H'^- 
 
 \h
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 f
 
 THE TWO FOUNDATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL.
 
 ffJF^M^^M^M^^'^f^ 
 
 ^^
 
 THE TWO FOUNDATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL 
 
 A.D. 1123 AND A.D. 1546 
 
 BEING AN INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS GIVEN AT A 
 MEETING OF THE ABERNETHIAN SOCIETY 
 
 OCTOBER 8th, 1885 
 
 BY 
 
 W. MORRANT BAKER, F.R.C.S. 
 
 SURGEON TO THE HOSPITAL 
 
 LONDON 
 SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE 
 
 1885
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 This Address is printed in accordance with the wish 
 of many members of the Abernethian Society, before 
 whom it was delivered at the first meeting of the 
 Session 1885-6. 
 
 Since its dehvery, Dr. Norman Moore has pub- 
 lished in the 21st vol. of our Hospital Reports the 
 complete text of the MS. Life of Rahere, from 
 which I have made so many extracts ; and I am 
 indebted to his kindness, in permitting me to look 
 at the proof sheets, for an opportunity of correcting 
 several verbal misprints which were present in the 
 previous editions from which I had taken my quo- 
 tations. 
 
 A few additions have been made in the account 
 of the Second Foundation. 
 
 The Frontispiece is a reproduction of a portion of 
 an engraving contained in the Vetusta Momimenta 
 of the Society of Antiquaries. 
 
 HiSTDN 
 WX 
 
 FB5 
 L?BSS
 
 THE TWO FOUNDATIONS. 
 
 I. 
 
 St. Bartholomew's Hospital was founded more 
 than seven centuries ago by Rayer (commonly called 
 Rahere, from the Latin Raherus). Thus we may 
 always boast of being members of the oldest Hospital 
 in London, and claim whatever honour and glory 
 may belong to that distinction ; not forgetting, how- 
 ever, that with such honour comes also the greater 
 responsibility — the responsibility of Inheritance. 
 
 Among the manuscripts preserved in the British 
 Museum is one devoted almost entirely to the life 
 and acts of the founder of St. Bartholomew's 
 Hospital. 
 
 It was written, a few years after Rahere's death, 
 by one of the monks of the Priory of St. Bartho- 
 lomew the Great, the foundation of which may be 
 considered practically identical with that of St. 
 Bartholomew's Hospital, which at first formed a 
 part of it. 
 
 The author begins — 
 
 " For as mooche that the meritory and notable 
 operacyons of famofe goode and devoute faders yn
 
 The Tii'o Foundations. 
 
 God fholde be remembred, for inftrucion of after- 
 cumers to theyr confolacion and encres of devotion ; 
 thys abbrevyat Treteffe flial compendioufly expreffe 
 and declare the wondreful, and, of celeftial concel, 
 gracious fundacion of oure hoely placys, callyd the 
 Priory of Seynt Bartholomew yn Smythfyld, and of 
 the hofpital of olde tyme longyng to the fame ; with 
 other notabilities expediently to be knowyn ; and 
 mofl fpecially the glorioufe and excellent myracles 
 wroghte withyn them, by the interceffions, fuffragys, 
 and merytys of the foriayd benygne, feythful, and 
 bleffid of God apoftyl Sanft Bartholomy, ynto the 
 laude of Almyghty God, and agnicion of his infinite 
 power. 
 
 Ffyrft flial be shewyd who was ffunder of owere 
 hoely places, and howh, by grace, he was ffyrft pryor 
 of oure prior)' ; and by howh longe tyme that he 
 cbntynued yn the fame." 
 
 "And yn what ordir he sette the fundament of 
 this temple yn fewe w^ordys lette us fiiewe, as they 
 teftified to us that fey hym, herd hym, and were 
 prefente yn his werkys and dedis ; of the whiche 
 fume have take ther flepe yn Cryifte, and fume of 
 them be zitte alyve, and wytneffeth of that that we 
 fhallaftirfay."* 
 
 Rahere, continues the author of the old chronicle,! 
 was a 
 
 " Man fprung and born of low kynage ; and when 
 
 * Malcolm's LomUniiiiii Redivh'um, vol. i. p. 266. 
 
 t In my quotations from the Life of Rahere I have used, for the 
 most part, a modernised version as to spelling, and have followed Mr. 
 Saunders in his interesting article in " Knight's London" in the order 
 in which the quotations are taken.
 
 The Two Foundations. 
 
 he attained the flower of youth, he began to haunt 
 the houfeholds of noblemen and the palaces of 
 princes ; where under every elbow of them he fpread 
 their cufhions, with japes and flatterings delectably 
 anointing their eyes, by this manner to draw to him 
 their friendfliips. And flill, he was not content 
 with this, but often haunted the King's palace 
 [Henry I.], and among the noifeful prefs of that 
 tumultuous Court informed himfelf with polity and 
 cardinal fuavity, by the which he might draw to him 
 the hearts of many a one. 
 
 " There, in fpeftacles, in feasts, in plays, and other 
 courtly mockeries and trifles intending, he led forth 
 the bufmefs of all the day. This wife to the King 
 and great men, gentle and courteous and known 
 familiar and fellowly he was." 
 
 Rahere is often referred to as the King's minstrel, 
 or even his jester ; but there is no good reason 
 for believing that he ever held any official position 
 in either capacity. He seems to have been rather 
 the kind of man who would have been more 
 properly termed the King's favourite, had his birth 
 been noble or his social position more assured. 
 As it was, the inferiority of his birth was probably 
 overlooked for the sake of the brilliancy of his social 
 gifts ; although we may well believe that by those 
 who were jealous of his success he may have been 
 nicknamed the minstrel or the jester ; and the tradi- 
 tion of his having held some such position at Court 
 may have been thus originated. 
 
 Stow says, " Rahere was a pleasant-witted gentle-
 
 77/6' Two Foiindatio}is. 
 
 man, and therefore in his time called the King's 
 minstrel." 
 
 But to continue in the words of the old MS. — 
 
 " This manner of living he chofe in his beginning, 
 and in this excufed his youth. But the inward Seer 
 and Merciful God of all, he which out of Mary 
 Ma^rdalen cafl feven fiends, the which to the Fifher 
 gave the keys of Heaven, mercifully converted this 
 man from the error of his way, and added to him fo 
 many gifts of virtue. 
 
 " For why ? They that are fonnyfch and feeble 
 in the world's reputation, our Lord choofeth to 
 confound the mighty of the world." 
 
 Rahere, repenting of his follies and sins, deter- 
 mined to go to the Court of Rome — 
 
 " Coveting in fo great a labour to do the worthy 
 fruits of penance." "Where at the flirines of the 
 bleffed apoftles Peter and Paul, he weeping his deeds, 
 prayed to our Lord for remiffion of them." "And 
 while he tarried there, in that meanwhile he began 
 to be vexed with grievous ficknefs ; and his dolours 
 little and little taking their increafe, he drew to the 
 extreme of life ; the while dreading within himfelf 
 that he had not flill for his fins fatisfied to God, 
 therefore he fuppofed that God took vengeance of 
 him for his fins, amongft outlandifh people, and 
 deemed the laft hour of his death drew him nigh. 
 
 " This remembering inwardly, he filed out as water 
 his heart in the fight of God, and all brake out in 
 tears ; that he avowed, that if health God would 
 him grant, that he might return to his country, he
 
 The Two Foundations. 
 
 would make an Hofpital in recreation of poor men, 
 and to them fo there gathered, neceffaries minister 
 after his power. 
 
 "And not long after, the benign and merciful Lord, 
 that beheld the tears of Ezechie the King, the im- 
 portune prayer of the woman of Chanane, rewarded 
 with the benefit of his pity ; thus likewife mercifully 
 he beheld this weeping man, and gave him his 
 health, approved his vow. 
 
 " So of his ficknefs recovered he was ; and in fhort 
 time, whole made, began homeward to come, his 
 vow to fulfil that he had made. 
 
