Remarks of the Accounts of St Dunstan's Church, Part II., A.D.1508-80

( 140 ) REMARKS UPON THE CHURCHWARDENS' ACCOUNTS OF ST. DUN STAN'S, CAN􀀛 TERBURY. :BY J. :M. COWPER, THE Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Dunstan's, Canterbury, now first published, are found in four different manuscripts, which, for the sake of convenience, I have referred to as A, B, 0, and D. Those marked A, B, and D were entrusted to my care by the Rev. J. Gurney Hoare, the present Vicar of St. Dunstan's; but MS. 0 came into my hands in a peculiar manner. While my book on Holy Cross :Parish* was passing through the press, this manuscript reached me by post, from a gentleman, now dead, in whose possession it had been for some years, having been given to him by an auctioneer. Before he died, he gave the MS. to me to deal with as I might see fit. I need hardly say that I have handed it, together with the others, to Mr. Hoare, with the hope that some day all £our manuscripts will :find a safe and lasting resting-place in our Cathedral Library. Three of the manuscripts, A, B, and D, are without any covers whatever; but O has been securely encased in parchment. On the other hand, while the leaves of manuscript Dare in the order in which they were originally placed by the maker of the book, those of A, B, and C have been stitched together without any regard to their proper order. Although this confusion has materially added to the difficulties of my work, we cannot be too grateful to the unknown parishioner who fastened the once loose leaves together, for by so doing he contributed in no small degree to their preservation. What became of the Accounts after Harry Fishear made the entries, bringing them down to the year 1580, I do not know. A few odd leaves remain, extending from the year 1594 to 1709-10 (there are less than twenty), but as they give no connected history of any one year, I have thought it unnecessary to copy them. With the four manuscripts I have taken no liberties other than to make the use of capitals uniform, to expand the contractions where I could see my way to do so, and to arrange the Accounts in chronological order. The period covered by these Accounts is one of more than ordinary interest to the student of English history. When they were commenced, the Wars of the Roses were not ended ; when they (as far as they have come down to us) were ended, Elizabeth had been on the throne for some twenty years. Of the rise and fall of monarchs and other great personages the Churchwardens of St. * Our Parish Books, ancl wliat they teU us. Two Vols. 1884-5. ACCOUNTS OF ST. DUNSTAN'S, CANTERBURY. 141 Dunstan's made no note ; all they did was to substitute the year of the reigning king for that of his predecessor, when they knew it. Henry VII. died on April 21, 1509, but on June 14 following the wardens seem to have been unaware of the loss which the nation had sust􀄤ined. In the following year they knew that another king was on the throne, but all the notice they took of it was to substitute " viij" for "vij '' in the headings of their Accounts. The king's affairs, matrimonial and otherwise, had no interest £or them ; even his high-handed dealings with the " Great Church" in Canterbury, the sound of whose bells reached their ears daily, and whose lofty towers were constantly in sight, had, as far as we can judge from these Accounts, no interest £or them. The truth of the matter is, these stirring events cost the parish nothing, nor did they bring any money to the parish chest. The parish priest was undisturbed in his ministrations ; the parishioners worshipped God as theii- :fathers had done before them. 'rhe church was the centre of parish life, social as well as religious. From the font to the grave the greater number of the people lived within the sound of its bells. It provided them with all the consolations of religion, and linked itself with such amusements as it did not directly supply. Now and then the majesty of the law was invoked by the parish, but the results were not always satisfactory, and arbitration in some cases, and a parish meeting in others, were more frequently used· to settle differences. In 1485 there was some disagreement between one Baker and the parish. What it was we do not know ; but the brief entry, " Spent at the daying betwene Baker and the paryshe, ij d. ob.," shews that arbitration (itayng, cf. Daysm.an) was re::iorted to. .A.gain, so late as 1572, the families of Orucher and Nightingale were at variance, and the vicar with four parishioners, or more, met in council respecting the matter. In