[The Accompts of Johannis Meriden and Johannis Witney, custodians of the ornaments of the parish of Ste. Margarete Westm. from the 15th day of Maie in the 38th yeare of Henry VI. "King by facte and not by right," &c. &c.] 1464 Item, rec' de persona Convict' die sepult 1466 Item, rec' pro sepult' ejusdem Agnetis in Capell â vjs. viijd. Item, pro sepult' ejusdem in Capella Sancti Georgii Item, rec' de D Abbatte West' die sepult' Willi Item, rec' de Dña Graa die trigintal' Reginaldi patris Item, rec' die sepult Dai Johan. Germyn Anchorit' Item, rec' de Jacobo Pemberton, armigero, pro sep sua infra ecclesiam Item, rec' die sepult' Clerici Stapulæ 1467 Item, rec' die sepult' Magestri Johis. Preston, nuper vicarii de Wakefield Item, rec' die sepult' pueri unius comorantis in Sellyes Item, rec' de Willo Whitney pro sepult' uxoris suæ Item, rec' de Cust' Convictor' die sep' Johis. Hede Item, rec' de Robto' Thorp, die sep' Dionisiæ Imprimis, in expens' ad tabernam intra parochianos in Item, in v mut. pyes ad idem temp. ... ... ... Item at the burying of a man of my Lord Duresse vd. iijd. iijs. [The transition from Latin to English will be observed to have taken place in this year.] 1475 Item, at the day of burying of my Lady Grace Item, at the day of burying of Sir Thomas Grey, Item, at the burying of Sir John Galter Item, for a reward for a boke and chales to Sir ... ... Item for ij great books, called Antiphoners Item, received of the keeper or master of the New Item, of the monastre of Seint Peter of Westminster counsel-giving to the said late masters in saying of Brethren and Sistern in Arrears. xxij li. Of Edmond Downe, late pryor of Hurley; of Sir Henry Ward, Knight; of Dame Agnes Hasely; of Robert Shordycke, Squier; of my Lady Graa; of Raynold Colyer, pryor of S. Bartholomew's; of the Duchess of Bed'; William Bartram, Esq.; Richard Ruston, pryor of Hurley; my Lady Willoughby; my Lady Ankerasse; Sir John Mannear, of Batressey; John Rokes, Esq.; Sir Thomas Knolie, vicar of Dachet; John Fogge, Knight; my Lady Harecourt; Sir Roger Ree, Knight. 1478 Item, the day of burying of William Caxton, for ... is. viijd. ij torces and iiij tapers at a low mass [This is accepted, as the result of an investigation made in connection with the Caxton celebration held at South Kensington in 1878, as relating to Caxton's father, to whom the prince of printers appears to have returned from Bruges in 1476-7. The accounts for 1464 contain an item of eightpence received for four tapers at the burial of Oliver Caxton; John Caxton paid 6s. 8d. in 1475-8 on his admission to the Guild; in 1490-2, 3s. 2d. was received "at the bureyng of Mawde Caxston for torches and tapres"; in 1494-6 2d. is received at the burial of Richard Caxton, besides the entry in 1491-2 relating to the printer. These prove the settlement of the family in the parish; but Mr. Blades, in his preparations for the Fourth Centenary Memorial, was unable to identify with certainty the relationship of the several members.] A curious item in this year's postings is xijd. for “cotyn candyll for the lantern for alle hallowen tyde (All Hallows Even) to Candyllmas (31st October to 2nd February)," from which it is clear that the seasons named, if not all the ceremonies associated with them, were observed. These are referred to, as to Candlemas, by Herrick in his "Hesperides," and as to All Hallows, by Burns in his "Halloween." The superstitions connected with both seasons are collected in Brand's Popular Antiquities. There are also two entries showing that an organ or organs had been placed in the church at this early date : For a dore in the rode lofte to save and keep the people fro the orgaynes To Mathew Metynghm for playing at the orgons when we had xijd. viijd. Although instruments of a more or less rude description had reached England earlier-they are known to have been used in church music in Rome in the eighth century-it was not until the fifteenth century that they began to approach, even at a distance, the noble instruments of the present day, and the latter of these two items indicate that the instrument here was of such pretensions as to require the engagement of a skilled organist. 1478 Item, for a pulpytte in the church-yard against the ... ... ijs. viijd. In this year the receipts include a gift by the wife of John Taillour of a towell of diaper, eight yards in length.* 1479 Item, paid to Blandford for paving before St. Erasmus 1480 ... Item, the day of burying a man that was slayne in ... 