Robert of Gloucester only mentions the white marble stone, and that Edward "Besyde the shryne of Seynt Edward at Westminstre let hitte sette."

Drayton in Polyolb. Song XVII. says,

The seat on which her kings inaugurated were.

On which Selden comments from Boetius as before. (Weever Fun. Mon. 458, 9.) Speed Chron. p. 558, calls it the marble chair.

Camden. Brit. in Scotl. calls it saxum lignea cathedra inclusum.

If these hasty observations do not satisfy your correspondent's doubts, I trust he will be candid enough to tell

us so.

1782, Jan.

AN ENGLISH ANTIQUARY.

XCI. Ailes in Cornish Churches.

MR. URBAN,

June, 1781. IN almost all the Cornish churches (at least those I have seen) there is a singularity which I have not observed in churches elsewhere. There is a north aile, which is sometimes fitted up with seats, but mostly is a place only for rubbish; and it is never used as a vestry, very few churches in this county having such a room; and where they have, the vestry is in a different place from this north aile. I cannot conceive for what purpose this half-transept (if I may give it such a name) was added to the church when the building was erected, as it is now seldom used for seats for any part of the congregation. If any of your antiquarian correspondents would favour your Cornish readers with their opinion upon the subject, and also inform them whether it is peculiar to the churches in this county, they would oblige more than one of

Your constant readers and admirers.

P.S. I might add at the same time another circumstance, which seems to me peculiar to the churches of Cornwall.

There is in most parishes of this county a field (generally near the church-yard,) which is generally called the sentry* (perhaps sanctuary); but this field is not always glebe land, or at least has been filched from the church in some instances. How came this name to be given to one field only in a parish? and why is not this field always glebe land?

1781, July.

MR. URBAN,

S. N.

ACCEPT a few conjectures relative to the ancient use. of North Ailes, observed by your correspondent in almost all the Cornish churches, and not elsewhere, and to a field generally near the church-yard, and commonly called the sentry.

The ailes, or a part of them at least, I conceive to have been chantry-chapels, and to have in Cornwall the singularity of being always placed on the north side of the churches; for in other counties the situations of them are not so limited. They are often found contiguous to, and communicating with, the chancel on either side: near the middle of a few churches they form a north or a south transept; and in some, both: you sometimes see them, though rarely, at the west end of the church; but they are frequently to be met with at the east ends of the north and south ailes in such churches as have these additional buildings. And in several churches they are fitted up for vestries.

Persons of substance who resided in the parish usually founded these chantries, and they were commonly endowed with houses and lands for the maintenance of one or more priests, who were to sing masses at the altar of some favourite saint, for the souls of the founder, and of any other persons he had mentioned. They were also burial-places for the founders and their families; and from their having been built and repaired by the owners of any estate and mansion, the heirs and successors acquired an exclusive right to them. After the Reformation, if the chapels were conveniently situated for the hearing of divine service, the proprietors of them, if protestants, erected seats in them

Probably cemetry (or burying-ground), as the old Cemetry-gate at Canterbury is called by corruption Centry-gale. See Gostling's Walk, p.#119, 2d edit. EDIT,

for the use of themselves and their domestics, and of course were careful to keep them in a decent condition. But when the families were extinct, and the mansions decayed, or when the owners of them lived in other places, the chapels were gradually neglected, and at last became derelict. If wanted by any of the inhabitants, the parish took possession of them, and in this case the same attention was shewn to them as to the other parts of the fabric; otherwise, they were only places for rubbish, as the north ailes of the churches in Cornwall are represented to be. While they needed only a slight repair, the church-wardens might perhaps direct it to be done; but no sooner did it appear that the upholding of them would bring a heavy expence upon the parish, than they were suffered to fall to ruin, and in or der to prevent all further charges, by building a party-wall, they were, strictly speaking, cast out of the church. In many churches are plainly to be discovered the arches, now filled up, through which were the entrances into these chantry chapels.

In the first year of King Edward VI. all chantries were dissolved by act of parliament, and the houses and lands. with which they were endowed were vested in the crown, where, however, they did not long continue, being granted to the dependents on the court. Having never been a part of the revenues of the incumbents of the respective parishes, they could not be considered as glebe lands. The sentry fields, concerning which your correspondent makes an inquiry in the postscript to his letter, were most probably appropriated for the support of the chantry priests who officiated in the ailes, or chapels, noticed by him. But I differ from him in supposing that sanctuary was the original appellation of them: nor do I agree with the learned editor of your useful Miscellany, who has surmised it to signify a cemetry, or burying ground. To me it seems to be a corruption of the word chantry, and I rather incline to this notion, because I have heard of some houses and lands that are so denominated. At West Peckham in Kent, in particular, on the north side of the church, about fifty years ago, the foundation-walls of a chantry were traced, which had belonged to a preceptory of the knights templars: and not far from the church-yard is a tenement with some fields, 'that still retain the name of the chantry house and lands. Yours, &c.

