Fitzstephen’s Description of London of the Situation of the Same
Amongst the noble and celebrated cities of the world, that of London, the capital of the kingdom of England, is one of the most renowned, possessing above all others abundant wealth, extensive commerce, great grandeur and magnificence. It is happy in the salubrity of its climate, in the profession of the Christian religion, in the strength of its fortresses, the nature of its situation, the honour of its citizens, and the chastity of its matrons; in its sports too it is most pleasant, and in the production of illustrious men most fortunate. All which things I wish separately to consider.
Of the Mildness of the Climate
There then
“Men’s minds are soft’ned by a temp’rate clime,”
not so however that they are addicted to licentiousness, but so that they are not savage and brutal, but rather kind and generous.
Of the Religion
There is in St. Paul’s church an episcopal see: it was formerly metropolitan, and, it is thought, will be so again, should the citizens return to the island: unless perhaps the archiepiscopal title of St. Thomas, and his bodily presence there, should always retain that dignity at Canterbury, where it now is. But as St. Thomas has ennobled both these cities, London by his birth, and Canterbury by his death, each of them, with respect to the saint, has much to allege against the other, and with justice too. As regards divine worship, there are also in London and in the suburbs thirteen larger conventual churches, besides one hundred and thirty-six lesser parochial ones.
Of the Strength of the City
On the east stands the Palatine tower, a fortress of great size and strength, the court and walls of which are erected upon a very deep foundation, the mortar used in the building being tempered with the blood of beasts. On the west are two castles strongly fortified; the wall of the city is high and thick, with seven double gates, having on the north side towers placed at proper intervals. London formerly had walls and towers in like manner on the south, but that most excellent river the Thames, which abounds with fish, and in which the tide ebbs and flows, runs on that side, and has in a long space of time washed down, undermined, and subverted the walls in that part. On the west also, higher up on the bank of the river, the royal palace rears its head, an incomparable structure, furnished with a breastwork and bastions, situated in a populous suburb, at a distance of two miles from the city.
Of the Gardens
Adjoining to the houses on all sides lie the gardens of those citizens that dwell in the suburbs, which are well furnished with trees, spacious and beautiful.
Of the Pasture and Tillage Lands
On the north side too are fields for pasture, and a delightful plain of meadow land, interspersed with flowing streams, on which stand mills, whose clack is very pleasing to the ear. Close by lies an immense forest, in which are densely wooded thickets, the coverts of game, stags, fallow-deer, boars, and wild bulls. The tillage lands of the city are not barren gravelly soils, but like the fertile plains of Asia, which produce abundant crops, and fill the barns of their cultivators with
“Ceres’ plenteous sheaf.”
Of the Springs
There are also round London, on the northern side, in the suburbs, excellent springs; the water of which is sweet, clear, and salubrious,
“’Mid glistening pebbles gliding playfully:”
amongst which, Holywell, Clerkenwell, and St. Clement’s well, are of most note, and most frequently visited, as well by the scholars from the schools, as by the youth of the city when they go out to take the air in the summer evenings. The city is delightful indeed, when it has a good governor.
Of the Honour of the Citizens
This city is ennobled by her men, graced by her arms, and peopled by a multitude of inhabitants; so that in the wars under King Stephen there went out to a muster, of armed horsemen, esteemed fit for war, twenty thousand, and of infantry sixty thousand. The citizens of London are respected and noted above all other citizens for the elegance of their manners, dress, table, and discourse.
Of the Matrons
The matrons of the city are perfect Sabines.
Of the Schools
The three principal churches possess, by privilege and ancient dignity, celebrated schools; yet often, by the favour of some person of note, or of some learned men eminently distinguished for their philosophy, other schools are permitted upon sufferance. On festival days the masters assemble their pupils at those churches where the feast of the patron saint is solemnised; and there the scholars dispute, some in the demonstrative way, and others logically; some again recite enthymemes, while others use the more perfect syllogism. Some, to show their abilities, engage in such disputation as is practised among persons contending for victory alone; others dispute upon a truth, which is the grace of perfection. The sophisters, who argue upon feigned topics, are deemed clever according to their fluency of speech and command of language. Others endeavour to impose by false conclusions. Sometimes certain orators in their rhetorical harangues employ all the powers of persuasion, taking care to observe the precepts of the art, and to omit nothing apposite to the subject. The boys of the different schools wrangle with each other in verse, and contend about the principles of grammar or the rules of the perfect and future tenses. There are some who in epigrams, rhymes, and verses, use that trivial raillery so much practised amongst the ancients, freely attacking their companions with Fescennine licence, but suppressing the names, discharging their scoffs and sarcasms against them, touching with Socratic wit the failings of their schoolfellows, or perhaps of greater personages, or biting them more keenly with a Theonine tooth. The audience,
“well disposed to laugh,
With curling nose double the quivering peals.”
Of the Manner in Which the Affairs of the City Are Disposed
The artizans of the several crafts, the vendors of the various commodities, and the labourers of every kind, have each their separate station, which they take every morning. There is also in London, on the bank of the river, amongst the wine-shops which are kept in ships and cellars, a public eating-house: there every day, according to the season, may be found viands of all kinds, roast, fried, and boiled, fish large and small, coarser meat for the poor, and more delicate for the rich, such as venison, fowls, and small birds. If friends, wearied with their journey, should unexpectedly come to a citizen’s house, and, being hungry, should not like to wait till fresh meat be bought and cooked:
“The canisters with bread are heap’d on high;
The attendants water for their hands supply:”
—Dryden.
Meanwhile some run to the river side, and there every thing that they could wish for is instantly procured. However great the number of soldiers or strangers that enters or leaves the city at any hour of the day or night, they may turn in there if they please, and refresh themselves according to their inclination; so that the former have no occasion to fast too long, or the latter to leave the city without dining. Those who wish to indulge themselves would not desire a sturgeon, or the bird of Africa, or the godwit of Ionia, when the delicacies that are to be found there are set before them. This indeed is the public cookery, and is very convenient to the city, and a distinguishing mark of civilisation. Hence we read in Plato’s Gorgias, “Juxta medicinam esse coquorum officium, simulantium et adulationem quartæ particulæ civilitatis.” There is, without one of the gates, immediately in the suburb, a certain smooth field in name and in reality. There every Friday, unless it be one of the more solemn festivals, is a noted show of well-bred horses exposed for sale. The earls, barons, and knights, who are at the time resident in the city, as well as most of the citizens, flock thither either to look on or buy. It is pleasant to see the nags, with their sleek and shining coats, smoothly ambling along, raising and setting down alternately, as it were, their feet on either side: in one part are horses better adapted to esquires; these, whose pace is rougher but yet expeditious, lift up and set down, as it were, the two opposite fore and hind feet together; in another the young blood colts, not yet accustomed to the bridle,
“Which upright walk on pasterns firm and straight,
Their motions easy, prancing in their gait.”
