Chapter II: Part 2

"Paid Mr. Hill for cloth and thred for two shirts for old
Panting, he being full of vermin, 5s. 9-1/2d.; and for making,
8d."

Indications are apparent of the great severity of the small-pox at the close of the seventeenth century, and the physicking for this and other diseases was considerable: a mixture was charged 1s. 6d., a bolus 10d., a "vomitt" and a bottle of syrup 8d., a "cordiall draught" 14d., "a mass of pils" 3s., a glass of tincture 1s., and a "Hipnott (?) mixture" 1s.

"Paid Ald. Tyas' bill for medicines to Mr. Blackwell and Joan
Harris' legg wch was cutt off 11th Nov. (1698), broke by Mrs.
Hammons' cart, for subsistence in her distress for 20 weeks and
her mother-in-law to keep her, £1. 10s."

"Paid Mr. Blackwell and Mr. Sambach for cutting off the leg and
curing it, £4."

"For wooden leg for Joan Harris, 3s. 10d."

A charge of 2s. is made on several occasions for "a Spanish bag" for pauper women. Can any of my medical or other readers suggest a solution of this?

One "Jones of St. John's" is commemorated as the recipient of various supplies of "strong waters," but what the following entries mean is not very clear:

"Given to Jones of St. John's to buy her husband 2 galls of
strong waters and send him abroad that he may not be too
chargeable, 6s."

"For a gall. of strong waters to send Jones of St. John's away
to save him from arrest, 3s. 4d."

Nor were the poor forgotten in their deaths: charges were regularly made for "rosemary and bayes" to put on corpses, and in one instance the churchwardens paid for the deceased pauper "an alehouse scoare for her 4d., for a plaster for her 2d., and for the old woman that layd her out 4d." In the year 1697 a charge of 8d. was made "for an act of Parliament for badging the poor," which was a copy of a statute for distinguishing paupers by fixing a badge on their clothes. Probably mendicancy was becoming a serious charge, and the legislators of the day thought to reduce it by rendering the recipients of charity as conspicuous as possible. The act of Parliament which directed that every pauper should wear a badge was the statute 8th and 9th of William III, chap. 30, sec. 2; it was passed in the year 1697. It was not at all observed for many years previous to its repeal, which was in the year 1810, by the statute 50th of George III, chap. 52. The badge contained a large Roman "P" (for poor) and the initial letter of the parish to which the pauper belonged. Great exertions were made by the parochial authorities to shift off the burden of pauperism from their own shoulders to other parishes, especially in cases of illegitimate offspring. It is said that whenever the plague prevails in the East, the afflicted sons of Islam beseech Heaven to relieve their locality and send the scourge to the next town. Our own parish registers prove that Christians share the same feelings in common. Here are instances:

"Given to Ann Hector, she being ready to cry out for a midwife,
and to lodge her in St. Martin's parish, 2s."

"Paid Fabian Lancett's wife and another woman for watching a
woman a night and a day for fear the woman should lye in our
parish, 2s. 6d."

"Paid for a lycence to marry Mary Paine (she being big with
child) to Sam. Sarles, to prevent more charge to the parish,
£1. 1s. 4d."

"Paid for licence for ye marriage of Widow Holmes, £1. 1s. 4d.

"Ale when the match was made, 1s. 6d.

"Gave them to buy necessaries, 2s."

Money was likewise paid to women, as a bribe, to divulge where their illegitimate offspring were born; and one William Pennell seems to have had the task assigned to him of hunting up this class of ladies and escorting them out of the parochial bounds, while Ann Williams enjoyed the not more enviable vocation of "begging clouts" for the unfortunate youngsters. A fellow named Hackluitt, in the year 1680, transgressed the rules of chastity with "ye maid at ye White Heart," and the result was the birth of a boy; but the father had then fled, and the churchwardens were in great consternation at the probability of this illegitimate burden. A considerable number of items are entered in the books of sums spent upon the inquiry after the vagrant sinner and for maintaining his child. At length he was discovered, and negotiation was then resorted to, the putative father, apparently under the influence of drink, acceding to the "points" proposed as the basis.

"Spent at White Heart when he agreed to take away his child,
4d."

But in 1682 this heartless Don Juan had again abandoned his offspring, and another personage appears on the scene:

"Spent in discoursing with old Hackluitt about his sonne's
child left in this parish, 2s. 4d."

A considerable expenditure followed, for "whittles and other necessaries" for the child; but as Hackluitt senior does not seem to have seconded the proposition that he should pay for his son's delinquencies, the churchwardens apparently became tired of the onus, and at last--

"Paid to a poor woman for carrying him out of town, 1s."

How the wretched brat was really disposed of does not appear in this rather mysterious record. There was probably a poorhouse or lying-in hospital at the Cross, as various memoranda are made of women being "delivered at the Cross." Was this at the old workhouse at the site of the present Hop Market? There is also one instance of

"Paid to a woman _and her husband that lay in_ at the widow
Winn's, 1s."

The love of feasting at the public expense is as apparent in this churchwardens' book, though on a small scale, as in the old corporation archives, which I have already published. A dinner was always provided to commemorate the election of the churchwardens. When Mr. Thomas Shewring and Mr. Thomas Elcox were appointed, in 1673, the following provision was made:

"A crop of beefe, wtt, 47 lb., att 2-1/2d., &c., 10s. 3d.

"Two quarters veale, 9s. 10d.

"A dozen piggeons, 18d.

"Butter, flour, making, and baking, altogether, 4s. 9-1/2d.

"9 lb. baccon of the ribbs at 5d., 3s. 9d.

"Mr. Ferryman for tobacco, 3d.