 " When he would perfect his way that he had 
 besrun, in a certain niorht he faw a vifion full of 
 dread and fweetnefs ; when, after the labourous and 
 fweating that he had by days, his body he with 
 reft would refrefh. It feemed him to be borne up 
 on high of a certain beafl, having four feet and two 
 wings, and fet in an high place. And when he from 
 fo great a height would inflecl: and bow down his 
 eye to the lower part downward, he beheld an horrible 
 pit, whofe horrible beholding impreffed in him great 
 dread and horror; for the deepnefs of the faid pit 
 was deeper than any man might attain to fee ; 
 therefore he, (fecret knower of his defaults) deemed 
 himfelf to Hide into that cruel a downcaft;. 
 
 "And therefore, as him feemed inwardly, he 
 fremyfhid, and for dread trembled, and great cries 
 of his mouth proceeded. 
 
 " To whom dreading and for dread crying, 
 appeared a certain man pretending in cheer the 
 majefly of a King, of great beauty and imperial 
 authority, and his eye on him faflened : ' O man,' 
 (he faid), ' what and how much fervice fhouldefl thou
 
 The Tioo Foundations. 
 
 give to him, that in fo great a peril hath brought 
 help to thee ? ' 
 
 "Anon he anfwered to this Saint, ' Whatfoever 
 might be of heart and of might, diligently fliould I 
 give, in recompenfe to my deliverer.' Then faid he, 
 ' I am Bartholomew, the apoftle of Jefus Chrift, that 
 come to fuccour thee in thine anguifh, and to open 
 to thee the fecret myfteries of Heaven. Know me 
 truly, by the will and commandment of the Holy 
 Trinity, and the common favour of the celeflial 
 Court and Council, to have chofen a place in the 
 fuburbs of London, at Smithfield, where, in mine 
 name, thou flialt found a Church, and it fhall be the 
 houfe of God ; there fliall be the tabernacle of the 
 Lamb, the temple of the Holy Ghoft : this fpiritual 
 houfe Almighty God fhall inhabit, and hallow it, and 
 glorify it. And his eyes fhall be open, and his 
 ears intending on this houfe night and day ; that 
 the afker in it fliall receive, the feeker fhall find, and 
 the ringer or knocker fliall enter ; truly every foul 
 conveited, penitent of his fin, and in this place pray- 
 ing, in Heaven gracioufly fhall be heard. The 
 feeker with perfecSt heart (for whatfoever tribulation) 
 without doubt he fhall find help. To them that with 
 faithful defire knock at the door of the Spouse, 
 affiflant Angels fliall open the gates of Heaven, 
 receiving and offering to God the vows of faithful 
 people. Wherefore thine hands be there comforted 
 in God, having in him truft; doubt thee nought; 
 only give thy diligence, and my part fhall be to pro- 
 vide neceffaries, direct, build and end this work ; 
 and this place, to me accept, with evident tokens 
 and figns, proteft and defend continually it under 
 the fhadow of my wings ; and therefore of this work
 
 The Two Foundations. 
 
 know me the mafter, and thyfelf only the minifter : 
 ufe diligently thy fe^rvice, and I fliall fhow my lord- 
 fhip.' In thefe words the Vifion difparyfchydde." 
 
 Rahere now "came to London," the monk con- 
 tinues — 
 
 " And of his knowledge and friends with great joy 
 was received ; with which alfo, and with the barons 
 of London, he fpake familiarly of thefe things that 
 were turned and ftirred in his heart ; and of that was 
 done about him in the way, he told it out ; and what 
 fhould be done of this he coimfelled of them. 
 
 " He took this anfwer that none of thefe things 
 might be perfected, but the King were firft coun- 
 felled ; namely fmce the place, godly to him fhewed, 
 was contained within the King's market." Therefore 
 "in opportune time, he adreffed him to the King." 
 " And nigh him was he in whofe hand it was to 
 whathe would the King's heart incline; and ineffectual 
 thefe prayers might not be whofe author is the 
 apoftle; whofe gracious hearer was God. His word, 
 therefore, was pleafant and acceptable in the King's 
 eye. And when he had praifed the good wit of the 
 man (prudently as he was witty), he granted to the 
 petitioner his kingly favour, benignly giving his 
 authority to execute his purpofe." 
 
 " Then nothing he omitting of care and diligence, 
 two works of piety began to make ; one for the vow 
 that he had made, another as to him by precept was 
 enjoined. Therefore the cafe profperoufly fucceeded, 
 and after the apoflle's word all neceffaries flowed 
 unto the hand. The church he made of comely flone 
 work, tablewife. And an hofpitall houfe a little 
 longer off from the church by himfelf he began to
 
 8 The Two Foundations. 
 
 edify. The church was founded (as we have taken 
 of our elders) in the month of March, in the name 
 of our Lord Jefu Chrift, in memory of the moft 
 bleffed Bartholomew apoflle the year from the In- 
 carnacion of the fame Lord our Saviour, 1123." 
 
 The Hospital was founded at about the same time 
 as the church, the most probable date of its founda- 
 tion being 1 123. 
 
 But, indeed, Rahere was not the first to whom 
 Smithfield had been pointed out as a place with a 
 great future. King Edward the Confessor had 
 dreamed a dream concerning it. In the words of 
 the MS.— 
 
 " This bleffed King, when he was in the church of 
 God (replete with manifold beauty of virtue, as tlie 
 book of his gifts declareth), as a religious and full 
 of the fpirite of prophecy, he Hione bright, beholding 
 things far off as they were prefent, and things to 
 come as they were now exiflent, with the eyes of 
 his foul by the Holy Ghofl. For he was illumined. 
 
 " The which, in a certain night when he was 
 bodily fleeping, his heart to God waking, he was 
 warned of this place, with an heavenly dream made 
 to him, that God this place had chofen, his name 
 therein to be put and fet, and holy and worfhipful 
 it fhould be fliowed to Chriftian people. Where- 
 upon this holy King, early arifmg, came to this 
 place that God had fhewed him ; and to them that 
 about him ftood, expreffed the vifion that night 
 made to him, faid before all the people, prophefied 
 this place to be great before God,
 
 TJie Two Fotindations. 
 
 " Whofe clear prophecies how they be fupported, 
 greatly with the might of truth, experience hath 
 approved it. And every faithful man may clearly 
 behold the fame." 
 
 Three men of Greece also, of noble lineage, who 
 were on pilgrimage and had entered England, 
 
 " Defirinof to vifit the bodies of faints there 
 refting," came to London and to Smithfield ; " and 
 before them that there were prefent and beheld 
 them as fimple ydiottys, began wonderful things to 
 fay and prophefy of this place, faying, ' Wonder not 
 to fee us here to worfhip God, where a full acceptable 
 temple to him fhall be builded ; for the high Maker 
 of all things will that it be builded ; and the fame 
 of this place fhall attain from the fpring of the fun 
 to the going down.' " 
 
 Rahere set himself no easy task when he deter- 
 mined to build in Smithfield. 
 
 "Truly this place" [the MS. continues] "pre- 
 tended none hope of goodnefs. Right unclean it 
 was ; and as a marfh, dungy and fenny, with water 
 almoft every time abounding ; and that that was 
 eminent above the water, dry, was deputed and 
 ordained to the jubeit or gallows of thieves, and 
 to the torment of other that were condemned by 
 judicial authority." 
 
 And here we meet with a very remarkable cir- 
 cumstance in the life of Rahere. 
 
 " Truly when Rahere had applied his fludy to the 
 purgation of this place, and decreed to put his hand
 
 lo The Tivo Foimdatioiis. 
 
 to that holy building, he was not ignorant of Satan's 
 wiles ; for he made and feigned himfelf unwife ; for 
 he was so coacted and outward pretended the cheer 
 of an idiot, and began a little while to hide the 
 fecretnefs of his foul. And the more fecretly he 
 wrought, the more wifely he did his work. Truly, 
 in playing unwife, he drew to him the fellowfhip ot 
 children and fervants, affembling himfelf as one ot 
 them ; and with their ufe and help, flones and other 
 things profitable to the building lightly he gathered 
 to<'ether." 
 