—Dryden.
in a third are the horses for burden, strong and stout-limbed; and in a fourth, the more valuable chargers, of an elegant shape and noble height, with nimbly moving ears, erect necks, and plump haunches. In the movements of these the purchasers observe first their easy pace, and then their gallop, which is when the fore-feet are raised from the ground and set down together, and the hind ones in like manner, alternately. When a race is to be run by such horses as these, and perhaps by others, which in like manner, according to their breed, are strong for carriage, and vigorous for the course, the people raise a shout, and order the common horses to be withdrawn to another part of the field. The jockeys, who are boys expert in the management of horses, which they regulate by means of curb-bridles, sometimes by threes, and sometimes by twos, according as the match is made, prepare themselves for the contest. Their chief aim is to prevent a competitor getting before them. The horses, too, after their manner, are eager for the race; their limbs tremble, and, impatient of delay, they cannot stand still; upon the signal being given, they stretch out their limbs, hurry over the course, and are borne along with unremitting speed. The riders, inspired with the love of praise and the hope of victory, clap spurs to their flying horses, lashing them with their whips, and inciting them by their shouts. You would think with Heraclitus, that all things were in motion, and that Zeno’s opinion was altogether erroneous, when he said, that there was no such thing as motion, and that it was impossible to reach the goal. In another quarter, apart from the rest, stand the goods of the peasants, implements of husbandry, swine with their long sides, cows with distended udders,
“Oxen of bulk immense, and woolly flocks.”
There, too, stand the mares fitted for the plough, the dray, and the cart, of which some are big with foal, others have their frolicsome colts running close by their sides. To this city, from every nation under heaven, merchants bring their commodities by sea,
“Arabia’s gold, Sabæa’s spice and incense,
Scythia’s keen weapons, and the oil of palms
From Babylon’s rich soil, Nile’s precious gems,
Norway’s warm peltries, Russia’s costly sables,
Sera’s rich vestures, and the wines of Gaul,
Hither are sent.”
According to the evidence of chroniclers London is more ancient than Rome: for, as both derive their origin from the same Trojan ancestors, this was founded by Brutus before that by Romulus and Remus. Hence it is that, even to this day, both cities use the same ancient laws and ordinances. This, like Rome, is divided into wards; it has annual sheriffs instead of consuls; it has an order of senators and inferior magistrates, and also sewers and aqueducts in its streets; each class of suits, whether of the deliberative, demonstrative, or judicial kind, has its appropriate place and proper court; on stated days it has its assemblies. I think that there is no city in which more approved customs are observed—in attending churches, honouring God’s ordinances, keeping festivals, giving alms, receiving strangers, confirming espousals, contracting marriages, celebrating weddings, preparing entertainments, welcoming guests, and also in the arrangement of the funeral ceremonies and the burial of the dead. The only inconveniences of London are, the immoderate drinking of foolish persons, and the frequent fires. Moreover, almost all the bishops, abbots, and great men of England, are, in a manner, citizens and freemen of London; as they have magnificent houses there, to which they resort, spending large sums of money, whenever they are summoned thither to councils and assemblies by the king or their metropolitan, or are compelled to go there by their own business.
Of the Sports
Let us now proceed to the sports of the city; since it is expedient that a city be not only an object of utility and importance, but also a source of pleasure and diversion. Hence even in the seals of the chief pontiffs, up to the time of Pope Leo, there was engraved on one side of the Bull the figure of St. Peter as a fisherman, and above him a key stretched out to him, as it were, from heaven by the hand of God, and around him this verse—
“For me thou left’st thy ship, receive the key.”
On the obverse side was represented a city, with this inscription, Golden Rome. It was also said in praise of Augustus Cæsar and the city of Rome,
“All night it rains, the shows return with day,
Cæsar, thou bear’st with Jove alternate sway.”
London, instead of theatrical shows and scenic entertainments, has dramatic performances of a more sacred kind, either representations of the miracles which holy confessors have wrought, or of the passions and sufferings in which the constancy of martyrs was signally displayed. Moreover, to begin with the sports of the boys (for we have all been boys), annually on the day which is called Shrovetide, the boys of the respective schools bring each a fighting cock to their master, and the whole of that forenoon is spent by the boys in seeing their cocks fight in the school-room. After dinner, all the young men of the city go out into the fields to play at the well-known game of foot-ball. The scholars belonging to the several schools have each their ball; and the city tradesmen, according to their respective crafts, have theirs. The more aged men, the fathers of the players, and the wealthy citizens, come on horseback to see the contests of the young men, with whom, after their manner, they participate, their natural heat seeming to be aroused by the sight of so much agility, and by their participation in the amusements of unrestrained youth. Every Sunday in Lent, after dinner, a company of young men enter the fields, mounted on warlike horses—
“On coursers always foremost in the race;”
of which
“Each steed’s well-train’d to gallop in a ring.”
The lay-sons of the citizens rush out of the gates in crowds, equipped with lances and shields, the younger sort with pikes from which the iron head has been taken off, and there they get up sham fights, and exercise themselves in military combat. When the king happens to be near the city, most of the courtiers attend, and the young men who form the households of the earls and barons, and have not yet attained the honour of knighthood, resort thither for the purpose of trying their skill. The hope of victory animates every one. The spirited horses neigh, their limbs tremble, they champ their bits, and, impatient of delay, cannot endure standing still. When at length
“The charger’s hoof seizes upon the course,”
the young riders having been divided into companies, some pursue those that go before without being able to overtake them, whilst others throw their companions out of their course, and gallop beyond them. In the Easter holidays they play at a game resembling a naval engagement. A target is firmly fastened to the trunk of a tree which is fixed in the middle of the river, and in the prow of a boat driven along by oars and the current stands a young man who is to strike the target with his lance; if, in hitting it, he break his lance, and keep his position unmoved, he gains his point, and attains his desire: but if his lance be not shivered by the blow, he is tumbled into the river, and his boat passes by, driven along by its own motion. Two boats, however, are placed there, one on each side of the target, and in them a number of young men to take up the striker, when he first emerges from the stream, or when
“A second time he rises from the wave.”
On the bridge, and in balconies on the banks of the river, stand the spectators,
“well disposed to laugh.”