the end, Orucher and Nightingale agreed to remit and freely forgive all quarrels, brawls, and strifes which had been between them or either of their wives from the beginning of the world ; and further, the beginner of any quarrel, or debate, or strife in the future, bound himself to pay twenty marks to the churchwardens £or the use of the parish. I£ the parish thus managed such affaits, it follows almost necessarily that it had a place in which the parishioners could meet in council. In St. Dunstan's it was called the fJhu1·cli-house, a building which is almost as frequently mentioned as the church itself. Sometimes it was called the Parish-house, but oftener, as here, the Church-house. There was one at Hackney, £or instance, which was built by the parishioners, that they might meet together and commune of matters, as well £or the king's business as £or the church and parish. In Wiltshire utensils £or dressing food were kept in the church-house, where the householders met and were merry, and gave their charity. The young people were there too, and had dancing, bowling, and so on, while "the ancients sat gravely by." In St. Dunstan's the two dozen spoons and two dozen trenchers no doubt represent the cooking utensils of Wiltshii·e; and the 142 ACCOUNTS OF THE CHURCHWARDENS OF annual dinner, 0£ which we read in these Accounts, was eaten in all probability in the same church-house. It was well used by the parishioners, as the frequent repairs testify. That it was let to tenants for such time as the parish did not require it, need cause no surprise, for the same practice prevailed at Whitwell, Isle of Wight, and at Steeple Ashton. There was also a church-house at Ludlow, but it is only mentioned when under repair. These Accounts enable us to say how, in a great degree, the necessary funds were raised to carry on parochial and church work in the parish. The various brotherhoods collected moneys for various purposes ; but the most important of these brotherhoods is that which bears the unusual and somewhat mysterious name of the Sahaft. In no dictionary that I have been able to consult does this word occur, but I am disposed to accept the suggestion that it represents our modern affix ship, denoting an association of persons, and that it was almost equivalent to the modern German-scha£t. This brotherhood of the schaft and its wardens first appear in the Accounts for the year 1486, and they disappear with their last account rendered in June, 1539. Why they should have disappeared just then we are not in a position to say, but probably the changes introduced about that time had something to do with the matter. The duties of this brotherhood were primarily.parochial, as will be seen by a reference to their receipts and disbursements. They dealt with the moneys received by gatherers of scutcheons, that is, by men who bore badges or escutcheons to shew they were duly authorized to beg. In 1492 the amount thus realized reached the respectable sum of 15s. 4d. This money later on came to be called scutcheon money. In 1514 it amounted to 18s. O½d,; in 1522 to 20s. 6d. ; in 1526 to 26s. 8d. This was the highest sum received as scutcheon money. From this year, the sums received became lower until, as I have said, the scha£t disappears altogether. But the brotherhood had to deal with other matters besides money. They had charge of the parish stock : the malt, the barley, and tlie ale brewed therefrom; the wheat; the parish cows, and the parish sheep. From what sources they received all these articles does not appear; but on the first page we read that John Roper paid, for the rent of the Stone Hall, two bushels 0£ wheat yearlv. The parish cows were originally -bequeathed by one Nicholas Reugge, who left 40 shillings wherewith to buy £our cows, which were to be let out at so much a year. The income thus derived was to be applied to "the striking 0£ the paschal and font tapers;" so that " no manner of people, poor nor rich, should nothing pay to the paschal at Easter, as it is accustomed in every church to be done." These four cows (valued at lOs. each) were let out on hire, at a charge of two shillings a year £or each. In 1492 they were let £or only nine months ; this I gather £rom the curious entry, "iij quarters 0£ a kowe ;" and from the fact that only eighteenpence was then received for each. But whether let out £or a whole year, or £or a shorter term, sureties were required, after the trouble with Belser, details 0£ which will be found under the year 1491. ST, DUNS'l'AN'S, CANTERBURY. 