"Mr. Thomas Vicaris for bread, beare, pipes, tobacco, and all
other materials, and to cleane the house, and for dressing the
dinner, £1."

A quarter of lamb was 1s. 10d.; 5 lb. of candles for ye parish lanthorn, 9d.; two fat pigs, 5s.; a leg of mutton, 1s. 8d.; capers, 4d.; orange and lemon, 4d.; and a soft cheese (probably cream cheese) is charged 1s. in 1691; 2 lb. "candles to burn by ye church side winter nights," 8d.; and "four tunnes and a halfe of coles att 6s. 4d. pr tunn," £1. 8s. 6d. Dinners or drinking bouts, or both, were given on procession days, visitation days, and at "the assessing the rolls"--that is, when the poor-rate (if so it might be called) was assessed on the parishioners. The "processions" probably were the same as the perambulations, or "beating the bounds," the churchwardens apparently taking a personal survey of the parish boundaries once a year, in the month of May, and immense preparations were made for that purpose, including (in 1674) half a gross of pipes, 6d.; half a pound tobacco, 10d.; and "paid for ale before our own was tapped," 4d. Each parish in those days kept its own "church ales." Charges are made for dozens of "white _poyntes_ for the boyes" in these perambulation accounts. Were these wands, or what else? The perambulating party generally wound up the day at the Globe, where they dined.

Rentals accruing to the parish in 1695 amounted to £74. 18s. 7d., which included £2. 3s. a year for the "oatmeal market" (Mealcheapen Street), also the rents of the Pheasant, the "baccon market," and some meadows at Hindlip. In 1705 the rents were under £60. Charges were made "for work done at the oatmeale bench," probably a bench fixed outside the east end of the church for the use of the dealers in meal; likewise "for laths and nails for mending ye church penthouse." This penthouse was perhaps the "purpresture"--a name then given to booths or stalls placed in the streets for the exhibition or sale of goods, and for which encroachment on the highway a pecuniary acknowledgment was paid to the corporation.

The receipts of the churchwardens in 1680 amounted to £53. 1s. 3d.; disbursements, £57. 13s. 5d. In 1683, receipts, £117; disbursements, only £48. In 1684, receipts, £144; expenditure, £62. In 1705, receipts, £131; expenses, £154. Pentecostals (a sum raised at a farthing per head from the householders in a chapelry or dependent church, and paid to the mother church at Whitsuntide--hence called "Whitsun farthings") were paid to the Dean and Chapter, St. Swithin's being a rectory in the gift of that body. Dr. Burn in his "Ecclesiastical Law," vol. iii, p. 110, says--"Pentecostals, otherwise called Whitsun farthings, took their name from the usual time of payment at the feast of Pentecost. These are spoken of in a remarkable grant of King Henry VIII [dated January 25, 1541] to the Dean and Chapter of Worcester, in which he makes over to them all those oblations and obventions, or spiritual profits, commonly called Whitsun farthings, yearly collected or received of divers towns within the archdeaconry of Worcester, and offered at the time of Pentecost. From hence it appears that Pentecostals were oblations." "These oblations grew by degrees into fixed and certain payments from every parish and every house in it, as appears not only from the aforementioned grant of King Henry VIII, but also from a passage in the Articles of the Clergy in the Convocation in the year 1399, where the sixth article is an humble request to the archbishops and bishops that it may be declared whether Peter's Pence, the Holy Loaf, and Pentecostals, were to be paid by the occupiers of the lands though the tenements were fallen or not inhabited, according to the ancient custom when every parish paid a certain quota. These are still paid in certain dioceses, being now only a charge upon particular churches, where by custom they have been paid; and if they be denied where they are due, they are recoverable in the spiritual court." A table of the Whitsun farthings payable in every parish in the diocese of Worcester is given by Dr. Nash in his "History of Worcestershire," vol. i. The clerk's wages in 1690 amounted to £2. 4s. 8d.; the sexton's, 18s.; and the ringers seemed to have had a perpetual license to make as much noise as they liked, and on all occasions, however contradictory: for instance--

"1688.--May 29. Wringing for the birth of the Prince of Wales,
10s.

"Paid for the discharging of the bishopps, 10s.

"July.--Wringing on the day of the late king's nativity, 5s.

"Wringing for proclaiming the King and Queen, £1.

"At ye news from Ireland, 2s."

Mr. W. Riley, in 1736, presented an organ to St. Swithin's church, and up to the present century it was the only church in the city that could boast of either organ or chimes. I find that at least half a century before Mr. Riley's presentation was made, there was an organ here; for in 1692 Mr. Birch charges £3 for mending it; and the organist, Mr. Browne, receives £5 a year salary. Wine for the communion for the whole year (1672) cost £1. 16s.; bread for ditto, 1s. 5d. The offerings at the sacrament varied from 9d. to 12s., but there is the following entry for 8th June, 1673, when the Test and Corporation Act first required all officers, civil and military, to receive the sacrament according to the Church of England:

"Received at the great communion, when Mr. Mayor and the
greatest part of the Chamber received the Lord's Supper
according to an act of Parliament to that purpose, £1. 7s."

St. Swithin's was probably the then parish church of the mayor. I suppose the mayor did not attend the Cathedral officially on public occasions before 1 Edward IV, as on the 20th of January in that year the Prior of Worcester granted the corporation a permission to attend divine service at the Cathedral, attended by their officers.--See "Nash's Worcestershire," vol. ii, p. 309.