During the holydays in summer the young men exercise themselves in the sports of leaping, archery, wrestling, stone-throwing, slinging javelins beyond a mark, and also fighting with bucklers. Cytherea leads the dances of the maidens, who merrily trip along the ground beneath the uprisen moon. Almost on every holyday in winter, before dinner, foaming boars, and huge-tusked hogs, intended for bacon, fight for their lives, or fat bulls or immense boars are baited with dogs. When that great marsh which washes the walls of the city on the north side is frozen over, the young men go out in crowds to divert themselves upon the ice. Some, having increased their velocity by a run, placing their feet apart, and turning their bodies sideways, slide a great way: others make a seat of large pieces of ice like mill-stones, and a great number of them running before, and holding each other by the hand, draw one of their companions who is seated on the ice: if at any time they slip in moving so swiftly, all fall down headlong together. Others are more expert in their sports upon the ice; for fitting to, and binding under their feet the shinbones of some animal, and taking in their hands poles shod with iron, which at times they strike against the ice, they are carried along with as great rapidity as a bird flying or a bolt discharged from a cross-bow. Sometimes two of the skaters having placed themselves a great distance apart by mutual agreement, come together from opposite sides; they meet, raise their poles, and strike each other; either one or both of them fall, not without some bodily hurt: even after their fall they are carried along to a great distance from each other by the velocity of the motion; and whatever part of their heads comes in contact with the ice is laid bare to the very skull. Very frequently the leg or arm of the falling party, if he chance to light upon either of them, is broken. But youth is an age eager for glory and desirous of victory, and so young men engage in counterfeit battles, that they may conduct themselves more valiantly in real ones. Most of the citizens amuse themselves in sporting with merlins, hawks, and other birds of a like kind, and also with dogs that hunt in the woods. The citizens have the right of hunting in Middlesex, Hertfordshire, all the Chilterns, and Kent, as far as the river Cray. The Londoners, then called Trinovantes, repulsed Caius Julius Cæsar, a man who delighted to mark his path with blood. Whence Lucan says,
“Britain he sought, but turn’d his back dismay’d.”
The city of London has produced some men, who have subdued many kingdoms, and even the Roman empire; and very many others, whose virtue has exalted them to the skies, as was promised to Brutus by the oracle of Apollo:
“Brutus, there lies beyond the Gallic bounds
An island which the western sea surrounds:
To reach this happy shore thy sails employ:
There fate decrees to raise a second Troy,
And found an empire in thy royal line
Which time shall ne’er destroy, nor bounds confine.”
Since the planting of the Christian religion there, London has given birth to the noble emperor Constantine, who gave the city of Rome and all the insignia of the empire to God and St. Peter, and Pope Sylvester, whose stirrup he held, and chose rather to be called defender of the holy Roman church, than emperor: and that the peace of our lord the Pope might not, by reason of his presence, be disturbed by the turmoils consequent on secular business, he withdrew from the city which he had bestowed upon our lord the Pope, and built for himself the city of Byzantium. London also in modern times has produced illustrious and august princes, the empress Matilda, King Henry the Third, and St. Thomas, the archbishop and glorious martyr of Christ, than whom no man was more guileless or more devoted to all good men throughout the whole Roman world.
Footnotes
1 The Dedication of the first edition is precisely the same, except in the concluding paragraph, which there stands as follows:—
“I confess that I lacked my desire to the accomplishment of some speciall partes: but I trust hereafter that shal be supplied, and I professe (if more touching this worke come unto me) to afforde it, in all dutie. In the meantime I recommend this to your view, my laboures to your consideration, and myself to your service (as I have professed during life) in this or any other.”
2 “As Rome, the chiefe citie of the world, to glorifie it selfe, drew her originall from the gods, goddesses, and demy gods, by the Trojan progeny, so this famous citie of London for greater glorie, and in emulation of Rome, deriveth itselfe from the very same originall. For, as Jeffreye of Monmoth, the Welche historian, reporteth, Brute descended from the demy god Eneas, the sonne of Venus, daughter of Jupiter, aboute the yeare of the world 2855, the yeare before Christe’s nativitie, 1108, builded a citie neare unto a river now called Thames, and named it Troynovant, or Trenovant.”—1st edition, 1598.
3 Cair Lundein, in the list of ancient British cities, preserved in Nennius.
4 “The like whereof the Irishmen, our next neighbours, doe at this day call paces.”—1st edition, p. 4.
5 Richborough, about one mile and a half from Sandwich, the Rutupium of the Romans, was a place of great importance until destroyed by the Danes in 1010.
6 On the banks of the river Verlam, opposite to St. Alban’s, which is supposed to have arisen out of its ruin.
7 Silchester, in Hampshire, seven miles from Basingstoke; the Caer Segont of the Britons, and Segontium of the Romans, and Silcester of the Saxons. Leland states its walls to have been two miles in compass.
8 Wroxeter, five miles from Shrewsbury. Its walls are stated to have been three yards in thickness, and to have extended for a circumference of three miles.
9 Kenchester, three miles from Hereford, supposed to be the Ariconium of the Romans.
10 Ribchester, six miles from Blackburn, in Lancashire, supposed to be the Rego-dunum of the Romans.
11 Aldborough, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the Isurium Brigantium of the Romans.
12 Whitchendus. Whittichind, a monk of Corvay, who died about the year 1000, wrote a History of the Saxons down to 973, which was published at Basle by Hervagius in 1532.
13 Malmesbury, Bede.
14 Whitchendus, Bede.
15 Benedict, abbot of Wearmouth.
16 Asser, Marianus, Florentius.
17 Roger of Wendover, Matthew Paris, Ranul. Coggeshall.
18 Matthew Paris.
19 “This water hath been since that time called Turne mill brooke; yet then called the river of the Wells, which name of river,” etc.,—1st edition, p. 11.
20 Parliament record.
21 Patent record.
22 “In an old writing book.”—1st edition, p. 14.
23 Liber Custom.
24 This precise definition of the nature of the performances of the parish clerks, “some large hystorie of Holy Scripture,” does not occur in the first edition of the Survey.
25 “Is but fowle, and is called Smithfield Pond.”—1st edition, p. 15.
26 Patent, 123.
27 In the first edition, Barnard Randulph’s gift is stated to be £700 only.
28 Liber Dunstable. Liber Trinitat.
29 Will. Malmsbury.
30 Liber Bermon.
31 Liber Trinitat
32 Liber Waverley.
33 “For Peter of Colechurch deceased foure years before this worke was finished, and was buried in the chappell builded on the same bridge, in the year 1205.”—1st edition, p. 21.
