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for the use of themselves and their domestics, and of course were careful to keep them in a decent condition. But when the families were extinct, and the mansions decayed, or when the owners of them lived in other places, the chapels were gradually neglected, and at last became derelict. If wanted by any of the inhabitants, the parish took possession of them, and in this case the same attention was shewn to then as to the other parts of the fabric; otherwise, they were only places for rubbish, as the north ailes of the churches in Cornwall are represented to be. While they needed only a slight repair, the church-wardens might perhaps direct it to be done; but no sooner did it appear that the upholding of them would bring a heavy expence upon the parish, than they were suffered to fall to ruin, and in order to prevent all further charges, by building a party-wall, they were, strictly speaking, cast out of the church. In many churches are plainly to be discovered the arches, now filled up, through which were the entrances into these chantry chapels.

In the first year of King Edward VI. all chantries were dissolved by act of parliament, and the houses and lands with which they were endowed were vested in the crown, where, however, they did not long continue, being granted to the dependents on the court. Having never been a part of the revenues of the incumbents of the respective parishes, they could not be considered as glebe lands. The sentry fields, concerning which your correspondent makes an inquiry in the postscript to his letter, were most probably appropriated for the support of the chantry priests who officiated in the ailes, or chapels, noticed by him. But I differ from him in supposing that sanctuary was the original appellation of them: nor do I agree with the learned editor of your useful Miscellany, who has surmised it to signify a cemetry, or burying ground. To me it seems to be a corruption of the word chantry, and I rather incline to this notion, because I have heard of some houses and lands that are so denominated. At West Peckham in Kent, in particular, on the north side of the church, about fifty years ago, the foundation-walls of a chantry were traced, which had belonged to a preceptory of the knights templars and not far from the church-yard is a tenement with some fields, that still retain the name of the chantry house and lands. Yours, &c.

W. & D.

1782, April.

XCII. Monastic Registers of Edmundsbury Monastery.

1. Translations of three authentic Registers of the Monastery of St. Edmund's Bury, formerly kept by the sacrist.

"THIS indenture certifies, that Master John Swassham, sacrist of the monastery of St. Edmund's Bury, with the consent and permission of the prior and convent of the same, hath demised and to farm let to Simeon Lolepeke of Bury aforesaid, yeoman, the manor called Habyrdon in Bury aforesaid, &c. to have and to hold for the term of seven years, &c. paying yearly, &c. And the said Simeon, his executors and assigns, shall find or cause to be found one white bullevery year of his term as often as it shall happen that any gentlewoman (mulierem generosam) or any other women, from devotion or vows by them made, shall visit the tomb of the glorious king and martyr St. Edmund, to make the oblations of the said white bull, &c. In witness whereof, to one part the seal of the sacrist is affixed, &c. Dated the 4th day of June, in the second year of the reign of King Henry, King of England, the seventh since the conquest."

2. Another Register of the said Monastery.

"This indenture, made the 12th day of September, in the 11th year of the reign of King Henry VIII. between Master John Eye, sacrist of the monastery of St. Edmund's Bury, and Richard Skinner, of Bury aforesaid, husbandman, certifies that the aforesaid John Eye, with the consent, &c. hath demised and to farm let to the aforesaid Richard the manor of Habyrdon, &c. for the term of ten years, &c. and the said Richard shall find one white bull as often as it shall happen," &c. as before.

3. Another original instrument, with the capitular seal of the Monastery annexed.

"This indenture certifies that we John, by divine permission, abbot of the monastery of St. Edmund's Bury, with the consent and permission of the prior and convent of the same, have demised and to farm let to Robert Wright, glazier, and to John Anable, pewterer, of Bury aforesaid, our manor of Habyrdon, with the appurtenances pertaining to the office of sacrist of our said monastery, &c. to hold from the feast of St. Michael the Archangel next ensuing after the date of these presents, for the term of twenty years, &c. paying yearly to the said abbot and his successors, for

the use of the office of sacrist, 201. 4s. &c. And the said Robert and John shall find me white bull every year of the aforesaid term, as often as it shall happen that any gentlewoman, or any other women, from devotion or vows by them made, shall visit the shrine of the glorious king and martyr St. Edmund, to make the oblations of the said white bull, &c. In witness whereof, to one part of this indenture remaining with the abovenamed abbot, prior, and convent, the said Robert and John have affixed their seals, and to the other part remaining with the said Robert and John, we the abovenamed abbot, prior, and convent, have caused the common seal of our chapter to be affixed. Given in our chapter-house the xxviiith day of April, in the xxvth year of King Henry the Eighth, and in the year of our Lord 1533."

The waxen impression, still perfect, has on the face St. Edmund, sitting on a royal throne, with a bishop standing on each side; on the reverse he is bound to a tree, and transfixed with arrows. Below, in another compartment, is the body of St. Edmund, headless; and near it a wolf, bringing back the royal head to restore it to the body. The instrument is thus indorsed, Irrotulatur per me, Walterum Mildemey. A transcript of this sealed indenture remains in the Court of Augmentations.