Entries frequently occur of "chimney money" paid for poor widows and others during the reign of James II. Was this a national or local tax? Returns were ordered by parish constables, in the latter half of the seventeenth century, of all fire hearths and stoves in every house rateable to church and poor, and this was probably in reference to the "chimney money" above alluded to--being a tax which poor widows and others, not being absolutely paupers, were unable to pay. The ministers who preached here--probably on special occasions only--had each a bottle of wine given them; and means were taken to prevent any "backing out" on the part of the juveniles when the sermon was commenced; _vide_:

"Paid Henry Richards for timber, boards, and works, for mending
gallery stayers and stoping the boyes ffrom creeping down, and
making Mr. Panting's stayers to his reading pue, 12s. 7d."

Among the noticeable miscellaneous entries are the following: /#

(1680.) "Paid Mr. Evans for common prayer book for the church, 14s. 6d."

(1681.) "Paid for engrossing Mr. Mayor's warrant for burying in woollen. 1s." [I believe an act was passed about this time for the encouragement of the woollen trade by compelling burials in woollen.]

(1682.) "Paid 1s. for charcoal to dry the writings in the treasury" (chest).

"Rosemary and bayes at Christmas, 2s. 6d."

"2 lbs. hogg's liquor (Query, lard?) for the chimes, 7d."

"Paid Ginks to carry the bones to the scullhouse, 3s."

The present rector of St. Swithin's is the Rev. R. Sarjeant; churchwardens, Mr. R. West and Mr. F. Inchle. Population in 1851, 906.

St. Nicholas

Begins with 1564, though it is clearly not so old as that date, having apparently been copied at a later period, like the other registers before-named. There is much beautiful writing about the middle and close of the seventeenth century, but nothing else noteworthy except that the marriages fell off considerably about that period. In 1691 a charge of 5s. was made by the churchwardens to the clerk for transcribing forty-eight sides of the register.

The oldest account book belonging to this parish I have been enabled to procure commences in the year 1678; giving first a catalogue of the parochial charities, in which "poor auncient maides" are specially remembered, and "Mr. Bowen's guift in wascoates to poor maides" is mentioned. Male and female paupers were designated by the terms "Goodman" and "Goodwife" or "Goody," in lieu of their Christian names:

"Paid Goodwife Gawler (1684) and her daughter when they went to
Malvern to be cured," 3s.

Foundlings seem to have been laid at a great many doors in those days, and the cost of feeding and clothing these poor little outcasts formed considerable items, of which the following are samples:

1683.--"Three yards and a half of cloth to make the foundlinge
and Crutchington's child two coates, 5s. 10d.

"For buttons and thrid and making the two coates, 3s.

"Paid Goody Bray for keeping of a child layd at her doore three
nights, 6d.

"For making of a bond to save ye parish harmless of a childe,
1s. 7d.

"Paid ye biddle for going to bring ye woman and child laid down
in the parish, 6d."

That the elementary education of the youngsters was not forgotten is shown by the great fact, that in 1694 the sum of 1s. 6d. was invested in "1 doz. ABC, 3 hornbooks, and one primer." A child's coffin cost half-a-crown; a man's 5s. Badges or marks for the poor, and sewing them on are regularly charged for. "Ye King's Tax (4s.) for buryall of pore people" is first mentioned in 1695, when the duty was probably first imposed. (See a note on this subject in a subsequent part of this work.)

One of the latest instances of touching for the "King's Evil" occurs in 1711, when 11s. were "paid Rogers for carrying of Walker to London to be touched," and even children were taken all the way to town in those days of snail travelling to receive virtue from the royal digits. From hence it would appear that the efficacy of the stroke was not presumed to be promoted by the faith or excitement of the patient (infants being incapable thereof), but purely and solely from the hereditary virtue of the royal touch, _per se_. In 1684 the churchwardens paid 1s. "for ye King's declaracon touching ye evil." More on this subject appears in a note on Superstitions.

The following entry refers to the "chimney money" for the poor, already mentioned in St. Swithin's chapter:

1683.--"Spent on the chimney men when the certificates were
allowed for the poor people," 3s.

There is a curious item of 26s. 4-1/2d. being incurred in 1720, "for attending on Kent when she was sullivated," and a gratifying instance of the best kind of charity--that of enabling the poor to help themselves--occurs in 1710, when 5s. were spent in "teaching Eliz. Harrison to spin and card, and for her lodging for a month." The parochial benevolence does not appear to have been confined to the parish boundary, nor even to the class of paupers, for in 1693 the sum of £5. 2s. 1d. (equal to £30 of the present money) was raised here "towards the relief of Francis Laugher, of St. Peter's, who lost all his corn and other his substance by a sad and lamentable fire." The guardianship of the poor as also the office of churchwarden, although an object of honourable ambition to many, was not welcome to others, for it was found necessary, in 1709, to order that all guardians should have 2s. 6d. allowed to defray the charge of their qualifying; in 1690 Mr. T. Browne offered to be at the expense of putting out a parish apprentice if he were excused from serving the office of churchwarden; Mr. Baddeley and Mr. Weston, in 1720, paid £5 each not to serve as churchwardens, while at other times handsome presents were made to the vestry for the same indulgence. In 1684 an estate at Cradley, called Shewsters, was ordered by the vestry to be purchased for the poor, and the amount paid for it was £143. Fifteen years afterwards the title to the said estate was called in question by one Mr. Millman, and the churchwardens were instructed to defend it. In this they seem to have been successful, as in 1711 the vestry ordered that another lease for three lives should be granted on it. The Shewsters' estate still belongs to the parish, and is occupied by Mr. William Johnson at a gross annual rental of £20.