W. & D.

1782, April.

XCII. Monastic Registers of Edmundsbury Monastery.

1. Translations of three authentic Registers of the Monastery of St. Edmund's Bury, formerly kept by the sacrist.

"THIS indenture certifies, that Master John Swassham, sacrist of the monastery of St. Edmund's Bury, with the consent and permission of the prior and convent of the same, hath demised and to farm let to Simeon Lolepeke of Bury aforesaid, yeoman, the manor called Habyrdon in Bury aforesaid, &c. to have and to hold for the term of seven years, &c. paying yearly, &c. And the said Simeon, his executors and assigns, shall find or cause to be found one white bull every year of his term as often as it shall happen that any gentle woman (mulierem generosam) or any other women, from devotion or vows by them made, shall visit the tomb of the glorious king and martyr St. Edmund, to make the oblations of the said white bull, &c. In witness whereof, to one part the seal of the sacrist is affixed, &c. Dated the 4th day of June, in the second year of the reign of King Henry, King of England, the seventh since the conquest."

2. Another Register of the said Monastery.

"This indenture, made the 12th day of September, inthe 11th year of the reign of King Henry VIII. between Master John Eye, sacrist of the monastery of St. Edmund's Bury, and Richard Skinner, of Bury aforesaid, husbandman, certifies that the aforesaid John Eye, with the consent, &c. hath demised and to farm let to the aforesaid Richard the manor of Habyrdon, &c. for the term of ten years, &c. and the said Richard shall find one white bull as often as it shall happen," &c. as before.

3. Another original instrument, with the capitular seal of the Monastery annexed.

"This indenture certifies that we John, by divine permission, abbot of the monastery of St. Edmund's Bury, with the consent and permission of the prior and convent of the same, have demised and to farm let to Robert Wright, glazier, and to John Anable, pewterer, of Bury aforesaid, our manor of Habyrdon, with the appurtenances pertaining to the office of sacrist of our said monastery, &c. to hold from the feast of St. Michael the Archangel next ensuing after the date of these presents, for the term of twenty years, &c. paying yearly to the said abbot and his successors, for

the use of the office of sacrist, 201. 4s. &c. And the said Robert and John shall find one white bull every year of the aforesaid term, as often as it shall happen that any gentlewoman, or any other women, from devotion or vows by them made, shall visit the shrine of the glorious king and martyr St. Edmund, to make the oblations of the said white bull, &c. In witness whereof, to one part of this indenture remaining with the abovenamed abbot, prior, and convent, the said Robert and John have affixed their seals, and to the other part remaining with the said Robert and John, we the abovenamed abbot, prior, and convent, have caused the common seal of our chapter to be affixed. Given in our chapter-house the xxviiith day of April, in the xxvth year of King Henry the Eighth, and in the year of our Lord 1533."

The waxen impression, still perfect, has on the face St. Edmund, sitting on a royal throne, with a bishop standing on each side; on the reverse he is bound to a tree, and transfixed with arrows. Below, in another compartment, is the body of St. Edmund, headless; and near it a wolf, bringing back the royal head to restore it to the body. The instrument is thus indorsed, Irrotulatur per me, Walterum Mildemey. A transcript of this sealed indenture remains in the Court of Augmentations.

Whenever a married woman wished to be pregnant, this white bull, who enjoyed full ease and plenty in the fields of Habyrdon, never meanly yoked to the plough, nor ever cruelly baited at the stake, was led in procession through the principal streets of the town, viz. Church-street, Guildhall-street, and Cook-row, of which the last led to the principal gate of the monastery, attended by all the monks sing ing, and a shouting crowd, the woman walking by him, and stroking his milk-white side and pendent dewlaps. The bull then being dismissed, the woman entered the church, and paid her vows at the altar of St. Edmund, kissing the stone, and intreating with tears the blessing of a child. This reminds one of the Luperci among the Romans, who ran naked about the streets, and with thongs of goatskins struck women with child in order to give easy labour. Virg. En. VIII. 663.

The above are extracted from the Corolla Varia of the Rev. William Hawkins*, M. A. schoolmaster, of Hadleigh in Suffolk, an entertaining and classical, but now scarce

He styles himself Nisus. See Ovid. Met. 1. 8.