 Mr. Saunders observes* — " Rahere's object in 
 this conduct was, we presume, to avail himself of a 
 kind of superstitious reverence that appears to have 
 been not infrequently felt for persons of tliis class 
 to which he made it appear that he belonged." 
 
 But Rahere used many other means for accom- 
 plishing his object, and especially that of preaching ; 
 his manner of preaching being that which in our 
 own day, as in his, would be likeliest to obtain 
 liberal contributions. His biographer says — 
 
 " And in this wife he compaffed his fermon, that 
 now he flirred his audience to gladnefs, that all the 
 people applauded him, and incontinent anon he pro- 
 feffed fadnefs, and fo now of their fins, that all the 
 people were compelled unto fighing and weeping. 
 But he truly, in the fame cheir and foul evermore 
 perfevering, expreffed wholefome doctrine, and after 
 God and faithful fermon preached." 
 
 * " Knighi's London," vol. ii. p. 37.
 
 TJie Two Foundations. 1 1 
 
 " His life accorded to his tongue, and his deed 
 approved well his fermon, and fo, in the facrifice of 
 God, the moweth and bylle of the turtyll was re- 
 turnyd to his armepittes, and reclyned unto the 
 wynges, lest that he, preaching to othir, schulde be 
 fownde reprovable yn hymfelf. 
 
 " Of this all men were aftonifhed, both of the 
 novelty of the areyfid frame and of the founder of 
 this new work. Who would trow this place with fo 
 fudden a cleanfmg to be purged, and there to be fet 
 up the tokens of the crofs ? And God there to be 
 worfhipped where fometime flood the horrible hang- 
 ing of thieves : who fliould not be aftonifhed there 
 to fee conftructed and builded honourable buildings 
 of piety that fhould be a fure san6luary to them that 
 fled thereto, where fometime there was a common 
 officyne of damned people, and a general ordained 
 for pain of wretches ? Who fliould not marvel there 
 to be haunted the myftery of our Lord's body and 
 precious blood, where was fometime fhed out the 
 blood of gentyly and heathen people ? Whofe heart 
 lightly fhould take or admit fuch a man, not produtl 
 of gentle blood, not greatly endowed with learning 
 of men or of divine kunnynge, fo worfliipful and fo 
 great a work prudently to begin, and it begun, to 
 fo happy a progrefs from day to day to perfect and 
 perform ? " 
 
 This chapter of the MS. concludes — 
 
 " This ys the change of the right hande of God. 
 O Cryft ! thefe ben thy workys, that of thyn ex- 
 cellent vertu and fynguler pyte makyft of unclene 
 clene, and chefift the feble of the worlde, to con-
 
 12 The Tiuo Fo/iiidatioiis. 
 
 fownde the myghty ; and callift them that be nat as yt 
 wer they that been. The whiche Golgotha, the place 
 of opyn abbominacion, madift a feyntwary of prayer, 
 and a folempne tokyn or fygne of devocion." 
 
 Several miracles are related as occurring at the 
 period of the building of the Priory and Hospital ; 
 and the fame of these brought many gifts to the 
 church. When the church was being built a light 
 was seen at Evensong to play upon it for the space 
 of an hour, then suddenly flash up into the sky and 
 disappear. 
 
 A man who had been paralytic for many years 
 was taken in a basket to the altar of the new church, 
 and recovered the use of his limbs. 
 
 A young man, Osberne by name, whose right hand 
 stuck to his left shoulder, and whose head stuck to 
 his hand, was also cured at St. Bartholomew's. 
 
 A woman's tongue could not be contained in her 
 mouth. Rahere touched it with relics and painted 
 it with holy water, and within the same hour it 
 went back between her teeth. 
 
 Many other miracles are related by the good 
 monk ; but these will suffice to show at what an 
 early period of English history St. Bartholomew's 
 became famous for gifts of healing. 
 
 When the Hospital was finished its full staff of 
 officers was composed of a Master, of eight Brethren, 
 and four Sisters. 
 
 The first master was appointed by Rahere him- 
 self — an old man, Alfun by name, " to whom was,"
 
 The Two Foundations. 13 
 
 as the MS. states, "fad age, and fadness of age, 
 with experience of long time." 
 
 The other titles of Alfun were Hospitaler or Proctor 
 for tending the poor. His chief duties consisted 
 in begging provisions and other necessaries for the 
 Priory and Hospital, these supplementing, without 
 doubt, in a very useful manner, the gifts that were 
 obtained through the preaching and the fame of the 
 miracles. In the words of the MS. — 
 
 " It was manner and cuftom to this Alfun, with 
 minifters of the church, to compafs and go about the 
 high places of the church, bufily to feek and provide 
 neceffaries, to the need of the poor men that lay in 
 the hofpital ; and to them that were hired to the 
 making up of the church. And that that was com- 
 mitted to him, truly to bring home, and to sundry 
 men, as it was need, for to divide." 
 
 Alfun himself was a church-builder, having not 
 long before built the church of St. Giles, Cripple- 
 gate. 
 
 Towards the end of his life troubles of a new 
 kind assailed Rahere. 
 
 " Some faid he was a deceiver, for caufe that in 
 the net of the Great Fifher evil fifh were mingled 
 with good. Before the hour of the laft diffever- 
 ance, his houfehold people were made his enemies, 
 and fo rofe againfl him wicked men and wicked- 
 nefs laid to himfelf. Therefore with pricking envy, 
 many privately, many alfo openly, againfl the fervant
 
 14 The Two Foundations. 
 
 of God ceafed not to <rrudcre, and in derogation to 
 the place and prelate of the fame, brought many 
 flanders with threatenings. The goods that they 
 might they withdrewe and took away ; conflrained 
 him with wickednefs, made weary him with injuries, 
 provoked him with defpites, beguiled him with fimu- 
 lated friendfhips." 
 
 There was even a plot against his life, which, 
 however, failed on account of the confession of a 
 penitent conspirator. 
 
 Rahere came well out of his troubles. For he 
 appealed to the King, begging that he 
 
 "Would open the bofom of his pity to them that 
 were defolate," and " reftrain the barking folly of 
 unfaithful people." 
 
 The King thereupon confirmed his previous grant 
 by a charter, which gave full liberty and great privi- 
 leges to the Priory and Hospital. 
 
 Rahere died, after having been Prior twenty-two 
 years and six months. In the words of his bio- 
 grapher — 
 
 " The clay houfe of this world he forfook, and the 
 houfe everlafting he entered, that founded this houfe, 
 into the laude and honoure of the name of Chrifl ; 
 that in the houfe of his father he might be crowned, 
 in his mildnefs and in his mercies." 
 
 Rahere was a man, says his biographer, 
 
 " Not having cunning of liberal fcience, but that
 
 The Two Foundations. 15 
 
 that is more eminent than all cunning ; for he was 
 riched in purity of confcience ; towards God by devo- 
 tion ; towards his brethren by humility ; towards 
 his enemies by benevolence. And thus himfelf he 
 exercifed them, patiently suffering ; whofe proved 
 purity of foul, bright manners, with honeft probity, 
 expert diligence in divine fervice, prudent bufmefs 
 in temporall miniftrations, in him were greatly to 
 praife and commendable. In feafts he was fober, 
 and namely the follower of hofpitality. Tribula- 
 tions of wretches, neceffities of the poor people, 
 oportunely admitting, patiently fupporting, com- 
 petently fpedynge. In profperity not ynprided. In 
 adverfity patient ; and whatfoever misfortune came 
 to him, he refted himfelf under the fhadow of his 
 patron that he worfhipped, whom he clipped to him 
 within the bowel of his foul ; in whofe help for all 
 perils he was fecure, and preferved. 
 
 Thus he, fubject to the King of Blifs with all 
 meeknefs, provided with all diligence that was 
 neceffary to his fubjects ; and fo providing, increafed 
 daily to himfelf, before God and man, grace ; to the 
 place reverence ; to his friends, gladnefs ; to his 
 enemies pain ; to his aftercomers joy." 
 
