Part 12
In the church of St. Katharine Cree within the altar rails is a carved head of Gayer. On the right hand side is a text, as follows:--"The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers--Ps. 34, v. 15;" on the left hand side this text appears:--"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much--James V., xvi.;" and under the figure this motto:--"Super Astra Spero." There is a brass bearing the following inscription:--
In Memory of SIR JOHN GAYER, KNT., Founder of the "Lion Sermon" who was descended from the Old West Country Family of Gayer, and was born at Plymouth, and became Sheriff of this City of London in 1635, and Lord Mayor of London in 1647.
He was a member of the Levant or Turkey Company, and of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers, London, and President of Christ's Hospital, London, and a liberal donor to and pious founder of Charities.
This City has especial reason to be proud of him, for rather than withdraw his unflinching assertion of the Native Liberties of the Citizens, and his steadfast support of King Charles I., he submitted to imprisonment in the Tower at the hands of the Parliament in 1647 and 1648, and his "Salva Libertate" became historical.
He resided in this Parish, and "Dyed in peace in his owne house" on the 20th of July 1649, and he now lies buried in a Vault beneath this Church of St. Katharine Cree, Leadenhall St.
This Memorial Brass was subscribed for by Members of and Descendants from the Family of Gayer, and was placed here by them in testimony of their admiration for and appreciation of the noble character and many virtues of their illustrious ancestor.
The work of organising this Memorial was carried out by Edmund Richard Gayer, M.A. of Lincoln's Inn, Esq., Barrister at Law, 1888.
There are a number of ancient bequests for ringing bells and lighting beacons to guide travellers by night. These were very useful charities, for in the days of old, lands were generally unenclosed, and the roads poorly constructed. It was difficult for the wayfarer to find his way when the nights were dark. At the ancient village of Hessle, near Hull, a bell is still rung every night except Sunday, at 7 o'clock. Long, long ago, so runs the local story, a lady was lost on a dark night near the place, and was in sore distress, fearing that she would have to wander about in the cold until daylight. Happily, the ringing of the Hessle bells enabled her to direct her course to the village in safety, although she had to wend her weary steps over a trackless country. In gratitude for her delivery she left a piece of land to the parish clerk, on condition that he rang every evening one of the church bells.
A similar story is related respecting a Barton-on-Humber bell ringing custom. Richard Palmer left in 1664 a bequest to the sexton of Workingham, Berkshire, for ringing a bell every evening at eight, and every morning at four o'clock. One reason for ringing this, was "that strangers and others who should happen, on winter nights, within hearing of the ringing of the said bell, to lose their way in the country, might be informed of the time of the night, and receive some guidance into the right way."
John Wardall, in his will dated 29th August, 1656, provided for a payment of £4 per annum being made to the Churchwardens of St. Botolph's, Billingsgate, London, "to provide a good and sufficient iron and glass lanthorn, with a candle, for the direction of passengers to go with more security to and from the water-side, all night long, to be fixed at the north-east corner of the parish church, from the feast-day of St. Bartholomew to Lady-Day; out of which sum £1 was to be paid to the sexton for taking care of the lanthorn." In 1662 a man named John Cooke made a similar bequest for providing a lamp at the corner of St. Michael's Lane, next Thames Street.
In past ages churches were frequently unpaved and the floor usually covered with rushes. Not a few persons have left money and land for providing rushes for churches. In these latter days rushes are no longer strewn on the floor for keeping the feet warm in cold weather, but at a number of places old rights are maintained by the carrying out of the custom. At Clee, Lincolnshire, for example, the parish officials possess the right of cutting rushes from a certain piece of land for strewing the floor of the church every Trinity Sunday. The churchwardens preserve their rights by cutting a small quantity of grass annually and strewing it on the church floor. At Old Weston, Huntingdonshire, a similar custom still lingers. "A piece of land," says Edwards in his "Remarkable Charities," "belongs, by custom, to the parish clerk for the time being, subject to the condition of the land being mown immediately before Weston feast, which occurs in July, and the cutting thereof strewed on the church floor, previous to divine service on the feast Sunday, and continuing there during divine service." At Pavenham, Bedfordshire, the church is annually strewn with grass cut from a certain field, on the first Sunday after the 11th July. "Until recently," says a well-informed correspondent, "the custom was for the churchwardens to claim the right of removing from the field in question as much grass as they could 'cut and cart away from sunrise to sunset.' A few years ago this arrangement was altered into a yearly payment on the part of the tenant of the field of one guinea." The money is spent in purchasing grass for spreading on the church floor. The parishioners have always taken a deep interest in this old custom. On the benefaction table of Deptford Church is recorded that "a person unknown gave half-a-quarter of wheat, to be given in bread on Good Friday, and half a load of rushes at Whitsuntide, and a load of pea-straw at Christmas yearly, for the use of the church." In 1721, an offer of 21s. per annum was accepted in lieu of the straw and rushes, and in 1744, the sum of 10s. yearly in place of the half-quarter of wheat.
