صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, For NOVEMBER, 1820.

MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE.

Mr. URBAN,

Nov. 1.

N the book of "Injunctions," published by Queen Elizabeth in the year 1559, I find the word "Parson" used in such manner as would seem to designate some particular office or grade in the hierarchy: for example, Article 1, "All Deans, Archdeacons, Parsons, Vicars, and all other ecclesiastical persons." And, in other places, "Parson, Vicar, or Curate," &c. I request an explanation of the real meaning of the term "Parson," as thus used by good Queen Bess. QUIDAM.

In reply to QUIDAM, we have to state, that the antient and honourable appellation of Parson is synonymous with the modern term Rector or Minister of a Parish. Johnson derives it from "persona, because the parson' omnium personam in ecclesiâ sustinet; or from parochianus, the parish priest." He is so called, because he represents the person of the Church, and hath a right to sue for whatever is due to it. A Parson, or Rector, is entitled to the profits that arise from a certain district of

ground by glehe land, tythes, fees, &c.

Du Cange, in his "Glossarium ad Scriptores Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis," gives a very minute definition of the word personæ (parsons). will introduce his own words:

We

Persona, Clerici qui Beneficia Ecclesiastica obtinent; quod, ut quidam putant, magnam propter officium personam sustineant: sed maximè ii qui Beneficia, seu Ecclesias per Vicarios deserviri cu rant, dum ipsi potioni redituum parte fruuntur."

He further remarks,

"Variè ab Episcopis altaria, uti vocantur Ecclesiæ, concedebantur Monasteriis,

vel Capitulis Canonicorum, vel etiam Dig

nitatibus Ecclesiasticis. Interdum enim ea conditione dabantur, ut iis liceret Personam constituere, Clericum scilicet qui allaris titulo & proventibus sibi reservatis,

illud per vicarium deserviri curaret; quo quidem vacante personatu, Monasteria

confirmationem eorundem altarium ab Episcopis rursum impetrabant, per præstationem quandam, altarium redemptionem vulgo nuncupatam, uti in hac voce docuimus."

Du Cange, in defining the word Personatus (Parsonage), observes,

"Personatum esse (ait Lindwodus) prælaturam, sive titulum ad Personam, sive Rectorem Ecclesiæ pertinentem.- Scias tamen quod de Personatu doctores var è scribunt. Nam Archidiaconi & Archipresbyteri in Ecclesiis Cathedralibus dicuntur habere Personatus. Cognoscitur enim Personatus, quando aliquis habet prærogativam in Choro vel in Capitulo, in optionibus, in processionibus, in vocibus dandis, & bujusmodi præ aliis Canonicis ejusdem ordinis; non tamen sicut hi qui sunt in majoribus dignitatibus constituti; unde, ut dicit Cardi. Personatus & dignitas vere supponunt pro eodem, licet in aliquibus locis Rectores Ecclesiarum vocentur Personæ, & sic habent personatum, non tamen dignitatem."

Skinner also produces a definition of the word, similar to Johnson. EDIT.

Mr. URBAN,

Nov. 2. UP PON the custom of adorning Churches with, the insignia of honour, such as the shield, mantle, torce, helmet, spurs, and sword, as well as banners; of which there are several, to the families of the Garrards, Baronets, &c. in the Church of Langford; it is remarked by Burton, that a sword was hung up in the Church at the funeral of a Knight, because, in former times, at their first dubbing, they took an oath to defend Religion and the Church; and, as a testimony of this, the sword was allowed to be hung up there. "The Lady Wicke brought an action in the King's Bench against the Parson in St. Margaret's, Lothbury, in London, for having taken away a coat armour, and certain pennons, with the arms of Sir Hugh Wicke, her husband, once

Lord

Lord Mayor of London, who died in the 7th year of Edward IV. and a sword out of the Chapel where he was buried. The Parson pleaded that these arms, &c. were matters of offering and oblation, and therefore, of right, did belong to him; but Justice Yelverton held it no plea, and

that the arms were not intended as offerings or oblations, but were hung up in honour of the deceased; and therefore do not belong to the Parsons: and if the Parson has not a right to take these down in his chancel, when once hung up, no other person can lay any pretence or claim to them."

Mr. URBAN,

J. B.

Nov. 10.

ENSIBLE of your wishes for the

Scredit and prosperity of our ex

cellent Established Church, permit a Correspondent who has already called your attention to the duty of Archdeacons (see vol. LXXVIII. p. 1065), now to request it to some points respecting Episcopal Visitation, Confirmation, and Ordination; observing, first, that it would be esteemed a favour if any of your Correspondents would give information how often it is the practice of Bishops in their several dioceses, to perform these important rites. The 60th Canon of our Church says, "Forasmuch as it hath been a solemn, constant, and laudable custom in the Church of God, continued from the Apostles' times, that all Bishops should lay their hauds upon children baptized and instructed in the Catechism of the Christian Religion, praying over them, and blessing them, which we commonly call Confirmation; and that this holy action bath been performed in the Bishop's Visitation every third year; we will and appoint that every Bishop or his Suffragan, in his accustomed Visitation, do, in his own person, carefully observe the said custom." It appears, from the Charges which have been given to the world, of the most able and learned Bishop of Winchester, whose late translation to that see every well-wisher to our Church must approve and applaud, that while he presided over the extensive diocese of Lincoln, he held a Visitation every third year. The worthy Bishop of Chester has thought it advisable, he tells us, to revive Triennial Visitation. The Bishop of Salisbury has

