Part 14

And yet that church, if you had been taught how to look for it, contained features of the deepest interest to an antiquary. Within, were heavy Norman pillars between nave and aisles, and a round-headed flattened chancel arch, unmistakably Saxon. For that church was built by S. Wilfred of York in the 8th century, and built so substantially, that there it was in the 19th century, sturdy and strong, though successive generations had bepewed it and begalleried it, and put in square ugly windows, and a three-decker, in fact, had used their utmost endeavours to disfigure it. They could not destroy the simple Norman capitals, but they had whitewashed them, and had written up, with the best intentions, texts on the walls, in which my youthful eyes discovered two or three blunders in spelling. It is no wonder that the old Rector, who liked to see everything graceful and artistic, but who had never learned the principles of Architecture scientifically, failed to appreciate S. Wilfred's ancient work, and yearned to see something more graceful in its place. But of that presently. Let me go back for eighty years. The incumbent in those days was an old foxhunter, very fat and of enormous appetite. One day he came in from a long run across country. "Wilthon," said he (he used to lisp) "What ith there for my dinner?" "A goose, sir," said Wilson. "Bring him up, Wilthon, I'll goothe him." And he finished the goose and picked every bone clean. A well-known politician, who died only recently, was born in the village, and the old rector was called on to baptize him. "Name thith child," said he, and the answer was duly given, "James Edwin Thorold." The rector stared, for such exuberance of nomenclature was very uncommon in those days. "What?" he said in amazement. The name was repeated. "Bleth my thoul, what a lot of nameth," said he, "thay it onthe more." The name was said a third time, and the baby was duly christened. A lady who witnessed this, and who still lives, told me of this. She was twelve years old. My grandfather, in those days, was leader of the choir. They sat in a gallery, and had a fiddler and a trombone to accompany them. The trial of Queen Caroline, in 1820, raised the passions of the whole country to fever heat, and the rustics, for the most part, took the queen's side. When the news came down, that Government had abandoned the "bill of pains and penalties" for depriving her of the title of queen, there were processions through the street, and every window that did not display a candle, by way of illumination, got a stone through it. On the following Sunday my grandfather gave out the Psalm, which of course was Tate and Brady's, "35th Psalm, 11th and three following verses, _False witnesses with forged complaints_." It was sung with tremendous energy, and the old rector was furious, not unreasonably, and sent the whole choir to Coventry for some time. He used to put on his surplice in the chancel, before the people, and exchange it in the reading desk for the black gown, and used to preach one sermon on Sundays. He died about 1826, and was succeeded by one who was a brilliant scholar, a canon of a northern Cathedral, and a man who according to his lights was zealous for the decencies of worship. Thus he built a vestry, put the clerk into a black gown, and started a verger with a long coat and red collar, knee breeches, and a long staff of office, who always preceded him to the reading desk. I am now come within the sphere of my own recollections. This old rector lived until 1844, and my early ideas of the proprieties of the church service were all drawn from him. For he had a reason for everything, and expressed it pleasantly, and he was very kind to me personally. Is it any wonder that for many a year I tried all questions of ritual--I am not sure that I have ceased even now--with "What would Doctor B. have thought about this?" He never preached one sermon in the church during his whole incumbency. I understood that it was the danger of a sudden failure of voice, to which he was subject, that prevented him. Anyhow that was the fact. But he established afternoon sermons, and his curate always preached them. He himself used regularly to say the Prayers, and never since his day have I ever heard anybody read the lessons so well as he did. I never hear the first chapter of the Hebrews without recalling the magnificent roll of his voice, as he brought out of it the points of the opening argument. He was keen upon chanting, and vocal music, and we always sang the Canticles, and the metrical Psalms--as I think very well--and a few Sanctuses. The only case of chanting the Prayer Book Psalms was certainly curious. He had heard in Westminster Abbey, the 137th Psalm, "By the waters of Babylon," sung to a chant which much delighted him, and on the 28th day of the month, when that Psalm occurs, we chanted it to the music referred to. All the other Psalms were read.

We used to be told at school that on Sundays we got a taste of Heaven, for we went to church and sang God's praises. I do not quarrel with the teaching even now, I think there is something in it. But I used to think, in those tender pinafore years, that in Heaven there would be one improvement, namely, that we should not stand on cold damp stones and feel half perished. There were forms running up the centre of the church, the whole length of it, on the cold bricks, no arrangement at all for kneeling, and on these forms we sat during lessons, prayers, sermon; and many a cold in the head did I catch. The best singers among the boys, of whom I was not one, went into the gallery. The old Rector established a school in the village, and we learned the Tonic Sol-Fah, and the singing was said to be the best for miles round. I think it was in 1842, two years before his death, that the fiddles and clarionettes were disestablished, and the music was entirely vocal.

