LXXVIII. Auncient Ordre for hallowing of the Cramp Rings, &c.

[From a MS. belonging to the late Mr. Anstis, now to the Duke of Northumberland.]

"FIRSTE, the Kinge to come to the chappell or clossett, withe the Lords and Noblemen way tinge upon him, without any sword borne before hime as that day, and ther to tarrie in his travers until the Bishope and the Deane have brought in the Crucifixe out of the vestrie, and layd it upon the cushion before the highe alter. And then the Usher to Jay a carpet for the Kinge to creepe to the crosse upon: and that done, ther shall be a forme sett upon the carpett before the crucifix, and a cushion laid upon it for the Kinge to kneale upon. And the Master of the Jewell house ther to be ready with the crampe rings in a bason of silver, and the Kinge to kneele upon the cushion before the forme. And then the Clerke of the Closett be redie with the booke concerninge the halowinge of the crampe rings, and the Aumer muste kneele on the right hand of the Kinge, holdinge the sayd booke. When that is done, the Kinge shall rise and go to the alter, wheare a Gent. Usher shall be redie with a cushion for the Kinge to kneele upon: and then the greatest Lords that shall be ther, to take the bason with the rings, and beare them after the King to offer. And thus done, the Queene shall come down out of her clossett or traverse into the chappell, with ladyes and gentlewomen waitinge upon her, and creepe to crosse, and then goe agayne to her clossett or traverse. And then the ladyes to creepe to the crosse likewise, and the Lords and Noblemen likewise."

Dr. Percy, who has printed this curious extract at the end of his notes on Northumberland Household-book, observes, that our ancient Kings, even in the dark times of superstition, do not seem to have affected to cure the King's Evil; at least this MS. gives no hint of any such power. This miraculous gift was left to be claimed by the Stuarts; our ancient Plantagenets were humbly content to cure the cramp. The doctor adds, that, in 1536, when the convocation under Henry the VIII. abolished some of the old superstitious practices, this of creeping to the cross, on GoodFriday, &c. was ordered to be retained as a laudable and edifying custom. See Herbert's Life of Henry VIII. It appears, in the Northumberland Household-book, to have been observed in the earl's family, the value of the offerings then made by himself, his lady, and his sons, being there severally ascertained.

There is also specified a candle to be offered by each of the above persons on St. Blase day; on which the learned editor observes, that "the anniversary of St. Blasius is the 3d of February, when it is still the custom, in many parts of England, to light up fires on the hills on St. Blase-night; a custom anciently taken up, perhaps for no better reason than the jingling resemblance of his name to the word

Blaze."

1774, June,

D. H.

LXXIX.

MR. URBAN,

Ancient Baptisteries, Lavatories, &c.

THE sensible and lively author of the book entitled, A Walk in and about the city of Canterbury, has, at p. 105, given a new name to the circular building, vulgarly called Bell Jesus, situated near the north door of that cathedral; but, when Mr. Gostling ventured to be the sponsor upon this occasion, I am suspicious he might not recollect, that few old baptisteries are to be traced in the churches and chapels formerly belonging to the monasteries in this kingdom. Archbishop Edmund, in his Constitutions, published about the year 1236, directed a stone font to be provided for every baptismal church; which Lyndwood interprets to be a church having the people (i. e. the laity) connected with it; "for," adds this eminent civilian, "in a collegiate or conventual church, which has not the people, there ought to be no font"*. Keysler, in his Travels, vol. ii. p. 44, 45, has given a particular description of the baptistery at Florence, mentioned by Mr. G. in which this traveller informs

Baptisterium habeatur in qualibet ecclesia baptismali («) lapideum, &c. (a) Baptismáli] Sive cathedrali, sive parochiali; tali nempe quæ habet populum; nam in ecclesiâ collegiatâ, vel conventuali, quæ non habet populum, non debet esse baptisterium, &c,

The writer was from the first doubtful whether there might not be an instance or two to the contrary of what he has here advanced, and, since he finished his letter, he has discovered, that a Bishop of Coventry granted to the abbey of Haghmon, in Shropshire, an officer, whose province it was to baptise as well Jews as infants, and who was to discharge parochial duty for the servants and domestics in that monastery. But the reverend author of the Preface to Tanner's Notit, Monast. p. 29, mentions this to be a very different sacristau from what usually belonged to other religious houses. It may also be remarked, that Haghmon-Abbey was a fraternity of regular Austin canons and not Benedictines, the monks of which stricter order were settled in all our cathedral priories, Carlisle excepted.

us, that it is opposite to the cathedral, that it is called Il Battisterio, or St. John's Church, and that all the children of Christian parents in that city are baptised in it. A baptistery of this kind could not well have been wanted in Canterbury; because the right of administering baptism seems to have been annexed to all the parochial churches there, from the first establishment of them; and from the author's account of the font in St. Martin's church, there is a presumptive proof of its being more ancient than the cathedral itself. For these reasons, I am apt to imagine, that the building in question was never designed for a baptistery; and, indeed, had there been an edifice for this purpose within the precincts of the cathedral, one should hardly have expected to have found it near the centre of the offices belonging to the convent. But, as I have taken the liberty to object to the new name conferred on this little building, in order to afford others the like opportunity of making exceptions, I will hazard a guess at what may have been the true appellation of it; and, in my opinion, it was the ancient lavatory, i.e. the place where the members of the priory used to wash themselves. In the constitutions given to the monks of the Benedictine order, by Archbishop Lanfranc, this apartment is expressly named, and in a manner which will induce us to fix it not far from the dortor, or dormitory*; and it appears, by the inclosed extracts from Du Fresne's Gloss. Med. et Infim. Lat. that there was, in other monasteries, such a building, which adjoined to the chapter-room, as did also the scriptorium (i. e. the room in all great convents in which persons were constantly employed to transcribe books for the choir and the libraryt.) The situation of this circular recess in Canterbury cathedral nearly answers to this description, it being at a very inconsiderable distance from the old chapter-house, and contiguous to the old library, which was over the prior's chapel, and of which library the scriptorium was probably a part. It is observed by Mr. G. that this building consists of two rooms, one on the ground floor, and the other on a level with the gallery leading to the

