1830.] Account of Biggleswade, co. Bedford. vell, esq. a minor, the present proprietor. The parish Church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is in the Deanery of Shefford; but being a prebend, the Prebendary having a peculiar jurisdiction throughout the parish, is exempt from archidiaconal visitation: the wills of those persons who die possessed of personalty in this parish only, are proved, and other ecclesiastical affairs are transacted, in the peculiar of the Prebendary. The vicarage was endowed 1277 by one Thomas Northfleet, Prebendary of Biggleswade; he presented Walter Justice to the same, who was canonically instituted under duty of residence. It appears from the endowment, that the Prebendary reserved to himself and his successors portions of the altarage, viz. the tithes of wool and lamb, also all mortuaries, with the tithes of tradesmen arising from trade; the residue of the altarage, for the sustenance of the Vicar and his ministers, was stated to be the four principal offerings through the year, with the other offerings on the days of All Saints, and of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and others, as well at funerals as at marriages and purifications or churchings, and whatsoever else due in name of an offering: together with the tithe of milk, cheese, also of mills, with the tithes of calves, foals, pigs, geese, flax, hemp, and curtilages, with the payment at Christmas called ploughboot, and also the oblations which the faithful in Christ for the time to come, might put into the trunks or chests of Biggleswade and of Stratton. The Vicar by himself, and other necessary and proper ministers, was to serve the prebendal Church of Biggleswade, and find two waxlights in full service, and two processional lights, and one lamp burning in the chancel, together with wine, frankincense, and wafers, and 21 was to answer proportionably for extraordinary charges; but the Prebendary was to provide priests, to do duty in the Chapels of the said Prebend, in such manner as he had been accustomed to do, &c. In the Ecclesiastical Taxation of Pope Nicholas, it is thus recorded of the Prebend, "Eccl'ia Prebendal' de Bikeleswade, 46l. 13s. 4d.;" but the Vicarage is not separately alluded to. We find, however, from an Inquisition of Ninths,* granted 15 Edw. III. that the Vicarage was returned as worth 15l. 10s. 3d. The Prebend is rated in the King's books at 421. 17s. 6d.† In Browne Willis's survey of the Cathedrals, is given the succession of the Prebendaries of this Church. The present Prebendary is the Rev. George Thos. Pretyman, of Wheathamstead. The present Vicar is the Rev. Edw. Barker Frere. Anciently there was a guild or fraternity called "the Fraternity of the Holy Trinity in the Church of St. Andrew in Biggleswade," of which we find the following entry in the Val. Eccl. of Hen. VIII. made about the time of its suppression. "Rob'tus Rypam p'sbit' frat'nitats sive gilde S'c'e Trinitats in eccl'ia S'ti Andree in Bygleswade p'dict' h'et in clar' denar' de gardianis d'ce frat'nitat", 71. "I'm p'd'c'i gardiani h'ent in terr' et ten' posit' in man' mort' p' nup' Regem E. iiijtu et valent nisi ultra rep's, 6l. 13s. 4d." A grant respecting this Guild may be seen Pat. 14 Edw. IV. p. 2, m. 4. The chancel was built by John Rudyng, a Prebendary of this church (being collated 1467; he, however, resigned it for that of Sutton in Bucks, 1468.) The eastern window is of very uncommon dimensions, and is much admired. Upon entering the chancel door, to the right are three stalls, over each of In this aid 34 marks, 11s. 8d. were paid by the parish of Biggleswade. Georgius Hennege decanus Lincoln' p'bend' ib'm h'et In den'ijs solut' p'ori S'ti Joh'is Jer'l'm in Et p' porc'one solut' subdecano et Chore stall Lincoln' p' annu' ................................................................ £. s. d. ༤༤ 10 0 50 0 0 60 0 0 3 6 8 4 6 0 22 Account of Biggleswade, co. Bedford. be which is a plainly carved Gothic arch; here is no piscina adjoining, which frequently is the case. A specimen having the three stalls and piscina may seen at Cockayne Hatley, in this county. At the foot of the steps leading from the altar, are several slabs of blue stone, which have contained plates with inscriptions and other devices, but most of them being mutilated there are no inscriptions now legible. In the centre of the chancel, but at some distance from the altar, is an immense blue slab, being 11 feet 6 inches long, and 5 feet 6 inches wide, which covers the remains of the John Rudyng before mentioned, and which has the following imperfect inscription. Those parts which are included in brackets are now torn off, and are supplied from Browne Willis, who supposes that this monument was placed here in the lifetime of Rudyng, before he obtained his other preferments. On a scroll iu black letter, is the following couplet: tam 66 Quatuor O Sancti me Bedford Archilevi[vestrum." John Rudyng famulum precibus defendite Round the verge of the slab : ["Rudyng marmoreus lapis est datus iste Johanni, [Tyranni,] Quem crucis ethereus Rex salvet ab ore Haud pessumdet eum Baratri resupina po agnus. [Hujus Basilice sponsus fuerat meritosus, Talis erat qualem descripsi plus liberalem."] There were five other lines origi nally, but these were torn off when Browne Willis saw the monument. Near the top of the stone was a large brass plate, equal in its dimensions to one at the bottom. At the man's side the figure of Death still remains. The brass at the bottom is inscribed with the following curious dialogue, inclosed in lines alternately raised and sunk : "Tu fera Mors quid agis humane prodiga stragis, [tendis, Cedo quot offendis quod in hunc discrimine Dic cur tela struis, naturæ depopulatrix, Dic cur non metuis hunc trudere vasta voratrix, Cur te non puduit fatali sorte ferire, Vivere quem decuit, et plebs lacrimatur obire." "Mors.