 Different views have been taken of the character 
 of Rahere. It has been said that what he did in 
 the latter part of his life was as much an evidence 
 of his cunning and desire of self-advancement as the 
 japes and flatterings which obtained promotion for 
 him in his youth. Mr. Henry Morley in his book, 
 " Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair," adopts this view, 
 and looks upon all the miracles so-called, by means of
 
 1 6 The Two Foundations. 
 
 which offerinsjs were obtained, as so many pieces of 
 jugglery not far removed from those which formed 
 a staple part of the entertainment provided in the 
 booths of the great Fair which was held annually just 
 outside, and indeed inside, the Priory walls. And of 
 course, if we think of Rahere as a man of the nine- 
 teenth instead of the twelfth century, the accusation 
 would be sufficiently well founded. A man who 
 now used the word " miracle " as appropriate lo the 
 unglueing of a young man whose left hand stuck to 
 his right shoulder would deserve no better title 
 than that of an impostor. But we cannot justly 
 estimate the character of Rahere on such grounds 
 as these. We may as well complain of his not 
 speaking modern English. Human nature remains 
 the same in all the times about which we have any 
 record. And it is from this fact, as well as from the 
 details provided by the monk of St. Bartholomew's 
 Priory, that we are able to realise the character of 
 Rahere. It is not difficult to imagine the man 
 who, after living a life of gaiety and fashion, the com- 
 panion and flatterer of the rich and noble, became 
 conscious of the true value of the wares which were 
 bought and sold in the Vanity Fair in which he 
 dwelt. Weary of the life he was leading, and per- 
 haps as much disgusted by the very success of his 
 worldly career as by anything else, he determines 
 to do all in his power to make amends for his 
 wasted youth and opportunities. The vision of the 
 four-footed winged beast and the manifestation of
 
 The Two Foundations. 17 
 
 St. Bartholomew are but expressions of the spirit of 
 the age in which he hved, and the natural result, in 
 such a time, of a vivid and poetic imagination ; but 
 the feeling which led him to found the Hospital is 
 with us in the nineteenth as it was with him in the 
 twelfth century, and many good works are now done 
 with the same aspirations. 
 
 As we think of Rahere's work, his energy, his 
 perseverance, his difficulties ; his determination to 
 accomplish what he felt to be his duty to do ; his 
 refusal to be discouraged by the feeble support of 
 friends or the calumnies of enemies ; his willing- 
 ness to be reckoned a fanatic, or, much worse to 
 bear, even a fool, if he may only by that means help 
 on the good work — as we think of all this we may 
 well be proud of our Founder, and be stirred up to 
 follow in his footsteps. The motto which is written 
 over the entrance of our new school-buildings (for 
 they still seem new to the seniors amongst us) 
 might have been chosen by Rahere himself — 
 " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
 thy might." 
 
 Rahere was buried in his own church, of which, 
 however, only a part — the choir — now remains. But 
 this is a noble fragment ; and' 'within the last few 
 years much has been done to guard it from further 
 decay, and to clear away from its walls and founda- 
 tions various ignoble structures which the careless- 
 ness of past generations had allowed to accumulate. 
 Without doubt every one who is now entering St.
 
 1 8 The Tivo Foitiidations. 
 
 Bartholomew's Hospital for the first time will take 
 an early opportunity of visiting this building, now 
 the parish church of St. Bartholomew the Great, 
 which stands just outside the Hospital walls. And 
 when he does so he will not fail to be impressed by 
 its beautiful proportions, and to regret that so small 
 a part of the original structure remains. 
 
 Rahere's tomb is in the north wall of the chancel 
 (see Frontispiece). It consists of a highly wrought 
 stone-work screen or, rather, canopy, with finely 
 groined roof, beneath which is the sarcophagus ; 
 and on this the effigy of Rahere in black robes is 
 seen, extended at full length, with shaven crown, 
 and hands elevated as in prayer. At his feet, on a 
 cloud, stands an angel, crowned, holding the arms 
 of the Priory ; while by him kneel two monks, 
 habited, like Rahere, in black robes, each with a 
 Bible in his hands, open at the 51st chapter of the 
 prophet Isaiah. The third verse of the chapter, 
 which is inscribed on the little stone tablets, is sig- 
 nificant of the work which Rahere did when he 
 covered the marshy ground of Smithfield with 
 beautiful buildings for the praise and worship of 
 God and good deeds to men — " He will comfort 
 all her waste places ; and He will make her wilder- 
 ness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of 
 the Lord ; joy and gladness shall be found therein, 
 thanksgiving, and the voice of melody." 
 . On the front of the sarcophagus are the four 
 following: shields of arms : —
 
 TJie Two Foundations. 19 
 
 London. 
 England. 
 The Priory. 
 Gules, a bend between two martlets. 
 
 And round the ledge is this inscription — 
 
 " Hie jacet Raherus primus Canonicus 
 et primus prior hujus ecclesije." 
 
 The date of Rahere's tomb is not certainly known, 
 but it is much later than that of the Priory church. 
 Some have thought that the painted stone figure of 
 the Founder is older than the tomb, and that it is a 
 portrait executed when the features of the Prior 
 were known. Mr. Morley observes,'"' " The statue 
 has undoubtedly a real and individual, not a con- 
 ventional face," and, he adds, "answers very well 
 to our impression of the person whom it represents." 
 
 Some mental effort is required before we can in 
 any way realise the great difference between a Hos- 
 pital so-called of the twelfth century, or indeed of a 
 much later period, and a Hospital of the present day. 
 In a grant of privileges to St. Bartholomew's Hospital 
 by Edward HI. its functions are thus stated — "Ad 
 omnes pauperes infirmos ad idem hospitale con- 
 fluentes quousque de infirmitatibus suisconvaluerint, 
 ac mulieres preegnantes quousque de puerperio sur- 
 rexerint, necnon ad omnes pueros de eisdem mulieri- 
 bus genitos, usque septennium, si dictae mulieres 
 intra hospitale praedictum decesserint." And it 
 
 * " Memoirs of B;irtholoniew Fair," p. 48.
 
 20 TJic Two Foundations. 
 
 seems probable that these corresponded pretty 
 nearly with the work assigned to it by the Founder. 
 
 However this may be, the lying-in and sick wards 
 of a parish Workhouse of the present day pro- 
 bably represent more nearly the condition of the 
 Hospital for some centuries after its foundation than 
 any department of a modern Hospital. 
 
 But indeed we know very little of its plan or 
 extent until after the lapse of several generations, 
 by which time it would have undergone many 
 changes and reconstructions. (I may mention in 
 passing that one of these restorations of the Hospital 
 was carried out in accordance with a bequest by 
 that hero of our childhood, Richard Whittington, 
 Lord Mayor of London, in the year 1423.) 
 
 Whether St. Bartholomew's Hospital was in its 
 early days much resorted to in cases of surgical 
 emergencies I cannot tell ; probably not. But 
 with regard to this point a word or two may be 
 said. 
 
 As all know, Smithfield or Smoothfield was noted 
 as a place for tournaments ; indeed the name of the 
 street which leads into it from Holborn (Giltspur 
 Street) is derived, as Stow seems to assume, from 
 "the Knightes and other riding that way into 
 Smithfielde." And I hope I may be forgiven for 
 digressing for a moment to quote a description from 
 Stow* of one of the cavalcades of which there is now 
 so little in our surrounding's to remind us. 
 
 * Stow's "Survey of London," 1603, p. 383.
 
