto Elias : 
 " / have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed 
 the knee to the image of Baal 3 .''' 1 
 
 It is indeed a remarkable fact, that when, but a few years ago, 
 such a hue and cry was raised against the Church and the 
 ministry in this land, the whole body had been bestirring itself, 
 and there was more energy and more determination to good than 
 had been for years. There was likewise more learning amongst 
 her sons, and more sterling divinity, than had been for a century. 
 Something of what Lord Clarendon states to have been the case 
 before the breaking out of the Great Bebellion was the case now. 
 " The Church was flourishing with learned and extraordinary 
 men, and (which other times had in some degree wanted) supplied 
 with oil to feed those lamps. 11 True, we had not that vast learn- 
 ing, or those extraordinary talents, but our Church was a semi- 
 nary in which religious and useful learning was on the increase. 
 And besides, it was an exception when the clergy did not love 
 sermons as well as preach them, so that the parallel is again, in 
 a sort, realized. 41 In those reproached, condemned times, there 
 was not one Churchman, in any degree of favour or acceptance, 
 (aud this the inquisition that hath been since made upon them, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 11 
 
 a stricter never was in any age, must confess,) of a scandalous 
 insufficiency in learning, or of a more scandalous condition of 
 life ; but, on the contrary, most of them of confessed eminent 
 parts in knowledge, and of virtuous and unblemished lives 4 ." 
 And then, when the indiscretion or folly of some sermon preached 
 at Whitehall was bruited abroad or commented on, despite the 
 wisdom, sobriety, and devotion of a hundred, his words are not 
 to be forgotten. " But it is as true (as was once said by a man 
 fitter to be believed on that point than I, and one not suspected 
 of flattering the clergy) that, if the sermons of those times 
 preached in court were collected together and published, the 
 world would receive the best bulk of orthodox, divinity, profound 
 learning, convincing reason, natural powerful eloquence, and 
 admirable devotion, that hath been communicated in any age since 
 the Apostles 1 time. 11 
 
 This testimony of Clarendon, " the most authentic, 11 as Southey 
 calls him, " the most candid, the most instructive of English 
 historians 5 , 11 is of very great value, and when judgment begins at 
 the house of God, is one to afford comfort. The same fact has 
 been noted by other writers, and some there were who bore it in 
 mind when bishops were recommended to set their house in 
 order, and the clergy could scarce appear abroad on parochial 
 ministrations without insult. Happily the sons of violence did 
 us no hurt ; but, on the contrary, bestired us, and bade us look 
 to where our great strength lay. Then they that feared the Lord 
 spake often one to another 6 , righteous and efficacious measures 
 were decided on, enlarged was the place of our tent, and the 
 curtains of our habitation were stretched forth. Good men 
 spared not themselves to lengthen the cords and strengthen the 
 stakes of our ecclesiastical polity. And, as is ever almost the 
 case, those that helped themselves were holpen. Environed we 
 are at present with all sorts of difficulties ; there is much to 
 harass and distress, and much to perplex us ; but in the midst 
 of so many and great anxieties, it must be confessed, that our 
 
 4 See History of the Rebellion, b. i. vol. i. pp. 134—137. Lord Clarendon 
 specially mentions Abp. Laud's and Mr. Chillingworth's " two books" on advance- 
 ment and defence of the Protestant religion. Below he probably alludes to Seidell. 
 (See his " Tabic Talk," in v. Clergy.) 
 
 4 Life of Cromwell. Quart. Rev. vol. xxv. p. 347- 
 
 « Malachi iii. lu\ 
 
L2 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 estate is better than it was. The laity are alive at length to the 
 fact that the Church is not the clergy alone, but that it apper- 
 tained to them also, and the overshadowing of her wings is for 
 the good of their souls and their children's. 
 
 To find the laity taking the part they are now doing is a 
 healthy symptom. To be awake to privileges is a cause for 
 thankfulness. Already we see good effects. The clergy are 
 better supported ; their efforts are heartily seconded ; their voice 
 is heard and listened to with attention ; sacred subjects are not 
 treated lightly ; the cause of the poor destitute is advocated ; 
 charity is once more considered the end of the commandment, 
 and it begins at home without ending there, which were a sin to 
 be repented of. And then again, the fitness of the ministry is 
 carefully and warily scanned, and this is for their good. They 
 cannot sleep at their posts ; they must up and be doing. The 
 Christian soldier has taken an oath for active service, and he 
 must be on his watch. But this is not all ; for a greater benefit 
 still accrues. The laity, watchful over the ministrations of the 
 Church and her teachers, become watchful over themselves and 
 over the talents committed to their trust. They employ the pre- 
 ferment in their hands to better use. To advance one unfit to 
 be advanced becomes a scandal and a reproach. What has 
 hitherto been rather acknowledged than practised, is acted up to 
 with sincerity. And then observe the blessing, even in a worldly 
 point of view. Those that were robbed of the Church's endow- 
 ments by thoughtless politicians find conscience siding with right, 
 and individuals doing all they can to restore that patrimony one 
 way which a body politic voted away in another. It avails not 
 for the enemy to say, that what was abused in inefficient hands 
 should be taken out of those hands and distributed afresh. Par- 
 liament has rather the power than the right to acquiesce in such 
 sentiments, which, after all, are merely agrarian. The same 
 weapons which have been turned against the possessions of the 
 Church may, sooner or later, be turned against the landed interest 
 by some Jack Cade or other, and then, how will they defend 
 house added to house, and field to field I " Away, burn all the 
 records of the land ; my mouth shall be the parliament of Eng- 
 land 7 ! " Such things have been, such things may be again ! 
 7 Second rail Henry VI. Act. iv. Sc. vii. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 L3 
 
 If ever they should, their consciences will be the more at rest 
 who have come to the help of a wronged and a robbed Church. 
 Pity 'tis that 
 
 " Wrong hath more clients than sincerity ! " 
 
 The pressure from without has certainly turned to our good. 
 " At the crowing of the cock of their consciences," (it is the 
 quaint but expressive phrase of old Fuller in the Life and Death 
 of Berengarius,) many great landholders have come forward 
 nobly, impressed with the truth that the detention of property 
 usurped unjustly could not be defended, though the guilt of such 
 an impropriation lay not on their shoulders. It is their desire 
 rather to advance the inheritance of the Church than to rob it. 
 And it is to be remarked, that this desire for restoration followed 
 upon one of the most glaring acts of spoliation which modern 
 days have witnessed. Esau has met his brother, and fallen on 
 his neck and kissed him 8 . 
 
 But let it not be supposed, that all blame attaches to the laity. 
 There was a time — not so long passed — when the clergy forgot 
 that they held the Church's property but in trust, and they 
 ought never to have received any thing less than what was set 
 apart from common use, and restricted to the support of the 
 ministry. Once received, they might dispense at will ; and the 
 more abundant the distribution the better, and the more befitting 
 their office. It was the receiving a part for the whole, and 
 acquiescing in wrong, that, in numberless instances, curtailed our 
 benefices. And by this means the consciences both of patrons 
 and beneficed clergy were entrapped, though the sin of covetous- 
 ness lay rather at the door of the latter, — 
 
 "For men of judgment, or good dispositions, 
 Scorn to be tied to any base conditions, 
 Like to our hungry pedants, who'll engage 
 Their souls for any curtail'd vicarage. 
 I say, there's none of knowledge, wit, or merit, 
 But such as are of a most servile spirit, 
 That will so wrong the Church as to presume 
 Some poor, half-demi parsonage to assume, 
 
 8 See this point referred to by Gauden in his H ieraspistes, p. 493. 4to. 1C53. I 
 had forgotten it when I wrote what is in the above paragraphs. 
 
14 
 
 I N'TROnUCTTOX. 
 
 In name of all : no, they had rather quite 
 
 Be put aside the same, than wrong God's right ! " 
 
 These lines are from the " Abuses Whipt and Stript 9 " of 
 George Wither, one of his earliest productions, published in 
 1613, when he was but twenty-five years of age, and it would 
 have been well if this remarkable man, and no mean poet, had 
 acted up in after life to what he said so well on the present 
 occasion. But self-interest induces moral blindness, and it will 
 scarcely be credited that a good and a conscientious man in the 
 main, plain spoken continually to his own disadvantage, should in 
 after years have dealt so largely in prelate and Church land, and 
 in delinquents 1 estates. But such is the not unnatural result of 
 rebellion and anarchy, and one that much loved his poems said 
 well, that " the civil war did not leave him so uncorrupt as it had 
 found him." So little is Wither read or known, that the length- 
 ened extract which follows — connected with the subject — may 
 not be unacceptable, and it may be well to hint that it was 
 written in the reign of James I. Can it be credited, that one 
 who wrote thus, should, thirty years later, have held so hard 
 a grip on the patrimony of the Church ! 
 
 " You to whom deeds of former times are known, 
 Mark to what pass this age of ours is grown ; 
 Even with us that strictest, seem to be 
 In the professing of Christianity ; 
 You know men have been careful to augment 
 The Church's portion, and have been content 
 To add unto it out of their estate ; 
 And sacrilege all nations did so hate 
 That the mere Irish l , that seemed not to care 
 
 9 Presumption, Satire iv. Reprint, vol. i. 303. 
 
 1 Such was the common epithet applied to the Irish at that time, and it is strange 
 that it should have continued till now. Clarendon says, (anno 1661) that the state 
 of Ireland was "so intricate, that nobody had a mind to meddle with it," and the 
 Duke of Ormond declared that he " could not see any light in so much darkness, 
 that might lead him to any beginning" of improvement. — Life, vol. i. p. 441. 
 Previously however to the Long Parliament, he says that " Ireland, which had 
 been a sponge to draw and a gulph to swallow all that could be spared, and all that 
 could be got from England, merely to keep the reputation of a kingdom, was 
 reduced to that good degree of husbandry and government, that it not only subsisted 
 of itself, but gave this kingdom all that it might have expected from it." — Hist, of 
 the Rev. vol. i. p. 134. Alas that the Irish question is a problem still ! 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 15 
 
 For God nor man, had the respect to spare 
 
 The Church's profits ; yea, their heed was such 
 
 That in the time of need they would not touch 
 
 The known provisions, they daily saw 
 
 Stor'd up in churches ; in such fear and awe 
 
 The places held them, though that they did know 
 
 The things therein belonged to their foe : 
 
 But now the world, and man's good nature's chang'd, 
 
 From this opinion most men are estrang'd ; 
 
 We rob the Church, and what we can attain 
 
 By sacrilege and theft, is our best gain. 
 
 In paying dues, the refuse of our stock, 
 
 The barrenest and leanest of our flock 
 
 Shall serve our pastor; whom for to deceive 
 
 We think no sin. Nay, further (by your leave), 
 
 Men seek not to impropriate a part 
 
 Unto themselves, but they can find in heart 
 
 T' engross up all ; which vile presumption 
 
 Hath brought church-livings to a grand consumption. 
 
 And if this strong disease doth not abate, 
 
 'Twill be the poorest member of the state!" 
 
 Matters have come to this ; but there is something cheering 
 in that old saying, " when things have reached the worst, they'll 
 mend. 11 The tide has turned, and it is to be hoped we shall take 
 advantage of it and redeem the time. To do so, we must be 
 diligent, availing ourselves of every opportunity, and disabusing 
 all around us of their wrong and contracted notions respecting 
 the Church and Church membership. It has often been re- 
 marked, that one half the world is governed by words, and that 
 " a plausible insignificant word, in the mouth of an expert dema- 
 gogue, is a dangerous and dreadful weapon V 1 This fallacy we 
 must obviate. 
 
 Let any one consider what was the result, in the late disturbed 
 state of things, of a want of knowledge on these points. In the 
 first place, there was a loud and continued cry, like that of 
 Edonfs children, at the very mention of the Church, and the 
 burden of it was, " Down with it, down with it, even to the 
 ground ! 11 So ignorant and misinformed were the bulk of the 
 
 2 South's Sermons, vol. ii. p. 123. 
 
16 
 
 INT ItODUC'l ION. 
 
 people, that ] they were for excommunicating themselves; yea, 
 for pulling down about their own ears that branch of Christ's 
 Holy Catholic Church established in these kingdoms. That 
 which was a blessing to them and to their offspring they were for 
 desti'oying utterly : — Overturn, overturn, overturn ! — was the pro- 
 longed cry, and they verily thought that, as the foundations of the 
 nation seemed reeling and out of course, and its inhabitants 
 drugged with a drink of deadly wine, the foundations of the 
 Church too were tottering. That is to say, in their ignorance, 
 they confounded an establishment with what was imperishable, 
 whether against the madness of the people, the folly of those in 
 high estate, or the gates of hell ! 
 
 In that singularly curious book, by Antonius Macedo, the 
 " Divi Tutelares Orbis Christiani," this worthy Jesuit represents 
 in strong colours the destructive system pursued by the English 
 at the Reformation. Of course, he speaks as a good Roman 
 Catholic, but his words might have been called to mind, and 
 might have occasioned searchings of heart but a few years ago, 
 when a misguided people were for burning up and pulling down 
 the most sacred monuments of our forefathers in this land, even 
 to our very cathedrals, — 
 
 " Agreed in nothing but t' abolish, 
 Subvert, extirpate, and demolish 3 ." 
 
 " says the writer above alluded to, " omnes rationes et vias 
 comparandco salutis ceternw sustulerunt: sacramenta, sacramen- 
 talia, vota, sacrificia, psalmodias, meditationes, vigilias, flagella, 
 jejunia, camis macerationes exterminarunt : Aras, imagines, sacra- 
 ria, templa, Sanctorum patrocinia, sepulchra, et Martyrnm memo- 
 rias everterunt ; lustrales fontes exsiccarunt ; sacra lipsana com- 
 busserunt ; breviaria, litanias, precarios globulos * abjecerunt : 
 
 3 Hudibras, III. ii. 143. 
 
 4 This may need explanation. Hoffman will supply it. "Globuli, in Ecclesia 
 Romana dicuntur calculi ; quibus in corona B. Mariie siniilique utuntur, uumerando 
 sc. tot salutationes Angelicas, totque Orationes Dominicas. Nempe centum et quin- 
 quaginta vicibus cum recitant Orat. Dom. vocant hoc Psalterium Otristi, cum totidem 
 salutationcm Angelicam, Psalterium Virginis. Cui usui, ne in numero aberrarent, 
 globuli hi sou spluerulaj precatorke excogitatie sunt, a Petro Eremita, ut plerique 
 volunt."— Lexicon in v. Quiere ? Are these globuli alluded to in these words in the 
 Homily of Good Works, "and rosaries of fifteen O's." p. CO. But, see Nare's 
 Gloss, in v. Rosary. 
 
IN'TUOUUCTION. 
 
 17 
 
 jubilaa, indulgentias, benedictiones Episcopates, et Sacerdotales irri- 
 seruni : sacra omnia pessumdederunt : bno et sacros ipsos ordines 
 extinxerunt, et loca pia, et religionem spirantia, ne qua rei sacra? 
 exstaret memoria, exsciderunt, veriti ne si starent, vel muti eorum 
 mores novos reprehenderent, ac refutarent. Nihil reliquerunt in- 
 tactum, nihil integrum, nihil sanctum, cum ipsa quoque pietatis 
 vestigia aboleverint s ." 
 
 The above, it must be confessed, is a curious catalogue of 
 excision to the knife, and although the carnis macerationes and 
 certain other items are not to be regretted, and we have no fear 
 as to the retention of our sacred orders, notwithstanding the 
 digladiation of Lewgar or Le Quien, being contented with what 
 is said by Bramhall and Courayer and others 6 , who have sifted 
 well the subject ; still Antonio Macedo's words ring in our ears, 
 and an infuriated mob would not unwillingly have perpetrated a 
 like destruction in the nineteenth century. Human passions and 
 unchastened violence alter little from age to age. Folly and 
 ignorance ran in couples for a time, and then, as he of Verulam 
 said, the fools lead the wise. As in political movements, " la 
 roix populaire qui fait taire celle des sages, entraine souvent les 
 conseils des rots 7 ," so is it when higher matters are at stake. 
 
 " The world is nat'rally averse 
 To all the truth it sees or hears, 
 But swallows nonsense and a lie 
 With greediness and gluttony 8 ! " 
 
 And never was this more fully exemplified than in the 
 exaggerated statements which were made some ten and twelve 
 years ago with respect to the property of the Church and the 
 enormous revenues of the clergy. The lies current during the 
 Great Rebellion were again repeated, and history proved no 
 better than an old almanack ; no new phrase, for both Jackson 
 and Fuller make use of it. The truth is, that misrepresentations 
 are what demagogues, or enemies in general to the existing state 
 
 5 Cf. in c. " Anglia." p. 4G2. Ulissipone (i.e. Lisbon), 1687- Folio. 
 0 See Palmer's Treatise on the Church. Part vi. c. x. On the Validity of the 
 English Ordinations. Vol. ii. p. 451. First Edit. 
 
 7 Mallet, L'Histoire de Dannemarc, vol. viL p. 408. 
 
 8 Hudibras, III. ii. 805. 
 
IS 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of things, must start with. Though a woe be denounced against 
 putting a stumbling-block in a weak brother's way — against call- 
 ing "evil good and good evil" — it is nevertheless done day after 
 day, and generation after generation, by such as seek, whether 
 notoriety or precedence, regardless of the means. They know 
 full well that the moment the minds of ignorant and misinformed 
 people can be abused by false notions, a point is gained. A lie 
 that lives a day will do a world of mischief. 
 
 And this was the case with reference to the revenues of the 
 Church. The statements then made would hardly be credited 
 now that things are more quiescent ; but unluckily our enemies, 
 backed by lords of misrule, printed their accusations, and it was 
 necessary, as it had often been before, to contradict and to dis- 
 prove. Such, indeed, was the general feeling on this hand, that 
 a commission was appointed to " Inquire into the Revenues and 
 Patronage of the Established Church in England and Wales, 1 ' 
 and their report was presented in June, 1835. And what was 
 the result ? what did this enormous and untold wealth amount 
 to ? Was it found that thousands upon thousands were thrown 
 away upon an idle and overfed clergy ? Nothing of the sort, — 
 
 " Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus ! " 
 
 The result was, that if the whole amount of the several benefices 
 in England and W ales — those omitted which were attached to 
 superior preferments — were to be divided amongst the several 
 incumbents, their average income would not amount to more 
 than 285?. per annum. Great inequalities, of course, there are 
 and must be in the value of livings. Some certainly are very 
 much too large ; but the majority are far, far too small. All 
 this is a point conceded ; but it is one which presents great 
 difficulties as to alteration. It is ill to meddle with vested 
 rights. However, the lie was laid bare, and it was even found 
 that our much abused bishops 9 , were their archiepiscopal and 
 episcopal revenues thrown together and equally divided, would 
 not receive more than 6000?. per annum at the very most. And 
 when it is known what they have to do for what they receive, 
 I suppose, no one that knows any thing about the matter would 
 
 9 This is yet true, though much has occurred since these works were written, 
 still testifying to the truth, that The love of money is the root of all etU. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 1.9 
 
 venture to put in further demurrer. " Let us blacken him, let 
 us blacken him what we can," 11 said that miscreant Harrison of 
 our martyred king, upon the wording and drawing up his charge 
 against his approaching trial I0 . It was much the same on the 
 occasion referred to. 
 
 The value of cathedral property, together with that of col- 
 legiate churches, was investigated at the same time, and all was 
 found to be infinitely below the exaggerated statements which 
 were put forward as tested and proved. Something will be said 
 in subsequent pages as to the appropriation of much of these 
 revenues hereafter, and time must prove whether the project be 
 wise or the reverse. Great necessities call for unwonted mea- 
 sures, but, after all, "honesty," perhaps, will be found to be 
 " the best policy ;"" and to sell, and to exchange, and to alienate, 
 may be thought, in less disturbed and excited times, no very 
 long-sighted or wise proceeding. The intention is doubtless 
 good, and the sacrifice was most likely made to prevent what is 
 called a further reformation — a term which has been much used 
 of late years, and which, it is remarkable enough, was a favourite 
 term of the levellers amongst Presbyterians and Independents. 
 South pithily explains its meaning : " A further reformation 
 signifies no more, with reference to the Church, than as if one 
 man should come to another and say, ' Sir, I have already taken 
 away your cloak, and do fully intend, if I can, to take away your 
 coat also. 1 This is the true meaning of this word further re- 
 formation ; and so long as you understand it in this sense, you 
 cannot be imposed upon by it 
 
 But, whatever may be the method of distribution hereafter, 
 there is this satisfaction at least, that the spoils of collegiate and 
 cathedral institutions revert to the Church, either to the increase 
 of poor livings, additional clergy in populous places, or to the 
 education of the people, and we need not be pained when we read 
 such remarks as these respecting Church revenues alienated 
 before the Reformation. They are from the great divine before 
 quoted, Thomas Jackson. " Our fore-elders did well in judging 
 the clergy for abusing revenues sacred, to the maintenance of idle- 
 ness, superstition, and idolatry. But would to God they had not 
 
 10 Quoted by South, vol. ii. p. 137- 
 
 c 2 
 
 1 Vol. i. p. 203. 
 
20 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 condemned themselves by judging them, or that they had not 
 done the same things wherein they judged them. Happy had it 
 been for them and for their posterity, if those large revenues, 
 which they took from such as abused them, had been employed 
 to pious uses ; as either to the maintenance of true religion, or 
 to the support of the needy, or to prevent oppressing by extra- 
 ordinary taxes, or the like. This had been an undoubted effect 
 of pure religion and undefled before God. But it was not the 
 different estate or condition of the parties on whom Church reve- 
 nues were bestowed, that could give warrant unto their alienation, 
 or which might bring a blessing upon their intended reformation, 
 but the uses unto which they were consecrated, or the manner 
 how they were employed. — Now the manner of their employment, 
 no man, whose ancestors have been parties in the business, will 
 take upon him to justify, nor have the posterity of such as were 
 at that time most enriched with the spoils of the superstitious 
 Church any great cause to rejoice at their ancestors 1 easy pur- 
 chase." And again, by and by. " Our fore-elders (especially 
 the nobility and the gentry of those times) did abhor idols no less 
 than the Jews did, and yet did commit more gross and palpable 
 sacrileges than the Jews, to my observation, at any time had 
 done. And what could it boot them to deface images or pull 
 down idols in the material churches, so long as by their very 
 spoils they nourished that Great Idol, Covetousness, in their 
 own hearts ? Thus to seek to enrich themselves or fill their 
 private coffers with the spoils of abbeys or churches, or by tithes 
 and offerings, was but to continue the practice of the prelacy or 
 clergy, in destroying parishes to erect monasteries ; or demolish- 
 ing leper religious houses to build up others more sumptuous and 
 luxurious V 
 
 It was against such things as these that honest-hearted 
 Latimer lifted up his voice, as did others of the day. But, once 
 for all, it was well that the full meaning of a thorough reformation 
 should be exemplified. And never was a declaration so clear, as 
 that covetousness was bound up in the heart of man, — yea, even 
 in the heart of those, whose desire, perhaps, might have been to 
 see a better state of things, had not the auri sacra fames over- 
 
 } See vol. iii. pp. 686, 687. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 •J I 
 
 powered it. The secret sins of men's hearts were never laid 
 more bare than in the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and 
 during the time of the Great Rebellion. The watchword was 
 reform ; but the end was gain. Never did that politic historian 
 speak more advisedly true, than when he said, Cceterum, libertas, 
 el speciosa nomina prcetexuntur ; nec quisquam alienum servi- 
 tium, et dominationem sibi coticupivit, ut noil eadem ista vocabula 
 umrparit*. It will ever be found that workers of iniquity 
 turn "religion into rebellion, and faith into faction. 11 There is 
 no blotting out from our annals what led to the martyrdom 
 of Charles I., and of the religious-hearted, but hasty-tempered, 
 Laud 4 ! 
 
 In disturbed towns the clergy can never be too cautious. 
 Wary also they should be as regards a sort of people, who, when 
 occasion serves, will make overtures of peace, whilst war and 
 every dishonest motive is rankling in their hearts. There is an 
 old saying, too, worthy to be borne in mind, that the devil is 
 none the less the knave, when he seems to play the fool. Some 
 such overtures of peace, and some such folly was attempted 
 during the recent years of disturbance. Who remembers not 
 how it was attempted, by a mock sort of pity, to raise what were 
 called the working clergy, and working curates, into notice, by 
 the depreciation of their ecclesiastical superiors ' AVho remem- 
 bers not the whining, canting, tone with which the bitterest 
 enemies of the Establishment, and of holy men, the bishops of the 
 land, endeavoured to detract from their efficiency, as ministers of 
 Christ, by showing, as they thought, the mean estate to which 
 they consigned their inferior clergy ? None can fail to remember 
 this ; and some, it may be, might have turned their school-boy 
 lesson to account : — 
 
 " Quidquid id est, limeo Danaos et dona ferentes /" 
 
 The words of sorrow and pity came from a wrong source. The 
 tears were over-miserably expressed, and were too globular, like 
 
 3 Tacit. Histor. lib. iv. c. 73. 
 
 * Clarendon mentions his " hasty sharp way of expressing himself," adding in a 
 subsequent page, " which, upon a short recollection, he was always sorry for, and 
 most readily and heartily would make acknowledgment." Vol. i. pp. 159 and 176. 
 Hist, of the Rebellion. See what South says, vol. iv. p. 95. 
 
22 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 crocodiles 1 ! But, in sober and serious strain, many no doubt 
 were deluded ; and the different letters written at that time in 
 various periodicals and newspapers attest the fact. Youth was 
 more readily led astray ; and there were those again, whose 
 poverty, it may be, rather than their will, consented. But the 
 fact is none the less notorious ; and ecclesiastical superiors, who 
 were doing all they could, whether to turn or to moderate and 
 guide the stream of democratic violence which had set in, were 
 hardly supported as they ought to have been. Happily, well 
 educated and thoughtful men saw through the flimsy veil of 
 hypocrisy which was extended for the ruin of the thoughtless, 
 and the evil hoped for by subtlety and deceit was in a great 
 measure averted. Harm nevertheless was done ; and there was 
 rashness of speech, and a sort of concession made, which an 
 adversary knew but too well how to make use of. But for the 
 present this evil is overpast ; and the simple truth, stripped of 
 words, is acknowledged readily, — kcu ovtoi <$l SoKi/ia^taOojaav 
 irQh)Tov 5 . Proof of worth and ability should first be given, or 
 ever higher advancement be looked for. When this is the case, 
 the working clergy will seldom find themselves past by ; or, 
 should they be reproached, as was Socrates of old, for having no 
 preferment in Athens, they may make answer with him, — It was 
 enough for him to have fitted himself for preferment : it was other 
 men's business to bestow it on him. But on this head, and on all 
 others so closely connected with unity in our Church, the business 
 of alMs to follow their great Exemplar : — 
 
 " And through obedience travel to perfection, 
 Studying their wills unto his will to bring, 
 Yield trust and honour both to his discretion : 
 And when they do from his example swerve, 
 Beare witnesse to themselves they ill deserve 6 ." 
 
 When such was the state of things, it was not to be wondered 
 at that a low sectarian spirit, combined with mean utilitarian 
 notions, should have increased. It is, in fact, natural ; and we 
 may discern it to be the case, more or less, in all times of poli- 
 tical excitement. Self-interest, and a Pharisaic spirit, personal 
 
 5 1 Tim. iii. 10. 
 
 6 Lord Brooke. Of Humane Learning. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 23 
 
 advancement and schism, are quite compatible. Let the earliest 
 instances of separation and dissent from the Holy Catholic 
 Church be fairly looked to ; let even what took place previous to 
 the Council of Nice (a.d. 325) be impartially canvassed, and the 
 same conclusion cannot fail to be arrived at, namely, that " Pope 
 Self" has been a character more influential in the world, and has 
 made greater conquests, than a Sesostris or an Alexander. 
 
 But one of the great peculiarities of later times is this, that 
 individuals contrive to dissent from tbe Articles and the Liturgy 
 of the Church to which they belong, and yet, by a dispensation 
 from themselves, to remain members of the same, and to enjoy 
 its emoluments 1 . It was curious to observe this some few years 
 ago with what is called the Low Church. It is none the less 
 curious to observe it now in the case of those who designate 
 themselves the High Church, discarding the very name of Pro- 
 testant. There is no better proof of the trite observation that 
 extremes meet. Of this, however, it will be necessary to speak 
 again, and at greater length. Meanwhile let me point out what 
 was aimed at by separatists, who were really such, but who, as 
 before observed, had a sufficient regard to personal aggrandize- 
 ment. And rightly, as some said, for the wicked, by which 
 the members of the Establishment were very commonly in- 
 tended : — 
 
 " The wicked have no right 
 To th' creature, though usurp'd by might, 
 The property is in the saint, 
 From whom they injuriously detain't 9 ." 
 
 From what has since transpired, there can be little doubt, I 
 think, but that very many amongst what might be called the 
 wildest dissenters were encouraged in the hope that the time 
 was come when the Church of England was to be counted but as 
 one sect, amongst many, and no longer denominated a branch of 
 
 7 South says of the conforming Puritan that " He is one who lives hy the altar, 
 and turns his back upon it ; one who catches at the preferments of the Church, but 
 hates the discipline and orders of it ; one who practises conformity, as papists take 
 oaths and tests, that is, with an inward abhorrence of what he does for the present, 
 and a resolution to act quite contrary when occasion serves." — Sermons, vol. iv. p. 
 192. 
 
 8 Hudibras, Part I. ii. 1010. 
 
2L- 
 
 1NTRODUCTION. 
 
 that Holy Catholic Church throughout all the world, which had 
 numbered saints and martyrs in her pale, and whose chief glory 
 it was to be truly and rightfully apostolic, through that ordination 
 which Christ had enjoined. For this reason all rites and ordi- 
 nances were made light of, authority was disregarded, and, by a 
 specious fallacy, all traditional knowledge, soberly and religiously 
 received, was confounded with tradition, as received in the 
 Romish Church, hereby intimating that the Church of England 
 was no true mother, but that she held still to vain and supersti- 
 tious practices, and needed liberty, almost as much as did the 
 J ewish Church of old, from the yoke of human ordinances. Such 
 notions were industriously spread abroad, not only in our great 
 towns, but even in our most secluded hamlets. " U nder the 
 existing parochial system, 11 said the party, " every village is 
 a see, as well as Rome ; 11 and yet again — so curiously do the 
 phrases which Butler has preserved in his striking poem come 
 round — whether as regards Churchman, Presbyterian, or In- 
 dependent : — 
 
 " Every hamlet's governed 
 By's Holiness, the Church's head, 
 More haughty and severe in's place 
 Than Gregory and Boniface V 
 
 And then, again, the old game was resorted to of declaring that 
 the Gospel was not preached. This, as observers are well aware 
 of, is the constant watchword of a separatist. Without it he 
 can have no ground to stand on. It was thus that the Great 
 Rebellion was blown up, and the " Gospel trumpeter 11 to battle 
 sounded. It was our separatists and dissenters — as South 1 
 declares over and over again, in his inimitable (though some- 
 times bitter) Sermons, which contain perhaps the best religious 
 history of those sad and melancholy days — that were the Pope's 
 journeymen to carry on his work. They looked, it may be, 
 different ways, but their end was one. By crying down the 
 
 9 Hudibras, Part I. iii. 1209. 
 
 1 See especially a Sermon on Gal. ii. 5. Vol. vii. p. 514. " So that let all 
 our separatists and dissenters know that they themselves are the Pope's arti- 
 ficers, to carry on his work, and do that for him, which he cannot do for himself," 
 &c. &c. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 25 
 
 Church of England, and depreciating her ministry, they led 
 the way, as many of them no doubt intended, to those secessions 
 towards Rome, which followed them, as they have done in more 
 recent times. The poor ignorant multitude were deluded and 
 led astray, as is ever the case — the leaders only became grand 
 muftis — whether after Geneva's fashion or Rome's. These were 
 they who styled themselves the godly, arrogating and engrossing 
 all holiness unto themselves and their party, and doing more 
 harm in this distracted kingdom than ever had been done before. 
 Happy will that day be for the nation and the national Church 
 when the ranks of Rome shall no more be fed by dissent and 
 separation, and by those insidious distinctions of High and Low 
 Church, which are the ruin of all peace, and a death-blow to 
 unity ! South, in an epistle dedicatory to Narcissus, Archbishop 
 of Dublin, never spoke with deeper foresight than in the words 
 which follow : — " Those of the ancienter members of her com- 
 munion, who have all along owned, and contended for a strict 
 conformity to her rules and sanctions, as the surest course to 
 establish her, have been of late represented, or rather reprobated, 
 under the inodiating character of High Churchmen, and thereby 
 stand marked out for all the discouragement that spite and power 
 together can pass upon them ; while those of the contrary way 
 and principle are distinguished, or rather sanctified, by the 
 fashionable endearing name of Low Churchmen, not from their 
 affecting, we may be sure, a lower condition in the Church than 
 others, (since none look so low, but they can look as high,) but 
 from the low condition which the authors of this distinction would 
 fain bring the Church itself into, — a work in which they have 
 made no small progress already. And thus by these ungenerous, 
 as well as unconscionable practices, a fatal rent and division is 
 made amongst us ; and being so, I think those of the concision 
 who made it, would do well to consider whether that, which our 
 Saviour assures us will destroy a kingdom, be the likeliest way to 
 settle and support a Church. But I question not but that these 
 dividers will very shortly receive thanks from the Papists for the 
 good services they have done them, and in the mean time they 
 may be sure of their scoffs V Sad and no less melancholy 
 truth ! 
 
 3 Sermons, vol. ii. p. 226. 
 
26 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " High and Low, 
 Watchwords of party, on all tongues are rife ; 
 As if a Church, though sprung from heaven, must owe 
 To opposites and fierce extremes her life, — 
 Not to the golden mean, and quiet flow 
 Of truths that soften hatred, temper strife 3 ." 
 
 When men's minds are disturbed, and polemics are made a 
 stalking-horse for hidden ends, nothing established is safe ; that 
 ancient law which declares, that " whatever is is right," is mis- 
 chievously perverted, and such as are opposed to a destructive 
 theory or practice, are condemned as allowing no change for the 
 better. This common fallacy was endeavoured to be palmed on 
 the unwary during the years of excitement to which these pages 
 are more particularly directed. One instance I wouldespecially 
 refer to. 
 
 If there be one thing more than another for which we, of the 
 Established Church, in these kingdoms ought to be thankful, 
 it is for our beautiful and Apostolic Liturgy, in which true and 
 vital religion, as opposed to fanaticism and inarticulate rhetorical 
 flourishes, is cautiously provided for. Herein brevity and fulness 
 are combined, warmth of devotion and sobriety, at the same 
 time, being coupled together. Notwithstanding the maunder- 
 ings of some discontented spirits, " nothing," as South says *, 
 " could have been composed with greater judgment ; every prayer 
 being so short, that it is impossible it should weary, and withal 
 so pertinent, that it is impossible it should clog the devotion. 
 And, indeed, so admirably fitted are they all to the common 
 concerns of a Christian society, that when the Rubric enjoins 
 but the use of some of them, our worship is not imperfect ; and 
 when we use them all, there is none of them superfluous to 
 which he adds, in conclusion, " I know no prayer necessary, that 
 is not in the Liturgy but one, which is this : That God would 
 vouchsafe to continue the Liturgy itself in use, honour, and 
 veneration in this Church for ever. And I doubt not but all 
 wise, sober, and good Christians, will with equal judgment and 
 affection give it their Amen.''' 1 
 
 3 See Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Sonnets. Part III. xii. " Sacheverel." 
 
 4 See vol. i. pp. 457 and 463. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 27 
 
 And such turned out to be the case, our enemies themselves 
 being judges, for the very Romanists found no fault in it, and 
 acknowledged it clear of deformity. They only judged it im- 
 perfect. As Jeremy Taylor observed, in his M Preface to the 
 Apology for authorized and set Forms of Liturgy," their ac- 
 cusation was " but of imperfection, of a want of some things 
 which they judged convenient, because the error had a wrinkle 
 on it, and the face of antiquity. And, therefore, for ten or 
 eleven years they came to our Churches, joined in our devotions, 
 and communicated without scruple, till a temporal interest of the 
 Church of Eome rent the schism wider, and made it gape like 
 the jaws of the grave V Nay more, it is said that Paul IV. 
 offered to Elizabeth to confirm the Liturgy with his authority if 
 she would but acknowledge his supremacy ; and his successor, 
 Pius IV., as is generally supposed, made a like offer by Vincentio 
 Parpalia, whom he sent to England with a letter to the queen, 
 as well as with private instructions not contained in it. Camden" 
 tells us the supposed offers were these : " That he would disannul 
 the protest against her mother's marriage as unjust, settle the 
 English Liturgy by his authority, and grant the use of the 
 Sacraments to the English under both kinds, in case she would 
 reconcile herself to the Romish communion, and bow to the 
 supremacy of his chair." Whether this was exactly so or not 
 is not easily discoverable now ; but thus much is certain, that 
 Pius IV. was inclined to treat with her, but on Romanist terms. 
 Burnet says that she sent Parpalia word to stay at Brussels, and 
 not to come over ; but it seems as if he had been here, for Strype 
 remarks in his " Annals of the Reformation," under Queen 
 Elizabeth, that " the same Pope Pius left not off yet his dealing 
 with the queen, but sent another nuncio the next year, named 
 Abbot Martinegues, (Burnet calls him, Martinengo,) with other 
 letters full of assurance of love. But she bravely refused, and 
 slighted all these specious offers V 
 
 5 See Works, vol. vii. p. 289. 
 
 6 See Life and Reign of Queen Elizabeth. Complete History of England, vol. ii. 
 p. 384. Ed. folio. Pope Pius' Letter was " given at Rome, at St. Peter's, &c, 
 15th May, 1560, in our First Year." 
 
 7 See Burnet's History of the Reformation, vol. ii. p. 835. Strype's Annals, vol. 
 ii. p. 340. He, I observe, writes Parpalio. 
 
28 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 But this is a mere matter of history, — the acknowledged fact 
 is all that is wanted ; and this declares the value of the Liturgy 
 in the eyes of the then Romanists. It was for those of later date 
 to begin to pull to pieces this noble record of our forefathers 1 
 piety and judgment, — judgment, I mean, in paying that reverence 
 due to antiquity, and in selecting from ancient liturgies those 
 prayers which have been the solace and the comfort of sorrow- 
 stricken and penitent sinners, from generation to generation, 
 in the Holy Catholic Church throughout all the world. Let, 
 however, disputes arise, and the Liturgy is sure to be attacked. 
 It was the case in the Great Rebellion, when, presently, a 
 directory was thought better that the spirit might not be stinted; 
 " and so the worship of God was left, 11 as one says, " to the 
 managing of chance, and indeliberation, and a petulant fancy. 11 
 Happily this sad estate has been averted thus far in our days, 
 by God's great and most undeserved mercies ! But how near 
 we were to the precipice none can tell. In our troubles and 
 perplexities there was a very general cry that the Liturgy needed 
 mending. Those who disagreed in almost every thing else, were 
 at one in this. " It was little better than the ancient uses,'''' 
 said one. " Tt is a very cento, 11 said another, " out of the mass- 
 book, pontifical, breviaries, manuals and portuises of the Roman 
 Church 8 ," — the very thing which the ever-memorable Hales of 
 Eaton turned to its praise, when he said, speaking of our desire 
 for conciliation, and peace, and a united Church, " By singular 
 discretion was our Service Book compiled by our forefathers, as 
 containing nothing that might offend them, (i, e. the Romanists,) 
 as being almost merely a compendium of their own Breviary and 
 Missal ; so that they shall see nothing in our meetings, but that 
 they shall see done in their own ; though many things which are 
 in theirs, here, I grant, they shall not find. And here, indeed, 
 is the great and main difference betwixt us V 
 
 Consider its contents in what light you will they are sure to 
 be assailed by those who cannot appreciate its value, or by those 
 who are adverse to its doctrines. The Romanist, now-a-days, 
 
 8 See Jer. Taylor, vol. vii. p. 290. The sense of the word Portuise is very well 
 given in Nare's Glossary in v. Portfolio — Porti/orium — Porthose, &c., are one and 
 the same word from the French porter. A sort of manual to be carried about. 
 
 0 Of Dealing with Erring Christians, vol. ii. p. 100. Ed. 8vo. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 29 
 
 deserts his ancient ground, and thinks there is no sure footing 
 when he joins in a Protestant assembly. Unfortunately he, too, 
 has his adherents, in what has been termed the extremes of the 
 High Church, — I say, called the extremes, because the true 
 orthodox High Churchman is as far removed from any approach 
 towards Rome, as he is from the unsounded bathos of dissent. 
 The Separatist, meanwhile, sees no beauty in those formularies 
 which set the Arian, the Socinian, the Sabellian, the Macedonian, 
 and all other heretics at defiance, giving " glory to the Father, 
 and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost ; As it was in the 
 beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end." The 
 simple truth of the matter is, that the Prayer Book of the 
 Church of England is a barrier and a cancel against all false 
 doctrine, heresy, and schism, and must needs be spoken 
 against as long as the faith once delivered to the saints is 
 maintained. 
 
 There is no stronger proof of this than the virulence with 
 which the Athanasian Creed was attacked between the years 
 1825 and 1831. This Creed, together with the Baptismal Ser- 
 vices, was, in fact, the handle all schismatics took hold of. As 
 regards the latter there can be no difference of opinion — no well- 
 grounded difference, I mean — with true orthodox Churchmen. 
 Regeneration in Baptism has ever been the received doctrine in 
 the Church of Christ. To deny this is to deny what has been 
 a received truth from the time the Scriptures of the New Testa- 
 ment were written till now ; neither is any exhortation more 
 thoroughly imbued with pristine piety than that with which the 
 sponsors are dismissed ; for surely it is their parts and duties to 
 see that the little children be " virtuously brought up to lead a 
 godly and a Christian life ; remembering always that Baptism 
 doth represent unto us our profession, which is, to follow the 
 example of our Saviour Christ, and to be made like unto Him ; 
 that, as He died, and rose again for us, so should we, who are 
 baptized, die from sin, and rise again unto righteousness ; con- 
 tinually mortifying all our evil and corrupt affections, and daily 
 proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living." There are two 
 works on this Sacrament, which younger students will do well 
 to be acquainted with, namely, Bishop Mant's " Bampton 
 Lectures," and Bishop BethelPs " General View of the Doctrine 
 
30 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of Begeneration in Baptism." They are mentioned as of more 
 recent date, and easily accessible. Whoever is well acquainted 
 with them will be enabled " to give an answer to every man that 
 asketh him a reason of the hope that is in him V To what is 
 here said, I would add the passage following, from the "Bampton 
 Lectures," of W. D. Conybeare, delivered in 1833: — "With 
 regard to Baptism, the language of the Fathers is also in strict 
 accordance with that of Holy Writ ; for both concur in designat- 
 ing that sacramental font as the laver of regeneration : perhaps 
 some of the discussions which have agitated the Church on this 
 subject, might have been abated, if not avoided, had all parties 
 sufficiently distinguished between the initiatory admission into a 
 state of covenant, and the development of the graces belonging 
 to that covenant ; for it is obvious that the very moment of, 
 and admission into such a covenanted state, must challenge to 
 itself the original inchoation of all the privileges annexed to it : 
 and although many baptized into Christ, may yet, alas ! remain 
 unconverted to Him in heart and soul ; still, whensoever any of 
 them shall put off the death of sin, and become raised to a new 
 life of holiness, they will necessarily refer to the covenanted 
 mercies of God, the grace which thus becomes effectual to their 
 souls ; and of the mercies included in this relation, they un- 
 doubtedly became heirs when first numbered among Christians 
 at the font V 
 
 The objections raised against the Athanasian Creed were on 
 different grounds ; and it was not the doctrine so much as the 
 damnatory clauses which were demurred at. Now, when pious 
 and humble minded and Christian spirited men have been made 
 uneasy by this ancient formulary of the Church, their scruples 
 have ever met with that attention they have merited. With 
 such we have no grounds for complaint ; and we can as well agree 
 to differ, as they can to acquiesce. And it is usually found that 
 by degrees their scruples vanish, and they are apt to conclude 
 that although they might rather not read it in the ears of the 
 congregation were the choice their own, that it is still of ex- 
 
 1 l Pet. iii. 15. 
 
 2 See Lecture viii. p. 486. The title of these Bampton Lectures is, " An Analy- 
 tical Examination into the Character, Value, and just Application of the Writings 
 of the Christian Fathers during the Ante-Nicenc Period." 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cellent use, full of sound doctrine, whether written by Atha- 
 nasius or no, and a Creed that ought to be retained amongst the 
 formularies of the Church equally with the Nicene, and that 
 commonly called the Apostles' Creed, being to be proved by most 
 certain warrants of Holy Scripture, as the Article testifieth. 
 These were the sentiments of the late lamented Dr. E. Burton, 
 whose two Sermons on M Confessions of Faith," and " Defence of 
 the Athanasian Creed," tell of how Christian a spirit he was. 
 It is in the former that he remarks, with reference to the 
 damnatory clauses, " If the question should be raised, whether 
 these clauses should be retained, and read publicly in our 
 Churches, we might perhaps be led by Christian humility and 
 Christian charity to wish for their removal ; but this is a very 
 different thing from our saying and believing of the doctrines 
 contained in the Creed, ' This is the Catholic faith. 1 We in 
 this place have signed the articles of our Church, which say of 
 all the three Creeds, that ' they may be proved by most certain 
 warrants of Holy Scripture and I would rather part with the 
 hand that signed them, than give up one jot or one tittle of the 
 doctrines which are contained in the Athanasian Creed \" Digna 
 viro sententia ! Individually I would rather this Creed retained 
 its present position, and I gladly agree with Air. Maurice 4 ; — 
 at the same time I think what Professor Burton said, in summing 
 up his latter sermon alluded to, is to the purpose. " Confessions 
 of faith, such as the Athanasian Creed, may be compared to 
 weapons laid up in an armoury in time of peace. They are not 
 always wanted for active warfare ; and many may be unac- 
 quainted with the use of them. But when the enemy is in the 
 field, they must be put into the hand of every faithful subject, 
 
 3 Sermons before the University of Oxford, pp. 244 and 283. Maurice's " King- 
 dom of Christ." Note on the Athanasian Creed at the end of the second volume. 
 2nd edit. Much the same view is taken in Morris's Bamp. Lect. Serm. vi. p. 1C2, 
 &c. They were preached in 1791. 
 
 4 The same was the opinion of Hooker. See Eccles. Pol. b. v. c. xlii. § 4. Ed. 
 Keble. " Then was the Creed of Athanasius written, howbeit not then so expedient 
 to be publicly used as now in the Church of God ; because while the heat of division 
 lasteth truth itself enduring opposition doth not so quietly and currently pass 
 throughout all men's hands, neither can be of that account which afterwards it 
 hath, when the world once perceiveth the virtue thereof not only in itself, but also 
 by the conquest which God hath given it over heresy." Vol. ii. p. 231. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and when called upon to choose his party he cannot remain 
 neuter. I would willingly admit that salvation may be obtained 
 without a knowledge of the Athanasian Creed. Thousands and 
 millions of Christians have gone to their graves, who have either 
 never heard of it, or not understood it ; and I would add, that 
 let a man believe the Scriptures, let him profess his faith in 
 Christ in the plain and simple language of the New Testament, 
 and he may pass through life as piously and happily, he may go 
 to his grave with as quiet a conscience, and, more than this, he 
 may rise again as freely pardoned and forgiven, as if he had 
 dived into the depths of controversy, and traced the nature of 
 the Deity through the highest walks of metaphysics. But when 
 we say this, let it be remembered, that it is one thing not to 
 have heard of a doctrine, and another not to believe it. To 
 assume that all persons, who are ignorant of the Athanasian 
 Creed, would refuse to believe it, is the part neither of a sound 
 nor of a candid reasoner. The question which I would put is, 
 Would they believe the contrary ? We need not suppose the 
 Church to mean, that every Christian is bound to have studied 
 all the clauses of that Creed ; but she assumes this to be his 
 faith, if he has not heard of controversy ; and if he has heard of 
 it, she points out the conclusions, which he must allow to be 
 true, or he must give up points of faith, to which he had already 
 assented. Thus she provides him with tests against the errors 
 of the Sabellian, the Arian, and the Socinian creeds : she would 
 be happy if her members were in no danger of being assailed 
 with these errors ; but if they are, she endeavours to protect 
 them ; she knows that faith in Christ, as the begotten Son of 
 God, is the foundation of a Christian's hope ; and she cannot 
 knowingly permit these words to be looked upon as unmeaning, 
 to be explained away, or evaded." 
 
 But to return to the point in question. The Athanasian 
 Creed was not chosen as a stronghold for objection by Low 
 Churchmen, and separatists, and rationalists, (for it is curious 
 how all unsettled minds converge to one centre,) simply because 
 of its damnatory clauses, but really and truly because it was a 
 Creed. The object was to malign this, and afterwards to main- 
 tain the inutility of the others, and so to get rid of Creeds 
 altogether. And here again the unlearned were led astray, and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 33 
 
 had no notion of the intended result, which was, hy unsettling 
 their minds, to superinduce unbelief, and, perhaps, atheism, — at 
 all events atheistic notions. For what, in times of doubt and 
 dismay, — what, when the Bible was a sealed book, had the poor 
 unlettered to fall back upon, but their Pater Noster and their 
 Credo ? What, again, is so available to the right understanding 
 of Christian verities as those clear plain words, when all and 
 every thing is disputed, and the Bible is distorted, and its sense 
 confused, and every sect has its text, and its interpretation, and 
 " the prophet," as saith Hosea, "is a fool, and the spiritual man 
 is mad 5 ?" Say what men may, the Creeds have been preserved 
 to Christians in all ages by the good providence of God. Heir- 
 looms they are beyond all price ; and by them the meaning of 
 the Scriptures is protected, and the truth as it is in Jesus 
 hedged in. What the fence of the Law was to the Jew, in some 
 sort the Creeds are to us. George Wither never wrote more to 
 the purpose than in the lines which follow : — 
 
 " In my religion I dare entertain 
 No fancies hatched in mine own weak brain, 
 Nor private spirits, but am ruled by 
 The Scriptures, and that Church authority 
 Which with the ancient faith doth best agree ; 
 But new opinions will not down with me 6 ." 
 
 Under every and any circumstances, and as we desire purity of 
 life and doctrine not to die out amongst us, the Creeds must be 
 retained, specially the Apostles' and the Nicene Creed, which will 
 keep guard on all irreverent thoughts, and curb the licentiousness 
 of private and separate fancies. " These Catholic declarations of 
 our belief," says Hooker, " delivered by them which were so 
 much nearer than we are unto the first publication thereof, and 
 continuing needful for all men at all times to know, these confes- 
 sions as testimonies of our continuance in the same faith to this 
 present day, we rather use than any other gloss or paraphrase 
 devised by ourselves, which, though it were to the same effect, 
 notwithstanding could not be of the like authority and credit. 
 For that of Hilary unto St. Augustine hath been ever and is 
 likely to be always true : ' Your most religious wisdom knoweth 
 
 5 Hosea ix. 7. 
 
 0 Vol. ii. p. 261. Nec euro.— The reprint. 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 how great their number is in the Church of God, whom the very 
 authority of men's names doth keep in that opinion which they 
 hold already, or draw unto that which they have not before 
 held 7 ."' 
 
 For the present it is not necessary to refer to other portions 
 of the Prayer Book which were struck at with a side thrust. 
 Something will be said of different portions in the latter part of 
 the present volumes 8 . But perhaps there is little new even here, 
 and Hooker's fifth Book contains almost every thing which can 
 be said on the subject; — a portion of his immortal work which 
 ought to be carefully studied by every candidate for the office 
 ministerial. Blessed be God ! our excellent Prayer Book, second 
 only to the Bible, its source, is still retained to our hands ! At 
 present also there seems no prurient desire of tampering with its 
 sacred contents. May the desire for peace and quietness on this 
 and other points be lasting ! 
 
 Those who may desire to see what in days gone by was offered 
 in the stead of the Prayer Book have only to look to the Direc- 
 tory, and to the no less painful than masterly sketch given by 
 Jeremy Taylor of its emptiness in the Preface to the " Apology 
 for Set Forms of Liturgy." His concluding remarks, though so 
 often quoted, are not to be passed by here, where no novelty is 
 aimed at, and where the words of others rather than my own are 
 given page after page. " And yet," says he, " this excellent 
 book hath had the fate to be cut in pieces with a penknife, and 
 thrown into the fire, but it is not consumed ; at first it was sown 
 in tears, and is now watered with tears, yet never was any 
 holy thing drowned and extinguished with tears. It began with 
 the martyrdom of the compilers, and the Church hath been 
 chafed ever since by angry spirits, and she was forced to defend 
 it with much trouble and unquietness ; but it is to be hoped, 
 that all these storms are sent but to increase the zeal and con- 
 fidence of the pious sons of the Church of England. Indeed the 
 greatest danger that ever the Common Prayer Book had, was the 
 
 7 Ecclcs. Pol. lib. v. c. xlii. C. The words of the original are given by Keble. 
 " Non iguorat prudentissima pietas tua, quanto plures sint in Ecclesia, qui auctoritate 
 hominum in sentcntia teneantur, aut a scntentia transferantur." Hilar. Arelat. 
 Epist. ad Aug. § 8. t. ii. 828. 
 
 8 The original work would make up two volumes. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 35 
 
 indifferency .and indevotion of them that used it hut as a common 
 blessing ; and they who thought it fit for the meanest of the 
 clergy to read prayers, and for themselves only to preach, though 
 they might innocently intend it, yet did not, in that action, con- 
 sult the honour of our Liturgy, except where charity or necessity 
 did interpose. But when excellent things go away, and then 
 look back upon us, as our blessed Saviour did upon St. Peter, 
 we are more moved than by the nearer embraces of a full and an 
 actual possession. I pray God it may prove so in our case, and 
 that we may not be too willing to be discouraged ; at least, that 
 we may not cease to love and to devise what is not publicly 
 permitted to our practice and profession V Words these which 
 were written in a time of rebuke and blasphemy, and when the 
 writer himself was in sore distress for the sorrows of the Church, 
 but they are beautiful words, and the cast of solemn melancholy 
 thrown over them only adds to their attraction. It is Giles 
 Fletcher that says, in his " Christ's Victory and Triumph," — 
 
 " As melting honey dropping from the comb, 
 So still the words that spring between thy lips ; — 
 Thy lips, where smiling sweetness keeps her home 
 And heavenly eloquence pure manna sips ! " 
 
 The blow struck at the Prayer Book failed as it had done 
 before. The file was over-strong for the viper's tooth. Accord- 
 ingly, the point of attack was changed, as it was when a like 
 attack was made at a previous period of our history ; and so the 
 translation of the Bible was to undergo another of those ordeals 
 which have ever proved beneficial in the end. Our version, it 
 was studiously spread abroad, was corrupt ; it did not give the 
 sense of the original, to say nothing of its force ; nay more, it 
 was wilfully corrupted, and to enjoin the use of the " Authorized 
 Translation " was but to keep the people still in darkness. It is 
 well known to careful and diligent Parish Priests how sedulously 
 such opinions were spread abroad. Papers and tracts were cir- 
 culated with this intent, and not only so, but emissaries of evil 
 were at work in person. An instance, and a very painful one, 
 came under my own notice in the parish of West Tarring. An 
 aged man lay a-dying, and was ill at rest from what he had 
 
 a Sec Works, vol. vii. p. 312. 
 D 2 
 
.'50 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 heard. It was not difficult to know that his spirit was dis- 
 turbed ; but (as is not uncommon) it was more difficult to be 
 made acquainted with the cause. At last he confessed it, and it 
 was but too clear that it had been a question mooted at the 
 tavern and in the beer-shop ! Never was I more impressed with 
 the truth of those lines : — 
 
 " Yea, prince of earth, let man assume to be, 
 Nay more ; if man, let man himself be God. 
 Yet without God, a slave of slaves is he, 
 To others wonder ; to himself, a rod ; 
 
 Restless despair, desire, and desolation ; 
 
 The more secure, the more abomination 10 ." 
 
 It may be recollected that our translators of the Bible, in their 
 Dedication to King James, made use of the following remarks : 
 " If, on the one side, we shall be traduced by Popish persons, at 
 home or abroad, who therefore will malign us, because we are 
 poor instruments to make God's holy truth to be yet more and 
 more known unto the people, whom they desire to keep in ignor- 
 ance and darkness ; or if, on the other side, we shall be maligned 
 by self-conceited brethren, who run their own ways, and give 
 liking unto nothing but what is framed by themselves, and 
 hammered on their own anvil ; we may rest secure, supported 
 within by the truth and innocency of a good conscience, having 
 walked the ways of simplicity and integrity, as before the Lord." 
 Whether, in the present day, any popishly inclined, or whether 
 any puritanically opposed to the Established Church in these 
 kingdoms, urged on discordant and rebellious spirits is, perhaps, 
 not easily ascertained ; but there were malignant aspects in the 
 times, and sundry who spoke of peace prepared themselves for 
 the battle. 
 
 Happily those who loved our Sion were ready to defend her 
 from the attacks of the enemy, and that more insidious attack 
 still which imputed carelessness to the guardians of the Autho- 
 rized Translation. It was presently found that this version could 
 not be gainsay ed : the consequence was that new ground had 
 to be broken ; and this was done by saying that it had been 
 
 10 Lord Brooke. Treatise of Religion. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 37 
 
 tampered with, and was not now what it was two centuries ago. 
 Could this attack have been substantiated, it might have done 
 much harm by unsettling men's minds. It was necessary, there- 
 fore, to combat it, and to show that it was altogether false ; and 
 this was done well and thoroughly ; and we are much indebted 
 to some good men, who set their hands to the work, while their 
 hearts went with it. The very reverse of the accusation was 
 shown to be the case ; and it came out accidentally that the care 
 with which the Prayer Book had been printed for nearly two 
 centuries was only equalled by that which had been bestowed on 
 the English Version of the Bible : — 
 
 " lncorrupta Fides, nudaque Veritas, 
 Quando ullum inveniet parem 1 ?" 
 
 And now, after all, what is the real testimony borne to the 
 English Translation of the Bible ? It is close to the original ; 
 it is in the simplest and the plainest language ; as unrivalled for 
 the purity of its diction, as it is for its faithfulness ; it is, as 
 even Selden styled it, " the best translation in the world ; n and, 
 according to the combined judgment of many best able to form 
 such a conclusion, " It is the standard of our language" As 
 Bishop Middleton observed, — in admitting that it was only in 
 some small niceties of criticism that it could be bettered, — " It 
 is simple ; it is harmonious ; it is energetic ; and, which is of 
 no small importance, use has made it familiar, and time has 
 rendered it sacred 2 ." And certainly this is altogether according 
 to the truth. And it is to be borne in mind also that at the 
 time when the Authorized Translation was made, — using as their 
 groundwork, according to the king's instructions, first the 
 Bishop's Bible, and then the translations severally of Tyndal, 
 Coverdale, Matthew, Whitchurch, and Geneva, — some of the 
 best scholars and holiest men that this nation ever knew were 
 employed on the holy work. Hales of Eaton, in his Sermon on 
 
 1 Hor. Od. i. xxiv. 7. 
 
 * On the Greek Article. Luke xii. 54. Ed. Scholefield, p. 314. It is to be re- 
 marked that the editor has published "Hints for an Improved Translation of the 
 New Testament," but this also refers rather to the niceties of language, and what 
 he says in his Preface (pp. vi. vii.) of the venerable Translators will acquit him of 
 any desire to unsettle men's minds. Whether his judgment is good is another thing. 
 Hooker, as usual, is ever judicious. Sec Eccles. Pol. b. v. c. xix. § 2. Ed. Keble. 
 
38 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " Abuses of Hard Places of Scripture," bears irrefragable testi- 
 mony on this head. " The most partial for antiquity, 1 '' says he, 
 " cannot chuse but see and confess thus much, that for the 
 literal sense the interpreters of our own times, because of their 
 skill in the original languages, their care of pressing the circum- 
 stances and coherence of the text, of comparing like places of 
 Scripture with like, have severally surpast the best of the 
 ancients. Which I speak not to discountenance antiquity, but 
 that all ages, all persons may have their due V 
 
 To this translation, unblemished and undefined by human 
 glosses, it is that we call our people. As regards the interpreta- 
 tion thereof, we receive that of the Holy Catholic Church ; but 
 we suppose the rule of faith, and the rule of a Christian man's 
 life, to be pretty easily ascertained from it, especially with the 
 Creed as a guide and a defence. It is to this Word of God that 
 our people are invited, — a feast of holy things; — nay more, a sword 
 of spiritual temper, proof against all the fiery darts of the 
 wicked, — converting the soul, giving wisdom to the simple, re- 
 joicing the heart ! No wonder that workers of iniquity should 
 endeavour to vilify what is pure, and clean, and righteous alto- 
 gether ! No wonder that the Romanist (whom Fulke has 
 answered once for all in his confutation of the Rheniish Testament) 
 should cavil at its plainness, or complain of it as literal ! For as 
 Hales of Eaton, but just referred to, has said in a preceding 
 page, " The doctrine of the literal sense was never grievous or 
 prejudicial to any but only to those who were inwardly conscious 
 that their positions were not sufficiently grounded. When 
 Cardinal Cajetan," he adds, " in the days of our grandfathers, 
 had forsaken that view of postilling 4 and allegorizing on Scripture, 
 
 3 Vol. ii.p. 40. Ed. 8vo. 
 
 4 That is, "glossing, commenting." The word is of considerable antiquity. A 
 text of Scripture was originally read, and post ilia verba, or the " Postil," was the 
 explanation of it. The republication of Taverner's Postils will have made the word 
 familiar to many readers. " Pvstilla. Notte. Sic autem maxime dieuntur notte 
 raarginales et perpetuus in sacra Biblia, qure secundum verba currant, quasi post 
 ilia rcrba, quod hmc subinde efferrcnt magistri, qui ejusmodi notas suis discipulis 
 dictabant," &c. Du Cange in v. " Postillare — postillas scriberc." Ibid. Spelman 
 says in his Glossarium " Primus Bibliorum Poetillator fuit Hugo Cardinalis, qui 
 floruit an. Dom. 1240, ut notat Gesncrus, ejus opera enumerans." But Quairc ? 
 " To postell upon a kyry" occurs in Skclton's Colyn Cloute, v. 755. Dyce, vol. i. p. 
 340. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 39 
 
 which for a long time had prevailed in the Church, and betaken 
 himself unto the literal sense ; it was a thing so distasteful unto 
 the Church of Rome, that he was forced to find out many shifts, 
 and make many apologies for himself. The truth is, (as will 
 appear to him that reads his writings,) this sticking close to the 
 literal sense, was that alone which made him to shake many of 
 those tenets, upon which the Church of Rome and the reformed 
 Churches differ. 1 ' Curious ! that any amongst us should again 
 have returned to allegorical interpretations ! But we may quit 
 such disputes, or others of a lower character, and let — 
 
 " The Ghibellines for want of Guelfs 
 Divert their rage upon themselves V 
 
 Thus much it seemed not out of place to say respecting the 
 hue and cry raised against our Authorized Translation of the 
 Bible, and against the Liturgy. The depreciation of the clergy, 
 of their orders, and of the sacraments, followed as a matter of 
 course ; and the proposal to ease the Bishops of their labours in 
 the House of Lords was but a Tit quoque, though happily it was 
 not mooted in the House, the pulse only being felt by the Hampden 
 of the day. But it is a circumstance not to be forgotten, that 
 out of the House the Primate was grossly insulted ; and there was 
 scarce a puritanical nickname, from " dumb-dogs " downwards, 
 which was not applied to other such Prelates as stood in the gap, 
 and did their duty manfully. 
 
 The question of " No Bishop " was not, as just stated, brought 
 forward in the House ; but the Bench were advised to set their 
 house in order, and there was no mistaking the innuendo. It 
 was at the commencement of that democratic movement which 
 all but ended in rebellion ; and very remarkable is that page in 
 Clarendon, which speaks of the like movement in 1641, as the 
 political aspect was lowering : " The first design," says this great 
 historian, " that was entertained against the Church, and which 
 was received in the House of Commons with a visible countenance 
 and approbation of many, who were neither of the same princi- 
 ples nor purposes, was a short bill that was brought in, ' to take 
 away the bishops 1 votes in parliament, and to leave them out in 
 
 ' Hales ut supra, p. 38. Hudibras, III. ii. 085. 
 
40 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 all commissions of the peace, or that had relation to any temporal 
 affairs. 1 This was contrived, with great deliberation and prepara- 
 tion, to dispose men to consent to it ; and to this many of the 
 House of Peers were much disposed ; and among them none 
 more than the Earl of Essex, and all the popular lords, who 
 observed, ' that they seldom carried any thing which directly 
 opposed the king's interest, by reason of the number of the 
 bishops, who, for the most part, unanimously concurred against 
 it, and opposed many of their other designs ; and they believed 
 that it could do the Church no harm, by the bishops having 
 fewer diversions from their spiritual charges V " 
 
 Such, at that time, was the intimation thrown out, — insidious, 
 as such intimations usually are. There was what Lucan calls 
 jus datum sceleri ; but self-interest was at the bottom of all, and 
 lack of faith, 
 
 " Et concussa Fides, el multis utile helium' 1 " 
 
 And so it proved ; for, although at that time and subsequently 
 also, it was rejected in the Upper House, yet when Episcopacy 
 was voted to be a rag of Popery, and apprentices 8 were rather 
 listened to than prelates, rebellion was rife, and the rights of 
 property subverted. It was upon the first occasion, here ad- 
 verted to, that the Lord Falkland and Lord Clarendon differed 
 in opinion, to the great delight of all those whose hearts were 
 set on anarchy. As it is well known to readers of those times 
 Lord Falkland changed his opinion when the argument was 
 debated six months after. He had been deceived, he said, by 
 Mr. Hampden, who had assured him, " that if that bill might 
 pass, there would nothing more be attempted to the prejudice of 
 the Church." Who is there that has not been deceived when he 
 has trusted to members of a faction, and has hoped by such 
 measures of conciliation to melt down to love that hate to the 
 Established Church which is rancorous and inveterate? Not- 
 withstanding any thing which has been said by Warburton to 
 the contrary, the words of Lord Clarendon, when the bill was 
 first put to the question, are the real statement of the case, 
 
 « Clarend. Hist, of Rcb. vol. i. p. 414. 7 Pharsal. lib. i. v. 2. 182. 
 
 8 See a Petition published, in the name of the Apprentices, against Papists and 
 Prelates. Clarend. Hist, of Itch. vol. ii. p. 83. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 41 
 
 viewed, that is, historically, dispassionately, and honestly : — " It 
 was changing the whole frame and constitution of the kingdom, 
 and of the parliament itself ; that from the time that parlia- 
 ments begun there had never been one parliament where the 
 bishops were not part of it ; that if they were taken out of the 
 House, there would be but two estates left : for that they as the 
 clergy were the third estate, and, being taken away, there was 
 nobody left to represent the clergy ; which would introduce 
 another piece of injustice, which no other part of the kingdom 
 could complain of, who were all represented in parliament, and 
 were therefore bound to submit to all that was enacted, because 
 it was upon the matter with their own consent ; whereas if the 
 bishops were taken from sitting in the House of Peers, there 
 was nobody who could pretend to represent the clergy ; and yet 
 they must be bound by their determinations." It would be no 
 difficult matter to prove all this by reference to our constitu- 
 tion ; but it would swell these pages to too great length ; and 
 it has been done by others fully competent to grapple with the 
 subject. 
 
 But here, again, as on the other heads adverted to, we have to 
 return grateful thanks to the providence of Almighty God for the 
 care taken of that branch of the Church established in these 
 kingdoms, with Bishops of the Church at the head of it. Their 
 enemies have overshot the mark, and the revulsion in their favour 
 is marked and general. The ancient exhortation is received as 
 Catholic, — "Avtu tov Itthtkottov /ui/Stv trpaaativ. Somehow or 
 other it seems acknowledged by all parties, — or nearly all, — that a 
 Church without Episcopacy is somewhat acephalous, headless, that 
 is, and incomplete. "For Episcopacy," says Jeremy Taylor, "relies 
 not upon the authority of fathers and councils, but upon Scrip- 
 ture, upon the institution of Christ, or the institution of the 
 Apostles, upon an universal tradition, and an universal practice, 
 not upon the words and opinions of doctors : it hath as great 
 a testimony as Scripture itself hath ; and it is such a govern- 
 ment, as although every thing in antiquity doth minister to it, 
 and illustrate or confirm it ; yet, since it was before the fathers 
 and councils, and was in full power before they had a being, and 
 they were made up of bishops, for the most part, they can give 
 no authority to themselves, as a body does not beget itself, or 
 
42 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 give strength to that from whence themselves had warranty, 
 integrity, and constitution V 
 
 Look where we will to turning points in this nation we shall 
 ever find God's hlessing attendant on their ministrations. As 
 the same writer observes, " The most glorious issues of divine 
 benison upon this kingdom were conveyed to us by their hands." 
 For example, there was the arrival of Augustine, which, if not 
 an unmixed good, was accompanied nevertheless with conse- 
 quences salvifical \ The British Bishops, it is true, needed not 
 to succumb to his authority, and to that of Rome ; and Bangor, 
 a t his coming, was furnished with armed men ; and our Bishops 
 long before (a.d. 314) had subscribed their names at the Council 
 of Aries; but for all this the light of Christianity shone the 
 brighter, specially in the south, after that conversion which took 
 place on his arrival. By whom, again, was the Reformation so 
 promoted as by our Bishops ? A nd at the Restoration, those 
 who took the oaths, and those who did not, were men not lightly 
 to be spoken of, but left a good example behind them ; though 
 perhaps Sancroft, in his retirement, as an " egregius exul? was 
 greater than at Lambeth. Neither should we omit to add to 
 the above instances two others, which are mentioned by Jeremy 
 Taylor, — I mean " the union of the houses of York and Lan- 
 caster, by the counsels of Bishop Moreton, and of England and 
 Scotland by the treaty of Bishop Fox." 
 
 Indisposed as our national character may be in times of excite- 
 ment to submit to authority, yet when the time for sober thought 
 and consideration has come, and the moral drunken fit is over, 
 it is to our credit that we revert to what is right in the main. 
 Established rights and customs are then acknowledged to have 
 
 9 See the Dedication to Jeremy Taylor's " Episcopacy asserted." Works, vol. 
 vii. p. xvii. There is a beautiful remark in § xxxv. of this Treatise. " At first, 
 Christians were more devout, more pursuing of their duties, more zealous in attes- 
 tation of every particle of their faith ; and that Episcopacy is now come to so low 
 an ebb, it is nothing ; but that, it being a great part of Christianity to honour and 
 obey them, it hath the fate of all other parts of our religion, and particularly of 
 charity, come to so low a declension, as it can scarce stand alone ; and faith, which 
 shall scarce be found upon earth at the coming of the Son of Man." P. 154. 
 
 1 See Evans' Tales of the Ancient British Church. All details will be found, of 
 course, in Stillinglleet's Antiquities, — the recent edition of which from the Clarendon 
 I'ress is very valuable, owing to the care bestowed 011 the references. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 43 
 
 been wrongly assailed ; and as regards religion, and religious 
 ordinances, we arc sure to find them upheld even hy those who 
 were readiest to pull down and to destroy. Those who are not 
 of this mind in times of peace, are the exception and the minority. 
 A state of unrest is not natural to any thing created ; and never 
 was saying truer than that of Lord Brooke's : — 
 
 " Each creature hath some kind of Sabbath- day." 
 
 This time of peace — not from labour, for never was labour so 
 fully exacted at the hands of the ministry — is now, by God's 
 blessing, granted to us for a while, — long or short as may be. 
 The attacks on episcopacy are still. Then, is it not a time for 
 the efficacy of the order to make known their power and their 
 will to edification, and to make that attachment stronger, which 
 really exists amongst our people I Far be it for a priest to move 
 out of his sphere, and to presume to give advice in the stead of 
 mending his own ways, and looking after his own flock, — but 
 one may nevertheless speak from observation ; and hints may be 
 thrown out neither useless nor unprofitable. 
 
 It is recorded of the excellent Bishop Wilson that he re- 
 gularly and successively preached in all the churches of his 
 diocese ; so that his person was known throughout the Isle of 
 Man as a " familiar face, 11 longed for and beloved. True enough, 
 he had his troubles there ; and there are, and ever will be, those 
 who are set against what is good in any shape. Good, however, 
 he did, and that on no small scale ; and much of it is to be 
 attributed to his showing himself a prelate, who thanked God 
 for "every remembrance 11 of his people; in "every prayer" of 
 his, (like St. Paul,) "making request for them all with joy. 11 
 His " fellowship in the Gospel 2 11 was no mere form of words, 
 but real and substantial. The consequence was as stated ; and 
 when he died, no such mourning in that island was ever known. 
 All the inhabitants (save such as sickness, or age, or other 
 necessity kept at home) turned out as one man to his burial; 
 "and at every resting-place was a contest among the crowd to 
 bear him on their shoulders ; and happy were they who could 
 pay this last sad office to their friend and benefactor 3 ! 11 To 
 
 2 See Phil. i. 3, 4. 1 See Life by Cruttwel. Works, vol. i. p. 212. 8vo. 
 
44 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 this day the Manksman still tells of his good Bishop ; and his 
 name is in all the churches. 
 
 Now, some such intercourse as this is wanted in the present 
 day ; we want our Bishop to come in and to go out amongst 
 us. A Dalai Lama system will not win souls, and the days of 
 Prester John are past and gone ! And yet, for a century and 
 more, owing to circumstances, the Episcopate has become more 
 and more secluded, and it has been the custom to look with less 
 respect upon archdeacons 1 visitations, and to long for the pre- 
 sence of his ecclesiastical superior. Between the two there was 
 the difference of obedience and love. Whereas, the efficiency of 
 an archdeaconry, and of the rural deanery, as a body, depends 
 upon the combination of the two, and this obediential love will 
 be best cemented when the superintendence of a bishop's autho- 
 rity is developed. 
 
 Suppose it otherwise, and a change will soon come over the 
 face of things. For example, If some Prelate, at any time, or in 
 any place, should insult a whole archdeaconry, induced so to do, 
 either through Collegiate Nepotism, or some SiviALcaldian or 
 Family Compact. In that case, an additional instance is 
 afforded for the wish, now so often expressed, that the Govern- 
 ment had a Veto upon Episcopal appointments. " The Govern- 
 ment," the objector aptly says, " cannot do things in a corner ; a 
 Prelate ?«ay." Certainly, with an holy, upright Episcopate, it 
 were better things remained as they are, — but, there is a point 
 beyond which Caoutchouc cannot stretch, and so it is with the 
 patience of those who must look on contumely, enduring with all 
 reasonable endurance ! Had Chapters, with Bishops and Deans 
 in Conclave, done their duty, there had been no place for Com- 
 mission after Commission ! And this has given cause to say, 
 " There has been for a long time too much over-reaching going 
 on, and when there is a race between Prelates and Ecclesiastical 
 Commissioners, as to who shall grab a living first, there is little 
 chance of open and righteous dealing, and fair play in a diocese." 
 " Imagine," says another, " such a case as this. 11 Owing to new 
 arrangements in our dioceses (introducing again virtually Pecu- 
 liars done away with by the Order in Council, January 2nd, 
 1 846), certain livings are to devolve upon " Foreign," i. e. extra- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 45 
 
 diocesan Bishops. To obviate this, you shall see the chariot and 
 the horsemen of a Prelate astir by nine o'clock in the morning, 
 thoughtless of his diocese, to serve a friend. " There is no time 
 for consideration," quoth our Basil or Athanasius ! " Take it at 
 once for your son, or it will be gone !" As some heathen might 
 have said, 
 
 " Occupat extremum scabies, mihi turpe relinqui est." 
 
 And thus, notwithstanding many and great reforms, a Diocese 
 has to mourn, " At tu victrix provincia ploras /" 
 
 But to return. It is to be confessed, that the present generation 
 has seen little of Episcopal Intercourse. A little child, some six or 
 seven years ago, was told that the Bishop was coming to stay at his 
 father's house at the time of a Confirmation, and, one must suppose, 
 that his arrival was somewhat talked of ; at least, the child was 
 impressed with certain notions of awe, and formed infantine syllo- 
 gisms for himself. The morning after his arrival, (and a good- 
 natured Christian spirit he was,) the little boy remarked by piece- 
 meal to his mother, " He has eyes — he has a nose — he has a 
 mouth and when she was wondering what would come next, the 
 child innocently ended by observing, " Mamma ! after all he is but 
 a man !" And not much dissimilar has been the surprise of many 
 of our people. A Bishop has but been known amongst them at 
 a Visitation — a Confirmation — an Ordination — or on some other 
 pointed occasion ; not as the Angel of the Church ; not as the 
 spiritual father of the diocese ; not as one whose bowels of com- 
 passion yearned for "poor and needy people, and all strangers 
 destitute of help *." And yet, on the delivery of the Bible at 
 their consecration, all this was implied when words such as these 
 were recited : " Hold up the weak, heal the sick, bind up the 
 broken, bring again the outcasts, seek the lost. Be so merciful, 
 that you be not too remiss ; so minister discipline that you 
 forget not mercy and again in the last prayer but one : " so 
 endue him with thy Holy Spirit, most merciful Father, that he, 
 preaching thy Word, may not only be earnest to reprove, be- 
 seech, and rebuke with all patience and doctrine ; but also may 
 be to such as believe a wholesome example, in word, in conver- 
 sation, in love, in faith, in chastity, and in purity." 
 
 4 See the Consecration of Bishops. 
 
■Ki 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 All of this implies more or less intercourse with clergy and 
 people, and it is because this has not been kept up, that love and 
 respect have grown cold, and most that remained was what 
 Lucan calls, the magni nominis umbra. But here again there is 
 a change for the better, and there is a greater intercommunion 
 than there was, and it is hoped that we may see it increasing 
 day by day, and year by year. It is not to be denied, that our 
 bishops are harassed by all sorts of business, and by too much 
 also that is secular ; nevertheless, a great part of the year 
 (without intrenching on parliamentary attendance) may be 
 spent in their sees, and every additional day spent there, with 
 the determination towards real usefulness, must be registered for 
 good. And what results might we expect? Increased activity 
 amongst the clergy, together with a closer union of the laity — 
 more painful preaching of the Word in those pulpits which the 
 bishop would occupy as occasion called — stricter parochial super- 
 vision, that so the bishop might be less pained in those censures 
 which he would pass in person — greater unity — a fuller attend- 
 ance at the altar. Supposing also a bishop in circuit, and visit- 
 ing the parishes of his diocese, he would then be enabled to mark 
 their actual state, and to possess himself of that parochial know- 
 ledge which is indispensably necessary to the proper fulfilment of 
 those words of Jude, " And of some have compassion, making a 
 difference : and others save with fear, pulling them out of the 
 fire ; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." A bishop 
 thus in circuit would be enabled as well to praise the Christian- 
 hearted ones, as to punish the impenitent. Imagine our lonely 
 cottages once enlivened by the presence of the bishop of the 
 diocese ! Imagine some good and aged Simeon, about to depart, 
 purposely visited by his diocesan, and absolved in the name of 
 Christ ! Such an event, seen once and again in our secluded and 
 distant hamlets, would do more to strengthen the hands of the 
 clergy, and to perpetuate the love which after all exists, though 
 dormant, towards the Episcopate, than all the harangues with 
 which St. Stephen's ever re-echoed ! 
 
 It is curious, throughout his remarkable sermons, to observe 
 how honest Maister Latimer deprecates what he styles page 
 after page " unpreaching prelates," and he tells a quaint story, 
 in the sixth sermon preached before King Edward VI., how that 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 47 
 
 the people of a town at which he stopped on his way homeward 
 from London could not listen to his sermon, because it was 
 Robin Hood's day. " I was fain there," he adds, f< to give place 
 to Robin Hood : I thought my rocket should have been re- 
 garded, though I were not : but it would not serve, it was fain 
 to give place to Robin Hood's men 5 . 11 Well enough did he 
 think the realm ill provided for in that Robin Hood was pre- 
 ferred to God's Word ! But, continues he, " if the bishops had 
 been preachers, there should never have been any such thing." 
 The good man, however, stated that he was in better hopes then, 
 and he thought King Edward would see to it. On another occa- 
 sion, speaking of the insurrection in the north, 27 Henry VIII., 
 1535, he gives it as his opinion that this disturbance amongst 
 the people had not happened, if our bishops of England had been 
 " shod for the preparation of this Gospel V and had endeavoured 
 themselves to teach and to set it forth ; and in his sermon of 
 " The Plough," when he tells (after his manner) of the " most 
 diligentest bishop and prelate in all England, that passeth all the 
 
 5 See vol. i. p. 187. Reprint Ed. Watkins. Robin Hood's Festival was on the 
 first and succeeding days of May. See Ritson's Robin Hood, vol. i. p. xcvii. &c, 
 and Ellis's Edit of Brand's Pop. Ant. vol. i. p. 142, &c. It is curious to observe 
 how in England we engraft foreign customs on an indigenous stock. This is well 
 illustrated in the inseparable connexion there now is with Robin Hood, Maid 
 Marian, and the Moresco — Moorish — or Morris-dance. Some have even made 
 Marian a foreigner, whether from the Latin " Morio," or from the Italian "Morione," 
 or from " Morian" used for Moor. Add to the above references Strutt's Sports 
 and Pastimes, p. 312, 2nd Ed., and Douce's Dissertation on the Ancient Morris 
 Dance at the end of his Illustrations of Shakspeare. 
 
 6 Sermon on the Epistle read on the Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity. See vol. 
 i. p. 28. Few probably but have read somewhere or another the passngc alluded to 
 above. Latimer's answer to his own question is : "I can tell, for I know him who 
 it is ; I know him well. But now I think I see you listening and hearkening that 
 I should name him. There is one that passeth all the other, and is the most 
 diligent prelate and preacher in all England. And will ye know who it is ? I will 
 tell you : it is the Devil ! He is the most diligent preacher of all other ; he is never 
 out of his diocess ; he is never from his cure ; ye shall never find him unoccupied ; 
 he is ever in his parish : he keepeth residence at all times ; ye shall never find him 
 out of the way, call for him when you will he is ever at home ; the diligentest 
 preacher in all the realm ; he is ever at his plough ; no lording nor loitering can 
 hinder him ; he is ever applying his business, ye shall never find him idle I warrant 
 you. And his office is to hinder religion, to maintain superstition, to set up idolatry, 
 to teach all kind of popery." Vol. i. p. 65. Perhaps he is even as diligent still, 
 and as well entertained ! 
 
48 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 rest in doing his office," he takes care to say, that " as diligently 
 as the husbandman plougheth for the sustentation of the body, 
 so diligently must the prelates and ministers labour for the feed- 
 ing of the soul ; both the ploughs must still be doing, as most 
 necessary for man." 
 
 Such passages as these are extremely valuable, and we may 
 well apply them to our own times, though Popery is not rampant 
 as it was then, and Popish bishops are not to be withstood, and 
 the locality of Melipotamus is scarcely known. But the time is 
 come when the name and the spiritual power of the Prelacy may 
 be effectual amongst us to the greatest good, and when the love 
 they shall bear to their dioceses may be returned a thousand-fold. 
 They have the work of the Great Bishop of the flock to do, and 
 if done well and with a heart devoted to his service, the Great 
 Bishop and Shepherd of souls will reward them after his abundant 
 mercy ! Let us be thankful that our bishops are alive to all 
 this ; that, as a body, they are holy, self-sacrificing men ; that 
 they were unimpeachable when the disturbances adverted to were 
 rife ; that when sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion, — together 
 with their accompaniments, false doctrine, heresy, and schism, — 
 were rending and tearing the land for its many and great 
 iniquities, they wept between the porch and the altar, and the 
 plague was stayed. Happily for us, were Colin Clout, as Skelton 
 sings, to go about, and to wander once more, and hear what the 
 people had to say about their bishops, these lines would not be 
 true : — 
 
 " The temporality say plain 
 How bishoppes disdain 
 Sermons for to make, 
 Or such labour to take ; 
 And for to say trouth, 
 A great part is full slouth, 
 But the greatest parte 
 Is for they have but smal arte 
 And right sclender cunnyng 
 Within their heads wunning V 
 
 Barclay remarks in the Argcnis, " plures existimem exemplo 
 
 1 See Skelton's " Bokc of Colin Clout." 
 
INTRODUCTION*. 
 
 49 
 
 quam ingenio peccare* — a truth, though perhaps not quite con- 
 sistent with that Sin Original which hesets us all. Couple it, 
 however, with what he says in a preceding page, and it is a whole 
 truth. " Nihil antiquius esse debet quam recedere a vitiorum 
 periculis jam tot mortalium exitio infamibus. Ea verb pericula 
 partim nobis insita habemus ; partim ab aliis in nos mcwrrtffit? 
 
 With this in view it is that the volumes to which these pages 
 are the Introduction are written. We have been living in dis- 
 turbed and stirring times, and, as is usual, all sorts of fallacies 
 have had their swing and been in vogue. Matters political and 
 more general are passed by ; those which appertain to the 
 Church and Church subjects are more particularly adverted to. 
 They are consistent with my calling as a clergyman of the 
 United Church of England and Ireland, and they are dwelt upon 
 with earnest solicitude, and with the humble prayer that breath- 
 ing time and quiet may be granted to us for more Christian 
 perseverance, and for exertion in the cause of truth more com- 
 bined and more riveted. At present the storm may be rather 
 lulled than passed. If so, — and it is safer to think so, — the 
 tighter we can draw the knot 9 of humility the surer will be the 
 bond of perfectness, and the better our hope of help in the time 
 of need. Those that help themselves, with full assurance of 
 faith, will be holpen. 
 
 The points referred to in this Introduction, as historically 
 shown, are continual points of attack, when the established order 
 of things is out of course. Some may be considered more or less 
 interesting, but thoughtful men will admit them all to be painful. 
 Other matters will be referred to in the course of the Colloquies 10 
 themselves ; and as the material is heavy, the pages will be 
 lightened by the insertion, now and then, of literary or anti- 
 quarian matter, and extracts, whether from our poets or other 
 writers, such may interest, and at the same time instruct, more 
 general readers. The quaint words with which Walter Pope 
 ends his first chapter of the " Life of Seth Ward," sometime 
 Bishop of Salisbury; will explain, in an amusing way, what some 
 
 » Argent, lib. v. pp. 513. 512. Ed. 1664. 
 
 0 The original of St. Peter, i. 5, is, riyy Tanitvo^oavvtjv iyKOfifttoaaaOe. On 
 which word see Commentators. 
 
 10 The original Title of the Work was to have been " Co'lotjiiios on the Church 
 ami Church Subjects." 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 may refer either to Conversations or Colloquies. Not however 
 that my intent was like his, for I was delighted with the inter- 
 locutory form even from boyhood, when the Colloquies of Eras- 
 mus 1 were put into my hand, and this delight was certainly not 
 lessened, but increased tenfold, on the publication of his Colloquies 
 by the lamented Southey. But hear Seth Ward's notions about 
 his little book. " I at first designed to have written it in a con- 
 tinual narration, without breaking it into chapters, making any 
 reflections, or adding any digressions ; but upon second thoughts, 
 which usually are the best, I steered another course. I have cut 
 it into chapters, which may serve as benches in a long walk, 
 whereupon the weary reader may repose himself, till he has re- 
 covered breath, and then readily proceed in his way. I have also 
 interwoven some digressions, which, if they are not too frequent, 
 foreign, impertinent, and dull, will afford some divertisement to 
 the reader." 
 
 I should not forget to say that one subject has been purposely 
 omitted in this Introduction ; the subject, I mean, of the so- 
 called Oxford Tracts. It has not been dwelt upon here, where 
 it might have been expected, because the good, and the more 
 recent evil, of those publications form part of these Colloquies, 
 and will be found in the second volume. We must not be slow 
 to admit that at their commencement they were productive of 
 much good, and tended to stem many of the evils which have 
 been referred to above. 0 si sic omnia ! They told unwelcome 
 truths, and they maintained the doctrines of the Church through 
 good report and through ill report ! The beautiful stanzas fol- 
 lowing from Lord Brooke's Treatise of Religion had, in their earlier 
 pages, befitted them well: — 
 
 " But as there lives a true God in the heaven 
 So is there true religion here on earth : 
 By nature ? No, by grace, not got, but given ; 
 Inspired, not taught ; from God a second birth : 
 
 God dwelleth near about us, even within, 
 
 Working the goodness, censuring the sin. 
 
 1 Aubrey says in his Lives of Eminent Men. " His deepest Divinity is where a 
 man would least expect it : viz., in his Colloquies in a Dialogue between a Butcher 
 and a Fishmonger, 'Ix0u«0«yi'<r." Letters from the Bodleian, vol. ii. p. 342. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 51 
 
 " Such as we are to Him, to us is He, 
 Without God there was no man ever good ; 
 Divine the Author and the matter be 
 Where goodness must be wrought in flesh or blood : 
 Religion stands not in corrupted things, 
 But virtues that descend have heavenly wings ! " 
 
 Possibly on some points I may have expressed myself too 
 strongly. One could especially wish not to have said any thing 
 displeasing, but, after all, that must depend on circumstances ; 
 and it may, or it may not be, for the saying of the old Grecian is 
 true : <PopriKov to 'AAn&'e- I trust, nevertheless, that I am a 
 moderate son of the Church 3 . Her doctrines I must defend to 
 the uttermost, and although I can as little agree with Dissenters 
 and Separatists as I can with Roman Catholics, the rebellious or 
 the profane, yet I hope my compassion, like the religion I pro- 
 fess, is Catholic, and that I may fearlessly protest against what 
 is openly wrong, and still be in charity with all men ! And I am 
 not aware that I can express this better than by extracting from 
 the works of Jeremy Taylor the beautiful tale of Abraham and 
 the Fire-worshipper .... a poetical version of which I am per- 
 mitted to affix to this Introduction by the kindness of that most 
 amiable and invaluable, and no less talented woman — the widow 
 of the lamented Southey. 
 
 " When Abraham sat at his tent door, according to his 
 custom, waiting to entertain strangers, he espied an old man 
 stooping and leaning on his staff, weary with age and travail, 
 coming towards him, who was a hundred years of age. He re- 
 ceived him kindly, washed his feet, provided supper, caused him 
 to sit down : but observing that the old man ate and prayed not, 
 nor begged for a blessing on his meat, he asked him why he did 
 not worship the God of heaven. The old man told him that he 
 worshipped the fire only, and acknowledged no other God. At 
 
 2 I would willingly recommend " Pullen's Moderation of the Church of England." 
 It lias lately been republished by the Rev. Robert Eden. In a sentence below I 
 had in view the passage following from Hales of Eaton's Semi. On dealing with 
 Erring Christians. 
 