-Crede nec injurias mortalibus hunc [omnis, dare somnis, Namque meas furias caro tandem sentiet [July, Horrida tela fero, morsu necis urgeo seclum, Nec vulgo nec hero parcens traho singula [que Sacerdos mecum. Quid valet altus honos, Rex, Dux, PrincepsHanc subeunt sortem, nequeunt precurrere mortem. [grinis, Mors ego sum finis lustrantibus hic pereTerminus itineris quem nec preterire mereris. In scriptis legitur, Caro quevis morte potitur, Et vox applaudit vulgo, mors omnia claudit." Nearly opposite to the pulpit, in the middle of the nave, is a stone, with brasses inlaid, of one William Halsted, originally having a wife on each side of him the husband is decollated. One of the wives is inhumanly torn from his side, and the other being on the right of him, has Alicia on her right shoulder, and the following inscription at their feet: "Hic jacent Will'ms Halsted, qui obiit xxx die Januarii, Anno D'ni MCCCCXLIX. Et Isabella ac Alicia uxores ei'de........... quor' a'i'ab' p'pciet' de, Am'e." Very near to the last, is another thus inscribed: "Exuvia Reverendi Georgii Gibson, quadraginta sex annis hujus Parochiæ vicarii, hic sunt sepulta. Sancti Evangelii pastor verus et fidelis fuit, sacro munere fungendo constans et diligens, in privatâ vitâ clarum et magnificum exemplum innocentiæ et virtutis; post longam vitam laboris in vinea sacra Domini, supremus rerum Arbiter hinc evocavit, vicessimo nono die Julii, ætatis anno septuagesimo sexto, Anno Domini Rimillessimo septingentessimo sexto. cardus Rudd scripsit." Another has: "Hic jacet Owinus Bromsall, Armig., filius Rad' Bromsall, de Beeston, in com. Bedf. qui obiit ...... die Octob. 1663, et Blandina uxor et filia Blandina, e dextrâ parte jacentes. Anno ætatis fere 58." In the south aile is a handsome marble monument, inclosed with iron rails (which have been permitted to fall into a most disgraceful condition), to the memory of Sir Thomas Bromsall, who was seated at Stratton in this parish, which is thus inscribed: "Depositum Thomæ Bromsall, Militis: Qui cum legum jarumq' custos esset acerrimus, ea tamen fuit morum suavitate, ut tot fere amicos habuerit, quot familiares : letissima fœminâ in 2das nuptias ascita, fœlicitatis specimen videbatur, cùm subitò post trimestres nuptias vix tridui morbo extinctus: quàm brevia humana sint gaudia documentum ingens factus est. Vidua mœstissima bune statui lapidem jussit, illi quidem in memoriam sibi vero cum Deo viam fuerit, 1930.] Biggleswade.-Scraps from a Note-Book. ut ægrum spiritum trahere desinit delectum, pro cineris consortio, receptaculum. An. D. 1706, ætat. 63." On a plain marble monument, very near to the last, we read, "Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of Harriot, daughter of Admiral Sir Richard King, Bart. married to BrigadierGeneral Charles Barnett, Feb. 22, 1796; died in childbed Sept. 17, 1799. She was deservedly loved, and ever will be lamented by her afflicted husband. "The said Charles Barnett died at Gibraltar on the 10th of October, 1804, of the fatal epidemic fever that raged there, and was by his own direction buried in the convent chapel without military honours. He was Major-General of his Majesty's forces, second Major of his Majesty's third regiment of foot guards, and second in command in that garrison. His civil and military virtue has been amply acknowledged and recorded." In the chancel, near to the altar, are several monuments to the family of the Barnetts, who have for some time been seated at Stratton. The following inscriptions are copied from the monuments: "In the grave beneath are deposited the remains of Elizabeth Barnett, who died at Stratton on the 30th of July, 1775; she was twenty years the wife, and thirty years the widow of Curtis Barnett, Esq. who died at Fort St. David's, on the Coast of Coromandel, on the 29th of April, 1746, and was then Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's squadron in the East Indies. On the same monument, "In the grave beneath are deposited the remains of Amelia Barnett; she deceased on the 8th Feb. 1808." Another has: "In the grave beneath are deposited the remains of Charles Barnett, Esq. son of Curtis and Elizabeth Barnett, born in the city of Gibraltar, May 17th, 1733. Deceased at Stratton, July 27th, 1811." In the north aile of the Church is a neat tablet, which is "Sacred to the memory of Barbara Dorothea Lewis, the sister of Richard Lewis, Esq. of Lantrillio Grosseny, in the county of Monmouth, by whom this tablet is dedicated. She departed this life the 3d day of June, 1823, aged 77." In this aile are memorials