 The Two Foundations. 21 
 
 "In the 14th of Richard the Second, after 
 Frofart, Ro\all Juftes and Tournements were 
 proclaimed to be done in Smithfield, to begin 
 on Sunday next after the feaft of St. Michael ; 
 many ftrangers came forth of other countries, 
 namely Valarian Earle of St. Paul, that had 
 married King Richards fifter, the Lady Maud 
 Courtney, and William the yong Earle of Oftarnant, 
 fonne to Albart of Bauiere, Earle of Holland and 
 Henault. At the day appointed, there iffued forth 
 of the tower, about the third houre of the day, 60 
 courfers, apparrelled tor the Jufts, and upon every 
 one an Efquier of honour riding a foft pace : then 
 came forth 60 Ladyes of honour, mounted upon 
 palfraies, riding on the one fide, richly apparrelled, 
 and every Lady led a Knight with a chayne of gold ; 
 thofe Knights being on the King's party had their 
 armour and apparrell garnifhed with white hartes, 
 and crownes of gold above the harts neckes. So 
 they came riding through the ftreetes of London to 
 Smithfield, with a great number of trumpets and 
 other inftruments of muficke before them." " Then 
 alighted the Efquiers of honour from their courfers, 
 and the Knights in good order mounted upon them ; 
 and after their helmets were fet on their heads, and 
 being ready in all points, proclamation made by the 
 Haraults, the Juftes began ; and many commend- 
 able courfes were runne, to the great pleafure of the 
 beholders. This Juftes continued many dayes with 
 great feafting, as ye may read in Frofard." 
 
 With scenes such as these in Smithfield, it ap- 
 pears to me not too fanciful a notion that many
 
 22 The Two Foimdatioiis. 
 
 a dismounted knight has been taken within the 
 friendly shelter of the Hospital to be mended of his 
 wounds and bruises by the priestly house-surgeons 
 and dressers of the period, who would staunch the 
 bleeding with the red-hot iron or the boiling pitch 
 with kindly sympathy and in as tender a manner as 
 the nature of the case permitted. 
 
 And that it is not a mere fancy which would 
 lead one to think that the wounded would be taken 
 from Smithfield into St. Bartholomew's Hospital 
 may be gathered from an interesting historical fact 
 which is thus recorded in Stow's Chronicles (second 
 edit, p. 461). 
 
 The scene is that so well known in English 
 history, in which Richard the Second rides to 
 Smithfield to meet the rebels there assembled 
 under the leadership of Wat Tyler. 
 
 " The Mayor [William Walworth] being of an 
 incomparable boldneffe and manhoode without any 
 doubting flraight arrefted him \i.e. Wat Tyler] on 
 ye head. Wat Tyler furioufly ftrake the Mayor 
 with his dagger, but hurte him not by meane he 
 was armed. Then the Mayor drew his bafelard and 
 grievoufly wounded Wat in the necke, and gave 
 him a great blow on the head ; in which conflicle, 
 an Efquireofthe King's houfe called John Cavendifli, 
 drew his fworde and wounded him twife or thrife 
 even unto death ; and Wat, fpurring his horfe, cried 
 to the Commons to avenge him ; his horfe bare him 
 about foure fcore foote from thence, where he fell
 
 TJie Two Foundations. 23 
 
 downe halfe dead, and by and by they which 
 attended on the King, invironed him all about, 
 whereby he was not feene of his company ; and 
 other thruft him in with their weapons in divers 
 places of his body ; and then they drewe him from 
 amongft the people's feete into the hofpitall of Saint 
 Bartilmewe." 
 
 The Mayor rushed to the city for help, and 
 when he returned to Smithfield, "and did not 
 finde Wat Tyglar (as hee left him wounded) hee 
 greatly marvayled, demanding where the traytor 
 was; and it was told him that he was carried 
 into the Hofpitall of Saint Bartilmewe, and laid in 
 the Mafler's chamber. The Mayor went flraight 
 thither, and made him to bee carried into Smithfield, 
 and there caiifed him to bee beheaded, his head to 
 bee fet on a pole, and borne before him to the King, 
 then remayning in the field ; and the King caufed it 
 to be borne neere unto him, therewith to abafh the 
 Commons, greatly thanking the Mayor for that afte." 
 
 The cattle markets and the horse fairs and the 
 great annual Fair at St. Bartholomew-tide would 
 also, it may be imagined, provide plenty of surgical 
 cases in the early periods of the Hospital's exist- 
 ence. But whether this be so or not, we may be 
 certain that during the four centuries which elapsed 
 between its first and second Foundations St. Bar- 
 tholomew's Hospital did much good work ; and 
 that while many were cured of their injuries and 
 diseases, there were also many sick and weary 
 folk, then as now, who were thankful to lie down 
 and take their final rest within its walls.
 
 24 The Two Foiuidatious. 
 
 II. 
 
 In the downfall of the monastic institutions at 
 the time of the Reformation the Priory and Hospi- 
 tal of Saint Bartholomew did not escape, and the 
 ecclesiastical part, the Prior and his black-robed 
 Canons, the religious rites and ceremonies, disap- 
 peared without much regret, probably, on the part 
 of the majority of the people. 
 
 But with the Hospital the case was different. 
 It was necessary to provide still for the diseased and 
 the infirm ; and what the Church was now unable to 
 do must be done by the State or by civic or private 
 benevolence. In 1537 Sir Thomas Gresham, the 
 Lord Mayor, with the Aldermen and the citizens, 
 be wed the Kingf to trrant to them the governance 
 of the Hospitals then existing in London, and 
 among them of St. Bartholomew's. 
 
 The spirit of the times is expressed in the peti- 
 tion, or perhaps this was worded with the special 
 intention of pleasing the King. 
 
 It speaks of such institutions being 
 
 " Fownded of good devocon by auncyent fathers, 
 and endowed w' great poffeffions and rents, onely 
 for the relyeff, comforte and ayde of the poore and 
 indygent people not beyng hable to helpe theym- 
 felffs, and not to the maynten'nce of preefles, chanons, 
 and monks, carnally lyvyng as they of late have 
 doon, nothyng regardyng the myferable people lyeng
 
 The Two Foundations. 25 
 
 in the flreete, offendyng every clene perfon paffyng 
 by the way w' theyre fylthye and naflye favors." * 
 
 No attention seems to have been paid at first to 
 the petition, or at least to the part of it which 
 begged the transfer of the revenues of the several 
 establishments specified therein to the Corporation 
 of the City of London. Their property was in the 
 meanwhile held by the Crown. After about six 
 years, however, letters patent of the date June 23 
 1544, were issued, by which, after reciting that the 
 Hospital of St. Bartholomew's was then altogether 
 vacant and destitute of Master and Fellows or 
 Brethren, and that the same and the possessions 
 thereof had therefore fallen to the Crown, the said 
 King, endeavouring that there should be 
 
 " Comfort to the prifoners, fhelter to the poor, 
 vifitation to the fick, food to the hungry, drink to 
 the thirfty, clothes to the naked, and fepulture to 
 the dead adminillered there, ere6led and founded 
 an hofpital, to confift of one mafter and prieft, and 
 four chaplain priefts, to be called the Vice- INI after, 
 the Curate, the Hofpitaler, and the Vifitor of the 
 prifoners in Newgate ; and the faid King granted to 
 the faid mafter and chaplains the fite, ambit, and 
 precincls of the faid hofpital and the church, and all 
 places parcels of and within the fame hofpital, to- 
 gether with the goods and chattels thereof, to hold 
 the fame in pure and perpetual alms." 
 
 •"Report of Commissioners for Inquiring concerning Charities, 
 1840." Christ's Hospital Appendix, p. 344.
 
 26 The Two Foundations. 
 
 The government of the Hospital was lodged in 
 the body thus constituted, but the possessions were 
 not regranted to them, nor was any visitatorial or 
 other authority over them vested in the Corporation 
 of the City of London. 
 
 As might have been anticipated, this attempt to 
 refound the Hospital without its revenues, which the 
 King retained in his own hands, only resulted in 
 failure ; and, indeed, it does not appear that the new 
 constitution ever came into active operation. But 
 about two years afterwards, induced by the earnest 
 solicitations of the citizens, and perhaps by the 
 distress consequent upon the suppression of the 
 religious houses, the King consented to grant to the 
 Corporation of the City of London a new charter, 
 by which the Hospital should be refounded for the 
 reception of one hundred poor and sick, and to 
 endow it from its former possessions to the extent 
 of five hundred marks per annum, upon condition 
 that the citizens should be bound yearly for ever to 
 give a like sum. The actual instrument by which 
 this obligation was entered into is not now extant ; 
 but the fact of its execution on the 13th April 1546, 
 is recited in an Act of Common Council, 20th 
 December 1548.* 
 
 Thus the second Foundation of the Hospital came 
 about, and we call King Henry VHL the second 
 Founder. 
 
