The annals of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, London

Front matter

DA

President White Library.

Cornell University.

Preface

During the twenty-seven years of my connection witli the parish of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, first as the incumbent of that parish, and now as "Vicar in charge," since its union by her Majesty's Order in Council, May 5th, 1873, with the adjacent parish of St. Martin Outwich, it has been a desire on my part to give to the world an account of the considerable historical interest with which its ancient Church and surroundings must ever be associated. The difficulties of fulfilling that desire had, however, been found to be insuperable until the Merchant Taylors' Company — now the patrons of the United Parish, as they have been from time immemorial of St. Martin Outwich — encouraged me to undertake the task, which I was well aware would be one of difficulty, but of the full amount of which I had formed but a very inadequate idea previously to my attempt to overcome it ; and but that the researches of the late Mr. William Meade Williams, a former parishioner well known for his antiquarian and archaeological attainments, were most liberally and considerately placed at my disposal by his son, I have no hesitation in saying that I must have withdrawn from the task on its immediate commencement, in despair of ever being able to accomplish it. Mr. William Meade Williams's researches — the result of a long and well-spent life — are incorporated in two thick quarto volumes, each of which has been elaborately illustrated by an immense collection of engravings, obtained after much trouble and at considerable outlay. Inasmuch, however, as the literary matter in those volumes was not intended, or prepared, with a view to publication, although brimful of information, its numerous details required careful examination, patient research, and almost entire vi Preface.

reconstruction. Very nearly two years have been spent m the effort to bring this invaluable " rude matter into due form f and it is now presented both to the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors and the public, in the hope that, " with all its imperfections on its head," it may be received with some amount of favour, and with the admission that the subject itself is not unworthy of the pains that have been taken to make it generally acceptable.

Of the pre- Reformation History of the Parish of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, nothing more remains than is incorporated in the first chapter of this work. Had there been more information extant to throw light upon the nearly three centuries' existence of the Convent and Parish Church of St. Helen's prior to that period, it is impossible that it could have escaped the imwearied investigation and patient research of the Rev. Thomas Hugo, M.A., F.S.A. — one of the most accomplished antiquaries and archaeologists of his time. That gentleman had also the advantage of being assisted by the late Dr. Black in his investigations— an authority of the very highest repute ; but nothing more could be discovered by either of those painstaking examiners than will be found embodied in a paper, read by the former gentleman eleven years ago before the Archseological Society, of which I have availed myself, with his full consent. And here I would tender to Mr. Hugo my very best thanks for the abundant means he has afforded for lightening my labours, and assisting my researches ; for without his exhaustive paper — which hitherto has had but a limited circulation — I should scarcely have known where to turn for much of the information he had so abundantly and adequately supplied. To many other friends I must also offer my warmest acknowledgments both for advice and assistance, but to no one of them more so than to Charles Mathew Clode, Esq., one of the members, and a late Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company, and the accomplished author of " Memorials of the Guild of Merchant Taylors in the City of London, &c. ;" to J. B. Monckton, Esq., Town Clerk of the Corporation of the City of London, by whose permission and aid I

Preface. vii

have been permitted to furnish a copy of the will of Adam Praunces, preserved in the archives of the Town Clerk's office, and never before printed; to Mr. H. C. Overall, of the same office, by whom that will has been deciphered and copied; to Mr. Tedder, the Librarian of the Athenzeum Club ; to Mr. Williams, to whose liberality and co-operation I have already referred; to Col. Joseph L. Chester, who had previously collated the Parish Registers; and to Messrs. Wadmore and Baker, of Great St. Helen's, the architects of the Restoration of St. Helen's, 1865-8, by whom the architectural details of the Church have been supplied, and from whom the frontispiece of the interior has been obtained. I should also be greatly wanting in gratitude were I not to acknowledge the invaluable information concerning the Caesar family, which, unsolicited on my part, was most kindly affi)rded me by Miss Cottrell-Dormer, of Danes-Dyke, Flamborough. That lady, being herself descended from the Csesar family, and having accidentally heard of the work I had in hand, at once communicated the valuable information for my use, which will be found under the narrative of Sir Julius Csesar Adelmare, and his descendants.

