Part 15

28: The parvise is to be found over church porches in all parts of England. It is more common in early English than in Norman architecture, and very frequently to be found in churches of the Decorated and Perpendicular periods. Probably the largest parvise in England is at Bishop's-Cleeve, near Cheltenham. There are interesting specimens at Bridport, Bishop's Auckland, Ampthill, Finedon, Cirencester, Grantham, Martley, Fotheringay, Sherborne, St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, Stanwick, Outwell, and St. Peter's-in-the-East, Oxford. In a few instances there are two parvises, one over the north and one over the south porch, as at Wellingborough. In some cases, as at Martley, Worcestershire, the upper moulding of the original Norman doorway has been concealed by the parvise of later architecture.

29: "The name was formerly given to a favourite apartment, as at Leckingfield, Yorkshire. 'A little studying chamber, caullid paradise.' (Leland's Itinerary.)"--_Glossary of Architecture._

30: The room may have been the residence of one or more of the ordinary priests of the church, or perhaps only a _study_ for them (see previous note), or it may have been occupied by an anchorite or hermit, or by a chantry priest. Rooms for these several purposes are also not unfrequently to be found over the vestry, as at Cropredy, near Banbury, and at Staindrop, Durham.

31: Fire-places are of frequent occurrence in these chambers; many of them are coeval with the porch, but others appear to have been erected at a later date.

32: At Hawkhurst, Kent, the porch-chamber is called _the treasury_. At St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, the room over the grand north porch, in which are the remains of the chests in which Chatterton professed to find the manuscripts attributed to Rowley, was at one time known as the _treasury house_.

33: "The chamber over the porch was generally used for the keeping of books and records belonging to the church. Such an appendage was added to many churches in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; and some of these old libraries still remain with their books fastened to shelves or desks by small chains."--_Brandon's Gothic Architecture._

Over the porch at Finedon (of which we give an engraving) is a parvise in which is contained a valuable library of about 1000 volumes, placed there by Sir John English Dolben, Bart., A.D. 1788. At St. Peter's-in-the-East, Oxford, and many other places, are similar libraries.

34: These were probably small chantries. It is comparatively seldom that any vestige of the altar remains; but the credence and piscina--certain proofs of the previous existence of the altar--are very commonly found.

35: "The custom of teaching children in the porch is of very early origin; it is distinctly mentioned by Matthew Paris in the time of Henry III."--_Glossary of Architecture._

After the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., in which reigns all chantries were suppressed, the children were promoted from the porch to the parvise.

36: "Above the groining of the porch is a parvise, accessible by a turret-stair, having two Norman window-openings, unglazed, and a straight-gabled niche between them on the outside. In former days this chamber was constantly inhabited by one of the sextons, who acted as a watchman, but since the restoration of the church it has been disused."--_Harston's Handbook of Sherborne Abbey_.

In the church accounts of St. Peter's-in-the-East, Oxford, A.D. 1488, there is a charge for a "key to clerk's chamber." This no doubt referred to the parvise.

37: As, a few years ago, at Headcorn in Kent.

38: There was frequently, but not always, a window or opening from the room into the church; and it would seem that it was so placed to enable the occupant of the room to keep a watchful eye over the interior of the church, and not for any devotional exercise connected with the altar, as we never find this window directed obliquely to wards the altar, as is commonly the case with windows opening from the vestry, or chamber above the vestry, into the church.

39: Many porches seem originally not to have had doors, but marks exist which indicate that barriers to keep out cattle were used.

40: It is composed of lamp-black, bees'-wax, and tallow, and is commonly used by shoemakers to give a black polish to the heels of boots.

41: These superstitions existed a few years since in connexion with an old incised slab in the chancel of Christ Church, Caerleon.

42: "In the year 1657, the adherents of a Preacher of the name of Cam obtained the grant of the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church, Hull, from the council of state under the Protectorate, and whilst the mob without were burning the surplice and the Prayer Book, those within were tearing the brasses from the grave-stones."--_History of Kingston-upon-Hull._

s. d.