Before leaving the subject as affecting the poor of this parish, and the benefactions made to them, it may be stated that in 1737 the clothing trade was so reduced here that there was no "young thriving clothier" to be found to whom the sum of £5 could be lent gratis. This and other similar cases afford precedents for vestries to amend and regulate the appropriation of charities when it is no longer possible literally to comply with the stipulations of the donor.

The disbursements made by the churchwardens in the year 1678 were but £46. 15s. 8d.; in 1685 they amounted to £357. 14s. 8d. owing to extra assessments for the repairs of the church; but after that period they usually reached to upwards of £100 per annum. This increasing expenditure occasioned a movement for economy and a suspicion against the men in office, who were repeatedly tied down by the vestry to spend no more than 20s. on the perambulation day, or the excess would not be allowed them. No practical result however followed, as the injunction seems to have been regularly disregarded, and four or five times that sum not unfrequently spent. The outlay was of course popular with the people, and hence the impunity. Five shillings were generally spent in cakes for the boys, and 6d. given to the person who "carried the bush."

As late as 1798 an order was made for the usual perambulation, but "no dinner at the parish expense." Holy Thursday was the day for this processioning, or going over the parish boundary, and the "holy" day was usually terminated either at the Fish, the Green Dragon, the Falcon, the George, the Talbot at the Cross, or the Crown and Sceptre "near the Foregate." A transcript of one of these processions may not be uninteresting:

"Holy Thursday, May 5, 1692, the minister, chwdns and
p'ishioners of ye p'ish of St. Nicholas did goe ye
perambulacon, and did remarke ye p'ticular places and bounds of
ye said p'ish, viz., from the church to Mr. Stirrop's parlour
window in Angel Lane, over against a stone in Mr. Savage's
wall, from thence back again round by the Cross to Mrs.
Powell's house, widd., now inhabited by Nichs. Nash, mercer, at
the hithermost part of the shop where the ground-sill of the
house will show an old passage or dore case, at which place
there was formerly an entry, and the p'ishioners in ye yeares
'61-2-3 and 4 did passe throw ye said entry, at which time one
Mrs. Cooksey lived there, to Mr. Huntbatche's, farther parte
of ye house, then to that parte of ye house next the Crosse,
being the back parte of Mr. Millington's house, then to the
hithermost parte of the White Harte, then down the Trinity to
the marke in a wall neare ye old goale, from thence throw Mr.
Blurton's garden, then to the joynt in Mr. Blurton's malthouse,
then up Sansonie Field from that joynt, and soe throw to ye
liberty post, then downe ye Salt Lane to the stile at Marten's
workehouse and soe back to the church."

Besides the large sums spent on the processioning day, the day of accounts, the election of officers, and assessing the rolls, charges were constantly made which would sound oddly enough in the ears of the present generation, for even services in the cause of charity and religion were not deemed complete without the unction of large quantities of drink swallowed at the parish expense. Here are specimens:

1687.--"Spent at the Ffish after the French Protestants' money
was gathered," 6s. 8d.

"Ditto, ditto, when the money was paid in," 2s. 4d.

"Spent at Ffish with severall p'ishioners abt ye comandments,"
1s. 6d.

Among other curious sources of expenditure are the following: /#

1681. "Paid Mr. Lea for howsling pence (or huslinge money, as it is elsewhere called), 11d."

This probably means what is now called Sacrament-money. Howsel, an ancient name for bread, was in former times applied to the sacrament of the eucharist, as before the Protestant Reformation the sacrament of both kinds was restricted to the clergy, and the sacramental cup was forbidden to the laity. In the certificates of colleges and chantries for Worcestershire, 2 Edward VI, the persons who received the holy communion are called "howsling people"; and in the line in Hamlet, where the Danish prince, after complaining that his father had been sent out of the world before his time, adds--

"With all his imperfections on his head,
_Unhouselled_, unanointed, unannealed,"

he evidently means that his royal sire had not received the last offices of religion; "unhouselled" meaning that he had not received the sacrament of the eucharist; "unanointed" that he had not received the Roman Catholic sacrament of extreme unction; "unannealed," or as it should be _unanknelled_, that he had not had the passing bell tolled for him as he was dying, to cause all pious Christians to pray for his soul.

1679.--"For a warrant to take the names of the Papists," 6d.

This was probably in consequence of the excitement following the discovery of Titus Oates's Popish plot.

A subsequent allusion to the Romanists occurs many years afterwards, when it was "agreed that Papist Franks' child be put on the roll," as though it had been a matter of grave deliberation first. I suppose this means, that belonging to Popish parents precluded children from the benefit of being put on the rolls for parochial relief, but that after some discussion this single case (perhaps a pressing one of destitution) was admitted.

1682.--"For paceboard for the excomunicated p'sons," 4d.

1683.--"Charges of the excomunication," £6. 10s.

The above charges were probably for a list of Papists and others who had been excommunicated in the Ecclesiastical Court here, and which list was fixed to the church door. Excommunication may still in some cases form part of the sentence of our ecclesiastical courts, but is now regulated by the statute 53 George III, chap. 127.

The most recent remarkable instance of excommunication was that of the celebrated Mr. Michael Scales, who, in Trinity Term, 1829, was excommunicated for brawling in the church of St. Mary, Stratford Bow, in the county of Middlesex; and in this case Dr. Lushington, in delivering judgment said, "In the year 1813 an act was passed effecting an alteration by changing the punishment annexed to the penalty of excommunication; the court, however, is not released from passing a sentence of excommunication, but the consequences of that sentence are very different from what they were before the passing of the 53 George III, chap. 127. Since the passing of that statute the ancient punishment of excommunication is taken away--the person excommunicated incurs no civil penalties except such imprisonment as the court, in the exercise of its discretion, may think proper to direct, not exceeding six months."