 " There is no kind of man, of what life, of what profession, of what estate and call- 
 ing soever, though he be an heathen, and idolater, unto whom the skirts of a 
 Christian compassion do not reach. St. Paul is my author : Gal. ii. 4. As there- 
 fore our religion is, so must our compassion be, Catholic." Vol. ii. p. <>0. Ed. 8vo. 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which answer Abraham grew so zealously angry, that he thrust 
 the old man out of his tent, and exposed him to all the evils of 
 the night, and an unguarded position. When the old man was 
 gone, God called to Abraham, and asked him where the stranger 
 was : he replied, ' I thrust him away because he did not worship 
 Thee.' God answered him, ' I have suffered him these hundred 
 years, although he dishonoured me ; and couldst not thou endure 
 him one night, when he gave thee no trouble 1 1 Upon this, saith 
 the story, Abraham fetched him back again, and gave him 
 hospitable entertainment and wise instruction ! Go thou and do 
 likewise, and thy charity shall be rewarded by the God of 
 Abraham 3 ." 
 
 ABEAM AND THE FIRE- WORSHIPPER. 
 I. 
 
 " In his tent-door at eventide 
 
 The Father of the faithful stands, 
 With upraised hands 
 Shading his sight 
 From the low-slanting light, 
 As thro' the palms on either side, 
 And over the red sands, 
 And thro' the glowing haze, 
 He sends abroad a wistful gaze, 
 Belated traveller haply to discern, 
 And make him turn, 
 Into the tent that night 
 An honour'd guest, 
 To comfort there his heart with food and rest ! 
 
 ii. 
 
 " And lo ! 
 As at the wish appears 
 Bowed down with weight of years 
 More than of weariness, an aged man ! — 
 
 3 Works, vol. viii. p. 232. Liberty of Prophesying. Jeremy Taylor speaks of the 
 tale as " a story which I find in the Jem' books." It is in fact, from the Persian poet 
 Saadi. See notes to Jer. Taylor's Life, by Heber, vol. i. p. ccclxv. Note xx. Jer. 
 Taylor took it from the " Ilistoria Judaica," &c, by G. Gentius. 
 
1 NTKODUCTION. 
 
 53 
 
 White was his beard as snow, — 
 
 Feeble and slow 
 His tottering gait ! 
 But Abram doth not wait 
 And while one ran 
 To bid prepare the bath, makes haste to meet 
 
 The slow advancing feet ; 
 And ' Turn in here, my Father! and eat bread, 
 And with thy servant rest to night,' — he said. 
 
 in. 
 
 " They have wash'd the desert sands 
 From the stranger's burning feet, — 
 They have pour'd upon his hands 
 Pure water, cool and sweet, — 
 And now they set on meat, — 
 And with sweet sense of rest 
 The way-worn guest 
 Prepares to eat. — 
 But, 1 Hold !'— with lowering brow 
 Of dark surprise 
 The entertainer cries — 
 
 ' Man ! what art thou 
 That bowest not the head, 
 Nor prayer hast said 
 To the Most High, before thou breakest bread ?' 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Meekly the man replies, 
 Uplifting his dim eyes — 
 (Dim now with tears 
 As with his hundred years,) 
 * Oh let not my lord's ire 
 Wax hot against me now : — 
 Thy servant doth not bow 
 To gods of wood or stone : — 
 I worship One alone, 
 
 To whom all souls aspire — 
 The Everliving One— 
 The sacred Fire ! ' 
 
54 
 
 INTRODUCTION'. 
 
 V. 
 
 " ' Hence, heathen ! from my door, 
 Pollute my place no more 
 In zeal for the true God cries Abram then 
 ' Nor there must thou be laid 
 Under that palm-tree's shade, — 
 'Twould wither at the root, 
 Nor evermore bear fruit, — 
 Accursed among men ! 
 Back to the howling wilderness again, — 
 
 Go forth, and see, 
 If there thy God will seek and cherish thee ! ' 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Meekly the man obeys. 
 
 He takes his staff, — 
 While from behind is heard a mocking laugh — 
 And foot-sore and in pain, 
 And hungry and athirst, goes forth again 
 Into the lonesome night : 
 Nor for that sight 
 Kelenteth Abram. — In the tent he stays 
 Sternly resolved, and says 
 With self-complacency devout : — 
 ' 1 have done well — I have cast out 
 The unbelieving thing abhorr'd, — 
 So be it ever with thy foes, O Lord ! ' 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Then spake a voice, and said : 
 
 * Where Abram is thy guest ? ' 
 ***** 
 
 ' Thou knowest best 
 Who knowest all things,' — straight withouten dread 
 Abram replies : — 
 
 • Thcu knowest well, Allwell ! 
 That I am very jealous for thy name, 
 
 And strong to put to shame 
 Thine enemies. — 
 And even now, 
 
I NTUODUCT10N. 
 
 (His hundred years of sin be on his head!) 
 Have I not thrust out one who unto Thee 
 
 Never made vow, 
 
 Nor bent the knee ? 
 Alljust ! for this good deed remember me !' 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " ' 111, Abram, hast thou done ' — 
 The voice made answer then — 
 ' Have I not made the sun 
 To shine upon all men ? 
 Mine every one ! — 
 And couldest not thou forbear 
 One hour with him an hundred years my care, 
 Whom / have borne with, tho' he knew me not, 
 He the untaught — 
 Go, — bring thy brother back, 
 Kor let him lack 
 Love's service ! — Peradventure so to win 
 From ignorant sin 
 Of foul idolatry 
 A soul to me ! ' 
 
 IX. 
 
 " The word was spoken — 
 The heart of pride was broken — 
 Gone was the blindness — 
 Softened to loving kindness 
 The zealot mood — 
 ' Lord ! Thou alone art good ! 
 
 And I am naught ; — 
 The ill that I have wrought 
 Forgive me now, — 
 There is none good but Thou !' 
 
 x. 
 
 " So Abram spake, — heart chastened, — 
 And forth in anxious quest 
 Of the despised guest — 
 Despised no longer — hastened 
 
 And with his servants sought 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Not long in vain. 
 Small progress he had made, the man forlorn, — 
 Aged, and weak, and worn ; — 
 And found, they brought him to the tent again 
 With tenderest care, 
 To honourable entertainment there — 
 Soft rest and choicest fare — 
 And Abram waited on his guest that night 
 Self humbled in his sight ! " 
 
 C. A. South 
 
No. T. 
 
 parod)tal ^fragments, 
 
 appertaining to <Ef)ieHv tf)e ^arislies 
 
 OF 
 
 SMcst Carting, fysmt, an\j IDurrtnjjton. 
 
" Heaps of written thoughts, — gold of the Dead 
 Which time does still disperse, hut not devour." 
 
 Davenant's Gondibert, Canto v. 
 
 " In trouhled water you can scarce see your face ; or see it very little, till the 
 water he quiet, and stand still. So in troubled times, you can see little truth ; 
 when times are quiet and settled, then truth appears." 
 
 Selden's Table Talk, p. 215. Singer. 
 
 " Nec nos impediet ilia ignava ratio quae dicitur ; appellatur enim quidam a 
 philosophis apybg Xoyoc, cui si pareamus, nihil omnino agamus in vita." 
 
 Cicero de Fato, c. xii. 
 
 " In doubtful cases, in other men's actions, when it appears not evidently, 
 whether it were well or ill done, where the balance is even, always put in your 
 charity, and that will turn the scale the best way. Things which are in themselves 
 but misinterpretable, do not you presently misinterpret ; but allow some grains to 
 your gold, before you call it light ; allow some infirmities to any man, before you 
 call him ill." 
 
 Donne's Sermons, p. 165. Folio. 
 
 " Of studie toke he moste care and hede, 
 Not a worde spake he more than was nede ; 
 And that was saide in forme and reverence, 
 And short and quike, and full of high sentence, 
 Souning in moral virtue was his speche, 
 And gladly wolde he learne and gladly teche." 
 
 Chaucer : Canterbury Tales. 
 
^fragments* on Cfourci) ^utyerts, 
 
 AND 
 
 <3i\ $arod)ial i^attersf* 
 
 KUBULUS. 
 
 The gale still continues, though moderated. As the gusts and 
 squalls during the night were less fitful, I am inclined to think it 
 will lull by sunset. In St. Matthew, xiv. 32, our version has 
 " the tcind ceased,'''' but the Greek to me has always appeared 
 very expressive — iaoTraatv 6 avtfiog. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 And so it has to me, notwithstanding the remark of that arch- 
 critic, Longinus, who, referring to a passage in Herodotus, calls 
 the use of it uamvov nai ISiwtikov In the New Testament the 
 usage of the term is borrowed from the LXX. It occurs, for 
 instance, in the prophet Jonah, i. 11, 12 ; but the most striking- 
 example is in the Book of Numbers, xvi. 48 : Kai tKuiraaev ?j 
 QpavaiQ, " And the plague was stayed." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Where, I observe, the metaphor is in like manner expressed 
 by a plain English word. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Just so. And I confess I am quite contented with our Version 
 as it is. The language is clear and intelligible — the sense almost 
 
 1 See Herod, lib. vii. c. 191, and Longin. 7r. 'Ti//. xliii. 1. 
 
60 
 
 ENGLISH VERSION OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 always given in the plainest terms — no single doctrine compro- 
 mised from the first chapter in Genesis to the last in the Revela- 
 tion. Critical readers will individually be impressed with the 
 deeper import of the original, as, for example, in the case we 
 have just referred to, but the plain unlearned man, who reads to 
 edifying, will have his heart equally enlarged. There is food for 
 every palate there, and the spiritual manna is suited to each 
 one's taste. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The plain and racy English of our Bible Translation is, I con- 
 ceive, the standard of our language. It is to us, what Luther's 
 translation is to the Germans ; and the sooner the better they 
 quit their present inverted modes of speech, and return to it. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 We too should be more intelligible, and perhaps more intel- 
 ligent, if we looked to the words, as well as the spirit of our own 
 version. But, whether we do or no, God grant the doctrine be 
 taken heed to, and our practice fashioned accordingly ! 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Never did mortal man join more sincerely in that prayer than 
 I do now ! The time is come when God's Word should have free 
 course in this land, and if it have not, terror and astonishment 
 will eat up the inhabiters of it. If God's Spirit and God's Word 
 do not animate the mass of ungodliness now weltering and fester- 
 ing in the sight of the sun, ruin must betide us. If the leaven of 
 iniquity be not leavened with good, corruption and moral putre- 
 faction must ensue. No human effort must be spared, but we 
 must, one and all, labour in the Lord, if we hope to avert that 
 dreadful catastrophe which will be sure to be the result of a 
 people " destroyed for lack of knowledge." (See Hos. iv. 6.) 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 On a future occasion I wish much to discuss the subject of 
 education. Much is doing, and much remains to be done. 
 Meanwhile, at all events, " Occurrendum augescentibus vitiis,-et 
 medendum est V We can all do something, however little, and 
 that must be done. 
 
 2 Plin. Epist. ix. 37. 
 
SF.LDEN' : OLD PARISH CLERK. 
 
 6J 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Would that all were impressed with this truth ! 
 
 At.ETHES. 
 
 Let that pass for the present. To-day, Eubulus, I wish to 
 revert to the conversation of yesterday. You studiously avoided 
 saying any thing of the learned Selden, save and except when 
 any immediate reference to his " History of Tythes" required it. 
 I should much like to know your opinion of that great man — for 
 such he was — and to hear if any thing traditional remains of him 
 in the parish where he was born. But first of all say who was 
 that old man whose voice I heard in the hall ; I should know it 
 well, methinks ! 
 
 EUBUI.US. 
 
 You know him well too, Alethes. He is one of a race almost 
 extinct — an honest man with infirmities — old James Long, the 
 Parish Clerk. Seventy and five years, man and boy, he has heard 
 these Church bells call to prayer ; forty and five years he has 
 officiated as clerk and sexton. When his turn to depart comes, 
 I question if his place will be better filled. Obstinate, at times, 
 as a quadruped I need not name, he is shrewd and intelligent, 
 plain-spoken and trustworthy. A chronicler of bygone days he 
 is familiar with every one's history, and his local knowledge is 
 extensive. He takes heed to no changes, and is one of the most 
 independent of the creation ; respectful withal, and devotedly 
 attached to his successive masters, as he familiarly calls the 
 clergy. He is a keen observer, and has great knowledge of cha- 
 racter. Otherwhiles, — to use a Sussex phrase, — his occupation is 
 that of a gardener, and he has kept a diary for forty years and 
 more. The first thing he does, when his day's work is over, is 
 to jot down his casual observations, more particularly as regards 
 the weather. Some time ago he was offered a considerable sum 
 of money for this document, but he declined to take it ; and he 
 was right. It is his familiar ! He and his old wife — (you re- 
 collect that excellent woman) — are travelling fast down the vale 
 of years. Whichever goes first, the other will not be long 
 behind. The benizon of heaven rest on them botli ! I am fond 
 of the old people, you know ; and to him, perhaps, I may have 
 done a good turn in my ministerial capacity. Her heart was set 
 
62 
 
 MORTUARIES, 
 
 on righteousness before. It would go hard with me to read the 
 Funeral Service over their graves, Alethes ! I should not dare 
 to trust myself. If that day arrives whilst I am here, I must 
 join the mourners ! Perhaps the old man cannot say, — 
 
 " In my youth I never did apply 
 Hot and rebellious liquors to my blood ;" 
 
 but, nevertheless, his "age is as a lusty winter, frosty, but 
 kindly V 1 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Well do I know the honest pair. I shall not leave you with- 
 out seeing them. But tell me, Eubulus, what was he so earnest 
 about ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 He came to speak of a Mortuary which he thought was his 
 master's due. Mortuaries are still paid in this parish, according 
 to the regulations of the statute 21 Hen. VIII. c. 6. The rates 
 there are, — half a noble, a noble, and an angel, i.e. 3s. 4c/., 
 6s. 8d., and 10s. The latter is the highest sum specified ; in 
 fact, the only Mortuary collected here. Any person who dies 
 possessed of 40?. and over is liable, by custom, to this payment. 
 It is curious, T think, that the mark, i.e. 13s. 4d., was not made 
 the ne plus ultra, as most other dues in this parish are so regu- 
 lated, and indeed were so calculated throughout the nation. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Curious enough, Eubulus, I was about to ask you yesterday as 
 to the payment of Mortuaries, but we had so much other interest- 
 ing matter before us, that it slipped my memory. As it is a 
 custom not altogether separate from tithes, I wish, before we 
 turn to Selden, you would refer to your notes. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Willingly ; but I have nothing more to tell you than what 
 you may read in Blackstone. It was only the other day that I 
 had occasion to examine what was said in Bracton, Lyndwood, 
 
 3 Sliakspeare, " As you Like it," Act II. Since this was written the both are 
 departed ! 
 
MORTUARIES. 
 
 63 
 
 and in Du Cange (in v. Mortuarium), and I may as well read to 
 you the passage from Blackstone, as it contains the pith and 
 substance of what others have written. 
 
 " Mortuaries are a sort of ecclesiastical heriots, being a cus- 
 tomary gift claimed by and due to the minister in very many 
 parishes on the death of his parishioners. They seem originally 
 to have been, like lay heriots, only a voluntary bequest to the 
 Church ; being intended, as Lyndewood informs us from a con- 
 stitution of Archbishop Langham, as a kind of expiation and 
 amends to the clergy for the personal tithes, and other eccle- 
 siastical duties, which the laity in their lifetime might have 
 neglected or forgotten to pay. For this purpose, after the lord's 
 heriot or best good was taken out, the second best chattel was 
 reserved to the Church as a mortuary : ' si decedens tria vel 
 plura cujuscunque generis in bonis suis habuerit animalia, optimo 
 cui de jure fuerit debitum reservato, Ecclesice sites a qua Sacra- 
 mento, recepit, dum viveret, sine dolo, fraude, sen contradictione 
 qudlibet, pro recompensatione subtractionis Decimarum person- 
 alium, necnon et oblationum, secundum melius animal reservetur, 
 post obitum, pro salute animoy suce V ' And therefore, in the laws 
 of King Canute, this mortuary is called the soul-scot (i.e. 
 ] - aplrceac) or symbolum animal ' It was anciently usual in this 
 kingdom to bring the mortuary to the Church along with the 
 corpse when it came to be buried ; and thence it is sometimes 
 called a corse-present ; a term which bespeaks it once to have 
 been a voluntary donation. However, in Bracton's time, so early 
 as Henry III., we find it riveted into an established custom; 
 insomuch that the bequests of heriots and mortuaries were held 
 to be necessary ingredients in every testament of chattels. ' Im- 
 primis autem debet quilibet, qui testamentum fecerit, dominion 
 suum de meliori re quam habuerit recognoscere ; et postea Ecclesiam 
 de alia meliori the lord must have the best good left him as a 
 heriot, and the Church the second best as a mortuary. And yet 
 this custom was different in different places ; ' in quibusdam locis 
 habet Ecclesia melius animal de consuetudine ; in quibusdam se- 
 
 4 As the words are not given exactly by Blackstone, I quote them direct from 
 Lyndwood, lib. i. tit. iii. p. 19. Ed. 1679. See Blackstone, b. ii. c. xxviii.— iv. 
 vol. ii. p. 424. Ed. Chitty. 
 
64 
 
 THE COItPSE-PRESEXT. 
 
 cundnm, vel tertium melius ; et in quibusdam nihil : et ideo con- 
 sideranda est consuetudo loci V " 
 
 AIjETHES. 
 
 Altogether an interesting account, and your Churchmen of 
 those days evidently looked well to the main chance ! But was 
 the corse-present the same with the mortuary ? 
 
 EDBULUS. 
 
 I lament to say that canons exist which forbid exactions at 
 funerals. Human nature is the same in priest and peasant ! 
 Let this be an answer to the former part of your remark ; but 
 observe at the same time that the Church was ready to correct 
 herself and prune her own vines, — Ut vineta egomet ccedam meal 
 
 With reference to the question, as to whether the corse-present 
 and the mortuary were one and the same, there is a difference of 
 opinion. Selden 6 and Blackstone think they were. Cowel, in 
 his Law Dictionary, — a very curious and valuable work, notwith- 
 standing any original defect, — says that the mortuary took this 
 name after the Conquest. Stillingfleet, " Of the Duties and 
 Rights of the Parochial Clergy,'" argues that the mortuary was 
 a settled payment, whereas the corse-present was a free oblation. 
 The volume is on the shelf, and I will read the words. " That 
 the prevailing custom became the standing law as to mortuaries 
 appears by Statute of 21 Henry VIII. c. 6, which limits the 
 payment where the custom continued, but allows liberty of free 
 oblations. And this free oblation was then called cors presente, 
 and was distinct from the mortuary, in lieu of tithes, as appears 
 by the instances in Sir W. Dugdale V 1 may remark, by the 
 way, from Cowel, that mortuaries, "by custom, in some places of 
 this kingdom, are paid to the parsons of other parishes, as the 
 corpse passes through them." 
 
 5 Bracton, lib. ii. c. 2C. Flet. lib. ii. c. 56. 
 0 Selden, Hist, of Tythes, i>. 1223. 
 
 7 See vol.i. p. 249. Ed. 8vo. 16!)8. Cowel, Law Dictionary in v. " Mortua/rium." 
 In Du Cange the Mortuary is called a Canonica portio, — but I cannot make 
 good his reference in my copy of Martene. His words are (in v.) " quod jus 
 Canonica portio dicitur in Statutis Eccl. Cadurc. apud Martene, torn. iv. Anecdot. 
 col. 730." 
 
PRINCIPALS LEGATDM. 
 
 65 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Before we quit the point let me ask the meaning of the term 
 " prwcipale legatum."" Is it not applied to a mortuary? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It is; and is so used in a Constitution of Archbishop Win- 
 chelsey in Lyndwood. The words there are : " In petitione 
 autem principalis legaii volumus quod consuetudo Provincial cum 
 possessione Ecclesice observetur ; ita quod Rector Ecclesiw, si/uerit, 
 vel Vicarhis, in petitione sua, vel Capellarius annuus Deum in peti- 
 tione ilia habeat prw oculist On which Lyndwood remarks, 
 " Istud alibi dicitur mortuarium supra de consue. c. i., hie verb 
 vocatur Principale Legatum, quia decedentes solebant, et in qui- 
 busdam partibus adhuc solent, optimum vel secundum optimum 
 suum animal primb, et ante cretera legata Deo. et Ecclesise pro 
 anima sua legare V His remarks on the latter words of the 
 Constitution are in accordance with the Canons I above referred 
 to ; " non enim decet, ut viri Ecclesiastici sint improbi exac- 
 tores. 1 '' 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Are mortuaries still recoverable where they have been used to 
 be given \ 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Yes; by the statute of Circumspect^ agatis, 13 Edw. I. 
 Stat. 4. But on this head I would refer you to the new edition 
 of Burn's Ecclesiastical Law ; a useful, though ponderous and 
 expensive work. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 You did not say what was the worthy old clerk's difficulty. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It was this. A woman — (a good woman she was !) — had died 
 possessed, in her own right, of landed property, her husband still 
 surviving ; but the property passed to her two sons. The clerk 
 w T ished to know whether the mortuary was payable now. 
 
 8 See Lyndwood, Provinciale, lib. iii. tit. 16. p. 196. The following instance is 
 given by Cowel in v. Principal. Item lego equum meum vocation le Baygelding, ut 
 offeratur ante corj/us meum in die sepultura: me<v, nomine Princinalii. Ult. rolun. 
 Johannis MarclefiM, Hen. V. Selden quotes a similar instance, p. 1223. 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 THK LEARNED SELDEN. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 And what was your reply I I am sure I could not have 
 answered the question. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I think it is Bishop Hall says in his Satires, — 
 
 " And clever clerks but wooden lawyers ben." 
 
 However, I recollected the Constitution of Simon Langham 
 which says, " Quodque si mulier viro superstite obierit ad solu- 
 tionem mortuarii minimi coerceatur" and, as Heene and Tarring are 
 Peculiars of the Archbishop of Canterbury, I acted upon it, and 
 told my old chronicler that no mortuary would be due till the 
 death of the husband. May the good man live long ! 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I am glad the old clerk chanced to come in. I know more 
 about mortuaries than I over knew before. And now, Eubulus, 
 let us turn to Selden. What are your opinions as regards that 
 great man ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Formerly his name was never mentioned without the affix of 
 " the learned" and amongst those competent to give an opinion 
 he must ever be called the learned Selden I Ben Jonson, in his 
 Epistle to Master John Selden, spoke of him as he deserved : — 
 
 " Monarch of letters ! 'mongst the titles shewn 
 Of others' honours, thus enjoy thy own \" 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I recollect that epistle well, and will read it over again this 
 night. I see " rare Ben 11 on the shelves of those old Dramatists 
 you value so much as the best teachers of the English language. 
 But tell me, were he and Selden so intimate ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 They were, as we may judge from a passage in his " Titles of 
 Honour,' 1 '' to the first edition of which work (1614) the epistle 
 
 9 Lyndwood, ut supra, lib. i. tit. 3. p. 21. The date is a.d. 1367. 42 Edw. 3. 
 1 Ben Jonson's Underwood. Works, vol. viii. p. 3(54. Ed. Gilford. 
 
THE LEARNED SEIDEN. BEN JONSON. 
 
 67 
 
 above referred to is prefixed, and with these words, " Ben 
 Jonson to his honoured friend, Master John Selden. 11 Gifford 
 did well to adopt the lines of Cleveland as the motto in his title- 
 page :— 
 
 " The Muses' fairest light in no dark time, 
 The wonder of a learned age ; the line 
 Which none can pass ; the most proportion'd wit, 
 To Nature, the best judge of what was fit ; 
 The deepest, plainest, highest, clearest pen, 
 The voice most echoed by consenting men ; 
 The soul which answered best to all well said 
 By others, and which most requital made." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 What is the passage you refer to in the " Titles of Honour V 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Ben J onson had requested his friend to investigate the origin 
 and history of the title, Poet Laureat, and he introduced it into 
 this extraordinary work. Selden concludes the subject in these 
 affectionate words. " And thus have I, by no unreasonable 
 digression, performed a promise to you, my beloved Sen Johnson 
 (sic), your curious learning and judgment may correct where 
 I have erred, and add where my notes and memory have left me 
 short. You are 
 
 ' Omnia carmina doctus 
 Et calles mythwn plasmata et historiam V " 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 It is pleasing to meet with these literary notices. Oftentimes 
 they show the writers in their truest light. In words like those 
 above quoted he seems softened, and the uneven ruggedness of 
 style is chastened. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I suspect it was Selden's love for Ben Jonson which caused 
 Gifford to express himself so favourably. Gifford, you know, was 
 
 1 Titles of Honour. The Second Part, vol. iii. p. 466. What appertains to the 
 Title, Poet Laureat, will be found in c. i. § xlii. xliii. It was amongst the privileges 
 of the Count Palatine to confer this Title. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 THE LEARNED SEI.DEN. 
 
 in the habit of writing pettishly. But he was an excellent critic 
 nevertheless, and I respect his memory for that noble and open 
 declaration against impiety and blasphemy, in his Memoirs of 
 Ben Jonson, — if for nothing else 3 . 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 But as I wish to know more of Selden on the present occasion, 
 let me hear what Gifford says. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The passage T refer to is in the foot-note to the epistle you 
 purpose reading. It is as follows ; and it embodies my own 
 sentiments, which you seem anxious to be possessed of. " Sei- 
 dell's life was useful, and his death instructive. He was drawn 
 in by the crooked politics of the times in which he lived, but he 
 escaped from them to his studies at every convenient opportunity ; 
 and though he might be sometimes dissatisfied, he was never 
 factious.'''' 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Tis an honourable testimony. But I think I have gathered 
 from your remarks at different times, that it was Selden's learning 
 rather than his other parts that most attracted your attention. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I was afraid you were about to say admiration ! My atten- 
 tion has indeed been called to his learning, and I am contented 
 to sit at his feet as a scholar. But mere learning, Alethes, has 
 never attracted my admiration — in the better sense of the word. 
 Unchastened, it is a mere worldly possession, and will perish 
 with the using. All is not gold that glitters ! It is an almost 
 forgotten poet that thus attunes his lay ! 
 
 3 " I know the importance of fidelity ; but no considerations on earth can tempt 
 me to the wanton or heedless propagation of impiety. I have always regarded with 
 feelings of peculiar horror that fool-hardy accuracy which with blind and bold 
 irreverence ferrets out every blasphemous word, which the Author's better feelings 
 had thrown aside, and felicitates the reader on the pernicious discovery. More 
 than one Editor of our old poets might be named — but hjnuli alta jaceant node" 
 Memoirs of Ben Jouson, vol. i. p. clxxxviii. 
 
 It was proved that the players themselves introduced oaths without the know- 
 ledge, and, of course, without the authority of Ben Jonson. 
 
THE [.EARN ED SELDEN. 
 
 69 
 
 " And the poor holy ignorant 
 
 Will sooner get a grant 
 Of his desire, than thou or I 
 
 With all our orat'ry. 
 When our good works and words agree 
 
 They both accepted be *." 
 
 " Every man, 1 '' quoth Eustace Budgell, (I quote from Southeys 
 " Specimens of the Later English Poets, ,, ) " Every man may be 
 a scholar who has strong eyes, a plodding head, a phlegmatic 
 temper, and leisure to study ; but if, with all these happy talents, 
 he has a wrong judgment and an ill taste, he is but hourly adding 
 to a collection of absurdities, and grows every day either a more 
 insufferable pedant, or distinguished coxcomb ! 11 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Quaint words, Eubulus ! But Selden was a scholar in every 
 sense of the word. 
 
 EUBCLUS. 
 
 1 think so ; and an honest man too in the main, which is 
 more ! Notwithstanding all that has been written to the con- 
 trary, I am convinced of this, — the only room for doubt is with 
 respect to what he himself calls "his unfortunate History of 
 Tythes. 11 This, as I think you are aware, was written at an 
 early age, in 1617, when he was only thirty-three. There is, 
 I believe, much of display in that work, and a great parade of 
 learning, the more unnecessary as his learning was unquestion- 
 able. It is much to be regretted that he was persuaded to write 
 this treatise thus early in life. Had he written it some years 
 later he would not have had to retract, before " some Lords of 
 the High Commission," or to frame an acknowledgment of his 
 error " to the Lords of his Majesty's Privy Council. 1- ' 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 J was looking but yesterday into that old edition of George 5 
 
 4 Sir William Killegrew, On Prayer. 
 
 5 The Edition here referred to is the small 12mo. 1630. Editio secunda, &c, 
 with Portrait. George Ruggles was born at Lavenham, in Suffolk, 1575. Died 
 1622. He was successively of St. John's, Trinity, and Clare Hall, Cambridge, and 
 in the latter College he obtained a Fellowship. It was at the representation of this 
 Play that George Villiers, — afterwards the notorious Duke of Buckingham, — 
 attracted the notice of James. 
 
70 
 
 THE LEARNED SEI.DEN. 
 
 Ruggles' " Ignoramus," which is above that splendid copy of Du 
 Cange, in the Study. It occurs to me, that as far as dates 
 go, there might be some truth in the old story, — "that in 
 revenge Master J ohn Selden soon after set forth his Books of 
 Tythes." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 As far as dates go, it certainly is possible. " The king comes 
 to Cambridge," says Fuller, " in a sharp winter, when all the 
 world was nothing but aire and snow." And the winter, as an 
 old parishioner of ninety-five told me to-day, must have had a long 
 tail to it ; for the date in that valuable (however quaint) Church 
 historian, is March 7th, 1614, three years previous to the pub- 
 lication of Selden's work. But this is no authority for the story 
 you allude to : — 
 
 " Hie nigrae succus loliginis ; haec est 
 jErugo mera ; quod vitium procul afore chartis, 
 Atque animo prius, si quid promittere de me 
 Possum aliud vere, promitto." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I am glad to hear you speak thus. But did Fuller give any 
 credit to it ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 None whatever. His words are : " I cannot suspect so high 
 a soul, guilty of so low reflections, that his book related at all 
 to this occasion, but only that the latitude of his mind, tracing 
 all paths of learning, did casually light on the road of this 
 subject V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 There is something amiable, to say the least, Eubulus, in your 
 defending a sometime parishioner. But I cannot help thinking 
 that Selden was in a strait as regards his " History of Tithes." 
 In speaking of the clergy, too, he covertly taxes them with malice, 
 lazy ignorance, and peevish jealousy, — by no means comfortable 
 
 6 See Church History. Cent. xvii. b. x. p. 70. He remarks, touching "the 
 pleasant Play of Ignoramus," that whilst many laughed aloud at the mirth thereof, 
 some of the graver sort were sad to see the Common Laicycrs made ridiculous 
 therein. If gowns begin once to abase gowns, cloaks will carry away all. Besides, 
 of all wood, the Pleader's bar is the worst to make a stage of. For, once in an age, 
 all professions must be beholden to their patronage." 
 
THE LEARNED SELDEN. 
 
 71 
 
 insinuations ! But this was his humour. He seems to fancy 
 himself ever walking in the highest paths of literature, and so he 
 despises others. For example, how does he commence the 
 Preface to his "Titles of Honour?" "Bless me, Mercury, 
 from the old enemy, the daring ignorant! I know his hate to 
 thee I 11 I need not refer to other instances, with which you 
 must be so familiar. The offensive motto also is omitted in the 
 large edition, and one may hope on wiser second thoughts. In 
 the small quarto it runs thus : — 
 
 " Non partis studiis agimus. Sed sumpsimus arma 
 Consiliis inimica tuis, Ignavia fallax ! " 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 There was wisdom in omitting it. It proves, in some sort, 
 that Selden did not hold altogether to his old mumpsimus, as 
 did the old priest, that Bentley tells of, in his Breviary. 
 But I think, Alethes, you have hit the right nail on the head. 
 The learned Selden was a " monarch of letters ;" and he was 
 prouder than he ought to have been of his pre-eminence. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Oh ! ever wise proverb ! — " Before honour is humility V 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Profitable to correct us all ! But it must have flattered the 
 vanity of Selden to find all his opponents using weapons from 
 his own armoury, Alethes ! Some were well able to defend 
 themselves, and the cause they took in hand ; but others there 
 were quite incompetent to the task. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 His vanity might have been flattered ; but it must have been 
 humiliating to sing his Palinodia before the High Commission. 
 It calls to my mind the often quoted lines of Waller, to a lady 
 singing one of his songs : — 
 
 " That Eagle's fate and mine are one, 
 Who on the shaft that made him die ; 
 Espied a feather of his own, 
 Wherewith he wont to soar so high ! " 
 
 i Prov. xv. 33. 
 
72 
 
 THE LEARNED SELDEN. HISTORY OK TITHES. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It was here that Selden got entangled ; and for this it was 
 that I qualified my remark, saying, that he was an honest man in 
 the main. After all the pains I have taken, I cannot quite clear 
 this matter. He was evidently discontented with himself ; and 
 he had done wiser, had he submitted to the worst, instead 
 of temporising. What he says to the reader of Dr. Tillesley's 
 " Animadversions on the History of Tithes," is not easily recon- 
 ciled with the following admission. I extract it from Wilkins, 
 in " Vita Auctoris," p. vi. 8 : — 
 
 " My good Lords, 
 " 1 most humbly acknowledge my error which I have com- 
 mitted in publishing the History of Tithes ; and especially, that 
 I have at all, by showing any interpretation of Holy Scripture, 
 by meddling with Councils, Fathers, or Canons, or by what else 
 soever occurs in it, offered any occasion of argument against any 
 right of maintenance jure divino of the ministers of the Gospel; 
 beseeching your lordships to receive this ingenuous and humble 
 acknowledgment, together with the unfeigned protestation of my 
 grief ; for that through it I have so incensed both his majesty's 
 and your lordship's displeasure, conceived against me in behalf of 
 the Church of England. 
 
 "John Selden. 11 
 
 This was on January 28, 1618. Wilkins is certainly right 
 in saying, dubio valde modo agit in responso ad Tilsleium. 
 Besides, I cannot but consider the letter to the Marquis of 
 Buckingham a remarkable instance of special pleading. This 
 was written two years after, and is dated May 5, 1620, from the 
 Temple. I have seen some such letters written in the present 
 day ; and I confess I never wish to see more. The writers may 
 be honest ; but appearances are against them. None easier 
 than Buckingham must have seen through such sentences as 
 these : " The question, my lord, is merely of divinity, — a study 
 wherein J have been conversant, only to make me a good Chris- 
 
 8 See Heylin's H : story of the Presbyterians, b. xi. § 30. p. 4!)2, and Neal's 
 History of the Puritans, vol. i. p. 471. Pt. ii. c. ii. Neal's remark is, " Nor did Mr. 
 Selden quickly forget their stopping his mouth after this manner." And to the 
 above Collier's Eccles. Hist. Pt. ii. b. viii. vol. ii. 717- 
 
THE LEARNED S EL DEN. HISTORY OF TITHES. 73 
 
 tian, and not to enable me to resolve school scruples, which are 
 determined both ways (as this is) amongst the greatest scholars. 
 And I beseech your lordship not to think it towards wilfulness 
 in me to abstain from expressing my opinion in that, which is 
 neither any question of the profession or studies which I have 
 been bred in ; neither have I ever studied it for a resolution ; 
 neither were I, perhaps, able to defend either side of it against 
 such as, out of their professed studies, might dispute against 
 me V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 In a softened tone this, Eubulus. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I had rather it had been otherwise ; it had been more manly, 
 more befitting such a name as Selden's. Neither do I like a 
 subsequent paragraph : " On the other side, my lord, if I should, 
 perhaps, after studying the question, resolve to myself that they 
 were not due jure divino, but only by the positive law of the 
 Church or State ; I know my expression of so much, would but 
 add to the displeasure conceived against me. Therefore, good 
 my lord, think it not wilfulness, when I desire so to abstain also 
 from studying the question for expression of my opinion, in a 
 matter, in the resolving whereof, on the one side, I should tax 
 both the state where I live, and also all Christendom, for com- 
 mitting every where, by execution of their established laws, 
 against God's laws ; and in resolving, as it might happen, on 
 the other side, I could gain nothing hut increase of displeasure 
 against myself. Therefore I would not willingly strive to work 
 myself vainly into an expression of either side the question ; but 
 leave it, as I have ever done, wholly to greater judgments. 11 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 One can only wonder that so sagacious a person as Selden 
 should have thought words like these likely to weigh with Buck- 
 ingham. They read like a mere diplomatic note ! But does 
 not Selden speak more openly in one of the three tracts, written 
 by order of King James ? 
 
 ,J See p. 1393, and infi'ii, p. 1393. 
 
74 THE LEARNED SELDEN. HISTORY OF TITHES. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Certainly, in a sense, he does. But there, as elsewhere, he 
 evidently writes under constraint. The tract you allude to is, 
 "Of my Purpose and End in writing the History of Tithes." 
 He tells us there, as he had done several times before, that, " The 
 whole body and matter of it is conversant with the title, that is, 
 history only, either of laws made, or of opinions held touching 
 tythes, or of practice of payment of them V Again, " the cause 
 which first made me think of it, was, that I saw the bare historical 
 part of learning, and of human laws made, touching tythes, both 
 in this kingdom and in other states, lay wholly or too much neg- 
 lected amongst them, who nevertheless having, as Divines or 
 Canonists, written of tythes, would (as I conceived by their works) 
 have made use of that historical part, if they had been furnished 
 with it." And shortly after, " Hence I took the first thoughts of 
 writing it, and I doubted not at all, but that it would have been 
 acceptable to the clergy, to whose disputations and determinations, 
 I resolved wholly to leave the point of Divine Right of Tythes, 
 and keep myself wholly to the historical part. And to this reso- 
 lution I constantly restrained myself." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 This seems straightforward enough, and there is sound advice 
 in it too. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The profession is well enough and specious, but it is not borne 
 out. No careful reader can, I think, mistake the bias of Selden's 
 mind. And this it is which induced Leslie to say, " But there is 
 another who has gone about his business more like a workman, 
 and attacked tithes with great subtlety and learning ; it is the 
 famous Mr. Selden, in what he calls the History of Tithes, and 
 pretends that it is nothing else but a plain history, without any 
 design against the Divine Bight, or any other settlement of tithes; 
 but then he carries on his mine under ground, and gives such 
 accounts of them as would effectually overthrow them V 
 
 1 See pp. 1451. 1453, 1454. 
 
 8 Preface to the Essay on the Divine Right of Tithes. Works, vol. vii. p. 273. 
 Ed. Clar. 
 
THE LEARNED SELDEN. HISTORY OF TITHES. 75 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 There is one question I should like to ask yet. Is there not 
 some story about a letter addressed to Archbishop Laud by 
 Selden ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I am glad you recalled the incident to mind. It is in my old 
 favourite Fuller's " Worthies of England." I must read to you 
 the whole passage, as I have not the means of verifying the 
 extract he gives in italics. 
 
 " Nor will it be impertinent here to insert a passage of con- 
 sequence, which I find in a modern author of good intelligence. 
 
 " ' Master Selden teas no friend to bishops, as constituted and es- 
 tablished in the Church of England. For being called before the 
 High Commission, and forced to make a publique achioicledgment 
 of his error and offence given unto the Church, in publishing a book 
 intituled, " The History of Tithes," it sunk so deep into his 
 stomach, that he did never after affected (sic) the men, or cordially 
 approved the calling, though many tcays icere tried to gain him to 
 the Churclts interest.' 1 
 
 " To this his publique acknowledgment I can say nothing, — this 
 I know, that a friend of mine employed on a fair and honest 
 account, to peruse the library of Archbishop Laud, found therein 
 a large letter written to him, and subscribed with Master Selden's 
 own hand, wherein he used many expressions of his contrition, 
 much condemning himself for setting forth a book of that nature ; 
 which letter my aforesaid friend gave back again to Master 
 Selden, to whom, (I assure you,) it was no unacceptable pre- 
 sent V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Coupling this with what you have before mentioned, and with 
 what I have read and noted for myself, I feel more than ever 
 convinced that Selden deserted high ground for lower, and the 
 hesitating* shifts he made use of only confirm me in my opinion, 
 that he was ill at ease upon the subject. Is it Massinger that 
 says? 
 
 3 See Worthies. Sussex, p. 111. The Book quoted is " Ext ram us mpulans 
 made by an (titer idem to Doctor Heylin," p. 167. "The friend mentioned is Mr. 
 Spencer, Keeper of the Library at Jesus Colk&je." 
 
76 
 
 THE LEARNED SELDEN. 
 
 " They that sow 
 In narrow bounds, cannot expect in reason 
 A crop beyond their ventures 4 ." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 My position is still secure, Selden was honest in the main. I 
 by no means mean to say that he was not prejudiced. I had 
 rather he had not published " Euthymius." I had rather he had 
 not been a member of the Assembly of Divines. But I speak as 
 a Churchman, and this is not to our present purpose. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 You are ill inclined to give up your parishioner. You hold to 
 him as did the late lamented Professor Burton to the suspected 
 verse in St. John. But, after all, Eubulus, was the " History 
 of Tithes'"' Selden's own handy work, or did he merely complete 
 the intended attack ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I am at a loss to understand you. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 And I wish to be certified. What made me ask the question 
 was a passage I lighted on in your valued friend Woodward's 5 
 copy of " Heylin's History of the Presbyterians." I copied it 
 out to read to you. 
 
 " During which heats and agitations between the parties, a plot 
 was set on foot to subvert the Church, in the undoing of the 
 clergy ; and there could be no readier way to undo the clergy, 
 than to reduce them into such a beggarly competency (for by that 
 name they love to call it), as they had brought them to in all the 
 rest of the Calvinian or Genevian Churches. This the design of 
 many hands, by whom all passages had been scored in Cottoiis 
 Library, which either did relate to the point of tithes, or the manner 
 of payment. But the collections being brought together, and the 
 work completed, there appeared no other name before it than that 
 of Selden, then of great credit in the world for his known abilities 
 in the retired walks of learning \" 
 
 * The Emperor of the East, Act iii. Sc. ii. 
 
 5 My lamented friend, the Rev. W. P. Woodward, Rector of West Griustead, 
 
 Sussex. 
 
 6 History of the Presbyterians, p. 491. 
 
THE LEARNED SELDEN. 
 
 77 
 
 Such is the passage and the accusation, Eubulus, and I wish 
 you would remove the imputation. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It is one not unknown to me, but I believe it to be groundless. 
 One may couple it with the traditional story of Ruggles and 
 " Ignoramus.' 1 '' None more readily acknowledged his obligations 
 to Sir Robert Cotton, than Selden did. For instance, in the two 
 first sentences of the dedication, " Justice, no less than observ- 
 ance, urges me to inscribe this ' History of Tithes' 1 to your name. 
 So great a part of it, was lent me by your most ready courtesy, 
 and able direction, that I restore it rather than give it you." 
 But that Selden should lend himself as a tool to do puritanical 
 and presbyterian work with, is what I could never be brought 
 over to think. It was unworthy the friend of Archbishop Usher 
 and Lord Clarendon. Had there been any substantial ground for 
 this accusation, I am convinced the latter would never have borne 
 that testimony to him which he has done. He looked upon him, 
 as he says, " with so much affection and reverence, that he always 
 thought himself best when he was with 111111." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 There is great weight in what you say. When I read that 
 passage in Heylin, I did not forget the account Clarendon gives 
 of his acquaintance in his autobiography. I wish you would read 
 me that of Selden. My recollection of it is like the recollection 
 of sweet music heard in childhood. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I will read it most willingly. You know what favourites Cla- 
 rendon's " Autobiography" and his " History of the Rebellion" 
 are with me. 
 
 " Mr. Selden was a person whom no character can flatter, or 
 transmit in any expressions equal to his merit and virtue. He 
 was of so stupendous learning in all kinds and in all languages (as 
 may appear in his excellent and transcendent writings), that a 
 man w ould have thought he had been entirely conversant amongst 
 books, and had never spent an hour but in reading and writing ; 
 yet his humanity, courtesy, and affability was such, that he would 
 have been thought to have been bred in the best courts, but that 
 his good nature, charity, and delight in doing good, and in com- 
 
78 
 
 THE LEARNED SELDEN, 
 
 municating all he knew, exceeded that breeding. His style in 
 all his writings seems harsh, and sometimes obscure ; which is 
 not wholly to be imputed to the abstruse subjects of which he 
 commonly treated, out of the paths trod by other men ; but to a 
 little under-valuing the beauty of a style, and too much pro- 
 pensity to the language of antiquity : but in his conversation he 
 was the most clear discourser, and had the best faculty of making 
 hard things easy, and presenting them to the understanding, of 
 any man that hath been known. Mr. Hyde was wont to say, 
 that he valued himself upon nothing more than upon having had 
 Mr. Selden's acquaintance from the time he was very young ; 
 and held it with great delight as long as they were suffered to 
 continue together in London ; and he was very much troubled 
 always when he heard him blamed, censured, and reproached, for 
 staying in London, and in the Parliament, after they were in 
 rebellion, and in the worst times, which his age obliged him to 
 do : and how wicked soever the actions were which were every 
 day done, he was confident he had not given his consent to them ; 
 but would have hindered them if he could with his own safety, 
 to which he was always enough indulgent. If he had some 
 infirmities with other men, they were weighed down with wonder- 
 ful and prodigious abilities and excellencies in the other scale:" 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Noble testimonial ! 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 And never retracted, though Selden's name is perhaps, as 
 Warburton thinks, to be numbered with those " knowing and 
 discerning men 7 " in the law, when Clarendon speaks of the ani- 
 mosities between some great lawyers and some Churchmen, which 
 produced great mischiefs, in his " History of the Eebellion. 1,1 I 
 only recollect one more allusion to him in that immortal work. 
 On the question of offering the great seal to Selden, Clarendon's 
 words are : " They did not doubt of Mr. Selden's affection to the 
 king, but withal they knew him so well, that they concluded he 
 would absolutely refuse the place, if it was offered to him. He 
 was in years, and of a tender constitution ; he had for many years 
 
 7 The Life of Edward, Earl of Clarendon, &c. Written by Himself. Vol. i. 
 p. 35. Part i. Ed. Clar. 1827. 8vo. 
 
SON OK JOHN SKI, DEN, THE MTNSTRKL. 
 
 79 
 
 enjoyed his ease, which he loved ; was rich ; and would not have 
 made a journey to York, or have lain out of his own bed, for any 
 preferment ; which he had never affected V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 " Was rich," is short and pithy. Fuller, I recollect, states 
 that he died " exceeding wealthy. Insomuch that naked charity 
 both toished and hoped for a good new coat at his hands, but mist 
 of its expectation 9 ." The world, I see, must agree to differ in 
 the estimation of his character. But tell me, Eubulus, of his 
 birth and lineage. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 ""lis a simple tale, soon told. He was born at Salvington, a 
 hamlet of the parish of West- Tarring, and some half-mile or more, 
 to the north of the Church. The entry in the Register stands thus : 
 " 1584. John, the sonne of John Selden, y e minstrell, was baptised 
 the xxth day of December.' 1 '' His father and mother were both 
 buried in the churchyard of the parish. The entries are as 
 follows : " 1610, Margaret Selden was buried y e xi. of October — 
 " 1616. 12 m0 ffebruarii Johannes Selden, paterfamilias scjmltus 
 est.' 1 '' As regards the latter entry, I see it sometimes mentioned 
 as the 1st instead of the 12th, but I think incorrectly. It has 
 been questioned what is the meaning of the word " minstrelV in 
 the former extract, and Cartwright, in his " History of the Rape 
 of Bramber 10 ," quotes Du Cange, as saying, " The word minstrell 
 is not to be understood in its popular sense, but as a performer on 
 any instrument of wind or string." I have examined Du Cange, 
 and hardly know to what he more immediately alludes \ The 
 
 8 See History of the Rebellion, vol. i. pp. 29—34, and p. 498. Ed. Clar. 1826. 
 8vo. 
 
 9 Worthies, ut supra. 10 See p. 5, note. 
 
 1 Probably to these words in v. Minstrelli. " Porro ministrellorum voce intelli- 
 gebantur cum scurrte et taimi omnes, turn qui buccinas inflaro, aut musica instru- 
 menta pulsare solebant." From an old document, anno 1348, he gives the following, 
 «' Sub t&tolo de Menestreux, recensentur ceux qui joucitt dcs naquaires, du demycanon,du 
 cornet, gutierne Latine, de la fluste Bchaigne, de la trompette, de la guitcruc Moresche, 
 et de la tielle. [Le Roman de la Rose MS. 
 
 La reisses fiuteours, 
 Menestrds, et juglcoitrs.]" 
 Information on this head may be found in Blakeway's and Owen's Hist, of Shrews- 
 bury. I have since found that there are more entries in the Sussex Registers under 
 the title of "Minstrel." For example in the Lurgurshall Register: " 1590. 
 Baptized Robert, son of John Landor, the Minstrell." 
 
80 
 
 THE LEARNED SELDEN. 
 
 simple way of understanding the word is, I suspect, the true one. 
 Selden's father was a yeoman. The acre-age of the estate, accord- 
 ing to the survey taken 6 James I., was 81a. 1r. The annual 
 value, 2BI. 8s. " Fidibus antiqui canebant^" 1 says Cicero, and this 
 was the elder Selden\s case. He amused his neighbours with his 
 gentle craft, and pleased himself. And what is here said is cor- 
 roborated by the extracts given by Dr. Bliss, in his Edition of the 
 " Athenre Oxonienses," from Aubrey's Papers in the Ashmole 
 Museum. " His father was a yeomanry man, of about fourty 
 pounds per annum, and played well on the violin, in which he 
 tooke delight, and at Christmas time, to please himself and his 
 neighbours, he would play to them as they danced. My old 
 Lady Cotton, (wife to Sir Rob. Cotton, grandmother to this Sir 
 — Cotton,) was one time at Sir Thomas Alford's, in Sussex, at 
 dinner, in Christmas time ; and Mr. J. Selden, (then a young 
 student,) sate at the lower end of the table, who was lookt upon 
 then to be of parts extraordinary, and somebody asking who he 
 was, 'twas replied, ' His son that is playing on the violin in the 
 hall.'' I have heard Mich. Malet (Judge Malet's son) say, that 
 he had heard that Mr. J. Selden's father taught on the lute." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Just like the gossip of Aubrey. He is quite a master in his 
 way, like Bos well. 
 
 " Comis garrire libellos 
 Unus vivorum 2 ." 
 
 But tell me, Eubulus, if any anecdotes are current in his native 
 parish ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Strange as it may seem, he whom Grotius called " the glory of 
 the English nation," is all but forgotten here ! We are a people 
 of poor estate, and " book-learning" is at a discount amongst us. 
 There are no resident gentry ; which is at all times a serious dis- 
 advantage to a parish. " Durum ab stirpe genus," — we till the 
 ground. Our youth — " patiens operum parvoque assueta" — 
 have little time for reading ought save their Bibles and Prayer 
 
 2 Hor. Sat. 
 
SKI.DEN S COTTAGE. 
 
 81 
 
 Books, which I would were read to better account ! with the 
 same passage of the poet in view, 
 
 " Omne oevum ferro teritur, versaque juvencum 
 Terga fatigamus hasta V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 And has the memory of this great man thus died away in his 
 native Salvington ? How instructive the lesson ! 
 
 EUBITLUS. 
 
 The cottage is visited by strangers, but the tenants of it are 
 better initiated into the merits of hard pudding, — (indispensable 
 to every true-born South Saxon — "the food," says a worthy 
 Baronet, " of the Roman soldiery,") — than into the merits of 
 Selden. Sic transit gloria mundii 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I know the cottage well. It is a humble building, and it would 
 appear that it was never much larger. I would it were kept in 
 better order, and that the old woodwork were not plaistered over ! 
 The inscription on the inside of the lintel is still fresh in my 
 memory ; and I think you told me Selden wrote it when ten 
 years of age. Buns it not thus • 
 
 " Gratus, honeste, mihi, non claudar inito scdeque ; 
 Fur abeas, non sum facta soluta tibi." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I will not say whether it be " st'debis" or u sedeque nor do I 
 think an antiquary could decide. My impression, however, is, 
 that you are right. Cartwright has given the exact copy of the 
 distich. You will be glad to hear that the property has passed 
 into better hands ; and, I have no doubt, but that by and by the 
 little that can be done to the crazy, but time-honoured, old tene- 
 ment, will be done 4 . The old date still remains, on a stone over 
 the door, 1601. The name of the house was Lacie.% which Selden 
 himself mentions in the lengthy epitaph he wrote previous to his 
 death : " in jedibus Lacics, ibi dictis." 
 
 3 Virg. .<En. ix. 610. 
 
 4 Since this was written, the cottage has been restored by my friend and neigh- 
 bour, J. B. Daubuz, Esq., of Oftington, to whom it belongs. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 THE I.EARNKD SELDKN. 
 
 ALETHES, 
 
 Sir Peter Lely's portrait of Selden, gives him a very intellectual, 
 though perhaps somewhat melancholy expression of countenance. 
 His hair is long and flowing'; and certainly there is nothing of 
 rusticity about him. One would hardly imagine he had come 
 forth from those " smoky rafters," as Milton calls the like. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 If we may credit the report of Aubrey, he was not so graceful 
 in his youth : " He was of Hart-hall, in Oxon," (says that 
 Chronicler ;) " and Sir Giles Mompesson told me, that he was 
 then of that house, and that he was a long scahhy-pol 'd Lot/, but a 
 good student." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Does not Aubrey, by the way, mention his locality when at the 
 Temple ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 In the words which immediately follow. The book is in my 
 hand, and I will read them to you : " Thence he came to the 
 Inner Temple. His chamber was in the Paper Buildings which 
 looke towards the garden, — staire-case, uppermost story, where he 
 had a little gallery to walke in." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Are any descendants of this " great dictator of learning of the 
 English nation," still in being ? I use the title which Wood says 
 foreigners gave to him. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I have not been enabled to add any thing to what Cartwright 
 says : " The name of Selden, though formerly frequent in this 
 and the neighbouring parishes, is presumed to be extinct. His 
 representatives, if any, are the descendants of his only sister, 
 Mary, who married John Barnard of Goring, by whom she had 
 two sons, John and Thomas, and four daughters, Mary, wife of 
 Robert Douglas, of Goring ; Sarah, wife of J. Chapman, of Ifield ; 
 Joan, wife of Edward Mansfield, of Ham, near Lewes; and 
 Susan, married to John Bode, of Wiston 5 ." I may add that 
 
 5 History of the Rape of Bramber, ut supra, p. G. 
 
THE LEABNED SELDEN. 
 
 83 
 
 in the parish of Patching, there is a farm and a coppice called 
 Selden's. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I fancied I had heard that some of his mother's name still lived 
 in the parish of Preston. 
 
 ECBULUS. 
 
 There are " Bakers" still in the parish of Preston ; and Selden, 
 in the epitaph above alluded to, speaks of his mother as " Mar- 
 garita Bakera Thornae cognominis a. Rustington ex equestri in 
 Cantio Bakerorum familia, oriundi, filia unica et haerede." The 
 parish of Preston adjoins Rustington, and so the family may be 
 the same. They are all now in very humble circumstances. 
 Cartwright is mistaken in writing " West Preston in Rustington." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I )id Selden forget his family 2 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 You may see his Will at the end of the Life by Wilkins, from 
 which it appears that he leaves to each of his nephews and nieces 
 the sum of one hundred pounds. They were all in lowly condi- 
 tion ; and it appears he did not think that a larger sum would 
 conduce to their happiness. It is not for me to question, at this 
 distance of time, the justness of this conclusion. Individually I 
 should liave thought otherwise, and I look upon the willing of 
 property as a very sacred matter. But Selden might have 
 reasoned with himself, that he had left more than had ever come 
 to him, and, as a considerable portion of his property was sup- 
 posed to have come from the Countess of Kent, to whom Aubrey 
 says he was married, after the Earl's death, he might have 
 thought himself justified in bequeathing that as he did. Proba- 
 bly, from what Aubrey says, this question was early mooted: 
 " He would tell his intimate friends, Sir Bennet Hoskyns, &c, 
 that he had nobody to make his heire, except it were a milke- 
 mayd, and that such people did not know what to doe with a great 
 estate." Mem. Bishop Grostest, of Lincoln, told his brother, who 
 asked him to make him a great man ; " Brother," said he, " if 
 your plough is broken, Pie pay the mending of it ; or if an oxe is 
 dead, Pie pay for another, but a ploughman I found you, and a 
 ploughman Pie leave you." I will add what Aubrey says of his 
 o 2 
 
THE LEARNED SELDEN. 
 
 personal appearance before I close the book upon his amusing 
 tittle-tattle : " He was very tall, I guesse about six foot high, 
 sharp oval face, head not very big, inclining to one side, full 
 popping eie." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 " Quo fit lit omnis 
 Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella 
 Vita senis." 
 
 There is much, after all, Eubulus, to be said for Selden. I 
 believe he loved his king, though, as Clarendon says, he was 
 always enough indulgent to his own safety. It is a gratifying 
 fact to know that he would not reply to the Ek-wv Ba<7iAtKrj', 
 though requested personally by Cromwell to do so. This unen- 
 viable task he left to Milton ! How earnestly does one wish that 
 he had not signed the Solemn League and Covenant — that he had 
 defended Archbishop Laud as he voted in favour of Strafford — 
 that all his opinions had been as decidedly expressed as those for 
 the protection of the Universities, and for the Bishops 1 right to 
 their seats in Parliament ! 
 
 EUBUI.US. 
 
 Selden's defect, I think, was moral courage. Had he been 
 more resolute and determined, he might probably have 
 
 " Wielded at will that fierce democracy °." 
 
 Even although no " mighty orator,'" he had considerable influence 
 as it was. " His life," says Bishop Jebb, " properly told, would 
 be a complete history of the learning of his time 7 ," — it may be 
 added, of the varied politics also — of men, and manners. But 
 that life has yet to be written. The one by Wilkins is well 
 enough, as far as it goes ; but it is a sort of skeleton. The 
 latest attempt I am aware of is by George W. Johnson, and is 
 entitled, " Memoirs of John Selden, and Notices of the Political 
 Contest during his time." I cannot say that I am favourably 
 impressed with it. His sentiments appear to me to be Erastianism 
 personified 8 . 
 
 « Par. Reg. b. iv. 2C9. 
 
 7 See Burnet's Lives, Characters, &C. Edited by Jebb. 2nd Edit. p. 26, note. 
 s Since this was written, a Biographical Preface, by S. W. Singer, Esq., has 
 been prefixed to his " Table Talk." Pickering : 1847. 
 
THE LEARNED SELDEN. 
 
 85 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 That Selden s views were Erastian, I believe, there is no doubt. 
 I hope, Eubulus, there is no ground for impugning his faith ; 
 yet such things have been whispered. 
 
 EUBUI.US. 
 
 Unbelievers and free-thinkers are always anxious to couple 
 great names with their puny selves. It is the only chance they 
 have of emerging for a short while from merited insignificancy. 
 The charge as regards Selden is utterly false, and is best rebutted 
 in Baxter's " Appendix to the Life of Hale." " I know," 
 (writes he to Mr. Stephens,) " you are acquainted how greatly 
 he " (Hale, that is,) " valued Mr. Selden, being one of his exe- 
 cutors; his books and picture being still near him. I think it 
 meet, therefore, to remember, that, because many Hobbists do 
 report that Mr. Selden was at heart an infidel 9 , and inclined to 
 the opinions of Hobbes, I desired him to tell me the truth herein ; 
 and he oft professed to me, that Mr. Selden was a resolved 
 serious Christian ; and that he was a great adversary to Hobbes 1 
 errors ; and that he had seen him openly oppose him so ear- 
 nestly, as either to depart from him, or drive him out of the 
 room." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Irrefragable testimony ! 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Let me add to the above what is said in Wilkins's " Vita 
 Auctoris," p. xlv. : " Cum invalescente imbecillitate et defi- 
 cientibus viribus stadium vitse jam confectum esse sentiret, 
 corpusque nimia scribendi, legendi, et meditandi contentionc 
 fatigatum, impar animi viribus, hospitem admoneret migrationis, 
 reverendissimum Hibernian primatem Usserium doctoremque 
 Langbaine accersivit, ut de vanitate scientiarum, atque de spe et 
 requie animse susc in promissis Sanctre Scripturae fundata, atque 
 cordi suo penitus impressa dissereret. Consolabatur autem se ; 
 — That having his study full of books and papers of most sub- 
 jects in the world, yet at that time he could not recollect any 
 
 5 " There has ever been a strange tendency to such rumours : — Raleigh, liaeun, 
 and Selden, are eminent examples." Bp. J ebb's note. 
 
86 
 
 THE LEAKNEl) SELDEN. 
 
 passage out of infinite books and manuscripts he was master of, 
 wherein he could rest his soul, save out of the Holy Scriptures ; 
 wherein the most remarkable passage that lay most upon his 
 spirit was Titus ii. 11 — 14." This passage I have frequently 
 laid before my parishioners ; and you will find it written out and 
 translated in the " Cottage." He died Nov. 3()th, 1654, aged 
 seventy, and is buried in the Temple Church. Archbishop Usher 
 preached his funeral sermon. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I am much indebted to you, Eubulus, for the information you 
 have given me on the subject of tithes, as well as for your defence 
 of Selden. He had infirmities, that's clear ; neither was he 
 impressed with any severe notions of ecclesiastical discipline, 
 being a convert rather to Erastian views. At times he certainly 
 wanted moral courage ; but, whether it was an inherent defect 
 or not, I would not hastily decide. That love of ease and 
 retirement, which Clarendon speaks of, occasionally takes this 
 form. Be it as it may, he was a great man, and a learned. We 
 piddling literates cannot find time to read what he found time 
 and opportunity to write, when all the foundations of the nation 
 were out of course, and anarchy was triumphant. Selden, no 
 doubt, like Cicero, found comfort from his books in evil times, — 
 a republicd forensibusque negotiis, armis impiis vique prohibit!, 
 otium persequimur. How striking are those words at the com- 
 mencement of the Third Book of the Offices ! Extincto enim 
 senatu, deletisque judiciis, quid est quod dignum nobis ant in curia, 
 aut in foro agere possimus ? Ita qui in maxima celebritate, atque 
 in oculis civium quondam viximus ; mine fugientes conspeetum 
 sceleratorum, quibus omnia redundant, abdimus nos, quantum 
 licet, et scepe soli sumus. To the shattered fortunes of his country 
 we owe much of those writings, which, rather than his acts, 
 ennoble the name of Cicero. As he says, " Itaque plura brevi 
 tempore eversd, quam multis annis stante republicd, scripsimusK'''' 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 How different the soft and easy flow of Cicero's .style from the 
 inharmonious periods of Selden! The spirit of "the minstrel'" 
 
 1 Sec Cic. ilu Officii^ HI), iii. ft i. 
 
THE LEAK NED BELDEK. 
 
 87 
 
 lighted not on him, though Sir John Suckling brought him into 
 the " Session of the Poets. 1 '' However, his prose-writings are 
 thoroughly imbued with sound and useful learning ; and he might 
 have said of them, what the Laureate, John Skelton, said of his 
 rhyme in " Colyn Clout — 
 
 " For though my rime be ragged, 
 Tattered and jagged, 
 Rudely rayne beaten, 
 Rusty and moothe eaten, 
 II' ye talke well therewith, 
 It hath in it some pith." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 1 know not what the world at large would say to our notions 
 respecting tithes, Eubulus. Possibly it may put down the one 
 and the other of us under one category. I can cap you (as we 
 used to say at school) from that old Rimer : — 
 
 " Or if he speake plaine, 
 Than he lacketh brayne, 
 He is but a foole ! 
 Let him go to scoole. 
 A three-footed stoole 
 That he may downe syt, 
 For he lacketh wit ; 
 And if that he hit 
 The nayle on the head, 
 It standeth in no stede !" 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Like enough, Alethes ! But when I express my sentiments 
 on this head, as I have ever done when occasion called, then 1 
 can say, Libera ci animani meam. God grant that I may be free 
 from what the Scripture calls blood-guiltiness in all other my 
 ministerial functions ! I dearly like the clause in that beautiful 
 prayer, — " Grant that in all our troubles we may put our whole 
 trust and confidence in thy mercy ! 11 So have I ever done ; and 
 so by the same gracious help will I endeavour still to leap over 
 the wall of human infirmity ! 
 
88 
 
 THE LEARNED SELDEN — TITHES. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 One thing, at least, I may say, Eubulus. Of all people to 
 speak on the subject of tithes it would seem to me that you are 
 the least prejudiced. I have heard you say you have never had 
 a dispute since you were connected with your parish 2 . 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 1 never have, in the fuller acceptation of the word. But, whe- 
 ther or not I may have thought it necessary in all cases to require 
 payment is quite another thing. I maintain my right with 
 one hand, when I dispense a gift with the other. But the 
 payment of small tithes is attended with great difficulty ; and 
 were it not for the fulfilling of a duty. I never would enforce a 
 claim. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 And is there nothing done to mend matters by the Tithe 
 Commutation Act ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Nothing whatever. The poor man's garden is let at the same 
 rent, and he pays the tithe, though the landlord is responsible. 
 According to the old Indian idea, the tortoise is at the bottom 
 alter all ! I know of nothing good in that Act ; but, as I said 
 before, I know of much that is wrong in it. The sort of pay- 
 ment which the Almighty once judged in His wisdom right, I 7 
 without an express declaration to the contrary, can never deem 
 wrong. Methinks the advice of the Son of Sirach was right, — 
 Dedicate thy tithes with gladness 3 . It grieves me to the 
 heart to think that the principle of it is taken for granted by the 
 many, as though it were conceded by the clergy at large. What- 
 ever the number of the Guelphs, I am, on this head, a Ghibelline 
 still. 
 
 aleThes. 
 
 But what was to be done? Supposing resistance had been 
 
 2 Since this was written, I have been provoked to a dispute by a Stranger, 
 I tut declined it. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners put in their distress, and re- 
 covered payment, of course. 
 
 3 Ecclus. xxxv. 9. 
 
IELDEN's COTTAGE THOMAS A BECKET. 
 
 89 
 
 nuidc, might not matters have been worse than they are, — might 
 not the clergy by this time have been stipendiaries { Such, some 
 twelve years ago, was the state of drunken anarchy — {bat not 
 with trine) — which this nation was in, that nothing would have 
 surprised me. Might we not have lost all \ The world was open- 
 mouthed as Charybdis. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I will make Mephibosheth's answer, — " Yea, let Mm take all ; 
 forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own 
 house V Robbery and spoliation, spoliation and robbery, is the 
 only change I can ring upon the Act. After all, had all gone, 
 we might have had the satisfaction to know that we had tried 
 to save what we could. 
 
 ALE'J'H ES. 
 
 And this, I conceive, is what many good men did. They 
 acted somewhat after Cranmers example ; and a good example 
 it was ! Had further opposition been made, we might have had 
 a collision, disastrous and untimely, as that between Thomas a 
 ]3eckct and Henry II. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I would not stand up for Thomas a Becket's character as a 
 whole ; but I think on some points he has been much maligned. 
 He was a bold man, at least, and did not shrink from what he 
 considered a duty. But this would lead me into a long story. 
 Besides, the wind is hushed, and we shall get a good walk. Air 
 and exercise save the doctor. We can take Seidell's " Cottage " 
 in our way. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Agreed. But recollect that we recur to Thomas a Bocket's 
 history. Tradition calls the old Bectory-house here his palace ; 
 and I have no doubt you have collected all you can relating to 
 him and his eventful life. 
 
 1 2 Sam. xix. '.M). 
 
90 
 
 THOMAS A liECKET. 
 
 EUBULCS. 
 
 The shaking out of my note-book is at your service. But do 
 not let me lead you astray either as regards Thomas a Becket, 
 or the immunities of the clergy. My motto is from that re- 
 markable work of Southey's, — the " Vindicise Anglicanae, 11 — 
 which he wrote, con amore, and would willingly have gone on 
 with : " When any thing becomes manifestly and notoriously an 
 evil and a nuisance, it ought to be abated, whatever prescription 
 may be pleaded for it V 
 
 5 See p. 354. 
 
2Ufc of Cfoomas a Xtthct, 
 
 OR, 
 
Norfolk. " Surely, sir, 
 
 There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends ; 
 For, being not propp'd by ancestry, whose grace 
 Chalks successors their way, nor call' J upon 
 For high feats done to the crown ; neither allied 
 To eminent assistants, but, spider-like, 
 Out of his self-drawing web, he gives us note, 
 The force of his own merit makes his way ; 
 A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys 
 A place next to the king. 
 
 Abergavenny. I cannot tell 
 
 What heaven hath given him : let some graver eye 
 Pierce into that ; but I can see his pride 
 Peep through each part of him." 
 
 Henrv VIII. Act i. Sc. i. 
 
 Q. Kath. " You are meek and humble-mouth'd ; 
 
 You sign your place and calling, in full seeming 
 With meekness and humility ; but your heart 
 Is cramm'd with arrogaucy, spleen, and pride." 
 
 Ibid. Act ii. Sc iv. 
 
 (irijjith. " Noble madam, 
 
 Men's evil manners live in brass ; their virtues 
 We write in water. May it please your highness 
 To hear me speak his good now ? 
 
 Kath. Yes, good Griffith ; 
 
 I were malicious else. 
 
 Griffith. This cardinal, 
 
 Though from an humble stock, undoubtedly 
 
 Was fashiou'd to much honour. From his cradle, 
 
 He was a scholar, and a ripe, and good one ; 
 
 Exceeding wise, fair spoken, and persuading : 
 
 Lofty and sour to them that lov'd him not ; 
 
 Put, to those men that sought him, sweet as summer. 
 
 His overthrow heap'd happiness upon him, 
 
 For then, and not till then, he felt himself, 
 
 And found the blessedness of being little : 
 
 And, to add greater honours to bis age 
 
 Than man could give him, he died, fearing God ! " 
 
 Ibid. Act iv. Sc. ii. 
 
?£tfr of Ojomas a Berhrt, 
 
 OR, 
 
 0)0 mas! KttktL 
 
 " Creon. 'Tis just I die, indeed, for I confess 
 
 I am troublesome to life now, and the state 
 
 Can hope for nothing worthy from me now, • 
 
 Either in force or counsel ; I've o' late 
 
 Employ'd myself quite from the world, and he 
 
 That once begins to serve his Maker faithfully, 
 
 Can never serve a worldly prince well after ; 
 
 'Tis clear another way. 
 
 Ant. Oh, give not confidence 
 
 To all he speaks, my lord, to his own injury. 
 His preparation only for the next world 
 Makes him talk wildly to his wrong of this ; 
 He is not lost in judgment." 
 
 Massinger, The Old Law. 
 
 Henry II. was the greatest sovereign of his day, and Thomas 
 a Becket the greatest ecclesiastic. Rome had her popes and 
 cardinals, Bologna and Paris their schools, but amongst all their 
 men of renown, none was so great a man as the sometime bosom- 
 friend and the wary chancellor of Henry. 
 
 Thomas a Becket — the name established by use, which is the 
 criterion of language, though Thomas Becket were, perhaps, more 
 critically correct — was born in London, December 21, 1117 
 His father was a citizen, named Gilbert. His mother was said 
 
 1 Or, as others Bay, 1 1 If!. 
 
94 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BEHCET, 
 
 to be a Saracen lady, " whose adventures, 1,1 says Sharon Turner, 
 " might be classed with the tales of romance, but that, after the 
 Crusades commenced, human life became a romance ; and society 
 was full of wild enterprise and improbable incident ;™ as Othello 
 tells, 
 
 " Of moving accidents by flood and field ; 
 Of hair-breadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach ; 
 Of being taken by the insolent foe, 
 And sold to slavery." 
 
 Whether or not the story is to be relied on is more than can, 
 at this time of day, be asserted ; but there seems no reason to 
 throw aside all traditional stories, and if this be not true, one 
 might even wish it were so. The authority for it is the chronicler 
 John of Brompton 2 , who relates of Gilbert, that having made a 
 pilgrimage to Palestine, he was taken by the Saracens, thrown 
 into prison, " and sold to slavery " to an Emir. It appears that 
 his manners and mien were such as to attract the notice of his 
 Saracen lord and master, insomuch so that he was treated kindly, 
 and — a most unusual thing, if report be true — was admitted to 
 his table. This Emir had an only daughter. How, when, or 
 where, Gilbert contrived to converse with her is not easily ascer- 
 tained, especially when we consider the secluded estate of Oriental 
 females 3 . Converse with her, however, he did, and as he told of 
 Christian faith, and Christian climes, she learned to love. For 
 his voluble discourse, and perhaps, like Desdemona, " for the 
 dangers he had passed, 1 " she loved the Christian captive ! Gilbert, 
 it would seem, though she promised to aid in his escape, would 
 not assent if she was to be the companion of his flight and, then, 
 of the marriage-bed. After a year and a halfs captivity he re- 
 gained his liberty, but whether or not by the maiden's help is 
 
 2 A Monkish Historian of Brompton, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. His 
 Chronicle extends from 5f)8 to 1 198. Mr. Berington affixes to his name the epithet 
 of " fabling," and says that he is a transcriber of Hoveden in all that is important. 
 He is said to have lived twenty years in the Benedictine Abbey of Whitby, during 
 the abbacy of John of Skelton, which commenced in 1413. 
 
 3 Sir James Mackintosh's observation on Gilbert's permission to see the Mus- 
 sulman Emir's daughter, is " a permission which loses much of its improbability, if 
 we suppose that he was employed in procuring European ornaments for her, and 
 was allowed to see a lady so exalted above him from a mixture of convenience and 
 contempt." — Vol. i. p. 153. 
 
OR, THOMAS BKCKET. 
 
 95 
 
 unrecorded. It appears that Gilbert had mentioned London as 
 his home, and henceforward no name had such charms for the 
 Emir's lovely daughter's ear as London. She knew but two 
 English words, and that was one of them. She was not long in 
 coming to a determination. She would leave her father's house 
 — the land of the sun and of the palm — and would seek the 
 Christian stranger who had borne away her heart ! She con- 
 trived to escape from the chamber of the women, and made her 
 way to the coast, where she embarked on board a vessel sailing 
 for England. Her constant repetition of the word "London" 
 brought her to the metropolis ; and then the repetition of the 
 only other English word she knew — " Gilbert " — brought her 
 under the notice of Richard, the faithful servant of Gilbert, and 
 the sharer of his captivity. Gilbert was soon informed that the 
 Saracen damsel had followed him, and such affection was not to 
 be withstood. He consulted with the Bishop of London, men- 
 tioned to him her desire to become a Christian, and told the tale 
 of their loves. The result was that she was christened by the 
 name of Matilda and married to her Gilbert ! 
 
 Let the story be taken for as much as it is worth and no more. 
 Once escaped from her father the Emir her jewels would further 
 her progress. No Eastern damsel of her rank was destitute of 
 " Barbaric pearl and gold." The ancient ballad of the " Spanish 
 Lady's Love " is an illustration in point. The first lines are the 
 gallant Captain's, the two last the lady's. 
 
 " ' I have neither gold nor silver 
 To maintain thee in this case, 
 And to travel is great charges 
 As you know in every place.' 
 " ' My chains and jewels every one shall be thy own 
 
 And eke five hundred pounds in gold that lies unknown Y" 
 
 Whoever his mother may have been, Becket says in one of his 
 letters that his ancestors were of the city of London — citizens of 
 no mean degree, contented and quiet. Born on St. Thomas' 
 Day, he was called after his name. Of his early education we 
 are told only that his mother brought him up in the fear of God, 
 and taught him, next to his Saviour, to reverence the Virgin 
 
 4 Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. ii. p. 237- 
 
96 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECK FT, 
 
 Mary. It is hardly to be doubted but that he, like so many 
 others, imbibed his strong devotional feelings from his mother ; 
 for strong they were, though the world wrestled hard for the 
 mastery, and many a time obtained it, as we shall see in the 
 sequel of his life. 
 
 The next we hear of him is that his father sent him to school 
 at Merton Abbey — abbeys and cathedrals in that day being the 
 great schools in the land, and the families of abbots and bishops 
 the great seminaries of religious and useful learning. Little 
 remains now to attest what Merton on the Wandle once was. 
 The angler, as he throws his fly, recks little of those ancient 
 walls, which once, like St. Alban's, were the resort of clerks and 
 future dignitaries in Church and State. When Becket was sent 
 there it was in its infancy. It was in 1115 that Gilbert Norman, 
 Sheriff of Surrey, founded a convent there for the canons regular 
 of the Order of St. Augustine. Its after connexion with Merton 
 College, in Oxford, has no place here 5 . That took place in the 
 reign of Henry III. It was the first prior of Merton that had 
 the honour of educating this clever, but turbulent ecclesiastic. 
 Having learned what was to be learnt here, his father, on his 
 mother's death, sent him next to Paris, and on his return got 
 him employed in the Portgreve's office in London. From this it 
 is evident that he was not at that time decided as to the Church, 
 for the Portgreve then was the chief magistrate of London, filling 
 the place that the mayor does now 6 . Neither does it by any 
 means appear that his present studies were theological. We 
 read that he was given to hunting and falconry, and that on one 
 occasion he was nearly drowned, having jumped into the Thames 
 to save a favourite hawk. 
 
 Theobald at this time was Archbishop of Canterbury, a 
 favourite with the king, to whom he was devotedly attached. 
 " He was a man," however, says Lyttelton 7 , " whom experience 
 and knowledge of business had made a minister of state, rather 
 
 5 There is evidently a mistake in the Article " Becket," in the new Biographical 
 Dictionary, which states that " his master dying, he was committed by his father 
 to the care of the Canons of Merton, in Oxford." 
 
 6 See Cowcl's Law Dictionary in V. The Portgreve retained that name from 
 the time of the Conqueror to that of Richard L, who ordained two bailiffs to take 
 his place. The yearly magistrate, called the Mayor, was granted by King John. 
 
 1 History of Henry II., vol. ii. p. 19. 4 to. 
 
OK, THOMAS BUCKET. 
 
 97 
 
 than genius ; having parts good enough to be esteemed, but not 
 great enough to be feared by his master." This, possibly, may 
 be true ; but withal he was a man of penetration, and the parts 
 of the young Becket attracted his notice. At this time the 
 future prelate is described to us as beautiful in person, graceful 
 in manner, brave, lovely, and accomplished 8 . How he got intro- 
 duced to Theobald is not known for certain, but, once introduced, 
 his fortunes were made, though envy molested him. Twice we 
 read that Roger of Bishopsbridge, successively Archdeacon of 
 Canterbury and Archbishop of York, was the means of dispos- 
 sessing him of the primate's favour, and getting him banished 
 from the palace. Next to his own uncommon parts he owed his 
 restoration to Walter, the then Archdeacon of Canterbury, and 
 brother to Theobald. 
 
 It does not clearly appear when Becket entered into deacon's 
 orders, but he was probably ordained previous to his intimacy 
 with Theobald. There is reason to suppose that he found himself 
 inferior in information to the clergy he met at the archbishop's 
 table ; but that at the same time he was aware that his own 
 intellectual powers were undeveloped. But he was not the person 
 to let them long lie dormant. Foxe, in his " Acts and Monu- 
 ments, 1 '' tells us, that his ''first preferment was to the church of 
 Branfield, which he had by the gift of St. Alban," which is not 
 very intelligible. Theobald, however, favourably impressed 
 towards him, presented him to the livings of St. Mary le Strand 
 and Otteford in Kent, besides obtaining for him prebends in the 
 cathedrals of London and Lincoln. Being only in deacon's 
 orders, he must have held his preferments by a dispensation from 
 the Pope. 
 
 Collision with others now fired his mind, and he determined to 
 improve his great natural talents by severe study. With this 
 view he obtained Theobald's permission to proceed to Bologna, 
 the most celebrated university of the day, and the great school 
 for the study of the civil and canon law. It was about this time 
 that Gratian commenced his lectures there, and shortly after 
 
 8 John of Salisbury's lines prefixed to his " De nugis Curialium," are sufficient 
 authority : 
 
 " Utque virum virtus animi, sic gratia formte. 
 Undique niirandum gentibus esse facit." 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECRET, 
 
 published his celebrated " Decretum" or, " Concordia discordan- 
 tium Canonum? There is some little difficulty with respect to 
 the date of this remarkable work, but as Trithemius 9 speaks of 
 the Decretum as " ab Eugenio Papa, tertio approbatum," the limit 
 here given may tend to reconcile the different statements in 
 various histories. Be the date what it may, the Canon Law had 
 now attained the rank of a science, and was studied in the schools 
 accordingly. Whoever would rise in Church or State must be 
 canonist and civilian. Becket was ambitious, and on his prefer- 
 ment made himself thoroughly master of the subject, and there 
 can be little doubt but that the whole of his after life was imbued 
 with that project of Rome which would erect, as it has been said, 
 a spiritual monarchy, superior to all others, even in worldly power. 
 
 At " Bonony," as Foxe calls Bologna, he studied for a year, 
 and then removed to Auxerre in Burgundy, where lectures were 
 also read in the canon and civil law. At both places he was 
 a severe student, and returned to England, not only well stored 
 with learning, but, what would in the present day be called, a 
 perfect diplomatist ' . The study of these laws had drawn out his 
 wonderful capacity for negotiation, and it was this, till that time, 
 latent talent, added to his courteous demeanour and natural 
 quickness, which was the cause of his future rise and preferment. 
 
 It so happened that on his return to England, his talent for 
 negotiation was just what Theobald wanted. William de Cor- 
 boyl, the more to humble his rival Thurstan, Archbishop of York, 
 had been prevailed upon to enslave himself and his successors in 
 accepting the legateship of the Pope in England. On his death 
 the primacy, contrary to the solemn promise of Stephen, con- 
 tinued vacant for two full years ; after which, says Henry, King 
 Stephen " was so mean and imprudent as to solicit the Pope to 
 grant a legantine commission to his brother Henry, Bishop of 
 Winchester 2 ." This he obtained, and had bitterly to repent of. 
 
 9 See " Johannes Trithemius de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis," p. 95, in the 
 " Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica" of Fabricius. Hamburgi, 1718, folio. The usual date 
 ascribed to the publication of the Decretum is 1151. 
 
 1 What Aubrey says of Cardinal Wolsey affords a remarkable parallel. " His 
 rise was, his quick and prudent dispatch of a message to Paris for Henry VIII." 
 Letters from the Bodleian, vol. ii. p. 588. Cavendish speaks more than once of his 
 " filed tongue and excellent eloquence." See pp. 16. 19. of the beautiful edition by 
 Rivingtons, 1852. 
 
 2 See Henry's History of Great Britain, vol. iii. p. 228. ed. 8vo. 
 
OR, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 99 
 
 It was to recover the legantine power for Canterbury, that 
 Becket's talents were now called in requisition, for up to this time 
 that power was looked upon, though a chain of gold, as the 
 greatest and most honourable post. So well did Becket acquit 
 himself on this mission, that he was immediately entrusted with 
 another of the greatest importance. In this matter likewise he 
 was eminently successful, and it was by his means that the pro- 
 hibitory letters were obtained which defeated the crowning of 
 Prince Eustace. The result is clearly recorded by Lord Ly ttel- 
 ton, in his valuable history of Henry II. " At his return into 
 England the archbishop conferred upon him several new favours, 
 making him Provost of Beverley and Dean of Hastings, which 
 benefices he held together with the former ; and just before the 
 death of Stephen, the Archdeaconry of Canterbury was likewise 
 given to him by the same prelate. But these were only the 
 beginnings of his advancement. For immediately after Henry's 
 accession to the throne, he was made the king's chancellor, at the 
 request of his patron, who thought no dignity or trust above his 
 merit. Nor, in doing this, did Henry please the archbishop alone. 
 Beeket's promotion must have been extremely agreeable to the 
 English ; as he was the first of that nation, since the latter years 
 of the reign of William the Conqueror, on whom any great office, 
 either in the Church or State, had been conferred by the kings of 
 the Norman race ; the exclusion of them from all dignities being a 
 maxim of policy, delivered down by that monarch to his sons, and 
 founded (as we are told by William of Malmesbury) on the 
 alarming example of what had befallen the Danes in England, 
 after the decease of Canute the Great. For the English having 
 been suffered, by the indulgence of Canute, to retain under him 
 a large space of honour and power, the consequence was, that 
 they soon recovered the government, and drove out the foreigners. 
 Whether the expulsion of the latter were really owing to the 
 cause here assigned, or to their own provoking insolence, may 
 well be disputed : but this opinion, unquestionably, prevailed 
 too much in the minds of the Normans, and continued too 
 long. Even Henry I., who courted the affection of the Eng- 
 lish, as the chief strength of his government, and in other 
 respects was kind to them, adhered to this maxim, more per- 
 haps from an apprehension of offending the Normans, than 
 h 2 
 
100 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 any jealousy in himself. Stephen and Matilda seem to have 
 acted on the same principle ; so that this dishonourable mark 
 of humiliation and inequality remained fixed on that people, 
 till the auspicious reign of Henry Plantagenet. He was the first 
 who took it off 3 ." 
 
 Becket was made chancellor at the age of thirty-seven. Whether 
 or not Theobald and the Bishop of Winchester had any thought 
 that he would be a curb on the king, and, by his moral influence, 
 hinder the not uncommon spoliation of church-property at that 
 time, is a question not easily answered. Be that as it may, he 
 became indispensable to Henry, and none now was so much in 
 repute as the archdeacon of Canterbury and the courteous chan- 
 cellor. It was by his advice that the Flemings and other mer- 
 cenaries, which had committed such depredations in Stephen's 
 reign, were expelled the land. The same wise advice led also to 
 the demolishing of those castles which had been erected during 
 the civil wars, and which now were little better than the strong- 
 holds of bandits. Every effort seems to have been made to 
 restore peace and quietness to the hitherto disturbed country, so 
 that what Ranulph de Glanville says in his Preface, " de Legibus 
 et Consuetudinibus Anglioe? may with little allowance be looked 
 upon as true. The poor man, no less than the rich, had justice 
 in his cause, and might no more made right. Becket, in fact, 
 appears to have given his sovereign the best advice, and what is 
 more, to have seen that good advice was followed up by the 
 executive. 
 
 The result of this was an attachment drawn closer day by day. 
 The open manners of the prelate won the heart of the king. 
 Their pursuits were such as to bring them often together in their 
 hours of relaxation. The one as well as the other loved the 
 chase, and the hound and the hawk led them both to the field. 
 And it was now that the character of Becket became more de- 
 veloped, and his ambition was not difficult to be discerned. The 
 same man that was even overkind and affable to those beneath 
 
 3 Vol. i. p. 22, ut supra. M. Thierry accounts for the hold Becket had on the 
 lower orders in the same way. The supposition is, to say the least, ingenious ; but 
 it is not so novel as the writer in the British Magaz. imagines. See vol. iii. p. 144. 
 After all it is not certain that Becket was a Saxon. The name has more of Nor- 
 man sound in it. 
 
OR, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 101 
 
 him, was observed to be proud and ceremonious in the presence 
 of his equals and superiors. He was probably above covetousness, 
 in the more common acceptation of the word, but at the same 
 time the monarch's favours were heaped upon him and received. 
 The preferments which he held at this time were more numerous 
 than might well be imagined. The ecclesiastic and the warrior 
 seem to be combined in one person. Royal castles and forts, we 
 read, were committed to his custody, together with the temporal- 
 ities of vacant prelacies, and the escheats of great baronies be- 
 longing to the crown. The incomes of all these he made use of 
 as though they were his own ; and his sumptuous expenditure 
 and gorgeous magnificence were unrivalled. His house was a sort 
 of contubernium. The magnates of the kingdom sent their sons 
 to his table ; and all were ready to do him reverence. Wherever 
 Becket was, there the nobles of the land were sure to be also. 
 But with all this, and greatly to his credit, it is observed that he 
 led a life of unsullied purity in the midst of excess, and was him- 
 self a noble instance of constant temperance and invincible 
 chastity, when the one and the other were rarely to be found 
 around him. It is likely enough that he participated in the 
 pleasures of the king, influencing him all the while to the side of 
 goodness, when another, in his place, might only have been a lord 
 of misrule and a pander to licentiousness. Whatever the over- 
 ruling cause, his enemies at this time have ever acknowledged his 
 superiority 4 . But withal he was ambitious ! 
 
 Under these circumstances we shall not be surprised to find 
 him again engaged in negotiation and diplomacy. And the pre- 
 sent was a matter of the utmost delicacy ; nothing more or less 
 than a political marriage between Prince Henry (now but three 
 years of age) and Margaret, daughter of Lewis le Jeune, by his 
 second wife, Constance, princess of Castile, — an infant. In this, 
 as in his other negotiations, he was successful, and nothing, in 
 the history of a subject, surpasses the costly magnificence he dis- 
 played in his train. The chronicles of the time are full of it, and 
 it is from this that we are compelled, as one says, " to infer, that 
 
 4 This is excellently put in " His Character when Chancellor," in sonic papers of the 
 British Magazine, to which I shall have to make sundry references. They are con- 
 tained in vol. ii. pp. 233. 453 ; vol. iii. pp. 31. 140. 399. 525. Tlie writer states, 
 " If his habits were secular for an archbishop, they were ascetic for a chancellor." 
 
102 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 ostentatious vanity, meditating extravagant ambition, was the 
 leading feature of his mind 5 ." It was on this occasion that 
 Becket got consigned to the care of three Knights' 1 Templars, 
 Gisors, and the castles of Neufle and Neuschatel, as the mar- 
 riage portion of Margaret. A master-stroke of policy ! as they 
 commanded Henry's frontier in France, and were thus ready to 
 serve his purpose in case of a war with Louis. 
 