to several of the Rudd family, who were formerly resident in this town; but as I have already trespassed upon the space as signed for topographical communications in your valuable Miscellany, I 23 have thought it prudent to omit them. THA SCRAPS FROM A NOTE-BOOK. HAT" brevity is the soul of wit" is a very old saying, and one not yet worn out. Many persons, it has been observed, will glance over a short essay, who are too occupied or too indolent to read a long and regular treatise, and many more, it might have been added, are more attracted by short and pithy sentences, than by the comparatively bulky essay. Under this impression, and, it is confessed, stimulated by the praiseworthy example of your excellent and acute correspondent, A. C. C. (disguised under which initials, I think I can recognise a character not unknown in the world of letters,) the writer proposes to transmit occasionally a selection of extracts from his note-book, on interesting lo cal, lingual, and literary subjects, for the centenarian pages of the oldest Magazine of the day. The French termination ism seems, in our language, to be generally applied to denote something spurious or false; for instance, philosophism, for a pretended philosophy; liberalism, for an affected liberality, &c. Our neighbours do not themselves seem to ob-, serve this difference, if we are to judge from their word for Christianity-Chre tianisme. May not the word tipsy be satisfactorily said to be derived from the tendency of the person affected to tip over? The deduction is quite legiti mate. I am glad, as a citizen and an Englishman, that the late wretched attempt to inclose Hampstead Heath has been defeated. The formerly open spaces around the capital have been too much inclosed-too much for the' health and recreation of the public, if not for the avarice of adjoining proprietors; but Hampstead Heath is really too lovely a spot to be resigned to the spoiler. Residents in London often complain that they can see nothing without pay-. 24 Scraps from a Note-Book. ing for it; and many comparisons, disadvantageous to their own country, are made with the practice on the Continent. This is especially the case with regard to exhibitions of pictures and works of art; yet what is the fact? To say nothing of the numerous noble collections which may be viewed with the very slight trouble of calling for a ticket before the visit, there is the National Gallery, at No. 100, Pallmall, always open, with a matchless collection of pictorial gems, amongst which the productions of our own countrymen, Hogarth and Wilkie, displaying, in addition to exquisite execution, a profuse store of that quality so unattainable to a foreigner, humour, are proudly pre-eminent over the masterpieces of the artists of Italy and Holland. In addition to this the Bourgeois Gallery at Dulwich is as easily accessible; and the most curious specimens of ancient art, and the most exquisite pieces of sculpture ever executed, are freely shown to any one who may choose to see them at that unequalled repository the British Mu seum. It may seem hypercritical, but I cannot help thinking that the effect of Wordsworth's affecting little piece, "Poor Susan," is injured, in the minds of Cockneys at least, by the making of "bright volumes of vapour down Lothbury glide," since it is impossible, from the corner of Woodstreet" (the scene of the ballad) to catch a glimpse of that place, especially if a river" is to be seen "Howing through the vale of Cheapside" at the same time. Does not Lothbury too, sound in unaccustomed ears as something pleasant and countryfied? -I know of nothing so exquisitely pathetic as the short piece in question in the whole range of British poetry, except a song in the "Life of Mausie Wauch," entitled "There's nae hame like our ain hame." I would rather be the author of that one little poem, than of all the fashionable novels that have followed one another into oblivion for the last fifty years. The Old Queen's Head at Islington, (engraved in your Vol. for 1794, p.513,) -by far the most complete and interesting specimen of an ancient hostelry lately remaining in the suburbs, which was pulled down, to the regret of every lover of antiquity and of the pictu (July, resque, only a few months ago,-is already replaced by a modern erection, with nothing remarkable about its staring new brick front (alas! for the chubby cherubs at the corners, and the strangely-carved old porch that used to grace its predecessor!) except a bust of the "maiden queen," at the top, with the now counterfeit inscription, "The Old Queen's Head." It is pleasant, just before the beginning of hay-harvest in the environs, to observe the monotony of some "long dull street" of dingy houses, broken by the simple music of the pipe and tabor, and the ringing of bells on the legs of the morris-dancers. It tells of the country and its delights to the dull ear of the Londoner, while, moreover, there seems a patch of old-time merriment in the active but not mincing motions of the ruddy and sun-burnt countrymen who thus endeavour to gain a few pence by the exhibition of their own peculiar pastimes to those "pent up in populous city." They generally perform three (perhaps more) different