Mr. Scales was sentenced to seven days' imprisonment, but the King's Advocate (Sir Herbert Jenner Fust) said that he would rest contented with the sentence of the court without proceeding to enforce its further execution.

A full account of this case will be found in Dr. Haggard's "Consistory Reports," vol. ii, p. 566. /#

1691.--"Spent at 2 ffaires for the arresting of Wormington and p'cureing a bond," 18s. 8d.

1693.--"Paid for the prayers for their ma'ties fleete," 6d.

This was probably during an expedition of William III against France.

1703.--"Paid Mr. Cook for printing his sermon," £4. 15s.

1708.--"Ordered (in December) that £5 be paid to Mr. Taylor,
the curate, for preaching a sermon every sacrament day in the
afternoon since Easter last."

1720.--"Paid for the use of a pillion," 1s. 6d.

"For a litter from Oxon," 2-1/2d.

Rosemary and bayes were very regularly distributed about the church at Christmas. The bread for the communion for the whole year 1678 amounted to but 1s.; the wine, £1. 5s. 6d. Money collected at the communion in 1680, about £2, in seven collections. In 1684--bread, 3s. 6d.; wine, £4. 14s. 7d. Mr. Stephen Ashby, in 1737, "gave 20s. to the rector for preaching a sermon on Good Friday, suitable to the great subject of the day; and it is desired that the inhabitants of St. Swithin's may have liberty to attend the service and sermon, and that the blessed sacrament of the Lord's Supper may be administered that day, if there shall be a sufficient number of communicants." An inventory of the furniture belonging to the church in 1680 included "one English Bible, eleven service books, a book of homilies, Paraphrase of Erasmus, one book Jewell's works, one book called Musculus, one book of the Whole Duty of Man [two years previously three books of the Whole Duty of Man were entered as having been given to the parish], four books given by Mr. Griffith, the rector, being the Companion to the Temple, two parts, the Companion to the Altar, and the Occasional Office of Matrimony, a book of cannons, a book concerninge God and the Kinge," besides books for the poor, communion plate, green carpet, &c. A charge of 1s. 8d. for chaines and staples for the books in the church was made about the same time. In the year 1680 an old vestry order was revived, "That the clerk should buy and maynteyne sufficient ropes whenever required, and to have the benefit of the ringing the bells." The clerk was also discharged from keeping the clock, and it was ordered that some skilful person should be chosen for the purpose and paid 20s. yearly; but some twenty years after that a much more economical arrangement was made with one John Cox, who was paid 25s. "for mending the clock, upon his promise to keep it in order 21 years at 5s. a year." A new ring of bells for this church was cast at Bromsgrove in 1715. Patching up the old church was a frequent source of great outlay for some years before it was determined to build a new one. In 1682 the "pillar near the great door" being much decayed, and endangering the structure, and other repairs being needed, they were ordered to be done. I find that the cost of 400 tiles was 6s. 8d., 20 bushels of hair 6s. 8d., 400 Wyer brick 6s. 8d., 5 loads of sand 7s. 6d., eight loads of stone (from Ombersley) £2, lime 5d. a bushel; the workmen generally had 1s. a day, while others had more or less. Green flannel was bought for "the 48 seats," (the corporation), and red tape to be nailed on it. Three years afterwards an order was made to repair the church again at a cost of £150, and two men named Allibone and Pascall "to have ye job," Mr. Emes to give security for its proper performance. Malt was bought to make drink for the workmen. Three and a half yards of damask for the communion table were then charged £1. 2s. 9d. Next year the chancel was out of order, and a buttress was put up. In 1690 the steeple underwent reparation. Then it was found that the accommodation of the church was not sufficient, and in 1697 it was ordered, "That my Lord Bishopp be waited upon by the minister to desier his fyatt for the building a new gallery." The four front seats of this gallery were "put in order and matted fitt for ye gentlewomen to sit in." Only two years elapsed when the old vestry was ordered "to be taken down and removed to next pillar, and to be put in decent order for the parishioners to meet on all parish accounts." Then, in 1707, a new gallery was ordered to be erected under the west window, "in the most decent and workmanlike manner that can be found out and advised by able workmen, and that the pulpit, seats, and font, be removed and made more convenient." At length the old fabric was found not to be worth any further outlay, and it was pulled down in 1728. The vestry meetings were then held in the Berkeley chapel, also at several inns and private houses. [The Hop-pole is first mentioned in 1742, and the Star and Garter in 1748. Mr. G. Woodcock was the landlord of the former, and Mr. William Dyer of the latter.] The trustees appointed under the act for taking down and rebuilding the church were Mr. Thomas, Mr. Weston, Alderman Weston, Martin Sandys, Alderman Vaughan, Alderman Floyer, Mr. Hayles, Mr. John Nichols, Mr. Ashby, Mr. Mence, Alderman Hopkins, Dr. B. Purshall, and the churchwardens. Captain Wingfield, Mr. Sambach, and Mr. Garway, were afterwards chosen trustees to act with the others in carrying on the building. It was ordered that all gifts to the parish should be paid to the treasurer of the trustees, and the parish to pay the interest as directed by the wills of the respective donors. [I mention this in consequence of the bearing it has on a recent church-rate discussion here.] When the trustees should be reduced to thirty, any nine of the survivors were to fill up the number. Sums were borrowed at common interest and others as annuities, and heavy rates were levied. Great difficulty was experienced in raising the amount, the whole expense of the church being £3,345. It was ordered to prosecute all defaulters in the Ecclesiastical Court, except Quakers, who were to be brought before the magistrates; and among other modes of raising funds were the following: Alderman Weston gave £20 for a seat under the south window next the tower; Mr. Sandys and Mr. Mence £100 each for having conveyed and assured to them the two galleries on each side of the tower; and an order was made that the £20 given by Mr. Ashby for preaching a sermon on Good Friday be laid out on building a wall and enclosing the churchyard. The first vestry was held in the new church in 1730, when it was ordered that the seats should have numbers or figures put on them; "the persons to sit in them according to their weekly payments to the poor; and if any one should sit in a seat above his weekly pay he or she shall be immediately charged according to the figure on the seat."