 The gift of the Hospital to the city had been 
 
 * " Report of Commissioners for Inquiring concerning Charities, 1840."
 
 The Two Foundations. 27 
 
 previously announced by the Bishop of Rochester 
 in a sermon at Paul's Cross. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that all troubles 
 were past with the handing over of the Hospital to 
 the Corporation. There were some, it seems, in 
 those days, who assumed such to be the case, and 
 who expected that all at once the Hospital would be 
 able to get into good working order, and maintain 
 its hundred poor men and women. They appear, 
 indeed, to have openly slandered those who were 
 responsible for the management because this was 
 not so. 
 
 The accusations were considered worthy of a 
 reply on the part of the governing body ; and 
 this reply was issued in the form of a Preface, with 
 an account of the rules and regulations of the Hos- 
 pital, so that all men might know exactly how 
 matters stood with the New Foundation. 
 
 This Preface and copy of the regulations was 
 first published in the reign of Edward VI., and 
 again printed in 1580 and 1652. 
 
 A copy which I bought at a second-hand book- 
 seller's, and carried off as a great prize, many years 
 ago, is the reprint of 1652 ; and this, with the 
 permission of the Editors, I published in the last 
 volume of our Hospital Reports. 
 
 In the Preface the writer begins by saying : — 
 
 " The wickednefs of report at this day, good 
 Reader, is grown to fuch rancknefs, that nothing
 
 28 The Two Foundations. 
 
 almofl is able to defend it felfe againfl; the venime 
 thereof; but tliat either with open flander, or privy 
 whifpering, it fhall be fo undermined, that it (hall 
 neither have the good fuccefs, which otherwife it 
 might, nay the thanks which for the worthinefs it 
 ought." 
 
 Then, after reciting the gift and endowment of the 
 King, and the amount to be contributed by the 
 citizens, the writer proceeds to describe the dilapi- 
 dated condition of the houses which formed the 
 King's part of the new endowment, and the expen- 
 diture which was necessary to restore them to a 
 decent condition. As for the Hospital itself, there 
 was found in it, to quote the writer's words, only 
 
 " So much of houfliold implements and fluffe, 
 towards the fuccouring of this hundred pjor, as 
 fufficed three or four harlots, then lying in childe- 
 bed, and no more, yea, barely fo much, if but neceffary 
 cleanlinefs were regarded, fo farre had the godly 
 meaning of the gracious King been abufed at thofe 
 dayes ; and yet was little then fmelled and lefs 
 talked of." 
 
 And then, after a few more hard knocks at the 
 slanderers—" I fear me, having all their zeal in their 
 tongue onely." 
 
 The writer asserts that " the good citizens which 
 now for thefe five years fpace have fhunned for no 
 loathfomenefs, to adminifler the reliefe without 
 other gain then that Jefiis Chrift, God and man.
 
 The Tivo Foundations. 29 
 
 promifeth, and will undoubtedly pay, have here 
 received nothing elfe but for a commune benefit, 
 an open detraction, and the poor (as fliall after- 
 ward appear) a larger hindrance. Where in the 
 mean feafon notwithftanding, there have been 
 healed of the Pocks, Fiftulaes, filthy Blains and 
 Sores, to the number of eight hundred, and 
 thence fafe delivered, that other having need 
 may enter in their room. Befide eight fcore and 
 twelve, that have there forfaken this life, in their 
 intolerable miferies and griefes, which elfe might 
 have dyed, and ftunck in the eyes and nofes of 
 the city, for all thefe charity tenderers, if this place 
 had not vouched fafe to become a pump alone, to 
 eafe a commune abhorring." 
 
 And then, after referring to the large expenditure 
 necessary, 
 
 " The wages of the chirurgions, and fuch officers 
 and fervants, as needfully are attendant about the 
 poor, the charges of bedding and fhift for fo many fore 
 and difeafed, and the exceffive prices of all things 
 at this day," he adds, " they might both marvell 
 how fo many are there relieved, and daily main- 
 tained ; and with repentance " [and here is another 
 hard knock] " of that they have miffaid, endevour 
 themfelves with as much good report and praife, to 
 advance both the deed and the doers, to wipe away 
 the flander, as they have to hinder them both by the 
 contrary." 
 
 However, as he says, it is "doubtful! whether they 
 will do as they may, and of confcience are bounden."
 
 30 TJie Two Foundations. 
 
 And we shall certainly agree with the writer in 
 this ; as he would be a very rare kind of slanderer 
 who confessed and tried to make amends when he 
 was proved to be in the wrong. 
 The writer continues — 
 
 " The flander is fo wide fpred, that a narrow 
 remedy cannot amend it. It is thought good to the 
 Lord Mayor of this city of London, as chief Patron 
 and Governor of this Hofpitall, in the name of the 
 city, to publifli at this prefent the overfeers and 
 orders by him appointed, partly for the flay and 
 redrefs of fuch flander, and partly for that it might 
 be an open witnefs, and knowledge unto all men, 
 how things are adminiftered there, and by whom. 
 Wherein if any man judge more to be fet forth in 
 word, then in deed is followed, there be means to 
 refolve him. But if there be not fo much fet forth 
 as is expedient (as what thing at the firlt can attain 
 to the top of perfedlnefs ?) or that any man fpieth, 
 ought in this order worthy to bee reformed, he fliall 
 not need to cry it at the Crofs, but fhall finde thofe 
 at the Hofpitall, that both gladly will and may 
 reform it. 
 
 "The Lord Jefus Chrifl, kindle in us all that 
 faith that worketh by love, that we may indeed put 
 on Chrifl our righteoufnefs before God, and not 
 fuffer him to lye up in Preffe, that feeketh to be 
 worn to the glory of his Father, and ours, and to 
 the Teftimony of our hope laid up in him. Amen." 
 
 Then, after the Preface, from which I have not 
 time to quote more, follows an account of the
 
 The Two Foundations. 31 
 
 Governors and Officers of the New Foundation. 
 The Governors were — 
 
 " The Prefident, alway the Seniour Alderman. 
 
 Surveyors, four — two Aldermen and two Com- 
 muners. 
 
 Almoifners, four — one Alderman and three Com- 
 muners. 
 
 The Treafurer — a Communer. 
 
 Scrutiners, two — both Communers. 
 
 The Officers were seven in number — 
 
 " The Hofpitaler. 
 The Renter Clerk. 
 The Butler and Steward. 
 The Porter. 
 The Matron. 
 The Sifters, twelve. 
 The Byddles, eight. 
 
 " There are alfo in a kinde by themfelves, three 
 Chirurgians in the wages of the Hofpitall, giving 
 daily attendance upon the cures of the poor. 
 
 "And a minifter named the Vifitour of Newgate, 
 according to his office and charge." 
 
 Then follow the charofes, or directions concerningf 
 their duties, to the various Governors and Officers ; 
 this custom of delivering a charg^e to each Officer on 
 his appointment being kept up at the present day. 
 And although, in accordance with alterations in the 
 duties, many changes have been made, the quaint
 
 32 The Two Foundations. 
 
 language of the old forms is still to some extent pre- 
 served. 
 
 As this little book of "Orders and Ordinances" 
 has been so recently reprinted,'" and is now acces- 
 sible to all, I will touch but briefly on its contents. 
 But I shall be pardoned, I hope, for giving a few 
 extracts. 
 