 Becket is next to be viewed in the character of a warrior, little 
 compatible, according to modern views, with the archdeacon and 
 the chancellor. But such was not the case then, neither were 
 the helm and the cowl so much estranged. The cause of his 
 going to the wars was the claim that Henry had made, in right 
 of his wife Eleanor, to the city of Toulouse ; and it was for this 
 war that Becket, (whether with sufficient evidence or not,) was 
 said to have advised the payment of scutage 5 . This is a question 
 of some importance as regards Becket ; but I think the letter of 
 Foliot, Bishop of London, cannot be well authenticated. Be 
 that as it may, it was in this war that we find the future prelate 
 performing feats of valour. In the train of his master he had 
 helped to take Cahors ; and when Louis was won over to assist 
 Raymond, and had thrown himself rashly into Toulouse, with but 
 a few soldiers, the fire of Beckefs character at once burst forth, 
 who, perceiving the error of the French king, advised Henry to 
 attack the city, and seize on the person of his sovereign lord. 
 This, however, Henry would not do ; and possibly, in this in- 
 stance, showed more wisdom than his chancellor. It was of 
 consequence to keep up the feudal character ; and it was to Louis 
 that he had sworn fealty, and from whom he held his continental 
 dominions. The breaking of this bond might at the time have 
 been ominous. The end of the matter was, that Henry declared 
 he would not besiege Toulouse, out of respect to the King of 
 France ; but he held himself at liberty to ravage all the terri- 
 tories of Earl Raymond, which he did. Towards the end of the 
 year he left Becket at Cahors ; and it was upon this occasion 
 
 5 Sharon Turner, vol. i. p. 229. 
 
 fi There seems to he evidence that the scutage was imposed on the clergy by 
 Becket's advice besides this. It is drawn from a letter of John of Salisbury, 
 written to Bartholomew, Bishop of Exeter, in the summer of 11CC. See Brit. 
 Mag., ii. 45B. 
 
on, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 103 
 
 that he showed himself the soldier, taking three castles hereto- 
 fore considered impregnable. " It was during this part of his 
 warfare," we read, that "he engaged in single combat Engelran de 
 Trie, a French knight, very famous for his valour, dismounted 
 him with his lance, and gained his horse, which he led off in 
 great triumph 7 ." This took place in 1159 ; and here we must 
 part with the warrior, and look upon Becket only in the light of 
 an ecclesiastic, as bold in action as ripe in judgment. Now 
 seemed the time, if ever, for the popedom to withstand the en- 
 croachments of Henry of England, — and that mighty hierarchy, 
 seldom unwise in the choice of means or agents, quick and keen 
 in observing, had not failed to note in Becket, during his several 
 negotiations in Rome, that acuteness which characterized him, 
 as well as his enthusiastic devotion to the right, and determined 
 and dogged opposition to what he considered wrong. Perhaps 
 the secret instructions of Rome might have run somewhat like 
 to the lines of Pandulph, as addressed to Philip : — 
 
 " All form is formless, order orderless, 
 Save what is opposite to England's love. 
 Therefore, to arms, be champion of our Church ! 
 Or, let the Church, our mother, breathe her curse, 
 A mother's curse, on her revolting son 8 !" 
 
 Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, died April 18th, 1161 ; 
 and in him Henry lost an affectionate friend, and faithful servant. 
 There is reason to think that this prelate was opposed to the 
 encroachments made on the Church ; but his object seems to 
 have been mediation ; and he was not unsuccessful. From his 
 attachment to Becket, he no doubt foresaw his advancement, 
 and rejoiced in it. 
 
 Henry, on the death of Theobald, was in Normandy. Imme- 
 diately on hearing of it, he determined, in his own mind, that his 
 favourite should succeed. It is clear that he looked for no op- 
 position to his projects from Becket ; on the contrary, he expected 
 his help. As certain of his biographers tell us, he raised him to 
 the see of Canterbury, because he hoped, that by this means, he 
 should manage ecclesiastical, as well as secular affairs, to his own 
 
 7 Ly Helton, ut supra, vol. ii. p. 101. 
 
 8 King John, Act iii. sc. i. 
 
104 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A liECKET, 
 
 satisfaction \ Were the letter of Foliot, Bishop of London, 
 unquestionably genuine, there would be no doubt but that Henry 
 was justified in these sentiments. The conduct of Becket, with 
 respect to Battle Abbey \ together with his imposing on the 
 clergy the tax of scutage, would at once have shown that the 
 king might rely upon his assistance. But, notwithstanding what 
 Sharon Turner says, and the reasoning of Lyttelton, the letter 
 alluded to is scarcely admissible as evidence. The strongest 
 evidence for it is the king's determination, resisted for nearly a 
 year by the Empress Maud, and the combined opposition of the 
 clergy and bishops in England. 
 
 But did Becket wish his exaltation ? This is a question never 
 likely to be solved. The letter of Foliot, of course, declares that 
 he did. It is related, however, that when Henry apprised Becket 
 of his intention to promote him to the archbishopric, the latter 
 told him, with a smile, — Olli subridens, — " That it would certainly 
 be the cause of a breach between them, as he never could give his 
 assent to many things which the king; would require, — nay, to 
 what he had already done in matters ecclesiastical. 11 One can 
 hardly imagine that so wise a prince as Henry was likely to persist 
 in his choice after such a declaration on Becket's part. The 
 obvious conclusion seems to be, supposing the story true, that 
 what was said with a smile, was not intended to be taken in 
 earnest. Henry well knew his chancellor, and was not likely to 
 be deceived. And on this, in a great measure, turns the honesty 
 of Becket. Was he, or was he not, over imbued with the sub- 
 tleties of Bologna, the craft of Rome, the insidious lore of the 
 Decretals, and the ambition of the hierarchy ? Let the rest of 
 his life declare. All opposition in England was borne down by 
 the determination of Henry. He was elected Archbishop of 
 Westminster on the 3rd of June, 1162, and consecrated at Can- 
 terbury on the 6th, having taken priests 1 orders only on the day 
 
 9 These words are from the Histor. Quadripart. literally translated by Lyttelton. 
 It will be observed, that although I quote them, I agree rather with the writer in 
 the British Magazine, vol. ii. p. 237. Below, likewise, I have omitted the account 
 of the vermin in the hair-shirt, as it does not seem a fact sufficiently authenticated. 
 His reputed abstinence is also unrecorded, but it did not seem equally necessary to 
 question his moderation and temperance. Certainly he was not abstemious, in an 
 ascetic sense. 
 
 • But see the matter discussed in the Brit. Magazine, vol. ii. p. 455, 456. 
 
OR, THOMAS BECK ET. 
 
 105 
 
 before. It was on this that Foliot, afterwards Bishop of 
 London ventured to say, that the king had worked a miracle, 
 in having that day turned a layman and a soldier into an arch- 
 bishop. 
 
 Tf Henry was deceived in his chancellor, the clergy and bishops 
 were not less so. His thorough change of life and habits will 
 remind the classical reader of Polemon's change 3 , as Xenocrates 
 reasoned on temperance and modesty, whilst the thoughtful 
 Christian will call to mind the working of God's Spirit in His 
 chosen ones. Wonderful are His operations ! And the character 
 of Becket may have been so wrought upon ! At all events the 
 transformation, to outward appearance, was complete. The 
 man was not the same. In the place of the studied and pliant 
 courtier was to be found the austere and devoted penitent 4 ! 
 The vivacity of the soldier was turned into the solemnity of the 
 monk ! He seemed wholly absorbed in spiritual concerns. He 
 prayed often, and was much in reading the Holy Scriptures. 
 Under the archbishop's dress he was known to wear the frock of 
 his order, and under that the penitential hair cloth. He doubled 
 the charitable doles of his predecessor Theobald, who had himself 
 done the same, and distributed in constant alms the tenth part 
 of the revenue of the see. It is said that in outward appearance 
 he no ways lowered the dignity of his station, and that he was 
 still, what Scripture teaches those of his position to be, — given, 
 that is, to hospitality. But, as above stated, all this was with a 
 difference ! If the haughty spirit yet burned within, as his 
 actions seemed to declare it did, the abbot of the monks of 
 Canterbury fulfilled his office. He submitted to the stripes of 
 a penitent, — the position of his warfare was now on his knees, 
 — his retirements were frequent, and he was daily known to wash 
 the feet of thirteen poor persons, distributing at the same time 
 
 2 Consecrated Bishop of London, April 28th, 1163. See his character drawn in 
 the British Magazine, vol. iii. p. 35. The letter above alluded to seems to have 
 been rather a "published pamphlet, to vindicate his conduct in the eyes of his own 
 generation and posterity." 
 
 3 See Hor. ii. Sat. iii. v. 254, &c. 
 
 * There is room for doubt on this point, as is shown from John of Salisbury's 
 Letter, written in the beginning of 1 105, but I am rather inclined to the statement 
 I have given. What was here, it may be, put on, became afterwards a part and 
 puroel of the inward man, at all events. 
 
106 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 to their necessities. So diligent was he likewise in all the duties 
 of his office, so fully given to the service of the altar, that the 
 monks who had opposed his elevation to the see, confessed their 
 mistake, and declared that a miracle of Divine grace stood 
 before them ! As recorded in the histories of the time, — In ordi- 
 natione sua, unctione misericordics Dei visibili perfusus, exuit 
 secularem hominem ! 
 
 The above is certainly a most extraordinary change ; and the 
 world, and the world's experience, teach us to receive such 
 changes warily. But still, as it is well remarked 5 , though 
 " moderation be the best pledge of sincerity, excess is no positive 
 proof of hypocrisy. 11 Indeed, the whole tenor of Becket's life 
 was far removed from that. It was his ambition rather, which 
 was more than a match for his religious feelings, which induced 
 men to brand him with the foul name of hypocrite. What was 
 the favour of a prince, though mighty as Henry, compared to 
 that empire which he proposed to himself to usurp over the 
 hearts of men I 
 
 Becket was not long in finding out that the two offices of Chan- 
 cellor 6 and Archbishop of Canterbury were incompatible. Once 
 come to a decision, he acted upon it forthwith, and sent the seals 
 to the king in Normandy, with this short message : " That he 
 desired him to provide himself with another chancellor ; for he 
 could hardly suffice to the duties of one office, much less of two. 11 
 Henry, doubtless, must have been taken by surprise ; and hopes 
 of Becket's co-operation were at an end. Besides, the way in 
 which he had resigned the seals was little like his ancient 
 courtesy, — little in accordance with that Scripture, which teaches 
 all, much more the Churchman, to " be courteous. 11 It was a 
 severing, as with a blunt sword, all ties of friendship ; and 
 there seemed, too, something of ingratitude towards a kind and 
 indulgent master. Henry also would not fail to recollect that at 
 
 5 By Sir James Mackintosh. See Hist, of England, vol. i. 154. 
 
 6 The only instance in which Becket seems to have acted on the same principle 
 as chancellor and archbishop, was in resisting the withdrawal of Mary, Stephen's 
 daughter, from her convent. She was a nun, and Abbess of Rumsey in Hamp - 
 shire. 
 
 " Anno D. 1161. Maria Abbatissa de Rumesey, filia regis Stcphani, Matthoeo 
 comiti Bononue nupsit, quibus nuptiis Thomas Bekkot cancellar. Angl. obstitit." 
 Lcland's Collectan. — vol. i. part ii. p. 419. 
 
OR, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 107 
 
 this time one of the imperial chancellors was Archbishop of 
 Mentz, and the other of Cologne. Whence, then, this hasty 
 scruple and precipitate resignation on Becket's part I 
 
 Henry returned to England in January, 1163. Previous to 
 this he had no doubt received many accounts of Becket, both 
 from friends and enemies. The former would represent him as 
 the conscientious ecclesiastic ; the other, as a monster of ingra- 
 titude ; and it is not to be doubted whether of the two reports 
 would be most acceptable to the wounded feelings of the monarch. 
 When the king landed at Southampton Becket met him, with 
 the young Henry, his pupil. But the meeting was a cool one. 
 Common formalities and civilities were gone through; but the 
 members of the court were quick enough to observe that there 
 was no cordiality. Neither was this confined to surmises ; for 
 the king at once required him to resign the archdeaconry of 
 Canterbury 7 , as it appeared quite as incompatible with the primacy 
 as did the office of chancellor. For a time Becket would not 
 give it up, knowing it was about to be presented to Geoffrey de 
 Riddel, whom he disliked. From this, or whatever other motive, 
 he held the preferment till it was wrested from him. Southey 
 remarks pointedly, " he must have acted undoubtedly on some 
 imagined right ; covetousness could have no place in a mind 
 like his V 
 
 April 16, 1163, Pope Alexander, acknowledged by the French 
 and English kings, instead of his rival Victor, held the Synod of 
 Tours. At this — forgetting that Alexander had a hand in com- 
 piling the Decretals, which bolstered up the claims of Rome — 
 the archbishops and bishops of England were permitted to be 
 present, unless hindered by sickness. Probably Becket was the 
 only prelate whose presence was really required, and the in- 
 vitation of the others only served as a mask. He was received by 
 Pope and cardinals with marked attention ; of the latter, all but 
 
 7 The proferments and appointments held by Becket at one time are not a little 
 remarkable ; i. The living of St. Mary le Strand ; ii. Otteford in Kent ; iii. and iv. 
 Two Prebends in the Cathedrals of Lincoln and London ; v. Provostship of Bever- 
 ley ; vi. Deanery of Hastings ; vii. Archdeaconry of Canterbury ; viii. The Chan- 
 cellorship, together with " royal castles and forts committed to his custody, and the 
 escheats of the great baronies belonging to the crown." Lyttelton, ii. p. 30 ; ix. 
 The Tutorship of the Young Prince Henry ; x. The Archbishopric of Canterbury. 
 
 » See Life of Becket. Book of the Church, vol. i. 148. 
 
108 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BEOKET, 
 
 two, who attended on the Pope, went out to meet him. He was 
 stationed with his suffragans on his right hand ; and nothing was 
 wanting to flatter either his vanity or his ambition. They knew 
 the man, and what Milton calls, " That last infirmity of noble 
 minds';'''' and the business of the council proceeded, in which the 
 care of the liberties of the Clergy was a predominant feature. It 
 is little to be doubted but that Becket was now confirmed in his 
 resolutions. The question of Anselm's canonization (deferred till 
 Henry the Seventh's reign) was possibly used as a facon deparler. 
 What Becket returned impressed with, was the determination to 
 enforce the third Canon, enacted there against those who usurped 
 the goods of the Church. 
 
 And by this determination he abided. Of the king he de- 
 manded the castle and town of Rochester ; of Roger de Clare, 
 Earl of Hertford, the castle of Tunbridge. The latter he alleged 
 had formerly belonged to the see of Canterbury ; and no length 
 of time was good against the claims of the Church, according to 
 the Canon Law. This, it appears, was the first practical applica- 
 tion of Becket's studies at Bologna. The next strong case men- 
 tioned, is the collation of a priest, named Lawrence, to the rectory 
 of Eynesford, in Kent, (still, by a curious coincidence, in the gift 
 of the Archbishops of Canterbury,) against the right of patronage 
 vested in the lord of the manor. The collation was resisted, 
 and the consequence was that Becket excommunicated his ad- 
 versary, — thus trenching on the prerogative of the Crown. This 
 sentence, however, Becket was presently obliged to withdraw, 
 and, as will readily be supposed, Henry was not the more in- 
 clined to his old associate, from a message he had sent him, 
 worded thus : " It was not for the king to command either abso- 
 lution or excommunication !" As to the question of presentation 
 it no doubt contains great difficulties ; and there is as little doubt 
 that the Church has been robbed of her rights, century after 
 century, up to the present day '. Becket must have had good 
 ground to stand upon, or he would not have acted with the deci- 
 sion he did ; but the probability is that he acted with over great 
 
 9 Lycidas, v. 70. 
 
 1 See the case stated in the British Magazine, vol. iii. p. 145, 146. It would 
 appear that the Archbishop of York would have compromised the point in question 
 by buying off lay claimants to Church patronage. But it was not conceded. 
 
OR, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 109 
 
 precipitateness. He was aware how great was the injustice with 
 which the Church had been treated, and did not in his zeal con- 
 sider the profligate lives many Churchmen were then leading. 
 The two questions, it is true, are quite distinct ; but when the 
 preaching and living of ecclesiastics was taken into consideration, 
 the unworthiness of their lives led the age to conclude they were 
 unworthy of their preferments. 
 
 Henry seems to have been sincere in his conviction, that the 
 state of the clergy at this time was not what it should be; — at 
 the same time he passed an easy and a willing fallacy on himself, 
 and was not scrupulous in retaining in his own hands the revenues 
 of the Church. Benefices, and even bishoprics, were left vacant 
 for years that the exchequer might be enriched. 
 
 Impressed with the undue immunities of the priesthood, Henry 
 determined to alter the existing law. Under the Anglo-Saxon 
 kings, and for awhile during the reign of William I., the Sheriff 
 and the Bishop sat together to judge causes in the Earl's*, or 
 County Court. " It was a court," says the historian, " of great 
 power and dignity, in which the bishop of the diocese sat with the 
 earl, and on which all the abbots, priors, barons, knights, and free- 
 holders of the county were obliged to attend V About the year 
 1085, William I. (from whatever causes) separated the ecclesiasti- 
 cal from the civil jurisdiction, ordering the causes of the Church 
 to be tried before clerical tribunals. The result was, the esta- 
 blishment of three ecclesiastical courts : the archdeacon's, the 
 bishop's, and the archbishop's. No arrangement, in modern eyes, 
 could have been more injudicious. These courts must necessarily 
 follow the Canon Law, and, by following it, the mitre and the crown 
 were set at variance, and the only appeal lay to the Pope. The 
 clergy became, in fact, sui juris. No offence, however heinous, 
 could by the Canon Law be punished with death — but in the place 
 of it stripes, severe penance, solitary confinement, degradation, 
 and branding were substituted. It might appear that such punish- 
 ments were severe enough ; but they did not prove so. There is 
 
 * Selden, in his Titles of Honour, reconciles this apparent difficulty in the mention 
 of Earl and Sheriff, " The Sheriffs of counties had the government and custody of 
 them, and not the Earls, (unless they were Palatine,) otherwise than in cases 
 where they had the sheriffwicks joined with their dignities." Ke/ham's Domesday 
 Book, p. 358. 
 
 3 See Henry, vol. iii. p. 339. 
 
110 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BKCKF.T, 
 
 every reason to believe that the faults of the clergy, and, alas ! 
 that one must say, their crimes, were exaggerated. To deny, 
 however, the historical fact, would be to run counter to all historic 
 testimony. 
 
 And at this time it so happened that three cases of flagrant 
 guilt presented themselves to Henry's notice, proving to him, at 
 least, how unwise a thing it was for the clergy to be exempt from 
 secular judicature. The cases alluded to are those of Philip de 
 Broc, canon of Bedford, who had insulted Simon FitzPeter, one 
 of the king's officers, at Dunstable ; — that of a priest at Wor- 
 cester, who had seduced the daughter, and murdered the father ; 
 — and the third, that of a priest who had stolen the chalice 
 from the archbishop's own church in London. Each of these, it 
 is true, had been punished : the first by stripes, suspension, and 
 banishment ; the next by the severest penance and solitary con- 
 finement for life 4 ; the third by degradation from all orders, and 
 branding. The second case, however, was one so flagrant, that the 
 king justly thought that nothing less than capital punishment 
 ought to have been inflicted on the delinquent. And here it was 
 that the Canon Law came in collision with Scripture, and the law 
 of the land. How Becket could misunderstand the plain verse in 
 the Book of Genesis is not easily intelligible. The Canon Law he 
 had sworn to observe, and that he should abide by his oath was 
 not remarkable. It would have been, if he had not done so. He 
 accordingly took his stand. 
 
 The complaints which were made as to clerical delinquencies, and 
 the escape of that order when other subjects suffered death for 
 crimes no worse, — (it was said that a hundred cases of homicide 
 had been committed by the clergy during this reign,) — determined 
 the king to call a council of the clergy and nobility at Westmin- 
 ster. On their coming together he gave it in, as his opinion, that 
 delinquent ecclesiastics were worthy of double punishment, and 
 that if they were, by virtue of their order, to escape corporal pains, 
 
 4 See British Magazine, vol. iii. p. 155. The original is there given : " Archi- 
 prcesul vero consultus mandavit ut omni privatus Ecclesiastico Beneficio exauctora- 
 retur, et in monasterio ad agendam perpetuam vita: dislrictissimcc paenUentiam perpetuo 
 reduderetur." 
 
 See the remarks of Johnson in his Ecclesiastical Laws, vol. ii. Articles of 
 Clarendon. They are much to the purpose. Possibly what he says of Philip de 
 Broc is incorrect. The cases seem to be mistaken. 
 
OR, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 Ill 
 
 crime would only be increased. He demanded, therefore, that if 
 they stood convicted of grievous crimes they should be degraded 
 and delivered over to the secular authorities for punishment, and 
 that one of his officers should be present to preclude their escape. 
 Becket was well aware, that what the king now said had reference 
 to one of the late flagrant cases, and he saw the effect of the king's 
 speech on the prelates who were present. He requested that they 
 might be allowed to consult together, and return an answer the 
 next morning. This the king denied, but allowed them to retire 
 for awhile. Inclined as the rest of the bishops were to accede to 
 the king's request, Becket contrived to talk them over, and to per- 
 suade them that degradation from orders was a sufficient punish- 
 ment, and that to punish twice for a single crime was unjust. The 
 only concession made was, " That if a clergyman, who had been 
 degraded, should afterwards be guilty of other crimes, the royal 
 judges, in that case, might punish him for them, according to 
 their discretion 5 ." The result was, that nothing was acceded to, 
 except " salvo ordine by all the bishops present, save the Bishop 
 of Chichester. Whether he was impressed with the justice of the 
 demand, and conscious that a stop ought to be put to the im- 
 munities of the clergy, is a truth we cannot now arrive at. Becket, 
 however, conceived that he was intimidated, and rebuked him 
 severely. The end of the matter was, that the king rose up in 
 anger without saluting the bishops, and the next day deprived 
 Becket of his post as tutor to the young prince, as well as of such 
 castles as he had not delivered up with the chancellor's seals. 
 
 It is very difficult to judge of motives at this distance of time, 
 but there can be little doubt but that Becket acted, as he thought, 
 conscientiously. It should be observed, moreover, that the king 
 had here made a double demand. There was, first, the statute 
 relative to ecclesiastics, and then, as though to make new ground, 
 the question was put, Whether they would observe the ancient customs 
 and laws of his realm? To have answered in the affirmative 
 might have entailed consequences not hastily foreseen. There 
 seems little doubt that the question was an insidious one, and that 
 it was parried by the acuteness of Becket. Most will now think 
 that he acted wrongly, but his intention was to maintain the right. 
 
 5 Lyttelton, vol. ii. p. 350. 
 
112 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 Between the council at Westminster, which was in October, 
 and the council of the realm, (it was in fact a Parliament 6 ,) 
 which was held at Clarendon in the following January, 1164, 
 much secret influence seems to have been at work. Arnulph, 
 Bishop of Lisieux, had come to England, ostensibly for a recon- 
 ciliation with Henry. But it is said that he also gave the king 
 advice which little became a prelate of his dignity and station. 
 He advised him, that is, to make a party with the bishops, and to 
 divide them, by which means he would be the better enabled to 
 win over Becket to his purpose. It is said, likewise, that the 
 archbishop was beset on all sides by nobles, courtiers, ecclesiastics. 
 No stone was left unturned, and his friendship with the king in 
 former days was again cast in his teeth, and the sin of ingratitude 
 laid at his door. To the Bishop of Chichester his answer was de- 
 cided — If an angel should come from heaven, and advise him to make 
 the acknowledgement desired by the king, without the saving he had 
 thrown in, he would anathematise him. We may be certain that 
 this was not the person to influence the archbishop. But, extra- 
 ordinary as it may appear, Rome seems to have been at work — 
 unless we may suppose that Henry's money made the Pope's 
 Almoner speak beyond his instructions. Whether or not, he told 
 Becket that it was Alexander's wish that he should recede some- 
 what from the high ground he had so resolutely taken. An abbot, 
 or, as others say, a cardinal, was induced to tell Becket that all 
 which the king required was to be honoured — like Saul of old — 
 before his subjects, and that it was rather a nominal than a real 
 compliance which he exacted. It is likely enough that Becket 
 was well aware how English gold had been at work, and he might 
 not wish to make a discovery so prejudicial to the honour of Rome. 
 Be this as it may, he was induced to yield, and he waited on the 
 king at Woodstock, telling him that he would observe the royal 
 customs, without annexing to this promise, as he had done before, 
 the obnoxious words, salvo ordine. Henry received him courte- 
 ously, but there could not be that frankness on their meeting 
 
 6 See Cowel's Law Dictionary in V. Pari lament urn, and Raleigh's Prerogative, 
 Works, vol. viii. Ed. Clar. Mr. Cfaurton, in his Early Hist, of the English Church, 
 says, " it is incorrect to call this a parliament," p. 344. Lyttelton, however, and 
 Henry (no mean authorities), give it this name, as does also the lamented Sonthey. 
 Some errors of Mr. Churton are dwelt upon in an Article of the Church of England 
 Quarterly Review for April, 1841. 
 
OR, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 113 
 
 which was of old, when the wishes and inclinations of the one were 
 equally so of the other. He expressed himself willing that matters 
 should he settled, but implied that it should be done in a public 
 manner before the bishops and the nobles of the realm. Becket 
 acceded to the proposal, mortified beyond doubt at the king's want 
 of confidence in his ancient friend. And so they parted. 
 
 One who shall travel from the eastern parts of the land to visit 
 that noble monument of our forefathers' 1 piety — the Cathedral of 
 Salisbury 7 — will have to pass, three and a half miles on this side of 
 it, that ancient chase and residence of kings and queens, now, and 
 from the time of the second Charles, bearing the name of Claren- 
 don Park, but anciently called Chloridunum, or Chlorus 1 hill, from 
 the Roman camp supposed to have been enlarged by Constantinus 
 Chlorus. It was a spot of ancient repute, and the Roman way 
 from Winchester to Old Sarum passes through the liberty. Here 
 Edward the Martyr spent the day previous to his assassination, 
 and in later times than we are now writing of, Richard I., John, 
 and Henry III., made it their residence. When the plague of 
 13.57 was raging in London, it is recorded also that Edward III., 
 with his royal prisoners, the Kings of France and Scotland, passed 
 the summer here. Leland mentions a priory here, called Ivy 
 Chirch 8 , and it was from this same place that the great Lord 
 Clarendon derived his title. 
 
 On this spot it was that the great council of the realm was held, 
 at which the Constitutions of Clarendon were drawn up, and here 
 it was that Becket was called upon to fulfil the promise made to 
 the king at Woodstock, on the festival of St. Hilary, towards the 
 end of January 1164. It appears, however, that the archbishop, 
 on maturely weighing the promise he had made, had reason to 
 
 7 It is recorded in Dr. Pope's Life of Seth Ward, Bp. of Sarum, that the Cathe- 
 dral was kept in repair by a royal gentry, during the whole time of the civil war. 
 He wished he knew their names, " that I might, as far as in me lies, consecrate 
 them to posterity."— p. 61. Ed. 1697. 
 
 8 See Letters from the Bodleian, vol. ii. p. 552, Part ii. Aubrey tells us in his 
 account of Sir Philip Sydney " that he was much at Wilton with his sister, and at 
 Ivy Church (anciently a pleasant monastery, which adjoynes to the parke pale of 
 Clarendon Parke), situated on a hill that overlooks all the country westwards and 
 north, over Sarum and the plaius, and into that delicious park (which was ac- 
 counted the best of England) eastwards. It was heretofore a monastery (the 
 cloysters reniaiue still) ; 'twas called Coenobium Edrosium." For further inform- 
 ation, see White Rennet's Par. Ant. of Allchester, vol. ii. p. 422. 
 
114 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKF.T, 
 
 conclude that it was a rash one. He, therefore, refused to 
 ratify it according to the terms then proposed, alleging that the 
 promise he had made to the king was not to that intent. The 
 consequence was a burst of wrath 9 on the part of Henry, and the 
 most violent behaviour, combined with threats, on the part of his 
 barons. The scene was little befitting such a council. If it was 
 unbecoming the nobility of the land, it was dishonourable to the 
 king. For three days the most violent debates continued, and 
 eventually, by the entreaties of the bishops who nevertheless still 
 held with him, and by the advice of the Prior of the Temple in 
 London, and another Knight Templar, his friend, the feelings of 
 Becket, rather than his judgment, were worked upon, and, without 
 the '■'•salvo ordine" he promised to obey the laws and customs 
 which had been established in England in the reign of Henry I., 
 and the rest of the bishops gave their consent likewise. But now 
 there arose a difficulty. It was not decidedly known what the 
 ancient laws and royal customs were, and they could not be com- 
 mitted to writing at the spur of the moment. The chief coun- 
 sellors present were at a stand, and could not rely on their 
 memories. They did what they could, and were proceeding in 
 their work when Becket, on perhaps being applied to for his as- 
 sistance, declared that he was not one of the sages of the kingdom 
 — that the matter was one of extreme difficulty — that it should 
 not be slurred over in haste. On these grounds he proposed it 
 should stand over till the next morning. 
 
 The next day the sixteen recognitions, or constitutions, were 
 produced, and Henry required the prelates to affix to them their 
 seals. The rest of the bishops did so, but Becket again drew back. 
 They were not what he expected. They went to subvert all 
 ecclesiastical power and discipline; and, on these grounds, he once 
 more refused his assent to them. At all events, he declined to 
 affix his signature for the present. Three transcripts were then 
 made of the articles, one of which was delivered to the primate, 
 another to the Archbishop of York, and a third was received by 
 the king himself, to be laid up among the royal charters. The 
 preamble to the constitutions, it is to be observed, contained the 
 primate's consent to them, so that, in fact, it would serve as a 
 testimony against his tergiversation. 
 
 3 Henry's ungovernable fits of passion are often alluded to. 
 
Olt, THOMAS 11ECKKT. 
 
 115 
 
 But does it necessarily follow that his conduct was such as is 
 represented ? Certainly not. The constitutions, as drawn out 
 and read the next morning, had been matured in the counsels of 
 the night. Becket had assented, it is true, to obey the ancient 
 laws and customs ; but, then, many of them were novel in their 
 expression, and noted down " for the nones." Besides, what is 
 compulsatory is not binding, and Becket found himself hedged in 
 by his enemies, and his friends were overcome. But history re- 
 cords that he wrote, in conjunction with the Archbishop of York, 
 requesting the Pope to confirm the ancient customs of the king- 
 dom 1 ; and, at the same time, wrote another letter, in private, de- 
 claring his repentance and contrition for the assent he had given, 
 adding that he had imposed upon himself the penance of a forty 
 days' absence from the altar. The Pope, it appears, absolved him 
 from his oath, but counselled him to be moderate. How are these 
 contradictions of character to be accounted for ! Sharon Turner is 
 the primate's fairest apologist. 
 
 " In justice to Becket it must be admitted that these famous 
 articles completely changed the legal and civil state of the clergy, 
 and were an actual subversion, as far as they went, of the papal 
 policy and system of hierarchy, so boldly introduced by Gregory 
 VII. These new constitutions abolished that independence on 
 the legal tribunals of the country, which William had unwarily 
 permitted ; and they again subjected the clergy, as in the Anglo- 
 Saxon times, to the common law of the land. The eighth article 
 vested the ultimate judgment, in ecclesiastical causes, in the king ; 
 by the fourth, no clergyman was to depart from the kingdom 
 without the royal licence, and if required, was to give security 
 that he would do nothing abroad to the prejudice of the king or 
 the kingdom ; by the twelfth, the revenues of all prelacies, abbeys, 
 and priories, were to be paid into the exchequer during their 
 vacancy, and when the successor should be appointed, he was to 
 do homage to the king as his liege lord, before his consecration. 
 These and other points in these celebrated constitutions, though 
 wise and just, and now substantially the law of the land, were yet 
 so hostile to the great papal system of making the Church inde- 
 
 1 There is here again some difficulty as to the exact date. See British Maga- 
 zine, vol. iii. p. 525. It appears that the Pope had this matter under consideration 
 as late as the 1st of March. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BEC'KET, 
 
 pendent of the secular power, if not superior to it, that an ecclesi- 
 astic of that day, according to the prevailing feelings of his order, 
 might have fairly resisted them. The fault of Becket lay in taking 
 the prelacy with a knowledge of the king's intention to have these 
 new laws established, and in provoking the contest, and pursuing 
 his opposition with all the pride and vehemence of fierce ambition 
 and vindictive hostility V 
 
 It is possible that the latter sentence might be partially rebutted, 
 in other respects what is said is just. At any rate Becket was in 
 earnest, and he went to Woodstock to ask an audience of the king, 
 which the latter unhappily refused to grant. He then resolved 
 on flight, under the impression that his person was no longer safe 
 in England. Twice he endeavoured to embark at Runmey, and 
 twice was obliged to return, whether by contrary winds, or the 
 fears of the mariners. As it was, he only just arrived at Canter- 
 bury in time to save the spoliation of his goods, where the officers 
 of justice had been sent by the king, on report of his flight, to 
 seize on the temporalities of the see. His departure had been 
 contrary to the Constitutions of Clarendon, but his reappearance 
 put a stop to the execution of the king's order. Becket, aware of 
 his mistake, once more sought the king's presence at Woodstock, 
 and it would appear that the king, on second thoughts, had arrived 
 at the conclusion that the primate might have wrought him harm 
 in France. The consequence was that he was favourably received, 
 but the half-playful, half-earnest question of the king was not lost 
 upon the archbishop : " If the reason of his desire to quit the 
 country was that the same land could not contain them both I " 
 The result of this meeting was unfavourable. Two such practised 
 diplomatists as Becket and the king could not mistake each other. 
 The die was cast, and war to the knife ensued. 
 
 Shortly after this matters arose which tended to widen the 
 breach. Becket still determined to protect the clergy, and the 
 king to act up to the Constitutions of Clarendon. The fuller 
 detail must be sought from the historians who have written on the 
 time. A subject of discord arose first relative to one John, the 
 king's mareschal, whom Becket, it is said, refused to right, and 
 for this, when summoned by the king, refused to obey. The arch- 
 
 2 Vol. i. p. 24G. 
 
OR, THOMAS BEC'KET. 
 
 117 
 
 bishop defended himself, and proved the charge to be false. But 
 he was no longer in a situation to meet with even-handed justice. 
 He was accordingly accused of contumacy, and commanded to 
 appear before the great council of the realm at Northampton, in 
 October 3 this same year. Once more the primate sought to appease 
 his sovereign's wrath before the business began, but he was busied 
 with his falcons, and on the morning following when Becket, after 
 mass, arose humbly either to give or receive the kiss of peace, 
 Henry drew back. The sword was unsheathed, and the scabbard 
 thrown away. And it was here, and in the whole course of the 
 proceedings that the king lost himself, and Becket, in the eyes of 
 posterity, showed how great a man he was. The spiritual accu- 
 sations and the defence of the clergy were soon dropped, and the 
 council was forced to listen to an unjust tissue of private trans- 
 actions. For his non-appearance in the first instance he was accused 
 of high treason ! and instead of commutation of sentence, as 
 usual, being allowed at forty shillings, he was fined five hundred 
 pounds in place of all his goods and chattels. The next day the 
 king required him to refund three hundred pounds which he had 
 levied on the castles of Eye and Berkhampstead, while in his 
 possession. He replied " That he had expended more than that 
 upon their repair, — but the money should be no cause of offence 
 between him and his sovereign, — he would pay it" The king 
 then demanded five hundred pounds he had lent him as chancellor. 
 The prelate replied that " it was a gift, not a loan, — but that he 
 would refund it, "and gave sureties to the amount. If there was 
 little of what was princely in all this, what followed on the Saturday, 
 or third day, was less so. The claim then brought forward was in 
 the most determined spirit of revenge. Nothing less than the 
 primate's utter ruin was uppermost in the king's heart. He de- 
 manded no less a sum than 250,000 marks, the amount of monies 
 which Becket had received as chancellor, on account of the crown, 
 from vacant abbeys, bishoprics, and other escheats. His reply 
 was, that on his appointment to the see of Canterbury, (as Henry 
 of Winchester likewise said in his defence,) he was given to the 
 Church free and discharged from all the bonds of the court. He 
 asked permission, however, to consult with his brethren, the 
 
 3 The date is variously given. Beringtoii says the 11th, Henry the 17th, others 
 mention the 8th and 7th. 
 
118 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 bishops present. They withdrew and the matter was debated. 
 None but Henry of Winchester stood firm. Finding himself all 
 but deserted, he applied to the Earls of Leicester and Cornwall for 
 a respite till the morrow, when he would return an answer as God 
 should direct him. The morrow was Sunday, so that the answer 
 was deferred till the Monday. 
 
 Meanwhile Becket was deserted by most of his friends and re- 
 tainers, but the spirit of the man rose under pressure, and he 
 called in the poor of the neighbourhood to fill their vacant places 
 at his table. " They would obtain him an easier victory, 11 he said, 
 '•' than those could have done, who had deserted him in his hour of 
 need. 11 But though the spirit was strong the body was overcome, 
 and that evening he was attacked with colic, and on the Monday 
 morning following was unable to leave his bed. Once more he 
 asked a respite, and said that, if carried on a litter, he would pre- 
 sent himself on the Tuesday. 
 
 On the Monday evening he was warned that his life was in 
 danger ; and early on the Tuesday the bishops came to him and 
 urged him to submission. He rebuked them sternly for deserting 
 him, and charged them not to presume to sit in judgment on their 
 primate, but that, if need were, they were " to thunder out the 
 proper ecclesiastical censures. 11 Having said this, he performed 
 his devotions in the Church at the altar dedicated to St. Stephen, 
 beginning with the words, Princes sate and spaJce against me; — 
 and thus strengthened he prepared himself for the battle. 
 
 His chaplain should have borne his cross before him, and the 
 Bishop of Hereford requested that he might do so. " No ! 11 said 
 Becket, in whose heart a holy devotion now burned, " By this sign 
 the Prince I fight under will be known ! 11 And so saying he 
 entered the council chamber. The king, hearing how Becket was 
 " armed, 11 had retired into an inner chamber. His rage knew no 
 bounds, and he found himself foiled. The bishops were called in, 
 and threatened. They expressed their alarm to Becket, and bade 
 him fly. But the spirit of the martyr was upon him, as his words 
 to Bartholomew of Exeter, without moving from his seat, declared ; 
 " Fly then ! for thou knowest not what appertains to God. 11 Henry 
 and the bishops were now at a loss what to do, and the council 
 was confounded. Becket, when required, declined to abide by the 
 judgment of the court. If attainted, the bishops could not be 
 
OR, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 119 
 
 present and join with the temporal barons in their judgment, 
 without subjecting themselves to spiritual censures. They were 
 in a dilemma. At the last they bethought them that it would be 
 best to appeal to the Pope, declining any longer to obey Becket, 
 as a perjured archbishop. Hilary of Chichester was the spokes- 
 man. Becket at once saw the trap of their own devising which 
 they had fallen into, and simply answered, on the day of appeal 
 being named, " I hear you ! 11 Presently the Earl of Leicester, as 
 Grand Justiciary, came in to declare to Becket the judgment of 
 the barons, and was about to announce their sentence, should he 
 refuse to give an account of the monies charged against him. " My 
 sentence ! " exclaimed the archbishop, " nay, Sir Earl, but hear 
 you first ! " He then declared that it was not for them to judge 
 him, as an ecclesiastical superior. His only superior was the Pope, 
 and, taught by him, to the Pope he appealed. " And you, my 
 brethren and fellow bishops, who have preferred the obedience of 
 man to that of God, I cite you to the presence of our Lord the 
 Pope. Thus guarded by the power of the Catholic Church, and 
 the Apostolic See, I retire hence." Spoken like the man, and 
 with the dignity which became him ! None had courage or desire 
 to oppose his departure ; but voices were heard to declare that he 
 retired like a perjured traitor. It was on this occasion that the 
 warrior spirit, as before Tolouse, burst out afresh, and turning 
 round, and sternly gazing on his revilers, he said, " Did not my 
 holy orders forbid it, I would by arms defend myself against the 
 charge of treason and perjury ! " We must lament the weakness 
 of human nature when he reviled an officer of the household, and 
 Earl Hamelin, in turn ; but the burst above mentioned is charac- 
 teristic of the man. It is added that the people were all on his side 
 and followed him home with loud acclamations. But to remain 
 in England after this, he thought would be only to throw away his 
 life. The Bishops of Worcester, Hereford, and Rochester, there- 
 fore, waited at his request on the king, and craved permission for 
 him to depart, " To-morrow," said Henry, " I will lay the request 
 before the council." By the morrow Becket was gone. Hiding 
 himself by day, and travelling only by night, after many difficulties 
 he arrived at Sandwich, and embarked from thence in a small 
 fisher-boat, Tuesday, November 10, and the same evening landed 
 not far from Gravelines. The only companions of his flight were 
 
J 20 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 a monk of the Cistercian order, and Herbert de Boseham, who 
 afterwards wrote his life, and left these particulars on record. 
 His course in the first instance was northwards, to Lincoln, to 
 evade pursuit ; thence, forty miles to a hermitage in the fens, 
 where he tarried three days, and matured his plans, adopting the 
 name of Brother Christian. He turned now to the south-east, 
 and thus journeyed till he arrived at Estray in Kent, a manor 
 belonging to the priory of Canterbury, where he is said to have 
 been concealed some days, his hiding place being known only to 
 a single priest. It is likewise recorded that from thence he got 
 to Canterbury 4 , where, through a hole in the wall of his retreat, 
 he heard mass previous to his departure. 
 
 Henry did not expect so hasty a retreat, and the moment it 
 was known he issued orders to watch the ports, particularly Dover. 
 By the advice of the council, an embassy to the Pope was deter- 
 mined on to procure, if possible, Becket's deposition, consisting of 
 the Bishops of London, Worcester, Chichester, and Exeter, to- 
 gether with the Archbishop of York, and the Earl of Arundel. 
 Till the result was known, none of the primate's temporalities 
 were to be touched, none of his friends and dependents were to be 
 injured. They presently departed well furnished with money ; 
 with letters also to the French King and the Earl of Flanders, 
 requesting them to give no asylum to the fugitive. 
 
 It so happened that this embassy sailed from Dover to Calais 
 at the same time that Becket crossed over from Sandwich to 
 Gravelines. He was landed within a league of this place, and had 
 to travel to it, weary in body, and harassed in mind. To add to 
 his difficulties his journey was through a storm of wind and rain. 
 He sank down in the miry road overcome with fatigue, and would 
 have died but for the help of a horse which carried him to the 
 town. Here his mien and manner were not to be mistaken, and 
 he was recognized by his host \ who proved true, and the next day 
 
 * It is so stated by Turner, but it seems doubtful. It was probably at Estray, 
 as stated by the writer in the British Magazine, vol. iii. p. 526. 
 
 5 It is likewise recorded that, " Not long after he landed, a boy, who was stand- 
 ing by the roadside with a hawk on his wrist, was attracted by the evident pleasure 
 with which Becket eyed his bird, and cried out, ' There goes the archbishop !'" — 
 Brit. Mag., iii. 517- It should be recollected that Matteo, Count of Boulogne, 
 whose marriage Becket had opposed with tlte Abbess of Komsey, had given orders 
 that a strict watch should he kept for him on the coast. 
 
Oil, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 121 
 
 acted as his guide to Clairmarais, a convent near St. Omer, where 
 he learnt that the ambassadors from England had just entered 
 the walls. Here he lay concealed till they departed, and then was 
 received with all respect at the Abbey of St. Bertin, after a con- 
 cealment of three days and nights. It was here that he dropped 
 the name of Brother Christian. 
 
 The ambassadors meanwhile proceeded to the French King, 
 who was then at Compiegne. Their reception was any thing but 
 flattering, and when Louis read in Henry's letter the words " late 
 archbishop" he exclaimed "late archbishop forsooth ! " demanding 
 by whom he had been deposed. He added, moreover, that " he too 
 was a king as Henry was, but that it was not in his power to depose 
 the meanest clerk. 11 The matter ended by his declaring that he 
 should protect the primate. He made the same answer to the 
 two monks, Becket's companions, who had followed the ambas- 
 sadors, and, besides this, sent word to the Pope that " he should 
 maintain the cause of the archbishop in all points, as well as his 
 person, against the tyrant of England. 11 These monks arrived at 
 Sens, where Alexander then was, before the ambassadors had had 
 a public audience. They were admitted in private, and declared 
 what persecutions Becket had undergone. The Pope felt the 
 delicacy of his situation, and made them a reply which seemed 
 somewhat equivocal. The next day a public consistory was to be 
 held. But it would appear that in the mean while English gold 
 had been distributed amongst the cardinals. At all events, they 
 do not seem to have declared themselves with their usual arro- 
 gance, and, if the " father of all fathers 11 wept at the primate's 
 misfortunes, it is not said that they were moved. The next day, — 
 the clay of public audience, — Foliot, Bishop of London, spoke first, 
 and in no favourable terms, of Becket. Amongst other expressions 
 he applied to him the words, The wicked flee when no man pursueth. 
 " Brother ! 11 said the Pope, " forbear ! 11 The bishop answered, 
 " I will forbear him. 11 " I bid you forbear, 11 replied Alexander, 
 " not out of regard to his character, but your own. 11 The Bishop 
 was abashed, and sat down. Hilary of Chichester arose next, but 
 having broken Priscian 1 s head with some false Latinity, he was 
 laughed down. The Archbishop of York spoke discreetly, apply- 
 ing to the Pope for his help ; whilst the Bishop of Exeter briefly 
 said that the cause could not be determined in the absence of the 
 
122 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 primate, and demanded legates to judge between him and the 
 king. The Earl of Arundel spoke last, and in English, for which 
 he apologized. His speech was wise and conciliatory, and his 
 request was that the Pope would mediate, command the arch- 
 bishop to return, and send a legate to England to terminate all 
 disputes. This was assented to. But when Foliot asked with 
 " what powers were the legates to be sent, 1 '' Alexanders answer 
 was " with proper powers." The design was that they be em- 
 powered to decide without appeal. To this the Pope replied, 
 " That is my glory, which I will not give to another,'''' adding other 
 words, and particularly, that he would not send him to be judged 
 by his enemies. And on this he proposed to the ambassadors to 
 await Becket's arrival. Had they done so, they would have trans- 
 gressed the orders of Henry. They, therefore, prepared to return, 
 after the Earl of Arundel had dropped certain hints as to his 
 master's being driven to join the anti-pope. On their departure 
 the Pope's benediction was neither received nor asked for. They 
 arrived in England about Christmas, 1164. 
 
 Meanwhile Becket had left St. Omer's, and was now at Sois- 
 sons, where he was visited and comforted by Louis, who granted 
 a liberal maintenance to him and his followers by an order on the 
 royal treasury. After remaining here three days he proceeded to 
 Sens, where the cardinals received him more coolly than the Pope. 
 As before hinted at, they were most likely bought over by Eng- 
 lish gold. The next day a solemn assembly was called, and the 
 primate was seated on the Pope's right hand. He spoke as 
 Becket knew how to speak, and carried all before him, even the 
 cardinals themselves. It was decided by acclamation, " that in 
 the person of the Archbishop of Canterbury the Catholic Church 
 should be succoured." Of the Constitutions of Clarendon, which 
 had been produced and read, six were tolerated, not as good but 
 less evil. These were the 2nd, 6th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 
 and Becket was reprimanded for his weak assent, but the Pope 
 at the same time declared that he had applied for pardon, and 
 that indulgence had been granted. And thus was it at this time 
 that the Pope in conclave sat in judgment on the laws and 
 statutes of England ! 
 
 The day following Becket, who knew the ground he had gained, 
 determined to make it still more solid, and appearing before the 
 
OK, THOMAS BUCKET. 
 
 123 
 
 Pope and cardinals in private, he told them that he was ill at 
 ease, and " that as he had ascended into the fold of Christ, not by 
 the true door, not having been called by a canonical election, but 
 obtruded into it by the terror of the secular power," he begged to 
 resign into their hands his see, and, suiting the action to the word, 
 he took off his ring, and delivered it into the hand of the pontiff. 
 The scene may have been got up, but it is hardly likely, as we 
 find the cardinals — such, at least, as might be supposed in 
 Henry's interest 6 — again wavering. They declared that it seemed 
 a fit opportunity to put an end to the strife, and that Becket 
 might be now provided for elsewhere. But Alexander knew the 
 craft of the Romish Church too well to grant this. It would be 
 the ruin of the hierarchal power, and the Decretum of Gratian 
 would be no more than a dead letter henceforth. The resignation 
 was therefore declined, and Becket's conduct on the occasion 
 extolled in the highest manner possible. At the same time the 
 Pope consigned him to the care of the Abbot of Pontigny, a reli- 
 gious house in Burgundy, there to spend the time of his exile, 
 adding, " that he, who had hitherto lived in affluence and delights, 
 should now be taught by the instructions of poverty, the mother 
 of religion, to be the comforter of the poor when he returned to 
 his see : wherefore he committed him over to one of the poor of 
 Christ, from whom he was to receive, not a sumptuous, but simple 
 entertainment, such as became a banished man, and a champion 
 of Christ. 11 The Pope then blessed the habit of a Cistercian 
 monk for him, and he entered into the discipline of the order. 
 
 It was now that Henry again forgot and lowered himself, 
 giving way to a cruel and vindictive temper, fostered by feudal, 
 in the stead of being softened by Christian, tenets. He con- 
 fiscated all the Archbishop's estate ; he commanded the bishop 
 of the diocese to seize the revenues of any clergy who had fol- 
 lowed him ; correspondence with him was criminal ; he was for- 
 bidden to be prayed for in the churches ; the payment of Peter- 
 
 ■ We find that those Cardinals were technically called the Pharisees. See the 
 Hist. Qiuidripart., referred to by Lyttelton, vol. ii. p. 139 ; Henry, vol. iii. p. 255. 
 The strongest evidence for supposing the present a got-up scene, is derived from 
 Bccket's answer to the letter of the English bishops, wherein he declares " that no 
 injury was done to the Church by his election, — that it was lawfully and quietly 
 made, and with the consent of those who had a right to elect him." This, cer- 
 tainly, is blowing hot and cold with the same breath. 
 
124 
 
 I.IKE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 pence was stopped. And thus far Henry might have acted con- 
 scientiously, but in what follows his rage had the mastery of him. 
 For he banished all the primate's relations, friends, kinsfolk, and 
 acquaintance. Old age found no mercy, infancy no exception. 
 Their goods were all seized and their lands sold, and besides this, 
 an oath was required of them that they would proceed to Pon- 
 tigny to wear out the Archbishop with the sight of misery and 
 woe. But, as is ever the case, none sees a brother made vile 
 without being touched, and so, savage revenge is defeated. 
 Monasteries and nunneries were opened to the helpless. The 
 Pope absolved them from their oath, and many took refuge in 
 Flanders. Nobles flocked to succour them. Not only the King 
 of France, but the Queen of Sicily, were their friends. To such 
 extent was pity showed towards the exiles, that it is even re- 
 corded that they lived more happily abroad, than they could have 
 done at home ! 
 
 A rupture now seemed inevitable between Henry and Louis, 
 and the Empress Matilda applied to the Pope to endeavour to 
 mediate between them. He persuaded the two kings to meet at 
 Gisors, it being much to his interest to preserve unity in the 
 then distracted state of the court of Rome. But the meeting 
 was of no avail as regarded the reconciliation between Henry and 
 Becket. Henry demanded obedience to the Constitutions of 
 Clarendon. Louis still abided by his determination to protect 
 the primate. They did not, however, come to open hostilities. 
 Shortly after, a conference was proposed between Henry and the 
 Pope, and to this the king assented, provided that Becket were 
 not present. But Becket and Henry well knew the shrewdness 
 of each other, and the consequence was that the primate inti- 
 mated to the Pope that, unless he had an interpreter quick as 
 himself, Henry would overreach him. The result was that the 
 conference was broken off", with this haughty message from the 
 pontiff : " That no man had a right to exclude any person from 
 his presence, whose prerogative it had always been to succour the 
 exiled and the oppressed of all nations against the violence of the 
 wicked, and even against the rage of princes." 
 
 The year 1165 found Becket the inmate of Pontigny. It 
 appears that he devoted himself to study and severer occupations. 
 But his old predilection for the lessons he had learned at 
 
Oil, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 Bologna, notwithstanding the kind hints he received from John 
 of Salisbury 7 , chiefly occupied his attention. The result was a 
 series of letters to Henry and the clergy, all in the same strain, 
 magnifying, as he imagined, his office. Contained in these were 
 admonition and commination as seemed expedient. Henry was 
 too fully employed with the affairs of Wales to lend to them a 
 very diligent ear, but they seem nevertheless to have galled a 
 temper already irritated, insomuch so that serious thoughts were 
 entertained of abandoning the party of Alexander, and of em- 
 bracing that of the rival Pope, Pascal. As much, at least, as this 
 is declared in the letter written by the king to the Archbishop of 
 Cologne 8 , and is announced by the emperor in his letters patent. 
 Lyttelton does not seem to think there was any direct falsehood 
 told, but that the two ambassadors present at W urtsburg (or, 
 Wittenberg) took the oath spoken of " conditionally, in case that 
 Alexander should refuse to give the king satisfaction with rela- 
 tion to Becket." The letter of Foliot, Bishop of London, may 
 imply this. Most readers will, however, conclude, that there was 
 some collusion and duplicity in the matter. 
 
 It was towards the end of this year that Alexander left Sens 
 for Rome, where he was received with the warmest congratula- 
 tions. On his arrival there, and in the hurry of other business, 
 he did not forget the champion of the Church he had left at Pon- 
 tigny. On the contrary, early in 11C6 9 , he appointed him his 
 legate in England, the diocese of York only being exempted from 
 his jurisdiction. He at once sent a notification of it to England, 
 and the packet, with letters to his suffragans, was delivered to 
 Gilbert at the altar, who immediately made Henry acquainted 
 with the contents, advising him, in case of need, to appeal to the 
 Pope, or to legates whom he should appoint \ Becket evidently 
 
 7 Sec Letter in British Magazine, vol. iii. p. 529. 
 
 8 See Lyttelton, where it is given at length, p. 415, vol. ii. 
 
 9 I am inclined with Berington to give this date to the transaction, but it is very 
 uncertain. Henry puts it Oct. 22, 11GG, vol. iii. p. 2G0. Lyttelton, on the Conver- 
 sion of St. Paul, 1167, vol. ii. p. 443. 
 
 1 See this point well put in the British Magazine, vol. iii. p. 149. Two points 
 would be thus gained ; 1st, " A respite from the obligation to immediate obedience, 
 for, by the ecclesiastical law, any time short of a year from the delivery of sentence 
 was allowed to the appellant for collecting his evidence ; and, 2ndly, a chance of 
 intercepting the second messenger who, after the term of the appeal had elapsed, 
 would have to convey the repetition of the order." 
 
126 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 had now determined, as soon as forms would admit, to excom- 
 municate the king. It was preparatory to this that he had sus- 
 pended the Bishop of Salisbury for admitting John of Oxford to 
 the deanery, during the absence of the canons who were compa- 
 nions of his exile. All this only tended to irritate Henry the more, 
 and it was upon this occasion, — having summoned his friends 
 and retainers to meet him at Chinon, in Touraine, — that he told 
 them how " Becket tore his body and his soul from him," calling 
 them all " traitors, who took no pains to rid him of the primate's 
 annoyance ! 11 Henry evidently dreaded an interdict on his terri- 
 tories as well as excommunication on himself. Near as he was 
 from throwing off the papal yoke, he was not above the supersti- 
 tious thraldom of the time. He was checked for his intemperance 
 by the Archbishop of Rouen ; but the artful advice of the Bishop 
 of Lisieux to him was to interpose an appeal, in his own name, 
 to the Pope, thus agreeing with Foliot, Bishop of London. 
 Little consistent was this with upholding the ancient customs, — 
 little befitting the dignity of the crown. But Henry's fears 
 overcame his judgment, as Becket's had done on a former occa- 
 sion, — and in this they both showed that they were subject, like 
 other men, to like infirmities. The advice was taken. Present 
 necessity was yielded to. Two of his bishops were sent to Pon- 
 tigny to notify his appeal to the primate. 
 
 There could be no doubt, from the very remarkable letters of 
 Becket, in reply to the letter of his suffragans, as well as from his 
 letter to Foliot, at whose suggestion he suspected their letter was 
 written, what his intentions were. On the arrival of the bishop 
 at Pontigny they found that he had departed for Soissons. In 
 the spirit of the age, combined with his own, he had gone thither 
 to watch before the shrine of St. Drauscio 2 , who was thought to 
 render his devotees invincible, as he did Robert de Montfort 
 before his duel with Henry of Essex. If Becket were Saracen 
 born by his mother's side we need not wonder at this combination 
 of strange superstition. Be it as it may, there he went. A 
 night he spent in holy vigils at his shrine ; a second before that 
 of Gregory the Great ; a third before the altar of the Virgin. 
 
 2 See the Letter of John of Salisbury, to Bartholomew, Bp. of Exeter, in the 
 British Magazine, vol. iv. p. 009, and the notice of the Church at Vezelay, p. 610, 
 note. It is now just what it was at the time Becket visited it. 
 
OR, THOMAS BECKET. 127 
 
 And thus strengthened he proceeded to Vezelay, there intending 
 to pronounce his anathema against Henry, which he had done, 
 but that intimation reached him from Louis that the king was 
 dangerously ill. This was on Whit-Sunday, or, as some say, on 
 Ascension Day. But although he did not excommunicate the 
 king, he did not spare others. He ascended the pulpit and 
 preached ; and then the dreadful ban was pronounced by book, 
 bell, and candle. The crosses were inverted ; the bells tolled ; 
 the torches were extinguished. The excommunicated were John 
 of Oxford, the Archdeacon of Poitiers, Hugh de St. Clare, 
 Thomas Fitz Bernard, Ranulf de Broc, and, lastly, the chief 
 justiciary, Richard de Luce, and Joceline de Baliol, as the 
 favourers of the kinfs tyranny, and the contrivers of those heretical 
 gravities, the Constitutions of Clarendon. He also named the 
 king, spoke of the letters he had written, and the messengers he 
 had sent to him, called on him to repent and to make satisfac- 
 tion for the injustice he had offered to the Church, — or else the 
 like sentence would fall on his own head. 
 
 Excommunication and interdict now stared Henry in the face ; 
 the latter, as regarded his territorial possessions in France, more 
 dreadful even than the former. Superstitious as, perhaps, he 
 was, indignation vexed him, and he sent orders to England to 
 have the sea-coasts guarded with the strictest care, threatening 
 the direst vengeance on clergyman or layman who should be the 
 bearer of so fearful a sentence. And, besides this, he threatened 
 the monks of the Cistercian rule, that the whole of them should 
 be expelled from his dominions, if they harboured Becket any 
 longer. But revenge of this sort rarely answers, and here it 
 altogether failed. The French king sent a nobleman to escort 
 him with three hundred men, saying, " Let him come and expe- 
 rience the benevolence of my people. 1 " 1 He bade him also choose 
 his own residence. The spot he fixed on was St. Columba, a 
 convent without the walls of Sens. And thus the archbishop de- 
 parted from Pontigny, about Martinmas, 1166, having resided 
 there for nearly two years. 
 
 Meanwhile a change seems to have come over the court at 
 Rome, and Becket's legantine power was crippled. The circum- 
 stances are not clearly known, but the chief agent would appear 
 to be the Marquis of Montferrat, who promised Henry that, if 
 
128 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 he would give him one of his daughters in marriage, he would 
 procure from the Pope the deposition of Becket. English gold, 
 it is likely, was circulated. Whether or not, amongst other 
 ministers, the excommunicated John of Oxford was sent to, and 
 received by, the Pope, and his ban taken off. He seems also to 
 have taken a leaf out of Becket's book, but he resigned the 
 deanery of Salisbury only to receive it again with absolution. 
 But the great point gained was, that two cardinals, William of 
 Pavia, and Otto, friends to Henry, should be sent legates a latere 
 over all his French territories, and with full authority to hear and 
 determine the cause of Becket. Stranger still ! John Cumin 
 and Radulf de Tamworth contrived to possess themselves of 
 Becket's private letters. These, no doubt, were procured by dis- 
 honest means, and perhaps corroborate the boast of Henry, 
 " that he had the Pope and the cardinals in his power." Whe- 
 ther or not, Becket was disconcerted, and is reported to have 
 said, that Rome was prostituted, like a harlot, for hire. And 
 shortly after, on writing to Rome, he expressed himself thus to 
 one of his clergy, " That if these things were true, the Pope had 
 undoubtedly strangled and suffocated, not him alone, but the 
 whole English and Gallican Church. 1 '' The real cause of Alex- 
 anders vacillation was that the Emperor Frederic was now in 
 Lombardy and threatened Rome. The consequences to Becket 
 and his exiled friends showed the worldly spirit of many who had 
 thus far supported them \ They were deserted in their present 
 distress, and had it not been for the King of France's hostility to 
 England, and his personal antipathy to Henry, the contest would, 
 in all likelihood, have been concluded. He declared, however, 
 that the legates should not enter his kingdom ; adding, that if 
 " the Pope had sent them to take the crown from his head, he 
 should not have been more troubled." 
 
 But here temporal affairs again wrought a change on the 
 counsels of Rome. Alexander, in a pilgrim's habit, together 
 
 3 " An instance," says Lyttelton, " of inhumanity and baseness of mind, that 
 would hardly be credible if we were not assured of it by the testimony of Becket 
 himself, in the above-cited letter to his agent at Rome, whom he ordered to 
 acquaint the Pope with it, that means might be found to prevent these unhappy 
 persons from perishing soon with cold and hunger, as some of them, he said, had 
 already perished." — Vol. ii. p. 445. 
 
OK, THOMAS BECKKT. 
 
 129 
 
 with his cardinals, had been obliged to take refuge in Bene- 
 ventum, and Pascal had been received within the walls. The 
 malaria, however, attacked the troops of the emperor with such 
 violence, in the month of August, that he was obliged to retire 
 incontinently. Besides this, a feudal quarrel had arisen between 
 Louis and Henry, and the Earls of Boulogne and Flanders were 
 up in arms against him. This turbulent state of affairs induced 
 the Pope, — who had fruitlessly attempted through Becket to 
 win over the Empress Matilda in her sickness *, — again to curtail 
 the power of his legates. Becket likewise had been at work, and 
 had recurred once more to his diplomatic craft, in which he was 
 so consummate a master. He persuaded Alexander that Henry 
 was only procrastinating, and that his real intent was, whenever 
 the papacy became vacant, not to acknowledge the power of the 
 hierarchy, unless the constitutions, laws, and customs of the 
 realm were acceded to. 
 
 The legates, who had set out from Rome early in January, did 
 not arrive at Montpellier till the end of October, 1167. The 
 war, no doubt, and probably bribery and corruption, had stayed 
 them on the way. The correspondence between them and 
 Becket, at this time, is very remarkable. If it does not show 
 the primate's sincerity, it at least declares his adroitness. But 
 Henry was not to be deluded, and little likely was it that any 
 good should be the result of double dealing. It was in vain that 
 Becket was exhorted by the legates to moderation, and their 
 meeting at Gisors was a mere farce. The fact is, that both 
 parties were beguiled by the conduct of the Pope. In his desire 
 to please them, he had represented the commission " in his 
 letter to the king as a commission to judge and determine, but 
 in his letter to the archbishop as a commission to negotiate a 
 reconciliation. The truth seems to have been that the Pope had 
 given the legates a commission to act as judges, but had given 
 them also secret instructions to act only as mediators V It 
 appears that Henry on this occasion, however disappointed, was 
 more willing to have made concessions than Becket. Had any 
 laws been made in his own time inconsistent with the Church, he 
 
 4 She died about tliis time. 
 
 5 This is the conclusion of the historian Henry. See vol. iii. p. 262, and it seems 
 liable to the fewest objections. 
 
 4 
 
130 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 said, that he was willing they should be abolished. He would 
 abide, he said, by the legates 1 judgment, " if they would render to 
 him, what even the lowest of men had a right to demand from them, 
 justice." Finding all of no avail, he retired in disgust, declaring 
 publicly, " That he wished his eyes might never more see the face of 
 a cardinal!'''' His wrath, however, seems to have moderated 
 before they came to take leave, for he then requested their 
 assistance and intercession with the Pope to rid him of Becket. 
 It should be remarked, in passing, that however haughty the con- 
 duct of Becket on this occasion may appear, he declared to the 
 legates, and, by his letters, to the Pope, certain home truths. 
 All at Rome was venal 6 , and the Church in England met but with 
 little justice. There and in Normandy there were no less than 
 seven bishoprics not filled up, and the proceeds of the sees were 
 res fisci. Evenhanded justice must admit the high ground which 
 the primate took and maintained. 
 
 Whatever the inclinations of Otto may have been, Henry at 
 this time obtained protection from the Pope against what he 
 knew would be the rage of Becket. Together with the bishops 
 he put his kingdom under the protection of the Holy See till the 
 feast of St. Martin in the following year. The consequence was, 
 that Becket received intimation forbidding him to put the kingdom 
 under an interdict, or to excommunicate any one, till the Pope's 
 pleasure was known. In the Pope's mandate he was also ex- 
 horted once more to moderation, and was counselled to bear his 
 persecution patiently. His holiness, it is clear, felt for Becket, 
 and looked on him as the Church's champion ; but he felt for 
 himself also, and bethought him of his own insecurity. It is 
 difficult to unravel the complicated statements appertaining to 
 the legates' presence at this time in France, but it seems pretty 
 clear that they were not recalled till the autumn of the year 1 1 68, 
 and that previous to their recall an attempt had been made, in 
 the midsummer of that year, by the Earl of Flanders, to bring 
 Henry and Becket together. This attempt proved fruitless owing 
 
 6 See Jewel's Defence of the Apology, Part vi. vol. vi. 521. Ed. Jelf, where the 
 remarkable words of Baptista Mantuanus are given : — 
 
 " Venalia nobis 
 Tempi*) sacerdotes, altaria, sacra, coronae, 
 Ignis, thura, preces, ccelum est venale, Deusque." 
 
OR, THOMAS UECKET. 
 
 131 
 
 to the return of some messengers of Henry from Beneventum, 
 who brought a letter from the Pope, in which Becket's spiritual 
 power over England was superseded till that prelate had recovered 
 the royal favour. 
 
 The question then arises, was Henry a party to this attempt. 
 It is thought that he was, and that an attempt had been made by 
 the legates, instructed by the Pope, to get Becket to resign his 
 archbishopric on condition the king would renounce the cus- 
 toms. This, however, he firmly and resolutely declined. The 
 reasons for supposing that Henry was more inclined to reconcilia- 
 tion, previous to the arrival of his ministers from Beneventum, 
 are to be drawn from the following conversation prior to the 
 legates" 1 return. I give it from Lord Lyttelton 7 . " A little 
 before their departure, Cardinal Otto, in taking leave of the king, 
 made use of that occasion to exhort him to a speedy reconciliation 
 with Becket. He replied, ' that from his affection to the Pope 
 and to them, he would consent to let the archbishop return in 
 peace to his see, and take care of his Church and his oicn business.'* 
 This (whatever limitation he might mean to annex to it by the 
 concluding words) was certainly a great condescension, and such 
 as it is probable he would not then have been brought to, if he 
 had not trusted that Becket would refuse to return without many 
 other conditions. After a long dispute with the cardinal about 
 the royal customs, he said, ' that he and his children would be 
 content with those alone, which it should be proved that his 
 ancestors had enjoyed, by the oaths of a hundred men of Eng- 
 land, a hundred men of Normandy, a hundred of Anjou, and of 
 his other dominions. But, if this proposition did not please the 
 archbishop, he was ready to stand to the arbitration of three 
 English bishops, and of three who belonged to his territories on 
 the Continent, namely, Rouen, Baieux, and Mans. Or, in case 
 that even this should not be thought sufficient, he would submit 
 to the judgment of the Pope, with this reserve only, that his act 
 should not prejudice the rights of his heirs.' " 
 
 It will be observed that the dates in this statement should be 
 inverted ; but, let it be taken for as much as it is worth, and the 
 animus of Henry and the Pope will, I think, be evidently in 
 
 7 Vol. ii. p. 481. 
 K 2 
 
1.32 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 favour of reconciliation at this time. But there was a desire to 
 overreach on both sides, and each severally availed himself of for- 
 tunate occasions, as Henry seems to have done, in the present 
 instance, on the arrival of his ministers from Beneventum. 
 Interest was uppermost, and not peace ! 
 
 Meanwhile Henry and Louis were again all but at war. The 
 truce of the last year was to expire at Easter. A treaty of 
 peace was again proposed by the Earls of Flanders and Cham- 
 pagne. But it was difficult to bring about. Henry's discon- 
 tented barons had no notion of being ruled, and they were 
 received and fostered by the French king. Matters of uneasiness 
 arose, and continued throughout the year, and it was not until 
 January 6, llb'9, that the two kings could be brought together, 
 when a peace was concluded at Montmirail on the Maine. It 
 was said that the Earl of Champagne and Henry were contending 
 which should outwit the other. Be this as it may, a peace was 
 concluded. The young princes did homage for their respective 
 fiefs, and Henry himself for Normandy. 
 
 But Montmirail was to witness another scene. The priors of 
 Montdieu and St. Peter's Vale, with Bernard de Corillo, monk 
 of Grammont, had brought Becket here, and had schooled him, 
 as Louis had also done, to humble himself before his sovereign. 
 Accordingly the primate threw himself at his feet, saying, " I 
 submit myself to the mercy of God and the king, to the honour 
 of God and the king." At the same time that Henry raised the 
 primate from his knees, he did not allow himself to be outwitted. 
 The both were practised diplomatists, and the king interpreted 
 the phrase, to the honour of God, as he knew it was interpreted by 
 a scholar of Gratian and in the Decretals. And it is clear that 
 the king was right, for nothing further could be elicited from 
 Becket in a long conference, during which his arrogance was 
 reproved by his own friends and by the French king, than that 
 he submitted to Henry's judgment, saving his order, and that he 
 would do what he could without prejudice to the honour of God. 
 The words of Henry to Louis on this occasion are remarkable. 
 " My liege, attend, if you please ; whatsoever he dislikes, he says 
 is against the honour of God ; and thus he would dispossess me of 
 all my rights. But that I may not in any thing seem to desire 
 unreasonably to oppose him, or the honour of God, this is my 
 
OU, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 133 
 
 offer. There have been many kings of England before me ; some 
 who have had more power than I, and others who had less. 
 There have been before him many archbishops of Canterbury, 
 great and holy men. What therefore the greatest and holiest of his 
 predecessors did for the least of mine, let him do for me, and I shall 
 be satisfied* To the question of Louis, " Would you be greater 
 or iciser than all those holy men ?" Becket's reply was, " That had 
 they in all things made the stand they ought to have done, he should 
 not now have been passing this fiery ordeal."' Upon this his friends 
 drew him away, entreating him to drop the obnoxious expression. 
 But Becket was firm. What the world called arrogance insur- 
 mountable, and dogged obstinacy, was with him honesty of pur- 
 pose and devout resolution. It is further related that the King 
 of France did not visit him, or send to him from his table, the 
 night he remained at Montmirail ; and that on the next day he 
 returned to Sens, impressed with the idea that those who would 
 faithfully perform their duties must be contented to lose their 
 friends. And thus, contemplating the chances of expulsion from 
 France 9 , they went on their way sorrowing. But Louis, on 
 second thoughts, influenced perhaps by no love to Henry of Eng- 
 land, came to the conclusion that Becket had maintained his 
 position, and, under this impression, sent for him to his lodgings. 
 He found him dispirited and gloomy, but, after a silence of some 
 time, he threw himself at the primate's feet, declaring "how 
 blind he had been in giving him wrong advice, and that hereafter 
 he would never forsake him." The archbishop blessed him, and 
 they parted. 
 
 At the beginning of this year another interview was brought 
 about ; but it proved equally unavailing. Henry and Becket well 
 knew each other, and each abided by his purpose — the one to the 
 Constitutions of Clarendon, the other to the doctrine of the De- 
 cretals. It was on this occasion that a bull from the Pope was 
 delivered to Henry, declaring that, if he was not reconciled to the 
 
 • See Lyttelton, vol. ii. p. 503. 
 
 9 Berington relates that on their journey Becket had said to his attendants : 
 " They say that down the Saone, and on the side of Provence, the inhabitants are 
 benevolent and liberal. To them we will go on foot, and when they shall see how 
 wretched we are, perhaps they may pity us, and give us bread, till the Lord shall 
 send us better times." — p. 208. The authority is not quoted. 
 
134 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 archbishop before Lent 1169, he should restore him to his full 
 spiritual authority over him and his kingdom. " For he ought 
 not to imagine, either that the Lord, who now slept, might not be 
 awakened, or that the sword of St. Peter was so consumed with 
 rust, as that it could not be drawn, and exercise a proper ven- 
 geance." Little pleased was Henry likely to be with words of this 
 sort; and the reply of Louis, on Henry's representing to him his 
 change of conduct towards Becket after the interview at Mont- 
 mirail, only irritated him the more. " Go tell your king, that if 
 he will not relinquish certain ancient customs, which some deem 
 contrary to the law of God, because they appertain to his royal 
 dignity ; neither will I surrender the hereditary privilege of my 
 crown, which has ever protected the unfortunate, and those most 
 who suffer in the cause of justice, 11 
 
 And Lent arrived, and once more Becket was Legate of the 
 Apostolical See. Neither was he a man to slacken his hand. On the 
 contrary, while acquainting Alexander with his intention, he ex- 
 communicated Foliot, Bishop of London, Joceline, Bishop of Salis- 
 bury, — the chief members of the king's household, — Lucy, Great 
 Justiciary, other great men of the kingdom, and the Chaplains of 
 the Court ; insomuch that Henry was in the midst of excommuni- 
 cated persons, and had scarce one, as far as Rome's power went, 
 to wish him God speed ! The excommunication of Foliot seems 
 to have weighed more with him than any thing else, for he wrote 
 to the Pope, declaring that he resented the sentence " no less than 
 if Becket had vomited out his poison on his own person." All this 
 time Becket was resolute and unmoved, and ready, with Alex- 
 ander's help, to place the kingdom under interdict. This, it seems, 
 the Pope drew back from, and Becket's notions of obedience to his 
 ecclesiastical superior on this occasion are very equivocal, for he 
 neither suspended the general sentences at Alexander's request, 
 nor yet the particular one passed on the Pope's old and tried friend, 
 the Bishop of Salisbury. Foliot, on the present emergency, does 
 not appear to have acted with his usual wisdom. The plea that 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury had no jurisdiction over the see of 
 London was frivolous. 
 
 Meanwhile the old expedient, proposed by William of Pavia, of 
 translating Becket to a foreign see, was again mooted by Henry's 
 ambassadors at Beneventum. They made great offers in their 
 
OK, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 135 
 
 sovereign's name — promised to procure Alexander peace with 
 the emperor and with the Roman nobility — offered a present of 
 10,000 marks— assured the Pontiff that he should present to Can- 
 terbury and all the other vacant sees. Besides this, he tampered 
 with Lombardy, and secured the interests of the King of Sicily, 
 on whose protection, next to that of Louis, the Pope mainly de- 
 pended. All, however, was in vain, for Alexander knew the 
 animus of Becket, and that he would rather have resigned his life 
 than the primacy. All that Henry's ministers could obtain was, 
 that two nuncios should be sent into Normandy to negotiate, if 
 they might, a peace between the king and the archbishop. These 
 were Vivian and Gratian. They waited on the king at Dom- 
 front in Normandy, August 23rd, 1169. But their instructions 
 were so cautiously drawn up, and the circumstantials of the peace 10 
 to be concluded so invidious, that, during the discussion upon the 
 Pontiffs letters, Henry gave way to one of those bursts of temper 
 not unusual with him, declaring that, if the Pontiff would not listen 
 to his requests, " By God's eyes, I'll do something else I 11 " Sire," 
 replied Gratian, " do not threaten. We fear no threats ; for we 
 come from a court that has been said to give the law to emperors 
 and to kings." 
 
 Eight days after this they met at Baieux, and then Henry de- 
 manded the absolution of his servants, which not being assented 
 to, he mounted his horse, declaring that no man living should 
 speak to him more of Becket's return to Canterbury. But know- 
 ing the impetuous nature of Henry, the nuncios thought it wise to 
 concede the point, and the negotiation was renewed afresh, only 
 again to be broken off, though his bishops told the king that they 
 must render obedience to the mandates of Rome. Upon this, 
 Henry again burst out, " Let them do their worst, and interdict 
 the kingdom ; I who can take a strong castle every day in the 
 year can arrest an ecclesiastic." Again the nuncios relaxed, and 
 promised that Nigel de Sackville, Thomas Fitz Bernard, and the 
 Archdeacon of Canterbury should be absolved the next day, and 
 that one of them would proceed to England, and absolve the ex- 
 
 10 " I use the word peace" says Lyttclton, " because it is used in Alexander's 
 letters, and those written by Becket concerning this affair, as if he and the king, 
 his master, had been two independent potentates at war with each other." — VoL.ii. 
 p. 516. 
 
136 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BUCKET. 
 
 communicated there, provided the king would receive the arch- 
 bishop in peace, and restore his see to the honour of God, and of the 
 Church, and to the honour of the king, and of his children. The 
 banished friends of the archbishop were also to be restored. It is 
 said that the king made some alteration in the agreement, insert- 
 ing " heirs' 1 '' in the place of " children" and then substituting sav- 
 ing the dignity of his kingdom for to the honour of his heirs; and that, 
 upon this, the nuncios again left him, and went to Caen. Various 
 discussions succeeded, certain demands were waved on Henry's 
 part, and on Beckefs; by the one, the accounts of the chancellor- 
 ship, by the other, the reparation of damages. But all was in vain. 
 New bones of contention turned up, and thus Michaelmas arrived, 
 when the commission of the nuncios expired. They notified that 
 the absolutions, being only conditional, were void. On this Gra- 
 tian retired, and Vivian was not long in following him. 
 
 But scarcely had the latter departed before Henry heard that 
 the Bishop of Sens had joined Gratian, and that they were on 
 their way to Rome. All his fears were again roused as to personal 
 excommunication, and interdict on his territories. On this he 
 sent a messenger after Vivian, entreating him to renew the nego- 
 tiation. Vivian consented, much against the will of Becket, who 
 declared, " that the king, for whose sake the negotiation was re- 
 newed, might obey the legate as he pleased, but that he would 
 not acknowledge an authority which had now expired. -11 Still 
 Becket did not judge it expedient to refuse Vivian's request, that 
 he should attend an interview of the Kings of France and England 
 at St. Denys, November 15th, 1169 \ He did not, however, ap- 
 pear in person s , but only came so nigh as to Paris, and thence 
 sent his conditions, as warily worded as were the concessions of 
 Henry in reply. The latter induced Vivian to declare that he had 
 broken his word, was captious and insincere, and he declined to 
 have any thing further to do in the matter. 
 
 Once more a new petition was delivered to the king from Becket 
 
 1 There is a mistake in Lyttelton's Hist, as to this date, but it is evidently on the 
 printer's side : " about the middle of November this year, eleven hundred and 
 sixty-eight." — See vol. ii. p. 522. 
 
 a Berjngton says, " the king, passing by Montmartre, was visited by Becket." 
 p. 214. This would seem to be an error ; but after all there is some difficulty here, 
 and I would not speak positively. 
 
OR, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 137 
 
 at Montmartre, by the Archbishop of Rouen and the Bishop of 
 Sens. He requested only that the king would grant to him " what 
 had been taken from him, and that he would then pay to him all 
 that an archbishop owed to his prince." This was begging the 
 whole question at issue : — What was it that an archbishop owed to 
 his prince ! Even yet matters were attempted to be brought to a 
 successful termination ; but Henry eventually refused to give the 
 kiss of peace, because, he said, he had sworn in his anger, that he 
 never would give it to Becket, though he declared that he bore no 
 rancour, neither would retain any rancour against him. They 
 knew each other, and the breach was as wide as ever. 
 
 The state of the king's mind, however, was restless, and his 
 fears of an interdict waxed stronger and stronger. Under this im- 
 pression he was unwise enough once more to send after Vivian, 
 and to offer a bribe. In Northumberland's words, on a different 
 occasion 3 : — 
 
 " Come, come, go in with me : 'tis with my mind, 
 As with the tide swell'd up unto its height, 
 That makes a still-stand, running neither way: 
 Fain would I go to meet the archbishop, 
 But many thousand reasons hold me back." 
 
 This the nuncio indignantly returned, complaining, " that after 
 he had laboured so much in his service, and had lost for him the 
 favour of many and great persons, Henry should endeavour to 
 render him infamous, as being corrupted with bribes. He, more- 
 over, counselled Henry, for the last time, to give the kiss of peace, 
 and to make restoration, adding that if he did not, repentance would 
 come too late. Words like these from one who had not shown 
 himself unfriendly, only roused Henry's fears the more, and the 
 consequence was that he sent over to England his royal injunc- 
 tions, forbidding all intercourse with his subjects, the Pope, or the 
 archbishop. It is not to be denied that they are severe — the 6th 
 and 7th particularly 4 , — but the superstitious dread of the Pontiff 
 
 5 2nd Part, Henry IV. Act ii. sc. iii. 
 
 * They arc as follows : 6th, " If any bishops, clergymen, abbots, or laymen shall 
 obey the sentence of interdict, let them be instantly banished the realm, and all 
 their kindred, and not suffered to carry with them any of their goods aud chattels." 
 7th, " The goods and chattels of all those who favour the Pope or the Archbishop, 
 
138 
 
 LIFE OK THOMAS A BUCKET, 
 
 is to be borne in mind. By the laity the oath to observe them 
 was taken generally ; but as generally refused by the clergy, headed 
 by the Bishops of Winchester, Exeter, Chester, and Norwich, 
 The latter excommunicated the Earl of Chester, according to 
 Becket's instructions, and descending from the rood-loft, laid his 
 pastoral staff on the high altar with these words : " Now let me 
 see who will dare sacrilegiously to stretch out their hands against 
 the lands or goods of the Church." The sacrifices made by these 
 prelates, who severally (Winchester excepted) retired to the 
 cloister, deserves our admiration. At least, they were faithful to 
 their trust, even though the principle maintained were false. As 
 regards the laity they were absolved from their oath by letters 
 which the primate got securely conveyed to England. It does not 
 appear whether many or few availed themselves of the dispensa- 
 tion. Whilst all this was passing, Henry's messengers and agents 
 were still at work at the papal court, and certain general terms 
 were proposed to Becket " that each of them should perform 
 what he owed to the other," but nothing seems to have come of it. 
 
 But the great project which Henry had in view at this time he 
 anticipated would be attended with difficulty — the coronation, 
 that is, of his son. This was an act of precaution which belongs 
 to the history of the time. It is evident he had long had it in 
 view ; for on the death of Theobald, fearing as to Becket's election, 
 he had obtained a bull from the Pope to the intent the young 
 prince should be crowned by what bishop he pleased. But this 
 was long ago, and the bull, then granted, was but a dead letter. 
 It seems to have been a master-stroke of policy that at the pre- 
 sent time he should have procured another. He did, however, 
 and it empowered the Archbishop of York to perform the cere- 
 mony. Yet, odd as it may appear, Becket obtained a counter- 
 bull restricting that privilege to the see of Canterbury. Strange 
 inconsistency in that court so well schooled in worldly wisdom ! 
 The fact, nevertheless, is so. The former letter was received by 
 Henry, on the return of Richard Barre and the Archdeacon of 
 Llandaff, about the latter end of February, and Becket's was dated 
 the 25th of that month, so that the one was written within a few 
 
 and all their possessions, and the possessions of all who belong to them, of tehatsoeter 
 degree, order, sex, or condition they mag be, shall be seized and confiscated into the 
 hands of the king." — Lyttelton, vol. ii. p. 528. 
 
OK, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 139 
 
 weeks of the other. But it was unavailing, and the prohibition 
 defeated. The coronation took place June loth, 1170 s . 
 
 To Becket this was the bitterest of disappointments, and his 
 letters at the time to the Pope and cardinals show how indigna- * 
 tion vexed him. The absolution also of the Bishops of Salisbury 
 and London was gall and wormwood to him, the more so, as the 
 Pope had styled the latter a religious, learned, prudent, and discreet 
 man. It is upon this occasion that the primate thus expressed 
 himself in a letter to his friends, Cardinals Albert and Gratian. 
 li Satan,''' he said, " was let loose again to the destruction of the 
 Church : Barabbas was freed, and Christ was crucified a second 
 time ; and that St. Peter himself, if he was upon earth, could 
 not have power to absolve such impenitent sinners ! " Thus 
 spake the primate in his wrath ; and if the former words be not 
 blasphemous, it is not easy to say what is ! 
 
 " Tantum relligio potuil suudere malorum !" 
 
 The Princess Margaret's not being crowned at the same time 
 with the young Henry, gave umbrage to the French king, who 
 took up arms and attacked the Norman frontier. Henry was 
 obliged to hasten back again from England, either to quell the 
 invasion or to pacify Louis. He succeeded in the latter step, 
 and an interview was brought about, and peace renewed, in a 
 meadow near Frettevalle, upon the borders of Touraine, in the 
 district of Chartres. 
 
 Meanwhile Becket was still irritated by advice from a secret 
 correspondent about the king — one of those miscreants that dog 
 a court and sow dissension. The information given him was, 
 that all Henry's professions as to reconciliation was but deceit. 
 The moment he became acquainted with this, he wrote letters to 
 England, putting the realm under an interdict. But they were 
 not delivered. 
 
 Whilst the primate was thus threatening, Henry held several 
 
 4 See Lyttelton's remarks. He concludes by observing : " As this was the first 
 since the union of the Heptarchy, it was also the last coronation of a son during 
 the life of his father, in the kingdom of England. We also find that the practice 
 was omitted in France after Philip Augustus ; a more settled principle of an here- 
 ditary right to the crown, in a lineal course of descent, having prevailed from that 
 time in both these nations, which made such a precaution unnecessary to secure 
 the succession." — Vol. ii. p. 537. 
 
no 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 conferences with the Papal nuncios, it would seem with a real 
 wish for reconciliation, could we conceive it possible after what 
 had passed. The Archbishop of Rouen and the Bishop of Nevers 
 * were personally anxious to bring it about, notwithstanding the 
 dissuasive letters of Becket, who spoke of his sovereign as " a 
 monster, changeable as Proteus, whose wiles they should resist, 
 till he resumed his ancient shape adding, " if it is not your own 
 fault, you will from that time be a God to Pharaoh.' 1 '' But the 
 legates were aware that Henry knew their secret instructions, 
 and in fact they had come to an agreement with him on all points, 
 except the kiss of peace, which Henry proposed should be given 
 by the young prince, in consideration of the oath he had taken. 
 To this Becket demurred, saying, " it was a form established 
 among all nations, and in all religions, without which peace was 
 no where confirmed ; that if, instead of receiving it from the king, 
 he received it from his son, it might be said in the world that he 
 was only restored to the prince's favour, not the king's ; which if 
 the vulgar should hear, it would give them an occasion to reflect 
 on the peace. 1 '' This offended Henry grievously. To help matters 
 to a conclusion, the Pope had absolved him of his oath, but like 
 his grandfather, Henry I., who declined to be absolved by Calix- 
 tus II., he too disdained to descend to such casuistry. Never- 
 theless considering what might be the result of an interdict in his 
 foreign territories, even though he might not have to fear for 
 England, he was induced to succumb, and so promised to give 
 the hiss of peace, not however in the King of France's dominions, 
 but in his own, for his reply to the legates was, " In my own 
 territories I will kiss him : nay, his very hands and his feet, a 
 thousand times ; let him only defer it now, that it may appear to 
 be done out of my grace and good will, and not by constraint." 
 This reads but like special pleading, and is casuistical enough. 
 But so it was ; and a reconciliation was brought about, July 22, 
 1170, at the spot before-mentioned as the meeting-place of the 
 two kings. Some report that it was called the Traitor's Field 6 , 
 and the name was ominous ! 
 
 " Male sarta 
 Gratia nequicquarn coit, et rescinditur ." — 
 
 Hor. i. Epist. iii. 31. 
 
 f ' The authority for this is Gervase.— See Tindal's Rapin. Vol. i. p. 232. Note. 
 
OR, THOMAS BKCKET. 
 
 141 
 
 Two clays had been taken up in settling the differences of the 
 rival kings, but on the morning of the third the King of England 
 and Becket entered the meadow. It was thronged with the 
 attendants of both. No sooner did the king perceive the arch- 
 bishop approaching than he set spurs to his horse, and galloped 
 to meet him with head uncovered. The primate intended to have 
 spoken first, but he was prevented. The king entered into 
 familiar conversation with his old friend, and, to outward appear- 
 ance, there was no lack of cordiality. Presently Henry and 
 Becket withdrew from those around them, and the tenor of their 
 subsequent remarks is altogether drawn from the account he 
 forwarded to the Pope. He declared that the king " had not so 
 much as presumed to mention the royal customs, which he was 
 used to assert so pertinaciously. He exacted no oath, but pro- 
 mised the restoration of all that had been taken from the Church 
 of Canterbury, and not only that, but peace and a safe return to 
 all, and the kiss to me, if I should absolutely insist upon it." This, 
 it will be observed, is contrary to the report of the king, and at 
 variance with his after conduct. Besides this, he spoke of " the 
 grievous w rong done to his see by the coronation of the young 
 king at the house of the Archbishop of York, 1- ' intimating that 
 " the king's consecration, like other sacraments 7 , drew all its 
 validity from the right of the person administering to do the office." 
 As Becket continued to press the pristine dignity of his Church, 
 he reports that Henry expressed his belief that " it was the most 
 noble of all the Western Churches, that he had no desire to de- 
 prive it of its rights, that it should have its redress on this point," 
 and that he concluded with these remarkable words : " But to 
 those tcho hare hitherto betrayed both you and me, I will, by the 
 blessing of God, male such an ansicer, as the deserts of tra itors 
 require." What Becket understood by these words is not clear, 
 but he at once sprang from his horse, and threw himself at the 
 king's feet. Henry bid him remount, himself holding the stirrup 
 to assist him. Afterwards, with tears in his eyes, he said: 
 
 7 " Sacramental ordinances" were an expression more to be tolerated. At the 
 same time one would be sorry to join in the sceptical sentence of Hume : " There 
 prevailed in that age an opinion, which was alun to its other superstitions, that the 
 royal unction was essential to the exercise of royal power." — Vol. i. p. 413. 
 Unblessed are sovereign and people without an uuction from above ! 
 
142 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BUCKET, 
 
 " My lord archbishop, what occasion is there for many words ! 
 let us now mutually restore to each other our former affection, 
 and do one another all the good we can, entirely forgetting the 
 late discord between us. But I desire that you would honour me 
 in the presence of those who are looking upon us at a distance." 
 He then returned to the assembly, and casting his eyes on certain 
 of Becket's enemies, he said aloud, " If, when I find the arch- 
 bishop full of all good dispositions to me, I were not reciprocally 
 good to him, I should be the worst of men, and prove the evil 
 that is spoken of me to be true. Nor can I think any counsel 
 more honourable or useful to me, than that I should endeavour 
 to go before him in kindness, and excel him in charity, as well as 
 in benefits." These, it must be confessed, are remarkable words, 
 and must have been heard by many ; but the rest of the conver- 
 sation, we must bear in mind, was apart from the company, and 
 rests only on the authority of the archbishop. 
 