The Salt Market was held in the parish of St. Nicholas. At a parish meeting in 1792 it was agreed "That whereas there is a stage erected before the Salt Market, to the great prejudice and forestalling of the p'ish tenants, who pay considerable rents to the use of the poor of St. Nicholas, that all and every person," &c., should be proceeded against as counsel should advise. The site of the Salt Market was what is now the garden in front of the rectory house, close by the church. There was a stonemason's yard behind, and in the rear of that yard was a house which, by the addition of a new front, has been converted into the present rectory. Mr. Young, who is now living at the age of about eighty-three, informs me that he can recollect a man regularly selling salt at a small open shop or stall on the site in question. Three or four centuries ago the Salt Market was at "the well of Allhallow," near All Saints' church. In 1692 the parishioners were "p'sented for ye repaire of the way from Foregate to the Pound, in St. Martin's, lying near the town ditch," which had hitherto been repaired by the inhabitants living there, or else by the chamberlain of the city, the churchwardens therefore were instructed to litigate the point, and no further entry occurs on the subject. There was also much disputation about some property in the Butts, and at length "Wm. Lygon, Esq., John Price, chancellor, James Nash, of Martley, gentleman, and John Appletree, Esq., were requested to be arbitrators for the parish in a matter between ye p'ishioners and Mary Solley, widow, concerning the retakeing of the gravel butts and setting forth ye said butts and ye boundaries thereof." In 1770 a lease of "the rector's ten tenements at the bottom of Gaol Lane" was granted for fifty years, at a rental of £21. 10s., for a workhouse. This Gaol Lane was the present Nicholas Street, where also were several almshouses, repaired by the parish. The lane led to the old city gaol, which was situate on the site of the gardens and property now belonging to the Avenue House (Mr. Powell's) and cottages adjacent in Trinity Gardens. The entrance to the old gaol was near the premises in St. Nicholas Street, till recently occupied as a savings-bank. St. Nicholas Street--now the principal thoroughfare to and from the railway station--was at that time no street at all, there being no outlet to Lowesmoor except for foot passengers, who had to go through a narrow entry with turnstile. A public house called the Dolphin stretched across the street from the present police station to the point where Mr. Finch's house now stands, and the entry was at the left of that public house, close adjoining Mr. Finch's. The last house which then stood in the lane is still in existence, being occupied by a broker. Its old doorway and timbers speak for themselves. Mr. Finch's premises were then a workshop and timber-yard belonging to a Mr. Powell. The ten tenements above alluded to, as belonging to the rector, were on the opposite side of the lane, and were probably used as a parish workhouse only from 1770 till the building of the present House of Industry, about twenty years later. These tenements are now about to be sold, under an act passed a few years ago, enabling incumbents to sell dilapidated property for its _bona fide_ value, the proceeds to be deposited in Queen Anne's Bounty fund, and the annual value to be paid to the incumbent. The cattle market was held in Gaol Lane within the recollection of aged persons now living. A by-law was made in the time of Henry VII, setting forth that, as the cattle market in Broad Street was a great annoyance, thenceforth the Welsh cattle should be brought to Dolday, and English cattle to Anger (Angel) Lane, and to the "old gayle." The garden and butter markets were also formerly held in front of St. Nicholas' church, having been removed thither from All Hallows Well. A great part of the area in front of St. Nicholas' church is consecrated ground, the boundary being still defined by a line of pavement. At the corner of the churchyard the old watchman's box was formerly placed. Richard Hill, the late beadle of St. Nicholas church, had the honour of being the "last man" of the ancient dynasty of Charleys in this city. He received a concussion of the brain in a night assault, but after lying by for some time he recovered and became beadle of the church. The first mention of public lamps in the churchwardens' books is in 1698; when it was ordered "Yt the lamps in the parish, and to be putt up in the parish, be fedd with oyle, and trimmed and cleaned at the charge of the parish, and that the churchwardens doe take care to have them lighted all dark nights in the winter season." Mention of a Sunday school is made in 1786, when it was agreed that the expense of it should be paid out of the money collected for the poor, and a committee was appointed to manage the affairs of the school. [I find that Sunday schools were ordered to be established as early as 1570, by the Council of Malines.] Present rector of St. Nicholas, the Rev. W. H. Havergal; churchwardens, Mr. F. Shrimpton and Mr. T. B. Burrow. Population in 1851, 2030.

St. Peter's.

