* Some of the items in this volume, as indeed in many of the others, are too curious to be passed over, e.g. (1664) Among the receipts: Of Mr. Tucker, for Token Money [see pp. 28-9] of various persons rents of properties held from the parish, amounting for Of the Bishop of Winchester to make good the damage done by coaches and iiij li. v li. Among the payments: For Wine one Day, for the Lds. and Justices being at ye Vestry .. cclxvj li. vs, iiijd. To redeeme a Shoemaker from goeing to Tangier his family being likely to ijs. XVS. iiijs. This is an early mention of such an occupation being followed in England. Beckmann, quoting from Gazoni Piazze Universale, 1610, 4to, p. 364, concludes that chimneys, as we have them, were invented in Italy, and says that most of the climbing boys' in Paris and London were brought from the Hartz Mountains. The calf binding is dyed black. The title and last folios are given at pages 71 and 72 Notwithstanding the accounts given by De Foe and other historians, this volume furnishes materials for at least a chapter-far more than can be incorporated with the present catalogue. It contains the assessment made for defraying the expenses, from which the following list of streets and places in the parish has been extracted: King Street Bell Alley Bore's Head Yard White's Alley Chequers Alley Mil Banke Way Petr. Streete Nor. Orchard Streete St. Anne's Streete West Greate Almnory Sou. Deane's Yard Greate Almonry Nor. Little Sanctuary Greate Sanctuary Tuttle Streete The majority of these have disappeared-some long since, some recently; others have been re-built and re-named, and some have been intersected by the formation of Victoria Street. Collections at the Abbey, St. Margaret's Church and the New Chappel (now Christ Church) produced £401 19s. 8d. Benevolences given at the Buryall of well-to-do persons for the Relief of the Poor Visited with the Plague amounted to £132 19s. 6d. But of the £1,652 11s. 1d. collected, no less than £1,117 8s. 111⁄2d. were Benevolences of Noble and wealthy Persons. Among the principal contributors were: Other remarkable persons (at least for their surnames) were designated Cypherwell, Dillidally, Wildbloode, Bissaker, Dandillo, Mutus and Wabshotte. The progress of the Plague may be seen by a comparison of the weekly totals of expenditure. In the first two weeks (end of May and beginning of June, 1665) only 7s. 6d. and 7s. 4d, were required, but rapid strides were soon made. For the 15th week (Sept. 4) more than £92 was needed. In this week no fewer than 1619 of the " poor Visited" received relief. A single person was granted Is., while two in family usually received 1s. 9d., three, 25. 9d., four, 3s. 6d., &c. One poor man, David Jones, with nine in family, received 7s. 9d. The Nurses were usually paid 5s. or 6s. a week, sometimes 10s.; the Warders, 5s. to 7s.: the Bearers, ros. a week; and the Searchers, 25. a "corps.' Besides these there were payments to Gravediggers, and to Dog-killers, with extras for powder and shotte; for Padlocks, Straw, Physick, Druggs, Shrouds, Candles, Carts, and sometimes, to support the officials in their gruesome task, for Drink. "The Minister that pray'd with the Visited" received 108. The cleansing of Sewers cost much, and large grants for this purpose were voted by the Justices in Covent Garden. The Pest-houses had to be enlarged from time to time, new ones built, and a new Bone-house erected. A Cedan (Sedan-chair) for ye Visited cost £t 2s. 6d.; Bedding for the French Doctos., £3 155. For more than a year the Plague held its sway, and not until November, 1666, could the Churchwardens cease their weekly payments. Their accounts were audited by Emery Hill, Ffran. Dorington, Bryan Barmby, William Brewer, and allowed by His Majesty's Justices of the Peace, Edm. Godfrey, Craven (Earl of), and Edmond Warcupp. Specimens of the entries, a brief sketch of the visitation in Westminster, the Earl of Craven's description, and an account of the building of the Pest-houses will be found in Parochial Memorials of St. John, Westminster. See also Nos. 291 and 292 in catalogue. AUDITORS' CERTIFICATE OF THE ACCOUNTS OF THE GREAT PLAGUE, 1665-6, SIGNED BY THE CHURCHWARDENS AND OVERSEERS, AND ALLOWED BY THREE MAGISTRATES, OF WHOM ONE WAS LORD CRAVEN, WHOSE ACTIVE PART IN ALLEVIATING THE DISTRESS IS NOTICED BY SEVERAL WRITERS ON THE SUBJECT. *1688 1689 1690 ... ... [The enthusiasm of the parishioners in the Protestant cause at this time is shown by the entry :-To the Right Rev. Father in God, Thos. Lord Bishop of Rochester, being the moneys collected on a Briefe for the French Protestants, as per receipt, £868 12s. 1d.] 68 Churchwardens' Accounts 64 65 66 67 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696 1697 1698 1699 : ... ... ... 1700 1701 * It is remarkable that the office of "collectour" or "overseer" never seems to have become popular. From its creation, in the middle of the sixteenth century, to the time it became divested of its more onerous duties by the appointment of paid relieving officers in 1835, there was always more or less unwillingness to accept the office. A cursory glance over the receipts side of the accounts shows that on the average three persons a year from 1684 to 1716 preferred to pay fines of £12 apiece rather than serve. In 1699 there were six fined, in 1700 eleven, and 1715 seven. Thus in thirty-one years no less than £288 was paid in fines. In 1694 John Churchill refused the office. If we may believe him to be the John Churchill, at that time Earl of Marlborough, we can readily understand his declining the duties; but there was also the family of Churchills, of whom the satirist (then lately deceased) was a member, residing in the parish, one of his brothers being an apothecary in or near King-street, while others are stated by Mr. Gilfillan to have resided hereabouts until 1825. At this period and onwards into the present century are to be found numerous entries of fines paid for burial in linen. An Act was passed in 1667-8 for "the encouragement of the woollen manufacture of this Kingdom and prevention of the exportation of the moneys thereof for the buying and importing of linen"; but the penalty of £5 did not prevent the breach of its provisions. |