 Presently after this Henry sent his bishops to the primate, who 
 was in the distance, desiring him to state his petition in the face 
 of the assembly. They counselled him to submit his case to the 
 king, — some of them, at least, — but he rejected their advice, as 
 that of Scribes and Pharisees. He then took counsel with the 
 Archbishop of Sens and the companions of his exile, and the 
 determination they arrived at was, to make no submission what- 
 ever, but to abide by the rights of the see of Canterbury. The 
 petition he did not present in person, neither was it worded as 
 had been settled between the king and the Pope. It was much 
 like to the one that Henry had rejected the year before at Mont- 
 martre, and on those grounds he might have rejected it now. 
 But the expressions he had made use of were all of an amicable 
 tendency, and it seems as though he did not wish to break afresh 
 with the friend of his youth. His actions declared thus much. 
 Different as the petition was, he said, " I agree to all, and the 
 primate and his friends I again receive into favour." 
 
 After the meeting was over, Becket and the king continued to 
 converse till late in the evening. It was then agreed that the 
 archbishop should visit Henry in Normandy, prior to his going 
 over to England. Meanwhile he was to take leave of Louis and 
 his other benefactors. Just as he was going away, in the pre- 
 sence of Henry and the whole court, the Bishop of Lisieux 
 
OR, THOMAS BECKJST. 
 
 143 
 
 exhorted him, " as the king had now received his friends into 
 favour, he should in like manner receive all the servants of the 
 king who were present there." To this reasonable proposal the 
 primate returned an artful and evasive answer, and one that 
 showed how secret enmity was rankling in his heart. " The cir- 
 cumstances," he said, 11 were not the same, some had been ex- 
 communicated by this bishop, some by that ; others again by the 
 Pope, and for divers offences." He concluded by saying that " he 
 was to consult with the king," but that " if any one of them (which 
 he prayed might not happen) should fail of reconciliation and 
 peace, he must impute it to himself not to him." Henry, fearing 
 lest further altercation should arise, drew off the archbishop. He 
 craved his benediction, and sent him home with honour. 
 
 It was two months before they met again. In the interval 
 Henry had a severe illness, and was brought to death's door. 
 Thinking his end was nigh, he desired to be buried in the monas- 
 tery of Grammont, at the feet of one of their abbots. Recovering, 
 he fulfilled a vow that he had made, and performed a pilgrimage 
 to the shrine of St. Mary of Roque-Madour in the Quercy. In 
 the meanwhile, it is not to be supposed that Becket was idle. 
 His declining to clear Henry's friends showed that the fire was 
 burning within him. And by this time he had received letters 
 from the Pope, suspending all the prelates who had assisted at 
 the coronation of the young prince. In them his Holiness accused 
 them of " permitting him to leave out the usual oath for the 
 protection of the Church, and of taking one themselves to maintain 
 the Constitutions of Clarendon." In particular, as regards the 
 Bishops of London and Salisbury, " he declared that they had 
 made an ungrateful return for the sentence he had taken off from 
 them, and that he therefore excommunicated them afresh." The 
 Bishop of Rochester he permitted Becket to proceed against as 
 he pleased, " because that prelate, as vicar to the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, ought to have been particularly careful of supporting 
 his rights." These letters were dated September, 1 1 70. The 
 charge as to the coronation oath was altogether groundless, as 
 Becket must soon have known on inquiry, nevertheless he said in 
 reply, that the Pope's letters " were undoubtedly dictated by the 
 Holy Ghost, and corrected the king's enormities with an authority 
 becoming the successor of Peter, and the Vicar of Christ." 
 
144 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 At the present moment Becket saw that it would be imprudent 
 to use the letters spoken of, and he therefore wrote to the Pope, 
 requesting him to transmit fresh ones, which, omitting other 
 points, should contain the suspension of the Archbishop of York, 
 and the other bishops, for the injury done to the rights of the 
 see of Canterbury. Touching the Bishops of London and Salis- 
 bury, he requested a discretionary power ; but the removal of the 
 sentence from the Archbishop of York was to be vested in the 
 Pope only, inasmuch as he was the incendiary and the head of all 
 these wicked persons. Besides this he asked the same power for 
 himself, as had been granted to the Archbishop of Rouen, and 
 the Bishop of Nevers, or even a greater, (permission, that is, to 
 excommunicate his sovereign, and to lay his dominion under in- 
 terdict,) because the more potent and the more fierce that prince 
 is, the stronger chain and the harder stick will be necessary to bind 
 and keep him in order. This latter stretch of power does not 
 appear to have been granted. 
 
 Previous to this Becket had sent his messengers to England 
 with letters from Henry to his son. The tenor of them is not 
 recorded with sufficient clearness, though it was said that they 
 contained orders " that all their estates and possessions should be 
 restored to the archbishop and the other exiles V Be it as it 
 may, they were coldly received. And it was likely they would 
 be, inasmuch as their return implied the dispossession of in- 
 truders ; nay, Ranulph de Broc was reported to have said, " that 
 Becket should not eat a whole loaf in England before he took away 
 his life.'''' On these, and other like grounds, his friends dissuaded 
 Becket from returning till he was sure that the king was 
 thoroughly reconciled to him. But here again his undaunted 
 spirit displayed itself, and he was the readier to start and to con- 
 front the danger, for he wrote to Henry, saying, " By your grace 
 and permission I will now return to my Church, perhaps to perish 
 for her, unless your piety deigns to afford me a further and a 
 speedy consolation. But, whether I live or die, yours I am, and 
 will be, in the Lord ; and whatever becomes of me and mine, may 
 God bless you, and your children /" He likewise addressed a private 
 letter to the Pope, in which he stated, that whether his journey 
 
 " See Henry. Vol. iii p. 273. 
 
OK, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 145 
 
 to England would be " to peace, or to punishment, he was 
 doubtful and, at the same time, strange as the expression may 
 appear, he " commended his soul to the Pontiff. 1 ' 1 
 
 Before answers arrived to the former letters mentioned, as 
 written to the Pope, Becket waited on the king at Tours, some 
 two months after the reconciliation at Frettevalle. But his recep- 
 tion was a cool one — at least, it was not cordial — neither did 
 Henry, though in his own dominions, give the promised Mss of 
 peace. At this time Henry had appointed to meet the Earl of 
 Blois, on the borders of Touraine ; and the two set out together. 
 They, however, almost fell out on the way, each reproaching the 
 other. Nevertheless, Becket acted as a sort of mediator between 
 the earl and the king, and there was no open breach. Henry 
 even promised full restitution ; but said, " That before he per- 
 formed it, he would have him return into England, that he might 
 see how he would behave himself in the affairs of the kingdom. 11 
 This, no doubt, was unlooked for by Becket, and he and the king 
 did not return together. But within a few days they had a 
 second interview at Chaumont, a town near Blois ; and, on this 
 occasion, as at Frettevalle, there seemed a heartiness, on Henry's 
 part, which would have touched one of softer mould than Becket. 
 In familiar discourse, such as should be when old friends meet, 
 Henry exclaimed, " Oh ! my lord, why will you not return ? I 
 then should put every thing into your hands ! 11 But the primate 
 misinterpreted his old master ; and, in a letter to one of his 
 correspondents, he said that it reminded him of the devil's speech 
 to our Saviour : " And this will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down 
 and worship me ! 11 With such thoughts as these uppermost, 
 there could be little chance of concord ! About the end of 
 October the primate returned to Sens, purposing to see Henry at 
 Rouen, on his way to England. They met no more ! 
 
 Answers from the Pope were now received, and in accordance 
 with Becket's request. But, besides this, the Pope, having 
 heard that the agreement of July was not ratified, wrote to his 
 legates, the Archbishops of Rouen and Sens, where Becket now 
 was, ordering them, within twenty days after the receipt of this 
 letter, (dated October 9,) to admonish Henry in effect to accom- 
 plish the peace he had made only in words. If he refused to do 
 this within thirty days, his foreign dominions were to be put 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 under an interdict. Before, however, the time was expired, the 
 treaty, in its principal points, was executed. 
 
 And, looking to matters as they now stood, there is reason to 
 think that if Becket had proceeded temperately, he had proceeded 
 more wisely. The Pope evidently doubted his discretion, for his 
 grants were less than the primate's demand. Himself, too, had 
 spoken in a letter to the Pontiff of moderation ; but he did not 
 exercise it, nor follow the advice of two of his friends in the 
 College of Cardinals, who counselled him " to exercise mercy, 
 rather than judgment, towards those who had sinned against 
 him ; and to endeavour to instruct the king in the spirit of lenity, 
 and recover his favour. 1 '' But it was not with such a spirit that 
 he purposed to return to England. Peace was not in his thoughts; 
 and his heart was bent upon excommunication. He may have 
 thought it a duty to proceed as he did, and to court danger in 
 defence of the hierarchy. With a like impression he told Louis, 
 on taking leave, that he was going to England to play for his head. 
 
 Before he set out it was his desire again to have an interview 
 with Henry, as agreed upon, at Rouen. But the king wrote him 
 word that he was constrained to depart for Auvergne to resist an 
 attempt which, report said, Louis intended to make on that 
 province. Instead also of the Archbishop of Rouen, John of 
 Oxford, whom he looked upon as his bitterest enemy, was ap- 
 pointed to accompany him to England. By him he signified to 
 the young king, " that he would have Becket enjoy all his pos- 
 sessions peaceably and honourably ; and if, in any particulars 
 relating to him less than ought to have been done had been per- 
 formed, that prince should cause it to be amended." To add to 
 the primate's humiliation, no money was sent him to defray his 
 expenses, and pay his debts ; but the Archbishop of Rouen lent 
 him 300/. in his distress. He then went to Whitsand, in 
 Flanders, and stayed there some days for a favourable wind. 
 It was during this interval that he was warned by the Earl of 
 Boulogne " to take care of himself ; for there were persons waiting 
 for him in those parts of England, where it was thought he would 
 land, with an intention to murder, or at least to arrest him." 
 The answer became the man, whose heart was always enlarged 
 as difficulties increased, and whose spirit rose under pressure. 
 " He would return," he said, " to his flock, if he were certain to 
 
OK, THOMAS BECKF.T. 
 
 147 
 
 be torn limb from limb ; and all that he requested was, that he 
 might be carried dead to his Church, if he were not permitted to 
 reach it alive." 
 
 But mark how human nature, at its best estate, has its noblest 
 endeavours and highest aspirations dashed with the meaner in- 
 termixture of earth ! Becket, aware that if his life was not 
 attempted, his baggage would be searched, and his letters inter- 
 cepted, hits upon an expedient to get them conveyed, which has 
 more of Roman craft in it than open honesty. There was one 
 Idonea, a nun, — (if that were a real name, and not assumed 9 ,) — 
 whose former manner of life would appear, from the letter still 
 extant, not to have been so strict as it ought to have been. 
 This poor woman he determined to make use of, and win her 
 over to deliver the letter he had for the Archbishop of York, and 
 which contained his sentence from the Pope ; and this he did 
 by setting before her the examples of Judith, Esther, and those 
 women, who, when the Apostles forsook their Lord, followed 
 Him to the cross, and to His sepulchre. Who can ever forget 
 the lines — 
 
 " Stabat mater dolorosa 
 Juxta crucem lachrymosa 
 Qua pendebat Filius ! " 
 
 At that time they may not have been written ; but the primate 
 was alive to the purport of such exhortations ; and the child 
 of a Saracen mother knew well what would work upon the 
 feelings of a penitent woman ! His pastoral exhortation, as given 
 by the historian ', from the original letter, concludes thus : " A 
 great reward, my daughter, is proposed to your labour, the remis- 
 sion of your sins, the unfading fruit, and crown of glory, which 
 the blessed sinners, Mary Magdalene and Mary the Egyptian, at 
 last received from our Lord Jesus Christ ; the stains of all their 
 former lives being wiped out. The mistress of mercy will assist 
 you, and ask her Son, God and man, whom she brought forth for 
 the salvation of the world, to be the leader, companion, and pro- 
 tector of your journey. And may He, who, breaking the gates 
 
 9 The term " Idonea " leads to this 9urmise. The superscription of the letter 
 is, " Thomas Cant. Arch. D'dectce filioe sum Idonea;." Lyttelton gives it at length in 
 the Appendix to his Third Book. Vol. iv. p. 252. 
 
 1 Lyttelton, vol. ii. p. 584. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 of hell, crushed the power of the devils, and restrained their 
 licentiousness, hold the hands of the wicked, that they may not 
 be able to do you any hurt ! Farewell, spouse of Christ, and 
 think that He is always present with you !" The Jesuits of a 
 later day were not wiser than Becket in fitting each one to his 
 proper work ! And the nun performed it well. To the arch- 
 bishop she delivered the letter, as commanded 2 ; and it appears 
 that the Bishops of London and Salisbury received their sentence 
 about the same time. There is, however, a little difficulty in 
 arriving at the exact period. 
 
 The ground thus broke, and with a fair wind, Becket crossed 
 the Channel on the 1st of December, and when the ship arrived 
 in Sandwich harbour, the Sheriff of Kent, Reginald de Warenne, 
 and Ranulph de Broc, came down armed to the shore. They were 
 withstood in the king's name by John of Oxford. On the present 
 occasion he certainly showed himself a friend to Becket, and 
 neither was violence offered to the person of Becket, nor a search 
 as he anticipated made. But of the Archdeacon of Sens, who 
 had followed in the archbishop's train, they demanded an oath of 
 allegiance to King Henry and his son. This the primate forbade 
 them to take, and for this reason, as he told the Pope, " that there 
 was not in the oath any exception expressed in favour of the papal 
 authority or any other. 11 Better was it for the people to be 
 under the archbishop than under the intruder who usurped his 
 rights ; and as it has been ever experienced, there are no masters 
 more liberal than the clergy, no landlords more considerate of their 
 tenantry. Vox populi, vox Dei, was on this occasion true. The 
 people were all on the primate's side, and no farther opposition 
 was made. The Archdeacon of Sens passed on, and the offended 
 nobles returned to the prelate under sentence, whom they had left 
 at Dover. 
 
 The primate then proceeded on his way to Canterbury. The 
 joy of the people was no more to be disguised than their way of 
 expressing it is to be vindicated. As on that holy day, Palm 
 
 2 The exact order runs thus : " Venerabili Fratri nostro Rogerio Eboracensi 
 Archiepiscopo tradas, si fieri potest, prrosentibus fratribus et Co-episcopis nostris ; 
 aut si eos praesentes habere nequiveris, hoc ipsum facias in prsesentia eorum quos 
 adesse contigerit. Et, ne originale scriptum possit aliqua tergiversatione supprimi, 
 transcriptum ejus legendum circumstantibus tradas, et eis, prout plenius te nuncius 
 instruet, mentem aperias literarum." 
 
OK, THOMAS BKCKET. 
 
 149 
 
 Sunday-tide, the people had welcomed the Lord of Life as He 
 approached Jerusalem, so did these simple folk now welcome 
 Becket. They strawed their clothes in the way, and said, Blessed 
 is he that cometh in the name of the Lord 1 . And their exultation 
 was neither blasphemous nor profane. Ignorance was the cause 
 of it, intermingled with the grateful expectation that the rod of 
 their oppressors would be lightened, and that they should no longer 
 be ground down by temporal lords, but ruled faithfully with a 
 shepherd's crook. John of Salisbury had written to prepare the 
 monks for his return, and had exhorted them " to meet him with 
 all due honours, as their predecessors had met St. Anselm when 
 he came back from banishment ! " And so the parish priests 
 received him with crosses in their hands, and the monks of Canter- 
 bury conducted him to their convent, themselves singing praises 
 to God, and the bells chiming gladly in honour of his return. 
 
 The day after his arrival at Canterbury, the barons came to him 
 and demanded the absolution of the prelates. The sentence, they 
 said, had been pronounced in defiance of the king, and contrary 
 to the customs of the realm. They added, that it was the young 
 king's order, that, after absolution, the bishops would submit to 
 the Canons of the Church, saving the honour of the kingdom. To 
 this Becket replied, " It was not in the power of an inferior judge 
 to release from the sentence of a superior, and that no man could 
 abrogate what the apostolic see had decreed."''' This it appears 
 was not true, as he had it in his power to absolve the Bishops of 
 London and Salisbury. However, the officers of the king being 
 urgent, he was induced conditionally, and at the request of the 
 Bishop of Winchester, on his own peril to promise their absolution. 
 But this was objected to by the Archbishop of York as against 
 the dignity and the laws of the realm. Becket replied, that on 
 their previous excommunication by him, they w r ere not absolved 
 without a promise to obey the Pope's injunctions, much less could 
 they be absolved now from a sentence by the Pope himself, " to 
 which neither his nor any other human authority could be com- 
 pared.'''' Upon this the other prelates would have taken the oath, 
 but the Archbishop of York dissuaded them from it; telling them, 
 
 3 The reader should here consult the Article in the Church of England Quar- 
 terly Review, before referred to. Southey, of course, is right, as usual. On 
 Bccket's landing, and on his way to Canterbury, the people were of one voice ! 
 
150 
 
 LIFE 01' THOMAS A BEOKET, 
 
 " that he had 8000 marks of silver in his chest, which he would 
 willingly expend to repress the stubborn arrogance of that man." 
 He counselled them, moreover, to cross the sea to Henry with 
 him, and to send messengers to the young prince with this warn- 
 ing, that Becket, by his violent proceedings, was endeavouring 
 to tear the crown from his head. They came to this determination, 
 and started, first of all having dispatched the Archdeacon of 
 Canterbury to the young king. Becket had misgivings and sent 
 a counter-messenger, excusing what he had done; but an audience 
 was denied him. He then turned the matter over in his mind, 
 and determined in person to start for Woodstock. Accordingly, 
 after about eight days he started, and, with the blood of the 
 Saracen in his veins, thought to appease the young king by a 
 present of three fine barbs. His way was to London, and he 
 purposed to visit his whole province with his full metropolitan and 
 legantine powers, As he drew nigh to the metropolis, men, 
 women, and children flocked to meet him. London was no mean 
 city, and it was his birth-place. Many there were attached to 
 him personally ; many to the cause of the Church which he had 
 so manfully defended. Others again, if they thought him wrong- 
 headed, were convinced the heart was sound. Whether from this 
 cause or that, the joy was general, and he was conducted to his 
 lodgings in Southwark with the loudest acclamations of joy unde- 
 niable and not to be disguised. 
 
 " You would have thought the very windows spake, 
 So many greedy looks of young and old 
 Through casements darted their desiring eyes 
 Upon his visage ; and that all the walls, 
 With painted imagery had said at once, — 
 Jesu preserve thee ! welcome 4 ! " 
 
 Here, within two days, he had the mortification to receive a 
 message from the young king at Woodstock, forbidding him to 
 proceed further or to enter any of the king's cities or castles. He 
 was furthermore commanded to return to Canterbury, and to con- 
 fine himself within the precincts of his cathedral. At first he 
 hesitated, thinking it was his duty to visit his province ; but as 
 the festival of Christmas was approaching, and as he intended in 
 
 * Richard II., Act v. sc. ii. 
 
Oil, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 151 
 
 person to officiate at that glad time, he returned with an escort to 
 protect him from violence. But if, whilst in London, he was 
 visited by the higher clergy and citizens of repute, it is clear from 
 the historians of the time that men of rank — the barons and the 
 nobles — kept aloof. They feared for their unjust possessions, and 
 had no wish to disgorge the patrimony of the Church. It is like- 
 wise recorded that prosecutions were commenced against the 
 primate's friends, but, from whatever cause, they were dropped. 
 Meanwhile, at Canterbury, fresh insults were offered to his person, 
 and the attempt was made to weary out his patience. Reports also 
 of fresh and continued depredations of his estates were brought 
 in. But "truth hath a quiet breast," and his courage never for- 
 sook him, however much others took alarm. At the same time 
 he was aware of his danger. He wrote to the Pope, desiring his 
 prayers, for that the sword of death was hanging over his head. 
 The clergy he told that disaster was at hand, and that the quarrel 
 would end in blood. And it was under this persuasion that at 
 the end of his sermon on Christmas-day, he told the congregation 
 that his dissolution was near, and that he should quickly depart from 
 them. Thus far his address was such as became the Christian 
 prelate, calm, dignified, devout. It spoke to the hearts of the 
 assembled multitude, and tears testified their sorrow. It was then 
 that the spirit of the old man, the lore of the Decretal, the fierce 
 determination of the hierarchy fell upon him afresh ; and all at 
 once, changing his looks, he inveighed against the vices of the age, 
 and thundered out anathemas against the chief of Henry's court. 
 The candles were then lighted, and as they were dashed out, he 
 excommunicated by name Ranulph de Broc, and Robert, his 
 brother. The both, no doubt, were desperate marauders, and the 
 vamped-up story that the latter had only cut off the tail of one 
 of his sumpter's horses the day before, shows pretty clearly that 
 there was something worse behind. 
 
 Meanwhile the Archbishop of York, together with the Bishops 
 of London and Salisbury, had passed over into Normandy, and re- 
 ported matters to the king. They told him, in no measured terms, 
 what Becket had done, and they implored him of his justice and 
 clemency, to come to the help of themselves, the clergy, and his 
 kingdom. They added that all who had assisted at his son's 
 coronation were excommunicated. Upon this the king burst out 
 
152 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BUCKET, 
 
 into one of his fierce passions, exclaiming, " Then, by God's eyes, 
 he himself should not be excepted'.'''' The prelates would have 
 allayed the storm they had raised, but Henry was not to be paci- 
 fied. His rage but waxed the hotter, and he declared " that a 
 fellow whom he had lifted up from the dust, trampled upon the 
 whole kingdom, dishonoured the whole royal family, had driven 
 him and his children from the throne, and triumphed thus unre- 
 sisted ; and that he was very unfortunate to have maintained so 
 many cowardly and ungrateful men in his court, none of whom 
 woidd revenge him of the injuries he sustained from one turbulent 
 priest!'''' As was usual with him Henry vented his wrath in 
 words. But there were those about him who were too ready, for 
 their own interest, to interpret what he said literally, much as they 
 must have been used to the humours of their sovereign. Such 
 were four gentlemen of the bedchamber, Reginald Fitzurse, 
 William de Tracey, Hugh de Moreville, and Richard Breto, 
 knights and barons of the kingdom. These determined either to 
 force the archbishop to submission, or, if matters came to the 
 worst, to put him to death. Lest their departure should .create 
 suspicion they quitted the court at different hours and by separate 
 routes ; " but being conducted by the devil, as some monkish his- 
 torians tell us, they all arrived at the castle of Ranulph de Broc, 
 about six miles from Canterbury, on the same day, December 28th, 
 and almost at the same hour V 
 
 And here they made their arrangements with Ranulph de Broc, 
 the more ready to join hands in their wicked counsels for that he 
 held a considerable portion of the sequestered lands. He had 
 under his command a band of soldiers used for guarding the 
 coast. Of these they determined to take with them to Canter- 
 bury sufficient to withstand a rescue, either by the hands of the 
 citizens or the primate's friends. On the morning of the 29th 6 
 of December, 1 1 70, they entered the city in small bodies, so as 
 not to make alarm or suspicion. They were received, it is said, 
 by Clarombaldus, the then Abbot of St. Augustine's, into his 
 monastery, a person of depraved character, and who had been 
 forced on the monks by Henry. 
 
 5 Henry. Vol. iii. p. 276. 
 
 " In Weever's Funeral Monuments it is " upon Tuesday the 28th of December." 
 The authority quoted is Matthew Paris. See VVeever, p. 202. Ed. 1631. 
 
OK, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 153 
 
 .Meanwhile, it was about eleven o'clock 7 , the primate had dined 
 and was conversing with his monks. A message was then sent 
 to him, stating that certain were present to speak with him on 
 the part of the king. They were admitted, but it was observed 
 that they did not return the archbishop's salutation. After a 
 long silence, which boded no good, Reginald Fitzurse said, " We 
 bring you orders from the king. Will you hear them in public 
 or in private?"" " As you like best," replied Becket. Fitzurse 
 requested him to dismiss his company, which he did at once. 
 He had not spoken much before his rough manner induced Becket 
 to recall the monks, stating that whatever they had to say to 
 him, might be repeated in their presence. They commanded him 
 to " release the bishops from their sentence, in the king's name.'" 
 He said, " it was not in his power to absolve them. What the 
 Pope had done, he alone must undo.'" " But, 11 said they, " you 
 procured the sentence. 11 To which he boldly replied, " If the 
 Pope had been pleased to revenge the injury done to the Church, he 
 confessed, it did not displease him'.' 1 '' They then declared that it 
 was in his " heart to tear the crown from the young king's head. 11 
 "Far, far, from that!" replied the primate, "nay, saving the 
 honour of God and his oicn soul, I have earnestly desired to place 
 more crowns upon his head, instead of taking one off, and I have 
 loved him more tenderly than any other man could, except his 
 royal father ! 11 Becket then made further mention of the injuries 
 he had suffered, both personally and in his see, and openly told 
 Fitzurse, " you and more than two hundred knights were present, 
 when the king told me I might compel those to make satisfaction, 
 by ecclesiastical censures, who had disturbed the peace of the 
 Church ; nor can I any longer dissemble the proper discharge of 
 my pastoral duties. 11 They all declared that " they had heard 
 
 ' To readers used to the writings of earlier days such an hour is unattended with 
 difficulty. Even so late as Shakespeare it was usual. 
 
 " Escalus. What's o'clock, think you ? 
 Justice. Eleven, Sir. 
 
 Escalus. I pray you home to dinner with me." 
 
 Measure for Measure, Act ii. sc. i. 
 Aubrey says, in his life of T. Hobbes, the philosopher of Malmesbury : " His 
 dinner was provided for him exactly by Elearen, for he could not now stay till his 
 lord's houre,— sc. about two." Letters from the Bodleian, vol. ii. p. 622. See also 
 Note to Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, p. 228, Ed. 1852, from Harrison's descrip- 
 tion of England, prefixed to Holingshed's Chronicle, p. 1/1. 
 
154 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 nothing of the sort," and that the primate " was using threats." 
 They found, however, that this ground was unsafe, and they then 
 declared it was the king's command that " he and all that be- 
 longed to him should depart out of the kingdom." His answer 
 was, that " to have issued such a command were little to the king's 
 honour, and that he would never again put the sea between him 
 and his Church.'''' He said besides that he would maintain the 
 rights of the Church of Christ, and the laws of the Roman See. 
 On this they drew nearer, and said : " We give you notice that 
 you have spoken to the peril of your head." Possibly Becket then 
 thought that his time was come, for he dauntlessly declared, " Are 
 you come to kill me ? I have committed my cause to the Supreme 
 J udge of all, and am therefore unmoved at your threats. Nor are 
 your swords more ready to strike, than my mind is to suffer 
 martyrdom." They then bid the ecclesiastics secure the arch- 
 bishop, adding, that if he escaped, they should answer for it. 
 The knights of his household they forced away with them. There 
 was little conciliation in the primate's speech, but he spoke like a 
 man who feared God, and knew his duty. And it was with a full 
 sense of it that he declared to John of Salisbury, his friend, who 
 told him that his words were too sharp, " There is no want of 
 more counsel. What I ought to do I well know." " They are 
 donning their armour," said one. " What matters it," replied the 
 primate, " let them arm." On this the servants barred the Abbey- 
 gate, and the monks, fearing the result, drew him away by a 
 private entry through the cloisters, into the cathedral, where the 
 evensong was begun. 
 
 The four now came, with their attendants, before the abbey- 
 gate, and would have broken it open with their battle-axes, but 
 Ranulph de Broc, who well knew the house, showed them a way 
 of entrance through a window. As they did not find Becket there, 
 they followed him on to the cathedral. The monks were aware 
 of their coming, and hastened to lock the door ; but the arch- 
 bishop forbade them, saying : " You ought not to make a castle of 
 the Church. It icill -protect us sufficiently without being shut : nor 
 did I come hither to resist, but to suffer.'''' Himself, at the same 
 time opened the door, called in those monks that were without, and 
 went up to the high altar. The assassins then rushed in, crying 
 aloud, " Where is Thomas a Becket ? Where is the traitor, 
 
OR, THOMAS BECK ET. 
 
 155 
 
 Becket?" On receiving no answer, they cried out again, " Where 
 is the archbishop ?" Then, descending the altar step, he con- 
 fronted Reginald Fitznrse, and said, " Here I atn, no traitor, but 
 a priest. What would you have with me! I am ready to suffer 
 in the name of Him who redeemed me with His blood. God for- 
 bid that I should fly, for fear of your swords, or recede from 
 justice." Once more they commanded him to take off the ecclesi- 
 astical censures. " No satisfaction has been made," said the 
 primate, "and I will not absolve them." Turning once again 
 to Fitzurse, he said, " Reginald ! I have done you many kind- 
 nesses, and come you to me thus armed P 1 Upon which he 
 seized the primate's robes, as though with the intent to drag him 
 down from the altar, and then said, " Fly !" " Never !" replied 
 the primate, and withdrew his robes. He added, " I am ready to 
 die that the Church may obtain liberty, and peace in my blood. 
 But in the name of God I forbid you to hurt any of my people V 
 They now rushed upon him, and, upon this occasion, William 
 de Tracey caught hold of his robe with the intent, as they after- 
 wards said, to carry him in bonds to the king, or, in case of resist- 
 ance, to kill him in a less sacred place. But the archbishop was 
 yet a strong man, and he shook the miscreant so roughly as to 
 throw him almost to the ground. Reginald Fitzurse then closed 
 with him, and him too he thrust off, opprobriously designating 
 him bawd 8 . Enraged at this, he lifted up his sword, intending no 
 second stroke, but Edmund 9 Grime, a clerk, — whose name deserves 
 to be recorded as faithful and true, — interposed his arm, which was 
 almost cut off, and Becket was only wounded. With hands 
 crossed he then fell on his knees, and these were the last words of 
 Becket, " I recommend my soul, and the cause of the Church to 
 God, to the Blessed Virgin, to the holy patrons of this place, to 
 the martyrs St. Dionysius, and St. Elphege of Canterbury." 
 Another blow brought him to the ground, on his face before the 
 
 s Burnet's Hist, of the Reformation, vol. iii. p. 265 : " He called one of them bawd, 
 and pulled Tracy by the bosom almost down to the pavement of the church." 
 
 9 Butler, in his Lives of the Saints, says that Edmund, not Edward, is the Chris- 
 tian name of this faithful monk, though he says that the old MSS. of Clairmarais 
 has the following title, " Magistri Edrardi Vita vel Fassio S. Thonue Cant. 
 Archiep." He continued to live at Canterbury after the archbishop's death, 
 and left behind him the life alluded to. It is also stated by Butler that ho had long 
 been Becket's crossbearer. 
 
156 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 altar. This was from the hand of Fitzurse, at the shrine of St. 
 Benedict. Another and another succeeded, and Richard Breto, 
 that he might have his share in this dreadful deed of blood, cleft 
 the skull in twain, and broke his sword on the pavement. And to 
 this, that no sort of inhumanity or ingratitude might be wanting to 
 mark the act with atrocity unheard of, and with a brutality un- 
 paralleled, Hugh of Horsea, the sub-deacon, drew out the primate's 
 brains, and scattered them on the ground, thus consigning his 
 name to everlasting infamy. 
 
 The messengers of Henry — three barons whom he had sent to 
 arrest the primate — arrived too late. The deed was done, and the 
 archbishop's blood cried from the ground ! 
 
 " It was not, 11 says Inett, in his Origines Anglicanse, " so much 
 the faults of particular men, as a general licentiousness of the 
 Clergy, together with their contempt of civil authority, founded 
 on a pretence that they were not accountable to the secular power, 
 which gave beginning to, and which was the true basis and founda- 
 tion of, this unhappy controversy. 11 And, doubtless, there is much 
 truth in these remarks. 
 
 But, to inveigh against the Clergy has at all times been an ac- 
 ceptable office, and probably, bad as they may have been, — " borrel 
 men 11 oftentimes, as that ancient poet styled them in his Pastime 
 of Pleasure, — they did not receive more justice in Henry II.'s 
 time than now. If at any time moral discipline was at a low ebb 
 with those in Holy Orders, fierce brutality was rampant amongst 
 the Laity. None can read the history of those days without being 
 forcibly struck with the fact, that the law of God, and the laws of 
 man, were sadly set at nought. It redounds much to Henry's 
 ci'edit, that throughout his reign he endeavoured to improve what 
 was amiss, and to vindicate the rights of justice. 
 
 In truth, Henry was a great king; and, like his grandfather 
 Henry I., did all that lay in his power to have justice ministered 
 truly and indifferently. Hiimanum est errare, and it is not neces- 
 sary here to speak of the errors of either, which were those of the 
 age. It is enough to declare that they were mighty benefactors 
 to the nation, and could the latter have given his attention, whole 
 
OR, THOMAS BECKET. 
 
 157 
 
 and undivided, to this realm of England, a stop would earlier have 
 been put to much misrule, and probably matters would not have 
 been as they turned out in the reign of Richard I. and Johx. 
 Hknry, too, was a scholar, though not surnamed Beauclerc. 
 From his reign we may date a very considerable improvement in 
 the literary character of our people. Learning was more valued, 
 and learned men were held in more repute. It is true, letters 
 were chiefly confined to the Clergy, in coif or cowl, but each held 
 out the torch to his fellow, as in that ancient race, and the lay- 
 men's hound and hawk was sometimes laid aside for book — 
 whether legend, postil, or breviary — for the minstrel's song, or the 
 chronicler's recitation. Still, the spirit of the age was coarse, and 
 took long to fine down — and it must be confessed that the irre- 
 gularities of the regulars and the secular clergy — after making 
 every allowance — was great. It was later than this that Nigel 
 Wireker, Benedictine Monk, and Preceptor of the Church of 
 Canterbury, wrote his Speculum Stultorum — but he must have had 
 cause to say what he did, as had Piers Plowman, and Chaucer, 
 and Skelton afterwards. If they had the license of poets, licen- 
 tiousness gave them cause ! 
 
 In the above popular sketch of Becket's life no summary is 
 attempted of his character. The acts were left to bespeak the 
 man, and the reader to form his own judgment. The judgment 
 of the writer is something of this sort. 
 
 Becket's was a mighty spirit — the master-spirit, certainly, of 
 England at the time, — possibly of the world ! He was a person 
 of great natural talents, as well as of great acquirements — differ- 
 ing in this from Wolsey, whose life, by Cavendish, presents many 
 points of similarity. Much of what Thucydides has said of 
 Themistocles is applicable to him. His courage was undaunted, 
 insomuch so, that it is a question whether even in his latter days 
 the hero or the saint predominated ! But, withal, it must be con- 
 fessed that he was at heart, haughty, turbulent, and ambitious — 
 in Foxe's words, " of a lusty and haughty stomach." This was 
 the enemy of his household, against which he had to wage a con- 
 tinual war, and oftentimes he had any thing but the victory. At 
 the same time, as is well remarked, " if he was without amiable 
 virtues, he was also without mean vices." There was, in fact, 
 
158 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 an openness of character about him when chancellor, which recom- 
 mended him, not only to his sovereign, but to all around him. 
 He was also free from vice and licentiousness, when the conduct 
 of those in his rank and station was profligate and dissolute, 
 coarse, and profane. No wonder, therefore, that his society was 
 courted, and that the very barons, who envied him, were anxious 
 that their sons should be members of his household, whether in 
 peace or war, so as to be softened by his courtesy — for courteous 
 he could be — as well as invigorated by having before them his per- 
 sonal prowess, and the example of his moral courage. They had 
 common sense to see the force of example, and they were aware 
 that Becket's carriage was such as to command esteem, as well 
 as to furnish excellence. The truth is, that Becket was more 
 severe and strict as chancellor, than he was as archbishop — though 
 the term strictness, when applied to his age, is to be understood 
 with considerable allowances, as may be seen very clearly by ex- 
 tant correspondence. 
 
 From whence, then, it will probably be asked, do we date a 
 change (if we may so express ourselves as regards one who can in 
 nowise be called a bad man) for the worse ? We have no scruple 
 ourselves in asserting that this change took place after his studies 
 at Bologna. His ambition, which was latently great before, now 
 burnt within him like a pent-up fire. Full of matter, his spirit 
 within him constrained him. He was ready to burst like new 
 bottles that had no vent. He had well weighed the mightiness 
 of the hierarchy. He beheld in it a stupendous power, to which 
 before he was a stranger. It was a moral engine to upheave the 
 world withal, — Christendom at least. The power of kings, of 
 kaisars, and of emperors, was puny when compared with it. It 
 could bind them in chains, and their nobles in links of iron. So 
 that the difficulty was now to repress this predominant feeling. 
 Doubtless, Becket looked to the primacy, and till it fell into his 
 hands, he had to act the diplomatist. And who so able ? — Who 
 so well practised as a negotiator ? — His success at Rome was the 
 first cause of his advancement. Why should it not be turned yet 
 again to account ! — He determined that it should, and to over- 
 come the misgivings that he had as to overreaching his sovereign 
 lord and friend, he schooled himself in the Decretals, and became 
 
OR, THOMAS BKCKET. 
 
 159 
 
 a proficient such as few Jesuits even in after days could compete 
 with. But prelate and Jesuit might both have profited by the 
 heathen's line ; 
 
 JiovXov Kpareiv f*tv t %S>v Qeu & acl KpaTtiv." 
 
 And it is hereupon asked with wonderment, — How was he then 
 sincere ? — If vain, ambitious, implacable, obstinate, and self-willed, 
 how is his character at all to be defended ? — We must look to the 
 age, but first and foremost to the school in which, by a strange 
 sort of alchemy, these various propensities are turned into virtues. 
 They all became merged into the unflinching champion of the 
 hierarchy. Rome beheld in him the most useful instrument the 
 age had produced — an t/xipvxov opyavov. But, as such, she was 
 afraid of his power in the hands of Henry, and so adopted him, 
 with all his infirmities, as her own child. It is true, we cannot, 
 or can hardly, understand this, 
 
 Cum ventum ad verum est, sensus moresque repugnant .' 
 
 But so it is, even though, in his distress, Rome's Popes some- 
 times used him scurvily, and when it served their purpose, played 
 fast and loose with the most untractable of men. But the most 
 wonderful point is still behind. 
 
 Becket (alas ! for the weakness of human nature,) was self- 
 deceived ! He was brought by degrees to look upon himself as the 
 champion of the Cross! He confounded the unheard of 
 privileges of the Church with religion ! It was a conse- 
 quence natural enough, that when matters had once advanced thus 
 far, the king and the primate should be rivals, according to that 
 proverb of the ancients, Unum arbustuni non alit duos erithacos! 
 
 Then again, such was the robbery and spoliation that the Church 
 had undergone at the hands of the State ; such was the miserable 
 condition of the Church's patrimony at this time in England, that 
 the heart of Becket, — his heart of hearts, and the better part of 
 him, — could not brook the contumely. Bishoprics were not filled 
 up ; abbeys were in a like sort ; and the chances were, that in a few 
 years no endowments would be left. How should Becket, of all 
 men living, stomach this ? Moreover, schooled as he was, and 
 notwithstanding the vacillating conduct of Rome towards him, 
 when it served a purpose, to him the authority of the Pope was 
 
160 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET, 
 
 paramount, and it would be a kind of moral sacrilege to give up the 
 Clergy to lay tribunals. Was the civil sword more to be heeded 
 than that of St. Peter ? Condemnation by common law more than 
 censures ecclesiastical ? 
 
 Acute, strong-minded, and energetic as the primate was, he did 
 not detect the fallacy under which he had laboured. The result 
 of this self-delusion was, that he lost sight of his besetting sins — 
 vanity and personal ambition, however well masked. In the place 
 of these he saw in himself an honest and thorough determination to 
 defend the cause of right, and a firm resolution to support the pedes- 
 tal of the Cross, as though that foundation were not better laid ! 
 Obstinacy became self-devotion ; prejudice and bigotry sound zeal 
 for the glory of God, and an intrepid perseverance in the blood of 
 holy martyrs ! Sanguis Martyrum semen Ecclesia? was to him 
 for hatchment and for posy ! Attachment to the hierarchy blotted 
 out all earthly affections, so that ingratitude to a sovereign seemed 
 no sin ; and the ties of friendship were snapped asunder like tow, 
 or counted as an amiable weakness ! Becket, in a word, was 
 self-deceived, and " the cause," says one, " which to us wears few 
 marks of Christian truth, to him was sacred, and he defended it 
 sincerely." ( Berington, p. 240 J 
 
 After all, he was neither such a sinner as some, nor such a saint 
 as others represent him to have been. The best of men are but 
 men at best, and he, like the rest of us, was hedged in by infirmi- 
 ties. He had a great part to play, and great abuses to stem. He 
 was tried by prosperity and adversity. It may be, he was weighed 
 and found wanting ; dust nevertheless he was, and mercifully as 
 such to be dealt with by brethren in after ages, who haply err no 
 less than he did in their every-day trials, and every-day tempta- 
 tions ! How should the consideration of his life imprint upon the 
 ambitious Churchman the prophet's words, "And seehest thou 
 great things for thyself? seek them not ! " ( Jer. xlv. 5,) and much 
 more those words of our Blessed Lord, so little exemplified in his 
 restless, turbulent, and care-galled life. " Blessed are the 
 meek ! " "Blessed are the peacemakers ! " Great was the 
 name the archbishop left behind him, but many nameless ones 
 have done great acts, and a better record is kept in heaven than 
 in the martyrologies of earth ! At the same time, as that great 
 and good Christian philosopher said on his Christian Morals, 
 
OR, THOMAS BKCKET. 
 
 161 
 
 " Culpable beginnings have found commendable conclusions, and 
 infamous courses pious retractations. Detestable sinners have 
 proved exemplary converts on earth, and may be glorious in the 
 apartment of Mary Magdalen in heaven. Men are not the same 
 through all the divisions of their ages ; time, experience, self- 
 reflections, and God's mercies, make in some well-tempered minds 
 a kind of translation before death, and men differ from themselves 
 as well as from other persons. 11 Charity in the long run 
 judges best. And thus, alive to the worst of Becket 1 s faults, 
 we are not sorry to quote the words of a great divine, (Thomas 
 Jackson,) and to conclude, " To sit as coroners upon the souls 
 of men deceased, is a thing which I have ever misliked, though 
 sometimes practised by men, otherwise of deserved esteem. And 
 whosoever in this case will take upon him to sit as judge, my 
 request shall be not to serve upon the jury. 11 
 
 M 
 
Nb. ir. 
 
 M 2 
 
" Tria sunt necessaria puritati : Integritas actionis, simplicitas intentionis, tran- 
 quillitas devotionis." 
 
 Pseudo-Bernard, Lib. Sentent. ii. 778. 
 
 " It is not the stubborn letter must govern us, but the divine and softening 
 breath of charity, which turns and winds the dictates of every positive command, 
 and shapes it to the good of mankind." 
 
 Milton, Tetrachordon, P. W. ii. 165. 
 
 " To those men who employ their natural faculties to the glory of God, and their 
 own and others' edification, God shall afford an exaltation of those natural faculties. 
 In those, who use their learning, or their wealth, or their power, well, God shall 
 increase that power, and that wealth, and that learning, even in this world." 
 
 Donne's Sermons, xlvi. p. 464. 
 
 " An easy matter it is to bind heavy burdens for other men's shoulders ; but it 
 is not so easy to persuade the people to take them up to bear them, so long as the 
 binders, like those Pharisees in the Gospel, refuse to touch them with the least of 
 their fingers. If we think to awaken the world out of their dead sleep, it will not 
 be enough to crow unto others, unless withal we shall beat our wings on our own 
 sides." 
 
 Dean Raleigh's Sermons, p. 50. 4to. 1679. 
 
 " Without the sovereign influence of God's extraordinary and immediate grace, 
 men do very rarely put off all the trappings of their Pride, till they who are about 
 them put on their winding-sheet." 
 
 Clarendon's Essay Of Pride, i. 79. 
 
 " Policy, the great idol of a carnal reason, is that which insensibly works the 
 soul to a despisal of religion." 
 
 South's Sermons, vi. 76. 
 
parorfwl ^fragments, 
 
 fyc. Sfc. Src. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I am sorry to have left you so long to yourself. My wish was 
 to have returned last night, but I could not get the business I 
 was about settled. These Parochial concerns are at times both 
 vexatious and harassing. However, you had the library at your 
 command, and few know how to make use of a library better. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Will you credit me, Eubulus, when I say I have scarcely taken 
 down a book ? The truth is, I have devoted myself to your sketch 
 of Beckefs life, and have looked only to your authorities. It is 
 deeply interesting, and there are more points than one on which 
 I wish to make some inquiries. And first, are you aware how 
 closely the narrative coincides with that beautiful account in 
 Southey's " Book of the Church V 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It is a matter on which I feel the greatest satisfaction ; but on 
 comparing the two sketches together, I doubted much as to the 
 publication of my own. In fact, it seemed needless. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I am well pleased to infer that your doubts are at an end. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 They are. On reconsidering the matter in my own mind, it 
 
166 AUTHORITIES FOR BECKERS LIFE. 
 
 appeared to me quite worth while to show how diligent historical 
 research, and careful weighing of authorities, had brought two 
 writers, agreeing in the main, but differing on lesser points, to 
 nearly the same conclusions. I do not happen to have at hand 
 the later edition of the " Book of the Church," where the references 
 are given at the foot of the page, but the great authority of 
 Southey, like my own, was Lord Lyttelton. The order of events 
 would show this. You will have noted a few points of difference. 
 I would by no means assert that my arrangement is correct ; 
 but it is made after a careful comparison of conflicting dates. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 What other authorities did you make use of? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 At a distance from public libraries, I had no opportunity of 
 consulting those Authors whom I will designate Chroniclers and 
 Annalists \ From these the history of the time is chiefly derived, 
 and all subsequent writers are indebted to them for their details. 
 The facts, however, I was enabled to weigh and to compare, care- 
 fully divesting each of favour or prejudice. If in any instances 
 I have been betrayed on one side or the other, some one hereafter 
 will do the like by me. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 But say, whose accounts do you look upon as most valuable, 
 next to Lord Lyttelton's ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I think, the historian Henry ; and, making allowance for 
 favourable construction, and possibly something more, I would 
 place Berington next. Butler, in his " Lives of the Saints," is 
 the advocate of a party, and is as little to be followed closely as 
 Hume or Eapin. Sharon Turner's account of Becket is not 
 sufficiently in detail, but what is written is well written. I wish 
 
 1 They are enumerated in Mr. Berington's Preface, who gives a short account 
 of them severally. They are, William of Malmesbury, William of Newborough, 
 Ralph de Diceto, Gervase of Canterbury, Roger de Hoveden, Giraldus Cam- 
 brensis, Geoffry Vinisalvus, Mathew Paris, the Chronicles of Mailros, and of 
 Walter Hemingford, and the Annals of Morgan of Burton, and of Waverley. 
 See pp. vii. — xviii. The Quadrilogus and Becket's Letters are of course the great 
 authority. 
 
AUTHORITIES FOR BECKEt's LIFE. 167 
 
 it had been longer. Fox, in his " Acts and Monuments," can 
 scarcely be looked upon as historical authority. He and Butler 
 may be considered as the two extremes. Fuller, again, has a 
 decided bias, though there are many points which he touches 
 well. I am not sure whether Collier does not deserve to be 
 enumerated next to Lord Lyttelton. He takes, I think, a fairer 
 view of Becket's character than his Lordship did. I need hardly 
 tell you that I have consulted every authority I could lay my 
 hands upon, but I shall not mention other names now. 
 
 alethes. 
 
 Perhaps I do not myself much dissent from the opinion ex- 
 pressed by Inett, in his " Origines AnglicanEe," which I referred 
 to yesterday. But let me ask, Eubulus, how it is that in con- 
 cluding Becket's history, you did not sum up his character ? I 
 could much wish to hear from your own mouth an opinion, long 
 ere this, matured in your own breast. The omission is clearly 
 intended and on purpose. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It is. To sketch the character of Becket was no easy matter, 
 and I therefore did not attempt it. My intention was that his 
 acts should speak for him, and that his infirmities should be set 
 down to the score of the cross. As, however, you press the 
 point, I will declare my sentiments. But it is of little use, save 
 to gratify a friend, as each one will draw his own conclusions from 
 the study of the Life. And trust me, it is no easy study. It 
 required much reading, and the careful investigation of conflicting 
 evidence. Prepared as I was, I devoted the leisure of three 
 months to the collection of details, which took but a week to put 
 in the order in which you read it. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I know your industry and love of research. I recollect the fact, 
 that when, many years ago, the edition of the Acharnians, by 
 Elmsley, was bought up,— at all events, not to be procured, — you 
 quietly sat down and made a manuscript copy of it from one lent 
 you by Bishop Butler. I attribute to that your ready knowledge 
 in the Prince of Comic Poets. 
 
1(58 
 
 bucket's character. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Such studies are past and gone ! " Nunc oblita mihi tot car- 
 mina ! " 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 There needs no tone of melancholy, Eubulus. They have done 
 their work, and have made your taste severe as it is. There are 
 no models like the Greek and Eoman writers. But, think aloud ! 
 and let me hear of Becket. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 At your request I have appended to the Lifemy Second Thoughts. 
 But I omitted to state, that much as I dislike a great portion of 
 Hume's summing up, there is much truth, nevertheless, in parts 
 of it. For example, " No man who enters into the genius of that 
 age, can reasonably doubt of this prelate's sincerity. The spirit 
 of superstition was so prevalent, that it infallibly caught every 
 careless reasoner, much more every one whose interest, and 
 honour, and ambition, were engaged to support it." Again, 
 " Throughout that large collection of letters which bears the 
 name of St. Thomas, we find, in all the retainers of that aspiring 
 prelate, no less than in himself, a most entire and absolute con- 
 viction of the reason and piety of their own party, and a disdain 
 of their antagonists. The spirit of revenge, violence, and am- 
 bition, which accompanied their conduct, instead of forming a 
 presumption of hypocrisy, are the surest pledges of their sincere 
 attachment to a cause, which so much flattered their domineering 
 passions." I will only add to what has been said the extract 
 which follows. It is from Bishop Short's " Sketch of the History 
 of the Church of England," " Of the cleverness and decision of 
 Becket's character there can be no doubt ; but it seems equally 
 unquestionable that his object was personal ambition ; he died a 
 martyr to the cause of the advancement of his own ecclesiastical 
 power. The violence of his letters to the Court of Rome, and the 
 vindictive persecution of his enemies, show most forcibly how far 
 he was from that serenity which the disinterestedness of a good 
 cause can alone inspire 2 ." 
 
 3 Vol. i. p. 57- 
 
OKATIAN AND THE DECRETALS. 
 
 J 69 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I owe you many thanks for your delineation of Becket's cha- 
 racter. There are points on which we should differ, but not 
 materially ; and others, as you said, will do the like. As regards 
 the tinge of his character, however, derived from the study of the 
 Decretals, I am quite at one with you. Refresh my memory, will 
 you, as to the date of Gratian and their publication ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I cannot do better than read to you what Blackstone says in 
 his ; ' Commentaries i" " The canon law is a body of Roman ecclesias- 
 tical law, relative to such matters as that Church either has, or 
 pretends to have, the proper jurisdiction over. This is compiled 
 from the opinions of the ancient Latin fathers, the decrees of 
 general councils, and the decretal epistles and bulls of the Holy 
 See. All which lay in the same disorder and confusion as the 
 Roman civil law: till about the year 1151, one Gratian, an 
 Italian monk, animated by the discovery of Justinian's Pandects," 
 (at Amalfi, about 1130,) " reduced the ecclesiastical constitutions 
 also into some method, in three books ; which he entitled Con- 
 cordia Discordantium Canonum, but which are generally known by 
 the name of Decretam Gratiani. These reached as low as the time 
 of Pope Alexander III. The subsequent Papal decrees, to the 
 Pontificate of Gregory IX., were published in much the same 
 method, under the auspices of that Pope, about the year 1 230, 
 in five books, entitled Decretalia Gregorii JYoni. A sixth book was 
 added by Boniface VIII., about the year 1298, which is called 
 Sextus Decretalium. The Clementine Constitutions, or decrees of 
 Clement V., were in like manner authenticated in 1317, by his 
 successor, John XXII. ; who also published twenty Constitutions 
 of his own, called the Extravagantes Joannis : all which in some 
 measure answer to the novels of the civil law. To these have been 
 since added some decrees of later Popes, in five books, called Ex- 
 travagantes Communes. And all these together, Gratian's decree, 
 Gregory's decretals, the sixth decretal, the Clementine constitu- 
 tions, and the extravagants of John and his successors, form the 
 Corpus Juris Canonici, or body of the Roman canon law 3 ." 
 
 3 Blackstone's Com., vol. i. p. 75. Ed. Chitty. 
 
170 
 
 AMALFI. DISCOVERY OF THE COMPASS. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Clear and satisfactory. What historical recollections arise in 
 one's mind, Eubulus, at the mention of Amain ! Not only were 
 the Pandects found there, but, as Gibbon tells, " the discovery of 
 the compass, which has opened the globe, is due to their ingenuity 
 or good fortune 4 ." In William of Apulia's words, 
 
 " Hac plurimus urbe moratur 
 Nauta maris ccelique vias aperire peritus." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 In her palmy days, fifty thousand citizens dwelt within her 
 walls. You will not forget the pretty poem of Amalfi, in 
 Rogers's " Italy. 1 ' 
 
 " Tlie time has been 
 When on the quays along the Syrian coast, 
 'Twas asked and eagerly, at break of dawn, 
 ' What ships are from Amalfi ?' when her coins 
 Silver and gold, circled from clime to clime ; 
 From Alexandria southward to Sennaar, 
 And eastward, thro' Damascus and Cabul, 
 And Samarcand, to thy great wall, Cathay!" 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 In her prosperity she built and endowed churches in the East, 
 and by her merchants was founded the military order of St. J ohn 
 of Jerusalem. Such things are not lightly forgotten. Had we 
 done what Amalfi did. Eubulus, the burden of our sin were not 
 so heavy. But as a great mercantile nation we have left undone 
 what we ought to have done, and we have much to answer for. 
 But does not Rogers allude to the Hospital of St. John I 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 He does, and the passage is evidently written con amore. I 
 will recite it to you. 
 
 " Then in Palestine, 
 By the way side, in sober grandeur stood 
 
 4 See Gibbon's " Decline and Fall," vol. x. p. 276. Ed. Milman. It was " seven 
 miles to the west of Salerno, and thirty to the south of Naples." It enjoyed a 
 prosperity of three hundred years, before it was " oppressed by the arms of the 
 Normans, and sacked by the jealousy of Pisa." — See also Hallam, Hist, of Middle 
 Ages 3 iii. 390. 304. 
 
KNIGHTS A KD HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN. GRATIAN. 171 
 
 A Hospital, that, night and day, received 
 
 The pilgrims of the West ; and, when 'twas asked 
 
 1 Who are the noble founders?' every tongue 
 
 At once replied, ' The merchants of Amalfi !' 
 
 That Hospital, when Godfrey scaled the walls, 
 
 Sent forth its holy men in complete steel ; 
 
 And hence, the cowl relinquish'd for the helm, 
 
 That chosen band, valiant, invincible, 
 
 So long renown'd as champions of the Cross, 
 
 In Rhodes, in Malta." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Hut we are wandering from our subject, and there is a question 
 I wish to ask, relative to Gratian, before we return to Becket. 
 On turning to Hoffman's " Lexicon Univers." I found there, 
 Gratianus, Monaclius Bononiensis, Petri Lombardi sententiarum 
 magiitri /rater. If this be true, it is a remarkable fact I was 
 not aware of. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 There are few more useful books to a scholar than Hoffman, but 
 like other great books it contains great mistakes. The present 
 is one of the lesser ones. A mistake it is, nevertheless. Miraeus, 
 in his Scholia on Henricus Gandavensis, mentions Gratian as 
 Petro Lombardo coccvus, but he presently adds, Falluntur tamen, 
 qui Gratianum, Pet rum Lombardum, et Pet rum Comestorem ger- 
 manos fratres fuisse asserunt 5 . I was led to examine the matter 
 from having myself found the statement you allude to. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Those faithful friends, your books, you have made good use of. 
 It is seldom I ask for information without receiving it. But to 
 return to Becket. Little, it seems, was after all gained by the 
 contest. There was a time, however, whilst it was going on, 
 when Henry might have dictated terms to the Roman See, and I 
 have often thought that King John's words to Pandulph might 
 have been used with effect by his father : 
 
 " What earthly name to interrogatories 
 Can task the free breath of a sacred king ? 
 
 h The paaaage will be found in Fabricii Bibliotheca Ecclesiastic.!, p. 123. 
 
172 THE PAPACY. BECKET. 
 
 Thou canst not, Cardinal, devise a name 
 
 So slight, unworthy, and ridiculous, 
 
 To charge me to an answer, as the Pope. 
 
 Tell him this tale ; and from the mouth of England 
 
 Add thus much more, — That no Italian priest 
 
 Shall tithe or toll in our dominions ; 
 
 But as we under heaven are supreme head, 
 
 So, under him, that great supremacy, 
 
 Where we do reign, we will alone uphold 
 
 Without the assistance of a mortal hand : 
 
 So tell the Pope ; all reverence set apart 
 
 To him, and his usurp'd authority 6 ." 
 
 EUBTJLUS. 
 
 Henry might have said it with a better grace than his unworthy 
 son, but I do not think that he would have said it. The truth is, 
 we can scarcely at this day understand the spell which wrought so 
 effectually, and maintained the power of the Hierarchy. From 
 this, Henry was not emancipated. He was within the magic 
 circle. And, to say the truth, superstition is at any time better 
 than atheism. I make no doubt the Papacy, at different times, 
 wrought a good work. Opposed as I am thoroughly and entirely 
 to the spirit of Romanism, I must in justice allow this. Many 
 dark places of the earth, full of cruelty, were humanized by its 
 influence. But, when it exceeded, it fell. I would apply to the 
 idolatries of Rome that verse of the Prophet: When Ephraim 
 spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel ; but when he offended 
 in Baal, he died 1 . But to answer your question. Little does 
 seem to have been gained on the present occasion. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 If I recollect well, the terms of agreement and reconciliation 
 were settled at the convent of Savigni, near Avranches, the Sun- 
 day before Ascension-day, 1172. Albert and Theodine were 
 the Pope's legates, and the negotiation was effected — was it not ? 
 — by the intervention of the Bishop of Lisieux. As you have 
 Lyttelton at hand, I wish you would read me the articles. 
 
 EUBTJLUS. 
 
 They are as follows : " 1 . That in the course of the next 
 
 * King Jolin, Act iii. Sc. i. 
 
 7 Hosea xiii. 1. 
 
BECKET AND HENRY. 
 
 173 
 
 twelvemonth from the approaching feast of Pentecost, the King 
 should give so much money as the Knights Templars should 
 deem sufficient to maintain two hundred knights for the defence 
 of the Holy Land during the term of one year. But that, from 
 the next Christmas-day, he should take the cross himself for the 
 term of three years, and the following summer go in person to 
 the Holy Land, unless the obligation were dispensed with by 
 Pope Alexander himself, or his Catholic successors. Neverthe- 
 less, if, from the pressing necessity of the Christians in Spain, 
 he should go thither to make war against the Saracens, he might 
 in that case defer his journey to Jerusalem, for so much time as 
 he should spend in such an expedition. 2. That he neither should 
 hinder himself, nor suffer others to hinder, appeals from being 
 made freely, with good faith, and without fraud and evil intention, 
 in ecclesiastical causes to the Roman Pontiff ; so that they may 
 be tried and determined according to his judgment. Yet with a 
 proviso, that if any appellants were suspected by the King, they 
 should give him security, that they would not attempt any thing to 
 the prejudice of him or his kingdom. 3. That he should absolutely 
 give up those constitutions or customs which had been introduced 
 in his time against the Church of his kingdom. 4. That if any 
 lands had been taken from the See of Canterbury, he should fully 
 restore them, as they were held by that see a year before Arch- 
 bishop Becket went out of England. 5. That to all the clergy 
 and laity of either sex, who had been deprived of their possessions 
 on the account of that prelate, he should likewise restore those 
 possessions with his peace and favour 8 ." Such were the articles, 
 and to these Henry and his son swore to accede, as well as to 
 adhere to Alexander so long as he should treat them like Christian 
 and Catholic Kings. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Certainly, it would seem from these articles that Henry gave 
 up all he had been contending for. 
 
 EOBULUS. 
 
 So, at first sight, one is apt to conclude. But it is difficult to 
 judge accurately of matters which have happened long ago. 
 
 s Lyttelton, vol. iii. p. 90. 
 
174 
 
 BECKET AND HENRY. 
 
 Henry evidently thought he had made a politic arrangement, and 
 in writing to the Bishop of Exeter, touching the constitutions or 
 customs mentioned in Article 2, his words are, " which I reckon 
 to be few or none.'''' 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 It was a strange thing to find Henry doing penance at the 
 shrine of Becket. Such a sight, I suppose, was never seen before. 
 To say the least, it showed that the King's mind was under the 
 prevailing influence of a superstitious awe. 
 
 KUBUI.US. 
 
 And so it was, no doubt. A like influence impelled him in his 
 sickness, in 1170, to request that he might be buried at the feet 
 of one of the Abbots of Grammont. On his recovery, you will 
 recollect that he went on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Mary 
 of Roque Madour in the Quercy, whom he had involved in his 
 danger. As I remarked above, his mind was not emancipated. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The fame, however, of Becket, increased daily — quern multis 
 postea miraculis (as it stands in the Breviary) idem Alexander 
 Pontifex retulit in sanctorum numerum. And thus, in Shakspeare's 
 words, he was 
 
 " Canonized and worshipp'd as a saint 9 !" 
 
 EUBITLUS. 
 
 The bull for his canonization is dated March, 1173. The Pope, 
 it is pretty clear, was imposed upon by the account of the miracles 
 said to be wrought at his shrine. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Imposed upon he may have been to a certain extent, but he 
 must have had some misgivings on the point. Be that as it may, 
 it is sad to see the result of imposition, and how it trenched upon 
 
 ,J In the " Pictorial History of England," vol. i. p. 45C, is a plate of the " Mur- 
 der of Becket : from an ancient Painting hung at the head of the Tomb of Henry 
 IV., in Canterbury Cathedral, engraved and described in Carter's Ancient Sculp- 
 tures and Paintings." 
 
 There is a rude painting of this in East Preston Church, and it is said that there 
 were formerly a hundred such in different churches. All seem to have been 
 equally guiltless of perspective and other perfections. 
 
BECKIiT's SHRINE AT CANTERBURY. 
 
 17S 
 
 profaneness and blasphemy. For example, adoration was offered 
 to him, and those things were asked of him which God only could 
 give. Burnet, in his " Records," reprints the following, together 
 with some of the Collects and Hymns to the Saints in the Hours 
 ad usum Sarum, Paris, 1520. 
 
 " Fol. 12. S. Tho. Cant.: Tu per Thomce sanguinem, quern 
 pro te impendit, fac nos Christe scandere, quo Thomas ascenditr 
 
 Versicle. " Gloria el honore coronasti eum." 
 
 Response. " Et constituisti eum supra opera manuum tuarum '." 
 
 This is very melancholy ! But even so late as 1829, in the Pars 
 Hiemalis of the Breviarium Romanum, printed at Paris, we yet 
 find the prayer following : — " Deus pro cujus Ecclesid generosus 
 Pontifex Thomas gladiis imjnorum occubuit, prwsta, quwsumus, ut 
 omnes qui ejus implorant auxilium petitionis sua} salutarem conse- 
 quantur effectum. Per Dominum 2 ." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Melancholy it is, Alethes, beyond doubt ! But it is equally so 
 to read of the several offerings that were made, after Becket's 
 death, at the three greatest altars in Christ Church, Canterbury. 
 These were dedicated to Christ, the Virgin, and St. Thomas. 
 I give the statement as it stands in Burnet : " In one year there 
 was offered at Christ's Altar, 3/. 2s. 6d. To the Virgin's Altar, 
 631. 5s. 6d. But to St, Thomas's, 832/. 12s. 3d. But the next 
 year the odds were greater ; for there was not a penny offered at 
 Christs Altar, and at the Virgin's only U. Is. 8d. ; but at St. 
 Thomas's, 945/. 6s. 3d. 3 " 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Such is human nature ! frail, and fallible, and led astray con- 
 tinually. We are apt to boast of our solid unenthusiastic cha- 
 
 1 See vol. ii. part ii. p. 221. The translation is given in Fox's " Acts and 
 Monuments :" — 
 
 " For the blood of Thomas 
 
 Which he for Thee did spend, 
 Grant us, Christ, to climb 
 Where Thomas did ascend." 
 
 Reprint, vol. ii. 254. 
 
 2 Pars Hiemalis, p. 257. 
 
 3 See Burnet's " History of the Reformation," vol. i. p. 488. Ed. Clar. 1829. 
 
176 
 
 BECKEt's SHRINE AT CANTERBURY. 
 
 racter, but, after all, we are much like to the rest of the world. 
 There is scarce a folly named, but we are dupes to it, and St. 
 Paul might have said to us, as he did to the Athenians when he 
 stood in the midst of Mars"" Hill, " I perceive that in all things 
 ye are too superstitious V 1 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 For no less than three hundred years Becket was accounted 
 one of the greatest saints in heaven. " Nor was it enough," says 
 the same authority, " to give him one day in the Calendar, 
 the 29th of December ; but unusual honours were devised for this 
 martyr of the liberties of the Church, greater than any that had 
 been given to the martyrs for Christianity. The day of raising 
 his body, or, as they called it, of his translation, being the 7th of 
 July, was not only a holiday, but every fiftieth year there was a 
 jubilee for fifteen days together, and indulgence was granted to 
 all that came to visit his shrine ; as appears from the record of 
 the sixth jubilee after his translation, anno 1 420 ; which bears, 
 that there were then about an hundred thousand strangers come 
 to visit his tomb. The jubilee began at twelve o'clock on the 
 vigil of the feast, and lasted fifteen days. 1 " I may add, what is 
 yet to be seen, the marble steps are worn with the knees of the 
 pilgrims ! 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 That strange book, " Aubrey^ Miscellanies,'''' is worth reading, 
 were it but for what is said there of Dr. Richard Nepier, Rector 
 of Lynford, Bucks. " He died upon his knees, being of a very 
 great age, April 1, 1634. His knees were horny with frequent 
 praying V Happy testimony ! But the knees of these pilgrims 
 were but occasional visitors to St. Thomas's shrine. It was the 
 multitude that wore the marble. But did not Henry VIII. 
 unsaint and unshrine the martyr ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 He did, and it would be well for his memory if he had never 
 done worse. The proclamation is dated November 16th, 1538. 
 The latter words of it declare, " That notwithstanding the said 
 canonization, there appeareth nothing in this (? his) life and ex- 
 
 4 Acts xvii. 22. 
 
 5 See p. 226. 8vo. 1784. 
 
BECKET S SHRINE AT CANTERBURY. 
 
 177 
 
 terior conversation, whereby he should be called a saint, but 
 rather esteemed to have been a rebel and traitor to his prince. 
 Therefor his grace straightly chargeth and commandeth that 
 from henceforth the said Thomas Becket shall not be esteemed, 
 named, reputed, or called a saint ; but Bishop Becket : and that 
 his images and pictures, through the hole realme, shall be put 
 down and avoided, out of all churches, chappelles, and other 
 places. And that from henceforth, the days used to be festivals 
 in his name, shall not be observed ; nor the service, office, anti- 
 phones, collettes, and praises in his name redde, but rased and put 
 out of all the bookes V 1 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Wicked work was mingled with the good, my friend, when those 
 of Henry's time, and the Puritans afterwards, took to image and 
 glass-breaking! No church but shows the handiwork of destruction ! 
 no cathedral but whose fair beauty and proportions are marred ! 
 But so it must be. As in a plague or a hurricane good and ill taste 
 the same desolation ! And then in the crusade against painted glass 
 and image-work, the people had a hand — and truly Jack Cade 
 said well of their mischievous propensities : " Was ever feather 
 so lightly blown to and fro, as this multitude 7 V But the shrine 
 was found to be wealthy, was it not ? 
 
 KUBULUS. 
 
 It was. Insomuch so, that when it was broken open and 
 carried away, the gold that was about it, says Burnet, " filled 
 two chests, which were so heavy, that they were a load to eight 
 strong men to carry them out of the church." The stone, too, 
 which had been offered by Louis VII. of France was believed to 
 be the richest in Europe. It was found out at the same time 
 that the Primate's skull, " which had been so much worshipped, 
 was an imposture ; for the true skull was lying with the rest of 
 his bones in his grave. 11 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Well, well, Eubulus ! these fooleries have had their day in our 
 
 0 See" Collection of Records," vol. iii. part ii. p. 206. " Westm' xvi. Norcmbris, 
 anno r,,jni regit llcnrici Octavi xxx." See also Strype's " Eccles. Memorials," vol. 
 iii. part i. p. 333 ; and " Annals of the Reformation," vol. i. part i. p. 70. 
 
 7 Second Part of Henry VI., Act iv. Sc. viii. 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 THE CANTERBURY TALES. 
 
 own land, and others, perhaps, have succeeded them. In passing 
 from the melancholy side of the subject, let us not forget that it 
 is to St. Thomas's shrine we owe the " Canterbury Tales 11 — 
 Chaucer's master-work ! How simply and prettily he tells us 
 that in spring, 
 
 " Whanne that April with his shoures sote 
 
 The droughte of March hath perced to the rote, 
 
 And bathed every veine in swiche licour 
 
 Of whiche vertue engendred is the flour; 
 
 Whan Zephirus eke with his sote brethe 
 
 Enspired hath in every holt and hethe 
 
 The tendre croppes, and the younge sonne 
 
 Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne, 
 
 And smale foules maken melodie 
 
 That slepen alle night with open eye, 
 
 So priketh hem Nature in her corages ; 
 
 Than longen folk to gon on pilgrimages, 
 
 And palmeres for to seken strange strondes 
 
 To serwe halwes couthe in sondry londes ; 
 
 And specially, from every shire's ende 
 
 Of Engelond, to Canterbury they wende, 
 
 The holy blisful martyr for to seeke 
 
 That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke." 
 
 ETJBULUS. 
 
 You are always ready to turn to your favourites, and, sooth to 
 say, were I to frame an Utopia, I would never banish Poetry from 
 it ! Nothing can rival the simplicity of our ancient bard. To 
 this day the locality is as well known as Westminster or St. 
 Paul's. But I interrupted you. Say on. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Nay, 'twas my humour ! There were but a few lines more that 
 rang in my ear like music, or a bubbling trout-stream in the high 
 noon of a summer's day. 
 
 " Befelle, that, in that seson on a day, 
 In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay, 
 Redy to wenden on my pilgrimage 
 To Canterbury with devoute courage, 
 At night was come into that hostelrie 
 Wei nine and twenty in a compagnie 
 
sir phii.ip Sidney's defence of poesy. 
 
 179 
 
 Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle 
 In felowship, and pilgrimes were they alle, 
 That toward Canterbury wolden ride. 
 The chambres and the stables weren wide, 
 And wel we weren esed atte beste." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Had all sung like Chaucer, the name of Poet had not been 
 wronged. And now, I bethink me, it was well said of Sir Philip 
 Sidney, in his " Defence of Poesy," " That wise Solon was 
 directly a Poet, having written, in verse, the notable fable of the 
 ' Atlantic Island,' which was continued by Plato. And, truly, 
 even Plato, whosoever well considereth, shall find, that in the 
 body of his work, though the inside and strength were philosophy, 
 the skin, as it were, and beauty, depended most of poetry/ 1 
 And presently after, having referred to the Divine Songs of 
 David, " wherein, almost, he showeth himself a passionate lover 
 of that unspeakable and everlasting beauty, to be seen by the 
 eyes of the mind, but clearer by faith," he adds, " They that with 
 quiet judgments, will look a little deeper into it, shall find the 
 end and working of it such, as being rightly applied, deserveth 
 not to be scourged out of the Church of God V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 You speak of a book I love full well. The Defence would 
 hardly please modern ears, but it is full of heart and beauty. 
 And who so beloved as Sidney? No wonder that Lord Brooke 
 should inscribe himself as his friend ; or that Spenser should 
 mourn the loss of 
 
 " A gentle shepheard born in Arcady 
 Of gentlest race that ever shepheard bore ! " 
 
 8 See " Defence of Poesy," pp. 6. 9. Ed. Gray. The use of to make below, 
 quoted from Spenser, is best illustrated by a passage from the same work : " But 
 now let us see how the Greeks have named it, and how they deemed of it. The 
 Greeks named him ttoi>iti)v, which name hath, as the most excellent, gone through 
 other languages ; it cometh of this word 7rot£iv, which is to make; wherein I know 
 not, whether by luck or wisdom, we Englishmen have met with the Greeks in 
 calling him ' a maker.' " 
 
 Puttcnham begins his first Book of " Poets and Poesie " in these words : " A 
 poet is as much to say as a maker. And our Englishe name well conformes with 
 the Greeke worde ; for of noiiiv to make, they call a maker Pocta." Ed. Jos. 
 Hasletcood. 4lo. 1811. 
 
 x 2 
 
180 
 
 SOUTHEY S l'OETKY. 
 
 It is of him, too, that he elsewhere says, 
 
 " The god of shepheards, Tityrus, is dead, 
 Who taught me, homely as I can, to make!" 
 
 EUBUMJS. 
 
 Spenser, Alethes, was one of the lamented Southey's greatest 
 favourites, than whom a purer spirit never poured forth immortal 
 verse ! He is gone to his rest ! But he has left behind him an 
 antidote for the scurrilous, and licentious, and infidel rhyme 
 which was coming in, like a flood, some twenty or thirty years 
 ago. He was a " Votes Dimnus^ and the nation owes him a 
 deep debt of gratitude. Few could have said with greater justice, 
 in Othello's words, 
 
 " I have done the state some service, and they know it!" 
 
 When I dwell upon the lineaments of his face, I cannot but 
 call to mind those lines in Spenser's Elegie 9 , 
 " A sweet attractive kind of grace, 
 A full assurance given by looks, 
 Continual comfort in a face, 
 The lineaments of Gospel bookes : 
 
 I trowe that countenance cannot lie 
 Whose thoughts are legible in the eie. 
 
 " Was never eie did see that face, 
 Was never eare did hear that tong, 
 Was never minde did minde his grace 
 That ever thought the travell long ; 
 
 But eies and eares, and every thought 
 Were with his sweete perfections caught." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I can illustrate this from a circumstance which came to 
 my own knowledge. Between those years of melancholy mis- 
 rule, privy conspiracy, and rebellion, and all that was bad, 
 1830 — 1835, (I cannot say which,) a most violent partisan, and 
 one who earned his bread by doing work for Whigs and Radicals, 
 passed through Keswick, and saw (by some chance) the Laureate 
 with his family. He never forgot the sight, and when called 
 
 9 " An Elegie, or Friend's Passion, for his AstrophilL" It was written on Sir 
 Philip Sidney's death. 
 
USES OF POETRY. 
 
 181 
 
 upon afterwards to write some invective or other, he at once 
 refused, saying, " I have seen him amongst the mountains /" 
 " Above all others this is hee, 
 Which erst approved in his song 
 That love and honour might agree, 
 And that pure love will do no wrong. 
 Sweet Saints ! it is no sinne or blame 
 To love a man of virtuous name ! " 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 How often and how eloquently have I heard him speak of the 
 base use made of the gift divine ! Who need be surprised at his 
 love for Spenser, who attuned his lyre to such truths as these ! 
 " Heapes of huge words uphoorded hideously 
 "With horrid sound though having little sense, 
 They think to be chiefe praise of Poetry : 
 And thereby wanting due intelligence 
 Have mard the face of goodly Poesie, 
 And made a moster of their fantasie. 
 
 " Whilom in ages past none might professe 
 But Princes and high Priests that secret skill ; 
 The sacred lawes therein they wont expresse 
 And with deep Oracles their verses fill : 
 Then was she held in sovereign dignitie 
 And made the noursling of nobilitie. 
 
 " But now nor Prince nor Priest doth her maintayne, 
 But suffer her profaned for to bee 
 Of the base vulgar, that with hands uncleane 
 Dares to pollute her hidden mysterie ; 
 And treadeth under foot her holie things 
 Which was the care of Kesars and of Kings 1 ." 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Vice, sooner or later, must bow to virtue ! — Byron could not 
 help praising Crabbe. I honour his memory, were it but for these 
 words in his Preface to the " Tales of the Hall " There is 
 nothing in these pages which has the mischievous effect of con- 
 founding truth and error, or confusing our ideas of right and 
 wrong. I know not which is most injurious to the yielding minds 
 
 1 The Teares of the Muses. Put yh ymnia. 
 
182 
 
 USES Ol-' POETRY. 
 
 of the young, to render virtue less respectable by making its 
 possessors ridiculous, or by describing vice with so many fasci- 
 nating qualities, that it is either lost in the assemblage, or par- 
 doned by the association. Man's heart is sufficiently prone to 
 make excuse for man's infirmity ; and needs not the aid of poetry, 
 or eloquence, to take from vice its native deformity. 1 '' Words of 
 wisdom these, Eubulus ! And so he says in " The Sisters 
 
 " I will be brief ; — I have not heart to dwell 
 On crimes they almost share who paint them well !" 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Crabbe's praise will not be taken from him, and those who 
 come after us will recommend his writings to their children. I say 
 writings, for I look upon him rather as moralist than poet. Mis- 
 take me not, however ; he too has his place at the " horse-foot 
 Hippocrene. 1 ' But what we have said, Alethes, illustrates that 
 charming passage in the " Defence of Poesy" before appealed to. 
 It will recal to your mind the lines of Shakspeare 2 , who pos- 
 sibly had read it. 
 
 " Now therein, of all sciences, (I speak still of human, and 
 according to the human conceit,) is our poet the monarch. For he 
 doth not only show the way, but giveth so sweet a prospect into 
 the way, as will entice any man to enter into it : nay, he doth, as if 
 your journie should lie through a fair vineyard, at the very first 
 give you a cluster of grapes, that full of that taste you may long 
 to pass farther. He beginneth not with obscure definitions, 
 which must blur the margin with interpretations, and load the 
 memory with doubtfulness ; but he cometh to you in words set in 
 delightful proportion, either accompanied with, or prepared for, 
 the well-enchanting skill of music ; and with a tale, forsooth, he 
 cometh to you with a tale, which holdeth children from play, and 
 old men from the chimney-corner ; and, pretending no more, doth 
 intend the winning of the mind from wickedness to virtue 3 ; even 
 
 3 The lines alluded to are in " Love's Labour's Lost." They pre these : 
 " Aged ears play truant at his tales, 
 And younger hearings are quite ravished : 
 So sweet and voluble is his discourse." — Act ii. Se. i. 
 3 Sir Philip Sidney had Horace at his fingers' ends. See A. P. v. 333 : 
 " Aut prodessc volunt aut deleetare poetic, 
 Aut siniul et jucunda et idonea diccre vita'. - ' 
 
becket's palace at west tabbing. 
 
 183 
 
 as the child is often brought to take most wholesome things, by 
 hiding them in such other as have a pleasant taste ; which, if one 
 should begin to tell them the nature of the aloes or rhabarbarum 
 they should receive, would sooner take their physic at their ears 
 than at their mouth : so is it with men *,'' &c. &c. 
 
 alethes. 
 
 And thus you go rambling on, Eubulus, like a second Lucilius, 
 whom Horace takes off! But the fault was all my own. I must 
 needs refer to the " Canterbury Tales," instead of holding on to 
 Becket's History. But tell me, now, of the old house hard by, 
 which is called Beckefs house. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It is little that there is to tell, and that little is traditional. 
 But who is there who likes to throw discredit on the testimony 
 of the aged ? It scarce seems amiable, to my thinking, Alethes, 
 and I am willing to abide by those lines in my favourite " Fasti :" 
 
 " Pro magna teste vetustas 
 Creditur ; acceptam parce movere fidem 5 ! " 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Do you mean to say, then, that Thomas a Becket never was 
 at West Tarring ? I thought he had introduced the fig there. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I am far from supposing that he was never here, and I make 
 no doubt but that he brought the fig, and planted it, as the tra- 
 dition of the place reports. But there is no record of his residence 
 here, and the house which is called Beckefs is also called the 
 Rectory-house. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Under such circumstances tradition, I think with you, is the 
 best, certainly the most pleasing, record. But it was hardly likely 
 that he should have resided here. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 True ! But it was a place for retirement, and there is suffi- 
 cient evidence to show that the Archbishop of Canterbury did 
 occasionally live for a while amongst the tenants of the see. 
 
 1 Defence of Poesy, p. 7. 
 
 Ovid, Fast., lib. iv. 203. 
 
184 
 
 BECKERS PALACE AT WEST TARRING. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I wish on some future occasion to make certain inquiries rela- 
 tive to the parish of West Tarring. But, in the mean while, 
 what authority have you for the visits of an Archbishop? 
 
 ECBULUS. 
 
 The evidence is rather moral than demonstrative, but quite 
 enough to show that Becket, like his predecessors and successors, 
 might have come here occasionally, and have resided amongst his 
 own people. I say his predecessors, advisedly, for we have it on 
 record that " Athelstun Rex dedit villain de Tarry nges sitam super 
 mare in Suthsexam Ecclesice Christi in Dorobernid."" 1 This is the 
 earliest account I am aware of, and it is referred to, I perceive, 
 in Mr. Cartwright's " History of the Rape of Bramber." His 
 authorities are Somner's " History of Canterbury," and Dug- 
 dale's " Monasticon." The date, between a.d. 941 and a.d. 944. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 But to the point. 
 
 EITBULUS. 
 
 It is this. A trial took place in the year 1277, between 
 Robert 6 , Archbishop of Canterbury, and Richard de Walleys, 
 his tenant, whom he had disseised of two parts of the manor of 
 Tarring for non-payment of rent. They were then held at the 
 sum of 181. per annum; — or, by quarterly payments in kind, 
 (to be paid at Tarring,) after a certain rate, at the option of the 
 Archbishop, he giving previous notice of such intention. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 You have made a case, at least, as the barristers say ; and the 
 date refers us back to the latter years of Edward I. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The MS. letter, from which I derive my information, is in 
 the handwriting of the late Mr. Petri, — -one well versed in 
 antiquities. I believe he made the communication to Mr. Cart- 
 wright, whilst he was compiling his " History of the Rape of 
 Bramber.'' 1 But, as there is a difference, and as the matter is 
 curious, I will read it to you at length. 
 
 Robert Kilwarby, the predecessor of John Peckham, both Franciscan friars. 
 
bkcket's palace at west tabbing. 
 
 185 
 
 " The articles to be furnished, and their prices, were found by 
 inquest to be as follows : Every quarter of wheat was to be 
 valued at 18d., — of oats, at 8d., — a carcase of beef at 16c?., — a 
 yearling hog, at 8d., — a carcase of mutton, at id., — four gallons 
 of beer, at Id., — two good hens, at Id., — five-score eggs, at Id., — 
 wood, charcoal, litter, salt, earthen vessels, cups, dishes, and plat- 
 ters of wood, new, and in sufficient quantities, were to be furnished 
 without payment ; and the Archbishop might use such hay as 
 was found on the premises without any charge. 
 
 " The claims of the Archbishop differ in some instances from 
 those found by the inquest. He states, among other things, that 
 he was to be supplied with four gallons of the best beer for one 
 penny ; and, if it was not good, the vessel might be staved, and 
 a halfpenny or a penny allowed for the vessel ; but the beer went 
 for nothing. Two good geese for one penny, — four fat hens, one 
 penny, — the first hundred of eggs, one penny, — the second hun- 
 dred for nothing. Dishes, platters, salt-sellers, cups, spits, 
 firewood, charcoal, salt, and pitchers new every day. Hay and 
 litter gratis V 1 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 All such details are curious, and worth preserving. But of the 
 old house, Eubulus, which we have so often visited, — that surely 
 could not have been Beckers. Its architecture bewrays it. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Like other houses, it has undergone, no doubt, great altera- 
 tions. Indeed, it is a question whether or not this was the 
 manor-house of the Archbishop. That probably was contiguous 
 to the church. At present, you know, it is a farm-house ; and 
 
 7 For this and other documents I am indebted to the late Rector of Tarring, 
 the Rev. William Vanx. In mentioning a sinecure Rector of Tarring, I should be 
 sorry to forget that Strype held this preferment for twenty-six years. With 
 reference to the prelates of Edward VI. and Elizabeth's reign, Southey beautifully 
 observes, " Their vindication is to be found in their history, as it appears in the 
 faithful compilations of good old John Strype, one of those humble and happy- 
 minded men, who, by diligently labouring in the fields of literature, find, while they 
 live, an enjoyment from which time takes away nothing of its relish, and secure for 
 themselves an honourable and lasting remembrance in the gratitude of posterity." 
 — Vindkiiv Eccl. Angl., p. 360. 
 
186 beckkt's palace at west tarring. 
 
 before it was stript of its old Horsham-stone, (but a year ago,) 
 it had the sombre appearance of an ancient grange. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The Horsham-stone roofing has a very picturesque appearance; 
 and I must regret that, when the chancel was repaired, slate was 
 substituted in the place of it. But I was told that it was a 
 matter of necessity ; and that at the time the Horsham-stone 
 could not be procured. But to return to the Rectory-house, 
 or, as it is called, Beckefs Palace. What is the date of it ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It is usually put down to the time of Edward IV.; but 
 whether correctly or not, I am quite unable to say. There is 
 no doubt, however, but that the windows belong to what Rick- 
 man calls the perpendicular style, and which he says prevailed 
 from the time of Richard II. to that of Henry VIII. All that 
 now remains — the large room, whether hall or refectory, — and the 
 so called chapel, — the latter forty feet by twenty-four, the former 
 thirty-four by twenty-four — are beyond all doubt of a much later 
 date than Becket's time, — likely enough the age may be that of 
 Edward IV. But when the whole house is carefully examined, 
 it will be found that it was formerly much larger. I suspect 
 that there was an additional chamber beyond the hall ; and the 
 whole of the north side of the building shows that it was for- 
 merly what is called a double house. I think I can detect there 
 evident remains of a communication between the north and south 
 sides. The hall, no doubt, was open formerly to the roof. 
 Where the entrance garden now is there were likewise buildings 
 at some time or another ; for, in forming it, some sixty years ago, 
 the whole was discovered to be filled with the foundations of a 
 bygone day. I have this account from the patriarch of the 
 parish, — Daniel Monk, aged ninety-four, — who was present at 
 the time. For forty-five years he kept a school in the old 
 hall ; and I am anxious it should now be made the parish 
 school. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The disposition of it might be worse. I recollect an old rhyme 
 
bucket's palace at west tarring. 
 
 187 
 
 on the outside of a school, between Oswestry and Shrewsbury, 
 which (mutatis mutandis) I will leave you to apply : — 
 
 " God prosper and prolong this public good, 
 A school erected where a cottage stood 8 ! " 
 But I thought you told me that there were other houses attached 
 to the old Rectory-house. Which are they ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 They are what are called the parsonage-rents, on your right 
 hand, as you leave the croft ; and very remarkable houses they 
 are. The old woodwork and gables are still prominent enough 
 to attract the eyes of travellers. When they passed out of the 
 hands of the Church is not known. They are of the date of 
 Henry VI. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I know them well. But tell me, what is that house on the 
 left hand, as you leave the Rectory Croft ? It must originally 
 have belonged, as the others do, to the manor. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 " Thereby hangs a tale ! 11 It belongs to the Rectory-manor 
 still, and might very lately have been re-purchased. But it is a 
 manor within a manor ; and the property is copyhold, with a 
 heriot of the best beast. Under such circumstances no one 
 would purchase a mere cottage,— no one, I mean, who held the 
 Rectory. 
 
 8 Two Ways of telling a Fact. — At the village of Nesscliff, near this town, a 
 School situated under the romantic spot known as " Kynaston's Cave," the pro- 
 perty of the Earl of Bradford, has long had this inscription upon its front : — 
 " God prosper and prolong this Public Good, 
 A School erected where a Chapel stood." 
 
 The explanation of this inscription is, we believe, that a Catholic Chapel was 
 here changed into a Protestant School. But this week we have seen a very old 
 book, in the possession of Mr. Blower, broker, Pride Hill, in this town*, in which 
 the above-described transmutation of the Chapel into the School is accounted for in 
 the following 
 
 Epigram : 
 
 " The ' Chapel's ' use, it seems, was none so great : 
 They turn'd it to a ' School' — a mighty feat ! 
 Preaching 'tis plain, nor Heart nor Head could mend, 
 So Learning's now whipp'd iu at t'other end." 
 
 • i.e. Shrewsbury (the above is copied out of a Shrewsbury paper). 
 
188 BRASINIUM, OR, BRASE-NOSE OF WEST TARRING. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 But what is the tale ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Simply this. That cottage was the old Brasinium — Brasin- 
 huse, — or, in more modern orthography, — the Brazen-nose of the 
 rectorial manor. So that although the Archbishop laid claim 
 to a supply of beer, he had a brevvhouse of his own. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The derivation of the word " Brazen-nose 11 never occurred to 
 me before. The veritable nose, too, exists in Oxford, and at 
 Stamford ; so that the corruption is perpetuated in brass 9 . Pray 
 turn to one of those Common-place Books of yours, which I re- 
 collect your beginning to compile full twenty years ago. No 
 doubt they contain something to the purpose. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Let those laugh that win, Alethes ! Many's the time those 
 old Common-place Books help me out. The head, after a time, 
 becomes a crazy storehouse, and needs an index. As some one 
 has said, (I think it is Butler,) it is like a large house, which 
 costs a great deal to furnish it, and a great deal to keep it in 
 order when it is furnished ! 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Mistake me not. Industry is never thrown away. Besides, 
 what Horace calls " lucidus ordo^ should be the aim of all who 
 pretend to the title of scholarship or eloquence. You recollect 
 his words : — 
 
 " Ordinis haec virtus erit et venus, aut ego fallor, 
 Ut jam nunc dicat, jam nunc debentia dici, 
 Pleraque differat, et prsesens in tempus omittat 1 ." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I do ; and will act upon them on the present occasion. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Enlighten me, then ! 
 