34 “So that in the yeare 23 of Henrie the 6 there was 4 chaplens in the said chappell.”—1st edition, p. 21.
35 “Within 3 yeres.”—1st edition.
36 “A marvellous terrible chance happened for the citie of London, upon the south side of the river of Thames.”—Ibid.
37 Liber Dunmow. Walter Covent. W. Packenton.
38 Patent of Edward II.
39 “Should vaulte, or bridge, and clense the same.”—1st edition, p. 24.
40 “Which then served as a posterne for passengers out of the east, from thence through Tower street, East cheape, and Candlewecke street to London Stone, the middle point of that highway, then through Budge row, Watheling street, and leaving Paul’s church on the right hand, to Ludgate in the west; the next be Aldgate, Bishopsgate, Criplegate, Aldersgate, Ludgate, and the Bridgegate over the Thames. Since the which time hath been builded Newgate,” etc.—1st edition, p. 25.
41 “Was never re-edified againe of stone, but an homely cottage, with a narrow passage made of timber, lath and loame, hath beene in place thereof set up, and so remaineth.”—1st edition, p. 25.
42 Liber Trinitat.
43 Matthew Paris.
44 Radul. Coggeshall.
45 W. Donthorn.
46 “Now called Bednal Green.”—1st edition, p. 26.
47 Liber Trinitat.
48 Liber Custom. London.
49 Abbo Floriacens, Burchardus.
50 Liber S. Bartilmew.
51 In a book, called Beware of the Cat.—Stow.
52 “About the raigne of Henry II. or Richard I.”—1st edition, p. 30.
53 Close roll.
54 Roger Wendover, Matthew Paris.
55 “By unadvised folkes”—1st edition.
56 Record, Guildhall.
57 Liber Horne. Liber S. Alban.
58 Liber Trinitat. Liber S. Alban. Record, E. 3.
59 “Weakly made.”—1st edition, p. 36.
60 W. Duntherne.
61 “The largest water-gate on the river of Thames, and therefore most frequented.”—1st edition, p. 36.
62 “Which is now of late most beautifully enlarged and built.”—1st edition, p. 37.
63 Matthew Paris.
64 W. Malmesbury, Matthew Paris, John London.
65 Ex charta.
66 Roger Wendover, John Bever.
67 “St. Katherine’s mill stood where now is the Iron Gate of the Tower.”—Stow.
68 Lynxes, porcupines.
69 Patent, the 15th of King John.
70 Matthew Paris.
71 W. Malmsbury.
72 Roger Hoveden.
73 Guthuron’s lane, now Gutter lane, leading out of Cheapside, was a small lane, formerly tenanted by goldsmiths; the person who gave his name to the lane, was evidently of Saxon or Danish origin.
74 That is, seventeen pence halfpenny farthing to be alloy.
75 By the terms force and deble, it is presumed the maximum and minimum weights are intended.
76 Thomas Walsingham.
77 Philip Comines.
78 Patent, 1st of Henry VII.
79 W. Dunthorne.
80 Fitzstephen, Gerv. Tilbury.
81 “Virginitie defended with the losse of worldly goods, and life of the bodie, for life of the soule.”—Stow.
82 Liber Dunmow.
83 Stow in his first edition says, “there practised for the crown...;” and the admirable scene in Richard the Third (act III., sc. 7), in which Gloucester is by Buckingham, the mayor, and citizens of London, “enforced to a world of cares,” is laid by Shakspeare with great historic truth in “the court of Baynard’s castle.”
84 It was destroyed in the Great Fire, before which time it had become the residences of the Earls of Shrewsbury.
85 Vita Arkenwald.
86 Liber Burton, super Trent.
87 Liber Sanct. Mariæ Eborum.
88 Armenia. Ermony, from the Old French “Ermenie.” See Roquefort’s Glossaire, s. v.
Chaucer, too, in his Monke’s Tale, line 14,343, etc., says:—
“Ne dorste never be so corageous
Ne non Ermin, ne non Egiptien,
Ne Surrien, ne non Arabien.”
89 “Howsoever the same be now fallen, both in number and estimation.”—1st edition, p. 56.
90 “In Oldborne.”—1st edition.
91 Cowell, in his Law Dictionary, says, “Bolting is a term of art used in Gray’s Inn, and applied to the bolting or arguing of moot cases.” He endeavours to show that the bolting of cases is analogous to the boulting or sifting of meal through a bag. All readers of Shakspeare must be familiar with the use of the word in the latter sense.
92 Thus Lydgate, in his ballad of London Lackpenny:
“Then to the Chepe I began me drawne,
Where much people I saw for to stande:
One offered me velvet, sylke and lawne,
An other he taketh me by the hande,
‘Here is Pary’s thred the fynest in the lande,’” etc.
93 The cooks in Lydgate’s time, as we learn from the same ballad, resided chiefly in Eastcheap:
“Then I hyed me into East Chepe;
One cryes ribbs of befe, and many a pye:
Pewter pottes they clattered on a heape;
There was harpe, pype and mynstrelsye,” etc.
94 “Pater noster beade-makers and text-writers are gone out of Paternoster rowe into stationers of Paule’s churchyard.”—1st edition, p. 63.
95 Thomas Clifford.
96 Liber Constitutionis. Liber Horne. Liber Clerkenwell.
97 W. Patten.
98 Liber S. Mariæ Eborum.
99 Carts shod or bound with iron. Carrectæ ferro ligatæ are mentioned in the Liber Garderobæ, Edw. I.
100 W. Fitzstephen.
101 There are few documents calculated to throw greater light upon the social and domestic life of our ancestors than their Household Books. Stow has here set an example, which has of late years been followed to a great extent. The Liber Garderobæ, Edw. I., published by the Society of Antiquaries in 1787—The Northumberland Household Book—The Privy Purse Expences of Henry VIII.—The Privy Purse Expences of the Princess Mary, etc.; and lastly, the handsome volume, printed for the Roxburgh Club by Beriah Botfield, Esq., M.P., containing the Household Book of the Countess of Leicester, wife of Simon de Montford, and that of Sir John Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, in the reign of Richard III., afford views of ancient manners and illustrations of olden customs, which would be sought for in vain in works of a graver character.
102 Record of Pontefract, as I could obtain of M. Cudnor.—Stow.
103 Northern russet, half a yard and half a quarter broad, I have seen sold for four pence the yard, and was good cloth of a mingled colour.—Stow.