dances, one with sticks, the rattling of which, struck against one another, keeps time to the music;another with handkerchiefs, which are gracefully waved in various directions; and a third, in which the hands are clapped in unison with the pipe and tabor. All are pleasing, when executed with precision. I have often wondered that Mr. Hone never devoted a plate and one of his own heart-warming descriptions to this custom of morris-dancing in spring, in his delightful volumes of the Every Day Book and Table Book, works which, from their amiableness of feeling, interest of contents, and richness of illustration, deserve a place in the heart and on the shelves of every lover of literature. It is customary with the present ephemeral race of "light" Magazines, to despise what they call their "heavy" predecessors, especially on the ground that the latter, instead of being exclusively devoted to the entertainment of the passing moment, also contained articles of "dry" information. Yet it' is now found that periodicals all froth will not do, and numberless works of a more solid character, "Family Libraries," "Cabinet Cyclopædias,""Libraries of Voyages and Travels," &c. &c. &c. are monthly sent forth to sup ply the deficiency. Their contents being precisely the same as those of the articles sneered at in the old magazines, and carefully excluded by their conceited successors! Truly "Truth will prevail!" Lord Byron, it appears, was so puzled at the verb "read" being spelt precisely the same both in its present and past tenses, although pronounced differently, that, in his journals, &c. he invariably spells the latter "redde." This is very ridiculous, and there is no precedent for the innovation. As an alteration is certainly required, I think it would be much better to substitute "reed" in the present tense, which would answer the purpose quite as well. J. W. lar bells lately inserted in your Magazine, I venture to enlarge a little upon the subject, in order to make the communication more perfect. My object, it may be remembered, is to show the ases to which these bells were appropriated in ancient times, and the stations they occupied. Your Magazine abounding in plates of our old churches, (especially since about 1787) discover to us some very curious structures, the peculiarities of which, as I before hinted, deserve more comment than has been bestowed upon them. For the present I shall confine myself to the bells and their receptacles. 25 angular capped, open gables at the west end, the same two bells, the smaller of which, on the authority of your learned correspondent in vol. LXXVI. p. 525, and note, was evidently the Saint's Bell; of this description are the churches in your vols. for 1797, p. 377, 1789, p. 772, 1804, p. 113, 1805, p. 793, and 1820, p. 113; to which I may add the church of Crossthwaite, in Cumberland, where one bell remains, but the other has disappeared. But besides these there are churches having towers, in which the "Saint's Bell" has formerly hung. Of this we have a fine instance in Tong Church, Shropshire, mentioned in your Magazine for 1800, part ii. p. 934, and more especially in your vol. for 1763, p. 162. A church having six bells, besides a very large and a small one in another chamber; certainly the Saint's Bell, and possibly the passing bell. Another instance occurs at your vol. for 1819, p. 297. These references make good the quotation in Nares's Glossary: "Whose shrill Saint's Bell hangs in his While the rest are damned to the plum- Indeed, I am very credibly informed that in Catholic countries, upon the Continent, the Saint's Bell always hangs in a solitary or separate recess.* Of these bells in the interior of a church, see a very singular account in vol. xcv. p. 525. but my thoughts are now directed to points which have been less frequently Bells, it is well known, were a great object of superstition with our ancestors. Each of them was represented In your volume for 1800, p. 25, for to have its peculiar name and virtues. 1803, p. 305, for 1804, p. 9, for 1806, Your Magazine for 1818, p. 307, and p. 793, for 1826, p. 393, and for 1820, Hone's Every Day Book, vol. ii. p. P. 577, we have five instances of the 136, have much general and enterGreater "Saint's Bell," once sustaining information respecting them, pended in its little open gable immediately over the Roodloft, but which in every plate appears to have been removed. Again, in other instances, as at Skelton church, co. of York, and Bishopton, co. of Warwick, engraved in your Magazine for 1810, p. 313, we perceive it once hung with another in separate recesses over the roodloft; and here it is worth remarking that the Saint's Bell is gone, while at Bishopton one of the two remains. Another class of churches (as regards architecture), discovers to us in similar GENT. MAG. July, 1830. noticed. It has been remarked that we seldom or never find the Saint's Bell in its proper recess, and I have further to observe, we seldom find more than one bell of higher antiquity than Charles, or James the First's reign, (in any country church, at least,) and that is generally the smallest bell in the new peal. The singularity of this discovery * See Gent. Mag. vol. xciv. p. 5830, |