The oldest register now in this church commences with 1686; but this book is No. 2, and it is written at the commencement that "No. 1 contains entries from 1560 to 1686." No. 1 is, however, missing. In the early part of the eighteenth century, the entries of the births of dissenters' children are placed apart by themselves, as in some other registers which I have inspected. The spirit which dictated this is, unhappily, not yet defunct amongst us. There is an entry in 1716 of the name of "Gibbon, son of Mr. G. Bagnall," who was probably a descendant of that loyal gentleman who facilitated the escape of Charles II from the battle of Worcester by lending him his horse when the king was nearly captured in Sidbury. Several instances of adult baptism are recorded here, among which is the following: "Rebecka Nicholas, aged 23, born and bred a Quaker, was baptised Sep. 3, 1759." Not a few names are to be met with, both in the registers and churchwardens' books a century or one hundred and fifty years or more ago, which are still familiar in the parish--such as Burlingham, Gorle, Jenkins, Darke, John Dent, Daniel George, Luke Wells, Coney, Hartwright, Hickman, Roger Moore, Luke Lench, &c. It is probable that many of the poor fishermen's families here have been identified with the parish for a succession of several centuries, and in particular the name of one of them (Leonard Darke) seems never to have been missing, as far back as the records go. No doubt, among these humble followers of a calling which has been handed down from father to son for many generations, as also with innumerable instances of agriculturists, if they possessed the ambition or the means, they might trace as ancient if not as distinguished a pedigree as any Norman or Saxon lord of the soil.

A few notes from the churchwardens' books will suffice. The oldest of them now to be found begins with the year 1739, and the next with 1770. In the latter, one Charles Geary exhibits his anxiety to acquaint posterity with the fact that the holding a churchwardenship is not incompatible with the loftier aspirations of the poetic muse, thus--

"I bought this book,
And in him the p'ishoners may look
And thear they may see
That he
Was bought by me,
Charles Geary."

On the cover of the same book is the following memorandum:

"I have perused the pleadings in a case between John Berkeley,
Esq., plaintiff, and John Sparrow and Thomas Butler,
churchwardens of St. Peter's, defendants, and find that the
inhabitants, owners, and possessors of lands and tenements
within the chapelry of Whittington, in the said parish, are,
by the verdict given in the said cause, to pay one fourth part
only of all levies and charges for repairing of the said parish
church of St. Peter's and the ornaments thereof, and also one
fourth of all charges for bread and wine used at the communion
there.--John Farmer. July 4, 1752."

Among the charges pertaining to the church, in the same year, a new clock and dial, three feet square, by Mr. John Steight, cost £13. 10s.; and three years afterwards the vestry made an order to "buy a new pulpit of the Dean and Chapter for eight guineas, that they had lately made and was not then in use." No such heavy expenses were incurred in this parish as in St. Nicholas's for perambulation purposes or other feasting, and indeed the scale of the disbursements generally betokened St. Peter's to be much the poorer parish of the two. £3. 9s. was charged in 1761 for "going the bounds." In 1774, I find that the turnpikes to Feckenham cost 3d. for a horse; hire of the animal, 2s.; hay and corn, 6d.; dinner and drink for the rider, 1s. 6d. The lamps first put up in this parish were under the care of the churchwardens, who were ordered to appoint a person to trim them. Mr. Nathaniel Wilkinson--who has been rendered famous by his erection of the beautiful spire of St. Andrew's church--was an inhabitant of St. Peter's; and in 1750 I find an order that Mr. Wilkinson's accounts should be examined, "and if he do not submit them for inspection an attorney be employed." It ever seems the fate of genius to contend with pecuniary difficulties.

I now come to the management of the poor. As in all other parishes to whose records I have had access, the greatest vigilance was exercised to pass on tramps and get rid of paupers, especially that class of females who evidently contemplated an increase of the population, and these are invariably designated by a term which will not exactly suit the fastidious readers of the nineteenth century. In 1739 Leonard Darke is ordered "to have the badche (badge) put upon his sleeve as the act of Parliament directs, before the churchwarden relieves him or his wife; and that all other people that receive reliefe from the parish be obliged to wear the badge." In the same year--"Paid to gett a stranger out of the parish troubled with fitts, 1s." In 1746--"Ordered that the churchwardens do agree with the London carryer in the best manner that he can to take Ann Nelson back to Christ Church parish in London, from which she was sent by a pass directed to the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the city of Worcester." See how the authorities of those days enforced seducers to make the _amende honourable_:

1780.--"Paid to Ann Williams, examination and oath relative to
her parish, 2s.

"Her examination and oath touching the father of the child, 2s.

"A warrant to apprehend the father, and expenses of constables
and assistants in taking him, £1. 18s.

"Paid for the ring, 4s.

"Licence, £1. 8s.

"Pd parson, clerk, and sexton, 8s.

"For the wedding dinner and drink, 11s. 6d."

There was no middle way left for this description of sinner but a long incarceration in gaol or a procession to the hymeneal altar in company with her whom he had outraged. The prospect of the gratuitous "dinner and drink" no doubt decided the point. Lunatics were treated in an equally characteristic manner.

1753.--"Paid for necessaries for Rd. Strayne, 1s. 6d.

"Two hopsacks for a bedtick for him, 3s. 4d.

"Straw for him, 6d.

"A nurse to look to him, 1s. 6d.

"Paid a man to help to chain him, with expenses, 3s.

"Two staples, a chain, and a lock, 8d."