John Edmund Cox, D.D.

Chapter I

Birth and character of St. Helena — ^Finding of the true Cross — Krst Roman Colony in Britain — ^Edmund the Martyr — Priory of St. Helen's — Foundation of Priory — ^William Basing's Will — Kentwode's Constitutions — Directions to Prioress and Convent — Dancing and Revelling forbidden — Names of Three Prioresses — Will of EKzabeth RoUesley — Court of Augmentations — ^Thomas Cromwell— Common Seal of St. Helen's — Demise of Reginald Goodman — Leases of Tenements — " Valor" of Ecclesiastical Property — Thomas Benolt, Clarenceux Herald — Sundry Grants of Property — Anthony Bonvixi, Merchant — John RoUesley's Annuity — Grants of Sundry Annuities — ^Annuities and Leases — Last Act of the Prioress and Convent — Edward Alleyne — Adam Fraunces — Cardinal Pole's Pension Book — Survey of the King's Officers — Site of the Priory- Plan of Buildings — Curious Hagioscope — Grant of the Site — ^Lease of Crosby Place — Surrender of Priory — ^LeatherseUers' Company — Ancient Crypts pp. 1 — 37

CHAPTER n.

St Helen's Church — The Parish and Convent Churches — Architectural Details— Merchant Taylors' Company — The Nuns' Grate — Sir John Lawrence — Church Windows — Coats of Arms ... pp. 38 — 45

CHAPTER in.

Tithes and Impropriators of St. Helen's — Pope Nicholas IV. — ^Advowson of Vicarsige — Grant by Queen Elizabeth — Michael and Edward Stan-

bope Sir John Langham — Appeal to the House of Lords — The

Macdougall Family — Ministers, Curates, and Lecturers of St. Helen's, from A.D. 1571 to A.D. 1876 pp. 46—56

Table of Contents.

CHAPTER rV.

Monuments and their Uses— Kobinson and Kerwin Monuments— Dame Abigail Lawrence— Francis Bancroft— Smith and KuhfE— Captain Martin Bond— William and Esther Finch— Bond, " Flos mercatorum," and Drax — Sir Thomas Gresham— Sir Andrew Judd — Sir William Pickering — Sir John and Lady Crosby — Sir Julius Caesar Adelmare — Sir John and Lady Spencer — Alderman Bernard and Gerrash Reresby — Alderman Chambrelan — Monumental Brasses — Benolte, Windsor Herald pp. 57—74

CHAPTER V.

Benefactors — Robinson and Fenner Gifts — Prior's Bequest — Cicely CyoU's Will — ^Abraham Chambrelan — Sir Martin Lumley — The Lumley Lectureship — ^Robinson and Fenner Gifts — Joyce Featly — Daniel Williams — Bond, Langham, and Tryon — Sundry Bequests — Mary Clapham's Will — Baker, Roe, and Dingley Bequests — Christ's Hospital— The latest Bequest pp. 75—89

CHAPTER VI.

Marriage, Baptism, and Burial Registers pp. 90 — 99

CHAPTER Vn.

Vestry Records from a.d. 1558 to a.d. 1812 — ^Extracts from Church Wardens' Accounts, &c pp. 100 — 226

CHAPTER Vm.

" Worthies" connected with St. Helen's — Sir John Crosby— John Leventhorpe — Sir William HoUes — Richard Williams — Thomas Benolte — Antonio Bonvixi — Nicholas Harpsfield — Sir Andrew Judde — Sir William Pickering — Sir John Spencer — Daniel Featley — Sir Thomas Gresham — Ceesar Adelmare — The Csesar Family — ^Matthew and Alberigo Gentilis — Edward Brerewood — Peter Maunaell— rBichasd Ball — Arthur Barham — Thomas Horton — Jonathan Goddard — Robert Hooke — Sir Martin Lumley — Sir John Langham — Sir John Lawrence — Sir Philip Boteler — Sir John Eyles, Sen. — Sir Francis Eyles — Sir John Eyles, Jun pp. 227 328

Table of Contents, \ xi

CHAPTER IX.