14,3 To the stock of cows, sheep were added. The first mention of sheep occurs in.1521, when John Richardson hired twenty-five, to :farm. In 1524-5 Richard Byng had thirty ewes, £or which he p.nid a rent of eight shillings a year, or 3¼d, each ; but fourpence each was the more usual charge. Cows were valued at ten shillings each ; and two shillings a year, or twenty-five per cent. was the charge £or the use of a cow. The cost 0£ sheep, in the same year, varied from eighteen pence to twenty pence; so the interest charged on them varied from twenty to twenty-two per cent. Besides these rents, or farms, the brotherhood bad the sale of lambs, of wool, and of skins of lambs and 0£ calves ; the whole proceeds going apparently into one fund. I have already referred to the twenty-four spoons and twentyfour trenchers which the brotherhood had in stock about the year 1521. These, with the payments made in 1525 £or beer, ale, bread, meat, and the cook, clearly point to a feast, and this £east took the form of an annual dinner, the precursor, perhaps, of the modern club-feast. To this dinner several references are made. Thus in 1514 the wardens of the schaft received of the dinner-money 13s. ; and as early as 1493 we read of money gathered at the dinner. In 1536 the money thus gathered amounted to 15s. 10d. ; the dinner itself costing 18s. 2½d. In 1588 the amount collected was 13s. 10d. ; the amount paid for that dinner being 18s. O½d, With the brotherhood of the schaft, the dinner and the dinner-money disappeared, in 1539. Besides paying for the " striking " of the paschal and font tapers a.t Easter, which was paid £or .out of the legacy of the "iiij kene," the brotherhood contributed to other laudable objects. Thus, in 148'7, they contributed "to the making of the book" the respectable sum of £1 13s. 4d., in which year the church seems to have received contributions from most of the societies then in connection with it. In 1508 a further contribution was made to the church. Four years later (1512) twenty-one shillings were given " for the behoffe of the churche." In 1522-4 an entry is found in the Churchwardens' Accounts which shews that the whole parish had a voice in this brotherhood; in that year the Churchwardens received "by the agreement of the parish" £1 18s. lld. of the stock of the schaft . .A. glance over the payments of these two years will shew how the money was expended, not the least interesting item being the comparatively large sum spent on "clasping, binding, and repairing all the books." The interest shewn by the brotherhood in their parish church again appears in 1531-3, when the Churchwardens received a legacy of 6s. 8d. from William Borges towards a new rood-loft. To this sum the wardens of the schaft added £our marks £our shillings (30s. 8d.), which was paid to Beleme the wood-carver £or his work. Lastly, I may refer to "the new branch £or St. Dunstan's light," which was bought in 1586 at a cost of 14s. ; and as early as 1491 to money lent by the schaft to the Churchwardens. Before dismissing this part of the Accounts it is necessary to point out some difficulties connected with it. And first, there is that curious gift made by William Carpenter in 1511-" a girdle 144 ACCOUNTS OF THE CHURCHWARDENS OF £or to bear the Schaft, continuing £or ever from warden to warden.'' Here the schaft is something to be borne or carried about. Again, in 1526 mention is made of the "reparation of the Schan," and in 1535 we read of the" mending of the Schaft." In 1525 a payment was made £or "amending of glass windows and other things of the Schaft," and in a footnote to this Account I have ventured to suggest that " of" there has the force of pertaining or belonging to. In short, that the window mending in this case was one of the duties of the brotherhood. I£ this be so (and I am in much doubt about it), the reparation and mending would £all under the same head. But how about the girdle ? First we have the brotherhood of the schaft; then we have the stock or funds of the schaft. The funds would probably be kept in a box or bag to be brought out on certain occasions : did the name of the society get transferred to the box or bag in which the money was lrnpt? Years ago, when a member of a benefit society became ill he "threw himself," in common language, not on the society, but on the box, and the box to him represented the society or club to which he happened to belong ; and the club became lost in the "box." Did a similar course follow with the schaft, with this difference, that in this case the name of the brotherhood was transferred to the box itself, while in the