John Rudge, by his will dated 17th April, 1725, left a pound a year to a poor man to go round the parish church of Trysull, Staffordshire, during the delivery of the sermon, to keep people awake and drive out of the church any dogs which might come in. Richard Brooke left 5s. a year for a person to keep quiet during divine service the boys in the Wolverhampton church and churchyard.
At Stockton-in-the-Forest, Yorkshire, is a piece of land called "Petticoat Hole," and it is held on the condition of providing a poor woman of the place every year with a new petticoat.
We will close this chapter with particulars of a novel mode of distributing a charity. At Bulkeley, Cheshire, a charity of 19s. 2d. was given to the poor as follows. The overseer obtained the amount in coppers, placed them in a peck measure, and invited each of the poor folks to help himself or herself to a handful.
An Old-Time Chronicler.
We have frequently referred to the writings of John Stow in this work, and we think a short account of his life and labours will prove interesting to our readers.
From the ranks of tailors have sprung many famous men. Not one more worthy, perhaps, than honest John Stow, the painstaking compiler of works which have found a lasting place in historic literature.
Stow was a Londoner of Londoners, born in 1525, in the parish of St. Michael, Cornhill. His father and grandfather were citizens, and appear to have been most worthy men. John Stow was trained under his father to the trade of a tailor. At an early age he took an interest in the study of history and antiquities, and, as years ran their course, his love of research increased. We have had handed down to us from the pen of Edmund Howes, his literary executor, a well-drawn word-portrait of Stow. We learn that he was tall in stature, and, as befits the ideal student, lean in body and face. His eyes were small and clear, and his sight excellent. As might be expected, through long and active use, his memory was very good. He was sober, mild, and corteous, and ever ready to impart information to those that sought it.
He lived in an historically attractive age. It was a period when some of our greatest countrymen worked and talked amongst men. Gifted authors made the time glorious in our literary annals. Stow's fame mainly rests on being an exact and picturesque describer of the London of Queen Elizabeth. His _Survey_ is not a mere topographical account of the city, but a pleasantly penned picture, full of life and character, of the social condition, manners, customs, sports, and pastimes of the people.
John Stow was most minute as a writer, and his attention to slight circumstances has caused some critics to make merry over his productions. Fuller, for example, spoke of him "as such a smell-feast that he cannot pass by the Guildhall but his pen must taste the good cheer therein." It is his consideration of minor matters that renders his book so valuable to the student of bygone times. We may quote, to illustrate this, a few lines from his _Survey of London_. After a description of the Abbey of St. Clare, he writes: "Near adjoining to this Abbey, on the south side thereof, was sometime a farm belonging to the said nunnery, at which farm I myself, in my youth, have fetched many a halfpennyworth of milk, and never had less than three ale pints for a halfpenny in the summer, nor less than one ale quart for a halfpenny in the winter, always hot from the kine, as the same was milked and strained. One Trolop, afterwards Goodman, was farmer there, and had thirty or forty kine to the pail. Goodman's son, being heir to his father's purchase, let out the ground first for the grazing of horses, and then for garden plots, and lived like a gentleman thereby."
In about his fortieth year, Stow gave up his business as a tailor and devoted his entire life to antiquarian pursuits. Fame he won, but not fortune. In place of being wealthy in his old age, he, as we shall presently see, suffered from poverty. His principal works include his _Summary of English Chronicles_, first issued in 1561. In 1580, his _Annals; or, a General Chronicle of England_ was published. His most important work was given to the world in 1598, under the title of a _Survey of London and Westminster_. Besides writing the foregoing original books, he assisted on the continuation of Holinshed's _Chronicle_ and Speght's edition of Chaucer, and he was employed on other undertakings.
Many a long journey Stow made in search of information. He could not ride, and had to travel on foot. In the midst of great trials it is recorded that his good humour never forsook him. In his old age he was troubled with pains in his feet, and quietly remarked that his "afflictions lay in the parts he had formerly made so much use of."
