English Villages Part 13

"Orate pro anima," or "of your charite pray for the soul of ----" were usual inscriptions.

It is somewhat difficult for the unpractised eye to read inscriptions on bra.s.ses, owing to the contractions and omissions of letters. Thus _m_ and _n_ are often omitted, and a line is placed over the adjoining letter to indicate the omission. Thus a=ia stands for _anima_, leg=u for _legum_. The letter _r_ is also left out. Z stands for _que_, and there are many other contractions, such as D=ns for _Dominus_, D=s for _Deus_, E=ps for _Episcopus_, g=ia for _gratia_, m=ia for _misericordia_, and many others.

The study of the emblems and devices is full of interest. Of ecclesiastical emblems we have the symbols of the Holy Trinity--G.o.d the Father represented as an aged person, holding a crucifix on which the dove, an emblem of the Holy Spirit, is alighting--representations of our Lord, angels, saints,[5] evangelists, the fylfot cross, roses, and figures of Death. Sometimes the figure on the bra.s.s holds a heart in his hand, which indicates a response on the part of the deceased to the old invitatory "Sursum corda."

The armorial bearings of the deceased are usually represented on bra.s.ses, and also personal or professional devices. The founders of churches hold representations in miniature of the churches which they founded. Bishops and abbots have a pastoral staff; priests, a chalice, or a book; wool merchants have woolpacks beneath their feet, and other tradesmen have similar devices denoting their special calling.

Merchants' marks also frequently appear; and the mediaeval taste for punning is shown by frequent rebuses formed on the names of the deceased, _e.g._ a peac.o.c.k, for one named Pec.o.k; a fox, for a Foxley; four tuns and a cross, for Master Croston.

England may well be proud of the bra.s.s memorials of her worthy sons and daughters. It is, however, terribly sad to see the destruction which fanatical and greedy folk have wrought on these beautiful monuments.

As we have already noticed, the spoliators of the Reformation period accomplished much wanton destruction, and removed tombs "for greedinesse of the bra.s.se." Cromwell's soldiers and commissioners did a vast deal more damage, violating sepulchres and monuments, and destroying bra.s.ses everywhere. A third cause of the defacement and loss of these valuable memorials has been the gross carelessness of churchwardens and inc.u.mbents, who during any alterations or restoration of their churches have allowed them to be sold, destroyed, or appropriated by the builders. Truly we have entered upon a diminished inheritance. It behoves us to preserve with the utmost vigilance and care the memorials which fanaticism, greed, and carelessness have spared.

[5] The following are the princ.i.p.al emblems of the Apostles:-- St. Andrew, a cross saltier; St. Bartholomew, a knife; St. James the Great, a pilgrim's staff, wallet, escallop sh.e.l.l; St. James the Less, a fuller's bat, or saw; St. John, a chalice and serpent; St. Jude, a boat in his hand, or a club; St. Matthew, a club, carpenter's square, or money-box; St. Matthias, a hatchet, battle-axe, or sword; St. Paul, a sword; St. Peter, keys; St. Philip, a tau cross, or a spear; St. Simon, fishes; St. Thomas, an arrow or spear.

CHAPTER XVII

THE PARISH CHEST

Contents of the parish chest--Parish registers--Effect of Civil War-- Burials in woollen--"Not worth 600"--Care bestowed upon registers-- Curious entries--Astrology--Gipsies--Jester--Heart-burial--Plagues--Royal visits--Licences for eating flesh, for to be touched for king's evil-- Carelessness of custody of registers--Churchwardens' account books--Their value--Curious entries--Sports and pastimes--Paschall money--Brief books--Strange entries in registers and account books--Dog-whippers-- King's evil--Treating bishops and poor scholars of Oxford.

The parish chest in the vestry usually contains many doc.u.ments, which are of profound interest to the student of village antiquities. It contains the old churchwardens' account books, the parish registers, lists of briefs, and often many other papers and records which bear on the history of the parish. The old register books record the names of past generations of villagers, and many curious facts about the parish and its people, which are not found in the dull dry columns of our modern books.

Parish registers were first ordered by Thomas Cromwell in the year 1538, and from that date many of our registers begin.[6] But all vicars did not obey the injunctions of Viceregent Cromwell; they were renewed by Edward VI. in 1547 and by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, and most of our old register books begin with this date. James I. ordered that the registers should be written over again in a parchment book, the entries previously having been recorded on paper. Hence many of our books, although they begin with the year 1538, are really copies of the paper records made previous to 1603.