other the box takes the place of the society? Besides this, the most important of the brotherhoods, there were others connected with St. Dunstan's Church and Parish ; namely, the Brotherhood of St. Anne and the Brotherhood of St. John; that of St. Anne included women among its members. Then there were wardens of the various lights in the church, as well as wardens of the various brotherhoods; wardens of the Cross light, wardens of St. John's light, wardens of St. Anne's light, wardens of St. Katheriue's light, as well as the Church-wardens. These all go to shew what life and activity there was in the little parish, which never wanted willing men to devote their time and influence to the management of their own affairs. The conduct of divine set\Tice in the time when these Accounts :first began, and until the reign of Edward the Sixth, was by no means an inexpensive affair. To obtain the necessary funds various methods were resorted to. There was the cess or rate in the first place ; but we only :find intimations 0£ three of these during the whole period over which the Accounts extend. In 1485 there was a church cess, when £4 5s. l½d. was collected, in sums varying from John Roper's 6s. 8d. to Richard Crane's fourpence. This was supplemented by gifts of devotion, or offerings made by those who were not liable to pay the rate, which ranged from one halfpenny to fourpence. Immediately after the names of those who contributed to the gifts of devotion, follow the names 0£ eight persons who paid an old cess ; shewing that the rate made in 1485 was not the earliest. Between 1504 and 1508 another rate was made, and this produced close upon six pounds sterling. From this date, the churchwardens seem to have relied entirely upon rents and voluntary offerings, supplemented by fees £or torches, tapers, and such ST, DUNSTAN'S, CANTERBURY. 145 like. To the occasional contributions from " the Scha£t" I have already referred. There were also occasional contributions from the other brotherhoods, and from the wardens of the various lights. The Accounts £or the year 1490 afford a good example of the manner in. which the necessary funds were obtained. The receipts are divided into £our classes :- (a) Gifts anit bequests. Among the former are three sums received from the parish, one of which was £or general purposes. This came to Ss. 6½d, Another was money gathered in. tlie church £or a definite purpose; namely, the repair of the roof of the sacred edifice. The third was hock money, or money collected on the second Mon.day after Easter. In this parish this gathering, sometimes made from strangers as well as parishioners (see 1528-30), appears to have been made only on. the Monday ; but in. St. Andrew's, Canterbury, there was a gathering on. Hock Tuesday as well. Another girt in this year was an important one from my Lady Roper, towards the making 0£ the new Leqenit of the Saints. Then. follows the paschal money, collected in. 'the church to be devoted to the making of the paschal taper. Five bequests, and a loan. of twenty shillings from "the Seba-ft," complete the sources o-f income under this head during .A..D. 1490. (b) Rents of the church. In 1490 the vicar paid 2s. £or his croft, and John Roper, £or the land known. as the Loam Pit, paid one penny. ( c) Rents of wax. These were sometimes paid in kind ; sometimes (as in this year 1490) in money; or else the wax was received and its value debited to the churchwardens.* ( d) Mone!Js receiveit for waste of torches at funerals and masses for the dead. The sum of 4d. received from John Casse " for the book " is not clear. The total sum received in this one year (1490) by the churchwardens was £'7 10s. 10d. Not an inconsiderable sum when we remember how small the parish was. The disbursements £or the same year (1490) shew very fully and clearl:y how the money was spent, and what was done to the fabric of the church. As there had been. a collection in the church £or the repair 0£ the roof, we naturally expect to find what these repairs were, and we are not disappointed. .A. thousand tiles £or covering the north side 0£ the church, cost four shillings. Ten. days were occupied by William Ingra,m and his man in putting on these tiles; and their united wages amounted to eleven.pence per day. Lime, sprigs, laths, and sand cost £our shillings and twopence; and John Long and Richard Denys charged a shilling £o1· ten days' waiting on the workmen. in expenses; the total cost of the repll,irs amounted to 18s. 4d. In addition to the new tiling of the roo£, other work was done about the fabric; the