 0 So that the terms Principale Donum, before explained, and Brasinium, 
 naturally call to our minds, The Principal of Brase-nose. 
 
 1 Hor. A. P. v. 42. 
 
BRASE-NOSE, OR, BKEWHOUSE OF WEST TARRING. 189 
 
 EUBUI.US. 
 
 If you turn to Kelharns " Norman Dictionary," you will find 
 these words: " Brayes, breiz, brees, malt, bread, corn and in 
 the " Selecta ex Domesday " of his " Domesday Book," illus- 
 trated, — " Brasii tntft, the same quantity of malt ; and Braziabat 
 cujuscunque uxor x. From every man whose wife brewed, 10c?." 
 The inference is pretty clear, that Bracium means malt ; brasiare 
 to brew — Brasinium, a malt, or brewhouse, — i. e. a brasin-huse, 
 corrupted into Brazen-nose, as it has been spelt of late years, 
 instead of Brase-nose. You will find " Bracium ^ in Spelman's 
 " Glossary ;" and in the great work of Du Cange, in v. Brace, 
 are the words which follow : " Grani species ex quo Cerevisia 
 conficitur : — Bracis meminit prseterea Plinius, lib. 1 8, c. 7, 
 1 Gallise quoque suum genus farris dedere : quod illic brance 
 vocant, apud nos sandalum, nitidissimi grani, 1 " — where the 
 learned author, with Turnebus and others, would read Brace. 
 Presently after he goes on to say, " In plerisque Flandrioe 
 locis Brais appellatur granum omne, quodcunque illud sit, confi- 
 ciendse cerevisiae destinatum et prsepai'atum. Atque hinc Brasium, 
 Brasina, et aliarum hujusmodi vocum, quae labentibus sseculis 
 crebrius reperiuntur, ut cteterarum ab ea derivatarum, origo 
 petcnda." He then gives " Brachial " Bracena" " Brachinum" 
 " Brasinium.' 1 '' Cowel, likewise, in his " Law Dictionary," has 
 Brasinaria. It is remarkable that neither Hoffman nor Mar- 
 tinius mention the word. The connexion of the French Brasser, 
 and the German and Belgic terms is self-evident. Additional 
 information will be found in Hire's " Glossarium Suicogothicum 
 in v. Brygga" and in Wachters " Glossarium v. Brauen^ who, 
 by the way, shows that Martinins, though he did not give the 
 word, gave what appertained to it under " Braxo." The re- 
 ference is quite correct, as I verified it myself. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 My knowledge of " malt " would now, as Shakspeare says, 
 "befit the spirit of a tapster !" But the corruption must be of 
 ancient date, Eubulus. 
 
 EUBUI.US. 
 
 It is, as you will find out, from that very nice book, " The 
 Memorials of Oxford." I wonder Dr. Ingram, with his groat 
 
190 
 
 BRASE-NOSK IN OXFORD. 
 
 antiquarian lore, did not say something of the word. But, no 
 doubt, he was afraid of making a large book. 
 
 ALETHF.S. 
 
 Likely enough ; for " a great book, 11 says the ancient law, " is 
 a great evil. 11 But what does he say ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 He tells us that the corruption of Brasin-huse into Brazen- 
 nose is as early as 1278, where it occurs in an Inquisition, now 
 printed in the " Hundred Rolls, 11 but which was quoted by Wood 
 from the MS. record. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 But I thought Brazen-nose was erected in Henry VIH.'s 
 time ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 So it was ; but, as the same authority informs us, on some of 
 the most venerable property connected with the University. 
 For Alfred is said to have built his palace adjoining to St. 
 Mary^ 2 , called by himself, in his " Laws, 11 " The King's HalV 
 Attached to this was the then important accommodation of a 
 " Brasinium" or " Brasin-huse.' 1 '' On the site of this, and other 
 halls, Brazen-nose was erected, and curiously enough retained 
 the ancient name ! 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The Limbo of Etymology is a dangerous one to be engulphed 
 in ; but every now and then it throws up curious facts. It is 
 even, as Horace says, — 
 
 " Mortalia facta peribunt 
 Nedum sermonum stet honos et gratia vivax. 
 Multa renascentur quae jam cecidere, cadentque 
 Qua? nunc sunt in honore vocabula, si volet usus, 
 Quern penes arbitrium est et jus et norma loquendi 3 ." 
 
 But I should have thought, Eubulus, there would have been more 
 historical details appertaining to the old house. 
 
 2 " Said to have been built by him, and annexed to the school, college, or uni- 
 versity, which he founded or restored after the ravages of the Danes."— St. Mary 
 the Virgin, p. 2. 
 
 3 Hor. A. P. v. C8. 
 
BEOKF.T AND THE WILD BEASTS. 
 
 191 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 All that is known refers rather to the parish than the house ; 
 and I think you might have collected this from the dry detail of 
 names contained in the MS. book I saw but now in your hands, 
 " Papers relative to Tarring," &c. The different documents 
 have been collected with some care ; but the information is scant 
 enough. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 What did the old woman mean, when she said to us, as we 
 were walking through the house, " This was where the wild 
 beasts were kept." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 There is an old tradition here that Becket kept wild beasts ; 
 but it is known to few : and whence it originated is quite uncer- 
 tain. It is very possible, however, that the Archbishop may 
 have had some pet animals ; and to have kept a menagerie was 
 not inconsistent with the age. Giraldus Cambrensis, as quoted 
 by Lyttelton, tells us that Henry de Blois, Bishop of Winchester, 
 "had birds and beasts from all parts of the world; a kind of 
 magnificence which he seems to have taken from his uncle, King 
 Henry I., who (as William of Malmesbury tells us) had an 
 enclosure in his palace at Woodstock, where he kept a variety 
 of rare animals, presented to him by foreign kings, at his own 
 earnest request ; among which lions, leopards, lynxes, camels, 
 and a porcupine, are mentioned by that historian 4 ." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Certainly what one bishop did, another might do ; but methinks 
 there was little room in that old house for much else than its 
 inmates. They might have kept, perhaps, a monkey, or an ape, 
 — " with foreheads villanous low %" — as Caliban dubs them ; but, 
 I take it, a few sheep and some swine were more to their pur- 
 pose. The old walls, I observe, Eubulus, are thickly sprinkled 
 with that pretty plant — the Cotyledon Umbilicus. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 None would understand you here, were you to speak of it so 
 learnedly. 
 
 4 Lyttelton's Henry II., vol. ii. p. 334. 5 Tempest, Act iv. Sc. i. 
 
192 
 
 NAVEL WORT 
 
 OSMUNDA R EG A LIS FERN. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Navel wort, then, or nipplewort, shall I call it ? It was for- 
 merly considered in some parts a sovereign remedy, J am told, 
 for sore breasts. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I believe it was. It was a plant new to me when I came into 
 this country ; and all I can tell you about is what I read in 
 John Gerarde of London, Master in Chirurgerie, as enlarged 
 and improved by T. Johnson : " The juyce of wall Penniwort," 
 for so he calls it, " is a singular remedy against all inflammations, 
 and hot tumours, or erysipelas, Saint Anthonie's fire, and such 
 like ; and it is good for kibed heeles, being bathed therewith, 
 and one or more of the leaves laid upon the heele V A good 
 deal of it grows in these parts, as does likewise the AdderVtongue 
 Fern. I may add, by the way, that the Osmunda Regalis Fern, 
 — that splendid plant, — was said to have been met with formerly 
 in the Amberley brooks. It is mentioned in Gough's " Camden 11 
 amongst Sussex plants. You will recollect the lines of Words- 
 worth. They occur in his " Naming of Places — 
 
 " And often, trifling with a privilege 
 Alike indulged to all, we paused, now one 
 And now the other, to point out, perchance 
 To pluck, some flower or water- weed, too fair 
 Either to be divided from its place 
 On which it grew, or to be left alone 
 To its own beauty. Many such there are. 
 Fair Ferns and Flowers, and chiefly that tall Fern 
 So stately, of the Queen Osmunda named ; 
 Plant lovelier, in its own retired abode, 
 On Grasmere's beach, than Naiad by the side 
 Of Grecian brook, or Lady of the Mere 
 Sole-sitting by the shores of old Romaunce." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The lines are passing beautiful ; and I never looked on that 
 magnificent fern, without recalling them to my mind. I love to 
 look on plants, and trees, and flowers ; and am thankful for the 
 
 0 Gerarde's Herbal, p. 530. Ed. Folio. 103G. 
 
FIG-TREES OF WEST TARRING. 
 
 193 
 
 beauties of the creation. Those lines in the old Frontispiece to 
 Gerarde's " Herbal 11 quite take my fancy : — 
 
 " Excideretne tibi Divini muneris Auctor 
 
 Praesentem monstrat quaelibet herba Deum !" 
 
 But as we are speaking of these things, inform me, will you, 
 about the fig-trees at West Tarring. You said, awhile ago, you 
 had no doubt but that the tradition was true, which ascribed 
 the introduction of them here to Becket. Now, I was under 
 the impression that Cardinal Pole introduced them in the reign 
 of Henry VIII., and that the identical trees still survived in the 
 gardens of the Archbishop at Lambetb. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Those trees, I believe, though injured considerably in the 
 severe winter of 1813-14, still exist; and they were brought 
 from Italy by Cardinal Pole. They are of the white Marseilles 
 sort, as was that planted at Mitcham by Archbishop Cranmer. 
 Hut tbere is every reason to believe that figs were grown in this 
 country long previous to this. Some even think they were in- 
 troduced by the Romans ; but I know of no authority for the 
 supposition. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The vine, I suspect, was more frequently cultivated here than 
 the fig. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 No doubt. And yet it scarcely seems to fare now so well with 
 the vine as with the fig. Formerly the vineyard was a common 
 name, even in the midland counties, — in Shropshire, for example, 
 one or two spots bore that appellation, — whereas now the pro- 
 pagation of the grape-vine has evidently deteriorated, whilst 
 that of the fig has increased, and no doubt would increase still, 
 were there a taste for the green fruit. But the taste for it is by 
 no means common : and it is thought, like that for the olive, to 
 be fictitious. Old Gerarde had clearly no notion of standard figs 
 producing the luscious fruit they do in the gardens of West 
 Tarring, Broadwater, and Sompting. His words show it. " The 
 fig-trees," says he, " grow plentifully in Spaine and Italy, and many 
 other countries, as in England, where they bear fruit ; but it 
 
 o 
 
194 
 
 FIG-TREES OF WEST TARRING. 
 
 never cometh to kindly maturity, except the tree be planted 
 under an hot wall, whereto neither north nor north-east windes 
 can come." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 He clearly thought the climate too cold to ripen the fruit. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 That, however, we know is not the case. Indeed, I well re- 
 collect a very beautiful fig-tree which bore fruit out of doors in 
 the King of Denmark's gardens at Copenhagen. It was trained, 
 I should remark, to a wall, and had the reflection of the glass 
 hard-by. But the fact is sufficient to show that the fig will bear 
 cold, though it suffer by it. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 What are the figs that grow with you ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 In general cultivation we have but five sorts : — the brown 
 Turkey ; the large blue, sometimes called the black Ischian ; the 
 Marseilles, or large white fig, which is also called by the name of 
 Madagascar, an easy corruption ; the larger green, and the beautiful 
 smooth green, or yellow Ischian. The last mentioned is a very shy 
 bearer, but the most luscious of the three. I am inclined to 
 think that the red fig, which King James " tasted with great 
 pleasure," in the Dean's garden, at Winchester, was none other 
 than the last mentioned, as I have seen it in a very fine season, 
 and when full ripe, change from green to yellow, and from yellow 
 to a sort of brick colour. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 That may or may not be, as the sorts are very numerous. 
 I think I have read that Miller introduced some twelve new ones 
 from Italy. But although, Eubulus, I have eat many of your 
 excellent figs, it is little I know either of the blossom or the 
 fructification. Are there any male flowers ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Loudon, in his " Encyclopaedia of Gardening," states the 
 matter in a few words : " The fruit is a berry, turbinate and 
 hollow within ; produced chiefly on the upper part of the shoots 
 
FIG-TREES OF WEST TARRING. 
 
 195 
 
 of the former year, in the axils of the leaves on small round 
 peduncles. The flower is produced within the fruit ; what is 
 considered as the fruit being a common calyx or receptacle : the 
 male flowers are few, and inserted near the opening in the ex- 
 tremity of the receptacle or fruit ; the female flowers are very 
 numerous, and fill the rest of the hollow space within. The 
 greater part prove abortive, both with and without the process of 
 caprification.'" 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Very clearly put. Many ignoramuses, like myself, are much 
 indebted to Loudon. The volumes are ponderous, but useful. 
 But now that I have learnt thus much, I should like to know 
 what is the process of caprification. Is it used here ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It takes its name from the " caprificus^ or wild fig, which we 
 have not. Mr. Addison, in his " Damascus and Palmyra," gives 
 as plain an account of this, as Loudon does of the blossom and 
 fruit. His words are : " There is a species of bastard fig, taste- 
 less and good for nothing, which gi'ovvs along the hedges, and 
 which breeds a small maggot, or some species of insect ; these 
 bastard figs are stuck on the trees which produce the eating fig, 
 and the maggots or insects bred in them inoculate all the other 
 figs, and wonderfully improve their flavour and lusciousness ' 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Bravo ! Old Herodotus was right after all. You recollect, 
 no doubt, what he says of the date-trees 1 fructification ; and how 
 he draws a comparison between the palm and the fig. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Herodotus, when he spoke of what came under his own ob- 
 
 7 Mr. Addison speaks of what is done in the neighbourhood of Smyrna. See 
 vol. i. p. 362. Loudon says, I observe : " The process of caprification of figs is per- 
 formed in the Levant to hasten the maturity of the autumnal crop, and consists 
 in placing on the lig-trees what are called figues fleurs, or spring figs, in which a 
 certain insect of the gnat species (Culex L.) has deposited its eggs. From these 
 eggs, in the spring figs, proceed a multitude of gnats, which, in their turn, deposit 
 their eggs in the autumn figs, or rather in their flowers, effecting in their passage 
 the fecundation of these flowers, and, by consequence, hastening the maturity of the 
 fruit," p. 963. 
 
 O 2 
 
196 A FIG FOR YOU. F1GA. TODY — TOD1TO. 
 
 servation, was seldom wrong. Modern discoveries have only 
 tended to prove his accuracy. Even as regards the palm, 
 Lieutenant Wellsted tells us that the custom is retained in 
 Arabia, though neglected now in the East, as it is found enough 
 to plant one male amongst several female trees 8 . 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 But, is not the custom or process of caprification also thought 
 now to be useless ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 By many it is ; but no doubt the larva of the cynips hastens 
 the ripening of later figs. So now, at Argenteuil, near Paris, 
 where figs are grown particularly for the table, the later ones 
 are hastened by dropping a little oil into the eye of each fruit. 
 It serves the purpose of the grub, or maggot. I have likewise 
 known oil to be used here ; but few think it worth their while to 
 trouble themselves much about their figs ; and a " Fig for you" 
 taken in its literal acceptation, would not imply deep regard. 
 Some, you know, think the expression derived from the Portu- 
 guese hand-spell, called the figa \ It might be so, just as we 
 have that unsavoury word "tody" from u todito," — the little 
 Moorish black page, — the all in all with her mistress. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The derivation I think quite as likely as that which refers it 
 to the poisoned fig. The other senses, 1 recollect, are given in 
 Douce's " Illustrations of Shakspeare but I quite agree with 
 Gifford, in his " Note " on Ben Jonson, — "Every Man in his 
 Humour,'" — that too much has been said on a subject better left 
 
 8 Lieutenant Wellsted's Travels in Arabia, vol. ii. p. 12. The words of Hero- 
 dotus occur in lib. i. c. 193. EiVi Si a<f>i tpoiviKtg TrtQvicoTtg dva irav to ntSiov oi 
 •7t\(vv(Q avTwv Kan7rotj)6pot, Ik tuiv Kai atria Kai divov Kai Trouvvraf rovg 
 
 ovKtwv Tponnv Otpanevovai, rd rf aWa, Kai <poivitc<ov rovg ipatvaQ "E\\i]vcg 
 Ka\iovai, tovtii)v t6v Kaprrbv irtpidtovtri ryai (3a\avrj^>6poi(n tuiv (poiviicwv, 'iva 
 ■KtTraivy T£ a<pi 6 \p>)v ti)v (3a\avov iaSvviDV, Kai fit) diroppiyj 6 Kapirbg 6 rou 
 (potviKog. Vrrjvag yap dt) <popiovai iv Tip tcapnip oi Ipirtvtg, Kardntp Si) ol o\vv9oi. 
 
 0 " The hand-spell is still common in Portugal ; it is called the figa ; and thus 
 probably our vulgar phrase : ' a fig for him,' is derived from a Moorish amulet." 
 South&y. Notes to Thalaba. 
 
THE INDIAN FIG-TREK. 
 
 197 
 
 alone. One may be contented to call it, with the dramatist. 
 Middleton, — 
 
 " The fig of everlasting obloquy M " 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 When I first became a denizen of this county, Alethes, nothing 
 could exceed, on a hot summer's day, the solemn beauty of the 
 fig-garden at West Tarring. Before the severe winter, some 
 six or seven years ago, which destroyed the Gothic arch of the 
 middle walk, its shade was awful and imposing. It seemed, — 
 
 " The fig-tree, not that kind for fruit renowned, 
 But such as at this day to Indian known 
 In Malabar or Deccan, spread her arms, 
 Branching so broad and long, that in the ground 
 The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow 
 About the mother tree, a pillar'd shade 
 High overarch'd, and echoing walks between ; 
 There oft the Indian herdsman shunning heat, 
 Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds 
 At loopholes cut through thickest shade V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Ben Jonson, methinks, in " Neptune's Triumph," was before- 
 hand with Milton. The volume is hard-by ; and I can turn 
 to it :— 
 
 " Yes we have a tree, too, 
 Which we do call the tree of Harmony, 
 And is the same with what we read the sun 
 Brought forth in the Indian Musicana first. 
 
 1 The Widow, Act v. Sc. i. 
 
 1 See "Paradise Lost," book x. v. 1101. But Sir Walter Raleigh's own de- 
 scription is most valuable. Cf. Works, vol. ii. p. 132. Ed. Clar. The words of 
 Pliny will naturally be referred to, lib. xii. c. 5 : " Ficus ibi exilia poma habet. 
 Ipsa se semper serens, vastis diffunditur ramis : quorum inii adeo in terram cur- 
 vantur, ut annuo spatio infigantur, novamque sibi propaginem faciant circa parentem 
 in orbem, quodam opere topiario. Intra sepem earn restivant pastores, opacam 
 pariter et munitam vallo arboris, decora specie subterintuenti, proculve, fornicato 
 ambitu. Supcriores ejus rami in excelsum eraicant, silvosa multitudine, vastomatris 
 corpore, ut lx. p. plerseque orbem colligant, umbra vero bina stadia operiant. 
 Foliorum latitudo peltaj effigiem Amazonica; habet : ea causa fructum integens, 
 crescere prohibet. Rarusque est, nec faba? magnitudinem excedens, dignus miraculo 
 arboris : gignitur circa Accsinem maxime annum." 
 
198 
 
 THE INDIAN FIG-TREE. 
 
 And thus it grows : the goodly bole being got 
 
 To certain cubits height, from every side 
 
 The boughs decline, and taking root afresh, 
 
 Spring up new boles, and these spring new, and newer, 
 
 Till the whole tree become a porticus, 
 
 Or arched arbor, able to receive 
 
 A numerous troop, such as our Albion, 
 
 And the companions of his journey all ; 
 
 And this they sit in 3 ." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The passage of J onson I am familiar with ; but the multifarious 
 readings of Milton lead him to a different source. The truth is 
 he copied even the very expressions of Gerarde's " Herbal," the 
 first edition of which dates from 1597. The date of Thomas 
 Johnson, " To the Reader," is from his house, on Snow-hill, 
 1633. I quote from the edition of 1636. It is thus that he 
 describes the arched Indian fig-tree : — 
 
 " This rare and admirable tree is very great, straight, and 
 covered with a rich old bark, tending to tawny : the boughes 
 and branches are many, very long, tough, and flexible, growing 
 very long in short space, as do the twigs of oziars, and those so 
 long and weake, that the ends thereof hang down and touch the 
 ground, where they take root, and grow in such sort, that those 
 twigs become great trees ; and these being growne up into the 
 like greatnesse, doe cast their branches on twiggy tendrels unto 
 the earth, where they likewise take hold and root ; by means 
 whereof it commeth to passe, that of one tree is made a great 
 wood or desart of trees, which the Indians do use for coverture 
 against the extreme heat of the sun, wherewith they are 
 grievously vexed : some likewise use them for pleasure, cutting 
 down by a direct line a long walke, or, as it were, a vault, 
 through the thickest part, from which they cut also certain 
 loop-holes or windowes in some places, to the end to receive 
 thereby the fresh coole aire that entreth thereat, as also for 
 light, that they may see their cattel that feed thereby, to avoid 
 any danger that might happen unto them, either by the enemy 
 or wild beasts ; from which vault or close walke doth rebound 
 
 3 Neptune's Triumph for the return of Albion, vol. viii. p. 30. Ed. Gifford. 
 
THE INDIAN FIG-TREE. 
 
 199 
 
 sucli an admirable cccho or answering voice, if one of them 
 speak unto another of them aloud, that it doth resound or answer 
 again four or five times, according to the height of the voice, to 
 which it doth answer, and that so plainely, that it cannot be 
 known from the voice itself : the first or mother of this wood or 
 desart of trees is hard to be knowne from the children, but by 
 the greatnesse of the body, which three men can scarcely fathom 
 about; upon the branches whereof grow leaves hard and 
 wrinkled, in shape like those of the quince-tree, greene above, 
 and of a whitish hoary colour underneath, whereupon the ele- 
 phants delight to feed : among which leaves come forth the 
 fruit, of the bignesse of a man's thumbe, in shape like a small fig, 
 but of a sanguine or bloody colour, and of a sweet taste, but not 
 so pleasant as the figs of Spain ; notwithstanding they are good 
 to be eaten, and withal very wholesome V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Certainly, the very words of Milton may be traced to Gerarde, 
 and I have to thank you for this, as for other endless references. 
 
 EUBDLUS. 
 
 Were I better read than I am, I doubt not I should find that 
 others have made the like observation. But far be it from me 
 to say, " Pereant, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt ! w I shall never 
 forget the face one pulled when the good Bishop Butler quoted to 
 him this expression on his showing up, for a second copy, an 
 Eclogue from Sannazarius. I had lent him the book too ! As 
 you know I am fond of Sannazarius and Casimir. From the 
 latter, as I well recollect, one of the best scholars of the present 
 day put into his Alcaics " herbarum lacertis.' 1 '' The same lamented 
 Prelate, in altering it into " herbarum corollis,'" only observed, 
 " Cabbage leaves are not very poetical I" 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Rambling again, Eubulus ! But I will refer to Lucilius once 
 more, and say, from my heart, 
 
 " Cum flueret lutulentus erat quod tollere velles!" 
 1 Gerarde's Herbal, p. 1513. Ed. Johnson. 
 
200 
 
 THE CURSE OF KEHAMA. 
 
 Referring, however, to the Indian fig, I know of no poet's de- 
 scription equal to that of Southey's in the " Curse of Kehama." 
 
 EUBULUS, 
 
 True, true ! He read to me the whole of that, — shall I say, 
 the greatest effort of his genius I and I never can forget it ! The 
 intonations of that sweetest of all sweet and solemn voices are 
 still ringing in my ears ! 
 
 " 'Twas a fair scene wherein they stood, 
 A green and sunny glade amid the wood, 
 And in the midst an aged Banian grew. 
 It was a goodly sight to see 
 That venerable tree, 
 For o'er the lawn, irregularly spread, 
 Fifty straight columns propt its lofty head ; 
 And many a long depending shoot, 
 Seeking to strike its root, 
 Straight, like a plummet, grew towards the ground. 
 Some on the lower boughs which crost their way 
 Fixing their bearded fibres, round and round, 
 With many a ring and wild contortion wound; 
 Some to the passing wind at times, with sway 
 Of gentle motion swung: 
 Others of younger growth, unmov'd, were hung, 
 Like stone drops from the cavern's fretted height ; 
 Beneath was smooth and fair to sight, 
 Nor weeds, nor briars deform'd the natural floor, 
 And through the leafy cope which bower'd it o'er 
 Came gleams of chequer'd light. 
 So like a temple did it seem, that there 
 A pious heart's first impulse would be prayer 5 !" 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Beautiful, indeed ! No wonder that the traveller from the 
 East, when at Keswick, would not believe that the poet had not 
 visited the scenes he sang of, and the land of Brama, Veeshnoo, 
 and Seeva. Thalaba, methinks, is the " wild and wondrous tale," 
 Eubulus, but you are right, probably, in calling the " Curse of 
 Kehama'' 1 the greatest work of that master-spirit. His staff is 
 
 » The Retreat, xiii. 5. 
 
MONKS AND MONASTERIES. 201 
 
 broke, but the book's not drowned 5 ! I once heard a person, 
 with an o"erwraught brain, read the funeral. When he came 
 to these words, which he said had no equal in English descriptive 
 poetry, the lightning of his eye quite frightened me, for I was 
 then but a boy. 
 
 " Borne upright in his palankeen 
 There Arvalan is seen ! 
 A glow is on his face — a lively red ; 
 It is the crimson canopy 
 Which o'er his cheek a reddening shade hath shed ; 
 He moves, — he nods his head, — 
 But the motion comes from the bearers' tread, 
 As the body, borne aloft in state, 
 Sways with the impulse of its own dead weight !" 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 But to return, Alethes, to what we were speaking of, the 
 introduction of the fig into these parts by Thomas a Becket. 
 You must admit, I think, that the clergy were the civilizers, in 
 feudal times, at least, of whatever spot they pitched their tents in. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 There can be no doubt of it, if you comprehend the monks in 
 the number of the clergy. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 That would be incorrect ; but I will say that wherever the 
 monks, whether clerical or lay brethren, were settled, there 
 agriculture and horticulture presently improved. I speak not at 
 present of their abuse, but of their use, when I say that this land 
 is infinitely indebted to monks and monasteries. Some years 
 ago many would have shuddered at such an admission, but the 
 fact is not to be denied. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 There is one, amongst many others, who bore testimony to this 
 truth, and his words deserve to be well remembered. 
 
 0 " I'll break my staff, 
 
 Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, 
 Aud, deeper than did ever plummet sound, 
 I'll drown my book !" — Tempest, Act v. Sc. i. 
 
202 
 
 MONKS AND MONASTERIES. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Whom do you refer to ? 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 To Southey, in his " Book of the Church." You cannot have 
 forgotten the passage I allude to. It is in c. iv., where he speaks of 
 the success of Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons : " They well 
 deserved their popularity. Wherever monasteries were founded, 
 marshes were drained, or woods cleared, and wastes brought into 
 cultivation ; the means of subsistence were increased by improved 
 agriculture, and by improved horticulture new comforts were 
 added to life. The humblest as well as the highest pursuits were 
 followed in these great and most beneficial establishments. While 
 part of the members were studying the most inscrutable points of 
 theology, and indulging themselves in logical subtleties of psycho- 
 logical research which foster the presumption of the human mind 
 instead of convincing it of its weakness, others were employed 
 in teaching babes and children the rudiments of useful knowledge ; 
 others as copyists, limners, carvers, workers in wood, and in stone, 
 and in metal, and in trades and manufactures of every kind, which 
 the community required V 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The testimony is just, and none was more competent to render 
 it. But the truth is, Alethes, that the testimony is very general, 
 only there was a sort of tacit agreement with all sorts of people 
 to forget it. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 It is curious that in earlier days the monks should have settled 
 themselves so generally in marshes and fen districts — such as were 
 Medhamstead (the modern Peterborough), Crowland, Ramsey, 
 Boston, Ely, &c. It was with the monks of the latter that 
 Canute was so struck. 
 
 " Cheerful sang the monks of Ely 
 As Cnut the King was passing by ; 
 Row to the shore, knights, said the king, 
 And let us hear these Churchmen sing ! " 
 
 1 Vol. i. p. 61. 1st Edit. 
 
HERBERT OE BOSHAM, BOSEHAM, OR BOSANHAM. 203 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 When the land was beset with marauders it was an object to 
 find places for security. Seclusion and security went together. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 You have an instance, I think, not far off. Herbert, Beckefs 
 Secretary, was of Bosham, in Sussex, was he not I 
 
 EUBUMJS. 
 
 He was ; but Boseham 8 would hardly appear to have been a 
 place of such security, as you imagine. At that time, however, 
 it was enveloped in wood (from which it probably derived its name), 
 and it may have been a safer place of refuge than I at first thought. 
 But Boseham should be recollected here for other reasons. It was 
 the retreat of the banished Wilfrid, whose name will ever be 
 associated with that of Ripon. But Wilfrid, like Becket, was 
 ambitious, — like him, too, (and it seems to have been the earliest 
 instance prior to the Conquest,) he endeavoured to use the Pope's 
 authority in opposition to King Egfrid, and the Church of his 
 native land. But the Bull of St. Peter had no weight with the 
 Saxon King, who committed him prisoner, first to Brunton, and 
 afterwards to Dunbar. St. Ebba, Abbess of Coldingham, the 
 king's aunt, procured his release, but he was not allowed to remain 
 in the North, and was driven out likewise from Mercia and Wessex. 
 But with all Wilfrid's infirmities, like Becket, he seems to have 
 been a religious-hearted man and sincere. It was evidently under 
 devout impressions, that he betook himself to labour amongst the 
 South Saxons. This was a.d. 681. He found them all but 
 pagans, for although their King Ethelwalch had been baptized by 
 the persuasion of King Wulf here, who, as his godfather, gave him 
 the Isle of Wight and the province of Meanwara, yet as Bede 
 
 8 Camden relates how Godwin, Earl of Kent, father of Harold, cheated the 
 Archbishop out of Boseham, and how that cunning word-catcher was pleased to 
 confound Boteam fur Basium " the Kiss of Peace." The latter the Archbishop was 
 ready to give, but he little thought of surrendering the former. The authority 
 stated is Walter Mapc's book da Nuyis Curialium (?). — Sussex, p. 185. Ed. Cough 
 and Gibson. 
 
204 
 
 THE VENERABLE BEDE. 
 
 reports, tota provincia Australium Saxonum divini nominis et fidei 
 erat ignara 9 . 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 So that Wilfrid's ambition was turned to good, and the first 
 seeds of the bishopric of Chichester were sown at Bosenham ! 
 " There is a Divinity that shapes our ends 
 Rough-hew them how we will 1 ! " 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Always and ever ! But it was little that he found there to 
 cheer him. " Erat autem ibi, 11 continues Bede, " monachus qui- 
 dam de natione Scotorum, vocabulo Dicul, habens monasteriorum 
 permodicum in loco, qui vocatur Bosanham, silvis et mari circum- 
 datum, et in eo fratres quinque sive sex in humili et paupere vita 
 Domino famulantes. Sed jjrovincialium nullus eorum vel vitam 
 wmulari vel prcedicationem curabat audire" 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I was glad the other day to see on your table an Edition 
 of Bede. The study of Bede's works should by all means be en- 
 couraged. There is a translation, I observed, of the Ecclesiasti- 
 cal History. Read the remnant of the chapter you have now 
 referred to in Smith. It will serve as a sample, and I recollect 
 it to be simple and interesting. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The translation is not a new one, as you seem to suppose, but 
 the old translation of Steven's revised, — " corrected, 1 " the Editor 
 says, without scruple, " wherever it was necessary V Here, 
 however, is the passage you require. It is long, but it ought not 
 to tire on the ear of a Sussex person. 
 
 0 Fridegode, in his metrical " Life of Wilfred," says pretty much the same. 
 See Biog. Brit. Lit., vol. i. p. 178, note. 
 
 " Gens igitur qusedam, scopulosis indita terris, 
 Saltibus incultis et densis consita damis, 
 Non facilem propriis aditum pnebebat in arvis : 
 Gens ignara Dei, simulacris dedita vanis." 
 
 1 Hamlet, Act v. 
 
 3 John Steven's Translation was published, London, 8vo. 1723, and again in 
 1840, constituting vol. i. of the Monkish Historians of Great Britain. The present 
 passage is from book iv. c. xiii. vol. iii. p. 61. 
 
BISHOl' WILFRID. 
 
 205 
 
 " But Bishop Wilfrid by preaching to them, not only delivered 
 them from the misery of perpetual damnation, but also from an 
 inexpressible calamity of temporal death, for no rain had fallen 
 in that province in three years before his arrival, whereupon a 
 dreadful famine ensued, which cruelly destroyed the people. In 
 short, it is reported, that very often forty or fifty men being 
 spent with want, would go together to some precipice, or to the 
 sea-shore, and there hand in hand perish by the fall, or be swal- 
 lowed up by the waves. But on the very day on which the nation 
 received the baptism of faith, there fell a soft but plentiful rain ; 
 the earth revived again, and the verdure being restored to the 
 fields, the season was pleasant and fruitful. Thus the former 
 superstition being rejected, and idolatry exploded, the hearts and 
 flesh of all rejoiced in the living God, and became convinced that 
 He, who is the true God, had, through his heavenly grace, en- 
 riched them with wealth, both temporal and spiritual. For the 
 bishop, when he came into the province, and found so great misery 
 from famine, taught them to get their food by fishing ; for their 
 sea and rivers abounded with fish, but the people had no skill to 
 take them, except eels alone. The bishop's men having gathered 
 eel-nets every where, cast them into the sea, and by the blessing 
 of God took three hundred fishes of several sorts, which, being 
 divided into three parts, they gave a hundred to the poor, a 
 hundred to those of whom they had the nets, and kept a hundred 
 for their own use. By this benefit the Bishop gained the affec- 
 tions of them all, and they began more readily at his preaching to 
 hope for heavenly goods, seeing that by his help they had received 
 those which are temporal. 
 
 " At this time King Ethelwalch gave to the most reverend 
 Prelate, Wilfrid, land of eighty-seven families, to maintain his 
 company who were in banishment, which place is called Seleseu 3 , 
 that is, the Island of the Sea-Calf. That place is encompassed 
 by the sea on all sides except the west, where is an entrance of 
 about the cast of a sling in width ; which sort of place is by the 
 
 3 It was here that the Saxons landed on their first expedition to take possession 
 of the south-western region of Britain. Eadbrecht, Abbot of Selsey in 711, was the 
 first Bishop of the South Saxons. The See was removed by William the Con- 
 queror to Chichester in IO70. Stigand, the last Bishop of Selsey, waa the first of 
 Chichester. 
 
206 BISHOP WILFRID THE VENERABLE BEDE. 
 
 Latins called a peninsula, by the Greeks, a chersonesus. Bishop 
 Wilfrid having this place given him, founded therein a monastery, 
 which his successors possess to this day, and established a regular 
 course of life, chiefly of the brethren he had brought with him ; 
 for he both in word and actions performed the duties of a bishop 
 in those parts, during the space of five years, until the death of 
 King Egfrid. And forasmuch as the aforesaid king, together 
 with the said place, gave him all the goods that were therein, 
 with the lands and men, he instructed them in the faith of Christ, 
 and baptized them all. Among whom were two hundred and fifty 
 men and women slaves, all of whom he, by baptism, not only 
 rescued from the servitude of the Devil, but gave them their 
 bodily liberty also, and exempted them from the yoke of human 
 servitude." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Every thing appertaining to Bede is interesting, and his " Eccle- 
 siastical Histoiw' 1 is invaluable. Properly has he been called 
 " the light and wonder of his age. 1- ' Bede is to his native land 
 what Herodotus was to the Greeks — and there is this remarkable 
 similarity between them, I mean, that when they spoke from their 
 own observation, they were seldom wrong. I would apply this 
 to the many marvellous histories and miracles which he details. 
 He tells them as they were told to him. But Southey has dwelt 
 upon this in his " Vindicife Ecclesiae Anglicanse," — an unlucky 
 title, I think, as it has deterred many from reading it, whereas it 
 is one of the most interesting and painfully delightful books in our 
 language. He there asks of Mr. Butler, " How will you explain 
 the singular fact, that though his ' Ecclesiastical History,' and 
 the biographies which he drew up from materials which were sup- 
 plied to him, are full of miraculous stories, the lives of the Abbots 
 of Wearmouth, under whom and with whom he had lived, and 
 which he composed therefore upon his own knowledge and respon- 
 sibility, have no such garnish 4 V 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The remark speaks for the solid good sense of Venerable Bede, 
 and does not at all detract from his piety. But in returning to 
 
 4 Vindicia; Eccl. Angl. p. 113. 
 
THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 
 
 207 
 
 the observation I before made, I may add that we are deeply 
 indebted to the Anglo-Saxon monasteries in particular. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 And yet, after all, the Anglo-Saxons were not a literary people. 
 We have the authority also of Alfred for the fact, that he did not 
 know a single priest south of Thames, who, at his accession, un- 
 derstood his breviary, or could render Latin into his mother 
 tongue. Kings signed charters with a cross 5 , because they were 
 unable to write. Nay, Alfred's own brothers could not read, and 
 we are told that he compelled his great officers to become, what 
 Jeremy Taylor calls ABCdearii, or otherwise they would lose 
 their places. The simple truth is that our charity children are 
 now better taught and better informed than the earls, gerefas, 
 and thegns of that day. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Admitted. And a great blessing it is, however much abused. 
 But this does not detract from what I said, for the clergy were 
 the only teachers of those who sought to learn. Neither is there 
 any proof that our Anglo-Saxon forefathers were unintellectual. 
 Sharon Turner, the laborious historian of these times, has some 
 excellent remarks which I should like to read to you. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 He is a good man, as well as a learned, and I would fain hear 
 them. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 " We have estimated them too low, because we have too highly 
 appreciated the general condition of Roman society, and too much 
 compared our forefathers with ourselves. Absence of literature 
 has been too often mistaken for absence of intellect. It is usually 
 forgotten that illiteracy has been the general character of the 
 mass of all people, whether Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek, as 
 much as of the Goths or Anglo-Saxons. In the most cele- 
 brated countries of antiquity it was a portion only, and that but 
 a small one, of their population which possessed either books or 
 
 5 Sharon Turner tells us that " in a MS. charter of Wiktred, in the possession of 
 the late Mr. Astle, to the King's mark was added, ' ad cujus contirmationeni pro 
 ignorantia literarum.' " vol. iii. p. 15, note. 
 
208 LITERATURE AND INTELLECT DISTINCTION. 
 
 literature. It is only in our own times that these are becoming 
 the property of nations at large. When our Anglo-Saxons 
 applied to literature, they showed the strength of their intellectual 
 powers, and a rapidity of progress that has never been surpassed. 
 Bede, Alcuin, and Erigena may be compared with any of the 
 "Roman or Greek authors, who appeared after the third century. 
 But that within an hundred years after knowledge, for the first 
 time, dawned upon the Anglo-Saxons, such a man as Bede should 
 have arisen, writing so soundly on every branch of study that had 
 been pursued by the Romans, and forming in his works a kind of 
 Cyclopaedia of almost all that was then known, is a phaenomenon 
 which it is easier to praise than parallel 6 ." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The distinction drawn between literature and intellect is sound, 
 and I confess that I myself am much rather inclined to assent to 
 Sharon Turner than to Mr. Hallam, who, I think, in his View of 
 the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, over-much depre- 
 ciated the literature of the time. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I think so too ; but, as you have referred to the work of an 
 acknowledged historical scholar, you will not forget that what he 
 says fully corroborates my statement. We may agree to differ 
 as to the darkness of the Middle Ages, — though even on this 
 point many are now running into the contrary extreme, — but I 
 quite concur in his opinion when he states that " the sole hope 
 for literature depended on the Latin language ; and I do not see 
 why that should not have been lost, if that circumstances in the 
 prevailing religious system, all of which we are justly accustomed 
 to disapprove, had not conspired to maintain it ; the papal supre- 
 macy, the monastic institutions, and the use of a Latin Liturgy V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I really had forgotten this remark, but it is very just, and I am 
 afraid many of us are little aware how much we owe to the 
 labours of the monastery. However depraved these institutions 
 may have become in after times, it was the regular and not the 
 
 c Anglo-Saxons, vol. iii. p. 393. 
 
 1 Hallam's Middle Ages, vol. iii. p. 33C. 4th Edit. 
 
THF.ODOKE. ADRIAN, AND BENEDICT BISCOP. 209 
 
 secular clergy who were the repositories of learning, as their 
 houses were the repositories of books. 
 
 EUBUJLUS. 
 
 When we speak of the restoration of learning in this land, we 
 must never omit to mention with honour Theodore of Tarsus, and 
 Adrian the African. The former, you will recollect, was Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury for many years. Adrian declined the post, 
 but recommended his friend to the Pope, and afterwards accom- 
 panied him to England. Theodore appointed him to the monastery 
 of St. Peter at Canterbury, which he held for thirty-nine years. 
 It is Bede that tells the good they did, and how that became the 
 seat of learning. Some of their scholars were alive in his time, 
 and were as conversant with Greek and Latin as with their mother 
 tongue. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 There is another name which Bede would ill like us to forget — 
 that, I mean, of Benedict Biscop, whom Pope Vitalian nominated 
 as linguist to Theodore. It was the same that founded the after- 
 united monasteries of St. Peter and St. Paul, between the mouths 
 of the Wear and the Tyne — or, as sometimes called, the Abbey of 
 Weremouth, now Monks Wearmouth, and Jarrow. But who 
 can tell of him like Southey ? " This Benedict Biscop, who was 
 in process of time canonized, and who deserves to be gratefully 
 remembered among the benefactors of our nation, was the person 
 to whom the child Bede was delivered. Had it not been for 
 Bede we should not now have known for what we are indebted to 
 Benedict ; and for nothing are we so greatly beholden to him as 
 for having provided his monasteries with those literary treasures 
 (in his days beyond all price), without which Bede could have 
 had no means of instruction. Without those means the talents 
 of this wonderful man must have remained unimproved, and that 
 large portion of the Anglo-Saxon history which is derived from 
 him would have been lost. Benedict transferred the boy to 
 Ceolfrid, the Abbot of Jarrow, and from that monastery Bede 
 never departed during the whole course of his long, innocent, and 
 meritorious life V 
 
 3 Vindicue Eccles. Angl., p. 72. 
 
210 THE VENERABLE REDE ON MONASTIC DISCIPLINE. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Happy in his seclusion as the old man of Verona Claudian tells 
 of. And I ought to remark, Alethes, that none spoke more 
 painfully of the idleness in monasteries than Bede did. His letter 
 to Bishop Egbert, " de Disciplind Ecclesiastical should be care- 
 fully read by such as would detract from his name, or speak of 
 his idle seclusion. One passage I will read to you in the original : 
 " Sunt loca innumera, ui novimus omnes, in monaster iorum ascripta 
 vocabulum, sect nihil prorsus monastics conversations habentia ; 
 d quibus velim aliqua de luxurid ad castitatem, de vanitate ad tem- 
 perantiam, de intemperantid ventris et gulce ad continentiam et 
 pietatem cordis, synodicd auctoritate trans/erantur, atque in adju- 
 iorium sedis episcopalis, quos nuper ordinari debeat, assumantur 9 ." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 It appears, then, that even Bede recommended what Henry 
 VIII. afterwards put in practice ! 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 If one could assign to Henry the righteous views which in- 
 fluenced Bede, another blot might be rubbed out of his character. 
 But I am afraid we shall never be enabled to do this. Looking 
 to the spoliation and lavish expenditure which followed, and that 
 with little or no thought for sacred uses, the very stones and timbers 
 might have cried out, and each house might have lifted up its voice, 
 and said, 
 
 " Non te dignum, Chaerea, 
 Fecisti : nam si ego digna hac contumelia 
 Sum maxume, at. tu indignus qui faceres tamen V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Sadly true ! But such is ever the result of evil communica- 
 tions, and it is not to be denied that there was great licentious- 
 ness, and all sorts of iniquity practised within the walls of many 
 a monastery. Idolatry, likewise, and pious frauds of every sort 
 were rife. But, would that one might have said, " Take away 
 
 0 See vol. i. p. 124. Ed. Giles. The Editor lias given a Translation of the whole 
 letter. 
 
 1 Terent Eun., v. ii. 25. 
 
QUESTION' OK THE MONASTERIES. 
 
 211 
 
 the dross from the silver ; and there shall come forth a vessel for the 
 flier. Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne 
 shall be established in righteousness V Alas, that it was not so ! 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The slothful is like ere long to become the wicked servant, and 
 this was certainly the case in very many of the monasteries, 
 abbeys, and priories. But we must bear in mind that when the 
 King's determination was known, the harpies of the court were 
 ready to gulp down gnats and camels indiscriminately. We have 
 all the worst cases painted in glowing colours, such as for ex- 
 ample, the case of the Abbot of Langden, whose door Dr. Leigh- 
 ton, Burnet tells us, beset and broke open of a sudden 3 . 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 That was unquestionably a glaring case. You are not likely 
 to have forgotten that our friend the Archbishop had a name 
 there. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 " They were of the order of Premonstre, and their house was 
 dedicated to the honour of the Blessed Virgin, and St. Thomas 
 Becket." They are the words of Burnet. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Burnet, and good old John Strype \ (as he is well called,) have 
 left us painful details ; but, after all, such confessions as that of 
 the Prior and Benedictines of St. Andrew's in Northampton, are 
 to be received cum grano sails. No doubt they were bad enough, 
 but I cannot help thinking that they were looking to the number 
 of marks they were to be pensioned off with when they declared 
 " the pit of hell was ready to swallow them up." The rest, I dare 
 say, is true enough. " They confessed that they had neglected 
 the worship of God, lived in idleness, gluttony, and sensuality : 
 
 2 Prov. xxv. 4, 5. 
 
 3 See " History of the Reformation," vol. i. p. 384. Ed. Clar. 8vo. 1829. See 
 the other case, p. 475- 
 
 * They are the words of Southey, and spoken from the heart : " Good old John 
 Strype, one of those humble and happy-minded men, who, by diligent labouring in 
 the fields of literature, find while they live, an enjoyment from which time takes 
 away nothing of its relish, and secure for themselves an honourable and lasting 
 remembrance in the gratitude of posterity."' — Viudk'ue Eccles. Anjl., p. 360. 
 Y 2 
 
212 
 
 LATIMER AND MALVERN PRIORY. 
 
 with many other woeful expressions to that purpose." But, 
 whatever may have been the state of religious houses in general, 
 their utter dissolution was an unquestionable evil, and as such 
 regretted by good and honest men. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Such as Maister Hugh Latimer, whose name shall endure ! 
 When in Oxford, Alethes, I used to make an annual visit to 
 some of the dearest and kindest relatives at Malvern, and I never 
 gazed upon the reverend pile there, without thinking of that holy 
 man departed. I was early familiar with his history, and loved 
 his character. His drollery was nowise inconsistent with his 
 true-heartedness. I much pity those who can call either him or 
 old Fuller buffoon. You recollect the question of Penneboy, 
 junior, in the " Staple of News ;" I would ask of such, 
 " What are your present clerk's liabilities ? 
 How is he qualified ? " 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Let that pass, Eubulus. The declaimers against such men as 
 Latimer or Fuller, only follow a bad school. The very word they 
 use is not their own. But say, what did Latimer at Great 
 Malvern ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 At the solicitation of the honest prior there, " in my diocese, 
 but not of my diocese,' 1 '' as he says, he wrote to the Lord Crom- 
 well, with the intent, if possible, to save the dissolution of the 
 house. In his own words, " for the upstanding of his foresaid 
 house, of the continuance of the same to many good purposes : 
 not in monkery, he meaneth : not so, God forbid : but any other 
 way, as should be thought and seem good to the King's Majesty. 
 As to maintain, touching preaching, study with praying, and (to 
 the which he is much given) good house-keeping. For to the 
 virtue of hospitality he hath been greatly inclined from his begin- 
 ning, and is very much commended in these parties for the same." 
 To which he presently adds : " The man is old ; a good house- 
 keeper ; feedeth many, and that daily. For the country is poor 
 and full of penury. And, alas ! my good Lord, shall we not see 
 two or three in every shire changed to such remedy 5 f " 
 
 s Strype's Memorials Eccl., under King Henry VIII., vol. i. part i. p. 400. 
 
HOLY CROSS, WINCHESTER. 
 
 213 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Just like the honest, but expressively simple, earnestness of the 
 constant martyr of Christ ! There were, we know, very many who 
 thought with him, and would have sacrificed much to have re- 
 tained some remnant of the schools and the hospitality of the 
 religious. I have heard of more instances than one, (during the 
 formation of the Railway to Winchester,) where the dole of 
 bread and beer, reduced as it is almost to a name, was most 
 beneficially imparted at the door of the Holy Cross hard by. 
 Would that such a foundation were in hands that might restore 
 the noble edifice, now so miserably bedaubed with whitewash 
 within and without, to somewhat like its ancient intent ! I 
 could wish no better preferment, were I a minister of the Gospel ! 
 The dole should not be indiscriminate, but it should be " a place 
 of alms " still 6 . I could wish no more beautiful Posy than that 
 from Herricks " Thanksgiving to God, for his house and, as 
 my short means will allow, I think on't to do the like. 
 " Low is my porch, as is my fate ; 
 
 Both void of state ; 
 And yet the threshold of my doore, 
 
 Is worn by the poore ; 
 Who thither come and freely get 
 
 Good words or meat 7 ." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Those are touching lines, Alethes ; — much like to the " touch- 
 ing preaching" in old Latimer's letter, misunderstood, I think, 
 by Burnet. But Holy Cross, my friend, was more lucky than 
 Godstow, for which the gentry of Oxfordshire interceded in vain, 
 unto which house, says one, " the young gentlewomen of the 
 country were sent to be bred." The Hospital, hard by Winches- 
 ter (valued at 184^. 4s. 2d.), was exempted from dissolution in 
 Henry's time, though it suffered much during the civil wars. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 It remains, true enough, till the present day, but I cannot 
 think the intentions of the founder fulfilled. We had occasion 
 to mention the name of Henry de Blois, Stephen's brother, before. 
 
 6 The allusion is to the words of Cardinal Beaufort, — Domus Eleemosynaria 
 Nobilis Paupcrtatis. 
 
 7 See Herrick's Noble Numbers, vol. ii. p. 216. Ed. Pick. 
 
214 
 
 HOSPITAL OF HOLY CROSS. 
 
 His intent was munificent ; and the Hundred-mennes-hall still be- 
 speaks his praise. But, sooth to say, the loaf and the three quarts 
 of ale for the poorest men in the city of Winchester, are now 
 dwindled into nothing. The brethren still remain — doles on 
 certain days are still distributed, together with a horn of ale and 
 a slice of bread each day as it comes — wziMn due limits ; — but 
 the spirit of charity which enlivened the Hospital is departed ! 
 The Master is not on the spot to look to the interests of the holy 
 ground ! The corruption, I remember, began early. Henry de 
 Blois, the founder, appointed the Master and Brethren of St. John 
 of J erusalem to be guardians and administrators of the charity, 
 and they misappropriated the revenues. And misappropriation 
 has gone on, though Richard Toclyve, the successor of de Blois, 
 Bishop Wykeham, and again the Cardinal Beaufort, restored for 
 a time its rights, increased its revenues, reinstated Charity on her 
 seat of alms ! 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 There needs much sacrifice of self amongst us still ! Glad 
 should I be to see Holy Cross what it ought to be, whether as 
 regards the Hospital, or its architectural beauty. But it must 
 be by little and little, and the sooner the beginning is made the 
 better. I despise not the old saw, 
 
 " Dimidium facti qui bene ccepit habet!" 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The time is come 8 ! But as I said before, I heartily wish that 
 more of such houses adorned our land. Better surely were they 
 than the new unseemly houses which are now built to imprison 
 the poor ! These turn their hearts backwards, and their de- 
 struction would be their delight. Far otherwise was it when 
 religious houses were destroyed in the land. They were ready to 
 rise as one man, in their defence, and the insurrection as we 
 know took some trouble to quell. There is a curious old writer 
 who speaks what I think on this point, and I know he is a 
 favourite with you. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Who is that ? 
 
 s This, it must be recollected, was written many years ago. The (juestion is now 
 (1853) before the Courts. 
 
BURTONS ANATOMIE OF M EL AXCHOL1 E . 
 
 215 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Democritus Junior, alias old Burton, in his " Anatomie of 
 Melancholic," who gave Milton hints for his " Penseroso." I 
 never knew rightly what to make of that hook, but it contains 
 most extraordinary things ; Charron may have led the way, but 
 the disciple was as wise as, or wiser than, his master. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 That is a point on which literary doctors are contented to 
 disagree. But the book is on that second shelf, — let us refer to 
 the passage. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Here it is. " Methinks our too zealous innovators were not 
 so well advised on that general subversion of abbies and religious 
 houses, promiscuously to fling down all. They might have taken 
 away those gross abuses crept in amongst them, rectified such in- 
 conveniences, and not so far to have rased and raged against those 
 fair buildings, and everlasting monuments of our forefathers' 1 
 devotion, consecrated to pious uses. Some monasteries and col- 
 legiate cells might have been well spared, and their revenues 
 otherwise employed ; here and there one in good towns or cities 
 at least, for men and women of all sorts and conditions to live in, 
 to sequester themselves from the cares and tumults of the world, 
 that were not desirous or fit to marry, or otherwise willing to be 
 troubled with common affairs, and know not well where to bestow 
 themselves, to live apart in, for more conveniency, good education, 
 better company sake ; to follow their studies (I say) to the per- 
 fection of arts and sciences, common good, and, as some truly 
 devoted monks of old had done, freely and truly to serve God ; 
 for these men are neither solitary nor idle, as the poet made 
 answer to the husbandman in ^Esop, that objected idleness to 
 him, he was never so idle as in his company ; or that Scipio 
 Africanus in Tully, nunquam minus solus, quara quum solus ; nun- 
 quam minus otiosus, quam quum esset otiosus — never less solitary 
 than when he was alone, never more busie than when he seemed 
 to be most idle V 
 
 9 Part i. sec. 2, mem. 2, subs. 7. Reprint, vol. i. p. 127. 8vo. 1827. 
 
216 
 
 DAY OF MONASTERIES GONE BY. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Doubtless there is a time, vacare studiis el Deo ; and to a 
 certain extent religious retirement might have been retained. Or 
 rather, as now in Denmark, convents might have been permitted 
 to exist, where no vows were required. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 But I thought I had heard you say that in Denmark the only 
 house that remained was for females, — a kind of secular nunnery. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 You are right. What I meant was, that it might have been 
 well to have retained some few such as old Burton speaks of. 
 The one in particular which I alluded to in Denmark is an excel- 
 lent institution, but it is much restricted. It requires consider- 
 able interest to get in, and is a receptacle only for the unmarried 
 females of the higher classes. It shows, however, that the plan 
 might have been carried out. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I am informed that a circular has been widely distributed, in 
 which " the revival of monastic and conventual institutions on a 
 plan adapted to the exigencies of the Reformed Catholic Church 
 in England," is proposed. I can hardly think it feasible. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The intent, no doubt, is good and single-hearted. But, to say 
 the truth, my idea is that monasteries have had their day. With 
 all the attendant evil, real or fictitious, which accompanied them, 
 they wrought a good work. They were a refuge under feudal 
 tyranny, and had a softening influence on men's minds. Drones 
 there were, in abundance, about the hive — but it was a hive 
 of busy bees nevertheless. And what if some mocked ? The 
 incense of prayer and praise ascended nevertheless continually. 
 Amid the burly burly of wild aggression, and when the darker 
 places of the land were full of cruelty, they gave themselves, like 
 the Psalmist, unto prayer. They were lights in a dark place, and 
 none, with any soul, can look upon the remains of such places as 
 were Furness, Fountains, Tintern, Haughmond, Vale Royal, and 
 a hundred others, without thankfulness. In little things and 
 
THE ABBOT OF ABERBBOTHOK. 
 
 217 
 
 great they were benefactors to the land they lived in. I will 
 exemplify my meaning in the beginning stanzas of that exquisite 
 ballad, the " Inchcape Rock — 
 
 " No stir in the air, no stir in the sea, 
 The ship was still as she could be, 
 Her sails from heaven received no motion, 
 Her keel was steady in the ocean. 
 
 " Without either sign or sound of their shock 
 The waves flow'd o'er the Inchcape Rock ; 
 So little they rose, so little they fell, 
 They did not move the ' Inchcape Bell.' 
 
 " The Abbot of Aberbrothok, 
 Had placed that bell on the Inchcape Rock ; 
 On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung, 
 And over the waves its warning rung. 
 
 " When the Rock was hid by the surge's swell, 
 The mariners heard the warning bell ; 
 And then they knew the perilous Rock, 
 And blest the Abbot of Aberbrothok ! " 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Many's the lesson to be read in verse like that — " Lectorem 
 delectando pariterque monendo ! " Little do the many know 
 when they speak superciliously of monasteries and monkery, that 
 it is to them we owe a great part of the literature we are now 
 possessed of. Some of our wealthy landlords, who now hold what 
 was once the patrimony of the Church, would be surprised to hear 
 that it was the Benedictines who reclaimed the marsh lands which 
 are at present their fat meadows ; and that the Cistercians brought 
 into cultivation those moors which are now so thick with corn. 
 There is plenty of ground even yet to be brought into cultivation, 
 and with our increased and increasing population, we might take a 
 leaf out of their book instead of sneering at their idleness. I 
 suspect the text is yet true, " Dwell in the land, and verily thou 
 shalt be fed ! " 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It was to the Cistercian Abbey of Pontigny, you will recollect, 
 that the Pope consigned Becket ; and Henry threatened to expel 
 
218 BENEDICTINES AND CISTERCIANS AGRICULTURISTS. 
 
 the order from England if they continued to harbour him. They 
 were said at that time to have no less than five hundred houses 
 here. The first Cistercian Abbey founded here was at Waverley 
 in Sui'rey, by William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester, in a.d. 
 1128. But whilst, Alethes, we acknowledge benefits received, 
 we must hold in mind that ancient motto of the Grecian sage 
 MHAEN ATAN ! Some say that shortly after this time the 
 Clergy occupied about one-fifth of the soil, Hallam says one-half, 
 and even a greater proportion in other parts of Europe 10 . If so 
 their temporals, as human nature is constituted, must have 
 usurped much of their attention, whereas, 
 
 " Pastorem, Tityre, pingues 
 Pascere oportet oves ! " 
 
 Bacon remarks in his " Meditationes Sacrae \" that " the begin- 
 nings of the monastical life were good," which they certainly were, 
 but it turned out with them, as with the rest of the world, — pos- 
 sessions brought distraction ! 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 None will more readily grant the truth of what you say than 
 myself, but hear what Hallam says, no very favourable witness : 
 " Many of the grants to monasteries which strike us as enormous, 
 were of districts absolutely wasted, which would probably have 
 been reclaimed by no other means. We owe the agricultural 
 restoration of great part of Europe to the monks. They chose 
 for the sake of retirement, secluded regions, which they cultivated 
 with the labour of their hands. Several charters are extant, 
 granted to convents, and sometimes to laymen, of lands which 
 they had recovered from a desert condition V 1 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 We are quite agreed on the main, though I think Hallam, in 
 a later page of his work rather depreciates the state of horticul- 
 ture. Of one thing we may rest assured, — the monks were 
 always better than their neighbours, — but the restoration of the 
 conventual system, depend upon it, is a dream. You will find the 
 
 10 Middle Ages, vol. ii. p. 209. 
 1 Works, vol. i. p. 212. Ed. Montagu. 
 1 Middle Ages, vol. iii. pp. 436. 444. 
 
MA IT I, A No's DARK AGES. 
 
 219 
 
 subject well treated in the Preface to Mr. MaitlaiuVs " Dark 
 Ages." Have you seen the Reprint ? 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I have not. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Then I shall have the satisfaction of reading to you a passage 
 which, if I am not mistaken, exactly contains our views. 
 
 " It is quite impossible to touch the subject of Monasti- 
 cism without rubbing off some of the dirt which has been 
 heaped upon it. It is impossible to get even a superficial know- 
 ledge of the mediaeval history of Europe, without seeing how 
 greatly the world of that period was indebted to the Monastic 
 Orders ; and feeling that, whether they were good or bad in other 
 matters, monasteries were beyond all price in those days of mis- 
 rule and turbulence, as places where (it may be imperfectly, yet 
 better than elsewhere) God was worshipped — as a quiet and 
 religious refuge for helpless infancy and old age, a shelter of 
 respectful sympathy for the orphan maiden, and the desolate 
 widow — as central points whence agriculture was to spread over 
 bleak hills, and barren downs, and marshy plains, and deal its 
 bread to millions perishing with hunger and its pestilential train ; 
 as repositories of the learning which was to be — as nurseries of 
 art and science, giving the stimulus, the means, and the reward 
 to invention, and aggregating around them every head that could 
 devise, and every hand that could execute — as the nucleus of the 
 city which in after days of pride should crown its palaces and 
 bulwarks with the towering cross of its cathedral. This, I think, 
 no man can deny. I believe it is true, and I love to think of it. 
 I hope that I see the good hand of God in it, and the visible 
 trace of his mercy that is over all his works V 
 
 He then proceeds to show the impossibility of restoring what 
 I have called the conventual system, and I think he does it well 
 and wisely. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 One loss was sustained by the dissolution of the monasteries 
 which I think has never been redeemed to this day. 
 
 3 See Prefaee, |>. v. 
 
220 
 
 EDUCATION IN THE MONASTERIES. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 What do you allude to. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The systematic teaching which was pursued there, and in the 
 place of which the Grammar-Schools of Edward VI. (in them- 
 selves excellent and invaluable institutions) were but a sorry 
 change. It is old and honest Latimer that says, " To consider 
 what hath been plucked from abbeys, colleges, and chantries it is 
 marvel no more to be bestowed upon this holy office of salvation. 
 Very few there be that keep poor scholars, that set their children 
 to school to learn the word of God ; and to make a provision for 
 the age to come *." 
 
 EUBUI.US. 
 
 Averse as Latimer was to the life of an idle friar, none was 
 more sensible than he of losses sustained. I agree entirely with 
 you in thinking that the education of the people, — especially of the 
 poor, — received at that time a shock which it is only just recover- 
 ing from. Means for exertion were done away with, and finances 
 crippled by indiscriminate robbery and spoliation. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Basil's care for the education of children in the monasteries 
 of the East can never be forgotten. But, is there reason to 
 believe that the like care was bestowed upon the children of the 
 poor and orphans in our Anglo-Saxon Religious Houses I 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 There is not, but as a general truth, they were fully alive to the 
 Satirist's saying, 
 
 " Maxima debetur puero reverentia." 
 
 Formerly the schools were within the abbey, and the monks, 
 under the prior's inspection, were the teachers. It is not to be 
 disguised, however, that very many of these children were con- 
 signed to the care of the House by their parents, and brought up 
 as monks before they could choose for themselves, and in this 
 there was a marked difference from the rule and conduct of St. 
 Basil. But the schools were not restricted, and others received 
 
 1 Swmons, vol. i. p. 267- Ed. Watkins. 
 
MONASTIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 221 
 
 education within the walls, who, but for so kindly a provision, 
 must have continued in lamentable ignorance. But it was not 
 till after the arrival of Augustine that the education of children 
 generally was much insisted on. Sigebert, Bede tells us, on his 
 return from France, whither he had fled from his brother Red- 
 wald, on regaining the crown of East Anglia, first established a 
 school in his dominions. He was assisted in his good work by 
 Bishop Felix. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 His name, and that of Bishop Felix, should never be mentioned 
 but with respect. It was a day of small things, but he made a 
 beginning, and it was much. Opportunity was offered, and the 
 monks would be the readier teachers when the example was set 
 by their king, for, as Claudian says, 
 
 " Componitur orbis 
 Regis ad exemplum." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 We know that the example was followed, and although the 
 instruction of the House was limited, still, whoever wished to 
 learn must betake himself to abbey or monastery. Almost every 
 thing that appertains to the education of monks and nuns will be 
 found in Fosbrooke , s " British Monachism 11 — a very useful and 
 entertaining book. I wish, however, that he had pursued the 
 subject of education generally as it emanated from the cloister 
 and the cowl. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The subject, though the fact be acknowledged, is beset with 
 difficulties, and requires a careful induction of particulars. But 
 as regards Sigebert's school, that, as it appears to me, was rather 
 for ecclesiastics ; and I think my opinion is borne out by what 
 Bishop Stillingfleet says in his " Discourse of the true Antiquity 
 of London." Any education which proceded further was but, so 
 to say, the overflowing of the cup. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I forget what Stillingfleet says ; but his " Ecclesiastical 
 Cases " are on the shelf, and we will look to it. A very valuable 
 work, Alethes ! 
 
222 
 
 MONASTIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 That it is. I can turn to the passage at once ; and the 
 reference is to Bede. " Where Bede speaks of Sigebert's ap- 
 pointing a school among the East Angles for the education of 
 youth, he saith, that Felix, Bishop of the diocese, provided 
 masters and tutors for them, according to the custom of Can- 
 terbury. Now this Sigebert was contemporary with Eadbaldus, 
 son to Ethelbert ; and Felix was Bishop of the East Angles, 
 while Honorius was Archbishop, and Paulinus Bishop of B,o- 
 chester. From whence it follows, that at Canterbury, there was 
 care taken in the monastery there founded, for masters and 
 tutors, in order to the education of fit persons for the Church's 
 service V 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I admit the restriction ; but, as I said before, the source of 
 education is clear enough. To use the Psalmist's words, " It is 
 like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down unto 
 the beard, even unto Aaron's beard, and went down to the skirts 
 of his clothing 6 ." It began with the Priesthood ; but the skirts 
 of the congregation participated in its sovereign influence on 
 their minds, and by degrees, began to find that knowledge was 
 power. Now, I am convinced, it was the destruction of these 
 schools which retarded the progress of education. If I mistake 
 not, Mr. Churton, in his " Early English Church, - " is of the 
 same opinion. But observe, I could not enter into a contest 
 about words ; and the effects of the school, whether within or 
 without the monastery, were nearly one and the same. His words 
 are : " There was commonly a school kept near the great abbeys, 
 and at the expense of the monasteries. The loss of these schools 
 was one of the public evils felt, when Henry VIII. so rapaciously 
 broke up these religious houses. In the beginning of Queen 
 Elizabeth's reign, a.d. 1562, the Speaker of the House of Com- 
 mons, Williams, complained that more than a hundred flourish- 
 ing schools had been destroyed, which had been maintained by 
 the monasteries, and that ignorance had greatly increased from 
 it 7 ." When he goes on to say that "these schools do not seem 
 
 5 See 2nd Part of Eccles. Cases, vol. ii. p. 554. 0 Psalm cxxxiii. v. 2. 
 
 1 Churton's " Early English Church," p. 324. 
 
CATHEDRAL AND MONASTIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 223 
 
 to have done much to advance the state of learning amongst the 
 people," he states what is true ; and we only differ in the ac- 
 ceptation of words. Knowledge emanated from these schools; 
 and to them, after all, the people were indebted. The impetus 
 given was from thence. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 But are you not confounding together what should be kept 
 apart, — I mean, Cathedral and Monastic Schools? No well- 
 informed person would deny what Aubrey asserts, in his " Life 
 of Hobbes," namely, that " before the Reformation, all monaste- 
 ries had great schools appendant to them V 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 These may require some slight discrimination ; but the fact is, 
 that on this matter there is little discernible difference. The 
 truth is still one and the same, — all the earlier education of this 
 country was in the hands of the religious houses. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 My remark was grounded on that section in Henry's " History 
 of Great Britain," which speaks of the seminaries of learning 
 from a.d. 1166 to a.d. 1216. He then divides them into five 
 classes: — I. General Studies, or Universities ; II. Episcopal, or 
 Cathedral Schools ; III. Monastic or Conventual Schools ; IV. 
 The Schools of Cities and Towns ; and, V. The Schools of the 
 Jews 9 . 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 This distribution is sufficiently correct ; but there can be no 
 doubt that the Conventual sprung out of the Cathedral schools. 
 Whenever, in its primitive acceptation, we speak of a minster, 
 or a monastery, we must consider the Clergy and the Bishop as 
 living together. At all events we cannot contemplate Augustine 
 and his monks without such an association. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Henry informs us, as we know, indeed, from other sources, 
 that these conventual schools greatly increased during the reign 
 of Henry I., Stephen, Henry II., and John. Between the time 
 
 8 Letters from the Bodleian, vol. ii. p. 614. 
 
 9 See History, &c, vol. iii. p. 436. 
 
224 
 
 SCHOOL OF ST. ALBAN S. 
 
 of the Conquest and the death of the last-named king, no less 
 than 557 religious houses of different kinds were founded; and 
 as there was a school of some sort in each, we may guess the 
 influence of learning even in those darker times, as they are 
 called. As to the Episcopal or Cathedral schools, the same 
 authority informs us that they were " even better regulated, and 
 consequently more useful and more famous." One of the most 
 remarkable schools mentioned during this period is that of St. 
 Alban's. This I refer to, for a further reason ; for, besides the 
 school in the Abbey, there was another in the town, " under the 
 government of Matthew, a physician, who had been educated at 
 Salernum, and of his nephew, Gasinus, who excelled in the know- 
 ledge of the Civil and Canon Law. Of this academy Matthew Paris 
 affirms, " That there was hardly a school in all England, at that 
 time, more fruitful or more famous, either for the number or 
 proficiency of its scholars. This plainly intimates that there 
 were many schools of the same kind in England ; which is further 
 evident from the last Canon of the Council of Westminster, a.d. 
 1138, prohibiting the scholastics of Cathedral Churches from 
 taking money for granting licenses to the teachers of the schools 
 in the several towns and villages \" 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Schools were now becoming very general ; and although 
 Matthew was educated at Salernum, enough were educated at 
 home. The fact you have now stated from Henry goes entirely 
 to corroborate what I said. The learning of religious houses 
 was beginning to spread. If I am not mistaken, the first schools, 
 not for the education of monks, but wherein youths were educated 
 by the monks, were called " Scholce Claustrales V The next 
 step was to schools unconnected with the monasteries ; and the 
 teachers in them were considered to have usurped an authority 
 not their own. Du Cange states this in these words : " Scholce 
 vero jus, seu earn tenendi in ejusmodi villis, inter jura dominica 
 recensetur : adeo ut dominos laicos id sibi asseruisse, et Presby- 
 
 1 Henry, ut supra, p. 445. 
 
 2 See Du Cauge v. " Scholse Monasticse," and again v. " Schola Christi," the 
 word " Scholasticus " in its ecclesiastical sense, he explains to be, " Dignitas 
 Ecclesiastica, qua qui donatus est, Ecclesiasticis prsee-st, Gall. Ecolatre." 
 
CATHEDRAL AND MONASTIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 225 
 
 teris ademisse colligatur in Charta Balduini de Raducriis in 
 Monastico Anglic, tom. ii. p. 180. 1 '' He had stated above, 
 M Scholas in villis et vicis habere jubentur Presbyteri apud Theo- 
 dulphum in Capitul. c. 20. Et Attonem Episc. in Capitulari, 
 cap. 61. 11 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 It is curious thus to trace the little streams to their source, 
 and to observe into what a mighty river they have now swelled. 
 But was there not a proposition at the Council of Trent for the 
 efficient restoration of schools in connexion with Monasteries and 
 Cathedrals ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 There was. We will refer to it in Courayers Translation of 
 Fra-Paolo Sarpi's History of that Council. Those five quarto 
 volumes, on your left hand, I purchased in 1829, by the advice 
 of the lamented Dr. Burton. The two first are Courayer's 
 Translation of Paolo Sarpi ; the three next, LTEnfant's 
 Account of the Councils of Pisa and Constance. A well-timed 
 " Book on Cathedral Institutions," recalled it to my mind years 
 after. But here it is; and I will read it to you. 
 
 " Quelques-uns propose rent a Vegard des lesions de retablir Vusage 
 qui subsistoit anciennement, lorsque les monastires et Us chapitres 
 netoient que des Ecoles ; usage dont il reste encore des vestiges dans 
 plusieurs Cat/iedrales, ou les dignites cTEcolatre ou de Theologal, 
 auxquelles sont annexees des Prebendes, sont demeurees sans exer- 
 cise, faute d'etre conferees a des personnes qui en soient capables. 
 Tout le monde jugea done, que cetoit une chose avantageuse et utile 
 de retablir les lecons de Theologie dans les CathedraUs et les 
 Monasteres. ^execution en paroissoit facile dans les Cathedrales, 
 en en remettant le soin aux Eveques. Mais il y avoit de la 
 difficulty par rapport aux Monasteres. Car, quoiquil ne sagit 
 que des Moines, et non des Mendians, les Legats, pour empecher quon 
 ne touchdt aux pricileges accordes par les Papes, s' 'opposoient a ce 
 qu'on donndt aux Eveques la surintendance et V inspection de ces 
 sortes de lecons. Mais Sebastien Pighino, Auditeur de Bote, 
 trouva a cela un temperament, qui etoit de donner cette surin- 
 tendance aux Eveques comme delegues du Saint Siege,' 1 '' <tc. 3 
 
 3 Histoire du Coucile de Trcnte, livre ii. c. Ixii., vol. i. p. 305. Ed. 1736. 
 
 a 
 
226 
 
 THE SCHOLASTIC PREBEND. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The result, I recollect, from Pallavicini ; and it was well that 
 in needier places the blessing of a Cathedral, or a Monastic 
 School, descended on the heads of the poor around. From what 
 we have said, Eubulus, I am inclined to collect that the recent 
 Professorships of Ecclesiastical History, and Pastoral Theology 
 in Oxford, are but " auld claes" made new again ! 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 As you always speak in earnest, and with no sinister intent, 
 there is no reason to disguise the truth. At the same time the 
 Divinity and Hebrew Professorships were attached to Canonries 
 at Christ Church before ; and the Chorister School has always 
 been well looked to. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 That I know ; but in some Cathedrals the desire expressed in 
 the " Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Laws," was not carried 
 out. In a word, the " Scholastic Prebend " did not fulfil his 
 duties. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 " Pudet hsec opprobria nobis, 
 Et dici potuisse, et non potuisse refelli ! " 
 
 But so it is in all things under the sun ! The duties of indivi- 
 duals need looking to, or the good of the community suffers. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 But here, too, is a fallacy. The keenest of mortal vision, 
 omitting its own duties, pries into those of another. There is 
 enough of the eagle glance, and the subtle wisdom of the serpent; 
 but the censurer himself full often needs the " humble, penitent, 
 and obedient heart." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 True, true, Alethes ! But had the Clerici themselves been 
 more zealous, there had not been such a forsaking in the midst 
 of the land ! We have much to answer for one and all of us. 
 However, since the spoliation of Church property, in Henry 
 VJIIth's time and since, the lords of the soil have placed them- 
 selves in no enviable position. Till driven to it by the pressure 
 
THE SCHOLASTIC PREBEKI). 
 
 227 
 
 from without, which caused compunction within, the vicar's 
 stipend remained what it was before the increased value of pro- 
 perty ; and, as to the support of schools, and other charities, it 
 is only till within of late years that such a thing has been thought 
 of ; and in many a parish I could name, even yet it is not thought 
 of at all. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 You would imply that those whose house is made of glass, 
 should not be the first to throw stones ! 
 
 EUIiULUS. 
 
 The proverb is true enough, though I did not think of it. 
 The fact is, I was painfully impressed with the fact that we had 
 not done all that we might have done ; and wicked as was the 
 late spoliation of Cathedral property, I can scarce look upon it 
 but in the light of a visitation. Since the Hanoverian Succession 
 we have had too many political Divines ; and many have been 
 thrust into the " Priest's office to eat a piece of bread. ,, 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 And yet, Eubulus, the intended application of forfeited Church 
 property (for I can call it by no other name) is hardly more 
 violent than the appropriation of the property of the Regular to 
 the Secular Clergy. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Had that been the only use made of the patrimony of the 
 Church, the ground you take might have had more solidity ; but 
 you know full well that it was miserably squandered on court 
 sycophants and spendthrifts. Old Latimer lifted up his voice 
 against the misapplication of the Church's revenue, as did others ; 
 and for this, if for this alone, their names should be had in 
 honour. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Well ! Eubulus, you have the consolation to think that some- 
 thing has been done in the diocese of Chichester ! I am told 
 it was the intent of the late Bishop of W orcester, when Bishop 
 of Chichester, had the " ttcolatre? or " Scholasticus " Prebend 
 fallen vacant during his Episcopacy, to have appropriated it 
 entirely to theological teaching. 
 
 u 2 
 
228 
 
 EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Time passed on, and a Diocesan School was established at 
 Chichester ; and the name of the amiable Bishop Otter will ever 
 be connected with it : — 
 
 " Libertas quae, sera tamen, respexit inertem !" 
 
 It is the Priest's house, when all is said and done, Alethes, 
 which is the " Domus Sapientite." The Priesthood must teach 
 the people, or they will be ill taught, and fall into all sorts of 
 sectarian views and notions. This is well known under the 
 Roman, or Papistic, scheme ; and, to use an old expression of 
 the Metamorphosis, in no hostile sense, — 
 
 " Fas est et ab hoste doceri ! " 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Under any circumstances there is a move. The schoolmaster 
 is abroad. Whether for good, or for ill, — as schemes shall be 
 ripened, — the teaching system is in the ascendant. I shall be 
 glad to see the ancient model abided by, as far as it is possible. 
 The further we remove from it, the worse it will be for us. There 
 is but one solid school, when rightly considered, and that is the 
 School of the Prophets. All education to be beneficial must be 
 in the hands of the Church. At last the truth seems unwillingly 
 acceded to. Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek, have assented to an 
 armistice ! 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I wish the present calm may not portend a heavier storm ! 
 But I will confess the outward appearance of things is better : 
 " God sitteth above the water flood !" 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The question of the people's education is one on which I 
 wish to be better informed. It is one, I know, on which you 
 have long thought, and on which doubts of all sorts have risen 
 up before you. I should like to know your more matured 
 opinions. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 On another occasion. Meanwhile let us avail ourselves of the 
 first day of spring, — the first genial day we have had ! The 
 
THE FLOWERS OF THE FIELD. 
 
 229 
 
 children are calling for papa, and have their baskets filled with 
 daisies and buttercups. The little sick boy, too, has made a 
 flower necklace, which smells sweet as violets ; and he says he 
 wants me, as soon as I have read prayers to the widow, who sent 
 but now, to gather him some still prettier posies, which he says 
 he will wreath into a krantz for his mamma, who has been 
 sitting by his bed-side since breakfast. The observant rogue has 
 caught the word from me. It simply means a "garland;" and 
 so Shakspeare uses it in Hamlet 4 . It was the every-day 
 word when I was in Denmark, though commentators would read 
 " chants." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 And so those pretty prattlers have taught you to pluck the 
 flowers once more ! It was you that used to refer me to the 
 words of Bacon, when I carelessly pulled a handful ; and they 
 were pretty words, too : — " And because the breath of flowers 
 is far sweeter in the air (when it comes and goes, like the 
 warbling of music) than in the hand, therefore nothing is more 
 fit for that delight, than to know what be the flowers and plants 
 that do best perfume the air 5 ." I can repeat them, you see, 
 like a schoolboy ! 
 
 EOBULOS. 
 
 There is an old Grecian story, Alethes, of a great commander 
 — (the Duke of Wellington of his day) — who was caught riding 
 cock-horse with his children 6 ! And, soothe to say, they are 
 imperious in their infancy. I am of Paley's mind, who rejoiced 
 in the happiness of little children. None else would induce me 
 to pluck a flower. Did you ever read those pretty lines of 
 Walter Savage Landor's? — 
 
 " And 'tis and ever was my wish and way 
 To let all flowers live freely, and all die, 
 
 4 " Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants, 
 
 Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home 
 Of bell and burial !" — Hamlet, Act v. Sc. i. 
 
 5 Essay of Gardens. Works, vol. i. p. 164. 
 
 6 Old Fuller says, after having quoted Horace's " Equitare in arundine longa," 
 " Such cases are no trespass on gravity, and married men may claim that privilege, 
 to lie judijed by their Peers, and may herein appeal from the censuring verdict of 
 Batchelors." — Holy State, book iii. c. xxi. See also Hales of Eaton, vol. ii. p. 86. 
 Ed. 8vo. 
 
230 
 
 THE FLOWERS OF THE FIELD. 
 
 Whene'er their Genius bids their souls depart 
 Among their kindred in their native place. 
 I never pluck the rose ; the violet's head 
 Hath shaken with my breath upon its bank, 
 And not reproacht me ; the ever sacred cup 
 Of the pure lily hath between my hands 
 Felt safe, unsoil'd, nor lost one grain of gold 7 !" 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Well may you call them pretty ! But come, the children are 
 clamorous. Goldsmith must have seen such " noisy children 
 just let loose from school ! " For his line is alive ! 
 
 7 Landor's Poems. Fresulan Idyl, p. 317- 
 
No. III. 
 
 ^aror&tal jfragmattsf, 
 
" Liberal, not lavish, is kind Nature's hand ; 
 Nor was perfection made for man below : 
 Yet all her schemes with nicest art are plann'd 
 Good counteracting ill, and gladness woe." 
 
 Beattie's Minstrel, Book i. vi. 
 
 " I would not, as some, to seem impartial, do no right to any. When actions 
 are honourable, the honour is as much the history, as the fact ; and so for infamy. 
 It is justice, as well historical as civil, to give to every one his due. And whoever 
 engageth in such designs as these, and governs himself by other measures, may be 
 a chronographer, but a very imperfect, or rather insipid, historian." 
 
 Author's Preface to Life of Lord Keeper Guilford, p. 15. 
 
 " Slander is like the fish called the remora, which, sticking to the helms of great 
 ships, disorders the steerage. Ordinary persons are obnoxious to slander; but, 
 for the most part, it is frivolous, slightly regarded, and turns to merriment. But, 
 when applied to great men and ministers of state, it disturbs the course of affairs, 
 and the whole government feels it." 
 
 Life of Lord Keeper Guilford. Vol. ii. p. 162. 8vo. 
 
 " Wealth, and honour, and power, and favour, are of God ; but we have but 
 stolen them from God, or received them by the hand of the devil, if we be come to 
 them by ill means. And if we have them from the hand of God, by having 
 acquired them by good means, yet if we make them occasions of sin, in the ill use 
 of them after, we lose the comfort of the Holy Ghost, which requires the testimony 
 of a rectified conscience, that all was well got, and is well used." 
 
 Donne's Serm. xxviii. p. 279. 
 
 " 'Tis highest Heaven's command 
 That guilty aims should sordid paths pursue ; 
 That what ensnares the heart should maim the hand, 
 And Virtue's worthless foes be false to glory too." 
 
 Akenside. Ode xviii. 
 
parorfjial jfragmente, 
 
 &c. &c. <SuC. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I am glad to see you back again. I was afraid you had wan- 
 dered out for the day, under the idea that I was too much occu- 
 pied to revert to our conversation of yesterday. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I had made an engagement, Eubulus, with old James Long, 
 the Clerk, and I found him such a faithful chronicler, that it 
 was difficult to get away. I hardly thought to have seen the 
 old man again ! But, — for I had taken the poems of Douza in 
 my pocket, 
 
 " Post divortia longa, post tot annos 
 Usurpare palam data est potestas 
 Mutuaque frui allocutione ; 
 Quem nec spes mihi porro erat videndi 1 ." 
 
 The conversation of the old man and his remarks on bygone days 
 cannot but rivet attention. 
 
 EUBULCS. 
 
 So I told you on a former occasion. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 We examined the Church throughout, as I had often done 
 before, but he seemed delighted to point out afresh what he 
 
 1 Jani Dotazn Poemata, p. 205. Ed. 1609. 
 
234 
 
 WEST TARltlNG. 
 
 thought might have escaped my recollection. On parting he 
 asked me if I knew the curious inscription on an old tomb-stone 
 some paces westward from the Lych-gate 2 . See ! I copied it. 
 
 " Here lieth the Bodie of John Parson : the only Sonne of 
 William Parson of Salvington : who was buried the fowerth 
 Day of March, 1633. 
 
 " Youthe was his age : 
 Virginitie his state : 
 Learning his love : 
 Consumption his fate." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It is the only inscription in the churchyard " quaintly devised," 
 and in a few years more it will be illegible. Nothing is now 
 known of the individual, and although Parsons is a very common 
 name in these parts, Parson is unknown. So little avails the 
 stone. 
 
 " Laudis titulique cupido 
 Haesuri saxis cinerum custodibus; ad quae 
 Discutienda valent sterilis mala robora ficus, 
 Quandoquidem data sunt ipsis quoque fata sepulcris 3 ." 
 
 It is as Sir T. Browne remarks in that beautiful treatise, 
 his Hydriotaphia, or Urn Burial, " Grave stones tell truth 
 scarce forty years. Generations pass while some trees stand, and 
 old families last not three oaks. To be read by bare inscriptions 
 like many in Gruter, to hope for eternity by enigmatical epithets 
 or first letters of our names, to be studied by antiquaries, who we 
 were, and have new names given us like many of the mummies, 
 are cold consolations unto the students of perpetuity, even by 
 everlasting languages V 
 
 ALKTHES. 
 
 I fancy I know most that appertains to the history of the 
 Church and Parish of West Tarring, but I should be glad you 
 
 2 This is the old name for the gate through which the corpse enters the church- 
 yard. Lick is the Anglo-Saxon word for corpse. Hence Lichfield, Lichwake, <Scc. &c. 
 In the Churchwarden's Accounts for 1572 is the following entry : " The lach of (he 
 Church lytync gate vj d ." Drayton mentions the " Shrieking litch owl." See Nares' 
 Gloss, cap. v. Litch-otcl. 
 
 ' Juv. Sat. x, 143. 4 See c. v. Works, vol. iii. p. 491. 
 
WEST TARRING. 
 
 235 
 
 would read to me what is contained in that little book of yours, 
 in which is noted down all the Ecclesiology of the district. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It is little enough, and for the most part extracted from Cart- 
 wright's " History of the Rape of Bramber," a hastily got up 
 Book, and in need of much correction. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 It will interest me none the less. Read on, do. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Tarring, Terring, or Torring, — for so it is severally written, 
 — has the affix of West, to distinguish it from Tarring Neville, 
 which is in the Eastern Division of the County, two miles and a 
 half north of Newhaven, Rape of Pevensey. Whence the name 
 is derived is not known, but the termination "ing n is common 
 enough, and is simply the Anglo-Saxon " lug™ signifying a pas- 
 ture or meadow. So in the immediate neighbourhood we have 
 Goring, Ferring, Lancing, and elsewhere Reading, Godalming, 
 &c. It is much the same as " ung " in German, when applied to 
 places, though the Teutonic retains likewise the term " ingen" 
 as in Thuringen, &c. 
 
 Anciently West Tarring was a place of some note in these 
 parts, and letters were directed to different villages, " near Tar- 
 ring." At the time referred to Steyning and Arundel would be 
 the nearest towns. Shoreham was in itself inconsiderable, and 
 but the port to the former ; and as for Brighthelmstone, or 
 Brighton, it was but " a small fisher town 5 ," as Clarendon calls 
 it, when he tells us that Colonel Gunter had provided a little bark 
 there for the escape of Charles II., " where he went early on 
 board, and by God's blessing arrived safely in Normandy." 
 
 The Manor of Tarring was given by King Athelstan to the 
 Church of Christ in Dorobernia, or Canterbury, between the 
 years a.d. 941 and a.d. 941. In " Domesday" it is reckoned 
 among the possessions of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and is 
 stated to have always belonged to the monastery. At that time 
 it had also two Churches. Of the second there is no traditionary 
 record even, and it is not improbable that one of the chapelries 
 
 1 See b. xiii. vol. vi. p. 541. Ed. 182<>. Dorobernia, below, is Canterbury, not 
 as is the old Latin Grammar " Dover." " Audita legem Doroberniam pro&cisci." 
 
236 
 
 WEST TARRING. 
 
 was counted in. If not, we have only to consider the destruction 
 of churches at that time, and to count this into the number. 
 That old clause in the Litany was no fictitious one, but inserted 
 in faith and fear : E potestate JSforthmannorum, libera nos, Domine. 
 The conquering Normans recked little of sacred places. His 
 appetite and digestion were much like the Dragon of W antley's, 
 
 " For houses and churches were to him geese and turkies." 
 
 If report be square with the Conqueror, he destroyed no less than 
 six and thirty parish churches, in the New Forest. The truth of this 
 has been questioned, but the extent of that splendid chase leaves 
 little room for doubt. Churches, we know, had greatly increased, 
 as Stillingfleet observes on these words in the laws of Edward the 
 Confessor : " That there were then three or four churches, where 
 there had been but one before V 
 
 Though belonging to the See of Canterbury, the great Norman 
 Baron had a stake in the parish of Tarring, as in the other 
 parishes round about. " William de Braose " (" Domesday," as 
 quoted by Mr. Cartwright,) "holds four hides of this manor, and has 
 three in demesne, one plough and four villains, with five cottagers, 
 having one plough and a half." His possessions in these parts 
 must have been enormous, as on the Saxons being spoiled, forty- 
 one manors in Sussex fell to his lot, besides others in Hampshire 
 and Dorsetshire. His South-Saxon residence was Bramber- 
 castle, of which the ruin still remains ; his Norman, Braose, or 
 Brieuse-castle, ten leagues from Caen, and two from Falaise 7 . 
 
 Very little is known of Tarring in earlier days, at least very 
 little has been brought to light as to its history, which seems to 
 have been considered as one with that of the possessions of Can- 
 terbury. The following notice is quoted by Mr. Cartwright, from 
 the " Rolls of the Hundreds, 1 '' (supposed to be made in the year 
 1274,) and would seem to corroborate what is here stated. " The 
 Jurors say that the tenants of the Archbishop, in his manor of 
 Tarring and Salvington, were accustomed to perform suits to the 
 hundred of Bretford, in the time of Stephen, then Archbishop, 
 but after his time they were withdrawn, and are now attached to 
 the hundred of Lokesfield, by what authority they know not, to 
 
 6 Of the Rights and Duties of the Parochial Clergy, p. 129, vol. i. Ed. 1698. 
 
 7 See Pedigree in Cartwright, p. 174, with the History of Braniber. 
 
WEST TARRING. 
 