Crosby Place — Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Lord Protector, and afterwards King — Sir Bartholomew Read — Antonio Bonvixi — German Cioll — Alderman Bond — Divers Ambassadors Resident — Crosby House a prison for the Royalists in the Civil "Wars — Sir John Langham — ^Appropriated to Nonconformists in the Reign of Charles II. — Bernard Edward Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk — Crosby Hall a Warehouse of the East India Company — Messrs. Holmes and Hall — Restoration of the Hall — ^Alderman Copeland — ^Miss Hackett

CHAPTER X.

Nonconformist Divines, Occupants of Crosby Hall, from a.d, 1662 to A.D. 176- pp. 338—358

Appendix

Basing's Will — Benedictine Rules — Kentwode's Constitutions — Adam Fraunces' Will — ^Restoration, 1865—8 — London Tithes Acts — Special Commission — Queen Anne's Bounty— The Advowson of St. Helen's — WiUiam Bond— Thomas Benolte^Mayor of the Staple — Merchant Adventurers — Sir Thomas Gresham's Will — Gresham College Act- Francis Bancroft's WUl — St. Martin Outwich and St. Antholin

ANNALS

OF

ST. HELEN'S, BISHOPSGATE

WITHIN THE

CITY OF LONDON.

CHAPTER I.

Tkadition reports that St. Helena, the patron saint of this Church, was born at Colchester a.d. £43, and was the daughter of Coel II., Prince of Britain and king of that district. Having revolted against the Romans, Constantius Chlorus, the Roman general then in Spain, who was afterwards Emperor, was sent to reduce Coel to obedience, and for that end besieged Colchester. After some time the siege was raised, and on Constantius betrothing Helen, from that marriage was bom, in the year 265, Constantine, the first Roman Emperor who made public profession of the Christian religion and protected and encouraged it by wholesome laws. His father had secretly favoured the Christians and retarded the persecution against them, but Constantine declared himself their protector, and jointly with Licinius published an edict in their favour at Milan, a.d. 313. Helena was considered the most beautiful woman of her time, was extremely well skilled in music, and adorned with many other accomplishments. Her father having no other child had caused her to be educated in such a manner as might best fit her to govern. Withal she was a woman of great charity and piety, and although it has been stated that she gave her son a Christian education, we are assured by Baronius,* upon, as he reports, the authority of Eusebius, that she herself was indebted to Constantine for her conversion to Christianity. At the advanced age of eighty, being desirous of visiting the place where our Saviour had suffered, she is reported

2 Finding of the Ti'ue Cross.

to have made a voyage to the Holy Land, and, during her journey, to have dispensed very considerable benefactions to many persons, towns, and societies. Finding that the heathens (offended at the superstitious veneration paid to the place of our Saviour's burial) had covered the tomb with earth, and erected over it a temple dedicated to Venus, she ordered that building to be demolished and the earth to be removed in order to build there a magnificent church, and by the eager desire and fervent piety of those who laboured in the work of preparing the place for the foundation, on May 3, 319, three crosses are said to have been discovered deeply buried in the ground, being those on which the Redeemer and the two thieves were crucified, as also the tablet whereon Pilate had written that Christ was crucified King of the Jews ! The true cross is reported to have been selected by the miraculous power it displayed of restoring the dead to life. The corpse of a female some time deceased was placed alternately upon the three crosses. The two first that were tried produced no effect, but the third instantly raised the body to a state of reanimation ! The true cross being thus discovered was divided and subdivided into innumerable fragments, so that the pieces thus distributed amounted to treble the quantity of wood contained in the original ; yet, through some holy miracle it was said to have remained entire and unimpaired ! Some of the fragments were encased in gold, and some in gems, and conveyed to Europe, the principal portion being left in the charge of the Bishop of Jerusalem, who exhibited it annually at Easter until Chosroes, King of Persia, plundered that city and took away the holy relic. The cross was subsequently recovered and solemnly deposited in the great church of the Twelve Apostles, at Constantinople !*

