JOHN STOW’S MONUMENT.
JOHN STOW’S MONUMENT.
Many a long journey Stow made in search of information. He could not ride, and had to travel on foot. In the midst of great trials it is recorded that his good humour never forsook him. In his old age he was troubled with pains in his feet, and quietly remarked that his “afflictions lay in the parts he had formerly made so much use of.”
We might well suppose that Stow’s blameless life would render him free from suspicion, and that his grateful countrymen would regard with respect his great work in writing the history of England. Such was not the case. It was thought that his researches would injure the reformed religion, and on this miserable plea he was cast into prison, and his humble home was searched. We obtain from the report of the searchers an interesting account of the contents of Stow’s library. It consisted, we are told, of “great collections of his own, of his English chronicles, also a great sort of old books, somefabulous, asSir Gregory Triamour, and a great parcel of old manuscript chronicles in parchment and paper; besides miscellaneous tracts touching physic, surgery, herbs, and medical receipts, and also fantastical popish books printed in old time, and others written in old English on parchment.”
John Stow failed to make much money, but on the whole, he lived a peaceful life, enjoying the many pleasures that fall to the lot of the student. Happily for him, to use Howes’ words, “He was careless of the scoffers, backbiters, and detractors.”
It is Howes who also tells that Stow always protested never to have written anything either of malice, fear, or favour, nor to seek his own particular gain or vain-glory, and that his only pains and care was to write the truth.
At the age of four score years, his labours received State acknowledgment. It was indeed a poor acknowledgment, for, in answer to a petition, James I. granted him a licence to beg. Stow sought help, to use his own words, as “a recompense for his labour and travel of forty-five years, in setting forth theChronicles of England, and eight years taken up in theSurvey of the Cities of London and Westminster, towards his relief in his old age, having left his former means of living,and also employing himself for the service and good of his country.”
The humble request was granted, and the document says:—“Whereas our loving subject, John Stow (a very aged and worthy member of our city of London), this five-and-forty years hath, to his great charge, and with neglect of his ordinary means of maintenance (for the general good, as well of posterity as of the present age), compiled and published divers necessary books and chronicles; and therefore we, in recompense of these his painful labours, and for encouragement of the like, have, in our Royal inclination, been pleased to grant our Letters Patent, under our Great Seal of England, thereby authorising him, the said John Stow, to collect among our loving subjects their voluntary contributions and kind gratuities.”
The foregoing authority to beg was granted for twelve months, but, as the response was so small, it pleased the King to extend the privilege for another year. From one parish in the City of London he only received seven shillings and sixpence—a poor reward, to use Stow’s words, “of many a weary day’s travel, and cold winter night’s study.”
His end now was drawing near, and mundane trials were almost over. On the 5th of April, 1605, his well-spent life closed, and his mortal remains were laid to rest in his parish church of St. Andrew, Undershaft. Here may still be seen the curious and interesting monument which his loving widow erected. It is pleasant to leave the busy streets of the great metropolis and repair to the quiet sanctuary where rests the old chronicler, and look upon his quaint monument, and reflect on ages long passed. When the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed the London Stow had so truthfully described, his monument escaped destruction.
Ye Ende
INDEX.