Whenever a married woman wished to be pregnant, this white bull, who enjoyed full ease and plenty in the fields of Habyrdon, never meanly yoked to the plough, nor ever cruelly baited at the stake, was led in procession through the principal streets of the town, viz. Church-street, Guildhall-street, and Cook-row, of which the last led to the principal gate of the monastery, attended by all the monks singing, and a shouting crowd, the woman walking by him, and stroking his milk-white side and pendent dewlaps. The bull then being dismissed, the woman entered the church, and paid her vows at the altar of St. Edmund, kissing the stone, and intreating with tears the blessing of a child. This reminds one of the Luperci among the Romans, who ran naked about the streets, and with thongs of goatskins struck women with child in order to give easy labour. Virg. En. VIII. 663.

The above are extracted from the Corolla Varia of the Rev. William Hawkins*, M. A. schoolmaster, of Hadleigh in Suffolk, an entertaining and classical, but now scarce

He styles himself Nisus. See Ovid. Met. 1. 8.

publication, printed at Cambridge in 1634*. It consists of 1. "Eclogæ tres Virgilianæ declinata; Tityrus, ad Pestifugium; Pollio, ad Postliminium; Gallus, ad Fastidium. 2. Corydon. Aufuga sive iegoέevodoxia Pastorilia Accipiendo Reverendo Patri ac domino Joanni Episcopo Roffensi per binos Scholæ Hadleianæ Alumnos recitata. Apr. 9. 1632. 3. Nisus verberans et vapulans decantatus per Musas vergiferas, juridicas."

The occasion of the latter was briefly this: the three sons of a Mr. Colman, of Payton-Hall, (Carbonius et Carbun culi) being admitted at Hadleigh school, one of them in less than two years, unprovoked, and unthreatened, ran away; but a few months after, in the absence of the master and scholars, thought proper to enter the school-room and filthily bedaub a wooden horse, used for the purpose of flagellation; seen, however, by one of the boys, and boasting of it afterwards to others. A week after, accompanied by a relation, he returned to repeat his pranks, but was then detected by his master, who very properly chastised him, but gently, giving him only four lashes. For this assault (as it was termed) an action was brought against him by the father, at Bury assizes, and the damages were laid at 401. This action Mr. Hawkins was obliged to defend, at great trouble and expence, and at last, before issue was joined, the plaintiff withdrew his plea. All the circumstances of this case, the law process, &c. are described with great elegance and humour; and several commendatory poems are prefixed.

1783, Nov.

XCIII. The Cell called Little Ease.

MR. URBAN,

THE account given in your Magazine for November last,↑ of the closet called "Little Ease" in the church of St.

* It appears by the register of Hadleigh, that "Mr. William Hawkins, curate, was buried June 29, 1637."

+ "From the level of the South Wall of St. Mary's Church, Leicester, near its centre, and coeval with it, is a closet formed partly by a protuberance, with loop holes, or oblong apertures in front, looking into the church-yard; backed, a few years ago, by a door, which I well remember, opening into the church; called by tradition "Little-case," supposed to have been a place of discipline, where scarcely above one at a time could be admitted; and that only in an erect posture,"

Mary in Leicester, brought to my mind a description I had formerly read in Anglia Sacra, Vol. II. p. 96, of the cell of St. Dunstan, adjoining to St. Mary's Church in Glastonbury; and, on revising the passage, I find, in some instances, a very striking similitude between the two buildings. Osberne, in his Life of Dunstan, styles it "cellam, sive destinam, sive spelæum ;" and Mr. Wharton, in a note, informs us, that "destina" means a small outward edifice contiguous to the wall of a greater, and that the word occurs in Bede's Eccles. Hist. I. 3. c. 17. and other writers. According to the Monkish historian, the cell was fabricated by Dunstan himself, and had rather the form of a sepulchre of the dead, than of an habitation for the living. He represents it to have been not more than five feet in length, and two and a half in breadth, and its height answerable to the stature of a man, provided he stood in the hole dug at the bottom of it, for that otherwise it would not be higher than a man's breast. The door seems to have opened into the church, as your correspondent remembers that of the closet at Leicester to have done; but there was this difference between the two edifices, that in the latter are loop-holes looking into the church-yard, whereas all the light the former received was through a window in the middle of the door. In this strait apartment Dunstan is said to have slept, as well as performed his devotions. Here also, whilst he was at work, his harp would play of itself for his amusement; and it was through the aperture of the door of this cell he was so lucky as to fasten his redhot pincers upon Satan's nose. But to wave the ridiculous parts of this legendary tale, it is plain from Osberne's rela tion, that small structures of this kind were erected very early in this country; and though Dunstan, and some other monks as rigid as himself, might, by way of mortification, dwell in these places of "Little Ease," yet (as the traditional notion with respect to that of Leicester imports) it is very probable they might be intended and applied as prisons, for the security or punishment of persons suspected or convicted of heinous offences.

1784, Jan.

Yours, &c.

W. and D.

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