church was white limed * The first rent of wax was from Harry Leveryk's "Zone." This word so printed here, and in one or two other places, probably should be lone (love, widow). In the MS. it is not possible to distinguish w from n, and I was not at first aware that the word love bore the meaning, in Kent, of widow. VOL, XVII, L 146 ACCOUNTS OF THE CHURCHWARDENS OF (whitewashed), and the roof, pews, and steeple were made clean; as also were the saints. Torches, tapers, "trendells," and wax cam􀄷 to £1 2s. 6d. ; repairs to bells and bell ropes cost ls. M. Bargain-pennies were paid to £our persons : William Ingram agreed to whitewash the chUl'ch, and, to make his agreement binding, he received a penny ; two writers were engaged, one to write the Accounts, the other to write the "qweries," and they received a penny each ; a new parish clerk came into office, and his agreement was formally ratified by the payment to him of a penny. But the largest item in the Accounts £or this year is of a literary nature; and this item, when we look over the list of books possessed by the church ten years later, will not cause much surprise. The balance due on the "New Legent" was four shillings ; but the decision to have certain new "quires " entailed an outlay of no less than £3 ls. 6d. , or nearly £40 of our money. The four dozen and a half of vellum cost 31s. 6d., and the writer of the "xv qweris" was paid 30s. I£ we turn £or a moment to the Account dated June 10, 1520, I think we1 may reasonably conclude that some of these fifteen quires were used £or the religious play 0£ Abraham and Isaac, about which more will be said below. Here I need only say that the book, which cost 30s. to copy, was written in 1490; on the 24th May in the next year a book was given into the keeping of' the churchwardens, and it was in the chest, which stood in the chancel, in 1520. It may be worth while to notice, that a copy of this play, belonging to Sir Edward and Lady Caroline Kerrison, extends over :6.f teen pages of paper, " eight inches long by five and a 11a1£ wide." In the Accounts £or this year we have also the expenses incurred by two lawsuits. The first was against Jeffery Peke, for six years' rent of a house; the rent being half a pound of wax a year, the total value of the wax in arrear was two shillings. To recover this sum, the wardens expended two shillings. But the suit was not without its uses; £or had it not been instituted the property would probably have been lost in the :fifteenth century instead of in the eighteenth. The second suit was agains􀄸 William Belser's widow (or" love"), to recover three cows which had been let on farm to her husband. The amount due to the parish was by estimation three pounds " and above," and the suit was begun in 1486. N otwitbstanding the "potell of wine" given to Master Ramsey, and the dinner and other amounts spent on the officials, the suit dragged on until 1491, when the wardens recovered 30s., after spending 35s. 2d. ; and so, in the words of the vicar, " we recovered 30s. £or our three kine, and the suit thereof cost us 35s. 2d. ; and all our costs we lost save 15s. Sd." Verily there was not much encouragement to seek the aid 0£ the law in maintaining the rights 0£ the parishioners! Seventy years later William Roper, Esq., was so negligent, or so dishonest, as to allow the rent of one penny per annum, due by him to the parish, to fall thirty years in arrear (see 1557-8). The Books mentioned in these Accounts are interesting. The parish was a small one, and judging from the rate made in 1485, only 43 persons were rated, while 15 other parishioners contributed ST. DUNSTAN's, CANTERBURY. 147 their gi£ts of devotion. Reckoning all these as heads of families, and assuming that each family consisted of six persons-a very liberal estimate-the population of the parish would be considerably under 400 souls. But ff the parish were small, it was thoroughly efficient; and the religious and intellectual work was as actively carried on as the social. We find that in the year 1500 the church possessed over fifty volumes of books. Of the Service-books I need say nothing; but' about a dozen of the other books were religious Plays, forming part of what is known as the cycle of Corpus Christi Plays, forty-eight of which were published by the Clarendon Press in 1885. * The Corpus Christi Play bad been very popular in the city of Canterbury, but about the year 1500 the various Crafts or Mysteries seem. to have become so reduced in numbers that the custom was in danger of disappearing altogether. To remedy this state of