St. Helena having built a gorgeous church over the sepulchre, and called it New Jerusalem, then erected a second at Bethlehem, where Christ was born, as also a third church upon the Mount of Olives, whence Christ ascended to the Father. Many things she gave to churches and to poor people, and, after a godly and religious life, died at Rome in the arms of her son, Aug. 18, a.d. 327, where her festival is kept yearly on that day.

Richard, the Monk of Westminster, in writing of Britain says, " Our arrangement brings us to that province which was called by

Clavis Oalendaria, i. 340 ; ii. 156.

First Roman Colony in Britain. 3

the Romans ' Plavia/ but whence it received that name, whether from Mavia Julia Helena^ the mother of Constantine the Great, who was born at this place, or froin the Roman family of the Flavii, length of time prevents us from determining, which also prevents our firm conviction in the truth of certain things which monuments of antiquity would indicate. — Near the Cassii where the Thames flows into the ocean was the country of the Trinobantes, a people, who not only placed themselves of their own accord under the friendship of the Romans, but also proposed to them to colonize their metropolis London and Maldon, which were situate near the sea. They say that in this city (London) was born Flavia Julia Helena, the most pious wife of Constantius Chlorus and the mother of Constantine the Great, being descended from the Kings of Britain. This also was the first of the Roman colonies in Britain, and was renowned for the temple of Claudius, the image of Victory, &c. London was first called Trinovantum, afterwards Augusta, and then London again. According to old chronicles it is of greater antiquity than Rome. It was fortified by the most pious Empress Helena, the most holy discoverer of the cross.'' Stow also states, on the authority of Simon of Durham, that " she builded the walls about the cities of London and Colchester.''*

* " St. Peter's Borne. The third chapel has over the altar the statue of St. Helena, the work of Boggi, an excellent sculptor." In the church of St. John de Lateran, is " a magnificent monument of St. Helen of porphyrie." " We came to St. Crosse of Jerusalem, built by .Constantine over the demolition of the temple of Venus and Cupid, which he threw down ; and 'twas here they report he deposited the wood of the true Crosse found by his mother Helena, in honour whereof this church was buUt. Here is a chapel dedicated to St. Helena, the floore whereof is of earth brought from Jerusalem. They suffer no women to enter, save once a year." — Evelyn's Mem., vol i. pp. Ill, 116, 160.

" Also besyde the queer of the Chirche at the ryght syde as men comen downward 16 greces (steps) is the place where our Lord was born : that is fulle well dyghte of marhle, and fulle richely peynted with gold, sylver, azure, and other coloures. And 3 paas (paces) besyde, is the crybbe of the ox, and the asse. And besyde that is the place where the sterre felle that ledde the three kynges." — The Voyage and Travaile of Sir John Maundeville Knight in the 14th Century.

Sandys adds " that at the upper end of the subterranean chapel of the Nativity, in an arched concave, stands the Altar of the Nativity : under this is a semi-circle ; the sole (flooring) set with stones of several colours in the form of a star, and in the midst a serpentine, there set to preserve the memory of that place where our Saviour was Isorn." — A Kelation of a Journey begun 1610, by Geo. Sandys. 1670.