1482 Item, the day of burying of Thomas, of the Convicte Paid for the amending of the cloaths before St. 1483 Item, the day of Sir Thomas Cawey, for iiij tapers... Item at the burying of John, the Queen's foole is. vjd. is. vjs. viijd. vjs. viijd. ...xiijs. ivd. A short series of entries show that the 'churchyard cross,' as well as that within the church, was to be found at St. Margaret's; it had existed so long, in fact, as to require restoration : ... Paid for a grate brode ffrise stone to mende the fote of the Paid to John Rede for peynting of the same cross of tre, sponge, The steeple cross was also renewed at the same time. Forty acres of the parish land at Kensington are shown to have produced a yearly rental of 13s. 8d. 1488 Item, at the burying of Daniel Richard Alyn, parson of Item, for the burying of Master Taysdale, for the bell is. vjd. *This entry suggests that the "houselling cloth," which was commonly used at the administration of the Holy Communion after the Reformation, might also have been used at mass before that time. It was customary in many churches in London, as well as in the country, for the communicants to kneel at long low tables covered with white linen, at the step of the chancel. In some few places, before the tables were brought into use, a long strip of linen was held before the communicants by two deacons; elsewhere the communion rails were covered with white hangings, while another variation of the custom was the use of a clean white napkin laid before each communicant. An item in these accounts for the year 1599, "Paid for a long diaper cloth to make two towels for the communicants, xijs. viijd.," points to some such usage at St. Margaret's, and, read in connection with that of 1478-80, suggests the possibility of its having been observed from that time onwards for upwards of a century. Mr. Vaux, quoting from Mr. Cousins' Exeter, Fifty Years since (Ed. 1878) inclines to the view that "the clean white pocket handkerchief, which old-fashioned people used to carry round their prayer books (the writer well remembers seeing instances in his boyhood at the Old Church, Chelsea) may well have been a survival of the old Housel Cloth." The inventories of church goods, jewels, &c., contain repeated references to "diaper cloths for towels for the communion," eg, the short extract given on p. 49. That for the year 1572, printed hereafter, schedules 33 "clothes of dyaper for the Comunyon Table," classifying them as "greate," "playne," "shorte" and "longe." They did not escape the eye of the observant Herrick (1630-1660), who thus refers to them in his Noble Numbers :To a Love Feast we both invited are: The figur'd Damask, or pure Diaper, The sacred Towell, and the holy Eure Are ready by, to make the Guests all pure. vjd. 1489 Item, at the burying of my Lady Ancresse, for the bell ... vijs. ivd. vjs. viijd. Item, at the burying of the parson of Arondell, for ... Among the admittances to the fraternity this year, was "Wynkyn Worde," fellow worker with and successor to Caxton. 1491 Item, at the burying of William Caxton, for iiij torches vjs. viijd. XS. [The dragon here referred to was probably a representation of that mentioned in the legend of St. Margaret.-See Walcott's Memorials of Westminster, Ed. 1849, p. 114.] Item, paid for a sleyne cloth of St. Gregory's Pety... 1494 Item, paid for wyne for Mr. Harry Abington at divers Item for amending the best suit of vestments for prest, Item, ij tapers for the man that died in Tothill Street ... Item, Henry Abyngdon, for the bell ... Legend, of the bequest of ... Item, in books called 1498 Item, for licence of St. Cornelius torches ... ... ivd. Item, for licence for iiij torches of St. John A feretory was an ornamental bier or shrine. 1501 Item, for the knell of Sir James Morland with the bell vjd. vjd. xvjd. [The dog-whipper was in many parishes, in former years, a regularly appointed servant of the church; and Mr. Vaux adduces instances in which such an officer was regularly on duty down to the middle of the present century. Bequests were made for the endowment of the office in numerous parishes in England and Wales. A statement was made in Notes and Queries, 2nd September, 1854, to the effect that the appointment of such functionaries had followed the establishment of the church as far away as Shrewsbury, Maryland, U.S.A.] 1506 Also, for a certain quit-rent out of a little tenement in the Wolstaple, to the maire of the staple, at xxd. by yere ... ... 1506 For the rent of a tenement, called Wyllys, lying in Item, iiij printed books, ij of them the Lyfe of St. ... 1508 First spent at the perusing and overlooking of the 1510 Atte burying of Robert the Hermyt, iv torches ivd. ivd. ivd. [This is an early instance of the use of the word, which was originally applied to vendors of costard apples, though its limitation had extended within a few years: see the entry against 1519. Johnson gives Burton, the author of The Anatomy of Melancholy, who was born in 1576, as his authority; but this entry was ninety years before Burton wrote.] Also spent at communicacion had with Mr. Hall and other Item of Johan of the Boyling Alley, for ij tapers 1519 Item, to the Keper of the Scala Celi in the Abby ijd. iijl. ijs. viijd. ivd. viiid. This simple line transports the mind to some of the charming descriptions of May-day customs given in poetry and prose from Chaucer's time to the present day. It tells of Westminster surrounded by fields-St. James' fields, Tothill fields, and the fields on the west, afterwards called the Five fields-in which the groups of children would gather their flowers in the hedgerows to carry to the houses of the well-to-do, there to sing their May-day carols and salutations, to dance round their little flower-bedecked "Lady of the May," to appeal to the charity of those who witnessed |