 237 
 
 the annual loss to the king of 2s.'''' It is observable that although 
 Tarring was formerly a place of considerable repute, it had never- 
 theless no market. The charter for holding one is dated April 
 26, Henry VI., and Saturday is the day appointed. The reason 
 for requiring one is curious, namely, that whilst the good people 
 were " atte the next market " of Broadwater, " they that icere 
 abyding and beleyving Ml the said towne (t. e. of Tarring) stille in 
 the mene ichile by the said enemys" (i. e. the Kynges enemys of 
 Ffrance, Breteyne, Spayne, and other party s,) " had dyvers times 
 ben taken prisoners and byn slayn as icell the men as the women, 
 childer, maidenes, wives, and doters therin beying and beleyving.' 1 '' 
 Broadwater is not so much as a mile distant, so that the 
 alarm might soon have spread ! Probably the market then, like 
 the fair there now, might have had its convivial charms, and 
 under such circumstances husbands might not have been in a 
 condition to defend their families ! No South-Saxon born is ever 
 in a hurry to leave either Sussex pudding, or Sussex ale ! 
 
 " Nos numerus sumus, et fruges consumere nati 
 Sponsi Penelopae, nebulones, Alcinoique 
 In cute curanda plus aequo operata juventus 8 ! " 
 
 Old Latimer, one might think, derived the story following from 
 the South Downs : " A good fellow on a time bad another of his 
 friends to a breakfast and said, ' If you will come, you shall be 
 welcome ; but I tell you aforehand, you shall have but slender 
 fare, one dish, and that is all. - ' ' What is that? 1 said he. 'A 
 pudding, and nothing else/ ' Marry, 1 said he, ' you cannot please 
 me better ; of all meats, that is for mine own tooth ; you may 
 draw me round about the town with a pudding V " 
 
 The present title of the Benefice is, " Patching cum Terring." 
 Patching was annexed in 1767 to the Vicarage, but it appears 
 that it was a chapel belonging to the church of Tarring, as early 
 as 1238. The Rectory is a sinecure in the gift of the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. The Vicarage is also a Peculiar of Lam- 
 beth, which, however, would appear to have been once in the gift of 
 the Rector. But I may pass over the page, as what is contained 
 
 8 Hor. i. Epist. ii. 27- 
 
 • Third Sermon before King Edward VI., p. 45. Ed. 4to. 1575. Black Letter. 
 
238 
 
 WEST TARRING, 
 
 in it was more or less made mention of when we were speaking of 
 the Old Rectory House, or, as it is more commonly called, 
 Thomas a Becket's Palace. 
 
 There was formerly a Chantry here, dedicated to the Virgin. 
 The only remnant of its existence is to be found in a barn and a 
 field, the one called the Chantry-barn, the other the Chantry-field. 
 The earliest notice of it which had come to Mr. Cartwright's 
 knowledge, " is in the Register of Archbishop Peckham, who 
 issued a precept to his Chaplain, John de Slyndon, dated in May, 
 1282, to inquire into the state of the Chantry, then vacant, what 
 was its endowment, and to whom the presentation belonged. The 
 return to this precept is not given. But it appears by a final 
 concord in 1 3] 3, that William atte Field, and Agnes his wife, 
 granted to Walter de Peckham, nephew to the Archbishop, and 
 then Rector of Tarring, the presentation to this Chantry.'''' The 
 last notice of it is in a return in the augmentation office, 36 Hen. 
 VIII. It is there stated that there had been no incumbent for 
 forty years. At present neither Rector nor Vicar have any glebe 
 lands, (that on which the old rectory barns stood is not worthy 
 the name,) and it would be curious to know whether or not they 
 are under any obligation to the Walter de Peckham just men- 
 tioned, who is stated, when parson of Tarring, to have sold in 
 1328 to " John de Montgomery, and Rosa his wife, one messuage, 
 one mill, forty-two acres of arable, two acres of meadow, and 5s. 
 rent in Tarring." Probably, however, this chantry followed the 
 fate of others. Two reasons were assigned in the Preamble to 
 the Act of 1547, Edw. VI. One was, "for the dissolving of 
 superstition which chantries were found to be great occasions of ;" 
 the other, " for the founding of schools of learning, and providing 
 for the poor." But it fared with this parish as with countless 
 others, — no school was founded, neither were the poor enriched. 
 Strype gives some extracts from a sermon of Thomas Lever's on 
 this subject, sometime Fellow, afterwards Master of St. John's 
 College, Cambridge. " These," he said, " were all sold, taken, 
 and made away. The King bore the slander, the poor felt the 
 lack. But who had the profit of such things, he could not tell. 
 But he knew well, and all the world saw, that the Act made by 
 the King's Majesty and his Lords and Commons of his Parlia- 
 
WEST TARRING 
 
 239 
 
 ment, for maintenance of learning and relief of the poor, had 
 served some as a fit instrument to rob learning, and to spoil the 
 poor V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Excuse my interrupting you. I am not aware of any remnant 
 of the Chantry in the present fabric. Is there such, or is any 
 ruin traceable ? The Chantry, you know, was usually attached to 
 the Mother Church. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It is remarked by Staveley, that if the model of " country 
 churches be observed, very often some additional building, or 
 excrescence appears, differing from the old, or first falricl; 
 erected and used for these Chantrys V But there is no remnant 
 here whatsoever. The chancel was in fact the chantry too. 
 But you are well aware that all chantries were not necessarily 
 separate — the chantries, for example, of William of Wykeham, 
 Cardinal Beaufort, and Bishop Waynflete in Winchester Cathe- 
 dral, are between the massy piers of that splendid pile. Staveley, 
 above quoted, states that there were no less than " seven and 
 forty chantrys in St. Paul's." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 No doubt Chantries were abused as Monasteries were, but I 
 could no more approve of the indiscriminate destruction of the 
 one than of the other, and I could as little accede to what Mr. 
 Wright says in his Preface to " Three Chapters of Letters relat- 
 ing to the Suppression of Monasteries 3 .'''' But proceed, Eubulus, 
 with what is left. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The Church of West Tarring, were but the gallery taken down, 
 and the nave thrown open, would be one of the most spacious 
 ones hereabouts. It is of ancient but not of uniform date, and 
 
 1 See Strype's Memorials Ecclesiastical of King Edward VI., vol. ii. part i. p. 
 101. Strype's own words are : " This Act was soon after grossly abused, as the 
 Act in the former King's reign for dissolving religious houses was. For though the 
 public good was pretended thereby, (and intended too, I hope,) yet private men, in 
 truth, had most of the benefit, and the King and Commonwealth, the state of learn- 
 ing and the condition of the poor, left as they were before, or worse." P. 100. 
 
 * See Staveley's « Romish Horseleech," p. 191. Ed. 1674. 
 
 * Printed for the Camden Society. 1843. 
 
240 
 
 WEST TARRING. 
 
 dedicated to St. Andrew. The nave with its beautiful clerestory 
 and lancet windows is of the age of Edward I., as are also the 
 north and south aisles. The roof has never been lowered, and as 
 the old proportions are thus retained the height of the nave is 
 very imposing. The chancel and tower date later, and are of 
 Edward IVth's time. The former is separated from the nave by 
 folding doors, and an old screen. Within are three stalls on 
 either side. The old Misereres 4 also, with their grotesque carv- 
 ings underneath, remain as they were. North and south there 
 are oak seats likewise, but without stalls or Misereres. The 
 Altar is railed in and raised, with steps up to it, — anciently called 
 the Grees, Grice, or Gradus Chori 5 — which escaped the levelling 
 system of the day. The altar-stone was probably taken down 
 when others were in the Diocese of Chichester. This Order of 
 Council was in 1551, for Strype records that altars remained in 
 many churches a good while after Bishop Day's deprivation 6 for 
 " refusing to take down all altars within his diocese, and in lieu 
 of them to set up a table, implying in itself, as he took it, a plain 
 abolishment of the altar, both the name and the thing, from the 
 use and ministration of the Holy Communion." Terring being 
 a Peculiar of the Archbishop of Canterbury's, was not likely, on 
 the present occasion, to be an exception to the general rule. 
 Sometimes the stone slab is to be found laid down, like a grave 
 stone, on the floor, but I have looked in vain for it here. Within 
 the rails is a Piscina in perfect repair, and in the usual position, but 
 no remnant of an Aumbrye 7 . Many also of the old encaustic 
 tiles are still discernible, but for the most part the decoration is 
 worn off. I wish I may see it paved afresh ! I have no super- 
 stition on this head, and when I hear some saying it is, as it were, 
 to tread the Cross under foot, I cannot but call to mind our noble 
 cruciform Cathedrals whose courts I love to tread ! I must not 
 omit to add that the east window of the Chancel is excellently 
 proportioned and very beautiful. At a trifling expense this part 
 
 4 " Miseriaordiw, Sellulse, erectis formarum subselliis appositae, quibus stantibus 
 senibus vel infirmis^er misericordiam insidere conceditur, dum alii stant. Nostris 
 Mtsericordes vel Patiences.'" — Du Cange in v. 
 
 5 " Grice" is the spelling in Sliakspeai'e. See Nares' Gloss, in v. 
 
 6 See Strype's Memorials of Edward VI., vol. ii. part i. p. 482, and part ii. p. 59. 
 
 7 Another Piscina and an Aumbrye has recently been opened in the east wall of 
 the south aisle. 
 
WEST TARRING CHURCH. 
 
 241 
 
 of the fabric might be so restored as to be one of the most re- 
 markable ones of the district. 
 
 The tower is of flint, with a lofty shingle spire, and is the 
 great sea-mark in these parts. Few seem aware how very beau- 
 tiful shingles are. Formerly they were much in vogue in this 
 island, and appear to have been peculiar to northern climes. In 
 the first instance they were used, no doubt, as most handy (to 
 use a Sussex expression,) and likewise as weather-boards, but 
 afterwards were continued as picturesque. Pliny informs us that 
 they were used at Rome till the war with Pyrrhus — ad Pyrrhi 
 usque helium 8 — and from Vitruvius we learn that necessity was 
 mother of the invention. Ad hunc diem, are his words, nationibus 
 exteris ex his I'ebus cedificia const it iiuntur, ui in Gallia, Hispanid, 
 Lusitanid, Aquitanid, scandulis robusteis, aut stramentis. As the 
 name implies, they are split pieces of wood, and usually about a 
 foot long. It will be observed that the spire here is crooked, as 
 many wooden spires are — Horsham, for example. This is to be 
 attributed to the timber having been originally green. Common 
 report says, Tarring spire was struck by lightning, and has ever 
 since been awry. Likely enough it has been struck by lightning, 
 but this was not the cause of its being crooked. Tenterden 
 steeple was equally the cause of the Goodwin Sands, and of the 
 shelf that stopped up Sandwich Haven. You will remember 
 the racy story as told by Latimer, in his last sermon before 
 Edward VI.» 
 
 Tarring Church, is, I believe, what is called a twelve-apostle- 
 arch Church. There are five arches on each side, separating the 
 nave from the north and south aisles, which, with the tower and 
 the chancel arch complete the number. The latter is sadly dis- 
 figured and broken. This desecration is supposed to have been 
 
 8 The passage in Pliny is in lib. xvi. c. x. : " Scandulre e robore aptissimae, mox 
 e glandiferis aliis, fagoque ; facillime ex omnibus quse resinam ferunt, sed minime 
 durant, prseterquam e pino. Scandula eontectam fuisse Romam ad Pyrrhi usque 
 bellum aunis quadringentis lxx Cornelius Nepos auctor est." For Vitruvius, 
 cf. lib. ii. c. i. So in German Schindel. Wachter in v. Du Cange, v. Schindulw, 
 quotes the following from the Chron. Mellicense : SMmdulcB quasi 400, iticece seu 
 quercince de tasis retustibus rinorum, aliis Schindulis deficientibus. The French name 
 is Bardeau. The Greek Scholiast on Aristoph. Nub. 131, says, ~S.KivSa\fxovQ 
 xaXovfitv rd XeirTOTara tu>v %v\uiv. The fullest explanation of the word will be 
 found in Martinii Lexicon, v. Scandala. 
 
 0 Latimer's Serni. ut supra, p. 1 10. Many of our old divines use this illustration. 
 
242 
 
 WEST TAHRING CHURCH. 
 
 effected when the rood-loft was destroyed ,0 . The royde or rood 
 lyght is mentioned in the parish accounts as late as 1 546, but it 
 is not stated when the rood-loft was pulled down. Most likely it 
 was in conformity to the order issued 1st of Edward VI., in the 
 year 1547. Few survived the Reformation, comparatively speak- 
 ing, but the antiquarian will still find some. The finest relics are 
 in Somersetshire, especially Long Sutton and Kingsbury Epis- 
 copi. In our Cathedrals the modern organ-loft was the site of 
 the Holy-rood. The account in Staveley's " History of Churches 
 in England " is plain and simple. The book is a compilation, and 
 many of the extracts are not marked off, but it is useful enough. 
 He ends by observing, " The festival of the exaltation of the 
 Cross was, and till this time is known by the name of Holy-Rood- 
 Day ; in the Saxon language, the word Rode, or Rood, signifying 
 a Cross : and as it was an usual oath to swear by the Mass, so 
 also by the Rood, as a very sacred thing V 
 
 The font is quite out of place. It was most probably put 
 where it now is when the gallery was erected. When that is 
 taken down it should resume its ancient position, which was near 
 the arch of the tower, leading to the western door. It is a plain 
 octagonal one, but like the chancel arch, has been much battered. 
 What could be done to repair it has been recently done. The 
 cross on the oaken cover is a Maltese one. A St. Andrew's 
 cross had been more appropriate, the Church being dedicated to 
 that Apostle. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Excuse me interrupting you once more, but I have forgot what 
 the St. Andrew's Cross is. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It is called a cross decussate, and is composed of two pieces of 
 timber crossing each other obliquely in the middle, — in fact, the 
 letter X. I have an extract here from Butler's " Life of 
 St. Andrew,' 1 which I will read you, as it is somewhat curious: 
 " It is mentioned in the Records of the Duchy of Burgundy, that 
 
 10 The Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England ignore the repairs of the arch, 
 and throw them on the poverty of the parish : — 
 
 " Dii meliora piis, erroremque hostibus ilium ! " 
 1 See c. xiii. 2nd Ed. 8vo. 1773. 
 
WEST TARRING CHURCH. 
 
 243 
 
 the Cross of St. Andrew was brought out of Achaia, and placed 
 in the nunnery of Weaune, near Marseilles. It was thence 
 removed into the Abbey of St. Victor in Marseilles, before the 
 year 1250, and is now shown there. A part thereof inclosed in a 
 silver case, was carried to Brussels by Philip the Good, Duke of 
 Burgundy and Brabant, who in honour of it, instituted the 
 Knights of the Golden Fleece, who, for the badge of their Order, 
 wear a figure of this Cross, called St. Andrew's Cross, or the 
 Cross of Burgundy 2 ." The Russians also claim him as their 
 saint, and assert that he carried the Gospel as far as the mouths 
 of the Borysthenes, and it was in acquiescence with the national 
 superstition that Peter the Great " instituted under his name the 
 First and Most Noble Order of Knighthood, or of the Blue 
 Ribbon." St. Andrews, in Scotland, as is well known, is called 
 after his name likewise. 
 
 I have only to add as regards the Church, that the tower is 
 well proportioned and has battlements. The bells unhappily are 
 broken and out of order, but something we may hope will be done 
 by and by. We ought surely to keep up what our ancestors 
 spared no expense in procuring ! Till lately the west window 
 was filled up with ill-squared glass and a wooden casement. Such 
 was the way the old stone mullions were replaced ! This is now 
 restored exactly as it was, and in Caen stone. It was put in 
 after the fashion of a mortuary window, in memory of the lamented 
 Southey. It is perfectly simple, and has no inscription. Inside 
 the tower is one of those curious old chests which were formerly 
 very common. There is a remarkable one in the Church at 
 Aldenham, near Watford. The one here was formerly used for 
 keeping the registers, churchwarden's accounts, and other 
 parochial documents. These — the few that is which have escaped 
 the damps of centuries — have been now removed to the iron chest. 
 Cartwright, in his " History of the Rape of Bramber," has pre- 
 served some extracts from these papers 3 . In a few years more 
 
 2 See under Nov. 30th. He was put to death at Patrae, in Achaia, and crucified, 
 as the Pseudo-Hippolytus relates, on an olive-tree. For his supposititious remains, 
 see Fabricius Codex Apocryphus N. T. In p. 512, note. The shape of the cross 
 is questioned ; and it is stated that the one shown at Marseilles, non decussata est 
 sed erecta. 
 
 3 See p. 13, &c. 
 
 R 2 
 
2U 
 
 WEST TARRING CHURCH. 
 
 they will quite have perished. Even now they fall to dust when 
 touched. And thus, Alethes, end my rough notes. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I thank you heartily for your details. Were every thing set 
 down in like manner throughout the several parishes in this land, 
 a most invaluable history might be drawn up. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I admit it — if after the fashion of White Kennetfs " Parochial 
 Antiquities." Much that he wrote of Ambrosden, Eurcester, 
 and other adjacent parts would with difficulty be obtained now. 
 
No. IV. 
 
 parorfttal ^fragments;, &t. 
 
'Tis merry in greenwood, — thus runs the old lay, — 
 In the gladsome mouth of lively May, 
 When the wild birds' song on stem and spray 
 
 Invites to forest bower ; 
 Then rears the ash his airy crest, 
 Then shines the birch in silver vest, 
 And the beech in glistening leaves is drest, 
 And dark between shows the oak's proud breast, 
 
 Like a chieftain's frowning tower ; 
 Though a thousand branches join their screen, 
 Yet the broken sunbeams glance between, 
 And tip the leaves with lighter green, 
 
 With brighter tints the flower; 
 Dull is the heart that loves not then 
 The deep recess of the wild wood glen, 
 Where roe and red-deer find sheltering den 
 
 When the sun is in his power." 
 
 Harold the Dauntless. — Canto ii. I. 
 
Cmmtrp m<i\h, 
 
 iC'c. &c. <Soc. 
 
 " Fools gaze at painted courts ; to th' country let me go 
 To climb the easy hill, then walk the valley low ; 
 No gold embossed roofs, to me are like the woods!" 
 
 Drayton's Poly-Olbion. — Song xix. 
 
 It was a lovely day in June, and the sun shone brightly. 
 There had been a soft shower to water the earth ; the dust was 
 laid, and the fields and the hedges smelt sweet, as they are used 
 to do, when after a period of warmer weather, with the wind east 
 and north-east, the rain descends and gladdens the face of 
 nature. So altogether delightful was it that I determined to lay 
 by the morning work that 1 had cut out ; and I went to summon 
 Alethes for a walk. I knew he was to be found in the garden, 
 and on the sunny side of the house, — his usual place of recrea- 
 tion, when not at high romps with the children. He spied me 
 coming, and guessed at the cause. His favourite " Chaucer ,1 
 was by his side on the grass ; and I observed that it was the 
 neat and new edition of " Sir Harris Nicholas," who deserves 
 the thanks of all the lovers of old Geoffrey for the nice come-at- 
 ible form in which he has thrown together the scattered works 
 of that great genius, — to use the words of Spenser, — 
 
 " In whose gentle spright 
 The pure well-head of poesie did dwell '." 
 
 Starting up from the old seat on which he was sitting, he 
 
 1 The Faerie Quecue, c. vii. 9. 
 
248 
 
 chaucer's legend of good women. 
 
 exclaimed, " Such days as these, Eubulus, are all enjoyment ! 
 I see even you cannot complete your routine of work, but must 
 needs pay court to the air and sun before your time. I have 
 just been reading old " Dan Geoffrey's " Prologue to the Legend 
 of Good Women. Hear what he says — confess to the truth of 
 his lines— and then I am ready : — 
 
 " And as for me, though that I can but lite, 
 On bookes for to rede I me delight, 
 And to hem yeve I faith and ful credence, 
 And in my herte have hem in reverence 
 So hertely, that there is game none, 
 That fro my bookes maketh me to gone, 
 But it be seldome on that holie daie, 
 Save certainly, when that the month of May 
 Is comen, and that I heare the foules sing, 
 And that the floures ginnen for to spring, 
 Farewell my booke, and my devotion. 
 
 Now have I than eke this condition, 
 That of all the floures in the mede, 
 Than love I most these floures white and rede, 
 Such that men callen daisies in our toun, 
 To hem I have so great afFectioun, 
 As sayd I rest, whan comen is the May, 
 That in my bedde there daweth me no day, 
 That I nam up, and walking in the mede 
 To seen this floure ayenst the sunne sprede, 
 Whan it up riseth early by the morrow, 
 That blisful sight softeneth all my sorow, 
 So glad am 1, when that I have presence 
 Of it, to done it all reverence, 
 And she that is of all floures the floure, 
 Fulfilled of all virtue and honoure 
 And every ylike faire, and fresh of hewe, 
 And ever I love it, and ever ylike newe, 
 And ever shall, till that mine herte die, 
 All swear I not, of this I wol not lie." 
 ***** 
 
 There was no gainsaying the natural truth and simple beauty 
 both of the lines and of the recitation. It was at once admitted ; 
 and, staff in hand, we started for the walk we had on a previous 
 
THE GOOD PARISHIONER. 
 
 249 
 
 day determined on ; — that is to say, from Tarring to the old 
 chapelry of Durrington : thence to Patching ; from Patching to 
 Angmering; from Angmering to Ferring; from Ferring to 
 Goring ; and thence, by the sea, through Heene, home. The 
 walk was long enough for well-girt men ; and experience in longer 
 rambles gave Alethes heart of grace J . 
 
 From Tarring to Durrington is a long mile and a half ; and 
 the direct path is across that magnificent field adjoining the 
 church — than which there may be as fine, but there is no finer, 
 land in England. It is not uncommonly called " Markwick's 
 big field," from the name of a worthy tenant, who died a few 
 years ago, leaving a name behind him, which will not soon be 
 forgotten. One who knew him well, and was privy to the work 
 of grace on his heart, drew up a little memorial on his departure 
 hence, which appeared in the " Brighton Gazette," under the 
 title of " The Good Parishioner. 11 It is not unworthy of a more 
 extended circulation, and for this reason it is inserted here. If 
 there were those who undervalued his character at the time, 
 there have been many since who have acquiesced in this truth : 
 " They who suspect a bad motive in every generous action, are 
 always to be suspected themselves 3 . 11 The author of this little 
 work was, of course, the writer. 
 
 " THE GOOD PARISHIONER. 
 
 " ' He was a faithful man, and feared God above many? 11 
 
 Nehem. vii. 2. 
 
 " Verily, such was the man of whom these simple words are a 
 worthy record. ' This was he, 1 of whom many a once uncharita- 
 ble, but a stricken and repentant spirit, will now say, * This was 
 he whom we had sometimes in derision and a proverb of reproach : 
 we fools accounted his life madness, and his end to be without 
 honour. How is he numbered among the children of God, and 
 his lot among the saints! 1 (Wisd. v. 3 — 5.) By those who 
 knew him not, and who were wrapt up in themselves, and in their 
 
 1 A very old English expression. Sec Nare's Gloss, in v. Perhaps it is more 
 commonly said " to take heart of grace." Grace is no doubt the original form of 
 writing the word. To take hart at grass,— as from a horse becoming hearty at 
 grass, — seems a conceit of Lyly's. 
 
 3 Southey'a Hist, of the Brazils, vol. i. p. 54!). 
 
250 
 
 THE GOOD PARISHIONER. 
 
 own self-righteousness, and in their unjustifiable words, he was 
 accounted a hard and an austere man. But what of that I He 
 went about in a humble way, doing good, — he comforted the 
 fatherless and the widow, — ' his fountains were dispersed abroad, 1 
 — he sought out the afflicted, — he withheld not from the poor 
 their desire, except upon a point of conscience and for their good, 
 — he was the best of guardians, — and, if his temper was warm (as 
 was that of Barnabas and Paul, Acts xv. 39), it was most gene- 
 rous, most forgiving, most forgetful of injuries ; ' the blessing of 
 him that was ready to perish came upon him, and he caused the 
 widow's heart to sing for joy. 1 (Job xxix. 13.) Ask of those 
 who now rue his loss, — ask of his labourers who rejoiced in his 
 presence, — ask of her who now mourns over him with hope, — the 
 widow, whose heart was like his own, — ask of the clergyman of 
 his parish, at whose right hand he stood, as a guard against 
 unrighteous judges, — ask of all who have the spirit of supjdica- 
 tions, and that charity which is the end of the commandment, — 
 and their reply will be, 
 
 " ' HE WAS A GOOD MAN. 1 Acts xi. 24. 
 
 " His were no fine or superficial notions. His education was 
 simple, like his heart, and all that he had made was the blessing 
 of God upon the labour of his hands. He did that which was 
 right, — he enjoined it upon others, — he enforced it upon his 
 household, when (in the words of Bishop Wilson, that saint of 
 Sodor and Man) he had set up an altar there, and family prayer 
 was his morning and evening sacrifice. Nor was he careful only 
 in this, but he worshipped the Lord in the congregations, and 
 washed his hands in innocency, and so approached the altar, 
 and ate and drank abundantly to his soul's health, — awaiting the 
 resurrection of the just when he should be numbered with those 
 that sleep ! Blessed be God, in the only merits of whose Son he 
 trusted, there is a book of remembrance written in heaven ; and 
 there, we doubt not, his name is recorded, as the names of all the 
 justified of the Lord Jesus have been, and shall be. 
 
 " His house was nigh to the church, and he belied that proverb, 
 so often found to be true. He was as Justus (by name and 
 nature), whom we read of in the Acts, ' one that worshipped 
 God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue 1 (xviii. 7). 
 
THE GOOD PARISHIONER. 
 
 251 
 
 Neither came he there with itching ears, or to cavil, but to learn, 
 — and his profiting and instruction in righteousness was known 
 unto all who had eyes to see, or ears to hear, or hearts to under- 
 stand, or affections to be moved at the beauty of holiness. He 
 was, moreover, a good and zealous churchwarden, — a rare thing 
 in these latter days of rebuke and blasphemy. He did not ' run 
 to his own house ' (as the censure of the Lord is conveyed by the 
 prophet Haggai, i. 9), and let ' this house lie waste but, 
 like that good woman, whose praise is on the Gospel, he did 
 ' what he could,'' — he loved to see the polished corners of the 
 temple, — his heart and soul were in the work, — he rested still 
 upon his God. 
 
 " And what, when his last will and testament was known, what 
 was the distribution of the departed one's property, whom thought- 
 less ones called hard and austere ? Was there ostentation, — 
 show, — display ? Far from it ! He would be buried very quietly 
 (his exact words), — his labourers should carry him to his grave, 
 to all of whom he left legacies of 51. each, — to the parish of West 
 Tarring a sum of 501., for the widows, the infirm, and the sick, to 
 be distributed at the discretion of the clergyman, during the 
 winter quarter. Nor — having remembered the poor and needy — 
 was the rest of his property unduly administered, though accord- 
 ing to his own judgment, and not to satisfy babblers and busy 
 talkers. He had laid to heart the Rubric in the Visitation of the 
 Sick, — he had set his house in order, — clearly (as the writer 
 thinks) since Christmas last ; he thought he might die suddenly, 
 and he w^ould not die a sudden, that is, an unprepared death. On 
 the contrary, he had prepared to meet his God ; and for some 
 years past (this pen is voucher) he was ' growing in grace and in 
 the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.'' If ever 
 man turned his face to the smiter, he did. He cancelled bonds, 
 — he distributed to the necessity of the saints, — he supported all 
 parish charities, at the recommendation of the vicar, when some 
 drew back, as our Saviour's disciples have done before, — he for- 
 gave, as he hoped to be forgiven. Not by precept only, but by 
 example also, he taught men to love their God and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ ; not to do despite unto the Spirit, — to reverence the 
 sanctuary, — to respect the ministry. 0 hard-hearted and austere 
 man (as the unwise thought thee), may my rest, like thine, be 
 
252 
 
 THE GOOD PARISHIONER. 
 
 glorious ! Happy widow ! who didst exhort the departed to all 
 good works continually ; who wouldest not be written down, but 
 for a trifle, in a faithful man's will, lest his needier kith and kin 
 should suffer loss ! ' If there be any virtue, if there be any 
 praise," 1 — this, this is true Christian generosity. 
 
 " Let one more fact be mentioned, amongst numberless others 
 which are passed by. Three years ago it was proposed to re-pew 
 and beautify the church at West Tarring, and a considerable sum 
 was promised towards it. But who was the man ready to come 
 forward with an honest and good heart, — without pressing and 
 without solicitation, — who grieved as much as any that untoward 
 circumstances thwarted the good work ? Was it some rich man, 
 or an extensive landlord, or a man of funded wealth \ Nor one, 
 nor other : but the roimd-frocked farmer, — the honest yeoman, — 
 the good Christian, 
 
 " Thomas Markwick.'" 
 " Go, and do thou likewise." 
 In talking over the memory of this good man, we reached the 
 village, which is prettily situated, but none otherwise remarkable 
 than as containing the ruins of the old chapel. A few years 
 more, and they will be past and gone ; and the accompanying 
 engraving may be the only memorial I had told Alethes that 
 a friend had made a sketch of the ruins for me ; and that it was 
 my intention to perpetuate it by the workman's hand ; but he 
 was sad and silent, though the day shone out cheerily, and at 
 last exclaimed, " These things, Eubulus, ought not to be ! ,1 And 
 true it is they ought not ; and it is a blot upon the arrangements 
 of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England that they are 
 so ; for if the vicarial and rectorial tithes were not to be con- 
 solidated, so as to make West Tarring equal to the burden of 
 parochial supervision and assistance required, it is clear as noon- 
 day that the chapelries both of Durrington and Heene, (hereafter 
 mentioned,) ought to have been restored to their original pur- 
 pose. Indeed, under any circumstances, they never ought to 
 
 4 The drawings are all ready ; but it was thought advisable not to increase the 
 price of the work. Should another edition be called for, six lithographs or 
 engravings may be inserted, — that is, I. West Tarring Church ; II. Thomas a 
 Becket's Palace; III. Selden's Cottage; IV. Durrington Chapel; V. Heene 
 Chapel; VI. Patching Church. 
 
DURKINGTON CHAPEL. 
 
 253 
 
 have been allowed to go to wreck and ruin ; and the robbery of 
 this ill-omened body is but looked upon as a righteous retribu- 
 tion for the sins of past neglect. They are not justified in their 
 acts, any more than was Jehu ; but the negligence of our fathers 
 is rightly visited on us their children \ Painful is it, — most 
 painful, to write thus ; but Withers words, in his " Satire from 
 the Marshalsea," are sadly and sorely true : — 
 
 " What once the poet said, I may avow, 
 Tis a hard thing not to write Satire now, 
 Since what we speak, (abuse so reigns in all,) 
 Spite of our hearts will be satirical." 
 
 It is little, as I said, that now remains of the old chapel, — 
 the north and south side walls only. On examination, however, 
 it will be seen that those walls are not outside ones, and there 
 must have been some sort of aisle on both the sides ; but the 
 one and the other must have been very confined and small, as 
 may be seen from what remains of the foundations ; and the 
 position of the chapel-yard path, compared with the fence, on the 
 north side. But if little remains of the building, as little remains 
 of its history, and as little was known in the boyhood of our 
 oldest parishioner now living, Daniel Monk to wit, who num- 
 bered ninety and seven years, when the weeping saint, St. 
 Swithin, told his round, in 1845, christening the apples more 
 thoroughly tban ever apples were christened before 6 . 
 
 Mention is made of the village in Domesday, as well as of the 
 church or chapel. It is there called Dorentune ; and it may be 
 remarked that the change of meaning in the latter part of the 
 word is curious. Formerly "tun'" (as in Icelandic still) meant 
 the ground immediately connected with the farm-house, or 
 houses ; but now-a-days it is applied to the houses themselves 
 
 5 Hall, in his " Occasional Meditations," has a beautiful one " On the Ruins of 
 an Abbey," where the same sentiments are expanded. It is the lxxvith, and 
 begins thus : " It is not so easie to say what it was that built up these walls, as 
 what it was that pulled them down, even the wickedness of the possessors," &c, 
 vol. ii. p. 150. Folio. 
 
 6 Sir H. Ellis, in his Edit, of " Brand's Pop. Ant.," alludes to this ancient say- 
 ing : " There is an old saying, that when it rains on St. Swithin's Day, it is the 
 saint christening the apples." Vol. i. p. 189. Since the above was written, 
 the aged patriarch has left this life for a better. He was buried May 21st, 
 1846. 
 
254 
 
 DURRIMGTON CHAPEL. 
 
 collectively, whether few or many. Above the town, and below 
 the town, I have heard said of a village in Shropshire, where 
 there were but four houses. The Anglo-Saxon reader will find 
 St. Luke's words, — 'Ayp6i> r\y6paaa (xiv. 18), rendered by, 
 Je bohte anne tun. In many Swedish, as in English, words, the 
 expression is still to be found ; e. g. Eskelstuna, Sigtuna, as 
 observed by Mr. Henderson, in his " Icelandic Journal 7 ." 
 
 Relative to the tithes, I am able to add nothing to what is 
 given by Cartvvright : — " The moiety of the great tythes of Dur- 
 rington was part of the endowment of the Priory of Sele, on 
 which establishment it was conferred by Robert le Savage. As 
 his grant is cited in a charter by Bishop Hilary, in 1150, it was 
 probably obtained soon after the Norman Conquest. It has 
 followed the course of the Sele possessions, and is now belonging 
 to Magdalen College, Oxford, and let under a beneficial lease 
 to the rector of Bramber-cum-Buttolphs. The other moiety 
 belongs to the rector of Tarring."''' Under the recent Tithe 
 Commutation, the rector of Tarring receives 114£. ; and the 
 president of Magdalen College 94£. 19s. 6d. The vicar of 
 Tarring has a money payment, or modus 8 , of 61. 1 3s. -id. for the 
 spiritual charge of 1 81 souls ; for such was the number last 
 year, taking in the adjoining hamlet of Coat, Cote, or Coates, 
 a name which explains itself, when connected with the 
 sheep on the adjoining downs, about which it is so delightful to 
 wander, 
 
 " At those hours 
 Of pensive freedom, when the human soul 
 Shuts out the rumour of the world V 
 
 Being a chapel only there is no burial-ground attached. It 
 is said that in ancient days the dead of Durrington were in- 
 terred at Steyning ; but there are no data to prove it, except 
 the following traditional anecdote, not yet extinct amongst our 
 ancient worthies. An Archbishop of Canterbury once upon a 
 
 7 See vol. i. p. 122, note. 
 
 8 This payment is made in accordance with " The Arbitrement of Edward 
 Alford, of Offington, in the county of Sussex, Esquire, indifferently chosen arbi- 
 trator between William Tye Clerk, and Henry Rouland, Thomas Paine, Robert 
 Munning, and others the inhabitants of Durrington, concerning all matters of con- 
 troversye dependinge betweene them." It is dated 28th April, 1617. 
 
 9 Akenside, Pleasures of the Imagination, Book ii. 
 
DURRINGTON CHAPEL. 
 
 255 
 
 time came down from London town to visit his peculiar of 
 Tarring, and to inspect his retired nook at Plaistow-in-the- 
 Weald. On his way to the former place, it chanced that he 
 met a funeral procession, and inquiring from whence they came, 
 and whither they were going, he received in reply that they were 
 of Durrington ; and that they were about to lay their dead bro- 
 ther's bones within the sacred suburbs at Steyning ; — they added, 
 moreover, that Tarring was the mother church of Durrington, 
 and it was hard they should have to travel so far. " An esta- 
 blished right," quoth the Archbishop, "I cannot consistently 
 alter ; but something, by my troth, I can and will do : from 
 this time forth let Steyning have a moiety of the tithe." How 
 it came to be diverted from Steyning to Braniber-cum-Botolphs, 
 or how the monks of the Virgin, whose was the chantry at 
 Tarring, were pleased with the arrangement, the chronicler saith 
 not : — 
 
 " I know not what the truth may be, 
 I tell the tale as 'twas told to me." 
 
 From Durrington our way lay to Patching, a distance of about 
 three miles. The direct road was from the ruins of the old 
 chapel to the gorse field, at no time without its sprinkling of 
 yellow blossoms ; for even in winter they are to be found, though 
 fewer and far between. The winchat resorts thither in the 
 summer months, and listens to the crackling of his favourite 
 shrub, as the bloom bursts ; and later in the year the fox seeks 
 it as his covert The path on the north side of the field leads to 
 another in the adjoining one, which brings the pedestrian to 
 the Arundel road, beneath that Mezentian-like building, called 
 Goring Castle, an extraordinary compound of Palladian and 
 modern Gothic, erected between thirty and forty years ago, by 
 Sir Bysshe Shelley, Bart. Following the road to the hill-top, we 
 entered upon that delightful spot, Clapham Common, by the 
 gate, on the right hand side. Few walks are more agreeable 
 than this. It is fine table-ground, covered with heath, and 
 stunted-birch, commanding a view of Chichester Cathedral, and 
 the Isle of Wight ; and I never recollect to have enjoyed it more 
 than on the present occasion. Every thing was in our favour ; 
 
 1 The foxhounds are now given up, and the furze has all been grabbed up. 
 
256 
 
 CLAl'HAM COMMON — 1 
 
 PATCHING CHURCH. 
 
 and Alethes' spirits were elastic and buoyant as the little cock, 
 which was just discernible on the distant sea, by the help of 
 Dolland's pocket achromatic telescope, — one of a traveller's 
 best companions : — 
 
 " Clear had the day been from the dawn, 
 All chequer'd was the sky, 
 Thin clouds like scarfs of cobweb lawn, 
 Veil'd heaven's most glorious eye. 
 The wind had no more strength than this, 
 That listlessly it blew, 
 To make one leaf the next to kiss 
 That closely by it grew V 
 
 On leaving the common, the Clapham and Findon road is crossed, 
 and the path over the adjoining fields, by Dulany Cottage, the 
 residence of Sir Richard Hunter, leads directly through the village 
 to the church. 
 
 There is little or nothing connected with the parish to attract 
 the notice, whether of historian or antiquary. Tarring, it has 
 been said, was given to the Church of Christ, in Canterbury, by 
 Athelstan, — Athelstan Rex dedit villam de Terrings sitam super 
 mare in Suthsexam Ecclesie Xti in Dorob 3 . The like gift of 
 Patching was conferred on the same see by Wilfric. In Domes- 
 day it is described as in the territory of the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, as having a church, and as appropriated to clothe 
 the monks. The property of the manor, like as elsewhere, 
 changed hands frequently in earlier days. In Edward I.'s time 
 we find it in the hands of Richard le Walys ; and his descendant, 
 John le Walys, died seized of it in 1419. " In 1446," writes 
 Cart wright, " the King granted the custody of the manor of 
 Patching to Sir John Fortescue during the fatuity of William 
 Walys, the son of William, the brother of Andrew, the son of 
 John le Walys, Knight. From this time we have no account 
 of it till the 33rd of Henry VIII., when the manor and its 
 appurtenances were granted by that King to Judge Shelly, of 
 Michaelgrove, in whose descendants it continued till 1800, when 
 it was purchased by Richard Walker, Esq., of Liverpool, whose 
 
 2 Drayton's Muse's Elysium, 6th Nymphal. 
 
 3 Dugdale Monast., vol. i. p. 20, col. 2. Ed. 2nd. 1682. 
 
PATCHING CHURCH. 
 
 257 
 
 son, Richard Watt Walker, Esq., sold it, in 1 828, to Bernard 
 Edward, Duke of Norfolk. The estate, thus sold, includes the 
 whole parish, except about 1 70 acres, chiefly woods, belonging to 
 Lord de la Zouche. v ' 
 
 As late as the time of Henry III. and Edward I. the Church 
 of Patching was a chapel dependent on the mother church of 
 Tarring. This appears, in the first instance, from a copy of a 
 Chartulary, amongst the Lambeth MSS., wherein are these words : 
 Quod Rector Ecclesie de Terring cognoscet inter Parochianos suos 
 tarn Ecclesie de Terring quam Capelle de Pachixg et aliarum 
 Capellarum ad earn Ecclesiam de Terring spectantium, et tractabit 
 causas eorum. It is dated February, 1230 ; and is called, in 
 Cartwright, " an agreement or convention between the rector of 
 Tarring, and the dean of Mailing." The dean's name at that 
 time was W. de Bosche : the rector's name is not given ; but 
 he is called R. Rector. Ecclie de Terring. The other proof of 
 its being once a chapel, is from the archive following : Charta 
 Johannis (Peckham), Cant. Archiep. de Capella de Paocyngges 
 in statum pristinum Parochial, restitutd et a subjectione, Ecclesie de 
 Terryng liberatd. Dat.apud Wyngham. 4 non. Aug. a. n. 1282. 
 The charter of its endowment was granted five years later, that 
 is to say, in a. d. 1287 : Ordinatio Vicariorum de Terryng & 
 Pacching per Joannem Peckham Cant. Archiepum. dat. 4 die 
 Februarii, as it is headed in the original document 4 . There 
 was a vicar, however, from 1282, by name Martin de Hampton. 
 The last vicar on record was Adam Faucit, in 1499. As there 
 was a rector from 1289, at least we must suppose the rectory 
 to have been, like that of Tarring, a sinecure. It was again united 
 to the vicarage of Tarring in 1767. On the death of the late 
 rector of Tarring, the end of December, 1844, by permission of 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners 
 for England had the opportunity of severing it again ; but they 
 have unhappily not availed themselves of it, and thereby have 
 shown themselves any thing but alive to the necessities of distant 
 parishes, and parochial amelioration 5 . Thus much only is assented 
 
 4 The several documents here referred to were all verified by the late rector, 
 the Rev. W. Vaux, when chaplain to the late Archbishop of Canterbury. They 
 are amongst the archives and MSS. at Lambeth. 
 
 5 The late excellent Archbishop of course looked to the consolidation of the 
 
258 
 
 PATCHING CHURCH. 
 
 to, that by and by they shall be separate, exemplifying the truth 
 of Young's curious line, that — 
 
 " Procrastination is the thief of time." 
 
 Commissions, as before hinted at, never worked well in England. 
 Many a country parish is languishing for the want of those 
 subscriptions which are now eat up in paying salaries to offi- 
 cials in Whitehall Place, who, no doubt, execute their duties 
 well, and have hard tasks to perform, and are excellent and 
 honourable men. But, when I see schools neglected, must I not 
 exclaim — 
 
 " Quid referam, quanta siccum jecur ardeat ira, 
 Quum populum gregibus comitum premit hie spoliator 6 ?" 
 
 The Commission, as at present worked, like the Poor Law 
 Commission exhibited in the " Andover Discoveries," is bringing 
 not a blessing, but a curse, on the Church and the community 
 at large. In this case it is grievous to think that a day of 
 reckoning has deservedly to come. Many a church now is in 
 the condition of the wounded traveller, and the Commission pass 
 by on the other side, like the priest and the Levite in the 
 parable. It is humiliating to think that even an Ecclesiastical 
 Commission has to be driven to act justly by the pressure from 
 without ! 
 
 Conversation on such points as these — on the parish and the 
 Commission — had brought us by this time to the village, which 
 of late years has been much improved, partly by Sir Richard 
 Hunter himself, and partly through his influence with the Duke 
 of Norfolk. It consists but of few houses, and the rest of the 
 parish is much scattered, though the population is not numerous 
 — rather over than under 250. 
 
 Nothing can be prettier or more retired than the churchyard, 
 lying as it does on the slope from the now enclosed and cul- 
 tivated down. It is, as Hawes says in that ancient poem, the 
 " Pastime of Pleasure," — 
 
 Rectory and Vicarage of Tarring, and the separation of Patching. Patching lias 
 since been separated ; but the rectorial and vicarial tithes were not consolidated. 
 The Commissioners have been simply driven into a stipendiary payment. 
 c Juv. Sat. i. 45. 
 
PATCHING CHURCH. 259 
 
 " A place of pleasure and delectation, 
 Strewed with flowers, fragraunte of ayre, 
 Without any spot of perturbation." 
 
 Few stones break the sod ; and the few wooden memorials have 
 passed away wherewith " the rude forefathers of the hamlet " 
 marked the spot where dust meets dust. Those who delight in 
 that " Elegy " of Gray's, which Lord Byron called the " corner- 
 stone of his glory," will recal to mind the stanzas following, now 
 repeated by Alethes, with intense feeling : — 
 
 " Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, 
 
 Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe hath broke ; 
 How jocund did they drive their team afield ! 
 
 How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke ! 
 
 " Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, 
 Their homely joys, and destiny obscure ; 
 Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile 
 The short and simple annals of the poor. 
 
 " The boast of Heraldry, the pomp of Power, 
 
 And all that Beauty, all that Wealth e'er gave, 
 Await alike the inevitable hour : 
 
 The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 
 
 Without trees, without shade, there is something very beautiful 
 in such a retired churchyard as that of Patching ; and one need 
 not wonder that a stranger should wish it the burying-place of 
 his clan. " Holy men at their death have good inspirations," 
 says Nerissa to Portia 7 . 
 
 There is little in the church to attract attention, excepting its 
 locality. Formerly it was larger than it is at present ; and the 
 nave had a north aisle, with the tower to the east of it, sur- 
 mounted half a century ago with a shingled spire, like Broadwater. 
 The chancel had also a chapel attached to it on the north side ; 
 but it does not appear to whom it was dedicated. Possibly it 
 may have been a sepulchral one ; but no record remains, and the 
 registers give no clue. The west end of the nave is said to have 
 been reduced, when the north aisle was taken down. Cartwright 
 
 7 Merchant of Venice, Act i. Sc. ii. 
 
 s 2 
 
260 
 
 PATCHING CHURCH. 
 
 says, " The architecture of the church shows that it was erected 
 about the beginning of the thirteenth century ;" and, from the 
 shape of the windows, and perhaps the position of the tower, 
 there is every reason to suppose the conjecture correct. Rickman 
 enumerates it among the early English churches which have 
 little admixture of other styles. The arches in the tower show 
 the earlier shape of the fabric, — one opening into the nave, the 
 other blocked up, but which formerly was open to the north aisle. 
 The font is a perpendicular one. The chancel was repaired by 
 the late rector ; and the whole church, at considerable expense, 
 by Sir Richard Hunter, in 1835. It is very neat, and in good 
 order; but unhappily the dry-rot has shown itself in several 
 places ; and it is difficult to get rid of. There are mural monu- 
 ments to the Dulany family ; and the one to the first Lady 
 Hunter is in better taste than such monuments usually are. 
 Better is a memorial in Heaven's book of remembrance, than all 
 the handywork of man ! And he died 8 , is the short memorial 
 of the early patriarchs : — 
 
 " But, bless'd be that Great Pow'r, that hath us bless'd 
 With longer life than heav'n or earth can have ; 
 Which hath infused into our mortal breast 
 Immortal powers not subject to the grave. 
 
 " For though the soul do seem her grave to bear, 
 And in this world is almost bury'd quick, 
 We have no cause the body's death to fear ; 
 
 For when the shell is broke, out comes a chick V 
 
 8 See Gen. v. passim. 
 
 9 See that beautiful poem of Sir John Davies, " On the Immortality of the Soul," 
 Sect, xxxiii. Southey took care to have it reprinted in his "Early British Poets ;" 
 and I have always thought he had the passage quoted in view, when he wrote these 
 lines on the lamented Heber : — 
 
 " Yes, to the Christian, to the heathen world, 
 Heber, thou art not dead, . . . thou caust not die, 
 Nor can I think of thee as lost. 
 A little portion of this little isle 
 At first divided us ; then half the globe : 
 The same earth held us still ; but when, 
 0 Reginald, wert thou so near as now ? 
 'Tis but the falling of a wither'd leaf, . . . 
 The breaking of a she!/, . . . 
 
 The rending of a veil ! [Oh 
 
MORELS AND TRUFFLES. 
 
 261 
 
 It is well known that the morel, or Phallus Esculentus, is 
 found in the Patching and Castle Goring woods, — and, except 
 the tribes of the orchis, amongst which the fly and the bee 
 orchis are not uncommon, — it is the only circumstance to interest 
 the naturalist. The truffle, also, or the Lycoperdon Tuber, is to be 
 met with likewise ; but Cartwright is probably wrong, when he 
 speaks of the back woods as being " very productive " of this 
 tribe ; and it may be doubted whether Loudon is quite correct, 
 when he says the truffle is " very common in the downs of Wilt- 
 shire, Hampshire, and Kent. 11 The following is given, on the 
 authority of Cartwright : " About forty years ago, William 
 Leach came from the West Indies, with some dogs accustomed 
 to hunt for truffles ; and, proceeding along the coast, from the 
 Land's End in Cornwall, to the mouth of the river Thames, 
 determined to fix on that spot, where he found them most 
 abundant. He took four years to try the experiment, and at 
 length settled in this parish, where he carried on the business of 
 truffle hunter till his death. 11 
 
 Horace is right, when he says, Pratensibus optima fungis 
 Natura est ; aliis male creditur* : and old Gerarde, the herbalist, 
 likewise, when he says of the mushroom tribe, that they " are 
 very venomous, and full of poison ; others not so noisome, and 
 neither of them very wholesome meat. 11 The morel, however, 
 and the truffle have been sought after from time immemorial, 
 and from imperial Rome to Perigord and Patching, as Gay 
 says, in his " Trivia, 11 — 
 
 " Spongy morels in strong ragouts are found V 
 
 The form of the truffle is well known. The morels are sold in 
 strings, by the market-gardeners in the neighbourhood, and in 
 Worthing ; but they are not so common as supposed. The stem 
 
 Oh when that leaf shall fall, . . . 
 That shell be burst, . . . that veil be rent, . . . may then 
 My spirit be with thine ! " 
 
 Ode on the Portrait of Bishop Heber. 
 
 1 ii. Sat. iv. 20. 
 
 2 See Book iii. There is a curious mistake in Todd's Johnson, under the word 
 morel. It is evidently confounded with old Gerarde's, which is the solanum lethale 
 — better known by the Italian name, i. e. the Bella-donna. In English it is the 
 Dwale, or Deadly Nightshade. Morel is, I believe, derived from the Spanish, and 
 is expressive of the colour of the berry, that is to say, a blackish purple. 
 
262 
 
 HEENE CHAPEL. 
 
 is more usually hollow than solid ; in height from two to four 
 
 inches; smooth, and of a yellowish white, when gathered, but white 
 
 when fresh. Loudon's description is sufficiently correct : " The 
 
 cup is hollow within, and, adhering to the stem by its base, and 
 
 latticed on the surface with irregular sinuses. It rises in the 
 
 spring months, in wet banks, in woods, and in moist pastures. 
 
 It is in perfection in May and June, and should not be gathered 
 
 when wet with dew, or soon after rain. Gathered dry, they will 
 
 keep several months." 
 
 ***** 
 
 Our way was now homewards, but as the evening was lovely in 
 the extreme, we held to our original intention of returning through 
 the old chapel-yard of Heene ; " for," said Alethes, " the grey 
 ruin will be lighted up by the setting sun, and will be mellow as 
 Melrose by moonlight by the time we reach it." The path we 
 took was by the sea-side, — one of my favourite walks, where there 
 is a mile and a half of good greensward, running parallel with the 
 rough shingle, thrown up by the heavy rake of the sea, during the 
 periods of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. It is a spot that 
 Achilles might have chosen to beguile his grief in, — a spot which 
 a saint might choose for holier meditation, — for that attention 
 and application of spirit to divine things, touching which one like 
 Jeremy Taylor, when interest divided the Church and the calen- 
 tures of men breathed out in problems and inactive discourses, 
 could write thus feelingly and beautifully : " If in the definition 
 of meditation, I should call it an unaccustomed and unpractised 
 duty, I should speak a truth, though somewhat inartificially : for 
 not only the interior beauties and brighter excellences are as 
 unfelt as ideas and abstractions are, but also the practice and 
 common knowledge of the duty itself are strangers to us, like 
 the retirements of the deep, or the undiscovered treasures of the 
 Indian hills. And this is a very great cause of the dryness and 
 expiration of men's devotion, because our souls are so little 
 refreshed with the waters and holy dews of meditation. We go 
 to our prayers by chance, or order, or by determination of acci- 
 dental occurrences ; and we recite them as we read a book ; and 
 sometimes we are sensible of the duty, and a flash of lightning 
 makes the room bright, and our prayers end, and the lightning is 
 gone, and we arc as dark as ever. We draw our water from 
 
HEENE. 
 
 263 
 
 standing pools, which never are filled but with sudden showers, 
 and therefore we are dry so often : whereas if we would draw 
 water from the fountains of our Saviour, and derive them through 
 the channel of diligent and prudent meditations, our devotion 
 would be a continual current, and safe against the barrenness of 
 frequent drought 3 ." 
 
 It is a spot indeed for meditation ; and here full often have I 
 thought on time and eternity, death and judgment, the changes 
 and chances of this mortal life, and the rest that remaineth for 
 the people of God. Many's the sermon has been prepared here by 
 the voice of many waters ; and the lee shallow shore taught me 
 to consider rather the plain Scriptures appertaining to salvation, 
 than the deep things of God which pass man's understanding. 
 Not to swim with the elephant, but to wade with the lamb is the 
 safer. As Jewel saith, " It is not good, nor standeth with 
 Christian reverence, to be contentious and busy in searching out 
 or reasoning of matters, which the wisdom of God hath hid from 
 our knowledge 4 :" and then, for the edification of the people, 
 Jeremy Taylor's advice to his clergy was surely best: " Let the 
 business of your sermons be to preach holy life, obedience, peace, 
 love among neighbours, hearty love, to live as the old Christians 
 did, and the new should ; to do hurt to no man, to do good to 
 every man ; for in these things the honour of God consists, and 
 the kingdom of the Lord Jesus." Such and the like have been 
 my meditations for years by the shore of the great deep : 
 
 " Heedless and ignorant, (as wiser men, 
 And better may have been,) what spirit moves 
 Upon those waters, that unpausing sea, 
 Which heaves with God's own image, ever free, 
 And ministers in mightiness to earth 
 Plenty, and health, and beauty, and delight; 
 Of all created things beneath the skies, 
 The only one that mortal may not mar 5 ." 
 
 Instead of going direct to the Heene Lane which runs right 
 through the village, and has now, from carelessness, become a 
 
 J The Life of Christ, &c. Of Meditation. Vol. ii. 105. 
 
 1 On the Sacrament of Baptism. 
 
 ' Landor's Mother's Tale, vol. ii. 658. 
 
264 
 
 HEENE. 
 
 road, whereas formerly it was for the use of the farm only and the 
 inhabitants, we turned across the lands which bear tbe name of the 
 Heene Common, intersected with sea-ditches, and well bestrewed 
 with gorse. Before us lay the chapel and the farm, and on our 
 right the hamlet. 
 
 Heene, like many other like villages, has lost much of its paro- 
 chial history for want of some White Kennett to record it. 
 It is, however, an ancient parish, and is mentioned in " Domes- 
 day," where it is stated that the manor was part of the territory 
 of William de Braose, of whom it was held by Ralph. His 
 descendants continued to possess it, taking their name from Wis- 
 teneston, or Wiston, their principal estate. The descent of the 
 manor may be seen in Oartwright ; and he has stated elsewhere 
 that the rector of Tarring has manorial claims there. His manorial 
 rights at Heene, together with the quit-rents, regularly paid, are 
 a portion of the sinecure rectory that was, before it fell into the 
 hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England. As at 
 Durrington, so here, they ought to have rebuilt the chapel, but 
 their thoughts and inclinations are otherwise, and they must 
 render account by and by, and then, perhaps, those whom 
 Celybin, in the " Battle of Alcazar, 11 calls 
 
 " Noblemen brought up in delicate," 
 
 may be ashamed of themselves, and purple prelates, mayhap, may 
 bethink them of the self-denial of Charles Borromeo. 
 
 Appertaining to the descent of the manor, it will be enough 
 to mention the names of Wistoneston, de Bavent, and le Falconer, 
 who amongst them possessed both moieties of it. At the disso- 
 lution, one moiety was granted to Henry, Earl of Arundel, being 
 part of the endowment of the Hospital of the Holy Trinity at 
 Arundel. " Soon after this," says Cartwright, " the moieties 
 became reunited, for Sir Thomas Palmer, on the 20th of April, 
 1557, sold the entire manor to Thomas Cooke, whose family had 
 been tenants for many years, under the hospital ; and against 
 whom a writ was issued, in the year 1558, to show cause why he 
 held the manor. By an inquisition, held Jan. 12, 1575, it was 
 found that Thomas Cooke, Esq., died seized of the manor of 
 Heen, held of the King in capite, by the sixth part of a knight's 
 fee, at a yearly rent of 11. 4s. Id., and that John Cooke, his son, 
 
HEENE ( HAPEL. 
 
 265 
 
 married Margaret Stapleton (sister of Dr. Thomas Stapleton 6 , 
 the celebrated controversialist), and died in his father's lifetime, 
 leaving three sons. On the 20th of February, 1583, Thomas 
 Cooke died seized of this manor, leaving William, his cousin and 
 heir. In 1676, the manor was held by Thomas Arnold, gent., 
 whose son, or grandson, sold it in the year 1 709 to Sir Fisher 
 Tench and Thomas Thayer, Esq., trustees under the will of 
 Henry Travies, whose representative, in 1731, alienated it to 
 James Butler, Esq., Worminghurst, of whose granddaughters, 
 Ann Jemima and Patty Clough, it was purchased by Thomas 
 Richardson, Esq., whose son, William Westbrooke Richardson, 
 Esq., is the present possessor." 
 
 Selden, in his " History of Tythes," quotes a very remarkable 
 document connected with the history of Heene, and its ancient 
 owners, which must not be omitted here. It will be found at the 
 end of the 10th chapter of that work. " I doubt not," says he, 
 " but that such new erections within old parishes, bred also new 
 divisions which afterward became whole parishes, and by con- 
 nivance of the time, took (for so much as was in the territory of 
 that bocland 1 ) the former parochial right that the elder and 
 mother church was possessed of. For that right of sepulture, or 
 
 6 See the pithy remarks of Fuller, in his Worthies of Sussex, p. 111. Amongst 
 others the following is worthy extracting : " Those of his own persuasion, please 
 themselves much to observe, that this Thomas was born in the same ycaraud month, 
 wherein Sir Thomas Moor was beheaded, as if Divine Providence had purposely 
 dropped from heaven an acorn in place of the oake that were felled." He was 
 born at Henfield, in this county. See Athena; Oxonien. in v., where Wood re- 
 marks, " It was generally thought that he deserved a cardinal's cap before Allen ; 
 but so it was that his ability being eclipsed by the activity of the other, he did 
 not rise higher than a Dean." 
 
 7 " Bocland," — explained above to be " land possessed, optimo jure, or as in- 
 heritance derived from a charter of feoffment." See Cowel and Jacob in v. 
 Somner's words are: — "Bocland. Possessio, possessiuncula, territorium, fundus, 
 ager, praedium, a possession, an inheritance, a territory, a farme or house, with 
 land belonging to it ; a close, afield or soile, ib. Allodium. Freehold, land of an 
 opposite nature to fief, or fee ; as that whereof the owner bath not only utile, but 
 directum dominium, as lawyers phrase it, q. d. charter-land." In v. Spelman says : 
 " Priedia Saxones duplici titulo possidebant, vel Scripti authoritate, quod bocland 
 vocabant, quasi terrain librariam vel codicillarem : vel populi testinionio, quod 
 folkland dixere, id est, terrain popularem. Utpote qua; in populum transfundi 
 poterat, nullo Scriptunc articulo reclamantc. Bocland vero ea possidendi trans- 
 ferendiqne lege coerccbatur.ut ncc dari licuit, Dec vendi, sed hwredibus relinqucuda 
 crat, ni scriptis alitor perraitteretur." — Gloss, in v. 
 
266 
 
 HEENE CHAPEL. 
 
 having a legcrstowe, was, and regularly is a character of a parish 
 church or ecclesia, as it is commonly distinguished from capella : 
 and anciently if a quare impedit had been brought for a church, 
 whereas the defendant pretended it to be a chapel only, the issue 
 was not so much whether it were church or chapel, as whether it 
 had baptisterium or sepulturam or no. So it appears in a case of 
 23 Hen. III., where William of Whitanston, in his count against 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, expresses, ecclesiam de Hey in 
 Sussex, to be of his advowson, and the Archbishop pleads, that 
 what he calls a church, non est ecclesia, imo capella pertinens ad 
 matricem ecclesiam de Terringes, ita quod non est ibi baptisterium 
 neque sepultura, imo omnes qui nascuntur ibidem baptizantur apud 
 Terringes, et similiter omnes qui ibi moriuntur, sepeliuntur apud 
 Terringes, &c. 8 And thence was it also that the whole clergy of 
 England put the inquiry of such an issue among their grievances, 
 when in 21 Henry III., they desired Otho, the Pope's legate, 
 among other freedoms, to get for them of the King, Quod judices 
 seculares non decidant causas ecclesiasticas in foro seculari, nec 
 tales homines determinent utrum talis capella debeat habere baptis- 
 terium et sepulturam an non. For if it had the right of adminis- 
 tration of sacraments in it and sepulture also, then differed it not 
 from a parish church, but might be styled capella par ochialis, by 
 which name some chapels are with us known ; and in the Saxon 
 times also we find coemiterium capella;, for the burial-place of a 
 
 8 The reference in Selden is, " Trinit. Placit. 23 Hen. III. ret. 15, in arce 
 Londinensi." The following extract was sent to the late rector of Tarring, the 
 Rev. Will. Vaux, with Mr. Petrie's compliments : — 
 
 " William de Withameston and Robt. le Faton claim the advowson of the church 
 of Hen against Edmund, Arbp. of Canterbury, which they say had descended to 
 them from Ralph, the ancestor of Willm., in the time of Henry II., and Isabell 
 the ancestor of Robt. That is to say, Ralph was the father of William, the father 
 of Henry, the father of William, one of the claimants, and Isabell was the mother 
 of William, the father of Matilda, the mother of Robt., the other claimant. 
 
 " The Abp. replied, that Hen is not a church, but a chapel dependent on the 
 church of Terring, inasmuch as neither baptism nor the burial service was per- 
 formed there, but at Terring, the mother church. To this Willm. and Robt. 
 answer, that it is not a chapel, but a mother church, although neither baptism nor 
 funerals took place there at present ; but that baptism had always been cele- 
 brated there until the time of Abp. Stephen, since which period it had been 
 intermitted. They admit, however, that it had never been customary to bury 
 at Hen." 
 
 (Judgment deferred to the Morrow of All Souls, i.e. tu Che next Term.) 
 
HKENE CHAPEL. 
 
 267 
 
 chapel, which must be understood of a church that had the like 
 right as that which is mentioned in the second part of Edgar's 
 law. And those other churches which in his and king Knout's 
 laws are spoken of, that is, churches without burial-places, Fel- 
 deyrican, or Field-churches, are only what at this day we call 
 chapels-of-ease, built and consecrated for oratories, but not di- 
 minishing any thing of the mother churches'' profits. 11 
 
 Whether or not burials ever took place at Heene, has been 
 considered a doubtful point ; but a circumstance occurred when 
 the Eev. Edward Phillips was vicar (he was instituted in 
 1786), which seems conclusive as to the fact that there were 
 funerals there, for on the lowering of the chapel mound so many 
 bones were discovered, that, being in London, he was written to on 
 the subject, and he immediately wrote back to say that no further 
 alterations were to take place. From that time to this the little 
 patch of ground has remained undisturbed, 
 
 " Withouten let or yet impediment 9 ," 
 
 and it is now looked upon as a part of the grass-plot in the front 
 of the old farm-house. Why it was ceded, and during whose 
 incumbency is not easily discoverable. 
 
 As regards the chapel itself, all that remains may be seen in 
 the annexed engraving 10 , and, as in the case of the ruins at 
 Durrington, within a few years more it may be the only record. 
 Nothing whatever is known of the time when it was built, and 
 the crumbling ruin gives no clue to it. The only portion yet 
 standing is a part of the east end, not more than sixteen feet 
 wide. It seems perfectly inexcusable that it should have been 
 allowed to fall to decay. When the indifference to its existence 
 as a separate place of worship first commenced is not clear, but 
 probably it was about 1700. The faculty for taking it down was 
 granted in August, 1766. It is stated that duty had not been 
 done there for some time when the permission was granted. My 
 old parishioner, Daniel Monk, who died at the age of ninety-six, 
 told me that when he was a boy Divine Service was held there 
 once in three weeks, and that he very well remembered Mr. 
 Cutler's uncle being married there ; but he added that the fabric 
 was then in a very dilapidated state. The person he alluded to 
 
 Ilawcs" Pastime of Pleasure. 
 
 14 See note infra, p. 1ir2. 
 
2G8 
 
 HEENE CHAPEL. 
 
 is thus entered in the Register: " 1747. William Pen/old and 
 Ann Dodson. June 2nd.''' 1 One more marriage is recorded in the 
 old register in the year following, — it is not, however, clear that 
 it was celebrated at Heene, and Mr. Monk was inclined to think 
 that the marriage of Mr. Penfold was the last. Nothing can he 
 proved from the register, as the registries at Tarring, Heene, 
 and Durrington are all separately kept, and have been so kept 
 from the first. As respects christenings and marriages there was 
 never any doubt ; the only question is as to whether there were 
 ever burials there, which, I think, may be answered in the affirm- 
 ative. The old font still remains, and is reverently kept in the 
 farm garden, but it is much broken and defaced. Mrs. 
 Mitchell, who has resided on the farm many years, tells me that 
 she recollects a window facing the farm, but it became danger- 
 ous, and was " shored up with great shores " for a long time. At 
 last, as the mullions dropped out they were afraid for their pigs 
 and sheep (the chapel-yard being unenclosed), and Mr. Mitchell 
 had it taken down. The keys, said the same authority, are in 
 the hands of my son Mr. Henry Mitchell, " rusty old things, 
 worth nobody's having." The old communion plate (a small 
 cup and paten like the one at Durrington) was for a long time 
 kept at the farm-house, " as long as Mr. Marchant lived there." 
 After his death, " Mrs. Bartlett took it, and left it, as is supposed, 
 to her niece, Mrs. Saunders ; but no one ever saw it afterwards, 
 and no further trace of it remains." What neglect is here shown, 
 and how does the evil of peculiars come out ? Had there been 
 due and proper visitations, such things never could have been ! 
 Lord Brooke was right in saying, 
 
 " The ancient Church, which did succeed that light, 
 In which the Jewes High Priesthood justly fell, 
 More faithfully endeavoured to unite, 
 And thereby nearer came to doing well ; 
 Never revealing curious mysteries, 
 Unless enforced by man's impieties 1 ." 
 
 The only other point I have been enabled to collect relative to 
 the chapel and its precincts is, that it had a single bell. " The 
 last I ever heard of it," said Mrs. Mitchell, " was, that Mr. Butler 
 
 1 Of Human Learning. 
 
HEENE CHAPEL. 
 
 269 
 
 of Warminghurst took it, and used it for his dinner bell. 1 '' I was 
 mentioning this to old James Long the clerk, one day, when he 
 significantly said, " I know it to be true, for when I was young, 
 I went over to Warminghurst, and there I saw and heard it !" 
 It is painful to hear such things of an old church bell, and 
 
 " If, according to the wiser law, 
 There be a high divinity in sound 2 ," — 
 this usage of it was as unseemly and as indecorous, to use no 
 harsher term, as well might have been. Better the superstition 
 that Jeremy Taylor tells of than this, for superstition, any day, 
 is preferable to profaneness 3 . What became of this bell when 
 the property passed into other hands, — when the mansion of 
 Warminghurst " was pulled down, the lake dried up, the timber 
 levelled, and the park converted into a farm *,'' — deponent saith 
 not, but it had been better left where it was, for it never answers, 
 as many wise and even worldly men have said, to meddle with 
 sacred things, and to turn them from their proper use. There can 
 be little doubt but that much of the stone of the chapel has been 
 worked up into the adjoining buildings. The last mullion of the 
 window I ever saw was in the Heene Field. I turned it over, 
 and underneath it was an adder. 
 
 2 Drayton. 
 
 3 The passage alluded to occurs in the " Preface to the Reader " of the 1st Part 
 of " A Dissuasive from Popery." " I was lately," says he, " within a few months, 
 very much troubled with petitions and earnest requests for the restoring of a bell, 
 which a person of quality had in his hands in the time of, and ever since, the 
 Great Rebellion. I could not guess at the reasons of their so great and violent 
 importunity ; but told the petitioners, if they could prove that bell to be theirs, 
 the gentleman was willing to pay the full value of it ; though he had no obligation 
 to do so, that I know of, but charity : but this was so far from satisfying them, 
 that still the importunity increased, which made me diligently to inquire into the 
 secret of it. The first cause I found was, that a dying person in the parish desired 
 to have it rung before him to church, and pretended he could not die in peace if 
 it were denied him ; and that the keeping of that bell did anciently belong to that 
 family, from father to son ; but because this seemed nothing but a fond and an 
 unreasonable superstition, I inquired further, aud at last found that they believed 
 this bell came from heaven, and that it used to be carried from place to place, 
 and to end controversies by oath, which the worst men durst not violate, if they 
 swore upon that bell, and the best men amongst them durst not but believe him ; 
 that if this bell was rung before the corpse to the grave, it would help him out of 
 purgatory ; and that, therefore, when any one died, the friends of the deceased 
 did, whilst the bell was in their possession, hire it for behoof of their dead, and that, 
 by this means, that family was in part maintained." Works, vol. x. p. exxii. 
 
 4 See Cartwright, p. 265. 
 
270 
 
 HKKNE CHAPEL. 
 
 The tithes of Heene have been commuted. The Ecclesiastical 
 Commissioners receive 14:01. The vicar of Tarring 28l. s In the 
 East Field there are two roods and four poles of land belonging 
 to the Arundel poor officers, thus showing the ancient connexion 
 with the Hospital of the Holy Trinity there. It is stated by 
 Cartwright that in the Computus of Robert Cartys, 39 Henry VI., 
 this land was let to John Palyngham for 61. 10s. 4c/. per annum. 
 
 The encroachment of the sea upon the parish of Heene is very 
 great. Within twelve years the road into Worthing has twice 
 been swallowed up, and full twelve yards of solid ground have 
 passed into shingle between the Tarring and the Heene Lane 
 during the same period. Old Mr. Monk told me that he recol- 
 lected land nearly to low water mark ; and an aged man named 
 James Carter, who died three or four years ago, said he had sown 
 wheat and ploughed where now there is nothing but sand. There 
 is nothing, therefore, improbable in the following extract from a 
 letter of W. Bray, Esq., the historian of Surrey, given in Cart- 
 wright's " History of the Rape of Bramber." It bears date 
 March 3, 1827 : " In the year 1755, I was sent to inquire about 
 a wreck, which happened on the coast below Tarring, and which 
 was claimed by the lord of the manor. The tenant went with me 
 to the high water mark, and told me that when he was young (I 
 do not remember his then age) they used to play cricket in the 
 ground on which we stood, and that the sea was then at such a 
 distance that no one ever struck a ball into it. Though so long 
 ago as seventy-two years, I have a perfect recollection of what 
 passed." — p. 20. 
 
 The population of the parish in 1841 was 184, — in Heene 
 itself, 147; in Little Heene, which joins upon Worthing, 37. 
 It probably derives its name from its elevation above the sea ; 
 lieah or hean in Anglo-Saxon simply meaning high, — above the 
 water mark, that is. So Hanbury in Huntingdonshire, is literally 
 Hean-byrig, that is, high town. 
 
 Instead of following the road to Tarring, we diverged from the 
 chapel-yard to the great Heene field, and from thence we gazed 
 on the dear old church with delight, seldom seen with more 
 effect than when the purple light of eve rests upon its time-worn 
 tower, and shingled spire that points to heaven. At any time 
 
 5 The Vicar of Heene "hath tythe of herrings at Fluetime, called Christ's 
 share," as at Climping. See Dallaway's Rape of Arundel, p. 15. 
 
THE PALM TREE. 
 
 271 
 
 the church of West Tarring is seen to great advantage from the 
 small path that leads towards it from the mill, — but never do I 
 recollect to have seen it with greater satisfaction than on this 
 occasion, for the evening was lovely as the morn had been, and 
 the day had been one altogether devoted to harmless enjoyment, 
 to the contemplation of the Almighty's works, and those houses 
 of prayer which are the glory and the blessedness of our land. 
 Well tired, we reached the vicarage, and were greeted with a 
 shout of joy from the children ! 
 
 It had not escaped my notice that Alethcs was much struck 
 with a small date which the ladies at the farm in Heene were 
 cherishing in a pot in their parlour window. It had shot vigor- 
 ously, and was of the liveliest green. On his return he read to 
 the children the following beautiful verses of Mrs. Hemans. They 
 have since learned to repeat them, and they are favourites with 
 the household. 
 
 " THE PALM TREE 6 . 
 
 " It waved not through an eastern sky, 
 Beside a fount of Araby ; 
 It was not fanned by southern breeze 
 In some green isle of Indian seas ; 
 Nor did its graceful shadow sleep 
 O'er stream of Afric, lone and deep. 
 
 " But fair the exil'd palm tree grew 
 'Midst foliage of no kindred hue ; 
 Through the laburnums dropping gold 
 Rose the light shaft of orient mould ; 
 And Europe's violets, faintly sweet, 
 Purpled the moss-buds at its feet. 
 
 " Strange look'd it there ! — the willow stream 'd 
 Where silv'ry waters near it gleam'd ; 
 The lime bough lured the honey bee 
 To murmur by the desert's tree, 
 And showers of snowy roses made 
 A lustre in its fan -like shade. 
 
 0 " This incident is, I think, recorded by De Lille, in his poem of Lcs Jardins." 
 Note of Mrs. Hemans. 
 
272 
 
 THK PALM TREE. 
 
 " There came an eve of festal hours — 
 Rich music fill'd that garden's bowers ; 
 Lamps, that from flowering branches hung, 
 On sparks of dew soft colour flung, 
 And bright forms glanced — a fairy show — 
 Under the blossoms to and fro. 
 
 " But one, a lone one, 'midst the throng, 
 Seem'd reckless all of dance and song : 
 He was a youth of dusky mien, 
 Whereon the Indian sun had been, 
 Of crested brow and long black hair — 
 A stranger — like the palm tree — there. 
 
 " And slowly, sadly, moved his plumes 
 Glittering athwart the leafy glooms : 
 He pass'd the pale green olives by, 
 Nor won the chesnut flowers his eye ; 
 But when to that sole palm he came, 
 Then shot a rapture through his frame ! 
 
 " To him, to him, its rustling spoke, 
 The silence of his soul it broke ! 
 It vvhisper'd of his own bright isle, 
 That lit the ocean with a smile ; 
 Ay, to his ear that native tone, 
 Had something of the sea waves' moan ! 
 
 " His mother's cabin home, that lay 
 Where feathery cocoas fringed the bay ; 
 The dashing of his brethren's oar — 
 The conch note heard along the shore ; 
 All through his wakening bosom swept — 
 He clasp'd his country's tree and wept ! 
 
 " Oh, scorn him not ! — the strength whereby 
 The patriot girds himself to die, 
 The unconquerable power which fills 
 The freeman battling on his hills — 
 These have one fountain deep and clear — 
 The same whence gush'd that childlike tear!" 
 
 Works, vol. v. p. 286. 
 
Paraxial .fragment, 
 
" Let not the bluntness of my speech offend — 
 Weigh but the matter, and not how 'tis penned." 
 
 George Wither. 
 
 " Homines srepe in Ecclesia humanis laudibus et honoribus perturbantur." 
 
 August. Sermon lxxv. Tom. v. 414. 
 
 " Ho that thinks himself less than the greatest sinner, shall not be so great as 
 the least saint in the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 Bishop Hacket's Sermon, p. 485. 
 
 " The mild and gentle breathings of the Divine Spirit are moving up and down 
 in the world to produce life, and to revive and quicken the souls of men into a 
 feeling sense of a blessed immortality." 
 
 John Smith's Select Discourses, p. 361. 
 
 " God made the universe and all the creatures contained therein as so many 
 glasses wherein he might reflect his own glory ; he hath copied forth himself in 
 the creation ; and in this outward world we may read the lovely characters of 
 Divine goodness, power, and wisdom." 
 
 Ibid. p. 4C3. 
 
 " Although the waves beat, and the sea works, and the winds blow, that mind 
 that hath a quiet and clear conscience within, will be as stable and as safe from 
 perturbation, as a rock in the midst of a tempestuous sea, and will be a Goshen to 
 and within itself, when the rest of the world without, and round about a man, is 
 like an Egypt for plagues and darkness." 
 
 Sir Matthew Hale's Contemplations, p. 244. 
 
 " An angry, violent, and disturbed man, is like the white bramble of Judtea, of 
 which Josephus reports, that it is set on fire by impetuous winds, and consumes 
 itself, and burns the neighbour plants." 
 
 Jeremy Taylor, iii. 35. Ed. Heber. 
 
 " Were the happiness of the next world as clearly apprehended as the felicities 
 of this, it were a martyrdom to live." 
 
 Sir T. Browne, EydriotapUa, iii. 48G. 
 
$art)rtnal ^fragments, 
 
 $C. $C. SfC. 
 
 The children have brought me welcome news, Alethes; they tell 
 me you have letters which admit of your remaining here a few 
 days longer. I hope it is true. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Happily for me it is. It will give me the opportunity of gulp- 
 ing down more fresh air, as well as of enjoying your conversation. 
 There is much that I wish to talk over connected with the subject 
 last under discussion. It is, at present, an all-absorbing one with 
 us both. I allude, you will at once conjecture, to the efficiency 
 of the ministry, and to that which in many cases retards it, — the 
 inefficiency of their means. 
 
 And the consequent evil, I suppose, — the combination, I mean, 
 of smaller benefices. 
 
 Bern acu tetigisti. I look upon this as amongst the most 
 unfortunate circumstances attaching to our Church Establish- 
 ment, and one that should by all means be remedied. 
 
 The evil has been felt from generation to generation, but it 
 has been too hard to overcome. Nothing but additional endow- 
 t 2 
 
276 
 
 EVIL OF BENEFICES IN PLURALITY. 
 
 ments can supersede it ; and to this, full often, mammon puts 
 in his demurrer, turning their hearts to barrenness, 
 
 " To whom the riches of the mind do seem 
 A scornful poverty 1 ." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 And that is to nine-tenths of the world. But what has been 
 the effect of the recent Act, Eubulus? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 You allude, I suppose, to the Anno Primo et Secundo Victoria} 
 Regincc cap. cvi., " An Act to abridge the holding of Benefices 
 in Plurality, and to make better Provision for the Residence of 
 the Clergy." 11 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The same. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It is too early yet to see the fruits of that Act, as it dates 
 but from the 14th August, 1838, but I augur well of it, and 
 some clauses there are in it which must work good. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 If my recollection serves me, it will hereafter hinder more than 
 two preferments being held together. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I have always thought that the pith of the Act was contained 
 in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 62nd clauses. As a whole the Act is a 
 good one, but the greatest good is likely to accrue from the 
 clauses here referred to. It was only yesterday that I had occa- 
 sion to refer to it, and as it lies on the adjoining table, I will read 
 these portions to you. 
 
 § 2. " And be it enacted, That from and after the passing of 
 this Act, no spiritual person holding more benefices than one 
 shall accept and take to hold therewith any cathedral preferment 
 or any other benefice ; and that no spiritual person holding any 
 cathedral preferment and also holding any benefice shall accept 
 and take to hold therewith any other cathedral preferment or any 
 other benefice ; and that no spiritual person holding any prefer- 
 ment in any cathedral or collegiate church shall accept and take 
 
 1 Wither's Motto. 
 
ACT TO RESTRICT SUCH EVIL. 
 
 277 
 
 to hold therewith any preferment in any other cathedral or 
 collegiate church, any law, cauon, custom, or usage, or dispensa- 
 tion to the contraiy, notwithstanding : Provided, that nothing 
 hereinbefore contained shall be construed to prevent any arch- 
 deacon from holding, together with his archdeaconry, two bene- 
 fices, under the limitations hereinafter mentioned, with respect to 
 distance, joint yearly value, and population, and one of which 
 benefices shall be situated within the diocese, of which his arch- 
 deaconry forms a part, or one cathedral preferment in any cathe- 
 dral or collegiate church of the diocese, of which his archdeaconry 
 forms a part, and one benefice situate within such diocese, or to 
 prevent any spiritual person holding any cathedral preferment, 
 with or without a benefice, from holding therewith any office in 
 the same cathedral or collegiate church, the duties of which are 
 statutable or accustomably performed by the spiritual persons 
 holding such preferment. 11 
 
 § 3. " And be it enacted, That except as hereinafter provided, no 
 spiritual person holding any benefice shall accept and take to hold 
 therewith any other benefice, unless it shall be situate within the 
 distance of ten 2 statute miles from such first-mentioned benefice. 11 
 
 § 4. ; ' And be it enacted, That except as hereinafter provided, 
 no spiritual person holding a benefice with a population of more 
 than three thousand persons shall accept and take to hold there- 
 with any other benefice, having, at the time of his admission, 
 institution, or being licensed thereto, a population of more than 
 five hundred persons ; nor shall any spiritual person holding a 
 benefice with a population of more than five hundred persons, 
 accept and take to hold therewith any other benefice, having, at 
 the time of his admission, institution, or being licensed thereto, 
 a population of more than three thousand persons ; nor shall any 
 spiritual person hold together any two benefices, if, at the time 
 of his admission, institution, or being licensed to the second bene- 
 fice, the value of the two benefices jointly shall exceed the yearly 
 value of one thousand pounds." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 These clauses are very well as far as they go, but they do not 
 
 2 This was altered to Area miles by 13 & 14 Victoria c. xeviii. I leave the 
 original as it was written, because it was all in the right way. 
 
278 
 
 HOUSES OF RESIDENCE. 
 
 touch the real evil, neither can they enhance the value of poverty- 
 stricken benefices. These must be raised somehow or other, or 
 the clergymen's position in society cannot but be lowered. When 
 we come to grapple with real life and hard realities, Massinger's 
 words are too true : 
 
 " For often men 
 Are like to those with whom they do converse 3 ." 
 
 The natural consequence of the existing state of things, is that 
 the clergy are either made dependents, or else, in out-of-the-way 
 places, they make those their associates, to whom they ought 
 rather to be ensamples of godly life and manners. They " con- 
 descend to men of low estate but in a wrong sense. But I see 
 I have interrupted you, you were about to read on. 
 
 ETJBULUS. 
 
 As the Act was in my hand, I was about to read a part of the 
 62nd clause, relating to houses of residence. 
 
 " And be it enacted, That upon or at any time after the 
 avoidance of any benefice it shall be lawful for the bishop, and he 
 is hereby required to issue a commission to four beneficed clergy- 
 men of his diocese, or if the benefice be within his peculiar 
 jurisdiction, but locally situate in another diocese, then to four 
 beneficed clergymen of such last- mentioned diocese, one of whom 
 shall be the rural dean (if any) of the rural deanery or district, 
 wherein such benefice shall be situate, directing them to inquire 
 whether there is a fit house of residence within such benefice, and 
 what are the annual profits of such benefice, and if the clear 
 annual profits of such benefice exceed one hundred pounds, 
 whether a fit house of residence can be conveniently provided on 
 the glebe of such benefice, or otherwise, &c. &c. fcc." 
 
 But I need not read it more at length. The drift of the 
 clause is that the bishop may raise money for the purpose by 
 mortgaging the glebe, tithes, rents, rent-charges, and other profits 
 and emoluments for thirty-five years — the sum raised not exceed- 
 ing four years 1 net income and produce of such benefice. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 So that it appears the poverty-stricken benefice is to be 
 
 ' New Way to Tay Old Debts. 
 
 Rom. xii. I& 
 
DILAPIDATIONS. 
 
 279 
 
 saddled with an annual payment for thirty-five years, during 
 which time the incumbent is to struggle on as best he may, and 
 with none other consolation, if he survive, than some such saw as 
 this : 
 
 " For all our works a recompense is sure ; 
 'Tis sweet to think on what was hard t'endurc V 
 
 This is really too bad, Eubulus, and although eventually it may 
 be beneficial to the smaller benefices throughout the land, it is a 
 plan that should shame us to better things, and make us " weep 
 in secret places." Surely there were other sources whence such 
 a miserable pittance might be derived. The extravagance of the 
 age might yield somewhat from its fuller cup, and a little self- 
 denial in high places might be exercised without damage. One 
 is inclined to burst out with the Roman lyric, 
 
 " Quid nos dura refugimus 
 iEtas ? quid intactum nefasti 
 Liquimus? unde manum juventus 
 Metu Deorum continuit? quibus 
 Pe|>ercit aris 6 ?" 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It is very bad all this, but I am not inclined to look on it so 
 sorely as you do. Poverty and the clergy, as a body, are pew- 
 fellows, and must so continue. But the Act in question will cer- 
 tainly tend to diminish pluralities, and whenever a house is once 
 built, or a glebe secured, there is certain gain. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 This I admit, of course, though I think all buildings of this 
 sort ought to be looked to with a more scrutinizing eye than they 
 have been. Each and every house should be in proportion to 
 the value of the preferment, unless it were an understood thing 
 that the patron of the benefice, in cases of private patronage, 
 should look to dilapidations. I need not call to your recollection 
 how heavy these fall, full often, on a shallow purse. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The evil you allude to is severely felt, and is attracting atten- 
 tion. The rural deans, in most districts, have orders to acquaint 
 
 ' Herrick'a Hesperides. 6 Hor. i. OA x\xv. 34. 
 
280 
 
 SIR ROBERT PEEL'S 
 
 their ecclesiastical superiors with whatever building is going 
 forward, and, by so doing, they will not only fulfil a duty, but 
 likewise confer a benefit on succeeding incumbents. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 It were hardly too much to say that they will likewise make 
 the widow's heart to sing for joy ; for a clergyman's widow has 
 rarely any spare cash to pay over for dilapidations. One point, 
 however, should not be overlooked by those who fulfil the thank- 
 less, but often laborious office you have referred to of rural deans ; 
 they should, I mean, look well to all necessary repairs, and report 
 upon them. In this, as in other matters, a stitch in time saves 
 nine. But we have passed on from the mention of pluralities, 
 and I had more to ask. Tell me, then, Eubulus, what you think 
 of Sir Robert Peel's Church Extension Bill : will that tend to 
 mend matters ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I doubt it much ; and I can never think it wise for a present 
 generation to anticipate the resources of a coming one. By so 
 doing, individuals set up a very selfish standard, and make no 
 self-sacrifice. Charles Borromeo would have set a better 
 example. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 You cherish his memory, and so do I ; and for the selfishness 
 of the present time I would say with Parolles, " it is the most 
 inhibited sin of the canon 7 ;" but when sores come to a head and 
 danger is imminent something must be done. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 'Twere well it was done wisely ! I cannot help thinking we 
 are setting a very sorry example. If our successors do the same, 
 and no additions be made from private means and Christian self- 
 denial, charity will still be thin enough clad. Laudatur et alget 
 may be a musty proverb, but never was a truer. However, as 
 you say, necessity has no law, and Sir Robert Peel states in his 
 place, May 5, 1813, that in 1836 there were not less than 3600 
 parishes in which the income of the incumbent was less than 
 1 50^. a year. Now it is quite impossible, with such a pittance, 
 
 ' All's Well that Ends Well. 
 
CHURCH EXTENSION HILL. 
 
 281 
 
 that the clergy should be enabled to hold that position which it 
 is every way advisable they should hold. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The statements made on that occasion, Eubulus, were painful 
 and humiliating. The reports on which Sir Robert Peel grounded 
 his assertions were those of 1836, and in them it is declared, 
 " that in many districts of the country where there were parishes 
 of not less than 10,000 persons, there were the most imperfect 
 means of supplying religious instruction to the people, according 
 to the rites of the Church of England ; that in this metropolis, 
 and particularly in the dioceses of Lichfield and Coventry, York, 
 and Chester, the population had so far outrun the means of reli- 
 gious instruction, that the word of God was never heard by many 
 of the inhabitants of those places. It was stated," continued he, 
 " in the reports to which I have referred, that the extent of 
 church accommodation was but an imperfect list of the evils that 
 arise from this defect in point of pastoral instruction, because in 
 places where church accommodation is most extensive, still there 
 is no assigned district for the minister of the church, and there- 
 fore that individual and personal responsibility does not rest on 
 him in the performance of his duty which does attach to him 
 when he has a certain defined circumscribed district for the 
 exercise of his spiritual functions." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 There can be no question but that there ought to be a district 
 assigned to every clergyman throughout the land, and I therefore 
 think Sir Robert H. Inglis was quite right when he stated in 
 reply, that " the true policy would be to enlarge the old parochial 
 system." By such a proceeding the necessity for pluralities 
 would be curtailed, which I do not well see can be otherwise 
 accomplished, unless the position of the clergy in society is to be 
 lowered, which, as I have said more than once, is to be constantly 
 opposed. That excellent work of Kennett's, " The Case of Im- 
 propriations and of the Augmentation of Vicarages and other 
 Insufficient Cures, stated by History and Law from the First 
 Usurpation of the Popes and Monks," will show to any candid 
 reader how much our land would have been blessed by parochial 
 instruction, had the old parochial system been carried out, and 
 
282 
 
 Al'PROl'KlATORS AND IMPROPRIATORS. 
 
 had not priest and people, prince and noble, severally had a hand 
 in that system of spoliation and robbery which has bereft thou- 
 sands of the bread of life, and was, in fact, the real cause of those 
 pluralities which all, at the first blush, are ready to condemn. 
 We have first of all to thank the Normans, then the Pope, and 
 lastly ourselves, for the mutilated state of our poverty-stricken 
 benefices. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 If so, the State, — which in some sort has succeeded to the 
 usurped authority of the Pope, — and individuals who have to 
 answer for the trust committed to them, should come forward, 
 and, instead of launching forth against pluralities, should " by 
 opposing, end them." Appropriator and impropriator are both 
 ill words ; and the effect is one. But what said Kennett of the 
 former ? for the appropriator, after all, was the " fons et origo 
 mali." The cowl, you know, first set the example ; and you will 
 not have forgotten the words in the Chanones Yemannes Tale : — 
 
 " But all thing, which that shineth as the gold 
 Ne is no gold, as I have herd it told ; 
 Ne every apple that is faire at eye 
 Ne is not good, what so men clap or crie. 
 Right so, lo, fareth it amonge us. 
 He that semeth the wisest by Jesus 
 Is most fool, when it cometh to the prefe ; 
 And he that semeth trewest, is a thefe V 
 
 EUBULTJS. 
 
 If I did not know, Alethes, your love for our Church and her 
 ministrations, and your devoted attachment to our parochial 
 system, I should be tempted to put you down sometimes as too 
 stern a satirist. It is to be hoped things are not quite so bad 
 now as represented in Piers Plowman, and Skelton, and Oliaucer, 
 and other the poets of those days, when indignation at the cor- 
 ruptions of the time made them versifiers. But the passage 
 alluded to in Kennett, — let me read it. 
 
