CORRESPONDENCE OF SYLVANUS URBAN. Worcestershire Manuscripts-Vacarius' Epitome of the Roman Law-The Holy Loaf-The Chapel of Mary Magdalen and St. Armill at Tothill-The Emperors and the Kings of the East. WORCESTERSHIRE MANUSCRIPTS.-VACARIUS' EPITOME OF THE ROMAN LAW. - MR. URBAN, — Among the valuable MSS. in existence relating to this county are the Dineley, Jeffries, and Townsend, besides those of Dr. Prattenton, now in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries. To preserve these, with a view to publication, should be an object of solicitude to all literary men in the county. The Dineley manuscripts, now in the possession of Sir T. E, Winnington, Bart., M.P., consist of three volumes, written between 1670 and 1680, by Thomas Dineley, esq., a member of one of the oldest Worcestershire families. One of the volumes contains accounts of his visits to many churches in this county as also to adjacent towns, and about a dozen cathedrals; pen-and-ink sketches of monuments, coats of arms, dresses, &c., many of them exquisitely done; copies of inscriptions, both quaint and curious; tracings of pedigrees, &c.-showing the compiler to have been a gentleman well versed in ecclesiastical antiquities, a classical scholar, well acquainted with heraldry, and an accurate draughtsman. The second volume treats of "A Voyage in the Kingdom of France," and another in Ireland, treating of the Irish manners, customs, superstitions, &c. This part of the volume is curious and valuable, but rather broad in describing the disgusting habits of the poor Irish of that day. The third volume has the following title:"The Jovrnall of my Traveils through the Low-Countreys, Anno D'ni 1674." It appears that in Dec. 1671 Mr. Dineley went in the suite of "Sir G. Downing, Knt. and Barrt., Ambassador from his most sacred Ma'tie to ye States Generall of the United Provinces." His journal is written in a minute but beautiful caligraphy, and denotes habits of judicious observation. In his notice of the town of Dort, in Holland, he alludes to the great abundance of salmon, and mentions a custom which I had long thought was by no means confined to the city of Worcester: he observes, "It is sayd that prentices and maid servants, before they enter into service, indent not to be oblig'd to eat salmon above twice a week." Salmon, it seems, was so plentiful in the 17th century, as to be a source rather of annoyance than pleasure, for Mr. Dineley had already stated in his MS. on Ireland (chapter on Limerick), while describing a remarkable salmon weir there, "having a castle without tymber or nayle, in the middle of the river," that "here the custom is to grant tickets for salmon gratis to all strangers who will eat them upon the place. This the Corporac'on is obliged to, though they set it for 2001. per ann." In some common-place notes at the end of the volume is the following entry : "Hops among other things brought into England 15 Hen. VIII., wherefore this rithme Turkeyes, carps, hops, pickerel, and beer, Henry Jeffries (who died in 1709), the last heir male and proprietor of the manor of Clifton-upon-Teme, was a man of some learning, and left a manuscript memorandum-book in which he had jotted down his own observations de omnibus rebus, and generally in so easy and familiar a way as to render them agreeable as well as instructive. This relic likewise belongs to Sir Thomas Winnington, one of whose ancestors married the heiress of the Jeffries family about a century and half ago. Specimens of its multifarious contents are given in vol. ii. of "The Rambler in Worcestershire," from which they appear to be invested with great local interest to the neighbourhood of Clifton, Stanford, and Shelsley, as also to the general antiquary. The Townsend MS. is in the possession of Mr. G. E. Roberts of Kidderminster. It is an interleaved copy of "The Compleat Justice, London, 1661," in octavo, and consists of 420 pages of letter-press, and 470 in MS. It is well bound in calf, with initials of the Knight ("HT") impressed on sides, and his autograph on a fly-leaf. Sir Henry's aim may have been to render it a book of legal reference, as upon one of the first leaves he gives a key to a great part of the MSS. in a list of authorities quoted. But amongst them exists much matter of a more interesting nature. The following list of the more valuable mems. will afford an idea of their character:- 1. Orders at quarter sessions for the raising of monies for the repair of Worcester after the battle, 13 Jan. 1651, 2. Sundry criminal cases tried at sessions between 1651 and 1662. 