We might well suppose that Stow's blameless life would render him free from suspicion, and that his grateful countrymen would regard with respect his great work in writing the history of England. Such was not the case. It was thought that his researches would injure the reformed religion, and on this miserable plea he was cast into prison, and his humble home was searched. We obtain from the report of the searchers an interesting account of the contents of Stow's library. It consisted, we are told, of "great collections of his own, of his English chronicles, also a great sort of old books, some fabulous, as _Sir Gregory Triamour_, and a great parcel of old manuscript chronicles in parchment and paper; besides miscellaneous tracts touching physic, surgery, herbs, and medical receipts, and also fantastical popish books printed in old time, and others written in old English on parchment."
John Stow failed to make much money, but on the whole, he lived a peaceful life, enjoying the many pleasures that fall to the lot of the student. Happily for him, to use Howes' words, "He was careless of the scoffers, backbiters, and detractors."
It is Howes who also tells that Stow always protested never to have written anything either of malice, fear, or favour, nor to seek his own particular gain or vain-glory, and that his only pains and care was to write the truth.
At the age of four score years, his labours received State acknowledgment. It was indeed a poor acknowledgment, for, in answer to a petition, James I. granted him a licence to beg. Stow sought help, to use his own words, as "a recompense for his labour and travel of forty-five years, in setting forth the _Chronicles of England_, and eight years taken up in the _Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster_, towards his relief in his old age, having left his former means of living, and also employing himself for the service and good of his country."
The humble request was granted, and the document says:--"Whereas our loving subject, John Stow (a very aged and worthy member of our city of London), this five-and-forty years hath, to his great charge, and with neglect of his ordinary means of maintenance (for the general good, as well of posterity as of the present age), compiled and published divers necessary books and chronicles; and therefore we, in recompense of these his painful labours, and for encouragement of the like, have, in our Royal inclination, been pleased to grant our Letters Patent, under our Great Seal of England, thereby authorising him, the said John Stow, to collect among our loving subjects their voluntary contributions and kind gratuities."
The foregoing authority to beg was granted for twelve months, but, as the response was so small, it pleased the King to extend the privilege for another year. From one parish in the City of London he only received seven shillings and sixpence--a poor reward, to use Stow's words, "of many a weary day's travel, and cold winter night's study."
His end now was drawing near, and mundane trials were almost over. On the 5th of April, 1605, his well-spent life closed, and his mortal remains were laid to rest in his parish church of St. Andrew, Undershaft. Here may still be seen the curious and interesting monument which his loving widow erected. It is pleasant to leave the busy streets of the great metropolis and repair to the quiet sanctuary where rests the old chronicler, and look upon his quaint monument, and reflect on ages long passed. When the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed the London Stow had so truthfully described, his monument escaped destruction.
Ye Ende
INDEX.
Abingdon, customs at, 56
Advertisement, novel, 194-197
Age of Snuffing, 168-185
Alleyn, Edward, founder of Dulwich College, 212
Altrincham, Mayor of, 60-61
Ambassadors, at bear-baitings, 211, 215-216
America, Muffs in, 45-46; Cold places of worship, 46-47
Anglo-Saxon bread, 134
An Old-Time Chronicler, 266-274
Arise, Mistress, Arise!, 142-143
Armstrong, Sir Thomas, 84-87
Arrows, 152
Ashbourne, custom at, 241
Baker's dozen, 138
Baiting animals stopped by Act of Parliament, 221
Banbury, customs at, 58
Banks, Mrs. G. L., on hair-dressing, 38
Bankside, plan of, 213
