Old Church Lore Part 11

The pa.s.sing bell has a place in the story of the death, in the Tower of London, of Lady Catherine Grey, sister to the unfortunate Lady Jane. The constable of the Tower, Sir Owen Hopton, seeing that the end was approaching, said to Mr. Bokeham: "Were it not best to send to the church, that the bell may be rung?" and Lady Catherine herself, hearing the remark, said to him: "Good Sir Owen, be it so," and died almost at once, closing her eyes with her own hands. This was in 1567.

The tolling of the pa.s.sing bell, as such, continued until the time of Charles II., and it was one of the subjects of inquiry in all articles of visitation.

The form of inquiry in the Archdeaconry of Yorke by the churchwardens and swornemen, in 163-, was: "Whether doth your clark or s.e.xton, when any one is pa.s.sing out of this life, neglect to toll a bell, having notice thereof, or, the party being dead, doth he suffer any more ringing than one short peale, and before his burial one, and after the same another?"

Inquiry was also to be made: "Whether, at the death of any, there be any superst.i.tious ringing?" There is a widespread saying:

"When the bell begins to toll, Lord have mercy on the soul."

Gascoigne, in his "Workes," 1587, mentions the pa.s.sing bell in the prefatory lines to a sonnet, he says:

"Alas, loe now I heare the pa.s.sing bell, Which care appoynteth carefully to knowle, And in my brest I feele my heart now swell To breake the stringes which joynd it to my soule."

Another instance of the poetic use is to be found in the _Rape of Lucrece_, by Heywood (1630), where Valerius exclaims: "Nay, if he be dying, as I could wish he were, I'le ring out his funerall peale, and this it is:

Come list and harke, the bell doth towle, For some but now departing soule.

And was not that some ominous fowle, The batt, the night-crow, or skreech-owle, To these I heare the wild woolfe howle, In this black night that seems to skowle.

All these my black booke shall in-rowle; For hark, still, still, the bell doth towle For some but now departing sowle."

Just a little earlier, Copley, in his "Wits, Fits, and Fancies" (1614), bears evidence to the ringing of the bell while persons were yet alive. A gentleman who lay upon a severe sick bed, heard a pa.s.sing bell ring out, and thereupon asked his physician: "Tell me, maister Doctor, is yonder musicke for my dancing?" Continuing the subject, he gives an anecdote concerning "The ringing out at the burial." It is as follows: A rich miser and a beggar were buried in the same churchyard at the same time, "and the belles rung out amaine" for the rich man. The son of the former, fearing the tolling might be thought to be for the beggar instead of his father, hired a trumpeter to stand "all the ringing-while" in the belfry and proclaim between every peal, "Sirres, this next peale is not for R., but for Maister N.," his father. In the superst.i.tions which gathered round the bells of Christianity, the pa.s.sing bell was considered to ward off the influence of evil spirits from the departing soul. Grose says: "The pa.s.sing bell was anciently rung for two purposes: one to bespeak the prayers of all good Christians for a soul just departing; the other to drive away the evil spirits who stood at the bed's foot and about the house, ready to seize their prey, or at least to molest and terrify the soul in its pa.s.sage; but, by the ringing of the bell (for Durandus informs us evil spirits are much afraid of bells), they were kept aloof; and the soul, like a hunted hare, gained the start, or had what is by sportsmen called law. Hence, perhaps, exclusive of the additional labour, was occasioned the high price demanded for tolling the greatest bell of the church, for, that being louder, the evil spirits must go farther off to be clear of its sound, by which the poor soul got so much more the start of them; besides, being heard farther off, it would likewise procure the dying man a greater number of prayers." This dislike of spirits to bells is mentioned in the "Golden Legend," by Wynkyn de Worde.

Douce takes the driving away of the spirits to be the main object in ringing the pa.s.sing bell, and draws attention to the woodcuts in the Horae, which contain the "Service of Dead," where several devils are represented as waiting in the chamber of the dying man, while the priest is administering extreme unction. Of course, the interpretation that the spirits are waiting to take possession of the soul so soon as disembodied is not necessarily the intentional meaning. Douce concludes his remarks by an observation which has escaped the notice of most of those who have dealt with the subject. He says: "It is to be hoped that this ridiculous custom will never be revived, which has been most probably the cause of sending many a good soul to the other world before its time; nor can the practice of tolling bells for the dead be defended upon any principle of common sense, prayers for the dead being contrary to the articles of our religion." When the English first began to see the apparent inconsistency of the practice of tolling with their declared religion, the subject gave rise to much controversy. The custom had many apologists. Bishop Hall says: "We call them soul bells, for that they signify the departure of the soul, not for that they help the pa.s.sage of the soul." Wheatly says: "Our Church, in imitation of the saints in former ages, calls on the minister and others who are at hand to a.s.sist their brother in his last extremity."