 " The way of strictly appropriating parish churches to religious 
 
 8 See v. 16430, See. TynUntl. 
 
SENNET'S CASli OF IMPKOBBIATIONS, &C. 283 
 
 houses, or giving them in full right to the monks' absolute pro- 
 perty and use, was an engine of oppression brought over with 
 William the Conqueror 9 . When the greatest prelates, being 
 Normans, had the spirit of trampling on the inferior clergy, who 
 were generally English, they increased their pensions, or they 
 subtracted their stipends, and yet loaded them with new services, 
 and every way oppressed them without mercy. And to complete 
 the servile dependency, this artifice was then contrived to obtain 
 indulgence from the Pope, that whatever churches they held in 
 advowson, they should from henceforth commit them to be served 
 by honest clerks, who, as to the cure of souls, should be respon- 
 sible to the bishop in whose diocese they were ; but as to the 
 benefits and all accruing profits, should be alway accountable to 
 the abbot or prior and his brethren. 
 
 " And this indeed was effectual appropriation, a badge of 
 slavery unknown to the Saxon Churches, brought over by the 
 Norman lords, and imperiously put upon the poor English clergy 
 by the aid and awe of another foreign power — the See of Rome. 
 And between such monastic and papal ambition and avarice, this 
 practice, which crept in with William the Conqueror, in a few 
 reigns became the custom of the land, and the infection spread, 
 till (as a sensible writer computes it) within the space of three 
 hundred years above a third part, and those generally the richest 
 benefices in England, became appropriated. The less wonder if 
 we go on to reflect upon the many arts and stratagems that from 
 time to time were made use of to gain this point 'V 
 
 Our author then proceeds to tell how this craft worked 
 amongst the Regulars, and how at length the ill example spread 
 from the religious to the secular, and then by a natural course 
 downwards to bodies corporate, and even to single persons. The 
 
 9 Kennett had before remarked, " This Act of Appropriation was certainly in- 
 vented by monastic men, for a curb and weight upon the secular clergy ; but in 
 what year it began cannot be now determined. For indeed all corruptions have a 
 secret rise, and are not in history observed, till the scandal and the complaints do 
 make some noise. Mr. Selden supposes, That i/i the Saxon times many appropriated 
 churches are found — and for special examples of such ancient appropriations, he refers 
 to the recitals of the Charters of King Bertulpk, King Beared, and King Edred, 
 made to the Abbey of Croyland, and inserted in Ingulphus. But that great man, 
 who for some reasons was iucliucd to say thus, could by no means prove it." — 
 p. 22. London. 8vo. 1704. 
 
 " Ut supra, p. 23. 
 
284 
 
 RECTOU AND VICAR, ORIGIN OF. 
 
 case of the latter is important, and for that reason I shall read it 
 to you at full length. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Shylock said not amiss, " There be land rats and water rats, 
 water thieves and land thieves." But read on, and forgive me. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 " This ill example of appropriating parish churches spread 
 farther to all bodies corporate, however in law and reason inca- 
 pable of such a tenure. Soliciting and paying the price at Rome 
 procured the like favour for secular colleges, for chantries, nay, 
 for military orders, for lay hospitals, for guilds and fraternities, 
 and, to carry on the jest, for nunneries ; so making knights lay 
 brothers, and very women to be the rectors of parish churches. 
 Though this indeed was grounded on a conceit, that all these 
 were religious societies, and might receive and distribute out the 
 common treasury of the church. For before King Henry VIIT. 
 there was no right or precedent for a mere lay person to be an 
 impropriator. 
 
 " From corporations this example went on to single persons, 
 not only to deans, chantors, treasurers, chancellors, and separate 
 officers ; but at last to the parish priests themselves, who in 
 populous or rich places obtained a vicar to be endowed, and cast- 
 ing upon him the cure of souls, they had the rectory appropriated 
 to them and their successors as a sinecure for ever V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Something of this sort, I suppose, took place at West Tarring, 
 and hence the vicarage is so poor and pitiful a concern. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 No doubt of it ; but of that by and by. Meanwhile, from such 
 and like instances, you will not wonder how the necessity for 
 pluralities increased ; and as you hinted, the cowl and the coif, 
 the toga and the prsetexta, the esquire and the coronet, had a 
 share in the spoil. Speaking as I do, it were necessary to confess 
 to each one's faults, lest the burden of the old fable should be 
 objected to me : 
 
 " Other men's sins we ever bear in mind, 
 None sees the fardel of his faults behind ." 
 
 1 Ut supia, p. 34. 
 
 2 11 (.Trick's Hcspcridos. 
 
queen Anne's bounty ; ecclesiastical commission. 285 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The work of Kenneths you have been quoting from is valuable 
 in many respects ; but readers and even statesmen of the pre- 
 sent day will treat it but as an old almanack. All seem to be 
 rather novarum rerum studiosi, than willing to work out the old 
 parochial system ; and many look upon the measure of Sir 
 Robert Peel, above alluded to, as a sort of panacea. Forsooth ! 
 the Government is not to be applied to, — individuals are not to 
 be called to splendid acts of self-denial ; but what saith the states- 
 man kcit i^,o\r\v of the day ? — ' c It is my duty to state that Her 
 Majesty's Government having maturely considered the subject, 
 feel it their duty to recommend to Parliament in the first in- 
 stance, a consideration of the means to supply this deficiency, 
 (that is, of parochial ministrations,) to be derived from an appli- 
 cation of the ecclesiastical revenues." One scarcely sees any 
 thing in this which is likely to supersede the necessity of 
 pluralities. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 There is, however, the intent so to do ; and for this the 
 combined assistance of the Queen Anne's Bounty and of the 
 Ecclesiastical Commissioners is called in. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The Queen Anne's Bounty has before this done much good ; 
 but as regards the latter body I augur only ill. To rely upon it 
 is like going down into Egypt for horses and for chariots. It is 
 to strengthen ourself in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in 
 the shadow of Egypt ! At least, the acts of the body up to this 
 time are not such as to engender faith and trust in it. Methinks 
 if the clergy look to them for aid they will be sorely mistaken. 
 " They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, 
 nor be an help nor profit, but a shame and also a reproach 3 . 1 ' 1 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Nay, augur not thus ill, Alethes. There is the wish to do 
 good, and I think the ability, much as I dislike the unholy com- 
 pact. Let them not hamper themselves by unwise rules and 
 regulations, or back bills, or settle down into a mere board of 
 
 3 Isa. xxx. 5. 
 
286 QUEEN AXNK's BOUNTY ; ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION. 
 
 guardians, and benefits will still accrue to many a parish in the 
 land. As Sir Robert Peel informed the House, the constitution 
 of the Bounty Board was for the superintendence of the sums of 
 money derived from the first-fruits and tenths ; and the funds at 
 its disposal have been very materially augmented by grants from 
 Parliament for several years past, beginning with the year 1808. 
 The object both of the Ecclesiastical Commission and the Bounty 
 Board is, to provide increased means of religious instruction, to 
 endoiv new places of worship, and to increase the income of ministers 
 where they are inadequately paid. In short, as far as their objects 
 are concerned, there is little distinction between them. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 True, Eubulus, as far as their objects are concerned ; but 
 otherwise there is a difference. The one is a case of righteous 
 restoration ; the other is, — but I will not trust myself to say 
 what, for I do abhor 
 
 " The seeming truth that cunning times put on 
 To entrap the wisest 4 ." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Still, I maintain, the body may do good. We cannot help its 
 constitution, and it is vain to take up arms against those who 
 command legions ; at least, it is vain for individuals to do so. 
 Acts of Parliament are imperious, and for Parliament itself you 
 will not forget how Lord Clarendon tells that the one of 1641 
 was " a warm region, where thunder and lightning were made 5 . 1 '' 
 Much the same commodity has been compounded in more recent 
 ones. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 True, I do not forget those striking words, neither am I 
 oblivious of that wise reply of the chancellor to the king, when 
 he told him, " That he was very sorry to find his Majesty so 
 much inclined to commissioners, who were indeed fittest to 
 execute all offices according to a commonwealth, but not at 
 all agreeable to monarchy. 1 ' 1 However ^iraprav tXaxtg, rav- 
 
 i Merchant of Venice, Act iii. Sc. ii. 
 
 5 The former passage occurs in book iv. of the History of the Rebellion. See 
 vol. ii. p. 14. The latter in the Continuation of the Life of Edward, Earl of 
 Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 29. 
 
PAROCHIAL MINISTRATION. 
 
 287 
 
 tciv KotTfta ! You must now make the best of them, and as 
 bondsmen not be choleric. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 We bow, as we are obliged, to necessity, and our expectation 
 that some poor livings will be benefited is not vain. That has 
 already resulted from existing arrangements. Then again by 
 Sir Robert Peel's plan of church extension many a populous dis- 
 trict will gain the blessing of parochial ministration which has 
 hitherto pined for it. I do not, and I cannot, say that I like his 
 plan ; but every plan proposed must have some objections, and 
 when it has come to this pass that nec mala nostra nec remedia 
 ferre possumus, the knot that cannot be untied must be cut. In 
 this, however, I do agree with Sir Robert Peel ; I think, that is, 
 that a congregation once gathered round an exemplary minister 
 will never rest till a material church shall fill the place of what I 
 will call a movable tabernacle. Those that help themselves will 
 be helped : 
 
 " Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, 
 Which we ascribe to heaven ; the fated sky 
 Gives us free scope ; only doth backward pull 
 Our slow designs, when we ourselves are dull 6 ." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 That, at least, is a truth not to be denied ; but it is one to 
 which the drowsy sluggishness of our nature very soon becomes a 
 stranger. Nine-tenths of the world 
 
 " Will sit and with their fingers play 
 As idle people do 7 ." 
 
 But, as you have the report at your side, I wish you would read 
 what relates more immediately to the settling of ministers in 
 populous districts. The borrowing system I know enough of, 
 and I am alive to the old proverb, " Those that go a borrowing 
 go a sorrowing and will leave it to the digestion of the Bounty 
 Board and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The particular passages are these : " I propose not to apply the 
 money to the building of churches, but for the endowment of 
 
 6 All's Well that Ends Well, Act i. Sc. 
 
 England's Helicon. 
 
2SS 
 
 PAROCHIAL MINISTRATION. 
 
 ministers, strictly confining it to those populous districts in which 
 the want of religious instruction is most felt. I propose that the 
 money shall he so applied as to excite local activity ; for all 
 experience shows, that if you advance a certain sum as the con- 
 dition of individual exertion, the sum raised by that exertion will 
 far exceed the sum advanced.'''' He then goes on to quote some 
 striking instances contained in the reports of various societies 
 which have acted on this principle, and presently adds : " I would 
 not at all advise that the appointment of ministers should be 
 limited in every case to districts in which churches are opened 
 for their reception. I think the utmost advantage would in some 
 cases result from the appointment of a minister to a district in 
 which there is no church. Great evils arise, not more from the 
 want of church accommodation than from the want of pastoral 
 care, and really I do not know if it would not be best in many 
 cases to appoint ministers, in the first instance, to districts where 
 no church is erected. By all means let us, where there are 
 funds, prepare a building for the purposes of religious worship ; 
 but where the funds are not ready, I hope the appointment of a 
 minister of exemplary piety and of great utility will soon cause 
 the erection of a church to follow. Do not let us refuse to plant 
 a minister in a district because it contains no church." 
 
 AI.KTHES. 
 
 I am inclined, on this head, to agree with you ; but I regret 
 that religious instruction has not been looked to in these densely 
 peopled districts. Had the Church's vine been planted in these 
 places where Mammon has struck deep his roots in the heart's 
 blood of millions, our condition had been far other than what it 
 is. The burden of EzekieFs lamentation for Jerusalem, under 
 the parable of a wasted vine, still oppresses me. " Thy mother 
 is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters ; she was fruitful 
 and full of branches by reason of many waters. And she had 
 strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her 
 stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared 
 in her height with the multitude of her branches. But she was 
 plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the 
 east wind dried up her fruit ; her strong rods were broken and 
 withered ; the fire consumed them. And now she is planted in 
 
OLD PAROCHIAL SYSTEM. 
 
 289 
 
 the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. And fire is gone 
 out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so 
 that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a 
 lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation 8 .'" 
 
 ECBULUS. 
 
 Solemn and sad are the thoughts naturally suggested by the 
 existing state of things in our populous districts. Our forefathers'' 
 thoughts and actions seem to have been widely different on the 
 working of a well-regulated parochial system. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 As well as on fit places for worship likewise. Musophilus said, 
 with feeling, — 
 
 " Sacred Religion ! Mother of Form and Fear ! 
 How gorgeously sometimes dost thou sit decked ! 
 What pompous vestures do we make thee wear ! 
 What stately piles we prodigal erect ! 
 How sweet perfumed thou art ; how shining clear ! 
 How solemnly observed; with what respect! 
 
 Another time all plain, all quite thread-bare, 
 Thou must have all within, and nought without ; 
 Sit poorly without light, disrobed ; — no care 
 Of outward grace t' amuse the poor devout; 
 Powerless, unfollow'd : scarcely men will spare 
 The necessary rites to set thee out 9 ." 
 
 But touching the appointment of curates or ministers to places 
 without a church. If I am not mistaken the lamented Dr. 
 Arnold was an advocate for some such plan or other. He had 
 many schemes in which one could not acquiesce; but in this, 
 such is the necessity of the case, one would not unwillingly concur. 
 At the same time, with the noble groundwork of our forefathers, 
 we never ought to have found ourselves in the position we are. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 "Since 'tis a truth, admitteth no excuse, 
 To possess much, and yet put nought in use 1 ," 
 
 s Ezek. xix. 10—14. 3 Daniel's Works, vol. i. 375. Ed. 8vo. 
 
 1 Wither's Shepherds' Hunting, vol. ii. p. 175. 
 
 U 
 
290 
 
 NEW CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS. 
 
 we must e'en confess that we have squandered talents which are 
 to be accounted for. Our position is not what it ought to be. 
 "As for riches," saith Hooker, "to him which hath, and doth 
 nothing with them, they are a contumely V But I had forgot 
 that Dr. Arnold entertained the views you speak of. Whatever 
 he did or said was in earnest. This said expression of his I 
 have much thought of : " The hopes entertained by many of the 
 effects to be wrought by new churches and schools, while the 
 social evils of their condition are left uncorrected, appear to me 
 to be utterly wild. 11 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 It seems to me that one way, and a most effectual one, to 
 heal these social evils, is to place such clergymen as we could 
 wish to see in the midst of untutored districts. 
 
 ECBULUS. 
 
 With God's help they would do much. But I should like to 
 turn to Arnold's " Life and Correspondence, 11 and to see what 
 he says. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 You will find what I allude to in one or other of the letters. 
 It is in answer to a request for a subscription to a church. I 
 think I can find it readily. I have it, and will read it to you : 
 " I shall be happy to subscribe 200?. towards the endowment of 
 the Church, and not towards the building. My reason for this 
 distinction is, that I think in all cases the right plan to pursue is 
 to raise funds in the first instance for a clergyman, and to procure 
 for him a definitely marled district as his cure. The real Church 
 being thus founded, if money can also be procured for the 
 material church, so much the better. If not, I would wish to 
 see any building in the district licensed for the temporary per- 
 formance of Divine Service, feeling perfectly sure that the zeal 
 and munificence of the congregation would in the course of years 
 raise a far more ornamental building than can ever be raised by 
 public subscription ; and that, in the mean time, there might be 
 raised by subscription an adequate fund for the maintenance of 
 a clergyman ; whereas, on the present system, it seems perfectly 
 hopeless by any subscriptions in one generation to provide both 
 
 • E. P. v. lxxvi. § 3. 
 
DR. ARNOLD AND SIR ROBERT PEEL. 
 
 291 
 
 clergymen and churches in numbers equal to the wants of the 
 country. I should not have troubled you with my opinions, 
 which I am aware are of no importance to you, did I not wish to 
 explain the reason which makes me, in such cases, always de- 
 sirous of contributing to the endowment of a minister, rather 
 than to a building V Such were his sentiments ; and I wish he 
 may be wrong in the latter part of the remark which follows : 
 " I crave a strong mind for my children, for this reason, that 
 they then have a chance at least of appreciating truth keenly ; 
 and when a man does that, honesty becomes comparatively easy : 
 as, for instance, Peel has an idea about the currency, and a 
 distinct impression about it ; and therefore on that point I would 
 trust him for not yielding to clamour ; but about most matters, 
 the Church especially, he seems to have no idea ; and therefore 
 I would not trust him for not giving it all up to-morrow, if the 
 clamour were loud enough. 1 '' 
 
 EC3ULUS. 
 
 Arnold wrote, as he thought, with severity. It is true that 
 many of us have not had reason to be contented with Sir Robert 
 Peel's measures relative to the Church, and as regards the 
 Roman Catholic question, — liceret lateri lethalis arundo ; but I 
 do not think myself that he would willingly betray us. As for 
 the imputations thrown against his own religious views, — 
 " The shrug, the hem, the ha, — those petty frauds 
 That calumny doth use," — 
 
 I take no heed to them ; and, for mine own part, I believe him 
 just and honest, even if calculating, as a politician. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Well, well ! You know what Autolycus said : " Though I am 
 not naturally honest, I am sometimes so by chance V Rut to 
 revert again to the question of pluralities. The Church Exten- 
 sion Act can in no way affect them ; it will rather increase than 
 diminish the number of small livings. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 This must be in the natural course of things. The fact is that 
 
 3 Vol. ii. p. 174. 57. 4 Winter's Tale, Act iv. Sc. iii. 
 
 D 2 
 
292 LORD BACON ON NON-RESIDENTS AND PLURALITIES. 
 
 those who are appointed to such charges will usually be young 
 and energetic men. It is here that in the capacity of curates 
 they must serve their first campaigns as ordained ministers in the 
 service of the Church militant. To such labourers will the text 
 apply : " They that have used the office of a deacon well, pur- 
 chase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the 
 faith, which is in Christ Jesus V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Neither is there any nobler post ! But herein nothing but 
 self-denial will serve, — nothing but an utter renunciation of 
 worldly views, and worldly prospects. Under such circumstances, 
 and with the spirit of prayer, great may be the results. A little 
 one may become a thousand ; for — 
 
 " He that of greatest works is finisher, 
 Oft does them by the weakest minister. 
 ****** 
 
 Oft expectation fails, and most oft then 
 When most it promises ; and oft it hits 
 When hope is coldest, and despair most sits 6 ." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 In such a view of things there is wisdom. Then, as regards 
 pluralities, I think, as I said, that the former Act alluded to will 
 by degrees lessen the evil. Besides, there is an evident disin- 
 clination, now-a-days, to be a pluralist. A proper sense within 
 acts upon many ; and the pressure from without constrains some. 
 You recollect Lord Bacon's " Theological Tracts," and amongst 
 them the two papers " Touching Non-Residents and Pluralities," 
 and " Touching the Provision for sufficient Maintenance in the 
 Church." Hear what he says in the beginning and conclusion 
 of the former. Succeeding centuries can only confirm the 
 truth : — 
 
 " For non-residence, except it be in the case of necessary 
 absence, it seemeth an abuse drawn out of covetousness and 
 sloth ; for that men should live of the flock, that they do not 
 feed, or of the altar at which they do not serve, is a thing that 
 can hardly receive just defence." 
 
 5 1 Tim. iii. 13. 0 All's Well that Ends Well, Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
LORD BACON ON NON-RESIDENTS AND PLURALITIES. 293 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 A truer word was never spoken. But what next ? — 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 " Although this age will not abide to hear 
 The faults reproved that custom hath made dear 7 ," 
 
 it may possibly listen to one who has a name for wisdom which 
 will survive as long as learning shall advance. 
 
 •• For pluralities, in case the number of able ministers were 
 sufficient, and the value of benefices were sufficient, then pluralities 
 were in no sort tolerable. But we must take heed we desire not 
 contraries. For to desire that every parish should be furnished 
 with a sufficient preacher, and to desire that pluralities be forth- 
 with taken away, is to desire things contrary ; considering 
 " de facto," there are not sufficient preachers for every parish ; 
 whereunto add likewise, that there is not sufficient living and 
 maintenance in many parishes to maintain a preacher ; and it 
 maketh the impossibility yet much the greater. The remedies 
 "in rerum natura," are but three, union, permutation, and 
 supply. Union of such benefices as have the living too small, 
 and the parish not too great, and are adjacent. Permutation, 
 to make benefices more compatible, though men be overruled to 
 some loss in changing a better for a nearer. Supply, by sti- 
 pendiary preachers, to be rewarded with some liberal stipends, 
 to supply, as they may, such places as are unfurnished of suffi- 
 cient pastors : as Queen Elizabeth, amongst other her gracious 
 acts, did erect certain of them in Lancashire ; towards which 
 pensions I see no reason but leading ministers, if they have rich 
 benefices, should be charged "." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The late lamented Dr. Burton somewhere or other dropped 
 a hint of this sort ; but I believe it met with no encouragement. 
 The truth is apparent to all ; but to remedy the evil is the 
 difficulty. After all said and done, it must be allowed that 
 Archbishop Parker's sentiments on this head carry weight ; and 
 he and Lord Bacon would very well have agreed, had they 
 
 7 Withcr's Satire from the Marslialsea, vol. ii. p. 44. 
 
 8 Bacon's Works, vol. vii. pp. 91. !)3. 
 
294 
 
 archbishop parker's opinion. 
 
 descended to particulars. " It was his judgment," says Strype, 
 " that the port of a bishop ought to be preserved, for his better 
 countenance in the world ; which is apt to despise the function, 
 when those that are of it are poor, and live nearly. And though 
 he did not like of commendams nor pluralities, yet in small 
 bishoprics and preferments he thought them a less inconvenience, 
 than that their hospitality and the credit and esteem of the clergy 
 should be lost. Whereby religion itself might be subject to the 
 contempt of the people ; and lest any might object that the clergy 
 were to be kept poor upon political accounts, he thought the 
 Church had been sufficiently stripped, to prevent any evil that 
 might arise to the commonwealth at any time from their pride 
 or faction V 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 What had the good man said had he lived till now ? 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 More than any thing else he would have regretted opportunities 
 lost. For instance : it has been usual when any very hard grip 
 has been laid on Church revenues to make a show of friendship, 
 and to express a desire that poor livings should be benefited, and 
 pluralities curtailed. Half a loaf being admitted to be better 
 than no bread, the defenders of the Church's patrimony have 
 been obliged to compound, and to save what they could. But, 
 when they have had the opportunity of helping poor livings, have 
 they done so ? We usually think most of those nearest our own 
 times. Have, then, your present Ecclesiastical Commissioners 
 done so ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 In many cases they have, as far as their means allowed. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I am afraid it is a discordant body, Eubulus ; and Episcopal 
 palaces are provided for, when many a country parsonage, and a 
 
 9 Life of Matthew, Abp. of Canterbury, vol. i. p. 294. Abp. Whitgift's answer 
 to the Petition of the Commons House in 1584 was much to the same purpose : 
 " Pluralities I told them could not bee taken away, without discouraging the best 
 sort of ministers, and taking away the rewarde of learning." Life, vol. i. p. 360. 
 The regulation drawn up by the bishops is given in the Records and Originals, 
 vol. iii. p. 133. The distance of benefices held in plurality was then restricted "to 
 thirtie miles at the furthest, unless they be within the same shyre." 
 
VALUE OK SATIRISTS; SKEl.TON, &C. 
 
 295 
 
 country living is unheeded. The weakest, as usual, go to the 
 wall. Skelton would not have passed such matters over in his 
 " ragged verse," but would have told some home truths. A 
 satirist 1 every now and then does good ; and ridicule will often 
 cut deeper than either measured censure or " stuffed sufficiency. 11 
 Lines like the following contain much in them which is not to 
 the purpose. But as he did not write without rhyme, so neither 
 did he without reason : — 
 
 " For they will have no lesse 
 
 Of a penny, nor of a crosse 
 
 Of their predial landes 
 
 That cometh to their hands. 
 
 And as far as they dare set, 
 
 All is fysh that cometh to net; 
 
 Building royally 
 
 Their mancions curiously, 
 
 With turrettes, and with toures, 
 
 With halles, and with bowers, 
 
 Streching to the starres, 
 
 With glasse windowes and barres, 
 
 1 So thought old " Ver " in Drayton's Poly-Olbion, when " transported quite, 
 to these exclaims he fell :" — 
 
 " Lives no man, that this world her grievous crimes dare tell ? 
 
 Where be those noble spirits for ancient things that stood ? 
 
 W r hen in my prime of youth I was a gallant blood : 
 
 In those free golden days, it was the Satyrs use 
 
 To tax the guilty times, and rail upon abuse : 
 
 But soother find the way preferment most to win : 
 
 Who serving great men's turns, become the bawds to sin." 
 
 Song the Sixteenth, vol. iii. p. 955. 
 The passage following, on this head, is from a work of considerable notoriety in 
 its day : " Yet in the darkest of these times, there wanted not some that could dis- 
 cern that all was not right, and that they were gotten into a very uncertain and 
 dangerous road ; and in as much danger from their guides, as the enemy which 
 they would avoid. Some of them, in a more serious way, protesting and advising 
 both against the error and the danger of it, had their mouths soon stopped ; when 
 others, more jocular, between jest and earnest, as it were, made bold with the cor- 
 ruptions and abuses of the times, — witness the wits and satirists of their respective 
 times, — Rob. of Gloucester, John Harding, Jeffrey Chaucer, John Gower, Rub. 
 Langland, alias Piers Plowman, Lydgate, and many more, whose dull rhimes (?) 
 carried a cutting sense with them. Indeed, though the lashes of a satirist seldom 
 or never produce amendment of epidemical vices and errors, yet in this they know 
 their fruit, that thereby posterity is oftentimes more truly informed of the manners 
 and genius of times, than by the professed historian, who rarely touches that 
 string," &c. &c. Staveley's Roman Horse-Leech, p. 202. 
 
296 
 
 THE ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION. 
 
 Hangyng about the walles, 
 Clothes of gold and palles, 
 Arras of ryche arraye, 
 Fresh as floures in May. 
 ****** 
 
 Now truly to my thinkyng 
 That is a speculation, 
 And a mete meditacion, 
 For prelates of estate 
 Their courage to abate 
 From worldly wantonnes, 
 Their chambre thus to dres 
 With such purfatnes, 
 And all such holynes, 
 Howbeit they let down fall 
 Their churches Cathedral. 
 ****** 
 
 That the people talke thus, 
 
 Somewhat there is amis, 
 
 The devill cannot stop their mouthes, 
 
 But they will talke of such uncouthes, 
 
 All that ever they ken 
 
 Against all spiritual men V 
 
 To say the truth, Eubulus, I have been much distressed at a 
 recent act of neglect in your own neighbourhood. The Eccle- 
 siastical Commission, at different times, have made a show of 
 benefiting small livings, and have published lists of those so 
 benefited. In so doing, with the bishops at the head of them, 
 they have, of course, done well. It was right also, as oppor- 
 tunity and means offered, that those, the Fathers of the 
 Church, should be well provided with Episcopal residences, suited 
 to their station and dignity. There is no man living thinks this 
 more necessary than I do, — no one who has viewed with more 
 distrust the defalcation of those revenues, which to the world 
 have appeared overgrown and swollen, as our old writers might 
 
 2 " The Boke of Colin Clout." The lines quoted here are as they are written in 
 Southey's British Poets, from Chaucer to Jonson,— a most valuable collection. 
 They are slightly altered in Mr. Dycc's edition, and are numbered vv. 930—945. 
 071—981. 1051—1056. Vol. i. pp. 347, 348. 352. 
 
PATCHING AND TARRING. 
 
 297 
 
 have said, to a tympany \ This should all be done decently and 
 in order ; and in that case such " ragged and jagged " censure, — 
 satirical abuse, if you would rather, — as is conveyed in Skelton's 
 lines, would find no inequality of surface where to stick. But 
 when Peter is to be robbed to pay Paul, the case is altered, and 
 the eyes of all are naturally turned to the proceedings ; and 
 idiots will comprehend, as well as learned clerks, that self-interest 
 (somehow or other) is concerned in them. And then, of course, 
 all this is so much the worse when it is done under the specious 
 plea of reformation of abuses, amendment of what is wrong, and 
 a fairer and more equitable distribution of over-accumulated pro- 
 perty. Jeremy Taylor's pithy observation is much to the point : 
 " In vain it is to wash a goblet, if you mean to put into it nothing 
 but dead lees and vap of wine V 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I suppose you are thinking of the combined benefices of Patch- 
 ing and Tarring, and the opportunity, apparently lost, of their 
 separation, and the consequent consolidation of the rectorial and 
 vicarial tithes of the latter. Certainly it was to be expected that 
 when the sinecure rectory fell, so proper and so righteous an act 
 would not have been omitted. But Hooker spake not without 
 purpose of "the daily bruises that spiritual promotions use to 
 take by the often falling V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 It seems to me that there is no possible excuse for the omis- 
 sion. One of the very express objects of the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 mission was for this purpose. Such at least would appear to be 
 the simple meaning of sect. 55 in the Act to carry into effect, with 
 certain modifications, the Fourth Report of the Commissioners of 
 Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. Matters of law are not easily 
 comprehended by the uninitiated, but surely there is no difficulty 
 in the words which follow : " That if in any case it shall appear 
 to be expedient, on account of the extent, or population, or other 
 
 3 So Gauden iu his Hieraspistes : " When yet they bring forth, after all their 
 swelling and tympanies, nothing comparable to what others in an orderly way have 
 done." To the reader, p. 8, &c, infra, p. 379. " Puffed up with their tympanies 
 of self-conceptions." So Hammond, Jcr. Taylor, Hales of Eaton, &c. &C 
 
 1 Works, vol. xii. 491. 5 Ecclcs. Pol. v. xxxi. § 4. 
 
298 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 peculiar circumstances of the parish or district in which any such 
 rectory without cure of souls shall be situate, or from the incom- 
 petent endowment of the vicarage or vicarages, or perpetual 
 curacy or curacies, dependent on such rectory, to annex the whole 
 or any part of the lands, tithes, or other hereditaments or endow- 
 ments belonging to such rectory, to such vicarage or vicarages, 
 curacy or curacies, such annexation may be made, and any such 
 vicarage or curacy may be constituted a rectory with cure of souls 
 by the authority hereinafter provided." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Certainly, as Shakspeare says, this " is plain as way to parish 
 church V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 But to neglect to act up to such instructions, is not the way to 
 bring people to their parish church. You are aware, at this 
 moment, of the evil surmises that are afloat against the body of 
 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners on this very account. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I lament to say I am, but the body has been advertised of it, 
 and they have acted with their eyes open. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 They have bid the vicar, I suppose, go starve ; and they have 
 given, if report be square with them, nothing to the poor, forget- 
 ful of the blessing consigned unto those who devise liberal things 
 for others rather than for themselves. Or, may be, their answer 
 has been not much different from the well-known reply of Sir 
 Francis Knollys to certain reasons of Archbishop Whitgift's : 
 " Good men will more desyre to feede theyre flocke, than to 
 regarde the wolle or the mylke of their flocke 7 ." 
 
 6 As You Like It, Act ii. Sc. vii. 
 
 7 See Strype's Whitgift, vol. i. p. 382. But see what was said above. The 
 words following occur in " Petition to the Queen (Elizabeth), that the Bill against 
 Pluralities pass not." "It doth not reform the things which it pretendeth to 
 redress ; it permitteth and increaseth them rather. The only thing it doth prin- 
 cipally intend is the impoverishing and embasing the clergy, whereupon will ensue 
 the utter contempt both of their persons and of their doctrine." Ibid. p. 384. 
 With the real desire that now exists to put down Pluralities, it will be a pity if any 
 cause for a like remark be allowed to remain. Dead flics cause the ointment of the 
 apothecary to send forth a stinking savour : so doth a little folly him that is in reputa- 
 tion for wisdom and honour. Eccles. x. 1. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSI OXERS. 
 
 299 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The desire of the vicar was not to impede the counsels of a 
 body so sufficiently constituted to act justly. He did all that was 
 permitted him to do, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose 
 peculiar the benefice referred to is, — and then obeyed as a subal- 
 tern ought to do. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I am aware of it, — I am aware of it, Eubulus ! But, depend 
 upon it, a more unwise step was never taken than that which the 
 Board in Whitehall-place has decided on. Boards, proverbially, 
 have no consciences ; — it is well that individuals have. It was 
 but the other day, you may recollect, that in a walk over that 
 extensive parish, one of the most influential farmers expressed 
 his regret that the Ecclesiastical Commissioners had not at once 
 given up the rectorial tithes to the vicar in these pithy words, 
 which I treasured up at the time and committed them to paper : 
 " It is a mere matter of pounds, shillings, and pence with them, 
 as with the rest of the world, and they have no regard to just any 
 more than to unjust claims ; — they merely meet and bandy words 
 in Whitehall-place, and their icords are mere dumps*;" a local 
 phrase, which means wortldess leaden counters, such as children 
 play with. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Such expressions are not to be too literally interpreted. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 True : but what has since occurred shows how strong the 
 feeling of injustice was. Not only have the parishioners at large, 
 but, as I am told, the non-resident landlords have petitioned 
 against the unjust conclusion, — decision, I should rather call it, 
 — of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. A feather, you know, 
 will show which way the wind blows. Not that the determina- 
 tion of the parishioners and of the landlords is a light one, — on 
 the contrary, it is deliberate, weighty, solid, and of import. What 
 an opportunity has indeed been lost ! I bethink me of those 
 
 * " A clumsy medal of lead, east in moist sand." W. Holloway's General 
 Dictionary of Provincialisms. He refers to Norfolk and Suffolk for it. Sussex 
 might have been added. Grose, in his Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, gives the same 
 sense of it. 
 
soo 
 
 WEST TARRING, &C. 
 
 words of the Allobrogian ambassador, in Ben Jonson's " Cati- 
 line," and am sorrowful. They relate, I need not remind you, to 
 Cicero, but they are applicable elsewhere : — 
 
 " This magistrate hath struck an awe into me, 
 And by his sweetness won a more regard 
 Unto his place, than all the boist'rous moods 
 That ignorant greatness practiseth, to fill 
 The large, unfit authority it wears. 
 How easy is a noble spirit discern'd 
 From harsh and sulphurous matter, that flies out 
 In contumelies, makes a noise, and stinks ! 
 May we find good and great men ; that know how 
 To stoop to wants and meet necessities, 
 And will not turn from any equal suits ! 
 Such men, they do not succour more the cause 
 They undertake with favour and success, 
 Than by it their own judgments they do raise, 
 In turning just men's needs into their praise 3 ." 
 
 Doubtless, Eubulus, you acted conscientiously, and wisely, and in 
 deference to your diocesan, in not publicly putting forward so 
 strong and palpable a case ; but something less than a rogue like 
 Autolycus might say jeeringly, " Ha, ha ! what a fool honesty is ! 
 and trust, his sworn brother, a very simple gentleman 1 ! 11 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The stand was made which ought to have been made for the 
 sake of the parish ; beyond that the vicar was not concerned. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 But what, after all, are the real facts ? I should like to know 
 them, as our present discussion is more or less connected with 
 them, and one must not implicitly trust to popular statements, 
 especially under excitement. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The simple facts are these. West Tarring comprehends a 
 sinecure rectory and a vicarage, together with what are called 
 the extinct chapelries of Heene and Durrington, over which the 
 vicar of West Tarring has the spiritual charge. The population 
 
 :l Sec Act iv. Sc. i. 
 
 Winter's Tale, Act iv. Sc. iii. 
 
WEST TARRING, &C. 
 
 301 
 
 is about 1000. The parishes are extensive, — five miles from end 
 to end, and of a great circuit, — the people all poor, and no 
 resident gentry. The emoluments of the vicar are, under com- 
 mutation, — for West Tarring, 111?. 5s.; for Heene, 281. ; for 
 Durrington (near 200 souls), a modus of 61. 13s. id. Besides 
 this there is a stipend of 201. payable from the rector, a charge 
 that is on the sinecure. The late rector (than whom there could 
 have been none better), owing to the poverty of the place, and 
 the heavy calls upon the vicar, made the payment 40?. 
 
 So poor was West Tarring considered, now near a century 
 agone, that a licence was granted in the seventh year of George 
 the Third's reign, to unite it to the rectory of Patching, nearly 
 five miles distant ; and, Richard Hycroft, being then rector of 
 Patching, a faculty likewise was granted for pulling down the 
 rectory-house there, and for using the materials to repair the 
 vicarage of Tarring. After the expenses of the curate, charities, 
 &c. &c. paid, the vicar of Tarring may now receive about 130?. 
 from Patching. 
 
 The combination of four parishes — West Tarring, Heene, 
 Durrington, and Patching — is, of course, no slight evil ; and so it 
 appeared to the late Archbishop of Canterbury, as well as to the 
 present excellent and amiable Primate, whose peculiar, as before 
 observed, they are. The object of both was, when a convenient 
 occasion offered, to separate Patching altogether, and to unite 
 or consolidate the rectorial and vicarial tithes of West Tarring, 
 Heene, and Durrington ; — the chapels of the latter being in ruins, 
 and there being full room enough in the present parish church for 
 the collected congregation of the three. 
 
 From whatever cause Archbishop Sutton was unable to com- 
 plete his wish, neither could the present 2 Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury bring about the desired consummation, which he so much 
 aimed at, some thirteen years ago, — some mistake or misunder- 
 standing was an impediment. However, on or about the last 
 day of December, 1844, the late rector died, and then the oppor- 
 tunity, as the world thought, again occurred. But, meanwhile, 
 all sinecure rectories fell into the hands of the Ecclesiastical 
 
 2 This, it is to be recollected, was written some years ago. Archbishop Howley 
 is referred to. 
 
302 
 
 WEST TARRING, &C 
 
 Commissioners. (3 and 4 Victoria c. 113 ) According to a par- 
 ticular and special clause, above referred to, and which now forms 
 a part and parcel of this self-same Act they might have consoli- 
 dated, and the Archbishop of Canterbury evidently expected they 
 would do so. To have done it would have been but an act of 
 even-handed justice, and certainly it seemed but in accordance 
 with the Act itself, and with that resolution issued by the Board, 
 15th April, 1845. Resolution IX. " That tithes, or lands, or 
 other hereditaments allotted or assigned in lieu of tithes, vested 
 in the Commissioners, shall not in any case be sold, until due 
 consideration shall have been had of the wants and circumstances 
 of the places in which such tithes arise, or have heretofore arisen." 
 And not only so, but such an Act would appear to be altogether 
 in unison with preconceived opinion on the subject, as well as 
 with the express sentiments of the Duke of Wellington and Lord 
 Stanley, uttered by them severally in their places on the debate 
 on the Welsh bishoprics, Friday, May 2nd, 1845. Than the 
 words of the latter nothing can be more intelligible, unless they 
 are to be counted but as words : " One word with regard to the 
 sinecure rectories. The 3 and 4 Victoria c. 113. 5. 55. provides 
 for the annexation of lands or tithes to rectories, when expedient. 
 The first charge upon those sinecure rectories, which at present 
 contribute nothing to the service of religion, is to provide for 
 the spiritual wants of the parishes from which they are taken." 
 
 ALETHF.S. 
 
 And why, in the name of all that is just, have the Ecclesiastical 
 Commissioners so sadly neglected their duty ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Report says, — (" I will tell it softly, yon crickets shall not hear 
 \i 3 V ) — they have hampered themselves with some private rules 
 and regulations, and that they are ill agreed amongst themselves. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 That such a body should be at variance is hardly to be credited, 
 and if at variance it will not long stand. Then, to have hampered 
 themselves as report says they have, is a most unwise proceeding. 
 But even here, excepiio firmat regulam in non exceptis, and a 
 
 3 Winter's Tale, Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
WEST TARRIXG, &C. 
 
 303 
 
 single example of just deviation from private rule or regulation is 
 no prejudice to principle or law. The rather, it would confirm 
 other instances, and he a sort of sepes legis, which the Jews say- 
 tithes are. Again, if they have the power to make, they have 
 the power to rescind. But to say the truth, Eubulus, I don't 
 think they have the inclination to take the resolute step they 
 ought to do. And, indeed, the thought crosses me, that what 
 Butler says in his " Thoughts on Various Subjects," is no 
 Hudibrastic sarcasm, but a painful verity : This age icill serve to 
 make a very pretty farce for the next, if it have any icit at all to 
 make use of ft*.* 1 It's money, money, money ! 
 
 " Protinus ad censum : de moribus ultima fiet 
 Qusestio." — Juv. Sat. iii. 140. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I am inclined to think there is a wall in the way which they 
 cannot leap over. So convinced am I of the uprightness and of 
 the integrity of purpose of very many who constitute a part of 
 this commission, that I cannot but arrive at some such conclu- 
 sion. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Possibly there may be. But methinks, as Bishop Corbett 
 said, we must look out, 
 
 " — lest they take us 
 And use us worse than Hercules used Cacus 5 !" 
 
 But, jesting apart. By not consolidating the rectorial and vicarial 
 tithes the Ecclesiastical Commissioners will set a bad example, 
 and deter lay impropriators from following up what they have 
 begun. You know how it is said that they shall consider them- 
 selves absolved from further assistance by that body which is in 
 loco Papatus ; — how many of them are under the impression that 
 the Ecclesiastical Commission is indifferent to the claims of the 
 poorer clergy, altogether oblivious of those remarkable words of 
 Archbishop Whitgift to Queen Elizabeth, as recorded in Izaak 
 Walton's "Life of the learned and judicious Hooker:" " Madam, 
 Religion is the foundation and the cement of human Societies : and 
 
 4 Butler's Remains, vol. ii. p. 475. Thyer. 
 
 s Bp. Corbett's Poems, p. 77. Ed. Gilchrist, 1807. 
 
304 
 
 WEST TARRING, &C. 
 
 when they that serve at GodPs altar shall be exposed to poverty, then 
 religion itself will be exposed to scorn, and become contemptible, as 
 you may already observe in too many poor vicarages in this nation.'''' 
 There is likewise another point which, at the present moment, 
 when so many have their faces toward Rome, ought to have 
 influenced their consultations, and it is this: by depriving 
 vicarages of a proper endowment, in accordance with the times, 
 Ecclesiastical Protestant Commissioners will refuse to grant what 
 Romanists granted at the Tridentine Synod 6 . I am not fond of 
 hard names, but one might take advice from that aKpoTtXturiov 
 in the Metamorphoses, 
 
 " Fas est et ab hoste doceri ! " 
 
 Indeed, Mr. Lambard, in his " Perambulation of Kent," (as 
 quoted by Kennett,) was not far wrong, even although his words 
 were grating : " An appropriation is amongst many of those 
 monstrous births of covetousness, begotten by the Man of Rome, 
 in the dark night of superstition, and yet suffered to live in the 
 day-light of the Gospel, to the great hindrance of learning, the 
 impoverishment of the ministry, and the infamy of our profession." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 He spoke strongly, Alethes. 
 
 0 Cf. Sess. vii. c. vii. and Sess. xxv. c. xvi. de Reformatione. Happily our 
 poorest pastors are borne up with when they conscientiously perform their duties ; 
 and that remark of Montaigne's is found true, " Nous sommes, chascun, plus riches 
 que nous ne pensons." Essai, Livre hi. c. xii. Tome vi. p. 1. Ed. 1822. 
 
 The case of Trent is particularly mentioned by Kennett in his " Parochial Anti- 
 quities," &c. " The very Council of Trent were so ashamed of this violation of 
 parochial rights, that they not only ordained, that a benefice not exceeding the 
 yearly value of one hundred ducats, should not be charged with any pension to be 
 deducted from the maintenance of the incumbent : but that the ecclesiastical bene- 
 fices secular, whicli had cure of souls, should not be converted into a simple 
 benefice by impropriation ; and in livings already appropriated, where a fit portion 
 had not been reserved, or could not be conveniently assigned for endowment of a 
 vicar, there the whole benefice should be annexed to the cure." And in vicarages 
 before ordained, " if a congruous portion of the fruits were not allotted to the vicar, 
 an augmentation should be made within one year after the end of the council. 
 Nay, and all appropriations made within the last fourteen years should be dissolved." 
 Though had this last order been executed, it had signified no more than if an old 
 extortioner in his last will had made restitution of all his unlawful gains within the 
 last seven years of his life, when his remaining estate would be still the plentiful 
 rapine of many precedent years." — Vol. ii. p. 47. Ed. 4to. 1818. 
 
WEST TARRING. SINECURES. 
 
 305 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 But he spoke the truth, and the truth is the more real when we 
 consider that, as Luther said, every one carries " Pope Self" 
 about with him. At all events, neither appropriations any 
 more than impropriations are the peculiar of the so-called Man 
 of Rome. 
 
 EDBULUS. 
 
 You are right. Covetousness is their foster-father, and 
 individuals can grant themselves dispensations without going to 
 Rome. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Let that pass as an acknowledged truth. But it is sadly to be 
 regretted, Eubulus, that Patching and Tarring are not to be 
 separated 7 . Besides the matter of the plurality, altogether to be 
 deprecated, it might have been borne in mind that the honest 
 and industrious ecclesiastical annalist and historian, John Strype, 
 was some time rector of the latter — that his writings have turned 
 out to be of the greatest value — and that these are not times to 
 discourage religious and useful learning ; and if not, then, means 
 and retirement should not be denied to those who might be likely 
 to follow in his steps, especially when the Church had those 
 means in her own hands. Again, it might have been borne in 
 mind that the learned Selden was born at Salvington, a hamlet of 
 the parish of West Tarring, and the question might have been 
 asked, whether he had any reason to be satisfied with the appro- 
 priation here, in his minority \ or rather, whether from seeing 
 the poor vicar " shorn and pilled," he might not have taken up 
 those notions which are visible enough in his great work, however 
 he may have been compelled unwillingly to retract, and to sing a 
 Palinodia ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Your mention of John Strype is, I think, felicitous. We do 
 not want pluralities, neither do we want sinecures ; but we do 
 want places of retirement for laborious divines, and a resting- 
 place after toils. But, alas ! we see no tokens left. All fluctuates 
 now " with the Euripus of funds and actions, 1 '' — a thing which, as 
 
 7 As stated before, in a note, this is now done ; but as the vicar gives up the 
 Rectory of Patching, the stipendiary emolument to Tarring is greater in the Eccle- 
 siastical Commissioners' figures than in reality. 
 
306 ECCLESIASTICAL PENSIONERS — BUIIKe's VIEW OF. 
 
 regards Church property, the enlightened Edmund Burke thought 
 never could come to pass. How would he have been surprised 
 at the powers of the Ecclesiastical Commission who wrote thus : 
 " It is from our attachment to a church establishment that the 
 English nation did not think it wise to entrust that great, funda- 
 mental interest of the whole to what they trust no part of their 
 civil or military public service ; that is, to the unsteady and pre- 
 carious contribution of individuals. They go further. They 
 certainly never have suffered, and never will suffer, the fixed 
 estate of the Church to be converted into a pension ; to depend 
 on the treasury, and to be delayed, withheld, or perhaps to be 
 extinguished by fiscal difficulties ; which difficulties may some- 
 times be pretended for political purposes, and are in fact often 
 brought on by the extravagance, negligence, and rapacity of 
 politicians. The people of England think they have constitu- 
 tional motives, as well as religious, against any project of turning 
 their independent clergy into ecclesiastical pensioners of the state. 
 They tremble for their liberty from the influence of a clergy de- 
 pendent on the crown ; they tremble for the public tranquillity 
 from the disorders of a factious clergy, if it were made to depend 
 upon any other than the crown. They, therefore, made their 
 Church, like their king and their nobility, independent 8 .'" 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Fiscal difficulties are already beginning to show themselves in 
 the distance, like what are called " white horses" out at sea, — 
 those forerunners of the storm. For example, the repeal of the 
 corn laws, which must sooner or later take place, will show the 
 short-sighted wisdom of converting tithes into a corn-rent. The 
 clergy must suffer by it, and become less independent ; and very 
 likely, before many years are past and gone, they will have 
 become what Burke so much deprecated, " Ecclesiastical pen- 
 sioners of the state." Then again for the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 mission ; it, be assured, will never ride out a revolutionary 
 storm. It has much ado to keep afloat in the calm and in the 
 sunshine of peace. Its timbers are already cracking, and those 
 at the helm are aware too late that they have taken upon them- 
 
 8 Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France : quoted in that very useful 
 and well-timed work, Wordsworth's Christian Institutes, vol. iii. p. 110. 
 
AUGMENTATION OF SMALL LIVINGS. 307 
 
 selves to steer a vessel which is not sea-worthy ; — its planks 
 were not of honest wood, not heart of oak. How painfully true 
 are those lines of Hudibras which declare in vein satiric, — 
 " That all our scouting of religion 
 
 Began with tumults and sedition : 
 
 When hurricanes of fierce commotion 
 
 Became strong motives to devotion : 
 
 As carnal seamen, in a storm 
 
 Turn pious converts and reform 9 ." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 That sarcasm would apply rather to mob-reformers than eccle- 
 siastical. It had, to my knowledge, been the custom of the 
 chapter at Christ Church, Oxford, to augment their small livings 
 as far as they could, long previous to the bringing in of the 
 present Archbishop of Canterbury's bill for that purpose, 1 & 
 2 Will. IV., cap. 45 ; and we must thankfully acknowledge that 
 many lay patrons were fully alive to their responsibilities. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The less excuse then, Eubulus, for the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 missioners not having consolidated the rectorial and vicarial 
 tithes of West Tarring. What was the object of good men, 
 and the intent of a good bill, ought not to have been absent from 
 their cogitations. By so doing they had abolished a plurality, 
 and made a benefice. As it is, they stand in the unenviable 
 position of monkish appropriators, and I would call the 
 attention of their 
 
 " Most potent, grave, and reverend seniors" 
 
 to the passage following, from " Kennett on Impropriations." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 As Florizel says to Camillo in the " Winter's Tale, 1 ' — 
 " I am bound to you, 
 There is some sap in this 10 ." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Then hear : " Even the monks in a case that was not imme- 
 diately their own could represent it as a matter of honesty to 
 
 9 Hudibras, Part iii. Canto ii. v. 533, &c. 
 
 x 2 
 
 10 Act iv. Sc. iii. 
 
308 CONSOLIDATION OF SINECURE RECTORIKS AND VICARAGES. 
 
 disappropriate a church, and restore it to the better uses of the 
 parish priest. As when the church of Reculver 1 , in Kent, had 
 been appropriated to the hospitals of Herbaldown and North Gale, 
 Henry Prior, and his monks of Canterbury, did constitute their 
 proctor ' to ask, receive, and consent that the church of Reculver 
 should be restored to its ancient state, and should be again served 
 by a fit rector, as it used to be of old. Nay, and to provide that 
 the church for the future should by no means be appropriated to 
 any dignity, college, or collegiate church, or be made prebendal. 1 
 And the archbishop in his Instrument of Dissolution did declare, 
 ' That the said appropriation did redound to the grievous pre- 
 judice and manifold loss of the parish church, which he now 
 therefore recalled to its ancient state. 1 
 
 " By the same rules of equity, if a clergyman held the rectory 
 appropriate as a sinecure distinct from the vicarage endowed, 
 when on the death of any vicar he had a mind to serve the Church 
 himself in person ; he then obtained this favour from the bishop, 
 that the vicarage should be extinguished, or consolidated to the 
 rectory ; that the whole benefice might go along with the whole 
 duty of the place. Thus in a vacancy of the vicarage of Takhela 
 Com. Oxon 2 , Master Roger, rector of the same church, affirming 
 that the vicarage was not ordained by the regular consent of all 
 parties concerned, did petition that the same vicarage might be 
 consolidated with the rectory, if the bishop, upon due inquisition, 
 did so consolidate. 
 
 " Such instances of disappropriation are common in our 
 
 1 Reculver is ten miles north-east by north of Canterbury, containing 286 inha- 
 bitants. It is a vicarage with that of Hoath annexed. The Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury is both patron and appropriator. The appropriate tithes are commuted for 
 575/. ; the vicarial for 128^. 
 
 Reculver Church was taken down in 1813, owing to the encroachments of the 
 sea, from which, in Leland's time, it was half a mile distant. (See Itin. vol. vii. 
 p. 127. Ed. 8vo. 1744.) A new church was then built at Hillborough, a hamlet 
 about a mile distant. Little remains of the old structure except the towers, which 
 are kept in repair by the Corporation of Trinity House, whose property it now is. 
 Reculver was founded in the seventh century on land granted by Egbert, King of 
 Kent, and a.d. 94!) was annexed by King Eadred to Christ Church, Canterbury. 
 
 2 The modern spelling is " Takley." It is three miles and a half north-east of 
 Woodstock, and contains 583 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, commuted for 
 750/., in the patronage of the President and Fellows of St. John's. Stapelgrove, 
 below mentioned, is a mile and a half from Taunton, from which it was separated 
 in 1554. It is a rectory, commuted for 205/., with a population of 471 souls. 
 
SINECURE RECTORY AND VICARAGE OF WEST TARRING. 309 
 
 registers before the Reformation. One of the last seems to 
 have been that of the church of Stapelgrove, near Taunton, which 
 in the reign of Queen Mary was disappropriated, and rightly 
 made presentative for ever, by joint consent of the patron, the 
 queen, and the ordinary 3 ." 
 
 EUBUI.US. 
 
 Conflicting interests have hindered much good in our parishes. 
 The union you here refer to of patron, queen, and ordinary, in a 
 good act, is an example to be followed. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 And one which the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England 
 have lost caste by not following. Twice already they have altered 
 their intentions with respect to West Tarring and Patching, and 
 take my word for it they will alter them again. They cannot 
 leave matters as they are, and render up an honest account. 
 Their first proposal was, I think, to separate Patching, and to 
 do nothing for Tarring with its poor population of a thousand 
 souls. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Not exactly so, though their offer was equal to nothing. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Foh ! " Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more 
 than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of 
 wheat hid in two bushels of chaff ; you shall seek all day ere you 
 find them ; and when you have them they are not worth the 
 search 4 ." They offered, now I recollect, to make Tarring 300^. 
 per annum. Unwonted act of generosity ! Magnificent appro- 
 priation of the Church's patrimony ! But tell me, Eubulus, what 
 was their next intention ? 
 
 EUBUT.US. 
 
 It was easiest to read the " Extract from the Minutes of a 
 General Meeting, held 22nd July, 1845 :" 
 
 " Resolved. That the resolution of the 8th of April last, 
 respecting West Tarring vicarage augmentation and parsonage- 
 
 • Ut supra, p. 54. 
 
 4 Merchant of Venice, Act i. Sc. i. 
 
310 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION. 
 
 house, and the separation of Patching rectory therefrom, be 
 varied so as to stand as follows : 
 
 " That the income of the vicarage of West Tarring be imme- 
 diately augmented to 300?. per annum ; that the old rectory- 
 house, with about two acres of land adjoining the same, be 
 annexed to the vicarage ; and that the small piece of ground, 
 which on account of its immediate contiguity to the vicarage- 
 house has been purchased by many successive vicars from the 
 representatives of the preceding vicar, at the price of 105?., be 
 immediately purchased by the Commissioners from the present 
 vicar, at that price, and be annexed to the living. 1 '' 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Sad, very sad ! I recollect how Clarendon says somewhere or 
 other : " Amongst the Jesuits they have a rule that they who arc 
 unapt for greater studies shall study cases of conscience 6 ." Me- 
 thinks it was a fitting employment for certain of this unmatchable 
 consistory. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I will say, Alethes, as Hooker has said with reference to a 
 different point : " For mine own part, I dare not so lightly 
 esteem of the Church, and of the principal pillars therein V 1 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I am sure you would not wish to be literally understood, for 
 to call the Ecclesiastical Commission for England the Church 
 would be a most egregious misnomer, and I cannot but lament 
 that the principal pillars " that constitute the Board or Body" 
 should have so little regard for what you and I may call with 
 truth the working clergy. The truth is, as I said before, they 
 would work the willing horse to death ; and, as they have no 
 conscience, the study of cases of conscience might awaken them 
 to the fact, that others have what they have not. That remark 
 of your favourite Hooker's which declares, " The sentences of 
 wise and expert men were never but highly esteemed," is true as 
 the truest ; but I must decline thinking the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 
 5 Hist, of the Reb., vol. i. p. 343. 
 11 Eccles. Pol., Book ii. vii. § 4. 
 
THEIR IGNORING 01' THE CHARITIES OF WEST TARRING. 311 
 
 mission for England, as at present constituted, either wise or 
 prudent. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Nay, Alethes, we may change the subject, lest reason seem 
 invective. I cannot think well of them ; but I would not wish 
 to think harshly. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 " Well !" as said Rosalind, " time is the old justice that ex- 
 amines all such offenders, and let time try 7 !" I would ask but 
 one question more on this head, and it is the following : Have 
 they continued the sinecure rector's charities \ The late rector 
 was known to be a charitable man, and alive to the responsibilities 
 of property, specially of ecclesiastical property ; and the last act 
 of his life, I have heard you say, was one which redounded alto- 
 gether to his credit, — an increased salary for the national school, 
 I think. This, I suppose, and the old doles for St. Thomas's 
 Day 8 and Christmas, are, of course, not only continued but 
 increased. 
 
 EGBULUS. 
 
 Not only are they not increased, but they are discontinued 
 altogether. It is a question I could have wished you not to 
 have asked ; but having asked it, the answer, however painful, 
 must be according to truth. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Did I not receive the information from a source not to be 
 doubted, I never could have believed this. They have acted 
 worse towards these poor parishes, than did those church-spoilers 
 at the dissolution of the monasteries. Who would have believed 
 that your Church reformers should have been the first to deny a 
 trust — to be guilty of a breach of faith, — 
 
 " And right and wrong most cruelly confound 9 ! " 
 
 7 As You Like It, Act iv. Sc. i. 
 
 * The custom of "going a gooding " and " going a corning" ou St. Thomas's Day, 
 is one of very great antiquity, and the origin of it is not known. Twenty years ago 
 it was common enough in Shropshire and Warwickshire. Of late years the doles 
 given on St. Thomas's Day have been confounded with the equally, if not more, 
 ancient Christmas-box. The sinecure rector at Tarring always gave his doles. 
 Mumping Day was the old name for St. Thomas's Day. 
 
 0 Spencer, F. Q. v. xi. xvii. 
 
312 
 
 PROPER GRIEF FOR PAROCHIAL WRONGS. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It grieved me to the heart, Alethes, for the poor's sake, for 
 the parish's sake, and for the Church's sake ! It is a blot not 
 to be wiped out, " a spot, — a damned spot," which should not 
 have attached to such hands ! But that woe is past, and there 
 is wisdom in the words, — Dedoluisse semel satis est. Let me 
 calm you with some lines, long known to me, and now pub- 
 lished to the world. They are from the posthumous poem of 
 the lamented Southey, passages of which you have heard him 
 read; Oliver Newman, I mean: — 
 
 " The wounded heart is prone to entertain 
 Presumptuous thoughts and feelings, which arraign 
 The appointed course of things. But what are we, 
 Short-sighted creatures of an hour, 
 That we should judge ? In part alone we see 
 And this but dimly. He, who ordereth all, 
 Beholdeth all, at once, and to the end : 
 Upon his wisdom and his power 
 His mercy and his boundless love we rest ; 
 And resting thus in humble faith, we know, 
 Whether the present be for weal or woe, 
 For us whatever is must needs be best !" 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Then farewell to the Ecclesiastical Commission for England ; an 
 incubus not easily got rid of. Let those with whom they have to 
 deal see that they be not, — as Dromio of Syracuse said was like 
 to have happened to him, " had not his breast been made of 
 faith, and his heart of steel," — transformed to curtail dogs, and 
 made to turn Tthe wheel It was a wise resolution, Eubulus, 
 of Sir William Petre's, who, " before he petitioned Pope Paul IV. 
 for a licence and absolution to purchase the lands of dissolved 
 abbeys, made this solemn declaration, ' That he would resign all 
 rectories or appropriated tithes and glebe to their first spiritual 
 uses, and was ready to make immediate restitution for that 
 purpose. 1 " You will call to mind the mention of it in White 
 Kennetfs " Parochial Antiquities V 
 
 But will the commutation of tithes into a corn-rent tend at all 
 
 1 Comedy of Errors, Act iii. Sc. ii. 2 Sec vol. ii. p. 55. 
 
TITHE COMMUTATION AK1) REPEAL OF CORN LAWS. 313 
 
 to lessen the number of pluralities, think you, in course of time I 
 Many people look upon the measure as a panacea. 
 
 EUBDLUS. 
 
 The best answer I can make is in some well-known but 
 truthful lines : — 
 
 " To mourn a mischief that is past and gone, 
 Is the next way to draw new mischief on. 
 What cannot be preserved when fortune takes, 
 Patience her injury a mockery makes ; 
 The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief; 
 He robs himself, that spends a bootless grief 3 ." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Your opinions, I see, remain quite unchanged. You made a 
 like reply when we discussed the subject of tithes ; and I agreed 
 with you then as I do now. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 And what was then but a small cloud, no bigger than a man's 
 hand, and scarcely seen, has now waxed great, and is coining 
 nigher and nigher ! You will surmise that I allude to the repeal 
 of the Corn Laws, — necessary or otherwise is not the question. 
 Tend, however, it must, to the diminution of the annual value 
 of livings. Then, again, if the clergy become State pensioners, 
 there is no evil which may not be anticipated. Of all things a 
 settled pension is to be avoided. There is a remarkable passage 
 in Kennett's " Parochial Antiquities," which, mutatis mutandis, 
 will explain why I think settled portions of money undesirable. 
 Your allusion to that work recalls it to my mind. Although 
 long, it is much to the purpose : — 
 
 " When parish churches were first appropriated to houses of 
 religion, they were supplied by secular priests, who were sti- 
 pendiary curates, with the salary of five, or at best but ten 
 marks ; and when by the ordination of vicarages this stipend was 
 exchanged into a standing portion of tithe, and glebe, and manse, 
 such endowment was generally proportioned to the pecuniary 
 rate of five or ten marks ; so as the alteration at that time was 
 no benefit to the priest, only as it bettered his title, and made 
 
 3 Othello, Act i. Sc. iii. 
 
314 SETTLED PAYMENTS UNDESIRABLE. 
 
 him a perpetual vicar, instead of an arbitrary curate. But con- 
 sider, if the portion of the vicar had been allotted in such a 
 certain sum of money, what mendicants must our country vicars 
 now have been ! whereas the assignation being made in im- 
 proveable land and tithe, by this means the value of money 
 abating, and the rate of land and commodities advancing, some 
 vicarages, which at the first ordination had no greater endow- 
 ment than what was equivalent to five marks, do now afford the 
 maintenance of fifty pounds per annum. Hence the memory of 
 Sir Thomas Smith is highly to be honoured for promoting the 
 act in 18 Eliz., whereby it was provided, that a third part of the 
 leases made by colleges, should be reserved in corn, payable 
 either in kind or money, after the rate of the best prices in 
 Oxford or Cambridge markets, on the next market day before 
 Michaelmas and Lady Day. This worthy knight is said to have 
 been engaged in this service by the advice of Mr. Henry 
 Robinson, soon after Provost of Queen's College, Oxon, and 
 from that station advanced to the see of Carlisle. And tradition 
 goes, that this bill passed the Houses, before they were sensible 
 of the good consequences of it. We know in the latter times 
 of our confusion, a project was carried on of destroying the 
 ancient right of tithes, and converting that pious maintenance of 
 the clergy into settled portions of money. How fatal this in- 
 novation would in time have proved is ingeniously urged by two 
 reverend and learned writers \ We have had some benefices in 
 England altered into such method by decrees of Chancery, with 
 a certain sum of money allotted for a compensation of all tithes : 
 this may seem an ease, and perhaps an advantage upon the first 
 establishment of it ; but unless the incumbent be invested with a 
 power of revocation, and, as the reason alters, can reassumc his 
 right of tithing, I am sure, in an age or two, the successors will 
 suffer extremely by such a bargain. For a living now of one 
 hundred pounds per annum, in composition money, will, in a 
 future generation, by this stinted revenue, not exceed another 
 living, that is not at present of half the value in glebe and tithe. 
 And it will then too late appear, that the predecessor who com- 
 plied with such a change did not consult the interest of the 
 
 i Mr. Jer. Stephens's Pref. to Sir Hen. Spehnan, of Tithes ; and Dr. Comber's 
 Histor Vindicat. of Tithes, part ii. chap. 10. 
 
WHITE KKNNETT'S OPINION. 
 
 315 
 
 Church, and that such a decree did not become a court of equity. 
 It is very obvious to consider, that nothing has been a more 
 unjust diminution of small tithes, than the custom of a rate in 
 money, instead of the titheable thing in kind ; though such a rate, 
 no doubt, when first imposed, was equivalent to the thing com- 
 muted for it, when now they bear a small or no proportion. As 
 for instance, in one of the old Saxon laws, confirmed by the 
 Conqueror, it is provided, that if a man have one or two colts, he 
 shall pay for the fall of each one penny, and the like for calves : 
 which was a very just proportion, when the best colt or calf was 
 not valued above ten pence ; but the iniquity is, that this custom 
 does still obtain in many parishes ; and the like minute considera- 
 tion for wool and lambs, where, for custom sake, the trifle must 
 be taken, without allowance for the much advanced value of 
 them. By which means the modus decimandi is a growing injury, 
 and calls for a relief by law, when it shall please the wisdom and 
 the justice of our governors. Those eight men of quality and 
 learning, who were appointed at the beginning of our Reforma- 
 tion to collect such ecclesiastical canons as ought to remain in 
 force, freely declared their judgment, that these customs ought 
 to be abrogated. And the learned Mr. Co well has professed 
 the same opinion, that it is reasonable to take away all such 
 customs, as do lessen the tenth part due to the Church of 
 God 5 ." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 White Kennett was well acquainted with the subjects he wrote 
 on ; and his " Parochial Antiquities attempted in the History 
 of Ambrosden, Burcester, and other adjacent parts in the Counties 
 of Oxford and Bucks," is a very valuable book, and the model 
 for all books on the same subject. Jt is a pity we have not 
 more of them 6 . But then how few are equal to the task ; and 
 
 s Vol. ii. pp. 295—297. 
 
 0 Old Fuller thus commences the History of Waltham Abbey : " Providence, by 
 the hand of my worthy friends, having placed me for the present at Waltham 
 Abbey, I conceive that in our general work of Abbeys, I owe some particular 
 description of that place of my abode ; hoping- my endeavours herein may prove 
 exemplary to others (who dwell in the sight of remarkable monasteries) to do the 
 like, and rescue the observables of their habitations from the teeth of time and 
 oblivion." See Church Hist. vol. iii. p. 519. Ed. Clar. The remark is of the 
 widest application. 
 
316 
 
 INCKEASED 
 
 VALUE 
 
 OF MONEY. 
 
 how much fewer is their number like to be now, that every 
 retreat for the studious antiquarian in theological lore is cut off? 
 The evil will be clearly seen and felt within the next half 
 century. The projectors of more recent spoliation schemes 
 already see what sort of fruit the tree is bearing ! Alas ! for 
 idle reformation ! — 
 
 " The best excuse 
 That such men can to hide their folly use, 
 When all their idle projects come to nought, 
 Are the words of the fool, / had not thought V 
 
 As respects the point you more particularly allude to — the 
 different value, that is, of money — it is only necessary to turn 
 to any collection of ancient documents — such as are Peck's 
 Desiderata Curiosa, or Gutch's Collectanea Curiosa — and the 
 fact would strike even the least observant of his kind. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 There lies on the table before you Owen and Blakeway's " His- 
 tory of Shrewsbury,''' into which I have just been looking, — one 
 of the best works of its kind, full of antiquarian lore, of the best 
 feeling, and of honesty unimpeachable. A passage on which I 
 lighted by mere accident will illustrate what you remark as to 
 prices, and the value of money in the time of Henry VIII. It 
 appears that the latter end of 1535 was distinguished by an ex- 
 traordinary concourse of nobility in the town : " Three dukes," 
 says our MS. chronicle, " cam throughe Shrewsbury: to say, the 
 Ducke of Kychemoonde, the Ducke of Northefolke, and the Ducke 
 of Suffolke, with a great retynewe." Amongst other expenses 
 incurred is the item following, translated by the authors : " Paid 
 for presents given to the said dukes, as a hogshead of wine, swans, 
 capons, oxen, calves, conies, dainties, wafers, hipocras 8 , per . . . 
 spices, comfits, and divers other things, for the honour of the 
 
 ' Wither's Motto, vol. ii. p. 223. 
 
 8 Blount in his Glossographia describes it as "a compound wine mixed with 
 several kinds of spices," but this does not illustrate the name. He should have 
 added " strained through a woollen bag." That bag is still called Hippocrates' sleeve, 
 and the readers of Chaucer and Skelton will recollect that IIippocras,or Tpocras, is 
 the earlier name for this ancient leech. A receipt for making it is given by Nares 
 in his Glossary from the Haven of Health. Middleton implies that, like Scotch 
 Whiskey, it was the best drink "a mornings." 
 
OWEN, BLAKEWAY, — GOOD NAMES. 
 
 317 
 
 town of Salop, put together in one gross sura, on account of the 
 shortness of the time, 51. 18s. 2rf." What would all this have 
 come to now? 
 
 There is another item I may read to you for the fun of it, and 
 for the honour of the barber's shop, noted from Thucydides 1 9 
 time downward till the present, as the mart of news : " Reward 
 given to Richard Clarke, barber, riding to know perfectly of the 
 coming of the Duke of Richmond and the Duke of Norfolk into 
 the county of Salop, 2s. 4rf." Owen and Blake way were two men 
 in whom were combined the 
 
 " Virtus Scipiadae, et mitis sapientia Lam." 
 One I knew, the other I knew well, and I can fancy the happy 
 smile that lighted up the face of the one or the other, as either 
 wrote the annexed comment : " The bailiffs were probably guided 
 in their choice of Mr. Clarke for this purpose, by a consideration 
 of his occupation, which has always been deemed favourable for 
 the collection and circulation of intelligence '." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Such references refresh one, and accidental illustrations are 
 often worth a cart-load of cut and dried materials. With the 
 names of those good men departed, I, too, am familiar, and there 
 is a third whose name should not, and will not be separated from 
 theirs by his grateful townsmen, — I mean the pious and munifi- 
 cent W. G. Rowland, 14 Ordinary and Official, Principal of the 
 Peculiar and Exempt Jurisdiction of the Free Royal Chapel of 
 the Blessed Virgin Mary." Antiquated himself, and a thorough 
 antiquarian, he will be remembered long, when gathered to his 
 rest, for simplicity of mind and manners, honesty of purpose, 
 unostentatious but unbounded charity, meekness of wisdom, and 
 love towards God and man. It delights me to have this chance 
 opportunity of mentioning his name. 
 
 " Such a man 
 Might be a copy to these younger times, 
 Which, followed well, would demonstrate them now 
 But goers backward 2 ." 
 
 ' J It should be Plutarch. It is he, and not Thucydides, who mentions this fact. 
 Stvog yap rie, toiKty,) anofldi; (Is Ildpaia, Kai KaQiaaq IttI Kovptiov K.T.k. 
 — in Nicia. 
 
 1 Vol. i p. 317. 2 All's Well that End's Well, Act i. Sc. ii. 
 
318 W. G. ROWLAND, SHREWSBURY'S BENEFACTOR. 
 
 As I think, you well know, his income for many years was very 
 moderate, and yet he contrived to do more towards restoring the 
 churches of the " town within the wombe of Scaverne," than had 
 been done for centuries before. Barrow was alive to the respon- 
 sibilities of our gentry, when he made the following remarks on 
 that passable notion and definition, What is a gentleman but his 
 pleasure ? 
 
 " If this be true, if a gentleman be nothing else but this, then 
 truly he is a sad piece, the most inconsiderable, the most despic- 
 able, the most pitiful and wretched creature in the world : if it is 
 his privilege to do nothing, it is his privilege to be most unhappy ; 
 and to be so will be his fate, if he live according to it ; for he that 
 is of no worth or use, who produceth no beneficial fruit, who per- 
 formeth no service to God or to the world, what title can he have 
 to happiness? what capacity thereof? what reward can he claim? 
 what comfort can he feel ? to what temptations is he exposed ? 
 what guilt will he incur 3 ?" 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I would not interrupt you, and indeed you know how I love 
 that dear old town, the veriest cranny of which was known to my 
 boyhood's foot ! He of whom you speak was as well known to 
 me also as the sound of St. Mary's or St. Chad's bells — of softer 
 tone, by reason of the Severn's flowing by. Bishop Corbet 
 belonged to the family at Sundorne. Had that good man lived 
 in his days, he had never asked questions like these about him : — 
 
 " Did he attend the court for no man's fall ? 
 Were he the ruin of no hospital ? 
 And when he did his rich apparel don, 
 Put he no widow, nor an orphan on 4 ? " 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 No ! His manner of life had been so altogether contrary to 
 the rapacity of those days, that ten to one but some member of 
 his family had begged him for a fool. 
 
 3 Sermon " Of Industry in our Particular Calling as Gentlemen." Theol. Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 215. It is a pithy sentence that in a subsequent page, " Being a gentle- 
 man doth not exempt him from being a Christian." 
 
 4 Bp. Corbet's Poems, ut supra, p. 63. 
 
SHREWSBURY, THE FIRST OK TOWN'S — WHY ? 
 
 319 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The old town, much as others, felt the griping hand of avari- 
 cious reform, and when the dissolution came of all " monasteries, 
 abbathies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals, and houses of 
 friars," Shrewsbury was plundered. Once there was a Bishop of 
 Shrewsbury, and but one is mentioned. His name was " Lewis 
 Thomas, late abbot of Kynmer (i. e. Cwmhir), consecrated suf- 
 fragan Bishop of the See of Salop by Archbishop Cranmer, June 
 24, 1537 V 1 This was prior to the intention expressed by 
 Henry VIII., of erecting thirteen new bishoprics out of certain 
 of the revenues of the dissolved abbeys. " Burnet had seen a 
 list in the king's own hand of the sees he intended to found. 
 The alterations which it would have introduced into the eccle- 
 siastical division of the kingdom are judicious, and evince a con- 
 siderable knowledge of the internal state of his dominions. 
 Shrewsbury was to have become the seat of a bishop, w ho was to 
 have been endowed with the revenues of the abbey, and to have 
 comprised in his diocese the counties of Salop and Stafford. We 
 are assured that John Boucher, abbot of Leicester, was actually 
 nominated Bishop of Shrewsbury ; and hence, no doubt, the tra- 
 dition so gratifying to the pride of every true Salopian, that their 
 forefathers had the offer of having their borough converted into a 
 city, but that they preferred continuing to inhabit " the First of 
 Towns 6 ." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 It is unfortunate that more bishoprics were not founded, as by 
 this time the real advantage resulting from such an act had been 
 visible to all. Their righteous supervision, (if righteous, as it 
 ought to be,) would have tended more to do down with pluralities 
 than any thing else that could have been devised, restoration only 
 excepted. But Gauden's words were never more painfully true 
 than as applied to Henry VIII.: "Many reformers are but 
 lutes ; though they soar high, yet they have an eye to their prey 
 beneath V It appears to me, Eubulus, that the establishment of 
 new sees at that time would have effected what was one of the 
 intentions of the present Ecclesiastical Commission for England, 
 
 1 Hist, of Shrewsbury, vol. i. p. 316. 
 7 Hieraspistes, p. 484. Ed. 1653, 4to. 
 
 « Ibid. p. 323. 
 
320 
 
 VICAR, PARSON, CURATE, &C. 
 
 I mean the equalization of dioceses, as far as was practicable and 
 might be reasonably done. This, perhaps, is the only good pro- 
 ject they have in hand. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 It is at least a good project ; and it would be excellently carried 
 out, were such dioceses as Chester, for example, better divided, 
 and had York its suffragan. As respects " restoration," there is 
 a remarkable passage in the work we have just referred to. It 
 relates to the incumbents of St. Chad's, Shrewsbury, and is worth 
 reading, not only for the fact, but for the matter likewise con- 
 tained in it, by the by. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Read on, — arrectis auribus adsto. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 " The title of the parochial minister of St. Chad's has varied at 
 different periods. In the earliest of the episcopal registers they 
 are termed vicars ; understanding that word, however, not in the 
 modern English* acceptation, as denoting the actual incumbent 
 of a church entitled to certain portions of the tithes, but in the 
 more ancient and proper sense, of one who officiates in the room of 
 another. For these early vicars performed the parochial offices, 
 to which the canons were originally bound. After the Reforma- 
 tion, the incumbent here was usually called the curate ; under- 
 standing again that term, not in the modern sense, peculiar to 
 this country, of a substitute ; but in the ancient and proper one, 
 recognized originally in our Liturgy, of him who hath the cure of 
 the souls of a parish. Mr. Price, in the beginning of the seven- 
 teenth century, states himself to be neither parson, vicar, farmer, 
 nor proprietary, but only curate: and in 1674, when, on the 18th 
 December, Nathanael Tench, Esq., of London, the great bene- 
 factor to this living, granted to it the tithes of corn and hay of 
 the grange of Crow Mele, he settles them upon the minister of the 
 
 8 " In France the two terms vicar and curate are employed with much greater 
 propriety, in senses exactly opposite to those in which they are used with us ; the 
 cure being the actual incumbent, the clcaire what tee call the curate." This is very 
 true, hut looking to the original of vicarages in England the term is altogether 
 appropriate. Horace uses the word in its original sense, when he says of the 
 roving Nomades, Equal i recreat surte vicarius. 
 
PATRIMONY OF THE CHURCH OKVOURKD. 
 
 321 
 
 parish of St. Chad for the time being that is, or shall be appointed 
 to read Divine Service, preach, and administer the sacraments 
 according to the order of the Church of England, in the said parish 
 church : and in a letter to his feoffees after informing them that 
 his purpose in thus settling the tithes was, ' to return them again 
 to that very church to which they did formerly belong, 1 he adds, 
 ' when I came to make the settlement, I did, upon inquiry, find, 
 that your incumbent was neither rector, vicar, nor curate, if the 
 word curate be taken after the common acceptation as being 
 servant to another minister : which put me to some trouble how 
 to settle it 9 . 1 " 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 It is a memorable instance, indeed, Eubulus ! After all, 
 restitution is a virtue more talked of than acted upon. In the 
 old " Pharmacopoeia, 11 an emetic was usually recommended at the 
 access of any severe attack ; and the remedy is a safe one still. 
 What a relief to the body politic would it be, if it was relieved of 
 the patrimony of the Church, which has been swallowed down for 
 ages ! Staveley says, in his odd entitled book, " The Romish 
 Horse-leach, 11 that " The court of Rome did inculcate, and would 
 have the world believe, that being a mother, she ought to be 
 relieved by her children 1 and so she demanded and received 
 her Peter-pence throughout the land, — save and except from St. 
 Alban's *. What pity it is that Defenders of the Faith, — that 
 mu sing fathers and nursing mothers of the Church, — have rather, 
 like Saturn, eaten up their own children, or if not so, have con- 
 nived at the bulimia of wicked satellites, and voracious courtiers ! 
 Hinc ilia lacrymce ! Hence the evil of pluralities, the poverty of 
 our benefices, and to say a hard truth, the robbery of the poor. 
 I am sick of all commissions and reformations, — mere stalking- 
 horses to plunder. As Wither versifies the old proverb, 
 
 " The burned child the fire much dreadeth still 3 ! " 
 
 9 Ut supra, vol. ii. p. 210. 1 See p. 25. Ed. 1674. 
 
 2 "Only I find that the monastery of St. Alban's, in honour of that Proto- 
 Martyr, to whose memory it was founded, was alone quiet as to that charge ; and 
 that by the indulgence of King Offa, as Matt. Westmiuster relates." — Ibid. p. 4. 
 See Camden's Britannia, vol. i. 337. Hertfordshire. Fuller, Church Hist. vol. i. 
 p. 276. Ed. Clar. 
 
 3 Prince Henry's Obsequies, vol. ii. p. 11. 
 
 Y 
 
322 VICARAGES HIGHLY RATED IN THE KING'S BOOKS. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 You may rest assured you are not singular. Those, too, who 
 are component parts of such bodies are aweary of their work. The 
 clank of the chain is not pleasant, and they cannot but feel that 
 their hands are tied ! Then for that Saturn-like and voracious 
 propensity you allude to, never was truer word than that spoken 
 by Fuller : " The Pope being now dead in England, the king was 
 found heir at common law as to most of the power and the profit 
 the other had usurped 4 ." Henry VIII. was an eminent instance, 
 as he elsewhere remarks, "to verify the observation, omnis pro- 
 digus est a»«n<s." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 There was another cause, I think, for the diminished value of 
 vicarages, and thus necessarily for the increase of pluralities, was 
 there not ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 You are alluding, I suppose, to the way in which what are 
 called the King's Books were drawn up ? 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Just so. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Fuller has mentioned it, and has correctly stated the fact that 
 when the clergy changed their landlords, their rents were new 
 rated, and somewhat raised, and " vicarages were valued very 
 high according to their present revenue by personal perquisites. 
 In that age he generally was the richest shepherd who had the 
 greatest flock, where oblations from the living and obits for the 
 dead (as certainly paid as predial tithes) much advance their 
 income. In consideration whereof, vicarages (mostly lying in 
 market towns and populous parishes) were set very high, though 
 soon after those obventions sunk with superstition : and the vicar 
 in vain desired a proportionable abatement in the king's books ; 
 which once drawn up were no more to be altered 5 ." 
 
 1 Church History, vol. iii. pp. 167. 235. 
 
 ■ Ibid. p. I/O. 
 
DEAN COLET AND ST. PAUI.'s SCHOOL. 323 
 ALETHES. 
 
 When a downward course has once begun, there is no saying, 
 Thus far shalt thou go, and no further. There were signs, how- 
 ever, of the coining storm, and they were heard, — to use the 
 words of Pope, in the " Temple of Fame, 11 — 
 
 " Like broken thunders that at distance roar 
 Or billows murmuring on the hollow shore." 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Had Pope heard the rake of the sea on this shore, he had 
 scarcely used the word murmuring as predicative of the storm. 
 But I interrupted you, as you were about to illustrate your 
 words. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I had Dean Colet in my thoughts, the favourer of learned 
 men and learning, and the friend of Erasmus. When he founded 
 St. Paul's School, do you recollect what he did ? 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 My mention of Fuller has recalled the fact to your mind. 
 Fuller, however, thought differently on this head from Erasmus, 
 and I see you are of his opinion yourself. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I am. But as the book is in your hand, I will trouble you to 
 read the passage I refer to at length. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I always read Fuller with delight. His quaintness amuses me, 
 and the value of his Church History, in particular, has gone on 
 increasing continually. He seems always to have written under 
 the influence of his own words in another treatise : " The good 
 man carrieth a court of chancery in his own bosom, to mitigate 
 the rigour of common reports with equal and favourable interpre- 
 tations 6 . 11 But for the passage you wish, — and, sure enough, it 
 is sufficiently quaint. 
 
 " It may seem false Latin, that this Colet, being dean of 
 St. Pauls, the school dedicated to St. Paul, and distanced but 
 
 See Fuller's Sermons on 1 Cor. xi. Ed. 1C40, 4to. p. 8. The other passage 
 is from his Church Hist. vol. iii. p. 18. 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 ERASMUS ON THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 
 
 the breadth of the street from St. Paul's church, should not be 
 entrusted to the inspection of his successors, the dean and chapter 
 of St. Paul's, but committed to the care of the company of the 
 Mercers for the managing thereof. But Erasmus rendereth a 
 good reason, from the mouth and mind of Colet himself, who had 
 found by experience many laymen as conscientious as clergymen 
 in discharging this trust in this kind, conceiving also that the 
 whole company was not so easy to be bowed to corruption as any 
 single person, how eminent and public soever. 
 
 " For my own part, I behold Colet's act herein, not only pru- 
 dential, but something prophetical, as foreseeing the ruin of the 
 Church lands, and fearing that this his school, if made an ecclesi- 
 astical appendant, might, in the fall of Church lands, get a bruise, 
 if not lose a limb thereby." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Any how, it was a wise prudence that guided him, and happy 
 is it that the foundation was not altered. It was the first Pro- 
 testant school before the Reformation, as was aptly said by 
 Knight, in his " Life of Colet V " and its scholars still praise 
 him in the gate." Speaking of the youthful school, it was Eras- 
 mus who said : Neque enim ilia cetas ad discendam pietatem im- 
 matura est, imo non est alia magis tempestiva ad discendum Chris- 
 tum, quam ea quce mundum adhuc nescit. 
 
 EUEULUS. 
 
 A saying that in which we may all coincide, however much we 
 may agree to differ as to the mode and manner. Systems will 
 rise and fall, and the fashion of the world, in this sense, will pass 
 away ; but the child that is trained up " in the nurture and ad- 
 monition of the Lord." is happy at least in this, that the dew of 
 God's blessing has watered his tender years ! 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 The lines of Hawes in the " Pastime of Pleasure" cannot be 
 better applied than to religious education : — 
 
 " Whoso in youthe lyst nothing to learne, 
 He wyll repent him often in his age, 
 That he thro' cunnyng nothing can discerne. 
 
 " Ed. Clar. p. 131. 
 
UNDERPAID CLERGY, — FAULT OF GOVERNMENTS, &C. 325 
 
 Therefore, nowe youthe with lysty corage 
 Rule thy fleshe, and thy sloathe assuage; 
 And in thy youthe the scyence engender, 
 That in thine age it may the worship render." 
 
 But we have turned aside from our subject. You seem, Eubulus, 
 to entertain no very good hopes as to the bettering of our small 
 livings, and the doing away with pluralities. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I confess I do not, and we must be content to bear the evil as 
 best we may. The present state of our benefices is the natural 
 result of covetousness and rapacity on the one side, and not alto- 
 gether free from a negligent indifference on the other. We have 
 not, be assured, been carried beyond Babylon for nothing. It is 
 a warning to us. Lord Brooke's are wise words : — 
 
 " Never did any public misery 
 Rise of itself : God's plagues still grounded are 
 On common stains of our humanity : 
 
 And to the flame which ruineth mankind 
 Man gives the matter, or at least gives wind s ." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 None more readily than myself would assent to this. And 
 after all it entails the fault both of governments and individuals. 
 No wise government will allow its clergy to be underpaid, and 
 individuals into whose hands the patrimony of the Church may 
 have fallen can never be justified in allowing their people to be 
 destroyed for lack of knowledge. At the same time, Eubulus, 
 I think we have been bowing the knee unnecessarily to certain 
 powers of which the Gentiles made goddesses. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Davus sum, non (Edipus. You speak in riddles. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 There is a passage in Archbishop Sancroft's " Modern Policies" 
 (a striking work !) which says exactly what I mean : " Pausanias, 1 " 1 
 says he, " tells of a chapel in Acrocorinth dedicated to Necessity 
 and Violence. Those twin goddesses may be fit objects for the 
 
 8 Inquisition upon Fame and Honour. 
 
326 
 
 THE CHURCH AND CHURCH PRINCIPLES. 
 
 worship of heathens ; but it is a pity they should be so much 
 adored by Christians V But, as he elsewhere says, half joke, 
 half earnest : " It is manifest that we are fallen into the dregs of 
 time ; we live in the rust of the iron age, and must accordingly 
 expect to feel the dotages of a decrepit world M" 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 We are not yet too far in our dotage not to know our duties. 
 The evil is that we are not on the alert, and scarcely indeed alive 
 to our necessities. But after all, though I am not hopeful as to 
 the curtailing of pluralities, and though I think little of the 
 Ecclesiastical Commission as a body ; yet I am hopeful as to the 
 efficiency of the Church and Church principles. Somehow or 
 other, Alethes, we had got over-much entangled in secularities — 
 the world smiled on us too much, and we joined hands with the 
 world, which it was not ours to do. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 You recall to my mind those lines of Pope in the poem I but 
 awhile referred to : — 
 
 " Nor was the work impaired by storms alone, 
 But felt th' approaches of too warm a sun!" 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The world will love its own as it ever has done, and those who 
 will be the friends of the world must abide the consequences. 
 In these kingdoms, and more or less throughout the northern 
 countries of Europe, the patrimony of the Church has suffered by 
 unholy alliances. She has been wheedled out of temporal 
 possessions. It seemed an unworldly act rather to give up than 
 to contend ; and as Henry Smith says, " No man is so humble, 
 but that he leans to fame ; and a good report doth tickle and 
 please him which deserves it, and him which deserves it not 2 . 11 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 By which you would imply that the clergy have yielded too 
 much, and that if they had not been so pliant the people's in- 
 struction had been better provided for and attended to. 
 
 » Seo D'Oylcy's Life of A bp. Sancroft, 2nd Edit. p. 457. This Treatise is 
 appended to the Life, and is evidently his work. 
 
 1 Infra, p. 463. 1 Sermons, p. 352. 
 
CHURCH REFORM. 
 
 327 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 I am unwillingly obliged to confess it when I observe the 
 present course of things, and when I look to the past. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 As I said, we have been worshipping Necessity and Violence, 
 and have been softly exsifflating our " Prcpfiscinis? and the result 
 is what we see. He who would profit by the past must take 
 heed 
 
 " That he walk not, by long continuance, 
 The perambulat way 3 ." 
 
 What Horace slily says of the Roman people, the Church might 
 apply as regards most of the reforms which the State has brought 
 forward for her good : — 
 
 " Quod si me populus Romanus forte roget, cur 
 Non, ut porticibus, sic judiciis fruar iisdem, 
 Nec sequar, aut fugiam, quae diligit ipse, vel odit : 
 Olim quod vulpes asgroto cauta leoni 
 Respondit, referam : Quia me vestigia terrent 
 Omnia te adversum spectantia, nulla retrorsum 4 ." 
 
 EUBUI.US. 
 
 Most beneficial reforms in the Church have commenced with 
 her own body, and have been carried out by the self-denial of her 
 ministry. And although "even the best of men might have been 
 much better than they are, had they always kept pace with their 
 possibilities, and applied themselves with their utmost skill and 
 diligence to the methods and ministries of improvement 5 ," yet 
 this will ever teem to her praise, that as a body she has ever 
 desired to serve God with reverence and holy fear, and to better 
 the lot of suffering humanity. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 But the other day I saw a proposal, signed " Parochus," for a 
 bond fide revaluation of all benefices, instead of the present pay- 
 ments of first-fruits and tenths to Queen Anne's Bounty, from 
 the old valuation in the king's books. It was in a letter addressed 
 
 :l Ilawes, ut supra. 1 1 Epist. i. 70. 
 