104 Rob. Fabian, manuscript.
105 Liber Ely.
106 Every livery coat had three yards of broad cloth.—Stow.
107 Pater de Ioham.
108 Record of the Tower.
109 “As the Theater, the Curtine,” etc.—1st edition.
110 Matthew Paris.
111 The Bear garden on the Bankside is not mentioned in the first edition.
112 Matthew Paris.
113 In the edition of Brand’s Popular Antiquities, edited by Sir Henry Ellis, vol. i. 272-278, will be found a very large and curious collection of materials illustrative of this ancient custom.
114 Stepney.
115 A paper by Mr. Saunders, in Knight’s London, i. 169, entitled, “The Old Spring Time in London,” forms a very agreeable commentary on this section of our author’s work.
116 Rich thieves most worthy to be hanged. The judgment of fire and water, called ordalii, was condemned by Pope Innocent III. 1203. Decretal. lib. 5.—Stow.
117 More than two hundred and forty constables in London, the one half of them each night went in the marching watch, the other half kept their standing watch in every street and lane.—Stow.
118 A large coat or cloak, from the French “journade.”—See Roquefort’s Glossaire, s. v.
119 John Mountgomery.
120 “To London in greater quantitie.”—1st edition, p. 80.
121 “In the yeare 1471, John Stockton, mayor, and eleven aldermen of London, with the recorder, were all made knightes in the fielde by Edward IV., for their good service done to him.”—1st edition, p. 81.
122 Wolverhampton.
123 Stepney.
124 “Cursed is hee that removeth his neighbors mark, have I read.”—Stow.
125 “As much as”—1st edition, p. 85.
126 Liber Trinitat.
127 Liber Trinitat.
128 The further history of this establishment will be found in Nichols’ History of the Hospital and Collegiate Church of St. Katherine, near the Tower of London.
129 The Danish toft, Swedish tomt, properly signifies the ground upon which a house stands. See Grimm’s Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer, s. 539.
130 “These fortie-four yeares last.”—1st edition, p. 92.
131 Liber l. folio 40.
132 Proclamation. W. Dunthorn.
133 “And to Berewardes lane.”—1st edition, p. 95.
134 “When he deceased, 1501.”—Ibid.
135 “Woodroffe lane towardes the Tower in this parish.”—1st edition p. 97.
136 “No gallies landed here in memorie of men living.”—Stow.
137 “But I leave every man to his own judgment, and pass to other matters.”—1st edition, p. 101.
138 “It is taxed to the fifteene at forty-six pounds, and accounted in the Exchequer at forty-five pounds ten shillings.”—1st edition, p. 102.
139 “The said elm-tree, his preaching place, is lately taken down.”—Stow.
140 “As he, poore man, tearmed it.”—1st edition, p. 108.
141 “The one halfe, to wit.”—1st edition, p. 109.
142 “The monuments of the dead, buried in this church, are these.”—1st edition, p. 109.
143 “These poyntes not performed. The Drapers have unlawfully solde these tenements and garden plots, and the poore be wronged.”—Stow.
144 “It is taxed to the fifteene in London at 46 li., and accounted in the Exchequer to £45 10s.”—1st edition, p. 113.
145 “Three schoolemaisters, with an usher, to wit.”—1st edition, p. 118.
146 This passage is printed very incorrectly, and as prose, by Stow, who makes the date “twice thirty and ten,” i.e. 1370 (which is certainly the date of Chichester’s mayoralty), instead of “twice twenty and ten,” i.e. 1350, which is the reading of the MSS. and of the two early printed editions.
147 “Cornhill street, in some place raysed two fadome higher than of olde time, as appeared by buildings found so deepe.”—Stow.
148 “As they call it.”—1st edition, p. 123.
149 “Reserving the churchyard for a garden plot.”—1st edition, p. 124.
150 Liber Papie.
151 “To Master Cornewallos.”—1st edition, p. 128.
152 “Of our blessed lady.”—1st edition, p. 129.
153 “At twenty-two pounds in London, and in the Exchequer twenty-one pounds ten shillings.”—1st edition, p. 136.
154 “Pembroke.”—1st edition, p. 136.
155 “Courtney.”—1st edition, ibid.
156 “In some matters.”—1st edition, p. 141.
157 “This goodly foundation having a free schoole and almes houses for poore men (builded of hard stone) adjoyning to the west end of the church, was of olde time confirmed by Henry the Sixt, in the year 1447. The outward work of this new church was finished in the year 1501, the said John Tate deceased about the year 1514, and was there buried in a monument by him prepared, as appeareth by an indenture tripartite made between the said John Tate, the Deane of Windsor, and William Milbourn, chamberlaine.”—1st edition, p. 145.
158 “Their beef and mutton by weight, to wit.”—1st edition, p. 148.
159 “But the true cause of enhanceing the prices both of those and other victuals are not to be disputed here.”—1st edition, p. 148.
160 It would seem, from the addition of these words, which are not in the first edition, that this conduit ceased so to run between the years 1598 and 1603.
161 “Ringleaders of inquests will proffer their service, and bend every way for gain. Careful choice of jurors is to be had; a man detected, and that had sworn foolishly against his brother, is not to be admitted a common juror; neither butcher nor surgeon is to be admitted.”—Stow.
162 “Archbishops of London hard to be proved, and therefore not be affirmed.”—Stow.
163 “This was accounted the best ring of six belles, to bee rung by six men, that was in England, for harmonye, sweetness of sound, and tune.”—Stow.
164 “To the poor at his burial sixteen pounds, to prisons, hospitals, and lazar houses, liberally; he also gave his house in Cornehill to be sold, and the price thereof to be spent on the amendment of highways.”—1st edition, p. 153.
165 “My godfathers.”—1st edition, p. 153.
166 “My godmother.”—Ibid.
167 “Wine one pint for a pennie, and bread to drink it was given free in every tavern.”—Stow.
168 “Noblemen of this realm of old time, as also of late years, have dealt in merchandises.”—Stow.
169 “If it had been in brasse, it would not have remained there so long.”—1st edition, p. 159.