The disturbances of the Civil War period caused much neglect in the keeping of the registers. The inc.u.mbent was often driven away from his flock, and parish registrars were chosen by the parishioners and approved and sworn before a justice of the peace. Here is a record of this business taken from the books of this parish:--

"Whereas Robtr Williams of the prish of Barkham in the County of Berks was elected and chosen by the inhabitants of the same prish to be there prish Register, he therefore ye sd Ro: Wms was approved and sworne this sixteenth day of November 1653. Ri: Bigg, J.P."

Henceforth the children are registered as having been _born_, not _baptised_, until the Restoration brought back the clergyman to his flock again, and the entries are written in a scholarly hand, and the disorder of the previous years ceases.

In 1679 an Act was pa.s.sed requiring that the dead should be buried in woollen, the purpose being to lessen "the importation of linen from beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper manufacturers of this kingdom." A penalty of 5 was inflicted for a violation of this Act; and as frequently people preferred to be buried in linen, a record of the fine appears--_e.g._ at Gayton, Northamptonshire, where we find in the register--

"1708. Mrs. Dorothy Bellingham was buryed April 5, in _Linnen_, and the forfeiture of the Act payd fifty shillings to ye informer and fifty shillings to ye poor of the parishe."

Pope wrote the following lines on the burial of Mrs. Oldfield, the actress, with reference to this custom:--

"Odious! in woollen! 'twould _a_ saint provoke (Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke); No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face."

Sometimes after the name in the register is added the words, "Not worth 600." This refers to the Act of William III. in 1694, which required that all persons baptised, married, or buried, having an estate of that value, should pay a tax of twenty shillings. The money was required for carrying on the war with France, and the Act was in force for five years. This description of the personal estate was not intended to be invidious, but was of practical utility in enforcing the Act.

The parish registers reflect with wonderful accuracy the life of the people, and are most valuable to the student of history. Clergymen took great pride in recording "the short and simple annals of the poor." A Gloucestershire rector (1630 A.D.) wrote in his book the following good advice which might with advantage be taken in many other villages:--

"If you will have this Book last, bee sure to aire it att the fier, or in the Sunne, three or four times a yeare--els it will grow dankish and rott, therefore look to it. It will not be amisse when you find it dankish to wipe over the leaves with a dry wollen cloth. This Place is very much subject to dankishness; therefore I say looke to it."

A study of the curious entries which we occasionally find conveys much remarkable information. Sometimes, in the days of astrology, in order to a.s.sist in casting the nativity, it is recorded that at the time of the child's birth "the sun was in Libra," or "in Taurus." Gipsies were evidently numerous in the sixteenth century, as we constantly find references to "the roguish AEgyptians." The domestic jester finds his record in the entry: "1580. March 21, William, fool to my Lady Jerningham." The suicide is "infamously buried." Heart-burial is often recorded, as at Wooburn, Bucks: "1700. Cadaver Edi Thomas, equitis aurati, hic inhumatum fuit vicessimo tertio die Junii."

Records of the visitations of the plague are very numerous in all parts of England, as at Egglescliffe, Durham: "1644. In this year there died of the plague in this towne one and twenty people; they are not all buried in the churchyard, and are not in the Register." Sometimes ma.s.ses of human bones are found buried in fields outside towns and villages, memorials of this devastating plague.

Parish clerks have not always had very musical voices when they shout out the "Amens." The Rector of Buxted, Suss.e.x (1666 A.D.), records with a sigh of relief the death of his old clerk, "whose melody warbled forth as if he had been thumped on the back with a stone."

Sometimes royal visits to the neighbourhood are recorded, even a royal hunt, as when James I. hunted the hare at Fordham, Cambridgeshire. The register of Wolverton gives "a license for eating flesh on prohibited days granted to Sir Tho. Temple, on paying 13s. 4d." Storms, earthquakes, and floods are described; and records of certificates granted to persons to go before the king to be touched for the disease called the king's evil.

The Civil War is frequently mentioned, and also caused the omission of many entries. At Tarporley, Cheshire, there is a break from 1643 to 1648, for which the rector thus accounts:--

"This intermission hapned by reason of the great wars obliterating memorials, wasting fortunes, and slaughtering persons of all sorts."

Parish registers have fared ill and suffered much from the gross carelessness of their custodians. We read of the early books of Christ Church, Hants, being converted into kettle-holders by the curate's wife.

Many have been sold as waste paper, pages ruthlessly cut out, and village schoolbooks covered with the leaves of old registers. The historian of Leicestershire writes of the register of Sc.r.a.ptoft:--

"It has not been a plaything for young pointers--it has not occupied a bacon scratch, or a bread and cheese cupboard--it has not been scribbled on within and without; but it has been treasured ever since 1538, to the honour of a succession of worthy clergymen."--_O si sic omnes_!