3. Laws respecting "alehowses con sented to vpon presentmt of ye grand jury," within the county, 1660. within 4. Limitation of "alehowses the county, 1649, with lists of "ye certeyn number allowed." 5. Forms of binding "apprentizes to husbandry," 1650. 6. Copies of royal proclamations17 Jan. 1660, 12 Car. 2. Commanding all officers to forbear seizing arms or other munitions without warrant. 26 Ap. 1662, 14 Car. 2. Setting rates for all provisions sold within the limits of the Court. 29 Jan. 1660. Forbidding the eating of flesh in Lent, and all other fish days. 17 Jan. 1662. The same. 16 Aug. 1661. Limiting the number of horses in carriers' waggons. 29 Sep. 1662. The same. 19 Ap. 1661. Against seamen serving foreign princes. 13 Aug. 1660. Against duels. 30 Dec. 1661. For the better discovering of thefts, offering rewards of knowledge of the offenders. 9 May, 1661. To put in execution an old statute for the relief of the poor. 30 May, 1660. Against profanity. No date. Against the planting of tobacco (with orders of sessions respecting it, 1662.) 16 Jan. 1660. Authorising search for seditious papers. 10 Jan. 1660. Forbidding seditious meetings. 7. Mems. on the Act of Oblivion, 1660; also notes from Sir E. Hyde's speech thereon. 8. Orders of Court respecting bridges at Tenbury, Knightsford, Home, Stanford, "Stone bridg in Alfric," and Haford; also, the parishes of Hartlebury, Lindridge, and Wolverley exempted from county payments towards repair of bridges. 9. "My Lord Couentry's letter to ye justices of ye county conserning certificats about fyre," 1661. 10. Heads of the Act of Uniformity, 1662. 11. Charges of Sir Waddem Wyndham and Sir Robt. Hyde at Worcester and Gloucester Assizes (many). 12. Order of sessions, 3 Jan. 1660, that all cottages erected in the time of the late wars be plucked down. 13. Table of fees agreed on, Worc. Sess. 15 Ap. 9 Car. for clerk of assize; also fees for clerk of the peace, 1662. 14. Orders and Mems. respecting the county gaol, 1660. 15. Inquiry by a Royal Commission the cathedral school at Worc. 1653; esults in detail. Orders of sessions respecting the new house of correction, 1659; and against making of malt within the county, 6th Car. 2. 17. Orders respecting the pensions of the muster master and provost marshall, 1660. 18. Punishment of Quakers at sessions, 1661. 19. Orders of the King's Majesty, made 1636, concerning the plague. 20. Orders of sessions respecting the poor people of this county. 21. Charges of Mr. Baron Atkins, Worc. 1684. 22. Orders of sessions for payments to wounded soldiers, 1651 (many). 23. Heads of the charges delivered by Bp. Gauden, Worc. 1662. 24. Interesting notes on witchcraft, and trial of witches. A MS. was recently discovered in the Worcester Chapter Library which is believed to be unique in this country-at least, there is no record of any similar one having ever been found here;-it is Vacarius' Epitome of the Roman law. At Vacarius was a celebrated Italian doctor of law, a native of Lombardy, who it is supposed was brought to this country by Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury, and became professor of law at Oxford, in the reign of Stephen. There he introduced the study of the Roman law, just then reviving throughout Europe after the discovery of the Pandects at Amalfi; there also he wrote his famous work, comprising an epitome of the whole Roman law, for the use of his very numerous pupils. length, either through jealousy or Papal influence, he was forbidden to lecture, was banished from the university, and his books ordered to be destroyed. It is supposed that he himself took holy orders, and retired to a monastery. Although his numerous pupils, on leaving Oxford, had each no doubt for the most part secured a copy for themselves, no record exists of one having ever been found in England, during the seven centuries which succeeded -so effectual was the royal mandate for its destruction. The only instance in which he is known to be mentioned by any of our legal writers is by Blackstone, who merely states the fact of the introduction of the civil law into England