* Cum appropinquaverit tempus horæ tertiæ pulsetur a secretario modice signum minimum, quam "skillam" vocaut, et statim pergant in dormitorium, et calcient se diurnalibus, et cultellos accipiant; deinde ad lavatorium veniant, et prius lavent se, et postea pectinent, deinde ad ecclesiam veniant, &c. &c. Wilkins' Concil. Mag. Britan. v. i. 329.

+ Lavatorium, ubi manus lavant monachi priusquam cant ad refectorium.Pyrale, hypocaustum conventuale, estuve, in quo capitulum celebratur.Veniunt in pyrale, et inde in lavatorium, necnon et proximum pyrali scriptorium: et has tres regularissimas præ omnibus quas unquam viderint, asserebant esse officinas. Eckehardus junior, de Casibus S Galli, cap. 11.

church. Now, I apprehend the vault to have been the lavatory for the monks in general, and the upper room to have been raised at a different time, for the convenience of the prior, who, Mr. Somner tells us, had, through their private chapel, a passage from their lodgings to the church. Perhaps the prior might, in this apartment, discharge the duty incumbent on him, of washing the feet, and pouring water upon the hands, of some of his monastic brethren, on Maunday-Thursday. This practice was enjoined by Archbishop Lanfranc, in the Constitutions before cited, and the spot for the performing this ceremony was directed to be without the doors of the chapter-house, and before it. If, therefore, we suppose, what is likely to have been the case, that the prior had a door out of this gallery into the chapterhouse, as well as into the church, the Archbishop's expression will countenance the notion I have adopted, of this building's having been applied to that use*. -However, whether it ought to be denominated the old baptistery or the old lavatory, or must still retain the name it has acquired by long usage, is an important point, which must be left to the decision of the reader. Should I be allowed to have drawn "the happier conclusion" I frankly acknowledge "to have been led to it by the hint given by my chearful and communicative guide." For though, some years since, I frequently examined this elegant rotunda, I could never form any idea of the purposes for which it was erected; and, had not this more attentive perambulator apprized me, that formerly two pipes, or jets, for water, were fixed in it, I should still have returned the same unmeaning answer to every curious inquirer I had hitherto done, namely, that it was the model of a bell cast, and cast away, no body knew when or where.

With my hearty thanks to the merry rambler, for the great entertainment he has afforded me, and with my best wishes that he may enjoy more ease of body than I am concerned to hear he has done for a long time, I remain, His and your humble servant,

1774, Nov.

W. and D.

* Lotis omnium qui in capitulo sunt pedibus, sedeant foris ante capitulum prior et prædicti servitores cum eo. Quorum pedes præcinctus tersorio abbas, flexis genibus, abluat, et tergat, et osculetur, subservientibus sibi fratribus ad hoc obsequium deputatis.-Post hæc redeat abbas in sedem, &c.-His expletis, exeat abbas, et prior et servitores eorum, et ante capitulum præbeat eis abbas aquam ad abluendas manus, &c.-Wilkins, ut supra, p. 336, 337.

It should be remembered, that, in the monastery of Christ-Church, the ehief officer of the society had no higher title than that of prior, and therefore, in the construction of this passage, prior must always be substituted for abbot.

LXXX. Manner of punishing offending Monks, and Rules for preparing bread for Hosts.

MR. URBAN,

YOU were so obliging as to admit into a late Magazine, some remarks which had occurred to me while I was accompanying Mr. Gostling in his walk about the precincts of Canterbury cathedral, and, when you have a page of your entertaining Miscellany not better engaged, I shall be obliged to you to insert these additional observations. My old acquaintance and I parted at the rotunda (which I suppose to have been the lavatory* of the convent,) situated near the north door of the church; and I will now, with my pen in my hand, such as it is, wait upon my intelligent guide to the south-east quarter of that magnificent fabric.

The spot on which I intend to hazard another conjecture, is the recess formerly called St. Anselm's chapel, the lower floor of which is now converted into vestries for the minorcanons and lay-clerks. Over these vestries is a room, and a closet to it, that has a window with an iron grate, looking into the choir; and this closet Mr. Gostling, with probability, imagines to have been the place where the irregular monks were occasionally imprisoned (See the Walk, p. 151, 152.) In the adjoining apartinent there are, it seems, a chimney and an oven, which I do not recollect ever to have noticed, though I must have been frequently in the room; and these conveniencies, according to the surmise of the ingenious author, were built for the use of the culprits confined there. But, in this notion, I differ from him. For, as rigid fasting was the general established rule of the religious of the Benedictine order, it is no improbable supposition, that an offending brother, when in close custody, would be subjected to a still more severe state of abstinence, and, of course, could have little want of an oven. And there are likewise some passages in the Constitutions of Lanfranc, referred to in my Jast letter, which afford a very strong presumptive proof, that the scanty portion of food which was allowed was always ready dressed+. The culpable monks were ranged by

* Dr. Thomas has prefixed to his Survey of Worcester cathedral, an accurate icanography of that building; by which it appears, that the lavatory of the old convent is still remaining, and that it is placed between the dormitory and the refectory.

Wilkins, Concil. Mag. Britan. Voh I, p. 352, 353.