The churchwardens' account books are even of greater value to the student of history than the registers, priceless as the latter are for genealogical purposes. The Bishop of Oxford states that "in the old account books and minute books of the churchwardens in town and country we possess a very large but very perishable and rapidly perishing treasury of information on matters the very remembrance of which is pa.s.sing away, although their practical bearing on the development of the system of local government is indisputable, and is occasionally brought conspicuously before the eye of the people by quaint survivals.... It is well that such materials for the ill.u.s.tration of this economic history as have real value should be preserved in print; and that the customs which they ill.u.s.trate should be reclaimed by History from the misty region of folklore, whilst they can." Many of these account books date from pre-Reformation times, and disclose the changes which took place in the fabric of our churches, the removal of roods and other ecclesiastical furniture, during the Reformation. They are usually kept with great exactness, and contain an accurate record of the receipts and expenditure for each year. Some of the entries are very curious, and relate to the sports and pastimes of our ancestors, the mystery plays, and church ales, which were all under the patronage of the churchwardens. The proceeds of these entertainments were devoted to the maintenance of the church, and were included in the accounts, as well as the necessary cost of the merry diversions. Thus in the books of St. Lawrence's Church, Reading, we find such items as the following:--

s. d.

"1499. Paid for a coat for Robin Hood 5 4 " for a supper to Robin Hood and his company 1 6 " for making the church clean against the day of drinking in the said church 4"

"1531. Paid for five ells of canva.s.s for a coat for Maid Marian 1 6-1/4"

"Bells for the Morris dancers," "liveries and coats," "bread and ale,"

"horse-meat of the horses for the kings of Colen on May Day," are some of the items which appear in these books.

Another book tells us about the "Gatherings" at Hock-tide, when on one day the men stopped the women, and on the next the women the men, and refused to let them go until they gave money. The women always succeeded in collecting the most money.

s. d.

"It'm. receyved of the men's gatherynge 7 3 " " " women's gatherynge 37 5"

Traces of this custom are still found in many country places. The practice of "hocking" at Hungerford and "lifting" in Lancashire subsist still, but the money collected is no longer devoted to any pious uses.

The item "Paschall money at Easter" frequently occurs. This was originally a collection for the Paschal taper, which burned before the high altar at Eastertide. When, in the reign of Elizabeth, the taper was no longer used, the money was devoted to buying the bread and the wine for the Easter Communion. Another item which often appears is a payment of "Smoke farthings" to the bishop of the diocese at his Visitation Court. This is another name for Peter's pence, formerly given to the Pope. In the accounts of Minchinhampton we find the entry under the year 1576: "For Pentecost money, otherwyse peter pence, sometyme payed to Antecryst of Rome xvi'd." After the Reformation the tax was collected, but given to the bishop.

There are very many other points of interest which a study of the churchwardens' books presents. In more recent times we find constant payments for the slaughter of sparrows, and many other items which scarcely come under the head of ecclesiastical charges.[7] But of course the vestry was then the council chamber of the parish, which managed all the temporal affairs of the village community. Possibly, in these days of Poor Law Unions, District and County Councils, our affairs may be managed better; but there is much to be said in favour of the older system, and Parish Councils are not much of an improvement on the old vestries.

Another book which our parish chest contains is the Brief Book. Briefs were royal letters which were sent to the clergy directing that collections be made for certain objects. These were very numerous and varied. The building of St. Paul's Cathedral after the Great Fire, a fire at Drury Lane Theatre, rebuilding of churches, the redemption of English slaves taken by pirates, the construction of harbours in Scotland, losses by hail, floods, French refugees, Reformed Episcopal churches in Great Poland and Polish Prussia, Protestants in Copenhagen, loss by fire, colleges in Philadelphia--these and many other objects were commended to the liberality of Churchmen. The sums collected were usually very small, and Pepys wrote in his _Diary_, June 30th, 1661:--

"To church, when we observe the trade of briefs is come now up to so constant a course every Sunday that we resolve to give no more to them."

The granting of briefs gave rise to much abuse, and they were finally abolished by the advice of Lord Palmerston.

The contents of the parish chest afford an unlimited ma.s.s of material for those who love to study the curious customs of our forefathers and their strange usages. Here is a record of a much-married person:--

"Mary Blewitt, ye wife of nine husbands successively, buried eight of ym, but last of all ye woman dy'd and was buried, May 7th 1681."

In the margin of the register is written, "This was her funeral text."