170 In the first edition, p. 159, the following passage is here inserted:—
“Alice, William, and John, wife and sons to Thomas Clarell; Agnes, daughter to Thomas Niter, gent.; William Atwell; Felix, daughter to Sir Thomas Gisers, and wife to Travers Thomas Mason, esquire; Edmond Wartar, esquire; Joan, wife to John Chamberlaine, esquire, daughter to Roger Lewkner, esquire; William Frier; John Hamburger, esquire; Hugh Moresby; Gilbert Prince, alderman; Oliver Chorley, gentleman; Sir John Writh, or Writhesley, alias Garter principal king at arms, sometime laid under a fair tomb in the choir, now broken down and gone; Joan, wife to Thomas Writhesley, son to Sir John Writhesley, Garter, daughter and heir to William Hall, esquire; John Writhesley the younger, son to Sir John Writhesley, and Alienor, Eleanor, second wife to John Writhesley, daughter and heir to Thomas Arnalde, and Agnes his wife; John Writhesley, son of Thomas; Agnes Arnold, first married to William Writhesley, daughter of Richard Warmeforde; Barbara Hungerford, daughter to Sir John Writhesley, wife to Anthony Hungerford, son to Sir Thomas Hungerford, of Denmampney, in the county of Gloucester.”
The cause for the omission of these names is explained at the close of the paragraph in the text; which is however so indistinctly expressed, that its meaning could not very well be ascertained except by a reference to what was originally written.
171 “Mother of William Lambert, yet living.”—1st edition, p. 160.
172 “Hugh Acton, tailor.”—Ibid.
173 “In London at twenty-one pound.”—Ibid.
174 “Alice Hackney found uncorrupted more than one hundred and seventy yeres after she was buried.”—Stow.
175 “W. Walworth slandered by a fable of Jack Straw.”—Stow.
176 “In London at fifty pounds, and in the Exchequer at forty-nine pounds ten shillings.”—1st edition, p. 169.
177 “The king’s sons beaten to Eastcheape; there was no tavern then in Eastcheape.”—Stow.
178 “In Westcheape linen cloth sold, but no silks spoken of.”—Stow.
179 “Fripparia, upholders upon Cornhill, sellers of old apparel and household stuff in Eastcheape.”—Stow.
The following is the stanza alluded to by Stow (see Lydgate’s Minor Poems).
“Then into Corn hyl anon I rode,
Where was much stolen gere amonge;
I saw where honge myne owne hoode,
That I had lost amonge the thronge:
To by my own hoode I thought it wronge;
I knew it well as I did my crede,
But for lack of money I could not spede.”
180 “Wike is a working place.”—Stow.
181 “In Smithfield, and there to have been knighted by the king, but that is not true.”—1st edition, p. 172.
182 “Fable of William Walworth and Jack Straw reproved. Praise of W. Walworth for his manhood in arresting of Wat Tyler. The mayor was well armed, and had on his head a basonet.”—Stow.
183 Dunthorne.
184 “The armies of this citty were not altered, but remayne as afore; to witte, argent, a playne crosse gules, a sword of S. Paul in the first quarter, and no dagger of W. Walworth, as is fabuled.”—Stow.
185 Liber Trinitate.
186 “In London to forty pound, and in the Exchequer to thirty-nine pound.”—1st edition, p. 181.
187 “In London at thirty-six pound, and in the Exchequer at thirty-four pound ten shillings.”—1st edition, p. 189.
188 “Having thus much, not without travail and some charges, noted for the antiquitie of the Vintners, about two years since or more I repayred to the common-hall of that company, and there showed and read it in a court of assistance, requiring them, as being one of the principal companies in the citie (of whom I meant therefore to write the more at large) that if they knew any more which might sound to their worship or commendation, at their leisure to send it me, and I would joyne it to my former collection; at which time I was answered by some that tooke upon them the speech, that they were none of the principall, but of the inferior companies; and so willing me to leave them, I departed, and never since heard from them, which hath somewhat discouraged me any farther to travail amongst the companies to learne ought at their handes.”—1st edition, p. 192.
His comment (in a side note) is equally worth preserving: “The readiest to speake not alwaies the wisest men.”
189 “In London at six and thirty pounds, and in the Exchequer at thirty-five pounds five shillings.”—1st edition, p. 195.
190 “Gray sope made in London dearer than bought from Bristol.”—Stow.
191 “Richard Chaucer, father to Geffrey Chaucer, the poet, as may be supposed.”—Stow.
192 “Sir William Laxton, grocer, mayor, deceased 1556, was buried in the vault prepared by Henry Keble, principall founder of that church, for himself, but now his bones are unkindly cast out, his monuments pulled downe, and the bodies of the said Sir William Laxton, and of Sir Thomas Lodge, grocer, mayor, are laid in place, with monuments over them for the time, till an other give money for their place, and then away with them.”—1st edition, p. 199.
193 “Called de Arcubus of the stone arches or bowes on the top of the steeple or bell tower thereof, which arching was as well on the old steeple as on the new, for no other part of the church seemeth to have been arched at any time; yet hath the said church never been knowne by any other name than St. Mary Bow, or le Bow; neither is that church so called of the court there kept, but the said court taketh name of the place wherein it is kept, and is called the Court of Arches.”—1st edition, p. 203.
194 “A false accuser of his elder brother, in the end was hanged.”—Stow.
In his first edition, p. 203, this note is continued as follows: “God amend, or shortly send such an end to such false brethren.”
195 “Of some unknowne founder.”—1st edition, p. 205.
196 “And in the 8th of the same Henry called Tamarsilde.”—1st edition, p. 206.
197 “In London at £72 16s., in the Exchequer at £72.”—1st edition, p. 207.
198 “Justices charged to punish such as sel bels from their churches, Elizabeth 14.”—Stow.
199 “The 13th of November.”—1st edition, p. 210.
200 “This conduite was the first sweete water that was conveyed by pipes of lead under ground to this place in the citie from Paddington.”—1st edition, p. 210.
201 This is obviously an error. It occurs in the first edition, is repeated in that of 1603, and by Anthony Munday, in his edition of 1618. Strype (vol. i. book iii. p. 35), endeavours to correct it, by reading “Mary,” who was crowned in 1553, instead of Anne. The error, however, is in the date, which should be 1533, the year of Anne Boleyn’s coronation, as we learn from the description of that ceremony given by Stow in his Annals, “that she went forward by the crosse which was newly gilt.”
202 Soler is described by Tyrwhitt, in his edition of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, as originally signifying an open gallery or balcony at the top of the house, though latterly used for any upper room, loft, or garret. Tyrwhitt refers in his Glossary, to the Cook’s Tale of Gamelyn, for an authority for the use of the word in the latter sense—
“He fleigh up until alofte,
And shet the dore fast.
And saugh where he looked out
At a solere window.”
The German Söller is used by Luther in his magnificent translation of the Bible in both senses:—“Peter went up upon the house-top to pray”—“Stieg Petrus hinauf auf den Söller zu beten.” Acts x. 9. “And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room”—“Und als sie hinein kamen, stiegen sie auf den Söller.” Acts i. 13.