things, the City Fathers made the following order, which I have extracted from the Burgmote Orders of the City (0. I. fol. 5 b): "Be it remembered that where before this time there hath been by the most honourable and worshipful of the City of Canterbury used and continued within the same City a play called Corpus Christi Play as well to the honour of the same City as to the profit of all victuallers and other occupations within the same, which play before this time was maintained and played at the costs of the Crafts and Mysteries within the same City : And whereas now of late days it hath been left and laid apart to the great hurt and decay of the said City and for lack of good ordering of certain crafts within the same City not corporate : Wherefore it is enacted ordained and established that from henceforth every craft within the said City being not corporate for their non-suflicience of their craft, be incorporate and adjoining to some other craft most needing support if they can labour to be corporate within themself as shall be thought convenient and most necessary by this Court; and that all manner Crafts and Mysteries within the same City, be so incorporate for the sustentation and continuance of the said play by the Feast of St. Michael next coming: and if suoh Craft or Orafts be obstinate or wilful, and will not make suit to the Burgmote for the performance of these premises by the said Feast, to forfeit to the said Chamber twenty shillings and their bodies to be punished furthermore at the pleasure and by discretion of this Court." What effect this order had within the city I do not know, nor do I know whether the inhabitants of St. Dunstan's parish deserved the rebuke which their neighbours received. Probably they did not; £or the Corpus Christi festivities were carried on, apparently with undiminished splendour (and only those who have witnessed the processions in countries purely Roman Catholic know what that splendour is) until the death o:f Henry VIII. What plays were performed in this parish we do not know, but it seems probable that the play of Abraham and Isaaa, popular as it was elsewhere, found little favour here. Yet it ought to have been a favourite, if it were, as I suspect it was, similar to the version belonging to Sir Edward Kerrison recently printed in tbe Norfollc A.1itiquarian Miscellany :t £or this version, says the editor, 11 is superior to other versions in the touches or child-nature, and the varied play * York Plays : the Plays performed by the Crafts or Mysteries of York on the Day of Corpus Christi. Edited by Lucy Toulmin Smith. t Vol. III., Part I., 1885. The Play is edited by Miss Lucy Toulmin Smith, with her usual ability. L2 148 ACCOUNTS OF THE CHURCHWARDENS OF of feeling skilfully shewn-the dear coquetting between the love of his child and the committal of the deed by the obedient but agonised father. The child begging his father not to km him, and his £ear of the sword, even after all danger is over, are touched in with a life not found elsewhere. The thought of the mother (though Sara is not herself brought in) breaks out in the most natural and affecting manner; and the joyful rebound of emotion after the painful strain between duty and affection, expressing itself in the kisses of Abraham, and the apostrophes of Isaac to the 'gentle sheep,' must have warmly appealed to the hearts of the audience." I£ the play had been as popular in St. Dunstan's and in Canterbury, as it was elswhere, it would hardly have been omitted from the Inventory of church goods made in the year 1500, the compiler of which evidently knew nothing about it. The entry made in June 1520 seems to suggest that it may have lain in that chest for about thirty years, from May 24th, 1491, altogether unnoticed. This popular play was performed elsewhere by men of all crafts. In Newcastle-upon-Tyne the slaters produced it; in Beverley, the bowyers and :f:l.etchers; in Dublin, the weavers ; in Chester, the barbers and waxchandlers ; in York, the parchminers and bookbinders. Until these Accounts were being prepared :for the press, it was not known that the play of " Abraam and Isaacke" had ever existed in the county of Kent. Of the other plays and of the legends and stories I need say nothing, but it may be well to say a few words about some of the other books. (i.) The King's Boole. Two copies of this were bought; the first copy, in 1548-9, cost four shillings; the second, in 1549-50, cost six shillings and eightpence. This book was first published in 1537, with the title of The Institution of a Christen Man. A