 5 Scott's Christian Life, part ii. c. vii. vol. iii. p. 136. 
 
328 
 
 REVALUATION OK BENEFICES. 
 
 to the Editor of the " Times" newspaper. Had it been written 
 more temperately it might have attracted notice ; but where there 
 is querulousness the world usually suspects self-interest at the 
 bottom. It appeared to me much upon the same principle as 
 the plan which was advocated by Lord Bacon, and by the 
 lamented Dr. Edward Burton, to which I referred before. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 The letter attracted my attention, and I cut it out of the paper 
 for reperusal. It is amongst these loose papers, and I shall 
 readily find it. I have it ; but I see that all which really apper- 
 tains to the subject is comprehended under the second head ; and 
 it is merely a sort of graduated scale. 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I should like to see it, or read it, Eubulus. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 What is recommended is, " To adopt, in lieu of the present 
 ' Queen's Anne's Bounty 1 system, a graduated scale of payment 
 (abolishing ' first-fruits'), and to make the yearly ' fixed duty 1 to 
 rise with the value of the living. Thus, if livings above 300?., 
 and under 500?., of which there are 2047, were deemed to pay 
 yearly three per cent. ; those above 500?., and under 700?., five 
 per cent., of which class there are 811 ; those above 700?., and 
 under 1000?., seven-and-a-half per cent., of which there are 437; 
 and those above 1000?. in similar proportion, of which there are 
 186 ; and if collegiate and cathedral incomes, and episcopal 
 revenues, were laid under a similar contribution, a fund of 
 150,000?. yearly, clear of expenses, would be readily raised; and 
 the apostolic principle of ' he that had much had nothing over, 
 and he that had little had no lack, 1 would be practically and in 
 sufficient measure carried out, without injuring any one, and to 
 the benefit of all. I plead for no positive ' equality, 1 but for a 
 check upon accumulation ; and I plead for it as a matter of 
 justice and not of mere benevolence. 11 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 I do not mean to say that some plan might not be hit upon 
 which would improve the existing one ; but I cannot see that it 
 would be a matter of justice. Were our benefices to meet with 
 
GENERAL DESIRE TO REFORM ABUSES. 
 
 •329 
 
 justice, and were there a return made of what has been taken 
 from them, " clancular sermocinators," as one calls them, would 
 be astonished. 
 
 EUBOLUS. 
 
 Every one has got some plan or other, and each believes his 
 own to be the best : — 
 
 " 'Tis with our judgments, as with our watches ; none 
 Go just alike, yet each believes his own 6 . 1 ' 
 
 My own opinion is that the existing arrangements in parishes 
 are best, and that it would be by no means advisable to tax 
 livings more heavily than they are taxed at present. By so doing 
 we should at once paralyse the working of our great societies, and 
 disgust very many whose constant occupation is doing good. It 
 is a dangerous thing to intermeddle ; and when we witness a daily 
 and constant desire on the part of the clergy, the laity, and eccle- 
 siastical patrons in general, to put down abuses, and to do away 
 with pluralities, which certainly are an abuse, the wise will stay 
 their hands, and take for their motto, Festina lente .' Perhaps 
 we may observe of many very excellent but somewhat hasty re- 
 formers of Church grievances, what Hooker did relative to that 
 soldier who needlessly refused to wear the garland when he was 
 to receive the emperor's donative : — " Many of them which were 
 very sound in Christian belief did rather commend the zeal of 
 this man, than approve his action 7 ." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 There is sound wisdom in what you say, and prudence like- 
 wise ; and, opposed as you are to the dull even-day /<//• niente 
 system of the Dullman and Do-Nothing family, I know well that 
 you have weighed the matter thoroughly. Still I hope we may 
 both live to see material improvements. It is impossible to stand 
 still ; and the enormous increase of our population requires 
 almost superhuman exertions. Let us not forget what Herrick 
 says : — 
 
 " If little labour, little are our gains : 
 Man's fortunes are according to his pains." 
 
 Pope's Essay on Criticism. 
 
 7 See Eccles. Pol. ii. c. v. j 7. 
 
330 OUR HELP STAND ETH IN THE LORD OUR GOD. 
 
 EUBUT.US. 
 
 A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven 8 ; 
 but if nations and individuals shall exert themselves after a 
 righteous sort, they may lift up their heads with joy, even in the 
 midst of sore tribulation and distress, — the fleece, so to say, 
 shall be wet with the dew of God's blessings, when the ground on 
 which it lies shall be dry. There is great comfort in these pro- 
 phetic verses, Alethes, when soberly applied, and apart from 
 presumption : When thus it shall be in the midst of the land 
 amongst the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive-tree, 
 and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. Then shall 
 they lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, 
 they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the Lord 
 in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Lsrael in the isles of 
 the sea. From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, 
 even glory to the righteous V 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Happy the people who shall be enabled to apply unto them- 
 selves the glorious and comforting visions of the evangelical 
 prophet ! But we, methinks, Eubulus, have to mourn over 
 opportunities lost, and are unworthy to open that book ! 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 But there is balm in Gilead, and hope still for the unworthy 
 like ourselves. Hear what St. John saith in that book, which 
 the wise will look to rather for Christian consolation, than with 
 the vain hope of unravelling what is mysteriously, and perhaps 
 purposely, profound : " And I saw in the right hand of him that 
 sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, 
 sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming 
 with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose 
 the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor on earth, was 
 able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept 
 much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the 
 book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto 
 me, Weep not : behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root 
 
 8 John iii. 27. 
 
 * Isa. xxiv. 13— 1C. 
 
THOSE HELPED THAT HELP THEMSELVES. 831 
 
 of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven 
 seals thereof 1 .'''' 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Comfortable is it, indeed, to be enabled to apply such Scrip- 
 tures, and to turn to them in hope ! Milton's lines are often in 
 my thoughts : — 
 
 " Such delight hath God in men, 
 Obedient to his will, that he vouchsafes 
 Among them to set up his tabernacle, 
 The Holy One with mortal men to dwell 2 !" 
 
 For such we must pray continually ; and specially for a due 
 supply of persons qualified to serve God in Church and State ! 
 They were never more wanted ; and such as shall desire to 
 escape severer judgments must humble themselves, and entreat 
 the Lord to go before them, and to be their rereward ! 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Of such men we hope our land is not destitute — though it be 
 not an every-day matter to point out the man to whom one 
 might apply such words as these — you will recollect them to be 
 W idiers : — 
 
 " His knowledge and his honest policy, 
 His courage much admired, his very name, 
 His public love and private courtesy, 
 Joined with religious firmness, might have mov'd 
 Pale envy to have praised him 3 ! " 
 
 But I believe, Alethes, that such men are, and that their whole 
 time and thought is given up to the serving of God acceptably, 
 and the benefiting their fellow-creatures. May He increase their 
 number a thousand-fold, whose is the kingdom, and the power, 
 and the glory, for ever and ever ! 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Amen ! And now read to me that sweet little poem Mrs. 
 Southey wrote for you. It is a Roman Catholic legend, but of the 
 prettiest. 
 
 1 Rev. v. 1—5. ' Tar. Lost, b. xii. 245. 
 
 3 Prince Henry's Obsequies, vol. ii. p. 21. 
 
332 
 
 JOHN GERSON, THE CHANCELLOR OE PARIS. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 Your love for children deserves it. But I will introduce it by 
 an extract from old Fuller's " Meditations on the Times." It was 
 that meditation that led me to ask Mrs. Southey to write the 
 little Poem. 
 
 " John Gerson, the pious and learned Chancellor of Paris, 
 beholding and bemoaning the general corruption of his age, in 
 doctrine and manners, was wont to get a choir of little children 
 about him, and to entreat them to pray to God in his behalf, sup- 
 posing their prayers least defiled with sin, and most acceptable to 
 heaven. 
 
 " Men now-a-days are so infected with malice, that little chil- 
 dren are the best chaplains to pray for their parents. But 0, 
 where shall such be found, not resenting of the faults and factions 
 of their fathers ? Gerson's plot will not take effect. I will try 
 another way. 
 
 " I will make my address to the holy child Jesus (Acts iv. 27), 
 so is he styled even when glorified in heaven ; not because he is 
 still under age (like popish pictures, placing him in his mother's 
 arms, and keeping him in his constant infancy), but because with 
 the strength and perfection of a man, he hath the innocency and 
 humility of a child ; him only will I employ to intercede for me." 
 
 ALETHES. 
 
 Just in old Fuller's vein. But, the Poem, the Poem ! for the 
 children will not wait, and we must join the revels. 
 
 EUBULUS. 
 
 We will call it the " Legend of Archbishop Gerson," to 
 distinguish it from Fuller's title, which is " The Child Man." 
 
 " ARCHBISHOP GERSON. 
 
 " A voice from the sinful city 
 
 Goes up to God on high — 
 ' Why tarries the righteous doom, 
 When the time of o'erflowing is come 
 
 Of the cup of iniquity ?' 
 
LEGEND OF ARCHBISHOP GERSON. 
 
 333 
 
 " And the good Archbishop Gerson, 
 As he kneels in penance drear, 
 
 On the cold hard flags so white, 
 
 At the hour of dead midnight, 
 That accusing voice doth hear. 
 
 " And groaning, he lifteth up 
 
 His eyes to the Holy Rood ; 
 When lo ! from the pierced side, 
 And the gaping nail-prints wide, 
 
 Wells out, as 'twere, fresh-drawn blood. 
 
 " The old man beats his breast 
 At that awful sight full sore ; 
 And he bends down his wrinkled brow, 
 All beaded with sweat-drops now, 
 Till it toucheth the marble floor. 
 
 " And he wrestles in earnest prayer — 
 Hut th' accusing voice still cries, 
 ' How long, O Lord, how long 
 Wilt thou bear with thy people's wrong, 
 With this people's iniquities ?' 
 
 " 1 Haste hither, my brethren dear ! 
 
 And humble yourselves with me, 
 My holy brethren all ! ' 
 Is the Archbishop's piercing call, 
 
 In the strength of his agony. 
 
 " They come at the call with speed — 
 They kneel, and weep, and pray. 
 But the voice of prayer is drowned, 
 In that dread accusing sound — 
 ' O Lord ! make no delay.' 
 
 " ' We are grievous offenders all — 
 All leprous and defiled — 
 What lips may be found this day, 
 With prevailing prayer to pray, 
 Save the lips of a little child ? ' 
 
LEGEND OF ARCHBISHOP GERSON. 
 
 ' Of such little ones hither bring,' 
 Cries aloud the Archbishop then ; 
 
 And they gather at his command, 
 
 Round the altar a sinless band, 
 
 Though the children of sinful men. 
 
 The pure young voices rise, 
 
 On the incense of taintless breath ; 
 
 And there reigneth o'er all the while, 
 
 Throughout that majestic pile, 
 A stillness as deep as death. 
 
 For crozier and cowl alike 
 
 In the dust lie prostrate there : 
 
 Of those living men laid low, 
 
 In the depth of abasement now, 
 Stirreth not hand or hair. 
 
 But the pleading voice goes up 
 
 From that infant choir the while ; 
 
 And, behold ! o'er the face divine, 
 
 Appeareth like lightning-shine, 
 The gleam of a gracious smile. 
 
 Then upriseth, as one entranced, 
 
 The Archbishop on his feet, — 
 ' Give thanks for a day of grace ! ' 
 He crieth, with radiant face, — 
 
 ' Give thanks as is most meet ! 
 
 ' The innocents' prayer ascendeth 
 
 Above th' accuser's cry — 
 Their angels are heard in heaven, — 
 And a day of grace is given — 
 
 Glory to God most high ! ' " 
 
 C. Soutiie 
 
No. VI. 
 
*' Man is no star ; but a quick coal 
 Of mortal fire ; 
 Who blows it not, nor doth control 
 
 A burnt desire, 
 Lets his own ashes choke his soul." 
 
 George Herbert. 
 
 " For us the winds do blow, 
 The earth doth rest, heaven move, and fountains flow ; 
 
 Nothing we see but means our good : 
 
 As our delight, or as our treasure. 
 The whole is either our cupboard of good 
 
 Or cabinet of pleasure." 
 
 George Herbert. 
 
 " Where there is a conscience void of offence, there is the sanctifying Spirit of 
 the Lord." 
 
 Horslev's T. W., ii. 431. 
 
 " God fails not to sow blessings on the long furrows which the ploughers plough 
 on the back of the Church." 
 
 Jeremy Taylor, Iluly Living, iv. 125. 
 
 " Sire ! " — they are Beza's words to the king of Navarre, — " he concluded, in 
 memorable words, It belongs in truth to the Church of God, in the name of which 
 I address you, to suffer blows, not to strike them. But at the same time, let it be 
 your pleasure to remember that the Church is an anvil which hath worn out many 
 a hammer !" 
 
 " Plus a me frapper on s'amuse 
 Tant plus de marteaux on y use." 
 
 Smedley, Reformed Religion in France, i. 220. 
 
 " He that least 
 Regards this restless world, shall in this world find rest." 
 
 Quarles' Emblems. 
 
 " Pain in the steps of pleasure treads ever here below ! " 
 
 Das Nebelungen Lied. St. 2458. 
 
Sroafctoater, <£ffmgton, Ctetfmvy, C&anfe&urp, 
 tfmbatu 
 
 Is walking across the fields, from Tarring to Broadwater, the 
 attention is presently called to the change of ground. Tarring 
 itself is a rich deep loam. Broadwater, on the other hand, is 
 overspread with what one might call a waste of flints. So thick 
 are they on the surface, that a stranger would suppose the ground 
 unproductive. This, however, is not the case. The crops are 
 good, especially the wheat crops, and they very rarely fail. It 
 is far from being what Persius calls " Exossatus ager L ," either 
 without the bones of mother earth, or worn out by over 
 cropping. 
 
 The distance from Tarring to Broadwater is scarcely more 
 than a long mile; from church to church it may be a little 
 more. The proximity of the churches one to another in this 
 part of the county of Sussex speaks well for those gone before, 
 whether Saxons or Normans. In all probability the latter im- 
 proved and enlarged such edifices as they found it politic or 
 necessary to leave standing. Certainly it was not here, as in 
 the New Forest ; and the invaders rather built up, than pulled 
 down, on what Drayton calls, — 
 
 " These sea bordering shores of ours, that point at France V 
 
 It is in his " Second Song " that this remarkable choro- 
 graphical or geographical poet speaks of the sacrilegious de- 
 struction of churches in the New Forest ; and the passage is 
 
 Sat. vi. 00. 
 
 2 Poly-Olbion. The Seventeenth Song. 
 
338 
 
 BHOADWATER. 
 
 worth transcribing. Few are aware how much curious information 
 is contained in the " Poly-Olbion — 
 
 " Down from Sarum plains 
 Clear Avon coming in, her sister Stour doth call, 
 And at New Forest's foot into the sea doth fall, 
 Which every day bewail that deed so full of dread, 
 Whereby she (now so proud) became first forested : 
 She now, who for her site ev'n boundless seem'd to lie, 
 Her being that received by William's tyranny, 
 Providing laws to keep those beasts here planted then, 
 Whose lawless will from hence before had driven men ; 
 That where the hearth was warm'd with winter's feasting fires, 
 The melancholy hare is form'd in breaks and briars : 
 The aged ranpick trunk, where plowmen cast their seed, 
 And churches overwhelm d with nettles, fern, and weed, 
 By conquering William first cut off from every trade, 
 That here the Norman still might enter to invade ; 
 That on this vacant place, and unfrequented shore, 
 New forces still might land, to aid those here before." 
 
 We were speaking of Drayton — his " Nymphidia, 11 his " Poly- 
 Olbion," and his fantastic coat of arms, " Pegasus rampant in a 
 shield azure, guttes d'eau from Helicon, with the cap of Mercury 
 for crest, amid sunbeams proper " — when we reached the church- 
 yard of Broadwater, and we could not but remark how thickly 
 the "holy suburbs 11 were peopled. A walk around it told a 
 melancholy tale. Dust touched dust from counties the most 
 distant ; and many who had been sent to a watering-place for 
 change, and for the benefit of the sea air, had found that there was 
 no abiding, and had undergone that awful change which awaits us 
 all ; — for The living know that they shall die *. The thoughtless 
 Polemon who should visit the many watering-places of this land, 
 and the resting-places of the dead there, might return a wiser 
 and a better man ! Happy they who, when they look upon the 
 graves of the children of the people, lay to heart thoughts on 
 death and judgment ! I like that expression of Bishop Halfs : 
 " Those that die in the faith of Christ, though with the mixture 
 of many corruptions in doctrine or practice, God forbid but their 
 
 3 Eccles. ix. 5. 
 
BROADWATER CHURCH. 
 
 339 
 
 bones should rest in peace 4 ! " On either side of the en- 
 trance-wicket to the churchyard we observed a yew-tree, 
 planted, it would seem, within a year or two. " Whether the 
 planting of yew in churchyards," says Sir Thomas Browne, in 
 his " Hydriotaphia," or " Urn Burial," " hold not its original 
 from ancient funeral rites, or as an emblem of the resurrection, 
 from its perpetual verdure, may admit conjecture." There were 
 who thought that the yew was planted there, in order that 
 each yeoman might cut his bow wherewith to defend the sepul- 
 chres of his fathers, and to hinder the enemy from trampling on 
 sacred dust. Be it as it may, the yew-trees in some of the 
 churchyards are of time-honoured antiquity. The boy and 
 the grey-headed sire scarce see a difference in their age, 
 though haply, in thoughtful mood, they may repeat that ancient 
 stave : — 
 
 " Then said the auld man 
 To the auld tree, 
 Sair changed is I 
 
 Since I first kenn'd thee ! " 
 
 The church of Broadwater is well worth visiting. It consists 
 of a nave, north and south aisles, central tower, two transepts, 
 and a beautiful chancel. Rickman enumerated it amongst those 
 churches which " have an admixture of decorated portions, with 
 the early English, sometimes merely one or two windows, sometimes 
 with a little perpendicular work." The central tower, the two 
 transepts, and the chancel are early English, of the age, it is 
 said, of John or Henry III. That style, however, prevailed 
 through the next reign of Edward I., as the decorated English 
 did through that of Edward II. and Edward III. The date of 
 the nave and the aisles may belong to the latter period. I am not 
 aware that there is any thing to be found fault with in the fol- 
 lowing description from Cartwright : " The arch under the tower 
 next the chancel is of the richest style of early Norman, the 
 moulding of which is continued on the fossit under the curve. 
 The capitals of the pillars which support the arch are surmounted 
 with branches of palm, an ornament introduced by the Crusaders, 
 
 * See Sermon on Gen. xxiii. 19, 20. Works, vol. iii. p. 103. Ed. folio, 16G2. 
 The passage from Sir T. Browne is in c. iv. Works, vol. iii. p. 483. 
 
 7. 2 
 
340 
 
 BROADWATER CHURCH. 
 
 and peculiarly appropriate to a Christian church. Instead of the 
 stone stalls, frequent on the south side of our chancels, is a stone 
 bench, over which is a Norman arch, a very rare, if not an unique 
 instance. The roof is groined. A cheveron moulding goes 
 round the chancel. The original windows, of which there are 
 traces on the outside, were lancet-shaped, but they have been 
 replaced by others of the next period, admitting more light. The 
 chancel is divided from the church by a screen with doors, and 
 contains stalls, as at Tarring, for the priests. The arch under 
 the tower next the nave has been altered to the pointed style, 
 though still retaining its Norman ornaments. 11 
 
 The transepts are at present shut out from the church, — the 
 south one being converted into a vestry-room, the north one into 
 a school, adjoining which, in the recess, is the baptistry, with 
 a very well-proportioned font, said to be one of Archbishop 
 Laud's, but I know not on what authority. Within the nave 
 may yet be traced the supports of the old rood-loft, and a small 
 door is still discernible in the mortar above the reading desk 
 which communicated, probably, with the rood-loft, by means of 
 the circular staircase in the south-west angle of the tower. A 
 very intelligible plate of a rood-loft is given in the " Glossary of 
 Architecture," from the church of Charlton on Otmoor, in Ox- 
 fordshire. It shows clearly how it projected within side the nave. 
 In many old churches the oaken screen is a remnant of the rood- 
 loft, — as, for example, at Tarring, — but this was hardly the case 
 at Broadwater, where the tower divides the nave from the chancel. 
 The length of the chancel is remarkable, as was that of the old 
 church at Goring. Within the rails is a piscina in very good 
 preservation. Many of the tiles show that they were once en- 
 caustic, but time and men's footsteps have worn off the device. 
 On the north side is an ornamental tomb, or monument, to the 
 memory of Thomas Lord la Warre, who died at Offington in 1526. 
 By his testament he " bequeathed his body to be buried in the 
 tombe of freestone within the chancel of the parish church of 
 Broadwater; appointing that his executors should bury him 
 according to his honour, and give two pence apiece in alms to 
 every poor man or woman who would come and receive it at the 
 same church of Broadwater. 11 Another monument to his son, is 
 at the east end of the south aisle. He likewise died at Offington 
 
BROADWATER CHURCH. 
 
 341 
 
 in 1">54. These, like most other monuments of a like sort, have 
 suffered sadly from iconoclastic reformers. There is a remark- 
 ably fine brass, to the memory of John Mapleton, which is figured 
 in Cart wright. He was rector of the parish, and chancellor to 
 Margaret of Anjou. The date of his death is September 8, 1432, 
 — the nativity of the Blessed Virgin, as still observed in the 
 Romish church. The lines are in Old English, and run thus : — 
 
 " Migrat felicis ortu Christi genetricis 
 Anno milleno quatuor bis X duodeno." 
 
 Brasses of this sort date from about the time of Edward II. 
 They became general towards the close of the fourteenth century. 
 Few, comparatively speaking, are now left, for the Puritans tore 
 up what the Reformers passed by. 
 
 " O terrible excess 
 Of headstrong will ! Can this be piety ? 
 No — some fierce maniac hath usurped her name ; 
 And scourges England struggling to be free : 
 Her peace destroyed ! her hopes a wilderness ! 
 Her blessings cursed, her glory turned to shame 5 !" 
 
 The tower of this fine old church is well proportioned. For- 
 merly it was surmounted with a low shingle spire, not a broach 6 , 
 as it was within the parapet. This spire, of later date than the 
 tower, was taken down some years ago, and more recently the 
 little beacon tower mentioned above. As it now stands, the 
 tower is plain Norman. Within the litch-gate porch there seems 
 to be the remnant of an aspersorium, or stoup, from which such 
 as entered were sprinkled with holy water. On the outer walls 
 of the nave, north and south, is a flint cross in the wall, said to 
 be peculiar to the Suffolk churches. Cartwright mentions that 
 
 5 See Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Sonnets. " Troubles of Charles the First." 
 Part ii. Sonnet xl. 
 
 8 See Glossary of Architecture v. " Broach." It is there, however, called an old 
 English term for " spire ;" but it is afterwards correctly added, " In some other 
 parts of the country, as in Leicestershire, it is used to denote a spire springing from 
 the tatter without any intermediate parapet." Ray enumerates it amongst north- 
 country words, but derives it from the French. * A spire steeple is called a 
 broach steeple, as an obelisk is denominated from ofitkoq, a spit :" and so Brocket 
 in his Glossary, who mentions " Chester broach, Darlington broach, the broaches 
 of Durham Cathedral." 
 
342 
 
 BROADWATER CHURCH. 
 
 it does not occur in any " other church in Western Sussex," 
 which may be true as respects flint, but four brick crosses are 
 discernible on the several sides of the tower at Preston, where, 
 by the way, one may observe that there was a pure broach, pre- 
 vious to the hideous brick parapet which was run up some ninety 
 or a hundred years ago. It is very probable that the like was 
 the case at Angmering, where the parapet of brick is equally ugly. 
 As regards the church of Broadwater, no one could visit it with- 
 out being impressed, like Alethes and myself, with this truth, 
 that it is a specimen of a church kept in the most decent and 
 seemly order. The burial-ground plan, kept in the vestry, is 
 perfect in its kind. The whole was repaired and beautified in 
 1826. 
 
 Broadwater Church would appear to have undergone very slight 
 alteration as regards its size. Indeed, it hardly seems to have 
 had any by-chancel or mortuary chapel, except that of which 
 vestiges are still visible on the east side of the south transept. 
 What this was is not known. Whether or not a circumstance 
 mentioned in the Nona- Return affords any clue, is more than I 
 can affirm. As quoted in Oartwright, it represents the rector, 
 amongst sundry payments, as receiving " in oblations and other 
 offerings accruing from the altar of St. Symphoriana, 5s." Not 
 being able to verify this extract, I do not know whether there is 
 a misprint for Symphosicra. If so, his memory is retained in the 
 Romish Church on the 22nd of August. He was son of Faustus, 
 and of noble extraction, and suffered martyrdom, as Butler tells 
 us, " at Autun, in Gall, soon after the martyrs of Lyons, in the 
 reign of Marcus Aurelius," about a.d. 178. To which he adds, 
 " his tomb became famous for miracles, and in the middle of the 
 fifth century, Euphronius, a priest, afterward Bishop of Autun, 
 built over it a church in his honour." The connexion of Sussex 
 with the opposite shores, makes it by no means an impossible 
 thing that St. Symphorian may have had an altar at Broad- 
 water 7 . 
 
 Broadwater-Manor, or, as more anciently spelt, Bradwatre, 
 was at the Conqueror's survey held by Robert of William de 
 
 7 See Allen Butler's Lives of the Saints, under August 22. The only other 
 similar name is "Saint Symphorosa, and her seven sons, martyrs," under 
 July 18. 
 
BROADWATER CHURCH. 
 
 343 
 
 Braose, that mighty baron, and the Nirnrod of his day, who 
 added house to house, and field to field. A good deal of curious 
 history is connected with it, and not the least curious, as illustra- 
 tive of the history of the time, is what is recorded of Sir J ohn de 
 Gaddesden (to whom the manor had descended by marriage), 
 three years sheriff in the time of Henry III. Cartwright gives 
 the account from the Assize Roll for the year 1261, which con- 
 tains the record of a trial, in which Michael de Combe was plain- 
 tiff, and John de Gaddesden defendant, from which it appears 
 " that John, having invited Michael to his house at Broadwater, 
 made him very drunk, and then conveyed him home to Apple- 
 sham, where he was shut up drunk, half dead, and not knowing 
 good from evil. John then took Michael's seal, and affixed it 
 against his will to a deed of feoffment, in which he took posses- 
 sion of Michael's manors and lands, which had come to him by 
 purchase or inheritance. Having thus obtained the deed by 
 fraud, he entered on the lands, and took corn and hay to the 
 amount of twenty marks *." Such was England's law, and such 
 was an English sheriff in the time of Henry III. 
 
 Another incident is recorded by Camden not less infamously 
 notorious, which tells how John de Camois, son of Lord Ralph de 
 Camois, by an example as new in those times as in the present, 
 " of his own free will gave, and 1 ' 1 (to speak in the words of the 
 parliament rolls,) " demised his wife Margaret, daughter and 
 heiress of John de Gaddesden, to Sir William Painell, Knight," 
 with whom she lived in adultery. The remark of Camden on this 
 disgraceful conduct deserves to be transcribed. " I confess myself 
 ashamed to mention this : but I see Pope Gregory was not 
 mistaken, when he wrote to Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, that he had heard there were certain persons in Scotland, 
 that not only forsook but sold their wives, whereas in England 
 they gave and granted them away V 
 
 A ten minutes' walk across the lovely green of Broadwater, 
 which no enclosure act, it is to be hoped, will ever curtail, brought 
 us to Offington, the seat of J. B. Daubuz, Esq. It is a retired 
 and beautiful spot, and there are no such trees by the sea-side as 
 are to be found in the Grove there, whether oak or elm. For- 
 
 R Cartwright, ut supra, p. 22. 
 
 0 Camden's Britannia. Ed. Gougli, i. 188. Sussex. 
 
344 
 
 OFFINGTON, OR, OFFINGTONS. 
 
 merly there must have been more houses there than the present 
 mansion, or it would hardly have taken precedence of Broadwater, 
 which, in a deed of concord, dated 1282, is designated asjuxta 
 Offington. The house itself also was larger than it was previous 
 to late improvements, for in the Burrell collections, wherein is an 
 inventory of the chattels of the last Thomas Lord la Warre, 
 mention is made of sixty-five bedrooms and ninety-eight bed- 
 steads. " Shake-downs" no doubt, were as common in England 
 then as they are now in Ireland, but the actual mention of bed- 
 rooms bespeaks an extended site. The chapel is said to have 
 been on the north side, and there are still marks of foundation, 
 but whether of that or of an enclosed court is not very clear. In 
 a dry season, like the present, there is no mistaking where flint 
 and mortar have been. 
 
 Offington, or Offingtons, as it is in Camden, is an ancient 
 domain. Subsequent to the Conquest, it was held of William de 
 Braose by William Fitznorman, and had been held, it is said, by 
 the Earl Godwin, 
 
 "That Godwin, sometimes Earl of Kent, 
 Who with King Harold did conspire to shed 
 Prince Alfred's blood V 
 
 Who held it after Fitznorman is not known ; but there is a deed 
 amongst the Burrell MSS., referred by Cartwright to the time 
 of Henry III., which represents Michael de Combe, whom he 
 supposes to be a descendant of William Fitznorman, as granting, 
 for sixty marks, and the annual rent of Id., to " Andrew de 
 Lychpole all the lands in Offington, which Stephen, the son of 
 Richard, formerly held of him." From the hands of these Lych- 
 poles, (whose name is still attached to a farm in the parish of 
 
 1 See Mirror for Magistrates, " The treacherous Life and infamous Death of 
 Godwin, Earle of Kent." The following stanza may not be unacceptable to somo 
 readers, as the work is not in every one's hands. It is Godwin's own confession : — 
 " And that on earth my shame might never die, 
 The sea's proud waves have overrun my lands, 
 Which did of yore by Sandwich haven lie, 
 Where now bound up in Neptune's watrie bands, 
 They at this day are called Godwin sands, 
 
 And since are made of pasture-springing ground 
 A dangerous gulfe the seaman to confound." 
 
 Vol. ii. Part ii. pp. 022. 038. Ed. Haslewood. 
 
OFFINGTON, OR, OFFING TONS. 
 
 345 
 
 Sompting,) the estate came into the possession of John Pyper 
 and Joan his wife, sister of the deceased Alice, and an heiress in 
 whom the property of the Lychpoles at Offington centered. 
 From their hands again it passed into those of Sir Andrew 
 Peverell. On his death, Feb. 13, 1376, the manor was inherited 
 by his cousin Edmund Fitzherbert, who dying in 1 387, without 
 issue, the property descended to his sister Alice, the wife of Sir 
 Thomas West. She survived her husband ten years ; and her 
 son, of the same name, married Joan, sister and heir of the Lord 
 la Warre. He had two sons, Thomas and Reginald. The first 
 having died without issue, the younger brother succeeded to the 
 estates and title of his uncle, who died in 1427. The tombs of 
 two of the family are mentioned above, as being in Broadwater 
 Church, — their history, together with the pedigree and descent of 
 the present Earl de la Warre, may be seen in Cartwright. 
 
 Towards the close of Elizabeth's reign the property passed out 
 of the hands of the West family into that of the Alfords, origi- 
 nally of Holt, in Denbighshire. Their pedigree is also to be seen 
 in Cartwright, and from a fine imposed upon Sir Edward Alford, 
 after the capitulation of Exeter, in which he was included, he has 
 shown that the property at Offington was then valued at 190?. 
 per annum. The authority referred to is the State Paper Office. 
 In 1726 it was sold to William Whitbread, of Ashurst, gent. 
 He left it to his nephew, Mr. John Margesson, whose eldest son, 
 William Margesson, Esq., sold it in 1815 to J. Theophilus 
 Daubuz, uncle of the present owner, to whom he bequeathed it. 
 
 The family is originally French. In 1598, Henry IV. of 
 France, renounced the reformed religion, and made a solemn and 
 public profession of Popery, but granted liberty of conscience and 
 free toleration to the Huguenots, by the celebrated Edict of 
 Nantes. This was revoked by Louis XIV. in 1685, — "a year," 
 says Burnet, " which must ever be remembered as the most fatal 
 to the Protestant religion. In February, a king of England 
 declared himself a papist. In June, Charles, the Elector Pala- 
 tine, dying without issue, the electoral dignity went to the house 
 of Newburgh, a most bigoted popish family. In October, the 
 King of France recalled and vacated the Edict of Nantes. And 
 in December, the Duke of Savoy being brought to it, not only by 
 the persuasions, but even by the threatcnings of the court of 
 
346 EDICT OF NANTES D'aUBUZ DAUBUS, OR, DAUBUZ. 
 
 France, recalled the edict that his father had granted to the 
 Vaudois. So it must be confessed that this was a very critical 
 year V 111 was Louis advised when he was persuaded to pro- 
 mulgate that edict, which cost him half a million of his best 
 subjects ! France felt the blow from one end to the other, and 
 public loss was only exceeded by private misery. The writer just 
 quoted speaks feelingly of what he saw, — for he was abroad at the 
 time, — both in the History of his Own Times and in his Travels. 
 The latter work is composed of letters which he wrote at the time 
 to the Honourable Eobert Boyle, and it is in one of them, when 
 speaking of the persecution consequent on the revocation of the 
 Edict of Nantes, that he observes, " I do not think that in any 
 age there ever was such a violation of all that is sacred, either 
 with relation to God or man ; and what I saw and knew there 
 from the first hand, hath so confirmed all the ideas that I had 
 taken from books, of the cruelty of that religion (Papistry, that 
 is), that I hope the impression that this hath made upon me 
 shall never end but with my life. - " 
 
 At this time, not less than 50,000 Huguenots found refuge on 
 our shores, ever ready to shield the unfortunate ! Plain men and 
 simple, wise men and clever, were involved in one ruin. Divine 
 and merchant, journeyman and mechanic must seek a home else- 
 where ! It is well known that we are indebted to the emigrants 
 for many commercial secrets, especially as relates to silks and 
 satins, dies and colours, and that the silk-weavers of Spitalfields 
 date from this period. 
 
 Amongst others who reached this land amid shoals of emigrants 
 was a sorrow-stricken mother and her children, from the province 
 of Guienne. Their name was Daubuz, or Daubus \ The father 
 must have been a person of some eminence, as he had a pass 
 from Louis XIV., sealed with his seal, and attested by his own 
 signature, still, I am told, in the possession of the family. " The 
 
 2 See History of his Own Times He observes just above, " The King of France 
 had been for many years weakening the whole Protestant interest there, and was 
 then upon the last resolution of recalling the Edict of Nantes. And, as far as I 
 could judge, the affairs of England gave the last stroke to that matter." — Book iv. 
 vol. ii. p. 324. See also Bp. Burnet's Travels, p. 246. Ed. 1750; and "Les 
 Plaintes des Protestants cruellement opprimes dans le Royaume de France," by- 
 Claude. 
 
 * D'Aubuz. 
 
DAUBUz's COMMENTARY ON THE REVELATION. 347 
 
 pass" (I use the words from Nichols 1 " Literary History") " per- 
 mitted him to leave France with his wife and four children ; but 
 from agitation of spirits and strong feelings, he only reached 
 Calais, where he died at the inn, and was privately buried in the 
 garden, the innkeeper assisting his widow, during the night, to 
 dig his grave. She remained in secret till joined by her husband's 
 brother, who had some preferment in the cathedral church at 
 York. He, personating her husband, (agreeably to the pass,) 
 got them safe into England, and settled them in Yorkshire V 
 Of three of the children little is known, but one was the 
 Rev. Charles Daubuz, well known as the author of one of the 
 best commentaries on the Revelation in our language, which, had 
 it been in print when South wrote, would probably have super- 
 seded the necessity of his severely true remark 5 , or the shrewd 
 observation of old Burton's : " every silly fellow can square a 
 circle, make perpetual motions, find the philosopher's stone, in- 
 terpret Apocalypsis.' 1 '' From this excellent man the family is 
 descended, but the author of the " Perpetual Commentary on the 
 Revelation " deserves a word or two more by way of memorial. 
 
 He was admitted sizar of Queens 1 College, Cambridge, January 
 10, 1689, and after taking his degree, was appointed librarian in 
 1693, which office he held for the next two years, till August 10th, 
 1695. Where he passed the next year is not stated, but on the 
 23rd September, 1696, he was elected master of the Free Gram- 
 mar School at Sheffield. Here he remained not quite three 
 years, and appears to have taken his A.M. degree on being pre- 
 sented by the dean and chapter of York to the vicarage of 
 Brotherton, one mile from Ferrybridge, in the West Riding of 
 Yorkshire, more anciently called Broyerton, and known as the 
 birth-place of Thomas de Brotherton, son of Edward I., created 
 Earl of Norfolk and Earl Marshal of England, from whom are 
 descended, in the female line, the Mowbrays, Dukes of Norfolk. 
 The net income of the vicarage 6 is now 192?. per annum, — rated 
 
 4 The substance of what is here stated may be found in Nichols' Literary 
 History, vol. v. p. 63, and in the Literary Anecdotes, vol. ii. 724. viii. 371 — 373. 
 It is derived from a note of Dr. Zouch's Visitation Address to the Clergy of the 
 Deaneries of Richmond, Catterick, and Boroughbridge, 1792. 
 
 5 Sermons, vol. ii. p. 184. Democritus to the Reader, vol. i. p. 61. 8vo. 
 
 6 When the vicarage was under repair at the end of the last century, " three 
 galden coins of the reign of Louis XIV. were found in the walls, which were no 
 doubt placed there by Mr. Daubuz,'" says Dr. Zouch. 
 
348 DAUBUZ , S OF YORKSHIRE CORNWALL — OFF1NGTON. 
 
 then at sixty or seventy, — and this is the only preferment he ever 
 held. To eke out his scanty income he was obliged to take 
 pupils, — usually an irksome, oftentimes a thankless office. But 
 the good man went on in his way rejoicing. Loving and beloved 
 he left a name behind him, better than other worldly inheritance. 
 He was a constant resident in his parish, devout and pious, hum- 
 ble and benevolent, and withal energetic, persuasive, and impres- 
 sive. " In the privacy of his retirement at Brotherton," says 
 Dr. Zouch, " unpatronized and unrewarded, with scarce a single 
 smile or favour to exhilarate his labours or to animate his pur- 
 suits, he composed the whole" of his great work. " The follow- 
 ing anecdote," he adds, " was communicated to me on the best 
 authority : when he had finished his Commentary, he went to Cam- 
 bridge to consult Dr. Bentley, the great critic of the age. The 
 Doctor, as it is supposed, thinking that Mr. Daubuz would out- 
 shine him in learning and eclipse his glory, or, which is more 
 probable, knowing that worlcs of that kind, however excellent they 
 might be, were little relished in those times, did not encourage him 
 to publish it. Upon which Mr. Daubuz, wearied in body and 
 unhappy in mind, sickened of a pleuritic fever, and died in a few 
 days " — another sad instance to be recorded amongst the calamities 
 of authors ! The work was published by his widow Anne Pholotar 
 Daubuz in 1 720, three years after his death, which took place 
 June 17, 1717. His son, Claudius Daubuz, appears to have fol- 
 lowed in the steps of his father. He was first vicar of Hudders- 
 field, and afterwards rector of Bilderthorpe, in Notts, and a pre- 
 bend in the collegiate church of Southwell. The marble in the 
 chancel of Brotherton speaks thus of father and son : — 
 
 " Both eminent for piety, virtue, and learning, 
 They lived beloved, and they died universally lamented." 
 
 It was restored some years ago by the now owner of Offington, 
 in whose drawing-room the portrait of the celebrated divine, his 
 ancestor, is not the least attractive painting. 
 
 The family name of Baril came by marriage, Theophilus 
 Daubuz, Esq., of Falmouth, having married Miss Judith Baril, 
 of Tokenhouse-yard, London, July 7, 1 750. The purchaser of 
 Offington was his son, and an eminent merchant. His brother, 
 the father of the present J. B. Daubuz, Esq., died at a very 
 advanced age a year or two ago, at his seat at Leyton, in Essex, 
 
CISSBURY ENCAMPMENT. 
 
 349 
 
 a parish not lightly to be forgotten, inasmuch as it was the 
 residence of the "humble and happy-minded" John Strype, 
 antiquary, biographer, and last, though not least, the lowly vicar 
 of Leyton from 1669 till the year of his death in 1737. It is well 
 to have such names as those of Charles Daubuz and John Strype 
 on a family roll. I wot the Scripture saith not in vain, " A good 
 man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children 7 . 11 Houses 
 and lands are very well ; but there is a better and more enduring 
 possession, and such examples point heavenwards ! 
 
 From Offington we proceeded by the farm-house and the mill 
 to the summit of Cissbury, a long mile and a half by the winding 
 path we took. It is an ancient encampment well worth visiting. 
 It encloses within its area a space of sixty acres, and has the 
 most perfect ditch and vallum we had ever seen. The situation 
 is a commanding one, and the view this day was perfectly 
 beautiful. The sea, the down, and the blue cloudless sky which 
 looked hard as adamant, contributed each to the perfection of 
 beauty in the other : — 
 
 " The butterfly, the bee, 
 And many an insect on the wing, 
 Full of the spirit of the spring, 
 Flew round and round in endless glee, 
 Alighting here, ascending there, 
 Ranging and revelling every where 8 !" 
 He were a bold antiquarian who should state any thing decided as 
 to this remarkable spot ; for Cissbury after all is comparatively 
 speaking a modern designation, dating but from Cissa's time, 
 towards the close of the fifth century. " Near Offington, 11 says 
 Camden, " is a military fortification surrounded with a rude bank 
 of earth, where the inhabitants believe Caesar encamped ; but its 
 name Cissbury plainly bespeaks it the work of King Cissa, second 
 Saxon king of these parts, after his father Ella, when he landed 
 with his brother Cimen and a considerable body of Saxons at 
 Cimenshore, so called from Cimen, which has now lost its name ; 
 but appears by King Cedwallas grant of it to the church of 
 Selsey to have been near Wittering 9 West Wittering, that is, 
 
 7 Prov. xiii. 22. 8 Montgomery, " The Adventure of a Star." 
 
 9 See Gough's Camden, vol. i. pp. 188. 199. See Leland's Collectanea, "a.d. 
 499. Ella et ejus tres filii Cymen, Pleucing, & Cissa, cum tribus navibus in 
 
350 
 
 CISSBURY ENCAMPMENT. 
 
 seven and a half miles from Chichester, where is a place on the 
 shore still called Ella-Nor-Point. Gough, in his additions, speaks 
 of it as a very long oval, which in truth it is, and to him it ap- 
 peared to have a double trench. To which he adds : " It was 
 the retreat and residence of Cissa, king of the South Saxons, 
 after he submitted through indolence to become tributary to 
 Cerdic, the West Saxon ; this being his stronghold in case of in- 
 vasion from the Britons, as Chichester was his more peaceful 
 abode. Vulgar tradition corruptly calls it Caesar's, and pretends 
 to show the site of his tent." 
 
 Thus far Camden, and Speed also, have followed ancient 
 tradition and history combined ; for about the close of the fifth 
 century, Regnum or Chichester 1 was taken by Cissa, rebuilt, and 
 fortified by a strong entrenchment, and Cissbury attests his name. 
 But as to the encampment, admitting that it was improved by 
 him, and its shape somewhat altered, there can be little doubt 
 but that it has served every generation in its turn. It is the 
 nearest place of retreat to be made defencible on this part of 
 the coast ; and here, when marauders landed, and when piracy as 
 amongst the ancient Greeks and the Vikingur was an honourable 
 occupation, the affrighted inhabitants would naturally take refuge, 
 and do their best pro arts et focis. 
 
 Cresar landed on his first expedition at the Portus Lemanis, or 
 Lymne, a little below Dover, and two and three-quarter miles 
 from Hythe ; and he tells us that the Britons were drawn up in 
 battle array in omnibus collibus 1 , so that he chose not the spot 
 which he first touched at, but sought another where his landing 
 would not be impeded by the darts of the enemy. Where he 
 landed on his second expedition is not so clear, but his language 
 is remarkable : " Repulsi ab equitatu, se in sylvas abdiderunt, 
 locum nacti, egregie' et natura et opere munitum, quern domestici 
 
 Britanniam venere, et in loco, qui vocatur Chimenesora, suas naves appulere, 
 ibique Britones multos occidere, et cseteros in sylvam, quae Andresige nommatur, 
 fugavere."— Vol. iii. 276. 
 
 1 See Leland's Collectanea. " Regnavit pro eo Cissa Alius, de cujus nomine 
 Cicestria, quam ipse fundavit, nomen accepit." — Vol. iii. 385. 
 
 2 Ceesar de Bell. Gall., lib. iv. c. xxiii. and lib. v. c. ix. The expression in the 
 preceding chapter only speaks of the part of the shore, not the spot itself. The 
 words are, "remis contendit, ut earn partem insulse capcret, qua optimum esse 
 egressum superiore testate cognoverat." c. viii. 
 
CISSBURY ENCAMPMENT. 
 
 351 
 
 belli, ut videbatur, causa jam ante provparaverant : nam crebris 
 arboribus succisis omnes introitus erant prseclusi." The con- 
 clusion I would draw from this is, that Cissbury was, like other like 
 posts, rather a place of retreat than a battle-field, and that the 
 Britons used it as such. Unburnt pottery has been found there, 
 and has been pronounced to be British ; and the deep indentations 
 on the west side have been taken for the rude huts of our painted 
 forefathers. Those who have scaled that noble mountain in 
 North Wales, called by the Cymry Penmaenmawr, will not fail 
 to recollect the extensive ruins there, formed of huge stones 
 without mortar, and capable of holding some 50, some 100 
 men, to the amount of many thousands, — it has been calculated 
 from 15,000 to 20,000. This, I take it, was a place of retreat 
 and defence ; and of the like sort was Cissbury, which, however, 
 could not be retained for any length of time, as there is no water 
 nearer than Applesham or Findon. 
 
 That the Romans held it in their turn is a natural conclusion, 
 and the coins discovered there prove it to have been a Roman 
 station, or rather are presumptive evidence that they used it. I 
 cannot make out any triple ramparts here, such as are alluded to 
 by Fosbrooke. " In Cissbury, ascribed to Cissa, (which Spelman 
 or Hearne makes Danish,) where also are triple ramparts, British 
 remains have been found prior to the Saxon era ; nor are Bury, 
 Blunsden, Barbury, and Castle Comb, of any other character 
 than British and Roman British. High valla and deep ditches 
 (why, I know not,) are ascribed to the Saxons 3 ." Gilpin, in his 
 " Southern Tour," seems to speak of Cissbury by the name of 
 Sizeburgh, and calls it a Roman station 4 . Tradition says there 
 is an underground passage from the house at Offington, which 
 leads directly to the encampment, and there is an opening to a 
 private passage from the cellars there which has never been 
 penetrated beyond a short distance. It is now bricked up. There 
 is a plan in Cartwright which gives a very good idea of its shape 
 and size. A bridle road crosses it from Broadwater to Steyning. 
 It is a rabbit-warren now, on which the traveller may occasionally 
 find some spear's head, or other piece of antiquity, to tell him 
 that English ground was defended in days gone by as it would be 
 
 3 See Encyclopaedia of Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 505. 
 
 4 See p. 41. Ed. 1804. The tour was made in the summer of 1774. 
 
352 
 
 CISSBURY ENCAMPMENT. 
 
 now, inch by inch, were an invader to threaten its peace. If 
 Euphues should say, " Be not like the Englishman which pre- 
 ferreth every strange fashion before the use of his country 5 ," it 
 is only to be referred to his weakness on that score ; for take the 
 nation as a whole, and never was there one that better loved his 
 native land, though the Swiss or the German may love theirs as 
 well. Oh ! that Goldsmith's lines were well engraved on the 
 hearts of those who forget the poor man's patrimony, and how 
 that he is the rich man's brother ! 
 
 " 111 fares the land, to hast'ning ills a prey, 
 Where wealth accumulates, and men decay ; 
 Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade ; 
 A breath can make them, as a breath has made : 
 But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, 
 When once destroyed can never be supplied 0 !" 
 
 From Cissbury we bent our course, having first made the 
 circuit of the ditch, and having examined it well, towards Chank- 
 bury. The way leads directly north over the Downs, and the 
 open expanse between the two heights, most beautifully undu- 
 lated, together with the view eastward, gives an excellent idea of 
 what down-land is. Few that know the Downs have not been 
 struck with that "sweet variety of hill and dale" which they pre- 
 sent to the eye. The extract following is from that favourite 
 book, " White's Natural History of Selbourne," and it is in his 
 usual happy style. The letter is dated Ringmer, near Lewes, 
 Dec. 9, 1773:— 
 
 " Though I have now travelled the Sussex Downs upwards of 
 thirty years, yet I still investigate that chain of majestic moun- 
 tains with fresh admiration year by year, and think I see new 
 beauties every time I traverse it. This range, which runs from 
 Chichester eastward as far as East-bourn, is about sixty miles in 
 length, and is called the South Downs, properly speaking, only 
 round Lewes. As you pass along you command a noble view of 
 the Wild, or Weald, on one hand, and the broad down and seas on 
 the other. Mr. Ray used to visit a family (Mr. Courthope, of 
 Danny) just at the foot of these hills, and was so ravished with 
 the prospect from Plumpton-'plain, near Lewes, that he mentions 
 
 5 Euphues to Philautus. 
 
 " The Deserted Village. 
 
THE SOUTH DOWNS. 
 
 353 
 
 those scapes in his ' Wisdom of God in the Works of the Creation 1 
 with the utmost satisfaction, and thinks them equal to any thing 
 he had seen in the finest parts of Europe. For my own part, I 
 think there is something peculiarly sweet and amusing in the 
 shapely-figured aspect of chalk hills in preference to those of 
 stone, which are rugged, broken, abrupt, and shapeless. Perhaps 
 I may be singular in my opinion, and not so happy as to convey 
 to you the same idea ; but I never contemplate these mountains 
 without thinking I perceive somewhat analogous to growth in 
 their gentle swellings and smooth fungus-like protuberances, their 
 fluted sides, and regular hollows and slopes, that carry at once 
 the air of vegetative dilatation and expansion. Or was there ever 
 a time when these immense masses of calcareous matter were 
 thrown into fermentation by some adventitious moisture ; were 
 raised and leavened into such shapes by some plastic power, and 
 so made to swell and heave their broad backs into the sky so 
 much above the less animated clay of the wild below 7 V 
 
 Non nostrum est tantas componere lites — the advocates of 
 Neptunian or Plutonian theories must settle this between them ! 
 One from more northern parts may smile at the notion of calling 
 the Downs " majestic mountains but the dear simple man 
 spoke as a South Saxon, and as one who loved the ground he 
 wrote of. Cowper, it will not be forgotten, on his visit to 
 Hayley, at Eartham, near Chichester, speaks in a letter to Olney 
 " of the tremendous height of the Sussex hills, in comparison of 
 which all that I had seen elsewhere are dwarfs 8 ." Again when 
 White speaks of mountains of stone as less picturesque — this is 
 mere matter of taste, and a canny Scot or a Cumbrian would put 
 in a demurrer. Southey somewhere or other tells of a Scotch- 
 man who could see no beauty in Skiddaw, Helvellin, or the lakes ; 
 and I once recollect a Cumbrian who lavished his abuse on the 
 Downs, and who returned to his own mountains displeased with 
 
 7 See vol. i. p. 27G, of the original edition, 1802. Southey thus speaks of this 
 delightful book in a MS. Letter to Miss C. Bowles : " White's Selbourne was 
 wickedly reprinted in the edition which I possess, in a garbled state, omitting 
 every thing which did not relate to natural history. Now one charm of the book 
 was that the good man took an interest in antiquities, and his book is the most 
 delightful specimen of the interesting enjoyment which a good man can find any 
 where in the country, if he will but look for them." Keswick, 9th March, 1829. 
 
 8 Life by Southey, vol. iii. p. 72. 
 
 a a 
 
354 
 
 THE SOUTH DOWNS. 
 
 all and every thing, except himself. But the simple truth is, that 
 there is scarce a spot from the Lizard to John o''Groat 1 s, 
 where a contented and an amiable spirit may not find beauties ; 
 at all events where it may not learn that it is advisable to ac- 
 quiesce in the tastes of others, and to rejoice when they are 
 pleased : 
 
 " Nec tua laudabis studia, aut aliena reprendes ; 
 Nec, quum venari volet ille, poemata panges. 
 Gratia sic fratrum geminorum, Amphionis atque 
 Zethi, dissiluit, donee suspecta severo 
 Conticuit lyra 9 ." 
 
 The meaning of the word " Down" is mountain, hill, high 
 ground ; to which the correlative, as logicians might call it, is 
 " Comb" that is, a dale encompassed on each side by hills'. 
 And such was the prospect before us now, — hill and dale as far 
 as the eye could take it in. For the most part the surface is a 
 smooth grassy turf, affording the best sheep-walks in England, 
 with now and then plots of gorse and fern, but little or no wood. 
 The Downs, it is likely, were more wooded formerly than now, 
 but less so than is generally supposed. There is a very remark- 
 able passage in the seventeenth song of Drayton's " Poly-Olbion," 
 which cannot fail to interest those who know the Downs and the 
 Weald. It should be remarked that the great consumption of 
 wood alluded to was for the heating of the iron furnaces, of which, 
 in days gone by, Sussex had many. The name of hammerpond 
 and forge is still common, though the origin of it be not very 
 intelligible to a stranger. The passage to be quoted is long, but 
 too interesting to be curtailed : 
 
 9 Hor. i. Epist. xviii. v. 39. 
 
 1 See Skiuner in v. " Vallis utrinque collibus obsita." Hence the termination 
 to many names, as well as the name it9e)f : e.g. the village of "Combes" on the 
 Adur, put more particularly in Devon and Cornwall. See Richard's Welsh Dic- 
 tionary, v. Owmm. 
 
 " Uxellodunum, Csesar says (B. G. viii. 140), was a town on every side inacces- 
 sible, and situate on a high mountain. But uchell, in British, signifies high, and 
 dunum, among the old Gauls, was an eminence or hill, as we learn from Plutarch 
 in his book of rivers from Clitophon ; and the same word was used by the ancient 
 Britons." Camden, vol. i. p. 15, x. p. 30. See Richard's v. Uchel, and Du 
 Cange in v. Cownhe. It is curious that " catacombs " has the same original. 
 
 See, besides the above, Pelletier's Dictionnaire de la Langue Bretonne, in v. 
 U'ch, Uc'hel. 
 
COMPLAINT OF THE FORESTS — DRAYTON'S POI.Y-0LBI0N. 355 
 
 " Four stately wood-nymphs stand on the Sussexian ground, 
 2 Great Andradsweld's sometime : who, when she did abound 
 In circuit and in growth, all other quite suppress'd ; 
 But in her wane of pride, as she in strength decreas'd, 
 Her nymphs assumed the names, each one to her delight, 
 As, Water-down, so call'd of her depressed site : 
 And Ash-down, of those trees that most in her do grow, 
 Set higher to the downs, as the other standeth low. 
 Saint Leonard's, of the seat by which she next is placed, 
 And Whord, that with the like delighteth to be graced. 
 These forests, as I say, the daughters of the Weald, 
 (That in their heavy breasts had long their grief concealed,) 
 Foreseeing their decay each hour so fast come on, 
 Under the ax's stroke fetch'd many a grievous groan, 
 When as the anvil's weight, and hammer's dreadful sound, 
 Even rent the hollow woods, and shook the queachy 3 ground. 
 So that the trembling nymphs, opprest through ghastly fear, 
 Ran madding to the downs, with loose dishevell'd hair, 
 The sylvans that about the neighbouring woods did dwell, 
 Both in the tufty frith, and in the mossy fell, 
 Forsook their gloomy bow'rs, and wand'red far abroad, 
 Expell'd their quiet seats, and place of their abode, 
 When labouring carts they saw to hold their daily trade, 
 Where they in summer wont to sport them in the shade. 
 ' Could we,' say they, • suppose that any would us cherish, 
 Which suffer (every day) the holiest things to perish, 
 Or to our daily want to minister supply ? 
 These iron times breed none that mind posterity. 
 
 2 Selden, in his notes on Drayton's Poly-Olbion, observes, "The author's conceit 
 of these forests being nymphs of the great Andredsunda, and their complaint for 
 loss of woods in Sussex, bo decayed, is plain enough to every reader." See vol. iii. 
 p. 1872. 
 
 3 Queachy, whatever it may mean elsewhere, in Drayton means what we now 
 call quathy, or trashy. I have heard it applied to a bog in Shropshire. Drayton 
 calls the Goodwin sands " vast and queachy." — Frith, a line or two below, he else- 
 where uses in the sense of tcood ; which would appear to be the Welsh ffrith or 
 ffrkld. Skelton, in his Garlande of Laurell, says, — 
 
 " Thus stode I in the frytth y forest of Galtres 
 Ensowpid with sylt of the myry mose." 
 See Dyce's edit., vol. i. p. 3C2, ii. 301. Qutere : Is the name of this wood to be 
 referred to Gualdum ? See Du Cange in v. There are some remarks on the word 
 Frith in Ritson's Robin Hood, if I recollect, from Hearne. 
 
 a a 2 
 
356 
 
 drayton's poly-olbioxt — anoredswai.of.. 
 
 'Tis but in vain to tell, what we before have been, 
 Or changes of the world, that we in time have seen ; 
 When, not devising how to spend our wealth with waste, 
 We to the savage swine let fall our larding mast ; 
 But now, alas ! ourselves we have not to sustain, 
 Nor can our tops suffice to shield our roots from rain. 
 Jove's oak, the warlike ash, vein'd elm, the softer beech, 
 Short hazel, maple plain, light asp, the bending wych, 
 Tough holly, and smooth birch, must altogether burn : 
 What should the builder serve, supplies the forger's turn : 
 When under public good, base private gain takes hold, 
 And we poor woful woods to ruin lastly sold.' 
 
 This uttered they with grief; and more they would have spoke, 
 But that the envious downs, int' open laughter broke : 
 As joying in those wants, which nature them had given, 
 Sith to us great distress the forests should be driven. 
 Like him that long time had another's state envy'd 
 And sees a following ebb, unto his former tide ; 
 The more he is depress'd, and bruised with fortune's might, 
 The larger run his foe doth give to his despite ; 
 So did the envious downs." 
 
 So that in Drayton's time the Downs were hardly more wooded 
 than they are now. The great extent of wood was in the Weald, 
 and on this side the Downs ; and the desire of Aran's forest is 
 accomplished, except that they are not barren, — 
 
 " Which, nettled with the news, had not the power to hold : 
 But, breaking into rage, wish'd tempests them might rive ; 
 And on their barren scalps, still flint and chalk might thrive." 
 
 And it is the wood of the Weald which is implied in those words, 
 — Sussexian ground, Great AndradsweWs sometime ,■" for the 
 whole maritime district "comprehending," as Selden says, "Sussex 
 and part of Kent, was called 1 Andredswalde, 1 which means simply 
 ' Andredswood,' both in the old Anglo-Saxon 4 , and in the Ger- 
 
 4 " Weald, Sylva, saltus, nemus, locus sylvestris : A wood, a forest, a lawne, 
 a woody place. Kiliani, Wald. Hinc autem regio ilia nemorosa australcm agri 
 Cantiani plagam, ut et Sussexiensis borealem late occupans, olim hodieque vulgo 
 dicta the Weald. Hinc etiam Latino-barbaris gualda, al. gualdum, pro nemus : 
 mutata sc. Sax. w in gu, pro more." Somner's Saxon Dictionary in v. 
 
 Andredswald : " A wood, part in Kent and part in Sussex : from the old word 
 
ANDEK1DA, ANDRKU-CEASTRE. 
 
 357 
 
 man." This mighty forest was called by the Britons Coed- 
 Andred, from the neighbouring Anderida; and it extended no 
 less than 120 miles in length, and 30 in breadth, even into 
 Hampshire." " Coed " it is hardly necessary to observe is British 
 for " weald,' 1 '' and to this day has the same signification in Welsh. 
 But, connected as Anderida or Andred-ceastre is with these parts, 
 a word must be said about it. 
 
 The first account we have of this stronghold of the Britons 
 is in connexion with the landing of Ella, of whom Drayton 
 says : — 
 
 " As mighty Hengist here, by force of arms had done, 
 So Ella coming in, soon from the Britons won 
 The countries neighbouring Kent ; which lying from the main, 
 Directly to the south, did properly obtain 
 The Southern Saxons' name 5 ." 
 
 The history is very simply told in Sir Francis Palgrave's little 
 sketch of the Anglo-Saxon period, who, by the way, in more 
 than one instance, has almost the very words of Verstegan : 
 " Whilst the Jutes were conquering Kent, their kindred took 
 part in the war. Ship after ship sailed from the North Sea, 
 filled with eager warriors (a.d. 477 — 491). The Saxons now 
 arrived. Ella and his three sons landed in the ancient territory 
 of the Regni. The Britons were defeated with great slaughter, 
 and driven into the forest of Andreade, whose extent is faintly 
 indicated by the wastes and commons of the Weald. A general 
 confederacy of the kings and tyrants of the Britons was formed 
 against the invaders ; but fresh reinforcements arrived from Ger- 
 many : the city of Andreades-Ceastre was taken by storm, and 
 all its inhabitants were slain, and the buildings razed to the 
 ground, so that its site is now entirely unknown. From this 
 period the kingdom of the South Saxons was established in the 
 person of Ella ; and though ruling only over the narrow boundary 
 
 andred, bear ; q. d. a terrible, dreadful wood ; and therefore called by Ethelward 
 immanh." Gagophylacium Anglicanum. 
 
 Quaere : Whether the " Sylva Anderada " took its name from Fortuna Victrix, 
 Andate, or Andarta. Camden, vol. i. p. lxvii. 
 
 5 See Poly-Olbion, Song xi. 
 
358 ANDEltlDA, CAEB-ANDRED, OK, ANDKEDSCEASTRE. 
 
 of modern Sussex, he was accepted as the first of the Saxon 
 Bretwaldas, or Emperors of the Isle of Britain V 
 
 Now, Anderida, Caer-Andred, and Andredsceastre, are one ; 
 the difficulty is in fixing its modern locality. Camden and Selden 
 place it at Newenden, in Kent ; hut this is thought hy Stilling- 
 fleet, in his " Antiquities of the British Churches," to stand 
 too much within land 1 . Somner thought it more likely to be 
 Pevensey or Hastings. Turner only says, " On the edge of the 
 wood, in Sussex, stood Andredes Ceaster. r> The probability is 
 that Newenden is the real site, and that it is built on the old 
 Anderida, the ruins of which were shown for many ages, till 
 under Edward L, (the words are Camden's, from Henry of 
 Huntingdon :) " Certain Carmelite friars, lately come from 
 Carmel, in Palestine, and seeking solitary places, erected a 
 monastery here at the expense of Sir Thomas Albager ; and a 
 town presently sprang up, which, with respect to the ancient 
 ruined one, was called Newenden, q. d. New Town in the 
 •calley? 
 
 Such are the words of Camden ; and Cough's additions may 
 be seen in a subsequent page 8 . It appears, however, that there 
 is a confusion between the authorities of Henry of Huntingdon 
 and Matthew of Westminster, as pointed out by Stillingfleet. 
 I will refer to his words, and leave the matter to those better 
 able to cut the Gordian knot than I am. Matthew of West- 
 minster saith, " that the Britons came out of the wood, and 
 galled the Saxons so much, that they were forced to divide their 
 army ; and the inhabitants perished by famine, as well as by the 
 sword and he observes, " that the Saxons utterly demolished 
 the city, and the place where it stood was in his time showed 
 to travellers." Therefore the question among our antiquaries, 
 
 6 History of England, Anglo-Saxon Period, p. 38. What he says in p. 33 of 
 " Old England " may be seen in Verstegan's " Restitution of Decayed Intelligence," 
 p. 123, who refers to Camden. See the History also in Sharon Turner, vol. i. 
 p. 267. 
 
 ? Stillingfleet, loc. cit. c. ii. vol. i. p. 95. Ed. Clar. 1842. See Selden, vol. Hi. 
 p. 1826, and Camden, vol. i. p. 223. Selden maintains the same in speaking of the 
 < 'omes Littoris Saxonici in his Titles of Honour, Part ii. p. 394, and again in his 
 Mare Clausum, vol. ii. p. 1299. " Anderidos Rotheri fluvii ripam tenuit, Newenden 
 jam appellatum." 
 
 8 Ibid. p. 249. 
 
ANDEKIDA, CAER-ANDRED, OR, A NDREDSCEASTRE. 359 
 
 which was the Anderida of the ancients, Newenden, or Hastings, 
 or Pevensey, is quite out of doors, unless one of them be proved 
 to be built in the place of Anderida since Matthew Westmin- 
 ster's days, which were towards the end of Edward III. These 
 words Camden applies only to Henry of Huntingdon ; and he 
 saith, " It was new built in Edward I.'s time, and therefore called 
 Newenden but they are likewise Matthew Westminster's, who 
 lived after that time, and therefore it cannot be Newenden, if it 
 were rebuilt in the time of Edward I. ; for he saith, " the 
 desolate place was showed in his time :" unless one transcribe 
 the other, without any regard to the difference of their own 
 times °. 
 
 I suspect what is here stated to be the truth, as our chro- 
 niclers were copyists ; and it is to Newenden that I look for 
 the ancient Caer-Andred, situated in the Andredeswald, or 
 Andredesleage, and at no great distance from what Drayton calls 
 " the spacious mouth of Rother " — the stream that roving 
 through the Weald — " old Andredsweald " — divided Sussex and 
 Kent. Whether the Rother's mouth was Portus Lemanis, I 
 must leave to our antiquaries, simply stating that Drayton was 
 of that opinion, when he sang of the spacious harbour, — 
 
 "That Lymen then was named \" 
 
 My reason for thus long dwelling on the much-famed Anderida, 
 was to show that the parts of Sussex, which did not belong to 
 the great forest of Andred, were chiefly down, — the flint and 
 chalk formation over which we were now walking. 
 
 There is a point of natural history connected with these Downs, 
 which should not be passed by ; I mean the arrival and capture 
 of the wheat-ear, or, as it is called, the English ortolan. On the 
 present occasion Alethes remarked that we were too early to see 
 the traps, many hundreds of which are to be found hereabouts in 
 the season. Twenty years ago I had read what White of Sel- 
 
 3 Stillingfleet, ut supra, c. v. vol. ii. p. 494. 
 
 1 ".Lunelle Humeri currit de Silva Magna, quae vocata est Andreadeswalde, qua; 
 silva liabet spatium in longitudine ab oriente in occideutem niilliaria cxx. et eo 
 amplius, in latitudine xxx." Chronicon Fani Neoti incerto aucturc. Leland, Collect, 
 vol. iii. 217. See also pp. 276. 291, and vol. ii. p. 405. " Andrcdecester nobilis 
 civitas BriteDnorum ab Elhi solo eomplanata quod ibi tot damna ejus militcs acce- 
 pcrant. Locus autem a transeuntibus videtur usque in hodiemum diem." 
 
3G0 
 
 THE WHEAT-EAR, OK, ENGLISH ORTOLAN. 
 
 bourne 3 tells of them, little thinking that in after years I should 
 have the opportunity of watching their habits. 
 
 The wheat-ear, like the whin- chat and the stone-chat, is an 
 elegant little bird, as those who possess YarrelFs valuable volumes 
 may see for themselves, the male and female being both pictured 
 there. The earliest coiners are supposed to arrive on the Cornish 
 coast, and usually very early in the morning, about the middle of 
 March, and it has been said that one sex precedes the other. 
 They have been seen on the Sussex Downs in March, not com- 
 monly, however, and few in number. Neither do they remain for 
 any length of time, but withdraw for the breeding season. They 
 begin to make their nests by the middle of April, — some in the 
 rocks by the sea-side, others in rabbit-warrens and stone-quarries. 
 Now and then, observes White, one is "plowed up in a fallow on 
 the Downs under a furrow, but it is thought a rarity. 11 Yarrell 
 also says that he has found a nest more than once " in a fallow field 
 under a large clod." But the time when they are most remarked 
 on the South Downs is from J uly till the middle of September, when 
 they again retire. During this time they are taken in immense 
 quantities, and are considered a great delicacy, — like the ficedula* 
 amongst the Romans. The great haunt of this little bird is on 
 the Downs between Eastbourne and Beachy-Head, but they are 
 distributed in great numbers as far westward as Houghton- 
 Bridge, beyond which, when White wrote, none were taken. 
 What he states in the same letter still holds good, " that though 
 in the height of the season so many hundreds of dozens are 
 taken, yet they never are seen to flock ; and it is a rare thing to 
 see more than three or four at a time ; so that there must be a 
 perpetual flitting and constant progressive succession. 11 It is 
 stated in the " Linnsean Transactions, 11 that as many as eighty- 
 
 2 See Letter to Pennant, 9th Dec. 1773. Vol. i. p. 280, 1. It appears that he 
 expected to find some at this time, "as many," he says, "are to be seen to my 
 knowledge all the winter through in many parts of the south of England." Yarrell 
 does not notice this passage. The latest he mentions as having been seen were " a 
 pair on the 17th November, 1822, near the gravel-pit in Hyde Park." See Hist, 
 of Birds, vol. i. p. 258. 
 
 3 See Juv. Sat. xiv. 7. " Eodem jure natantes Mergere ficedldm didicit,"— the 
 only bird which epicures allowed might be eaten whole. So tells Aulus Gellius : 
 " ncgant ullam avem pneter ficedulam totam coniesse oportere." Noct. Att. lib. 
 xv. c. viii. 
 
THE WHEAT-EAR, OK, ENGLISH ORTOLAN. 361 
 
 seven dozen have been taken in one day, and as many as 1840 
 dozen annually round about Eastbourne. Yarrell states this, and 
 says that a shepherd and his boy will look to from 500 to 700 
 traps. These are opened about Saint James's Day (25th July), 
 and continue so till about the third week in September. Nothing 
 can be simpler than the account Yarrell gives, — the plate in 
 Montague's " Ornithological Dictionary 11 by Rennie, is not so 
 intelligible as his description. Yarrell says, " The birds are sup- 
 plied in profusion by the shepherds, who form numerous traps for 
 them in the turf of the Downs over which their flocks and cattle 
 graze. The wheat-ear trap is formed by cutting an oblong piece 
 of turf from the surface, about eight inches by eleven, and six 
 inches thick, which is to be taken up in a solid mass, and laid in 
 the contrary way both as to surface and direction over the hole, 
 thus forming a hollow chamber beneath it. Besides this chamber, 
 two other openings are also cut in the turf, about six inches wide 
 and of greater length, which lead into the chamber at opposite 
 ends, that the birds may run in under the turf through either of 
 them. A small straight stick, sharpened at both ends, not very 
 unlike a common match, but stouter, is fixed in an upright 
 position a little on one side the middle of the square (?) chamber ; 
 the stick supports two open running loops of twisted horsehair, 
 placed vertically across the line of passage from either entrance 
 to the opposite outlet, and the bird attempting to run through is 
 almost certain to get his head into one of these loops, and be 
 caught by the neck ; upon the least alarm, even the shadow of a 
 passing cloud, the birds run beneath the clod and are taken V 
 
 Previous to their departure, they are said likewise to assemble 
 on the Dorset Downs, and on the 24th of March, 1804, on their 
 first arrival, a great number of these birds were seen on the south 
 coast of Devon, near Knightsbridge, but they never continue, 
 to any amount, either in Devon or Cornwall. Temminck in his 
 " Manuel (T Ornithologies speaks of them as tres-abondant en 
 Hollande dans les dunes \ His name for them is Traquet Moteux ; 
 
 4 Yarrel!, ut supra, p. 257. 
 
 5 Partie Premiere, p. 239. Ed. 1820. Du Cange will explain his use of the 
 word dunes. " Dunas, Sabulosos ct arenarios colics ad Flandriie Hollandiaeque, 
 atque adeo ipsius Angliie littoia Galli nostri Dunes, Belga; Duyncn vocant ;" in 
 v. Duitum. 
 
362 
 
 THE WHEAT-EAR DOTTERELS. 
 
 Uufforfs, leMoteux, on le Cul-blanc ; Linnaeus, Motacitta JEnwidhe. 
 It is altogether a most interesting little bird, and none can watch 
 its movements on these Downs, and not be pleased. Whether 
 or not the traveller may be amused by the fabled antics of the 
 dotterel is more than I can affirm : — 
 
 " The dotterel, which we think a very dainty dish 
 Whose taking makes such sport, as man no more can wish ; 
 For as you creep, or cowr, or lie, or stoop or go, 
 So marking you (with care) the apish bird doth go, 
 And acting every thing, doth never mark the net 
 Till he be in the snare, which men for him have set." 
 So sings Drayton, and most readers of our old dramatists will 
 recollect constant allusions to the simplicity of this bird, which, 
 with the knot, was Canute's favourite, 
 
 " For him, as some have said, from Denmark hither brought." 
 During the ten years I have lived hard by the Downs, I have 
 never seen a single dotterel on their scapes, much less a trip of 
 them, nor have I ever heard of a smittle, or breeding-place, having 
 been found. They are, however, occasionally seen here, and an 
 acquaintance of mine once shot two on the Storrington Down. 
 They more usually breed on the mountains of Cumberland and 
 Westmoreland, and any one who wishes to see an interesting 
 account of them, will find it in Mr. Heyscham's sketch given by 
 Yarrell : " What stupid birds these are ! " was even his excla- 
 mation. The last I saw was on Carnedd Llewellin, that noble 
 mountain in Carnarvonshire so rarely visited. It was with a friend 
 I have rarely seen since, — not out of mind, though out of sight 6 . 
 
 6 See Yarrell's British Birds, vol. ii. 397- The dotterel usually appears about 
 the end of April, and before their departure — towards the end of August or begin- 
 ning of September — they collect in flocks. They are rarely seen in Ireland, still 
 more so in Cornwall, but occasionally in Devon and Dorset. It is the Pluvier 
 Gnignard of Temminck, vol. ii. 537. The Latin name alludes to its simple habits, 
 Vharadrias Morinellus. The readers of Martial will not forget the epigram, 
 " Mono dictus erat, viginti millibus emi. 
 
 Redde mihi nummos, Gargiliane : Sapit!" 
 Lib. viii. xiii. The shepherds on Salisbury Plain have the following trite saying, 
 as given in the " Times," Nov. 7, 1844 : — 
 
 " When dotterel do first appear, 
 
 It shows that frost is very near, — 
 But when that dotterel do go, 
 
 Then you may look for heavy suow." 
 
DOTTERELS, FULLER^ WORKS — Al.BOUR NE-PI.ACE. 363 
 
 Reader ! art thou well acquainted with old Fuller's writings ? 
 If not, read them whenever thou hast a chance. If he jest some- 
 times, and is always quaint, his volumes are full of instruction, 
 and full of amusement. Take as a sample from his Worthies 
 what he says of the dotterel : " This is an avis yeXwroiroio^, a 
 niirthmaking bird, so ridiculously mimical that he is easily caught 
 (or rather catcheth himself), by his over active imitation. There 
 is a sort of apes in India, caught by the natives thereof, after this 
 manner : — They dress a little boy in his sight, undress him again, 
 leave all the child's apparel behind them in the place, and then 
 depart a competent distance. The ape presently attireth himself 
 in the same garments, till the child's clothes become his chains, 
 putting off his feet by putting on his shoes, not able to run to any 
 purpose, and so is soon taken. The same humour otherwise pur- 
 sued, betrayeth the dotterels. As the fowler stretcheth forth his 
 arms and legs, going towards the bird, the bird extendeth his 
 leas and wings approaching the fowler, till surprised in the net. 
 But it is observed, that the foolisher the fowl or fish, (ivoodcocks, 
 dotterels, codsheads, &c), the finer the flesh thereof 7 ." To dor the 
 dotterel is a well-known phrase, but whether dotterel be derived, 
 as Camden implies, from dote, must be left to lexicographers. 
 
 Conversation on these subjects, and other like, with stops and 
 breaks, such as friends enjoy, who are not obliged to keep up a 
 continued discourse, brought us to the ridge which commands a 
 view of the old town of Steyning, or, as it was anciently called 
 Steyningham, together with the ruins of Bramber, — the parishes 
 of Beeding and Buttolphs, — and others that lay south and east. 
 We fancied also that we caught a glimpse of Albourne, but I 
 am not sure that we could. Our wish, it may be, was " father to 
 the thought," for it was at Albourne-Place (which he is said to 
 have built) that the excellent Bishop Juxon, as Clarendon tells 
 us, without mentioning where, " enjoyed the greatest tranquillity 
 of any man of the three kingdoms, throughout the whole bois- 
 terous and destroying time that followed a.d. 1641 ; and lived to 
 see a happy and blessed end of them, and died in great honour V 
 
 ' See The Worthies of England, Lincolnshire, p. 149. Ed. folio, 16C2. Cam- 
 den's words are : " So called from their extreme doatiduuu, which occasions these 
 imitative birds to be caught by the fowler's gestures by candle-light." 
 
 8 Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. i. p. 370. 
 
364 
 
 ALBOURNE- PLACE AND BISHOP JUXON. 
 
 It was here, perhaps, that he sought relief for sorrow in his 
 favourite amusement of hunting. Whitelocke, says Disraeli, in- 
 forms us that " his pack of hounds exceeded all others in England, 
 for their orderly and pleasant going in couples, by his own skill 
 and direction," and characterizes the bishop's temper with happy 
 pleasantry, for having " as much command of himself as of his 
 hounds." No character will bear looking into better than his, 
 and the martyred king showed his discrimination when he spoke 
 of him as " the honest man 9 ! " 
 
 We chose the ridge we now left, because the view to the south 
 and east is more easily taken in from thence by the eye. We 
 now pushed across direct for Ohankenbury, which, like Oissbury, 
 is an old encampment, but not fortified as that is. Very little 
 appears to be known about it. Camden simply says, that " another 
 fortification called Chenkbury, is to be seen two miles from Ciss- 
 bury 1 ." I should suspect it took its name from the possessors 
 of Chancton, and that it originally was Chancton's Bury. Ralph 
 de Chancton is represented in the Testa de Neville (quoted by 
 Cart wright), as holding two parts of a knight's fee in Chancton, 
 an estate in the parish of Washington, the manor of which 
 extends into the parish of Ashington, Wiston, Ashurst, Nuthurst, 
 and Wisboro -1 Green. It is now covered with trees, and is vul- 
 garly called " old Goring's hunting cap," from its having been 
 planted by the late C. Goring, Esq., of Wiston, which lies just 
 below. In the old drawing of Wiston-Place, given in Cart- 
 wright, it may be seen, as it then was, without any trees at all. 
 There would appear to be a flag-staff and a hut upon it. It is 
 represented as taken in the time of Charles I. A wise youth of 
 
 9 See D'Israeli's Commentaries on the Life of Charles I., vol. iii. p. 68. Pope 
 tells us, in his Life of Seth Ward, that that good bishop also, when "by chance he 
 chopt upon the dogs, would ride a ring or two very briskly," p. 74. It is curious 
 that Abp. Abbot, who resisted the Book of Sports, should himself have shot Lord 
 Zouch's gamekeeper, instead of a deer, with a cross-bow. He never would ordain 
 afterwards, as his hand had been defiled with blood ! So much, in this respect, 
 are the times changed for the better. Nevertheless, the general remark of 
 D'Israeli, in his note, is true : " The healthful exercise which the bishop practised, 
 is one of those indifferent actions which stand unconnected with morality, and 
 should no more be deprecated than a bishop's morning ride." But there is a time 
 for all things, and the late lamented Dr. E. Burton no longer limited, when his 
 position became influential. 
 
 1 Vol. i. p. 188. 
 
CHANKENBUKY — SHI RLE YS AND GORINGS — WISTON-PLACE. 365 
 
 Gotham is said to have considered it to be the residence of the 
 equinox ! 
 
 There is no view in this country surpasses that from Chanken- 
 hury. Beneath you immediately is the old seat of the Shirleys 
 and the Gorings, with its noble Elizabethan hall, still surviving 
 all modern improvements, and lording it over vitiated taste. Is 
 it Crabbe that says ? — 
 
 " The things themselves are pleasant to behold, 
 But not like those which we beheld of old, — 
 That half-hid mansion, with its wide domain, 
 Unbound and unsubdued ! But sighs are vain, 
 It is the rage of taste, — the rule and compass reign 2 ! " 
 
 But the face of nature is not easily marred, and beyond and 
 around is the broad expanse of the Weald of Sussex, unrivalled 
 for its heart of oak ; and never was this lord of the forest more 
 beautiful than now. A genial spring had perfected its first 
 leaves ; and the midsummer shoot was just showing its lighter 
 tints : — 
 
 " These giant oaks by no man's order stand, 
 Heaven did the work— by no man was it plann'd ! " 
 
 Beyond again was the line of the Surrey hills ; and as the wind 
 was a point to the north-west, there was no haze, and the view 
 was perfect. A novel sight presented itself as we were about to 
 depart. It seemed as if a rocket were darting by fits and starts 
 from amongst the distant breast of wood to the north-east, or 
 rather the smoke of a rocket, as it issued from the fusee. A 
 moment's thought told us that a train was on its way to the 
 metropolis. The nymphs of the woods might again complain, as 
 in the " Poly-Olbion," that their privacy was invaded, and what 
 Drayton calls " the harder Surreyan heath," that his solitude 
 was no more ! 
 
 But we had a long walk yet to accomplish ; and it was time to 
 drag ourselves away from the ravishing view before us. Our 
 
 2 Crabbe's Ancient Mansion, vol. viii. p. 164. It is Jones of Nayland that 
 remarks, " A new building, which is the production of human art, hath a littleness 
 about it, from the uniformity of its lines ; but when time and the elements have 
 done their work upon it, it approaches nearer to the grandeur of nature." — Vol. iv. 
 p. 42. 
 
36fi 
 
 FINDON MUNTHAM, HIGHDEN. 
 
 hasty meal was soon finished, and in a few minutes we were 
 crossing the Downs southwards, and making our way for Findon. 
 The undulation of the ground in this direction is not less 
 beautiful than to the eastward, though, of course, more con- 
 fined. The distance to Findon must be three miles at least — 
 three possibly as the crow flies — and stretching out beyond it 
 the eye was relieved by the grounds of Muntham and Highden. 
 There is a notion that Oliver Cromwell passed some time at the 
 former of these places ; but there is no foundation for it, as it 
 originated in the late William Frankland's impression of his 
 lineal descent from that extraordinary person, and no less arch- 
 rebel. By his will the several likenesses of his ancestors, be- 
 ginning with " bluff Noll,"" the Protector, were bequeathed to the 
 mansion for ever. " But all things," says Suckling, " are full of 
 mutability," and it has passed into other hands ! 
 
 As we descended into Findon from the Down, the mellowed 
 evening light fell upon the old church ; and many times as I had 
 seen its shingled spire, (all that was to be seen from the position 
 we were in,) I know not that I ever saw it with a more devo- 
 tional feeling. We had been beholding and admiring the beauties 
 of God's creation. The stillness of the Downs, the glorious sun- 
 shine, the unchecked intercourse of friend with friend, had all 
 combined to chasten and discipline the thoughts. The very 
 sheep that bit the short sweet grass had reminded us of patri- 
 archal times, and the unenclosed Downs, that knew no hedge, 
 bespoke the Almighty's freehold ! Well and wisely has it been 
 said by the pious Jones of Nayland, " Herbs and flowers may 
 be regarded by some persons as objects of inferior consideration 
 in philosophy ; but every thing must be great which hath God for 
 its Author. To Him all parts of nature are equally related. 
 The flowers of the earth can raise our thoughts up to the Creator 
 of the world as effectually as the stars of heaven ; and till we 
 make this use of both, we cannot be said to think properly of 
 either. The contemplation of nature should always be seasoned 
 with a mixture of devotion ; the highest faculty of the human 
 mind, by which alone contemplation is improved, and dignified, 
 and directed to its proper object V 
 
 3 From a Sermon with a remarkable title, " The Religious Use of Botanical 
 Philosophy." Works, vol. iv. p. 2. Ed. 182C. 
 
DEVOTIONAL FEELINGS. 
 
 367 
 
 Wrapt in contemplation we had already crossed the road, and 
 were on our way up to the church almost before we were aware 
 of it. One cannot exactly say, 
 
 " Whose loftie trees, yclad with sommer's pride, 
 Did spread so broad, that heaven's light did hide, 
 Not perceable with power of any Starr ;" 
 
 but one may say, in Milton's words, who had that passage of 
 Spenser in view, that the trees, in which the church was enveloped, 
 did— 
 
 " Spread their umbrage broad, 
 And brown as evening V 
 
 Never was a more retired spot for a devout worshipper to seek 
 his God in quiet, and to pour out his inmost soul. In some such 
 spot as this had Roderick found peace ! Who can forget the 
 lines ? 
 
 " Whom hast thou there ? cried Julian, and drew back 
 Seeing that near them stood a meagre man 
 In humble garb, who rested with rais'd hands 
 On a long staff, bending his head, like one, 
 Who, when he hears the distant vesper bell, 
 Halts by the way, and all unseen of men 
 Offers his homage in the eye of heaven \" 
 We had not much time to examine the church, but finding it 
 open we walked through it, and I was delighted to find it much 
 drier and better ventilated than it used to be. I recollect the 
 time when the walls were green and running down with damps. 
 The present vicar has done much for it, and I only wish the stove 
 may be so placed as to do no damage to the fabric. Ventilation, 
 in the long run, is better than fire heat, and more safe. The 
 site of the building is more to be admired than its architecture, 
 which is most irregular. It consists of a nave, north aisle with 
 mortuary chapel s attached, and chancel, together with a private 
 chapel, belonging to W. W. Richardson, Esq., the present owner of 
 
 4 Spenser's Faerie Queene, i. 1. vii. Milton's Par. Lost, IX. 1087. 
 
 5 Southey's Don Roderick, xxi. 
 
 c This sepulchral chapel is reserved as the hurial-place of the Green family. 
 The Rev. J. C. Green has been vicar of Rustington since 1802, and is one of the 
 oldest incumbents in the diocese. 1 have the pleasure to number him amongst my 
 friends, and to know in him one of the best antiquarians in the archdeaconry. 
 
368 
 
 FINDON CT.Al'HAM. 
 
 the manor. Within the latter is a beautiful Norman arch with 
 ornamental stone work of the same date. It is to be regretted 
 that the whole of this, whether chapel or transept, is not thrown 
 open. It would add much to the beauty of the building. Few 
 churches would be more improved by open pews than Findon. 
 
 Findon, or Finedune, at the time of the Conquest, was in the 
 territory of William de Braose, and appears to have been an 
 occasional residence of the lords of Bramber. The manor has 
 passed through many hands. The site of the old manor-house is 
 the modern Findon-Place. The living is a vicarage ; the house 
 belonging to it, the old rectory-house, which passed with other 
 possessions of Sele Priory into the hands of Magdalen College, 
 Oxford, from whom the vicar holds it and the rectorial tithe, 
 under a beneficial lease. It is to be regretted that the whole 
 proceeds are not given up to the vicar, and the moiety held in 
 Clapham 7 relinquished, the latter parish being miserably poor, 
 and the resident clergyman piteously provided for. This is one 
 of those reforms in the Church which good men would rejoice at. 
 Such an example would be more effectual than all the long 
 speeches made at public meetings. " Begin at my Sanc- 
 tuary " are words fraught with an awful meaning, not only in 
 EzekieFs prophecy, but for ever 8 ! It is Lord Brooke, in his 
 " Treatise of Humane Learning, 11 that says so pithily, 
 
 " For the true art of eloquence indeed 
 Is not this craft of words, but formes of speech, 
 Such as from living wisdomes do proceed ; 
 Whose ends are not to flatter, or beseech, 
 Insinuate, or persuade, but to declare 
 What things in nature good or evil are." 
 
 It was now growing late, and we made the best of our way 
 home, plucking from the wall, as we left the churchyard, a leaf 
 of the Cotyledon Umbilicus, which grows there in abundance, as 
 on the old rectory at Tarring. Our shortest cut was under 
 
 7 The present rector of Clapham is the Rev. William Nourse — one of those quiet 
 unostentatious. good men, whose salt will never lose its savour, and keeps the land 
 from stinking. 
 
 8 Ezek. ix. 6. . 
 
THE NIGHTINGALE'S SONG. 
 
 869 
 
 Kindon-Place, across the fields, and so by the foot of the Down 
 to the Salvington chalk-pits, which accordingly we took. In- 
 stead, however, of descending into Salvington, we diverged by the 
 Arundel-road to Offington-corner, that we might follow the course 
 of the grove, and hear the nightingale. It was Alethes" 1 wish ; 
 and as we descended the hill, I heard him repeating in an under- 
 tone these lines from Chaucer's " Cuckow and the Nightingale 
 
 " But as I laye this other night waking, 
 I thought how lovers had a tokening, 
 And among hem it was a commune tale 
 That it were good to hear the nightingale, 
 Rather than the leud cuckow sing. 
 
 " And then I thought anon as it was day, 
 I would go somewhere to assay 
 If that I might a nightingale here, 
 For yet had I none heard of all that yere, 
 And it was tho the thridde nyght of Maye." 
 
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 RIVINGTONS, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE. 
 
By the same Author, 
 
 THE HIGH CHURCHMAN of the OLD SCHOOL, and THE 
 
 GOOD DISSENTER of the OLD SCHOOL. Price Is. 
 
 Also, Edited by the same Author, 
 
 Vols. VI. and VII. of the DOCTOR, &c. By the late Robert 
 Southey. Post 8vo. Vol. VI. price 10s. 6d. ; Vol. VII. 14s. 
 
 THE DOCTOR, &c. In one vol., price 21s. 
 
 SOUTHEY'S COMMON PLACE BOOK. First Series,— 
 CHOICE PASSAGES. Price 18s. 
 
 SOUTHEY'S COMMON PLACE BOOK. Second Series.— 
 SPECIAL COLLECTIONS. Price 18s. 
 
 SOUTHEY'S COMMON PLACE BOOK. Third Series.— 
 ANALYTICAL READINGS. Price 21s. 
 
 SOUTHEY'S COMMON PLACE BOOK. Fourth Series.— 
 ORIGINAL MEMORANDA. Price 21s. 
 
 LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 
 
 THE ACHARNIANS, KNIGHTS, WASPS, and BIRDS of 
 ARISTOPHANES. Translated into English Prose. 
 
 HENRY SLATTER, OXFORD.