 Not the least of its charms is the religious spirit 
 (in the best sense of the term) in which the orders 
 are conceived. In undertaking the duties of 
 Treasurer, for example, or Almoner, or other 
 honorary officer, it is assumed that a Governor 
 undertakes a solemn religious duty, and he is 
 reminded of this in the concluding sentence of 
 his charge. Thus, after reciting the duties of 
 the Treasurer, the charge concludes with these 
 words — 
 
 " And in recompence of your pains, ye fhall be 
 affured of the mercies layed up for you in the pro- 
 mifes, and bloud of Jefu Chrifl; our Saviour." 
 
 So with the Surveiour— " And for your pains 
 taking here God hath promifed to give you reft 
 and pleafure in heaven perpetually." And fo for 
 the Scrutiners and the Auditours. 
 
 The chirurgeons too are admonished not to 
 neglect to give good counsel to their patients. 
 
 " Alfo at all fuch times as ye fhall goe to the 
 dreffmg of any difeafed perfon in this houfe, as much 
 
 • "St. Bartiiolomew's Hospital Reports," vol. xx., 1884.
 
 The Two Foundations. 33 
 
 as in you is, ye fhall give unto him or her faithful! 
 and good counfell, willing them to minde to fin no 
 more, and to bee thankfull unto Almighty God, for 
 whofe fake they are here comforted of men." 
 
 And at the end of the book is a form of thanks- 
 giving— 
 
 " To be faid by the poor that are cured in the 
 Hofpitall, at the time of their delivery from thence, 
 upon their knees in the Hall before the Hofpitaler, 
 and two M afters of this Houfe at the leaft. And 
 this the Hofpitaler fliall charge them to learn with- 
 out the Book, before they bee delivered." 
 
 In comparing the charges of the various officers 
 of the Hospital now with those which were delivered 
 to them in the time of the second Founder, Henry 
 VHI., one is struck by the differences which the 
 lapse of time has brought about. 
 
 The Hospitaler, besides looking after the spiritual 
 welfare of the patients by reading and preaching, re- 
 ceived the provisions from the steward, and delivered 
 so much as he thought necessary to the cook ; and 
 the provisions being dressed, he was to see that they 
 were truly delivered and distributed to the patients. 
 
 The Matron was to receive of the Hospitaler the 
 sick and diseased persons to be admitted, and to 
 bestow them in such convenient places as she should 
 think meet. 
 
 The Matron, too, was to receive the flax provided 
 by the Governors, and set the 
 
 c
 
 34 The Two Foundations. 
 
 " Sifters to fpinning it, or doinof fome other 
 manner of work that may avoid idlenefs and be 
 profitable to the poor of this houfe." 
 
 In the Matron's charge is also the following: — 
 
 " Ye fliall fuffer no poor perfon of this houfe to 
 fit and drink within your houfe at no time, neither 
 fhall yea fo fend them drink into their wards, that 
 thereby drunkennefs might be ufed and continued 
 among them, but as much as in you fhall lye, ye 
 fhall exhort them to vertue and temperance, declaring 
 this houfe to be appointed for the harbour and fuc- 
 cour of the deer members of Chrifl's body, and not 
 of drunkards and unthankfull perfons." 
 
 The Sisters seem to have required a deal of look- 
 ing after in the reign of Henry VIII. They were 
 not to leave the woman's ward after the hour of 
 seven of the clock in the winter, and nine of the 
 clock in the summer — 
 
 " Except fome great and fpeciall caufe (as the 
 prefent danger of death or needfull fuccour of fome 
 poor perfon)." 
 
 But some selection even here was exercised, for at 
 
 " Such a fpeciall time it fhall not be lawfull for 
 every Sifter to go forth to any perfon or perfons (no 
 though it be in her own ward), but onely for fuch 
 Sifters as the Matron fliall think vertuous, godly, 
 and difcreet."
 
 The Two Foundations. 35 
 
 And then in the Sisters' charge follows the special 
 command — 
 
 " And fo much as in you fhall lye, ye fliall avoid 
 and fliun the converfation and company of all men." 
 
 An order which, I have no doubt, was as implicitly 
 obeyed then as any similar command would be now. 
 
 The Porters had certain duties more or less re- 
 sembling those belonging to them now, but they also 
 exercised a general supervision over the patients, to 
 see that there was no disorderly conduct in the 
 wards. They had also a power of summary punish- 
 ment. 
 
 " And whatfoever poor perfon fhall be found a 
 fwearer or an unreverent ufer of his mouth towards 
 God or his holy name, or a contemner of the Matron, 
 or other officer of this houfe, or that fhall refufe to 
 go to bed at the lawfuU houres before appointed, 
 him fhall ye punifh (after once warning given) in 
 the ftocks, and further declare his follie unto the 
 Almoners of this houfe, that they may take fuch 
 order with him or them, as fhall feem meet by their 
 difcretions." 
 
 The Beadles (Bedells or Byddles) then performed 
 the duties of constables for the city. When not 
 specially on duty in the Hospital they were to walk 
 about the city, 
 
 " Every man taking his feparate walk." "And if 
 in any of your walks yee fhall happen to efpy any 
 perfon infefted with any lothely griefe or difeafe.
 
 36 The Two Foitiidations. 
 
 which fhall fortune to lye in any notable place of 
 this City, to the noyance and infeftion of paffers by, 
 and flander of this houfe, ye fhall then give know- 
 ledge thereof to the Almoners of this Hofpitall, that 
 they may take fuch order therein as to them fhall 
 be thought meet." 
 
 & 
 
 The Beadles were to be also on the watch for any 
 who had been healed in the Hospital, and who 
 should afterwards counterfeit any disease and beg 
 for charity. 
 
 " And if ye fhall fortune to find any fo doing, ye 
 fhall immediately commit him, or them, to fome 
 Cage, and give knowledge thereof to the Governors 
 of this houfe." " Alfo ye fliall not fuffer any fturdy 
 or idle begger or vagabound, to begge or afk almes 
 within tliis City of London, or Siiburbes of the fame, 
 but yee fhall forthwith commit all fuch to ward, and 
 immediately fignifie the name and furname of him, 
 or them, to the Alderman of that ward, when ye 
 fhall apprehend any fuch begger, or elfe to the Lord 
 Mayor." 
 
 Among the list of officers of St. Bartholomew's 
 Hospital was also, as I have said, a Visitour of the 
 neighbouring prison of Newgate, whose charge was 
 to visit 
 
 "All the poor and miferable captives within the 
 Prifon of Newgate, and minifler unto them fuch ordi- 
 nary fervice at times convenient, as is appointed 
 by the King's Majeflie's book for ordinary Prayer. 
 Alfo that he learn without book the mofl wholfome
 
 The Two Foundations. 37 
 
 fentences of holy Scripture, that may comfort a 
 defperate man, that readily ye may minifter them to 
 fuch perfons as yee fhall perceive them moft needfull 
 to be miniftered unto." 
 
 Then the Clerk gives us an account of the annual 
 expenditure of the Hospital ; but I fear he will get 
 but little sympathy from us with regard to the 
 "exceffive prices of all things," of which he speaks 
 in the Preface. 
 
 Thus the Matron's board wages were eighteen- 
 pence the week, and her livery thirteen shillings 
 and fourpence a year. A Sister received sixteen- 
 pence a week for board wages and ten shillings a 
 year for her livery. The diet of each patient was 
 reckoned to cost twopence per day. The salary of 
 the Steward (Steward and Baker) was /[^b, 13s. 3d. 
 The Cook received but £b a year for his meat, 
 drink, and wages. In comparison with these the 
 Chirurgeons seem to have been well paid, for each 
 of the three received about ^20 a year. 
 
 The total amount of the certain charges was 
 ^798, 2S. per annum. 
 
 The uncertain charges are thus given — 
 
 " For Shirts, Smocks, and other apparell for the 
 poor, needfull, either at their comming in or depar- 
 ture. For Sugar and Spices for Cawdles for the 
 fick, Flax for Sheets, and Weaving of the fame, 
 Soltwich Cloth for Winding Sheets, Bolls, Brooms, 
 Bafkets, Incenfe, Juniper, Afhes to buck their 
 Clothes. And alfo money given to the poor at
 
 38 The Two Foundations. 
 
 tlieir departure, which is meafured according to 
 their journey and need." 
 