There was one feature of his incumbency which I must not forget, I mean his church catechising. It had always been a favourite doctrine of his, that catechising in church should be a feature of church work, and every Sunday afternoon in Lent, the boys were marshalled round the reading desk and catechised. Perhaps rather unfortunately, he had a keen sense of fun, and occasionally a bit of humour in his questions, or his comments, set the congregation in a titter. But there was no question that those who listened picked up a great amount of Biblical and ecclesiastical knowledge.

One mistake as I know now, the dear old rector made. He did not know of the archæological interest of the church, disfigured as it had been by country carpenters and painters and white-washers, and he built a new one, designed by Sir G. Gilbert Scott, then a very young man. And so S. Wilfred's Church was pulled down, and a modern building, handsome enough, has taken its place. But before it was finished the old rector died. So now my recollections pass on to another building and another idea of service.

The new church was certainly more comfortable for the schoolboys, and the singing still continued good. But the new rector made some alterations in matters on which his predecessors had been strong. He was a very pronounced Puritan, and forbade the school children to turn eastward for the Creeds. He forbade such simple anthems as "Lord of all power and might," and Cecil's "I will arise." But he had his very good points. He was young and active, and visited his people assiduously, established a monthly Communion, and worked up a regular branch of the Church Missionary Society, which nobody in the village had ever heard of before. I grew up to manhood during his incumbency, and though I regarded his Puritan practices, and listened to his Calvinistic sermons and tirades against Popery with extreme dislike, I see now that he was a man who was most faithful to his convictions, and no man could be more earnest for the spiritual welfare of his people. He was no scholar, I doubt whether he could have read a page of the Greek Testament in his later days. But he was the kind friend of the sick and the aged, and looked after the young people of his flock, and when they went forth into the world gave them loving and sensible counsels. His wife was as sweet and saintly a character as ever I knew, and their large family have all proved the wisdom of their training. One son has earned himself a name as respected as it is widely known.

His successor was a man of like views, better read, and a kindly-hearted man. But he was less in his parish. Though he kept no curate, he was constantly absent as a "missionary deputation," and his congregation, who had never been instructed in church principles, fell away. He died, and his successor, who was only there for a year or two, was, I am told, a failure, greatly owing to weak health; and so we come down to present times. An organ has been given to the church, thanks to a generous layman; the choir march in procession to their places in the chancel, they do a respectable choral service, and of course turn eastward for their Creed. The parson looks thoroughly well after them, and loves them. There are regular week-day services, and a fair attendance on holy days, and the Sunday congregation is steadily increasing. It had gone down terribly.

Such is an impartial review of the church life in an out-of-the-way country village. My own special old Rector (for I owe more to him than I could ever tell), the builder of the church, was one of the original movers in the celebrated movement of 1833, was in fact one of the persons present at the meeting at Hadleigh Rectory, under the presidency of Hugh James Rose, which led to the starting of the _Tracts for the Times_.

His name appears both in Palmer's Narrative, and in Newman's Correspondence. He was a great friend of John Keble. But as the Tract Movement declined visibly towards Rome he regarded it with increasing dislike, and in his last years expressed that dislike with emphasis. I have sometimes wondered what position he would take up if he lived in our own day, and am inclined to think that the present Archbishop of Canterbury would be regarded by him as best expressing his own views. Peace to them every one, everlasting Light and Rest.

Ye Ende

Index

Abbatial staff, 196

Abbots Bromley, horns at, 13

Advent ringing, 46

Agnus Bell, 43

Ale, baptized in, 80

Ales, Church, 19, 151-152

Altars in churches, 161-166

Andrews, William, F.R.H.S., Inscriptions on Bells, 49-63; Laws of the Belfry, 64-73; Bells cast in churchyards, 154-156.

Anglo-Saxon burials, 127

Anglo-Saxon marriage, 100

Anglo-Saxon prelates, 198-201

Annointing at baptism, 89

Announcements of fortunes at marriages, 121

Apostle Spoons, 90

Armour, burial in, 132

Armour in Churches, 174-181

Armour at funerals, 129, 178

Arvel Dinner, 139

Ascension Day customs, 188-189

Axon, W. E. A., Shorthand in Church, 246-260

Banns, forbidding, 113

Banns peal, 46

Baptism, earliest titles of, 78

Baptism rejected, 79

Barton-le-Street, curious customs at, 20

Batley bells, poem on, 61-63

Beating the Bounds, 182-190

Bell inscriptions, 35, 39, 40, 45, 49, 63

Bells cast in churches and churchyards, 154

Bells lost, 38-39

Benham, Rev. Canon, B.D., F.S.A., Customs and Superstitions of Baptism, 78-98; Reminiscences of our Village Church, 261-270