203 “There is also a preaching in the Italian tongue to the Italians and others on the Sondaies.”—1st edition, p. 214.
204 “Henry Frowicke.”—Ibid.
205 “Locke his armes in the windowes.”—Stow.
206 Because “of old time, since the raigne of William the Conqueror (that first brought Jewes from Roan into this realme), many Jewes inhabited thereabouts, until that in the year 1290, the 18th of Edw. I., they were wholly and for ever by the said king banished this realme, having of their owne goodes to beare their charges, till they were out of dominions. The number of the Jewes at that time banished were 15,060 persons, whose houses being sold, the king made of them a mightie masse of money.”—1st edition, p. 219.
207 “Sixty years since.”—Ibid.
208 “The tooth of some monstrous fish, as I take it. A shank-bone, of twenty-five inches long, of a man, as is said, but might be of an oliphant.”—Stow.
209 “A Countess of Cornwall and Chester, but her name and time is not apparent.”—1st edition, p. 220.
210 “In the Exchequer at seventy-two pound.”—Ibid.
211 “A well was under the east end of this church, late turned to a pumpe, but decayed.”—Stow.
212 “This may be some argument which I overpasse.”—1st edition, p. 223.
213 “There is one tomb on the south side the quire, but without inscription.”—1st edition, p. 225.
214 “It is taxed to the fifteen in London at nineteen pound, and in the Exchequer at nineteen pound”—Ibid.
215 Patent.
216 Matthew Paris.
217 The Girdlers were incorporated by letters patent of 27th Henry VI. 6th Aug. 1449, which were confirmed by Elizabeth in 1568, when the pinners and wire-drawers were incorporated with them. Strype says they seem to have been a fraternity of St. Lawrence, because of the three gridirons their arms; but those north country readers, who know what a girdle iron is, will probably agree with me in thinking the gridirons or girdle irons are borne with reference to the name of the company.
218 “Only I read of a branch of this family of Bassinges to have spread itself into Cambridgeshire, near unto a water or bourne, and was therefore, for a difference from other of that name, called Bassing at the bourn, and more shortly Bassing borne. But this family is also worne out, and hath left the name to the place where they dwell.”—1st edition, p. 228.
219 “Reyne Wolf, a grave antiquary, collected the great chronicles, increased and published by his executors, under the name of Ralph Holonshead.”—Stow.
The first edition of Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, was printed for John Harrison the elder in 1577. From Holinshed’s dedicatory epistle to Lord Burleigh, it would seem that Reginald Wolfe projected and even executed the greater part of the work, it having “pleased God to call him to his mercie after xxv. years travail spent therein.” Wolfe, in fact, intended to make these Chronicles the foundation of “An Universall Cosmographie of the Whole World.”
220 “Obtaining first the king’s licence of mortmain under the great seal of England.”—1st edition, p. 234.
221 “The Lord William of Thame was buried in this church, and so was his successor in that house, Sir Rowland Heyward.”—1st edition, p. 235.
222 “As is supposed.”—Ibid.
223 “Without being bounden to reparations or other charge.”—Ibid.
224 “John Collet.”—1st edition, p. 257.
225 “My loving friend.”—1st edition, p. 238.
226 “At this present.”—Ibid.
227 “It is taxed in London to the fifteene at forty pound, and in the Exchequer at thirty-nine pound ten shillings.”—1st edition, p. 242.
228 “Thomas Leichfield.”—1st edition, p. 244.
229 R. Grafton.
230 These disjointed syllables, it will be seen, may be so read as to form the following rhyming couplet:—
“Quos anguis tristi diro cum vulnere stravit,
Hos sanguis Christi miro tum munere lavit.”
231 “Likewise in the exchequer.”—1st edition, p. 247.
232 The word clove is from the Anglo-Saxon Clifian (the low German Klöven, and Dutch Klooven), to split, or clufe, an ear of corn or clove of garlic. In this case the flower is the common Stock, or Stock Gilliflower, so long a favourite in the gardens of England, and indeed a native of the cliffs by the sea-side. “The old English name of Gilliflower,” says the author of the Flora Domestica, “which is now almost lost in the prefix Stock, is corrupted from the French Giroflier. Chaucer writes it Gylofre; but, by associating it with the nutmeg and other spices, appears to mean the clove-tree, which is in fact the proper signification of that word. Turner calls it Gelover and Gelyflower, Gerrarde and Parkinson Gilloflower.”
233 The Anglo-Saxon Gærsuma—treasure, riches, fine, etc.
234 “John Palmer.”—1st edition, p. 252.
235 “John Standelfe and John Standelfe.”—1st edition, p. 253.
236 “The maior and communalty of London, parsons of Christ’s church, the vicar to be at their appointment.”—Stow.
237 “Treasurer of England.”—1st edition, p. 258.
238 “And father to Edward Lord Mountjoy; James Blunt, knighte, son to Walter Blunt, captain of Gwynes, 1492.”—Ibid.
239 In the first edition, Sir Nicholas Twiford is described as having a monument in the church.
240 Lydgate’s verses were first printed at the end of Tottell’s edition of the translation of his Fall of Princes, from Boccaccio, 1554, folio, and afterwards in Sir W. Dugdale’s History of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
241 Reign Wolfe.
242 “Born in London, and son to Henry Collet.”—1st edition, p. 267.
243 “And brought to the hands of Edmond Grendall, then Bishop of London.”—1st edition, p. 269.
244 W. Paston.
245 “Was first builded about the reigne of Edward III. Thomas Newton, the first parson there, was buried in the quire, the year 1361, which was the 35th of Edward the Thirde.”—1st edition, p. 277.
246 “Prebend almes houses.”—1st edition, p. 277.
247 “In London at fifty-four pounds, and in the Exchequer at fifty-three pounds six shillings and eight pence.”—1st edition, p. 345.
248 Water Bougets—heraldic representations of the leathern bottles in which water was anciently carried.
249 “A pole of forty foote long, and fifteen inches about, fabuled to be the iusting staffe of Gerrard a giant.”—Stow.
250 “Which aunswere seemed to me insufficient, for hee meant the description of Brittaine, before Reinwolfe’s Chronicle, wherein the author writing a chapter of Gyaunts, and having been deceived by some authours, too much crediting their smoothe speeche, hath set down more matter than troth, as partly (and also against my will) I am enforced to touch.”—1st edition, p. 283.
251 “R. G. saw a stone, and said the same to bee a tooth, but being by my selfe proued a stone, there fayled both scull and shank-bone, and followed a cluster of lies together, yet since increased by other.”—Stow.