Abingdon, customs at,56Advertisement, novel,194-197Age of Snuffing,168-185Alleyn, Edward, founder of Dulwich College,212Altrincham, Mayor of,60-61Ambassadors, at bear-baitings,211,215-216America, Muffs in,45-46;Cold places of worship,46-47Anglo-Saxon bread,134An Old-Time Chronicler,266-274Arise, Mistress, Arise!,142-143Armstrong, Sir Thomas,84-87Arrows,152Ashbourne, custom at,241Baker’s dozen,138Baiting animals stopped by Act of Parliament,221Banbury, customs at,58Banks, Mrs. G. L., on hair-dressing,38Bankside, plan of,213Barber’s shop,21Barley bread,135Baxter, Richard, on Sunday pleasure,231Barbers fined,32Barrington, G., poet and pickpocket,180-181Barrister’s wig,18,19Barrow bells,157Bear-baiting,132-133,205-221Bells as Time-Tellers,156-167Bell ringing bequests,261-262Beverley, funeral at,123;bear-baiting at,133Bewdley, custom at,142Bish, Mr., on Lotteries,200-202Blue-Coat boys, draw at lotteries,194Boar’s-head with mustard,131Bonfires,234,235Bow bells,159Boroughbridge, Battle of,77Brandeston, removing a dead body to the church for protection,117Bread and Baking in Bygone Days,134-141Bread Street,135Bribes for the Palate,63-73British slaves, freeing,257-258Briscoe, J. P., on Nottingham customs,61-62Bromley-by-Bow, bakers at,135Burial at Cross Roads,105-114Burying the mace,53Butter and suet, prohibiting the use of in making bread,140Byng, Admiral, shot,45Cade, Jack,81Caius, Dr., on dogs,145Cambridge, regulations relating to tobacco,173Candles for lighting the streets,52Canterbury, curious customs at,52-53Capture of snuff,171Carlisle, Earl of, beheaded,78-79Carlisle, heads spiked at,92-95Charles II. and wigs,7Charlotte, Queen, gives up using hair-powder,36;taking snuff,176Christmas rhymes,142Chronicler, an Old-Time,266-274Churches, snuff taking in,172-175Clarinda, Burns on,178Clee, custom at,263Clergy and the wig,15-17Clifton rhyme,219-220Clocks, introduction of,160Clothiers in eighteenth century,165Closing shops, time for,160Cobham, Eleanor, trial of,80Cockledge, murder at,123Combing the wig,10Concerning Corporation Customs,48-62Congleton, bear-baiting at,217-218Conspiracy to assassinate William III.,87Cooper’s Hall, Lotteries at,193Cornish Insurrection,81;folk-lore,234-236Corporation snuff-boxes,168-169Craven cartoon,242Crop Clubs,34Curious Charities,255-265Curious window at Betley,225-227Curfew bell,166-167Dagger Money,57Death, Superstitions relating to,242Death of William I.,167Deering on snuff-taking,178Detaining the Dead for Debt,115-121Derby, suicide, burial of a,106Discarding wigs in court,19Doctors’ muffs,42Dogs, earliest writer on,145;in muffs,44Droylsden, suicide, burial of,108-109Druidical superstitions,234Dryden, Haunt of,182Ducking Stool,138Duels,106Earle, Mrs. A. M., on American Muffs,46Early closing of public-houses,167Eating custom,242-243Ecclesfield, tradition at,220Edward III., proclamation of, against bear-baiting,205Egypt, goose in,150Egyptians, invent wigs,1Eldon, Lord, objects to the wig,18Elizabeth, enjoys baiting animals,208Epitaphs,109,116,197,203-204,260-261Erasmus in England,206Exeter, salmon given at,70False hair,20,22Famous snuff takers,176Fathers of the Church denounce wigs,3Felo-de-se, Acts relating to,112-114Female follies,30Fined for arresting the dead,118-119,121Fined for being deficient in elegance,52First English lottery,186-188Fish, presentation of,70Fisher, Bishop, beheaded,81-82Fishtoft, burial of a suicide at,107Fitstephen on bear-baiting,205Fletcher, Captain,88-89Folk-Lore of Midsummer Eve,234-243France, Mania for Wigs in,6-7Funeral, stately,123Garrick, Mrs.,178George II., a selfish snuff-taker,185Glayer, Sir John,258-261Globe Theatre,209Gold-dust used for hair-powder,28Gossip about the Goose,150-155Great Plague, tobacco and snuff used during,169-171Guinea-pigs,35Harvest bell,156,157-158Harvest Home,244-254Hair, cut off with a bread-knife,44Hale, Sir Matthew,63-64Hamlet, Grave scene in,105Hampton Court Palace, clock at,162-163Hannibal and his wigs,5-6Hartlepool, strange enactment at,62Hawarden attacked,74Heart-breakers,20Hempseed, sowing,241Henzner, Paul,84Herrick on harvest customs,252-253Hilton, Jack of,152Hockley-in-the-Hole,220Holy bread,134Hope theatre,207Horse Guards, protect the lottery wheel,193Howard’s Household Book,145Hull, curious ordinances at,51-53;Sheriff to provide his wife with a scarlet gown,52;Andrew Marvell and Hull ale,71-73;head spiked at,95;ducking-stool at,96;Mayor slain,98;snuff-box at,168-169Incorporation of towns,48Inscription on bells,159Ireland, St. John’s eve in,236-237Irish folk-lore,175Jackson, John, and his clock,162-166Jacobites, defeat of,102James I. and tobacco,173;orders a bear to be baited to death,215Johnson, Dr. Samuel, and his snuff,182Judge’s wig,18Keeping people awake,255Kenilworth, bears baited at,211King eating meal and rye bread,141Kingston-upon-Thames, Morris Dancers at,223Knocking feet in meeting houses,47Lady, origin of,134Lamb, Charles and Mary,184Lanthorns, bequests