Bibles, throwing dice for, 165

Biddenden Maids, 25

Bidding at weddings, 119

Bidding for funerals, 146

Bishops in Battle, 198-231

Black Prince, armour of, 175

Blinds taken down at death, 139

Bragget Sunday, 23

Bread and beer distributed at a tomb, 20

Bridegrooms, 104

Box at funerals, 145

Boy-bishop, 2-8

Bozeat toffee, 25

Bridesmaids, 103

Briscoe, J. Potter, "Curiosities of the Belfry," 73

Bull-running, 28

Burial Customs, 126-146

Burial without city walls, 127

Bumping children, 187-188; a curate, 188

Buns and cider, 24

Burning books, 158

Burnley marriage custom, 123

Butchers' serenade, 122

Caistor gad-whip, 28

Canute's crown, 175

Card-playing, 20

Carling Sunday, 23

Caroline, Queen, trial of, 26;

Catechising, 266

Chanting in Church, 265

Choir in the olden days, 263-264

Christening bit, 92; garments, 89; tongs, 91; folk-lore, 94-98

Chrisom, 143

Christmas, 13, 22, 29, 46

Church-Ales, 19, 151, 152

Churchwardens' accounts, 186-187

Churchyards, 127

Cider, 24

Cock-fighting, 20

Coffins, burials without, 134-135

Collecting at funerals in Wales, 139-140

Commonwealth, marriages under, 115

Corpse, and right of way, 140

Costume at weddings, 123

Cox, Rev. J. C., LL.D., F.S.A., on Sports in Churches, 1-20; Armour in Churches, 174-181