 These uncertain charges amounted in one year to 
 ^60. The endowment of the Hospital by the 
 King and by the City of London amounting only to 
 ;^666, 13s., 4d., there was a deficit of about ;if 130, 
 in addition to the sum expended in the uncertain 
 items — 
 
 " Which onely," the Clerk adds, " rifelh of the 
 charity of certain mercifull Citizens, for whofe con- 
 tinuance with the encreafe of moe, we earneflly pray 
 unto the fountain of mercy, Jefus Chrifl, the Lord 
 of all, to whom for ever appertain, the Kingdome, the 
 power, and the glory, world without end. Amen." 
 
 In 1552 the repairing of the Hospital was begun ; 
 and it was carried out and completed by means of 
 subscriptions raised in the city after the following 
 manner, as related by Stow * : — 
 
 "Then alfo were orders devifed for reliefe of 
 the poore, the inhabitantes were all called to their 
 parifli churches, where by Sir Richard Dobbes, their 
 Maior, their feverall Aldermen, or other grave Citi- 
 zens, they were by eloquent orations perfwaded how 
 great and how many commodities would enfue 
 unto them and their Citie if the poore of divers forts 
 which they named, were taken from out their ftreets, 
 lanes, and allyes, and were beftowed and provided 
 
 * Stow's " Survey of London," second ed., p. 378.
 
 The Tiuo Foiindatio)is. 39 
 
 for in Hofpitalles abroade, fo therefore was every 
 man moved liberally to graunt what they woulde 
 impart towardes the preparing and furnifhing of fuch 
 Hofpitals. And alfo -what they would contribute 
 weekly towardes their maintenance for a time, which 
 they faid fhould not be paft one yeare or twaine, 
 untill they w^ere better furnifhed of endowment : to 
 make fhort, every man graunted liberally, according to 
 his hability,bookes were drawne of the reliefe in every 
 ward of the City, towardes the new Hofpitalles." 
 
 The Hospital was governed as a separate institu- 
 tion for about ten years; but in 1557 it was agreed 
 to associate it with the rest of the Royal Hospitals, 
 namely, Christ's Hospital, Bridewell,and St. Thomas's 
 Hospital ; the whole of them being under a comp- 
 troller-general and surveyor-general, while for each 
 of the four was appointed, for its special government, 
 three aldermen, a treasurer, and eight other citizens. 
 
 Probably the union of the Royal Hospitals under 
 one government made but little alteration in the 
 actual working of the different institutions. Each 
 had its own particular governing body, and gradually 
 each became more and more independent, even of the 
 Lord Mayor and Corporation. At first, beginning 
 in the year 1 564, it was the custom to hold a meeting 
 annually at Christ's Hospital on St. Matthew's Day, 
 and to select a President, Treasurer, and other 
 Governors for each of the Royal Hospitals ; but 
 after 1587 these meetings became irregular, though 
 they were still held down to the year 1652. After 
 this date the elections were made at the several
 
 40 The Tivo Foundations. 
 
 Hospitals, the elections being apparently confirmed, 
 in a formal manner only, by the Lord Mayor. New 
 Governors, moreover, were introduced in considera- 
 tion of pecuniary donations, independently of the 
 Court of Aldermen ; and these naturally would not 
 consider themselves under any bond of allegiance to 
 the Corporation. The consequence of all this was 
 continual squabbling between the Corporation on 
 the one hand and the Governors of the Royal 
 Hospitals on the other; the former endeavouring 
 to retain its ancient powers and privileges, while 
 the latter fought each for the particular Hospital 
 of which he was a Governor, insisting, apparently 
 with good success, upon its right to manage its 
 own affairs. 
 
 At length there was a general agreement that all 
 these disputes should be settled by Act of Parliament, 
 and accordingly, in 1782, such an act was passed. 
 By it the mode of government of St. Bartholomew's 
 Hospital was arranged in the fashion which holds 
 good at the present time, the Hospital being com- 
 pletely separated from its alliance with the other 
 Hospitals. The Corporation of the City of London 
 retained, and still retains, a considerable share in its 
 management, in virtue of the Lord Mayor and the 
 Court of Aldermen and twelve members of the 
 Common Council being ex officio Governors. But 
 as the voting power of the ex officio Governors is 
 only equal to that of a like number of the other 
 Governors, the Hospital is now practically inde-
 
 The Two Foundations. 41 
 
 pendent ; while it may be said to be materially 
 strengthened by having as part of its governing 
 body the influential members of the Corporation 
 who take a share in its management. 
 
 The final separation of the Hospital from what 
 may be termed the patronage of the Corporation of 
 the City of London occurred in 1866, when a law- 
 suit was instituted to determine whether the Lord 
 Mayor for the time being should, in accordance 
 with ancient custom, be elected President on the 
 occasion of a vacancy in this office, or whether the 
 Governors had the power of electing whom they 
 might choose. The suit was determined in favour 
 of the Governors, and the first President thereafter 
 elected was His Royal Highness the Prince of 
 Wales, who has continued to preside over us to the 
 present time. 
 
 I have spoken of St. Bartholomew's Hospital only 
 as an institution, and have but little time to reler 
 to its buildings ; but I hope you will be the more 
 interested in looking at the engravings which I have 
 placed in the library. You will be able to trace with 
 their help many of the structural alterations which 
 have taken place during the last two centuries. 
 
 Unfortunately we have little or nothing to show us 
 what the Hospital was like in the first few centuries 
 of its existence, the earliest representation of any 
 kind, so far as I know, being that which is given in 
 Aggas's Map of London, supposed to have been
 
 42 The Two Foundations. 
 
 made in the reign of Elizabeth. But, of course, little 
 can be gathered from this, excepting the fact that 
 the Hospital was made up of detached houses, or 
 groups of houses, intersected by the narrow lanes or 
 streets which formed the thoroughfares of the parish 
 of St. Bartholomew the Less. As you will see from 
 the facsimile of the map, the Hospital stands just 
 outside the wall of London ; and instead of being, as 
 now, with reference to the rest of London, almost in 
 the centre, it was really on the outskirts. For the 
 country began just beyond Smithfield, and London 
 proper stretched away towards the east ; although 
 at the date of this map (which was more than four 
 hundred years after the first foundation of St. 
 Bartholomew's) houses were becoming continuous 
 along the line of Holborn, and the green fields did 
 not begin westwards until one had walked to about 
 what is now the corner of Gray's Inn Road. 
 
 The earliest separate engraving of the Hospital, 
 so far as I am aware, is that which was published 
 in Stow's "Survey of London" (ed. 1720), and of 
 which I am able to show you a good impression 
 this evening. 
 
 We see by it that the Hospital had two small 
 quadrangles instead of one large as at present, 
 besides various detached or semi-detached houses 
 near them. 
 
 In 1 729- 1 760 the Hospital was rebuilt from the 
 foundations, and, with some modifications, these 
 buildings remain to the present day.
 
 TJie Two Foundations. 43 
 
 In its buildings, as in other things, St. Bartholo- 
 mew's has grown largely, and is still increasing. 
 New wards are at this present time just being com- 
 pleted. Its annual income was at the time of the 
 second foundation about ^800; in 1837, ;^30,ooo ; 
 in 1885, ^60,000. 
 
 "And with moor ampliant bylyngs were the 
 fkynnys of oure tabernaculys dylatid. To the 
 laude and glorie of oure Lorde Jefu Crifle, to 
 whom be honoure and glory, worlde withowtyn 
 ende. Amen." 
 
 St. Bartholomew's Hospital, though growing for 
 centuries, is, indeed, growing still. Long may it 
 grow ! For when it has ceased to grow it may 
 indeed have come to the perfection of maturity ; 
 but such perfection will be the signal for the be- 
 ginning of decay. 
 
 PRINTED BV BALLANTYNE, HANSON, AND CO., 
 EOINBl^RCH AND LONDON.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angfles 
 This l>ook is DUE on (he last date stain|>cd IkIoh.
 
 :■*