Barber's shop, 21
Barley bread, 135
Baxter, Richard, on Sunday pleasure, 231
Barbers fined, 32
Barrington, G., poet and pickpocket, 180-181
Barrister's wig, 18, 19
Barrow bells, 157
Bear-baiting, 132-133, 205-221
Bells as Time-Tellers, 156-167
Bell ringing bequests, 261-262
Beverley, funeral at, 123; bear-baiting at, 133
Bewdley, custom at, 142
Bish, Mr., on Lotteries, 200-202
Blue-Coat boys, draw at lotteries, 194
Boar's-head with mustard, 131
Bonfires, 234, 235
Bow bells, 159
Boroughbridge, Battle of, 77
Brandeston, removing a dead body to the church for protection, 117
Bread and Baking in Bygone Days, 134-141
Bread Street, 135
Bribes for the Palate, 63-73
British slaves, freeing, 257-258
Briscoe, J. P., on Nottingham customs, 61-62
Bromley-by-Bow, bakers at, 135
Burial at Cross Roads, 105-114
Burying the mace, 53
Butter and suet, prohibiting the use of in making bread, 140
Byng, Admiral, shot, 45
Cade, Jack, 81
Caius, Dr., on dogs, 145
Cambridge, regulations relating to tobacco, 173
Candles for lighting the streets, 52
Canterbury, curious customs at, 52-53
Capture of snuff, 171
Carlisle, Earl of, beheaded, 78-79
Carlisle, heads spiked at, 92-95
Charles II. and wigs, 7
Charlotte, Queen, gives up using hair-powder, 36; taking snuff, 176
Christmas rhymes, 142
Chronicler, an Old-Time, 266-274
Churches, snuff taking in, 172-175
Clarinda, Burns on, 178
Clee, custom at, 263
Clergy and the wig, 15-17
Clifton rhyme, 219-220
Clocks, introduction of, 160
Clothiers in eighteenth century, 165
Closing shops, time for, 160
Cobham, Eleanor, trial of, 80
Cockledge, murder at, 123
Combing the wig, 10
Concerning Corporation Customs, 48-62
Congleton, bear-baiting at, 217-218
Conspiracy to assassinate William III., 87
Cooper's Hall, Lotteries at, 193
Cornish Insurrection, 81; folk-lore, 234-236
Corporation snuff-boxes, 168-169
Craven cartoon, 242
Crop Clubs, 34
Curious Charities, 255-265
Curious window at Betley, 225-227
Curfew bell, 166-167
Dagger Money, 57
Death, Superstitions relating to, 242
Death of William I., 167
Deering on snuff-taking, 178
Detaining the Dead for Debt, 115-121
Derby, suicide, burial of a, 106
Discarding wigs in court, 19
Doctors' muffs, 42
Dogs, earliest writer on, 145; in muffs, 44
Droylsden, suicide, burial of, 108-109
Druidical superstitions, 234
Dryden, Haunt of, 182
Ducking Stool, 138
Duels, 106
Earle, Mrs. A. M., on American Muffs, 46
Early closing of public-houses, 167
Eating custom, 242-243
Ecclesfield, tradition at, 220
Edward III., proclamation of, against bear-baiting, 205
Egypt, goose in, 150
Egyptians, invent wigs, 1
Eldon, Lord, objects to the wig, 18
Elizabeth, enjoys baiting animals, 208
Epitaphs, 109, 116, 197, 203-204, 260-261
Erasmus in England, 206
Exeter, salmon given at, 70
False hair, 20, 22
Famous snuff takers, 176
Fathers of the Church denounce wigs, 3
Felo-de-se, Acts relating to, 112-114
Female follies, 30
Fined for arresting the dead, 118-119, 121
Fined for being deficient in elegance, 52
First English lottery, 186-188
Fish, presentation of, 70
Fisher, Bishop, beheaded, 81-82
Fishtoft, burial of a suicide at, 107
Fitstephen on bear-baiting, 205
Fletcher, Captain, 88-89
Folk-Lore of Midsummer Eve, 234-243
France, Mania for Wigs in, 6-7
Funeral, stately, 123
Garrick, Mrs., 178
George II., a selfish snuff-taker, 185
Glayer, Sir John, 258-261
Globe Theatre, 209
Gold-dust used for hair-powder, 28
Gossip about the Goose, 150-155
Great Plague, tobacco and snuff used during, 169-171
Guinea-pigs, 35
Harvest bell, 156, 157-158
Harvest Home, 244-254
Hair, cut off with a bread-knife, 44
Hale, Sir Matthew, 63-64
Hamlet, Grave scene in, 105
Hampton Court Palace, clock at, 162-163
Hannibal and his wigs, 5-6
Hartlepool, strange enactment at, 62
Hawarden attacked, 74
Heart-breakers, 20
Hempseed, sowing, 241
Henzner, Paul, 84
Herrick on harvest customs, 252-253
Hilton, Jack of, 152
Hockley-in-the-Hole, 220
Holy bread, 134
Hope theatre, 207
Horse Guards, protect the lottery wheel, 193
Howard's Household Book, 145
Hull, curious ordinances at, 51-53; Sheriff to provide his wife with a scarlet gown, 52; Andrew Marvell and Hull ale, 71-73; head spiked at, 95; ducking-stool at, 96; Mayor slain, 98; snuff-box at, 168-169
Incorporation of towns, 48