252 “Gerrard’s hall overthrowne with Gerrard the giant, and his great spear.”—Stow.
253 “Every man’s house of old time was decked with holly and ivy in the winter, especially at Christmas.”—Stow.
254 “Quest of inquiry indight the keepers of the gayles for dealing hardly with their prisoners. They indighted the bowling alleys, etc.”—Stow.
255 “In the Exchequer thirty-six pounds, ten shillings.”—1st edition, p. 285.
256 “But I could never learne the cause why it should be so called, and therefore I will let it passe.”—1st edition, p. 287.
257 “There bee monumentes in this church of Andrew Awbery, grocer, mayor, and Thomas Fryar, fishmonger, in the yeare 1351, who gave to this church and parish one plot of ground, containing fiftie-six foote in length, and fortie-three foote in breadth at both endes, to be a buriall place for the dead of the said parish, the twenty-sixt of Edward the third. Also Thomas Madefry, clarke, and John Pylot, gave to the wardens of that parish one shop and a house in Distar lane, for the continual repairing of the body of that church, the belles and ornaments, the twentieth of Richard II.”—1st edition, p. 287.
258 Liber Trinitate.
259 It appears from Strype’s Stow (i. p, 214, ed. 1720), that “Were path or Wore path, is in the east part of the Flete of Barking, about seven miles from London; and Anedeheth is near Westminster, on the west part of London.”
260 Liber Trinitate, Lon.
261 Liber Constitut.
262 “But now that case is altered.”—1st edition, p. 293.
263 For Lowlardes’ Tower, read M. Foxe.—Stow.
264 With the following inscription: “Hic jacet Raherus primus canonicus, et primus prior istius Ecclesiæ.”
265 “The forrens were licensed for three dayes; the freemen so long as they would, which was sixe or seven dayes.”—Stow.
266 “John Davy, a false accuser of his master, of him was raised the by-word,—If ye serve me so, I will call you Davy.”—Stow.
267 “Commonly called Ely place.”—1st edition, p. 323.
268 Fewters, idle people, probably from the old French Fautier, which Roquefort, Glossaire de la Langue Romane, defines “Criminel Coupable,” or from Fautteur, “rempli de défauts et de mauvaises habitudes.”
269 Matthew Paris.
270 “And others in other places.”—1st edition, p. 325.
271 “And in the Exchequer at thirty-four pounds.”—1st edition, p. 338.
272 “Li. St. Mary Eborum. English people disdayned to be baudes. Froes of Flaunders were women for that purpose.”—Stow.
273 “John Gower was no knight, neither had he any garland of ivie and roses, but a chaplet of foure roses onely.”—Stow.
274 Li. St. Marie Overy.
275 “To Wapping in the Wose, and Wapping itself, the usual place, etc.”—1st edition, p. 347.
276 “Fayre hedges, long rowes of elme, and other trees.”—Ibid.
277 “By encroachments for building of small tenements, and taking in of garden-plots, timber-yards, or what they list. From this tower hill towards Aldgate (being a long continuous street), amongst other buildings, was that abbey of nunnes called the Minorities, or Minories, whereof I have spoken. And on the other side of that streete lyeth the ditche without the wall of the citie from the Tower unto Aldegate.”—1st edition, pp. 347-8.
278 “Brought up in Lincoln’s inn.”—1st edition, p. 349.
279 “And neare thereunto are builded two publique houses for the acting and shewe of comedies, tragedies, and histories, for recreation. Whereof one is called the Courtein, the other the Theatre; both standing on the south-west side towards the field.”—Ibid.
280 Shoreditch. In the first edition, it is called Sors ditch, or Sewers ditch.
281 “Over against the north end of Grub street.”—1st edition, p. 349.
282 “Next to that a large house, with gardens of pleasure, builded by Jasper Fisher, from this up to the west end of Hog lane, etc.”—1st edition, p. 350.
283 “Soerditch, so called more than four hundred yeares since, as I can prove by record.”—Stow.
284 “Banqueting houses like banqueroutes, bearing great shew and little worth.”—Stow.
285 “The same was after the bishop of Lincoln’s inn.”—1st edition, p. 361.
286 “Beyond this Southampton house.”—Ibid.
287 “Fratres de Monte Jovis, or Priory de Cornuto, by Havering at the Bower.”—Stow.
288 H. Knighton.—Stow.
289 “Savoy brent: blown up with gunpowder. Rebels, more malitious then covetous, spoyle all before them.”—Stow.
290 “In the high street standeth a pair of stocks.”—1st edition, p. 369.
291 “Which is a goodly house, lately builded nigh to Ivy bridge, over against the old Bedforde house, namely, called Russell house and Dacres house, now the house of Sir Thomas Cecile, Lorde Burghley; and so on the north side to a lane that turneth to the parish church of St. Martin in the Fielde, and stretcheth to St. Giles in the Fielde.”—1st edition, pp. 370-1.
292 “I thinke custome.”—1st edition, p. 376.
293 “Foundation of Westminster by Sebert, a Christian king, not onely in word, but in deed.”—Stow.
294 “One of her majesties chaplens.”—1st edition, p. 381.
295 “Earle of Bridgewater.”—1st edition, p. 382.
296 In the first edition, the passage relative to Henry II.’s command to Hugh Gifford and William Browne, to distribute alms “according to the weight and measure of the king’s children” (see ante, page 83), is inserted in this place.
297 “I find of record, the 50th of Edward III., that the chapter-house of the abbot of Westminster was then the usual house for the commons in parliament.”—Stow.
298 “Of England.”—1st edition, p. 387.
299 The corruption alluded to by Stow exists to the present day—the Almonry being styled by the lower classes in Westminster, the Ambry. The house said to have been Caxton’s is also, we believe, still remaining, though in a state of great dilapidation.
300 “Eleutherius died in the yeare 186, when he had sitten bishop 15 yeares.”—Stow.
301 “At Bartholomew’s priory in Smithfield.”—1st edition, p. 304.
302 “Leviticus 13. Numbers 5. Leprose persons to be separated from the sound.”—Stow.
303 “Since called shiriffes, and judges of the King’s court, and have therefore under-shiriffes, men learned in the law, to sit in their courts. Domesmen, or judges of the King’s court.”—Stow.
304 The first edition has “mayor Hugh Fitz Thomas,” and does not make mention of “Fitz Ottonis.”
305 Hallontide,—or, as it was more generally designated, All Hallontide,—is the older designation of All Saints’ day, the 1st of November.
306 Sic in Stow; Strype corrects it into πολεύω.