for providing,262-263Last Lottery in England,198-200Layer, Councillor,87-88Leconfield castle,123Leeds bridge, market on,165Leicester, mace lowering at,51;bear-baiting at,216-217Leighton, Robert, poem by,183-184Letters from the dead to the living,11Licence to beg,272-273Lincolnshire geese,153Lion Sermon,258-261London Bakers’ Company,135-136London Bridge,75-84London, burials of suicides,110-111Love divinations,238-240Louth, ringing custom at,158Lowering the mace,51Ludlow, customs at,59Lycians, heads shaven and wigs worn,5Mace, as a weapon and as an ensign of authority,49Manchester, curious baking regulations,140Manorial service, curious,144,152Margarett, Princess,49,123-124Mar, Rising of,87Marvell, Andrew, and Hull ale,71-73Mary, Queen of Scots,102May-pole,233Meals in the olden time,127-129Medical men and the wig,17-18Men wearing Muffs,40-47Michaelmas goose,154Micklegate Bar, York,98-99;heads stolen from,103Milk, price of, in the olden time,268More, Sir Thomas, beheaded,83Morley, custom at,143Morris-Dancers,222-233Municipal Reform Act,48Murder, strange story of a,137Napoleon taking snuff,181;snuff-box,177-178Newcastle-on-Tyne, assize custom at,56-58;presents of wine and sugar loaves,64-66;brank at,66,67;burial of a suicide,111Nobleman’s Household in Tudor Times,122-133North Wingfield, dead body stopped at,115-116Northumberland Household Book,125-133Norwich, burial of a suicide,107Nottingham, burying the mace at,53-55;ale and bread custom,61-62;town’s presents,69;Goose Fair,154Novel mode of distributing a charity,265Over, Mayor of,60-61O’Connell, D., and his wig,22-23Parading a head,79Parliament sitting at Shrewsbury,75Palm-Sunday, battle on,101Penzance, customs at,235Pepys and his wigs,7-9;muffs,41;on the Plague,170Percy family,122-133Peter the Great obtaining the loan of a wig,23Petticoat charity,265Pig-tail,12,14Pillory, bakers in the,137Pipes and tobacco for judges,58Piper playing to workmen,247-248Pliny on the goose,150Poets’ Corner, Johnson and Goldsmith in,91-92Porpoise regarded as a delicacy,69Pope on Belinda,177Potatoes, preservation of,70-71Powdering the Hair,28-39Pontefract Castle, head spiked at,77Prison charities,255-256Punishing bakers,138-140,141Puritans and lotteries,189Quill pens,155Ramillie Wig,13Reading, Morris Dancers at,224Rebel Heads on City Gates,74-104Revolt against Henry IV.,79Reynolds, Sir Joshua,184-185Riot, Wig,25-27Rollit, Sir Albert K.,168Rome saved by the cackling of the goose,151Roper, Margaret,83,85Rushes for church floors,263-265Rye, authority of Mayor,62Rye House Plot,84-87Saxons colouring their hair,28Scarlet gowns for the Mayoress,52Scotland, wigs in,36-37;muff in,42;body arrested in,120;snuff taking in,171-173Scott, Sir Walter, on wigs,37School-boys obliged to smoke,170Schoolmasters forbidden to smoke,174Scrope, Richard, beheaded,96-97Selkirk, Making a sutor of,59Selling the Church Bible to pay for a Bear,217-220Sheridan, curious report respecting,120Shrewsbury, Parliament sitting at,75Shrouds for prisoners,256-257Shouting a kirn,248-250Slaves, freeing christian,257-258Smoking forbidden in the streets,173-174Snuffing, earliest allusion to,169Southampton, Mayoress of,50South Shields, suicide, burial of,109-110Sowing hempseed,241Sparsholt, dead body detained at,115Speaker’s wig,18Spice bread, making prohibited,140St. Albans, clock at,161St. Paul’s Lotteries drawn at the doors of,188State Lotteries,186-204Stealing wigs,24-25Sterne, a snuff taker,184Stow, John,266-274Stratford-le-Bow, bakers at,135Sugar-loaves, presentation of,62-69Tamworth, curious bye-law at,167Taxing hair-powder,31,33;repealing tax,39Taylor, John, on Hull ale,72-73Tea and snuff,178Temple Bar,84-92Test Act,48Thewes at Hull,96Towneley, Colonel,88-92Towton-field, battle of,101Turnspit, The,144-149Twyford, suicide, burial of,113-114Unwin, Mrs., fond of snuff,177Valuable snuff-boxes,181Vesper bell,167Wakefield, battle of,97-98Wales, subjugation of,74Wallace, Sir William,75Watches not usually carried,165Welsh rebels beheaded,74Wesley, Rev. John, and snuff-taking,175West Hallam, burial at four lane ends,107West Riding lore,120-121When Wigs were Worn,1-27Whittington, Dick,159Whitsun morris dance,228Wigs,1-27;Riots,25-27Wildridge, T. Tindall, on Hull,95Winchester, presents of sugar loaves at,66-69;curious regulations,215Women wearing wigs,9,22Worcester, curious baking regulation,140Wressel Castle,125Wycombe, customs at,55-56York, Duke of, slain,98;head spiked,98York, Lord Mayor of,49York, walls and gates of,96-104