"1644, April 8th, paid to Master Dowson, that came with the troopers to our church, about the taking down of images and brasses off stones 6 0

"1644, paid, that day, to others, for taking up the brasses of grave-stones before the Officer Dowson came 1 0

--_Churchwarden's accounts_; _Walberswich, Suffolk._

"This William Dowing (Dowson), it appears, kept a journal of his ecclesiastical exploits. With reference to the Church of St. Edward's, Cambridge, he says,--

"'1643, Jan. 1, Edward's Parish, we digged up the steps, and broke down 40 pictures, and took off ten superstitious inscriptions.'

"Mr. Cole, in his MSS., observes,--

"'From this last entry we may clearly see to whom we are obliged for the dismantling of almost all the grave-stones that had brasses on them, both in town and country; a sacrilegious, sanctified rascal, that was afraid, or too proud, to call it _St._ Edward's Church, but not ashamed to rob the dead of their honours, and the church of its ornaments.--W. C.'"--_Burn's Parish Registers_.

43: The very interesting brasses in Chartham Church, Kent, were found a few years since as here described, by the present rector, and replaced by him on the chancel pavement.

44: "Manual of Monumental Brasses," vol. i. p. 34.

45: "If any one will lay the portrait of Lord Bristol (in Mr. Gage Rokewode's _Thingoe Hundred_) by the side of the sepulchral brass of the Abbess of Elstow (from whom he is collaterally descended) figured in Fisher's _Bedfordshire Antiquities_, he cannot but be struck by the strong likeness between the two faces. This is valuable evidence on the disputed point whether portraits were attempted in sepulchral brasses."--_Notes and Queries_.

46: See page 77.

47: See page 85. [The engravings of sepulchral brasses and of stained glass windows are kindly supplied by the Editor of the _Penny Post_.]

48: See page 67.

49: _Hamlet_, Act i. Sc. 3.

50: Monumental slabs of this description are most common on the pavement of churches in the midland counties.

51: This is the case in Ely Cathedral.

52: At Bawsey, Lynn; Droitwich; Great Malvern; and recently near Smithfield, London, when excavating for the subterranean railway.

53: Thus translated in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for October, 1833:--

"Think, man, thy life | But that thou keepest May not ever endure, | Unto thy executor's care, That thou dost thyself | If ever it avail thee Of that thou art sure; | It is but chance."

54: "Anno 1210. Let the Abbot of Beaubec (in Normandy), who has for a long time allowed his monk to construct, for persons who do not belong to the order, pavements, which exhibit levity and curiosity, be in slight penance for three days, the last of them on bread and water; and let the monk be recalled before the feast of All Saints, and never again be lent, excepting to persons of our order, with whom let him not presume to construct pavements which do not extend the dignity of the order."--Martini's _Thesaurus Anecdotorum_.--Extracted from Oldham's "Irish Pavement Tiles."

55: Specially in Normandy, where they are occasionally found under trefoil canopies, resembling our sepulchral brasses.

56: Some excellent coloured engravings for cottage walls, of a large size, have been published by Messrs. Remington, under the direction of the Rev. J. W. Burgon, of Oriel College, Oxford. Others, both large and small, suitable for this purpose, are published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and also by several other publishers.

57: These wall paintings exist (or did till recently) on the outside of a church at High Wycombe. They are curious, and very grotesque; no doubt, however, in their day they have served a good and useful purpose.

58: These mural paintings still remain, as here described, on the north wall of the chancel of Chalgrove Church, Oxon. There are also on the east and south walls of the chancel of the same church, many other paintings possessing great interest.

59: A very interesting mural painting, of which the above is a copy, has been lately discovered in a recess in the north wall of the nave of Bedfont Church. The colour is exceedingly rich and well preserved. The painting measures 4 ft. 6 in. by 4 ft., and is supposed to be of the thirteenth century. It represents the Last Judgment. Our Lord is sitting on His Throne, showing the five wounds. On the right hand is an angel showing the Cross, on the left an angel with a spear. Four nails are represented near the head of our Lord. In the lower part of the painting are two angels holding trumpets, and below them three persons rising out of the tomb.