4 Edmund the Martyr.

The original church of St. Helen in London was dedicated to the Empress Helena, and is said to have been erected to her memory by her son Constantine.*

In the year 1010 Alwyne, Bishop of Helmeham, removed the remains of King Edmund the Martyr from St. Edmundsbury to London, and deposited them in this church for three years, until the depredations committed by the Danes in East Anglia ceased. f

"In a court on the east side of Bishopsgate Street, in Bishopsgate Ward," Newcourt reports, "stands the fair church of St. Helen, sometime a priory of Black Nuns, and in the same, the Parish Church of St. Helen." J That there was a church here before the founding of the said priory, which was granted to the canons of St. Paul's by Ranulph and Robert his son, appears by the following document : —

" This agreement between the Dean of St. Pauls, and Ranulph and Robert his son, Witnesseth, that the said Ranulph and Robert do grant to the Canons of St. Pauls, the church of St. Helen, yet so that they shall hold the same during the term of their natural lives, upon the payment of twelve pence yearly. . . . But on their decease a third person of their body (or from their friends) whom they shall have chosen, shall hold the aforesaid church, on the payment of two shillings per annum, to the said canons ; but upon his decease the said church shall remain in the full, free, and undisturbed possession of the said canons. . . . Ranulph also obtained from his brethren that every year they should celebrate the anniversary of Turstin, Archbishop of York."§

To this agreement the following were witnesses : —

William the Archdeacon.

Richard & Richard his brothers.

Robert de Cadomo, Robert de Aco, Nicholas Gaufrid the younger, William the master, Henry Walter, Gaufrid the constable, William de Cain, Theodore, Richard de Amond, Baldwin, Robert the younger, Walfrid, Hubert Hugo the master, Radulf, Richard

* Europ. Mag., vol. xlviii. p. 173.

t Bntick's Lond., vol. iii. p. 398. Huglison, vol. ii. p. 420.

% Newcourt's Eepertorium, vol. i. p. 263 (Reg. Deo. & Cap. Ub. A f. 32)

§ " H83C est conventio inter Capitulum S.Pauli et Eanulfum, et Eobertum

Eoolesiam S. Helena, ita tamen quod eandem tenebunt toto tempore vifae

Priory of St. Helen's. 5

After this, in 1181 (the first year of Ralph de Diceto, he being Dean) , in the state of the manors and churches belonging to the said Dean and Chapter, it is thus recorded : — " Ecclesia S. Helena est Canonicorum, et reddit eis xx. sol per manum Magist. Cipriani, solvit Synodalia xij*. Achidiacono xij*. Habet coemiterium."*

After the church fell into the hands of the dean and chapter by the death of the several parties, they granted the right of patronage to one William, the son of William the Goldsmith, who afterwards applying to Alard the dean, and the chapter of St. Paul's, had leave of them to found a priory of nuns there, as appears by the following instrument :t —

" Pkioey of St. Helens next the way of Bishopsgate Street, in the City of London. J

" Of the constituting of Nuns in the same.

" Know all present and to come, that I, Alardus, dean of the church of St. Paul, London, and the chapter of the same church, do grant to William the Son of William the Goldsmith, § patron of the church of St. Helen, London, that he may constitute Nuns in the same church for the perpetual service of God therein, and may bestow on the society of the same, the right of patronage to the said church, as the same was granted to him by our predecessors ; provided that the prioress or other governing such house (after election made by the same), do make presentation thereof to the dean and chapter of London and swear fidelity to the same Dean and Chapter, as well for such Church as for a pension or annuity of half a mark, payable within eight days of Easter . . . and they do suornm quern, elegerint, tenebit supradictam Ecclesiam reddendo duos sol. per Ann. eisdem fratribus : Hlo autem defuncto remanebit eadem Ecclesia Canonicis soluta et quieta et libera. Etiam Ranulfus obtinuit a fratribus suis, quod singulis annis anniversarium Turstini Eborac, Archiep. celebrabunt. Ad banc conventionem fuerunt isti Archidiaconi, &c. &c."

* Newcourt (Eeg. Dec. and Cap. lib. A. f. 37, vol. i. p. 363).

t Stow (Survey of London, p. 430. Ed. Lond. 1754) says " founded by William de Basing, Dean of St. Paul's."