The small-pox and the itch were the two greatest scourges of pauperism in those days, and it seems that even then (though I was not aware of the fact before) the contract system was resorted to in reference to both the sick and able-bodied poor. In 1779, Mr. William Dunn, apothecary, contracted with St. Peter's vestry to supply the poor of the parish in the workhouse with medicines and proper attendance for the sum of £7. 7s. for three years. Six years later, Robert Tasker, governor of the workhouse, contracted to lodge, clothe, keep, and manage the poor for three years, at £185 per annum: and in 1791 Robert Tasker again contracted for £195, and £10 was then further paid to him "for extras during the last three years and for his particular care and attention to lunatics." But in reference to the workhouse question we must retrace our steps as far back as 1746, when the vestry requested the churchwardens "to take to their assistance others of the parishioners, and draw a scheme for establishing a workhouse in the parish." Ten pounds a year was fixed as the salary of the governor, Zachary Humphries, and "a proper person was to be employed to instruct young persons and others in the workhouse in pareing of leather, sewing of gloves, spinning, or other employments." One shilling a week was allowed to the governor for every person admitted to the house. At the same time it was ordered that "the house now rented by the parish of Mr. Brooker, the minister, be converted into a workhouse, and fitted up in a fortnight." In 1771 it was apparently found that the accommodation was insufficient, as an order was made "That a workhouse be set on foot and established as speedily as may be." Exactly twenty years later it was resolved to concur in the plan of a general workhouse, and delegates were appointed to attend the general committee. Great opposition, however, was raised, in consequence of an outcry against the suppression of the parochial system--as usual, no doubt, by interested individuals having a tender regard for the abuses of the old plan, for this has ever been the experience attending great measures for the public good. In the following year therefore (1792), at a vestry meeting convened to consider the bill for establishing a House of Industry, it was resolved, by a majority of forty-five to reject the bill "as unnecessary for this parish;" and a Mr. James Holyoake, referring to his vote at the last parish meeting respecting this business, "begs leave to observe as to the division of parishes. Out parts of parishes cannot be divided from such parts as in the city. Parishes united or consolidated must remain so, unless altered or divided by act of Parliament; and if this is, or intended to be, a part of the bill, the said James Holyoake doth on his own part protest against such clause being inserted therein; and it is submitted that a review should be taken of all the public acts made and passed by the legislature for the relief, support, and government of the poor in general. Abstract and consider the clauses of these acts of Parliament; consider the acts at large, and give reasons why the ministers, churchwardens, and overseers, should not continue to be the lawful trustees, guardians, and representatives of their churches and parishes for the relief, support, and government of the poor; and determine (if you can) why the ministers, churchwardens, and overseers, should be restrained from representing and doing the duties belonging to their churches and parishes; and why they, or their churches and parishes, should be superseded or directed by any particular set of people on earth. And should not the clause No. lxiii in the said bill, intended for the better relief of the poor of the city of Worcester, conclude thus--'It is intended to be a private act.'"

The year 1793, however, saw the establishment of the general workhouse on Tallow Hill; and in the first year of the operation of the new plan, although the poor were very largely increased above the average of preceding years, the total cost of their maintenance amounted to a less sum than before. The parishes incorporated by this act were All Saints, St. Andrew, St. Alban, St. Clement, St. Helen, St. Martin, St. Michael, and St. Swithin, and the average expenditure of these parishes for the poor for five years preceding amounted to £1525 per annum, as follows: All Saints, £290; St. Andrew, £182; St. Alban, £47; St. Clement, £108; St. Helen, £187; St. Martin, £255; St. Nicholas, £303; St. Swithin, £153. The present Hop Market had been a workhouse (prior to the establishment of that on Tallow Hill) for probably a century, as I find that in 1699 the Foregate was pulled down in order to build a workhouse.

The present vicar of St. Peter's is the Rev. W. Wright; churchwardens, Mr. W. Otley and Mr. R. Allies. Population in 1851, 4025.

St. Andrew's.

On the first page of the oldest register book here is the following memorandum: "This register of St. Andrew's parish, Worcester, was found among old rubbish in the churchyard by W. Wormington, rector, 1779." The first entry is under date 1549, and a note in the margin observes, "Four years before the death of Edward the Sixth." A large portion of the book appears to have been copied, and births, marriages, and deaths, are irregularly intermixed. It terminates with the year 1619. The next oldest register commences with 1673. The account book is thus prefaced: "The booke of the accomptes of the churchwardens of the parishe of St. Andrewes within the cittie of Worcester made and begonne this present year of or. Lord God 1587, beynge the thirtyeth yeare of the raigne of or. sov'aigne ladie Queene Elizabeth." The book (which, as a memorandum on it states, cost xii pence) ends with 1631; it is on thin paper, with parchment covers. Two other books, both belonging to a later part of the seventeenth century, give the accounts of what was received and "disbusted" for church and poor. This is therefore one of the oldest parochial records in Worcester, and as may be expected contains much that is interesting. As usual small Roman numerals are used in the accounts, figures making their appearance about the year 1600, but these were apparently considered so awkward or unintelligible as to lead to their abandonment, and many years elapsed before they were finally introduced. How the venerable guardians of the church could have persisted in the use of such an impracticable method of arithmetic in the face of so great an invention as that of figures, is only to be accounted for by the blind and obstinate attachment of human nature to traditional usages.

In the time of Queen Elizabeth the seats in this church were let, at the rate of from 6d. to 1s. per annum each sitting, and some instances occur of sittings for a man and his wife being charged 3s., and regularly every year a large number who removed from their seats to others were charged 4d. for each removal. The church was whitewashed at Easter Eve, at a charge of 7s. each time. In 1600 occurs an item of 43s. "layed out in bildinge ye new porch," and four years afterwards 5s. "for painting the king's arms." In 1617, "Paid for mendinge ye chimnie to keape out smoke out of ye church, 2s." The smoke nuisance however was not abated, for two years later the sum of 2s. 6d. was "paid to the goodman[1] Bushell for a day's work and a halfe for him and his man to stopp the smooke of the church." The "steeple" is frequently mentioned, and in the year 1618 was "Paid for repayringe and mendinge of ye wether cocke, 5s. 10d.; guilding ye cocke, £1." A fatal accident occurred at this time, as sums are charged for the "buriall of the man who undertook payntinge of ye steeple," and "for coveringe the grave where the man was buried that was misventured in the church."

[1] Goodman and goodwife were in those days used in the same way as Mr. and Mrs. are now.