It is probable that the interior of almost every old church in the country has at some time been decorated with wall-paintings--very many of them have been brought to light in recent works of church restoration. The favourite subjects were representations of Heaven and Hell, and of the Day of Judgment. In many cathedrals and some parish churches the _Dance of Death_ was painted on the walls. This was one of the most popular religious plays about four centuries ago.

60: No doubt the earliest church walls were made of wood. Greenstead Church, in Essex, affords a most interesting example of these old wooden walls.

61: Roman bricks are generally easy to be distinguished from others by their colour and shape. They were not all made in moulds of the same size, as we now make bricks, and on this account we find them to vary much in size and form.

62: As at Crowmarsh, Oxfordshire, of which an engraving is given.

63: At Godmersham, Kent.

64: It is certain that many of the splendid yew-trees in our old churchyards are far older than the churches themselves. And it is more than probable that in many instances they mark the places where heathen rites were once celebrated. It was natural for our Christian forefathers to select these spots as places of worship, since, being held sacred by the heathen people around them, they would be regarded by them with reverence and respect, and thus the cross which they reared, and the dead which they buried beneath the wide-spreading branches of these old trees would be preserved from desecration.

65: These styles are now frequently called _first_, _second_, and _third pointed_.

66: "The glass windows in a church are Holy Scriptures, which expel the wind and the rain, that is, all things hurtful, but transmit the light of the True Sun, that is, God, into the hearts of the faithful. These are wider within than without, because the mystical sense is the more ample, and precedeth the literal meaning. Also, by the windows the senses of the body are signified: which ought to be shut to the vanities of this world, and open to receive with all freedom spiritual gifts. By the lattice-work of the windows, we understand the Prophets or other obscure teachers of the Church Militant: in which windows there are often two shafts, signifying the two precepts of charity, or because the Apostles were sent out to preach two and two."--_Durandus on Symbolism_.

67: Stained glass is said to have been first used in churches in the twelfth century. Windows were at first filled with thin slices of talc or alabaster, or sometimes vellum. As the monks spent much time in illuminating their vellum MSS., it has been thought likely that they also painted on the vellum used in the windows of their monasteries, and that afterwards, on the introduction of glass, their vellum illuminations suggested their glass painting.

68: At Brabourne, Kent, is a Norman window filled with stained glass of the period, which is still quite perfect.

69: "One who calls himself John Dowsing, and, by virtue of a pretended commission, goes about ye country like a Bedlam, breaking glasse windows, having battered and beaten downe all our painted glasse, not only in our Chappels, but (contrary to order) in our Publique Schools, Colledge Halls, Libraries, and Chambers."--Berwick's _Querela Cantabrigiensis_.

70: The rubric in the Service for the Public Baptism of Infants directs the priest, _if the godfathers and godmothers shall certify that the child may well endure it_, to _dip it in the water_. In the first Prayer Book of Edward VI. the priest is directed to "_dyppe it in the water thryce_."

71: Acts xvi. 15, 33. 1 Cor. i. 16.

72: As at Dorchester and Warborough in Oxfordshire, and Brookland in Kent; each of these have very elaborate mouldings upon them.

73: At Llanvair Discoed, Monmouthshire.

74: The Font at West Rounton, of which we have given an engraving, is one of many examples of this. The _Centaur_, the arrow from whose bow is just about to pierce the monster, probably represents the Deity conquering Satan, or perhaps the continual conflict of the baptized Christian against sin and Satan. The other figure may represent the Divine and human natures united in our Lord. This exceedingly curious Font was discovered during the recent restoration of the little Norman Church of West Rounton, Yorkshire. It was found under the pulpit, of which it formed the base, having been turned over so that the bowl rested on the floor, and so carefully plastered that there was no external indication of its original form. It has now been restored to its former position near the south-west door of the church.

75: Ezek. iii. 7, 8; ix. 4. Rev. vii. 3; ix. 4; xiii. 16; xiv. 1, 9; xxii. 4.

76: {~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ZETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~} [baptizo], to baptize, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA~} [ana], again.

77: "God planted a garden eastward;" man went westward when he left it; he turns eastward to remind him of his return. Almost every church in England is built _east and west_, with the altar at the east.