J Eor the original Latin Document, see Appendix A.

§ LineaUy descended from William the Founder was Sir William Fitz- William, merchant tailor, and servant to Cardinal Wolsey, Aldermau of Bread Street Ward, 1506, from whom is descended the present Earl Pitzwiiliam.

6 Foundation of Priori/.

further swear not to alienate sucli before mentioned patronage or to subject their convent to any other control. And we do moreover grant as far as in us lies, that the said society or convent, so to be erected may appropriate and convert to their own use all revenues belonging to the said Church, excepting the aforesaid pension, they discharging all episcopal dues appertaining to the said church ; and if it shall happen that the Nuns of such convent shall conduct themselves improperly. We grant the same to men of religion, to hold without molestation, in the same manner as is mentioned with respect to such Nuns ; And the Dean and Chapter bind themselves similarly towards them ; and that this our grant and concession and aU other engagements may be held in perpetual remembrance and firmly observed, we have caused the same to be done in the form of a handwriting : the one part •whereof to be kept by us, and the other by the said William and the said Nuns, and have mutually sealed the same &c.*

" Witness, Alardus, Dean of London and others."

This foundation of the priory was probably about the year 1212, in the latter part of the reign of King John, for Alardus de Burnham, Dean of St. Paul's, died on the 14th August, 1216.t

The nuns were of the Benedictine order, and wore a black habit with a cloak, cowl, and veil. J

William Basing, one of the sherifi's of London in 1308, 2 Edward II., was a great benefactor to this priory, which he augmented both in building and revenue, for which probably he was also holden to be a founder. § Not long after the time of the above William Basing, one Henry Gloucester was interred here, descended from him, by the mother's side, whose will and testament are here inserted : —

" In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the

Holy Ghost, Amen.

" I Henry de Gloucester, Citizen and Goldsmith of London, do

make my Will and Testament as follows. I leave my body to

be buried at St. Helens, London, in such place as the Prioress

* Dugdale, Mouascon Angl., vol. iv. p. 553. Ed. Loud. 1817-30. t Newcourt's Eepertorium, vol. i. p. 364.

J For the Eules of the Benedictine Order, see Appendix B. § Weever's Fun. Monts., p. 1.21.

William Basing' s Will. 7

and Nuns of that Convent shall direct. I also leave to my daughter Elizabeth a Nun in the said convent of St. Helens, six shillings. I also leave to the prioress and convent of St. Helens, Eleven Marks of Silver annually, for the purpose of providing two monks to perform divine service in the said church of St. Helen for my soul, for the soul of Margaret formerly my Wife and for the souls of William my father and of Wilhelmina my mother, daughter of Thomas de Basings brother of William de Basings the founder &c. The remainder I leave for the maintenance of my son John ; and if my said son John shall die without any offspring, the whole shall remain to my daughter Johanna, and the heirs of her body lawfully begotten. I also leave to my niece Johanna Adynet five shillings : Given and executed at London on Thursday next after the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle. Anno Dom. 1332 in the sixth year of the reign of King Edward III."*

A Cottonian manuscript, a large sheet of parchment, contains the following regulations, drawn up a.d. 1439, to be observed by the nuns of the convent, to which is appended a very small piece, containing a petition from the convent. The seal is much broken, A perfect impression of the seal appendant to a deed, dated 1531, 26 Hen. VIII., is among the records of the Leathersellers^ Company.t

* Probateof this will was made January 15, 1332, 6 Edward III. — MSS. in Bib. Cotton. Weever, Fun. Monts., p. 421.