visited triennially. In the large diocese of Exeter this custom has always prevailed till the time of the last Bishop, who only visited in four years. Another custom has crept in of late, of holding a Visitation and Confirmation on the same day. This expediting of business, if I may call it, in so hasty a manner, is surely indecent in the highest degree. Very frequently the afternoon has commenced before the Morning Service of the Church begins, and the Clergy are obliged to cool their heels in the churchyard, waiting for his Lordship's summons, who has but time to deliver his Charge, and then is obliged to set off for some other place, without only having just seen his Clergy, certainly without having any opportunity of cultivating that acquaintance with them which is so absolutely necessary and beneficial for both,absolutely necessary, I may say, since it is almost the only nieans he has to know his Clergy, or to be known by them; since his residence in his diocese is perhaps but of short duration, and the old and hospitable method of entertaining his inferior Clergy, and expecting to see them at his episcopal residence, should they by chance come near it, is now almost entirely laid aside. Another indecency has likewise sometimes prevailed of late, in holding two Confirmations on one day. If, in the opinion of the venerable Bishop of Durham, the impropriety, indecency, and inefficacy, of a poor Curate's serving many and dislant Churches, tends to extirpate all sense of Religion among the lower ranks of life, and to diminish it among the higher, what can be said of a Bishop's hurrying from one place to another, and frequently at some considerable distance, to perform his solemn duties.

Before I finish, it will not, I trust, be impertinent to point out another evil, which is now too common, of not holding Ordinations at the time of the ember weeks, as the Church particularly directs, when frequently it is done a Sunday or two before or after, but more particularly of holding them in Londou. It is much easier for a Bishop to take a journey to hold an Ordination in his own Cathedral, than to compel those who are to be ordained, to wait on him ́in the Metropolis. A CLERGYMAN.

Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

- Nov. 11.

Thas been remarkable for three HE parish of Stoke Newington * Public-houses, having singular signs, namely, the Falcon, the Rose and Crown, and the Three Crowns:-The Falcon, as emblematical of the favourite diversion of Falconry among the nobility and gentry, in the reign of Henry the Second; the Rose and Crown, as emblematical of the junction of the houses of York and Lancaster; and the Three Crowns, of the Union of the Three kingdoms, England, Scotland, and Ireland.

The Rose and Crown was the last to be divested of its ancient appear. This article is extracted from Mr.

Robinson's History of Stoke Newington,

co. Middlesex (reviewed in p. 237.) The Author has kindly favoured us with the annexed wood-cut.

ance, which it retained until the year 1815, when it was pulled down, and a new house erected on its site, which was enlarged and brought forward in a line with the adjoining houses; previous to which the old house stood back some feet from the foot path. On the wall of one of the lower rooms of this house, there is a rude painting of it as it formerly was; but, upon enquiry, I find it was painted after the house had undergone the alteration, done principally from recollection, and by no means correct. The wood-cut annexed is a faithful representation of the house as it stood in the year 1806, and is taken from a

drawing made in that year by an Artist, who took great pleasure in collecting drawings of old buildings, and by whom I have been favoured with this. W. R.

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small]

Mr. URBAN,

I'm

Nov. 12.

F the following short notices of men who have filled high official situations in, and connected with, the CITY OF LONDON, are such as you may deem worthy to occupy a corner in your valuable Miscellany, I shall have much pleasure in occasionally giving you an account of other counLies similar to the present, which is more particularly confined to that of Norfolk; but it will, I fear, be but a small addition to your excellent Compendium already given.

SIR EDWARD COKE, born at Mileham, died Sept. 3, 1634, at Stoke Pogis, in Buckinghamshire, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, some time Recorder of London. His last words were, 66 Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." Buried at Tittleshale, where a sumptuous altar monument records his acquirements, honours, and virtues.

SIR EDWARD BARKHAM, Lord Mayor of London, A. D. 1621, son of Edward Barkham, Esq. of Southacre, was buried in the Chapel of Southacre Church, where a rich and stately altar monument of marble and alabaster is erected at the East end of the Chapel.

ISAAC PENNINGTON, Alderman of London, one of the regicides that sat upon the trial of Charles I.; his estates, among which was the seat of the Shardlows, called the Place, were seized at the Restoration, and given by Charles II. to the Duke of Grafton.

SIR THOMAS GRESHAM, born at Holt, 1507. lotwood Hall, where Sir Thomas entertained the great Earl of Warwick, is now the property of the Earl of Buckinghamshire. J. B.

[blocks in formation]

Raskelf in Easingwold, in the county of York.