Cremation, 127

Cromwell, satire on, 252

Cross roads, burial at, 144

Crosses, burial, 141, 144, 158

Crusaders, 218, 224

Customs and superstitions of baptism, 78-98

Dancing in churches, 8-15

Dates on bells, 40

Day for marriage, 125

Dead, baptism of, 84

Dead, ringing home, 130

Deaf and dumb marriages, 120-121

Dice cast on the Altar, 165

Disputes settled in churchyards, 147

Doles at funerals, 135, 152

Domesday Book, churches mentioned in, 147

Dowry for poor maidens, 111

Druids, 26

Easter, 24, 36

Easter Eggs, 31

Eastern portion of churchyard, burial in, 136-138

Edward III., armour of, 176

Embalming, 126

Epitaph, curious, 58, 137

Fairs held in churchyards, 149, 237

Feast, 22

Feasts, burial, 136

Feasting in churches, 19

Feudal tenures, 211

Fig-pie Sunday, 23

Font, use of, 81

Football, 27

Foxhunting parson, 262

Funeral banquets, 19

Garlands at funerals, 143

Garlands, nuptial, 105

Gifts at christening, 92-93

Girls baptised first, 94

Gold and silver, altars made of, 163

Good Friday, 24, 28

Good Shepherd, 193

Grain at weddings, 119

Great Rebellion, 227, 231

Great Tom of Lincoln, 41

Gretna Green marriages, 120

Gowrie Plot, 37

Gunpowder Plot, 35-36

Hats worn in church, 247

Hampshire burial superstitions, 131

Handbells, 44

Hare-pie, 24

Harvest Bell, 45

Haxey Hood, 27

Heart burial, 128

Hearse, 130

Hindoo marriage custom, 110

Holy Cross, 147, 167

Holy Day Customs, 21-32

Horn-dancers, 13-14

Horse claimed at a mortuary, 129

Hot cross buns, 24

Hot pot at weddings, 102

Hour-glasses in coffins, 131

Howlett, England, F.S.A., Marriage Customs, 99-125, Burial Customs, 126-146

Hucksters' stalls in churches, 1

Husband and Wife re-united, 117

Images, 244

Immersion, 81

Inscriptions on Bells, 49-63

Kershaw, S. W., F.S.A., The Cloister and its story, 232-245

Kendal Custom, 30

Kissing, 109

Knives, 103

Lamplough, Edward, Bishops in Battle, 198-231

Lights to guide travellers by night, 232

Longest day, 242

Laws of the Belfry, 64-73

Market Bell, 37

Marriage Customs, 99-125

Mass on the field of battle, 213

May 29th, ringing on, 34

Maunday Thursday, 30

Midnight burials, 142

Mince-pies, 22

Miracle Play, 16-18

Mistletoe, 26

Mitred Abbots, 196

Molly Grime, 28

Monks of Durham, 204

Moravian marriage customs, 117

Morris dancers, 10-12

Mothering Sunday, 23

Mulled ale, 23

Myton, battle of, 203

New Year's eve ringing, 40

Nicholson, John, Concerning the Churchyard, 147-160

Notorious characters buried north side of the church, 137

Oak-apple day, 34

Palm Sunday at Leigh, 29

Palls, 145

Page, John T., The Rood Loft and its uses, 167-173; Beating the Bounds, 182-190

Pancakes, 22, 37

Pancake bell, 23

Parish Armour, 178-181

Parish Clerks, 114

Passing Bell, 47, 128

Pastoral staff, 129

Paul's Pitcher Day, 30

Paying toll at weddings, 122

Peacock, Florence, Church Bells, when and why they were Rung, 33-48

Penance performance in Hull, 158

Preaching from Shorthand, 259

Private baptism, 83

Proxy, marriage by, 106

Processioning, 184

Puritan, 267

Quakers baptized, 81

Quarrels in churchyards, 151

Reeve, Isaac J., Ringers' Jugs, 74-77

Refreshment Sunday, 23

Reminiscences of our Village Church, 261-270

Reporting, objections to, 258

Revival of the rood screen, 172

Rice at wedding, 118

Rings, wedding, 107

Ringers' Jugs, 74-77

Rival Popes, 216

Rome, ancient, marriage in, 10

Rood Loft and its Uses, 167-173

Roods swept away at the Reformation, 170

Rogation Week, 183

Rosemary at funerals, 131

Rubbish heap in churchyards, 159

Russian burial customs, 141

St. Andrew, 40-41

St. Hugh's Day, 44

Saints and martyrs buried under the altar, 161

Salt at funerals, 144

Sand strewing at weddings, 124

Sanctus Bell, 42

Sawdust strewing at weddings, 124

Saxon Church, 261-262

Screens in churches, 168-169

Scrope, Richard, 224-227

Scriptorium, 233-235

Scrambling customs, 153-154

Seasons for marrying, 111

Secular uses of churches, 1

Sceptre, 192

Seville, dancing at, 14-15

Shakespeare on armour, 175

Sitting posture, buried in a, 134

Shrines, 236

Shrove Tuesday, 22-36

Shoes at weddings, 118-124

Shorthand in Church, 246-260

Simnels, 23

Skeletons represented on tombs, 142

Smith, W. H., shorthand reports for, 259-260

Spencer, Bishop of Norwich, 214, 216

Sponsors, 86

Sports in Churches, 1-20

Sports in churchyards, 150-151

Staff of authority, 191

Standard, battle of, 201-202

Stocks, 157

Story of the Crosier, 191-197

Sunday burials, 145

Sunday of the Five Loaves, 23

Sundials, 156-157

Swedish funerals, 141

Taxes on baptism, 94

Torches at funerals, 137-138

Tracts of the Times started, 269

Trading in churchyards, 148

True Lovers' Knot, 107

Twickenham cakes, 24

Tyack, Rev. G. S., B.A., on Holy Day Customs, 21-32. Altars in Churches, 161-166. The Story of the Crosier, 191-197

Umbrella, parish, 140

Upright burial, 133

Viands connected with Holy Days, 25

Washing feet, 30

Waxen effigies, 142

Wedding bells, 114

Wedding biddings, 119

Well-dressing, 27

Welsh custom, 29

Whitby funeral cakes, 146

Whitsuntide, 11

Wine, baptized in, 80

Wine drinking in church at weddings, 102

Wills about armour, 177

Wool stored in churches, 1

Woollen, burial in, 132

Wren stoning, 29

Wymund, the Saxon, 205-207

Yule-log, 26

Yule, songs of, 13

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The two best recent books on the subject are Pollard's _English Miracle Plays_ (Clarendon Press, 1890,) and Bate's _The English Religions Drama_ (Macmillan, 1893.)

[2] Peacock's _Church Furniture_.--p. 103.

[3] Peacock's _Church Furniture_.--p. 85.

[4] _Ibid._--p. 103.

[5] _English Bells and Bell Lore_, 1888, T. North, cp. 16, p. 191.

[6] At the bottom of the plate occurs the name of the engravers, Sellers and Nelson, Leeds.

[7] See Edward's _History and Poetry of Finger Rings_, Cap. 5, p. 221.

[8] See Robinson's "History and Antiquities of Stoke Newington."

[9] Acta SS. Ord. Benedict, sec. iii., part 2.

[10] York Fabric Rolls, p. 256.

[11] York Fabric Rolls, p. 255.

[12] Andrews' "Curiosities of the Church."

[13] Andrews' "Curiosities of the Church," p. 89.

[14] York Fabric Rolls, p. 116.

[15] 8th S. V. 150, Feb. 24th, 1894.

[16] In some parishes a Triennial or even Septennial visit to the boundaries is considered sufficient.

[17] Brand.

[18] Vol. ii., part i., p. 165.

[19] Walton's "_Life_."

[20] Lysons' "_London_," ii., 126.

[21] "History of Our Lord," by the late Mrs. Jameson, continued by Lady Eastlake.

[22] "History of Our Lord," by the late Mrs. Jameson, 1864.

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