The original is in Latin as follows : —

" In nomine patris, et filii et spiritus sancti, Amen. Ego, Henricus de Gloncestre, civis et aurifaber London, condo testamentum meum in hunc modum, Lego corpus meum ad sepeliendum apud Sanctam Elenam, London ; ubi priorissa et conventus eiusdem domus ibidem eligere voluerint. Item lego Elizabeth filie mce, Moniali eiusdem domus, sancte Elene, sex solid. Item lego Priorisse et Conventui Sancte Elene undecim marcas argenti annuatim ad inuenend. duos CapeUanos Divina celebrare in eadem Ecolesia Sancte Elene, pro anima mia, et anima Margarete quondam uxoris mee, ac pro animabtis Willelmi patris mei, et WiUelme, matris mee, fil Thome de Basings, fratris Willelmi de Basings, Eundatoris, &c. Eesiduum vero lego ad sustentationem Johannis filii mei. Etsi idem Johannes filius mens sine prole obierit, integre remaneat Johanne filie mee et heredibus de corpore suo legitime procreatis. Item lego Elizabeth filie mee, duas schopas abenas. Item lego Johanne Adynet nepte mee, quinque soUdos. Dat et act, London die Jovis prox . post festum. Sancti Aiidree . Apostoli . Ann . Dom . 1332. Eeg Eegia Ed, 3. 6." f Malcolm's Lond. Eediviv., vol. iii. p. 548.

8 Kentwodes Constitutions.

" Constitutiones per Decanum et Capitulum Ecclesise Cathedralis S. Pauli, Lond. factse, Moniales Ccenobii S. Helense prope Bishopsgate infra civitatem London, tangentes :*—

"Reynold Kentwode, Dean and Chapeter of the Church of Ponies, to the religious women. Prioress and Covent of the priory of Seynt Eleyns, of owre patronage and jurisdictyon immediat, and every nunne of the said priory, gretyng in God with desyre of religyous observances and devocyon. For as moche as in oure visitacyon ordinarye in your priorye boothe in the hedde, and in the membris late actually exersyd, we have founden many defautes and excesses, the whiche nedythe notory correccyon and reformacyon, we, wyllyng vertu to be cherished, and holy relygion for to be kepte as in the rules of your ordyerre, we ordeyne and make certeyne Ordenauns and Injuaccyons, weche we sende you wrete and seelyd undir owre commone seele, for to be kepte in forme as thei ben articled and wretyn unto you.

" Firste. We ordeyne and enjoyne you, that deveyne servyce be don by you duly nyghte and day, and silence duly kepte in due time and place, after the observance of youre religione.

"Also we ordayne and enjoyne you Prioresse and Covente, and eche of you syngerly, that ye make due and hole confession to the confessor assigned be us.

"Also we enjoyne you Prioresse and Covent, that ye ordeyne conveuyent place of firmarye, in the wiche your seeke sustres may be honestly kepte and releyed withe the costes and expences of youre house, accustomed in the relygion durynge the tyme of heere sikenesse.

" Also we enjoyne you Prioresse that ye kepe youre dortour, and by thereinne by nythe, aftyr observaunce of your relygion, without that the case be suche that the lawe and the observaunce of youre religione suffreth you to do the contraye.

" Also we ordeyne and injoyne you Prioresse and Covent, that noo seculere be lokkyd withinne the boundes of the cloystere ; ne no seculere persones come withinne aftyr the bell of complyne, except wymment servantes and mayde childeryne lerners, also admitte no one sojournauntes wymment withoute lycence of us.

"Also we ordeyne and enjoyne you Prioresse and Covent, that

* Dugdale, Monastioon Angl., vol. iv. p. 553. Ed. Lond. 1817-30 [Hodie Hot. antiq. Cotton. Mus.] Ex ipso autogr. in Bibl. Hatton,

Directions to Prioress and Convent. 9

yCj ne noone of youre sustres use nor haunte any place withinne the Priory, thoroghe the wiche evel suspeccyione or sclaundere mythe aryse ; wyche places for certeyne causes that move us, we wryte not here inne our present injunccyone, but wole notyfie to your Prioress : nor have no lokyng nor spectacles owtewarde, thorght the which ye mythe falle in worldlye delectacyone.