78: Phil. ii. 10.

79: Canon XVIII. 1603.

80: "Many monuments are covered with seates, or pewes, made high and easie for parishioners to sit or sleepe in, a fashion of no long continuance, and worthy of reformation."--Weaver's _Funeral Monuments_. Temp. James I.

81: It is likely that the idea of a gallery at the west end of the nave, was first suggested by the gallery of the Rood Screen at the eastern end.

82: At H.... church, Kent, for instance.

83: Chertsey, Surrey.

84: One of the churches in Edinburgh, for instance.

85: 2 Chron. vi. 13.

86: Nehem. viii. 4.

87: As at Magdalene College, Oxford. "Formerly, when the annual sermon was preached on the feast of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, from the stone pulpit before the chapel of Magdalene College, Oxford, the whole area before it was covered with rushes and grass, to represent, it is said, the wilderness: and doubtless also for the accommodation of the hearers; the seats being set for the University authorities."--_History of Pues._

88: Such an one formerly existed near the cathedral of Exeter.

89: Parker's "Glossary of Architecture," part i. p. 171. At the west end of Boxley Church, Kent, is a Galilee. There are very few--if any--other churches in which the ancient _Galilee_ is to be found.

90: Many of the wooden pulpits have dates upon them. The earliest of these is A.D. 1590, on a pulpit at Ruthin, Denbighshire.

91: "The Churchwardens, at the common charge of the Parishioners in every parish, shall provide a comely and honest pulpit, to be set in a convenient place within the Churche, and to be there seemly kept, for the preaching of God's worde."--_Injunctions given by the Queen's Majestie_, 1559.

92: It seems most probable that the last of these was the real object. In some old discourses the following phrase is met with:--"Let us now take another _glass_," meaning another period of time to be measured by the hour-glass: and the preacher reversed the glass at this point. Ancient hour-glasses remain in the church of St. Alban's, Wood Street, City; and at Cowden, Kent. The iron frames of hour-glasses still remain in the churches of Stoke Dabernoun, Surrey; Odell, Bedfordshire; St. John's, Bristol; Cliff, Kent; and Erdingthorpe, Norfolk, and doubtless others are to be found elsewhere. The Queen has lately presented an hour-glass of the measure of eighteen minutes for the pulpit of the chapel royal in the Savoy, to replace the old one, which was destroyed in the recent fire.

93: Some few of these sounding-boards are, however, very handsome. At Newcastle there is, or lately was, a sounding-board which was a representation of the spire of the church.

94: _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. 1. p. 364. Preaching-Crosses are also at Hereford, near the Friary of the Dominican (or Preaching) Friars; and in the churchyards of Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, and Rampisham, Dorsetshire.

95: See a curious letter on this subject in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. 1. p. 527.

96: See Walker's "Sufferings of the Clergy," p. 310.

97: S. Luke vi. 26.

98: The Vicar of the church here referred to has lately deceased, and his successor has commenced the much needed improvements. The Vicar's good daughter, who was quite a _sister of mercy_ in the parish, is not likely to be forgotten, though the old pew has gone. A beautiful window of stained glass has been erected to her memory by the parishioners.

99: This phase of the pew system is not over coloured. A few years since, a pew in the nave of Old Swinford Church was so nailed up; but other instances of this might be mentioned.

100: James ii. 1-4.

101: James ii. 5, 6.

102: Sermon by the Rev. E. Stuart, preached at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Munster Square, London.

103: 2 Cor. viii. 9.

104: Much information on this subject can be obtained from "The History of Pues: a Paper read before the Cambridge Camden Society, November 22, 1841."

105: Stone seats were often placed round the bases of the columns of the nave; examples are at St. Margaret-at-Cliffe, and Challock, in Kent.

106: _British Critic_; see _History of Pues_.

107: "'1612, 27 May.--Ye Ch. Wardens meeting together for seekeing for workmen to mak a fitt seete in a convennent place for brydgrumes, bryds, and sike wyves to sit in ijs.

--_Extract from Parochial Books of Chester-le-Street, Durham_.