Dr. Zouch (1796) says: "The soul bell was tolled before the departure of a person out of life, as a signal for good men to offer up their prayers for the dying. Hence the abuse commenced of praying for the dead." He cites Douce's versified letter to Sir Henry Wotton:

"And thicken on you now, as prayers ascend To heaven on troops at a good man's pa.s.sing bell."

Fuller, long before this, in 1647, expresses some little indignation at hearing a bell toll after the person had died, as he was thereby cheated into prayer. He observes: "What is this but giving a false alarm to men's devotions, to make them ready to arm with their prayers for the a.s.sistance of such who have already fought the good fight." Dekker, in an evident reference to the pa.s.sing bell, calls it "the great capon-bell."

From the number of strokes being formerly regulated according to circ.u.mstances, the hearers might determine the s.e.x and social condition of the dying or dead person. Thus the bell was tolled twice for a woman and thrice for a man. If for a clergyman, as many times as he had orders, and, at the conclusion, a peal on all the bells to distinguish the quality of the person for whom the people are to put up their prayers. In the North of England, are yet rung nine knells for a man, six for a woman, and three for a child.

Concerning Coffins.

The use of the coffin may be traced back to a remote period. The remains of Joseph were conveyed in a coffin from Egypt to Canaan. The Christians adopted their use from the heathen.

Coffins have been made of various kinds of material. Cedar was used for the Athenian heroes on account of its aromatic and incorruptible qualities. It is said that Alexander was buried in one made of gold.

Marble and stone were largely used by the Romans, but many lead coffins have been found in the Roman cemeteries at Colchester, York, London, and other places. Coffins of baked clay and cists formed of tiles have been found at York and at Adlborough. Gla.s.s coffins have been used in England.

Wooden coffins are, in this country, of great antiquity. It is recorded that King Arthur was buried, in 542, in the entire trunk of a tree, hollowed. Some of the earlier coffins made of wood are extremely rude in shape. Abbot Warin, of St. Alban's, 1183-95, gave directions for the monks to be buried in stone coffins. They had previously been buried without coffins, under the green turf. According to an ancient legend, St.

Cuthbert's remains sailed down the Tweed in a stone coffin.

Generally speaking, the modes of burying the dead in the Middle Ages were without coffins. The corpses were usually enveloped in linen, but members of religious houses were usually buried in the habit of their order.

Coffins, in their universal use in this country, comparatively speaking, belong to modern times. Thomas Hearne, the antiquary, writing in 1742, says that sixty years before that period it was a common custom to bury the dead without coffins. People of rank, however, were usually buried in coffins, unless they left directions to the contrary.

Sir Walter Scott has made us familiar with the fact that it was customary for

"The lordly line of high Saint Clair"

to deposit their dead in a vault at Roslin Chapel, attired in the armour they had used in life.

In Ireland, there was a curious custom of burying the dead without coffins. "Until about the year 1818," says a correspondent of _Notes and Queries_, Second Series, vol. i., p. 455, "certain families, named Tracey, Doyle, and Daly, of the townland of Craan, near Enniscorthy, in the barony of Scarawalsh, in the county of Wexford, were in the habit of burying their dead uncoffined, in the graveyard attached to the Augustinian Abbey of Saint John. The bodies were brought to the place of sepulture in open coffins, with their faces uncovered. The graves were made six or more feet deep, and lined with bright green turf from the banks of the river Slaney.

In these green chambers, were strewn moss, dry gra.s.s, and flowers, and a pillow of the same supported the head of the corpse when it was laid in its last earthly bed."

In a "Table of Dutyes" of Sh.o.r.editch Church, 1664, are references to the amounts to be paid if coffins are not used at funerals. It is stated, "for a burial in ye new churchyard, without a coffin, eight pence; for a burial in ye olde churchyard, without a coffin, seaven pence; and for the grave-making and attendance of ye Vicar and Clarke on ye enterment of a corps uncoffined, the churchwardens to pay the ordinary duteys, and no more, of this table."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PARISH COFFIN, EASINGWOLD CHURCH.]

The poor were usually buried in parish coffins, or rather taken from their humble homes to the grave in a coffin, and at the grave removed from it and merely interred in their shrouds. At Easingwold Church, in East Yorkshire, an interesting example of the parish coffin is still preserved.