Inscription on bells, 159
Ireland, St. John's eve in, 236-237
Irish folk-lore, 175
Jackson, John, and his clock, 162-166
Jacobites, defeat of, 102
James I. and tobacco, 173; orders a bear to be baited to death, 215
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, and his snuff, 182
Judge's wig, 18
Keeping people awake, 255
Kenilworth, bears baited at, 211
King eating meal and rye bread, 141
Kingston-upon-Thames, Morris Dancers at, 223
Knocking feet in meeting houses, 47
Lady, origin of, 134
Lamb, Charles and Mary, 184
Lanthorns, bequests for providing, 262-263
Last Lottery in England, 198-200
Layer, Councillor, 87-88
Leconfield castle, 123
Leeds bridge, market on, 165
Leicester, mace lowering at, 51; bear-baiting at, 216-217
Leighton, Robert, poem by, 183-184
Letters from the dead to the living, 11
Licence to beg, 272-273
Lincolnshire geese, 153
Lion Sermon, 258-261
London Bakers' Company, 135-136
London Bridge, 75-84
London, burials of suicides, 110-111
Love divinations, 238-240
Louth, ringing custom at, 158
Lowering the mace, 51
Ludlow, customs at, 59
Lycians, heads shaven and wigs worn, 5
Mace, as a weapon and as an ensign of authority, 49
Manchester, curious baking regulations, 140
Manorial service, curious, 144, 152
Margarett, Princess, 49, 123-124
Mar, Rising of, 87
Marvell, Andrew, and Hull ale, 71-73
Mary, Queen of Scots, 102
May-pole, 233
Meals in the olden time, 127-129
Medical men and the wig, 17-18
Men wearing Muffs, 40-47
Michaelmas goose, 154
Micklegate Bar, York, 98-99; heads stolen from, 103
Milk, price of, in the olden time, 268
More, Sir Thomas, beheaded, 83
Morley, custom at, 143
Morris-Dancers, 222-233
Municipal Reform Act, 48
Murder, strange story of a, 137
Napoleon taking snuff, 181; snuff-box, 177-178
Newcastle-on-Tyne, assize custom at, 56-58; presents of wine and sugar loaves, 64-66; brank at, 66, 67; burial of a suicide, 111
Nobleman's Household in Tudor Times, 122-133
North Wingfield, dead body stopped at, 115-116
Northumberland Household Book, 125-133
Norwich, burial of a suicide, 107
Nottingham, burying the mace at, 53-55; ale and bread custom, 61-62; town's presents, 69; Goose Fair, 154
Novel mode of distributing a charity, 265
Over, Mayor of, 60-61
O'Connell, D., and his wig, 22-23
Parading a head, 79
Parliament sitting at Shrewsbury, 75
Palm-Sunday, battle on, 101
Penzance, customs at, 235
Pepys and his wigs, 7-9; muffs, 41; on the Plague, 170
Percy family, 122-133
Peter the Great obtaining the loan of a wig, 23
Petticoat charity, 265
Pig-tail, 12, 14
Pillory, bakers in the, 137
Pipes and tobacco for judges, 58
Piper playing to workmen, 247-248
Pliny on the goose, 150
Poets' Corner, Johnson and Goldsmith in, 91-92
Porpoise regarded as a delicacy, 69
Pope on Belinda, 177
Potatoes, preservation of, 70-71
Powdering the Hair, 28-39
Pontefract Castle, head spiked at, 77
Prison charities, 255-256
Punishing bakers, 138-140, 141
Puritans and lotteries, 189
Quill pens, 155
Ramillie Wig, 13
Reading, Morris Dancers at, 224
Rebel Heads on City Gates, 74-104
Revolt against Henry IV., 79
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 184-185
Riot, Wig, 25-27
Rollit, Sir Albert K., 168
Rome saved by the cackling of the goose, 151
Roper, Margaret, 83, 85
Rushes for church floors, 263-265
Rye, authority of Mayor, 62
Rye House Plot, 84-87
Saxons colouring their hair, 28
Scarlet gowns for the Mayoress, 52
Scotland, wigs in, 36-37; muff in, 42; body arrested in, 120; snuff taking in, 171-173
Scott, Sir Walter, on wigs, 37
School-boys obliged to smoke, 170
Schoolmasters forbidden to smoke, 174
Scrope, Richard, beheaded, 96-97
Selkirk, Making a sutor of, 59
Selling the Church Bible to pay for a Bear, 217-220
Sheridan, curious report respecting, 120
Shrewsbury, Parliament sitting at, 75
Shrouds for prisoners, 256-257
Shouting a kirn, 248-250
Slaves, freeing christian, 257-258
Smoking forbidden in the streets, 173-174
Snuffing, earliest allusion to, 169
Southampton, Mayoress of, 50
South Shields, suicide, burial of, 109-110
Sowing hempseed, 241
Sparsholt, dead body detained at, 115
Speaker's wig, 18
Spice bread, making prohibited, 140
St. Albans, clock at, 161
St. Paul's Lotteries drawn at the doors of, 188
State Lotteries, 186-204