"It is plain that at this period the privilege of a separate pew was confined to persons of the first rank; the rest sat promiscuously on forms in the body of the church, and the privilege is here extended only to sick wives and brides, who sat to hear the preacher deliver 'The Bride's Bush,' or 'The Wedding Garment beautified.'"--Surtees' _Hist. of Durham_.

108: Blomfield's _Norfolk_, vi. 317.

109: "Several congregations find themselves already very much straitened; and if the mode increases, I wish it may not drive many ordinary women into meetings and conventicles. Should our sex at the same time take it into their heads to wear trunk breeches, a man and his wife would fill a whole pew."--_Satire on Female Costume. Spectator_, No. 127.

"At church in silks and satins new, And hoop of monstrous size; She never slumber'd in her pew But when she shut her eyes."--_Goldsmith._

110: "He found him mounted in his pew, With books and money placed for shew."

_The Lawyer's Pew_, Butler's _Hudibras_.

"A bedstead of the antique mode, Compact of timber many a load, Such as our ancestors did use, Was metamorphosed into pews; Which still their ancient nature keep By lodging folks disposed to sleep."

Swift's _Baucis and Philemon_.

111: _European Magazine_, 1813.

112: _History of Pues_, p. 77.

113: "1617. Barnham _contra_ Hayward Puellam.--Presentatur--for that she being but a young maid sat in ye pew with her mother, to ye great offence of many reverent women: howbeit that after I Peter Lewis the Vicar had in the church privately admonished her to sit at her mother's pew-door, she obeyed; but now she sits with her mother again."--_God's Acre_, by Mrs. Stone.

114: Whittaker's _Whalley_, p. 228.

115: "We have also heard that the parishioners of divers places do oftentimes wrangle about their seats in church, two or more claiming the same seat, whence arises great scandal to the Church, and the divine officers are sore set and hindered; wherefore we decree that none shall henceforth call any seat in the church his own, save noblemen and patrons: but he who shall first enter shall take his place where he will."--Quivil, Bishop of Exeter, A.D. 1287.

116: In the vestry of the church of East Moulsey is suspended a map of considerable size, showing the land that has been left to the parish for the sustentation of the church. The land ought to produce 120_l._ but some years since the parishioners engaged in a law-suit respecting a pew in the church, and lost the suit, and the income from the charity land was year by year absorbed in the payment of the debt then incurred. One evidence brought forward to prove the faculty was the following inscription, which is still (or was till lately) _over the altar_, painted at the foot of a _daub_, having the Ten Commandments surrounded by drapery, &c.:--

"In lieu of the Commandments formerly written on the wall (when by consent of the parish he made his pew) these tables were placed here by--Mr. Benson, MDCCXII."

117: _Gentleman's Magazine_, A.D. 1780, p. 364.

118: We are so used to speak of the _seats_ in church, that we commonly forget the more proper appellation of _kneeling_. This, however, was not always so. An old metal plate formerly on a pew in a church in the diocese of Oxford, has this inscription:--

"No 83. Vicar and Churchwardens, two kneelings. Trustees of Poor House three kneelings."

119: See _History of Pues_, p. 37.

120: "Item. Paid to good wyfe Wells for salt to destroy the fleas _d._ in the _Churchwardens' Pew_ vi.

_St. Margaret's Accounts._ _Dublin Review_, xiii.

121: So called, as some suppose, because it could be _folded_ and removed when necessary.

122: Joel ii. 17.

123: Injunctions of Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth.

124: See _Wheatly on the Common Prayer_, p. 161.

125: "The earliest examples remaining are of wood, many of them beautifully carved, as at Bury and Ramsay, Huntingdonshire; Swancombe, Debtling, and Lenham, Kent; Newport, Essex; Hawstead, Suffolk."--Parker's _Glossary_.

There are beautiful examples of brass lecterns at Magdalene and Merton Colleges, Oxford, in most of our cathedrals, and many parish churches.

126: Derived from the French _aile_, a wing. It is no uncommon thing to hear persons who ought to know better talk about _side_ aisles, as if there were any other than side aisles.