It is strongly and roughly made of oak. We give an ill.u.s.tration of this old-time relic from a carefully-made drawing by Mr. J. H. Doe. In Smith's "Old Yorkshire," vol. v., pp. 106-110, will be found an informing article on the Easingwold and other parish coffins, by the late Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A., who collected much out-of-the-way information on this subject.

From the Rev. Canon Hayman, he received the following important communication: "The old historical town of Youghal, in the county of Cork," wrote Canon Hayman, "has many features of interest for the antiquary, chiefest among which is the venerable Collegiate Church of St.

Mary. The cemetery attached to this n.o.ble edifice is the _Pere la Chase_ of Ireland. The ground naturally forms a succession of terraces, here swelling into little knolls, there sinking into gentle declivities. A poet said of the Protestant burial ground of Rome: 'It might make one in love with death to think that one should be buried in so sweet a place,' and the saying may be repeated of the Youghal churchyard. Death is here divested of its horror, and wears the softened aspect of stillness and unbroken repose. On its northern and western sides, the cemetery is overhung by the old walls of the town, which are yet in good preservation.

In a portion of those defences, nearly opposite to the western gable of the church, is a recessed [coffin-shaped] aperture, of which the accompanying is an engraving. Here, as the old folk tell us, was kept the public coffin for the poor of Youghal. Whenever needed, it was sent to the house of the dead; and, so soon as it had discharged its office, it was replaced here. The walls, as may be perceived, are of three thicknesses.

The newest piece, in front, is of hammered, well-squared masonry. More ancient is the furthest drawn, where the materials are less in size, and are less carefully finished; but, lying between these twain, is a fragment of a very old wall, built of exceeding small stones, and evidently preserved from demolition because of its characteristic feature--the Parish Coffin Recess." It will be observed, from the ill.u.s.tration we give, that the recess was coffin-shaped, so that when the parish coffin was not in use it might be placed upright in the place specially prepared for it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RECESS FOR PARISH COFFIN, YOUGHAL CHURCHYARD.]

Respecting the parish coffin of Stockton-on-Tees, there is a note in the history of the town, by the Rev. John Brewer, and published in 1796. It is stated: "Soon after the Rev. Geo. Walker, vicar [1715], came to reside at Stockton-on-Tees, he was called upon to inter a poor person. When they came to the grave, the attendants were preparing to take the body out of the sh.e.l.l or coffin which contained it. He enquired what they were doing, and was informed that the same coffin was used for the funerals of the poor, and that this was intended to serve again. He insisted on its being put into the ground with the body; and, from this time, took care to prevent a repet.i.tion of such an act of indecency."

During the visit of the members of the Yorkshire Architectural Society to Howden, on August 25th, 1885, an old oak parish coffin was inspected by them. It was much dilapidated, but on it could be traced the date, 1664.

We have found in old churchwardens' accounts several entries relating to parish or church coffins. In the Vestry Book of St. Oswald, Durham, are the following items:

"1614-15. Pd. for mendinge the bell wheele, and for makinge the coffins for to bringe the dead corpes to the church in ijs.

Pd. for bordes for same xxd.

Pd. for bread and drinke for workmen att that tyme iiijd."

The same parish records for 1666-7 contain an entry as follows:

"For a church coffin 14s."

Parish coffins must have been very distasteful to the poor, for the humbler cla.s.ses of England dearly love a display at a funeral. An epitaph in St. Michael's churchyard, Macclesfield, ill.u.s.trates the weakness in this direction in our character. It reads as follows:

"MARY BROOMFIELD, dyd 19 Novr., 1755, aged 80.

The chief concern of her life for the last 20 years was to order and provide for her funeral. Her greatest pleasure was to think and talk about it. She lived many years on a pension of 9d. a week, and yet saved 5, which, at her own request, was laid out on her funeral."

In the reign of George III., wars prevailed to an alarming extent, and extraordinary taxes were levied to obtain money to maintain the army and navy. Among the proposals made to raise further revenue was a tax on coffins, which gave rise to some keen epigrams. Here are a couple of examples. The first is by Mr. Evans, M.P., and dated Derby, July 6, 1791:

"Taxed when we're born and when we die, Must coffins now a tax supply?

In vain on earth we respite crave, Or seek a shelter in the grave!"

Mr. Evans adverts to the old tax by which persons, not being in the receipt of alms, had to pay two shillings on the birth of a child. The n.o.bility and gentry were taxed at a much higher rate, for example, a duke, for his eldest son, had to pay 30. Another epigrammatist addressed the king as follows:

"Taxed to the bone, thy loving subjects see!

But still supposed, when dead from taxes free; Now to complete, Great George, thy glorious reign, Excis'd to death, we're then excis'd again."