In this Church, as Dr. Whitaker says of some others, "the munificence of a former age is much more conspicuous than the attention of the present." Though the effects of time and neglect are visible in every part of it, yet it bears evident marks of great pains and cost being originally bestowed upon it. It has two ailes: the North appears to have been built later than the other, as it is not bound in the course of the stonework. At the Western end is a large wooden tower, built subsequently to the rest of the edifice, but now in so decayed a state, that though it supports three bells, it is considered unsafe to ring them altogether.

From what remains, we may infer that most of the windows were formerly "richly dight" with all the boast of Heraldry.

The East window of the Choir exhibits, in very rich painted glass, the Arms of Nevil:

1. Gules, a saltire Argent. Nevil. 2. Gules, 3 escallops Argent. Lord Dacre, who married a daughter of the Earl of Westmoreland.

3. Azure, a bend Or, over all a file of 5 points. Scrope of Masham.

4. Barrè, Azure and Argent, with a sort of Argent garland upon the bars. To this I can assign no name.

5. A cross engrailed Or. The field appears to be Argent; but this, I suppose, according to the rules of blazou, cannot be the case.

6. South window of the Choir I take to be Ferrers, 7 mascles adjunct, Gules and Or. Joan, the 2d wife of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, the daughter of John of Gaunt, was the widow of Sir Wm. Ferrers, of Oversley.

In the East window of the side Chancel are,

7. Gules, a saltire Argent, over all a file of 3 points.

8. Azure, a bend Or. Scrope of Bolton.

9. Or, a lion rampant, Azure. Percy. In the 9th of John, Henry de Nevill, as appears by Dugdale's Baronage, had livery of three Knights' Fees in Raskelf and Sutton of the inheritance of Emma his mother. In the 5th of Richard II. John de Nevil, who married the daughter of Henry Percy, cognomine Hotspur, obtained

an ounce."

Mr. Lowndes again mistakes value for price: he does not propose to alter the weight, and therefore cannot alter the value; he says the bullion has riseu in price, and he proposes to raise the price (for he cannot raise the value unless he increases the weight) of a crown piece.

a Licence to castellate his house at lion is risen to six shillings and five pence Sheriff Hutton in this neighbourhood, to which, in a few years afterwards, his son Ralph, the first Earl of Westmoreland, succeeded. In the 9th of Richard II. he had leave to enclose his woods at Raskelf, adjoining the forest of Galtres, and was in the same year constituted Warden of the King's Forests beyond Trent. To him probably the Church at Raskelf owes its origin, as the Armorial Bearings remaining in the windows seem to be those of his immediate alliances.

Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

T

SCRUTATOR.

Nov. 11. HE assertion in my last letter, (p. 319) that the phraseology hitherto employed by writers and reasoners on the subject of Bullion, Money, &c. rendered them contradictory and unintelligible, will be supported by the following proofs, found in the most eminent writers, successively, from an early to a late period.

The Council of Trade to King Charles II. thus expressed themselves in the year 1660.

"The present course of trade and traffic throughout the world, hath enforced at last money (which in former times was only used as the measure to value all commo

dities by) to become now itself a commodity subject to rising and falling in price and value as any other merchandize."

The Council admit that in former times, money was only used as a measure, and that it is only by enforcing it to be a commodity, that it becomes subject to rising and falling.

Mr. Lowndes in his Report to the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury in the reign of King William III. has these words.

"It seems necessary for me to assert and prove an hypothesis, which is this, namely, that making the pieces less, or ordaining the respective pieces of the present weight to be current at a higher rate, may equally raise the value of the silver in our coin."

It is impossible for Mr. Lowndes to mean, that making the pieces less, could raise their value: he must certainly have put value instead of price.

In another place Mr. Lowndes says, "The value of the silver in the coin ought to be raised to the foot of six shillings and three pence in every crown, because the price of standard silver in bul

Mr. Locke, in answer to Mr. Lowndes, who had said that silver has a price, asserted that "sterling silver, compared with sterling silver, being always of equal value, quantity for quantity, can have no variation in price."

Yet in another place Mr. Locke has said,

"The cause of the high or low price of silver bullion is merely owing to the current coin being more or less near the standard."

Mr. Locke at first states, that bullion can have no variation in price, but afterwards gives the cause of a high or low price. This contradiction must have arisen from considering silver as commodity, though in other parts of Mr. Locke's works, silver is not considered as commodity.

Mr. John Conduitt, who was a Member of Parliament, and Master of his Majesty's Mint, left a manuscript, dated 1730, which was afterwards published. Its style is, in general, extremely plain and intelligible; yet even Mr. Conduitt continues the contradiction that silver is both the measure and thing measured.

[blocks in formation]

"Gold in France is as much a measure as silver; and, whatever it was formerly, is at present as much a measure as silver is here, and as legal a tender."

"Whilst an ounce of standard silver

sells as marked here for 5s. 4žd. and will vain to expect silver should come to the produce but 5s. 2d. at the mint; it is in mint, or the coin not be melted down and exported. This is clear in reason, and is confirmed by the fatal experience of many years. There may be variety of opinions

about

« السابقةمتابعة »