second edition appeared in 1540, bearing the same title. In 1542 a third edition was published. This bore the title of A Necessary JJoatrine and Erudition for any Christian Man, and was called The King's Boolr. (ii.) Homilies. "Certayne Sermons ( xii) or Homilies, appoynted by the Kynges Maiestie to be declared, and redde by all Persones, Vicars, or Curates, euery Sundaye in their Churches, where they have Cure." This volume was first published in 1547. "The second Tome 0£ the Homilies," containing twenty discourses, appeared in 1563. (iii.) Prayer again8t the Purlcs. About 1566 the Turks were threatening Europe,· and prayers were ordered to be offered up in all the parish churches 6£, England. At Ludlow the churchwardens paid "£or a booke of prayer against the Torke, vj d." A.t St. Helen's, Abingdon, they '' payde £or two bookes 0£ common prayer agaynste invading 0£ the Turke, vj d." . At St. Dunstun's the "ij boks" cost only :fourpence. (iv.) Homily again8t Rebellion. See note § to Accounts £or 1569-'70. (v.) Articles. Two Books of Articles were purchased in 1561-3, and another (perhaps two more) in 1566, Two sets of Articles were ST. DUNSTAN,S, CANTERBURY. 149 published about this time. (a) ".Artioles to 'be enquyrerl in the visitation, in the £yrste yeare of the raygne of our moost drad soveraygne Lady, Elizabeth .... Anno 1559." Several editions 0£ this were issued in quick succession. ('b) ".Articles, whereupon it was agreed by the Archbishoppes and Bishoppes of both provinces and the whole Cleargie in the Convocation holden in London in .... 1562." These .Articles were :first published in Latin in 1563. (vi.) Parish Register. ".A. new boke £or crystynyng and buryyng " was bought in 1546 ; and in the same year a key was provided £or the place " wher the boke lyeth £or cristenyngs and weddyngs." This book, probably the first Register the parish ever possessed, has disappeared. The present Registers, when they were complete, reached back to the year 1559. The old parish church still stands. Outwardly it presents much the same appearance as it did in the days 0£ Henry VII. and Henry VIII.; but inwardly it has undergone great changes. The Trinity chapel is there, now used as a vestry; and the Roper chapel, or aisle south of the chancel, is there also ; but the altar 0£ St. Nicholas has disappeared, as have the sites of the other altars which once adorned the interior of the building. Nothing remains to tell us where these altars stood, and it is vain to speculate. The "idolatrous steps 0£ the chancel" were brought low, the walls and the ornaments were defaced, and the church now is plain enough to satisfy the most rigid Puritan. Still, it is only just to add, the old parish is as £ull of life and zeal (but of another kind) as it ever was, and although there are no processions, no images with lights burning before them, no gorgeous vestments, no religious plays, no boy bishops ; although church house, church garden, stone hall, peal, loampits, rents fa wax, the three acres and the cows have disappeared ; St. Dunstan􀃘s still retains the ornament 0£ a quiet life, and is still au object to which all modern pilgrims pay a certain amount 0£ devotion, i£ only because the head 0£ Sir Thomas More rests in the vaults below. J. M. Cow:eER, Holy Cross, Canterbury. Nov. 22, 1886. For the sake of comparison as well as for the interest attaohing to it, I insert here a copy of the inventory of church goods belonging to St. Andrew's, Canterbury," made the vj day of October," 1485, when John Wattys and Richard Wellys late wardens, were succeeded by Edmund Mynot and Robert Bone the new w;rdens. I have not copied the list of books possessed by this church, because, with the exc?ption of "a temperall legende," "anoth?r legende,''. "a nother legend sanctoris," and "a boke of seynttys lyuys tyyd with a cheyn m y0 quer " the library only contained the office books common to most churches. St. Tronyon's altar had only three mass books, the best having "ij c!apsys " (in another hand "ij claspys ") of silver and gilt. The second was given by Syr Dedyar Berg􀂓r. The third, as it was "prynt," I have retained in its place in the inventory. The silver vessels weighed about 44.-0 ozs. The volume of Churchwardens' Accounts from which I have extracted this inventory is almost perfect in condition, and contains the receipts and payments from the Feast of 150 INVENTORY (1485) O.F VES'l'MEN'l'S St. Michael, 1485, to Lady Day, 1625, The book has been sadly disfigured by some one who thought he could read it, and could explain it to those who could not.