by such a personage; and for a long time Vacarius was thought to be nothing more than a mythological embodiment of the introduction of Roman law into this country. the continent the only four copies of his work known to be in existence are deposited in the libraries of Konigsberg, Prague, and Bruges, and one in the possession of the Emperor of Russia. Great search has been made in our public libra On 1855.] Correspondence of Sylvanus Urban. ries, and those of the cathedrals especially, as it was thought that, had any copies survived the order for their destruction, they would have been stored in the monasteries, and from thence been transferred to our cathedrals at the Reformation; but the inquiry was entirely unsuccessful until a few months ago, when a copy was found in the Worcester Chapter library, concealed under the name of the "Code of Justinian." Every reasonable proof of its identity has been given, although the title is missing. It is otherwise in good preservation, and is beautifully written and It need not be added how illuminated. 47 valuable the MS. is, as a monument of the THE HOLY LOAF. MR. URBAN,-Your correspondent "E. P." (Dec. p. 590), must be in error when he says that the Halesowen entry has "no reference to the holy elements, but to the eulogia," and also that "it would be difficult to show that common household bread was ever used for that purpose." In "Wheatley on the Common Prayer (c. 6, sec. 30) is the following:-"And that the primitive church always used common bread, appears, in that the elements for the holy Eucharist were always taken out of the people's oblations of bread and wine, which doubtless were such as they themselves used upon other occasions. But when these oblations began to be left off (about the 11th or 12th century), the clergy were forced to provide the elements themselves; and they, under pretence of decency and respect, brought it from leavened to unleavened, and from a loaf of common bread, that might be broken, to a nice wafer, formed in the figure of a denarius, or penny, to represent, as some Yours, &c. J. NOAKE. And then also the imagine, the thirty pence for which our Saviour was sold. people, instead of offering a loaf, as formerly, were ordered to offer a penny." And in par. 7 of same section it is said"It was the custom for every house in the parish to provide in their turns the holy loaf (under which name, I suppose, were comprehended both the elements of bread and wine), and the good man and good woman that provided were particularly remembered in the prayers of the church. But by the first book of King Edward the care of providing was thrown upon the pastors and curates, who were obliged continually to find, at their costs and charges, in their cures, sufficient bread and wine for the holy Communion, as oft as their parishioners should be disposed for their spiritual comfort to receive the same,' By the injunctions of Queen Elizabeth, wafer-bread was ordered to supersede "the sacramental bread of common fine bread." J. NOAKE. Worcester, Dec. 6. THE CHAPEL OF MARY MAGDALEN AND ST. ARMILL AT TOTHILL. MR. URBAN,-In that portion of Stowe's "From the entry into Totehill field the So little has been known of this chapel, that even the intelligence Stowe obtained could not be handed down to the present age without some defect or traditional misrepresentation. There was no St. Hermit; and the locality of the hill Stowe describes seems to have been identical with &c. the site of the chapel of Mary Magdalen. From the following short record we learn that nigh Totehill (prope Totehill) there was a free chapel belonging to the Abbey of Westminster, dedicated to the Blessed Hermit of Stowe. It is not improbable Mary Magdalen and Saint Armill, the St. that this free chapel may have had its origin (as I have frequently noticed in other instances) in a hermitage founded in ancient times, and hence the St. Hermit; but what is certain, appears from the record itself, Pat. 24 Hen. VIII. p. 2. "The King, to all to whom, &c. Greeting; Know ye that we of our special grace and of our certain knowledge and mere motion have given and granted, and by these presents do give and grant, to our beloved subject, John Hulston, of the town of Westminster, in our county of Middle times even when they are present, if the authority of those nominated by the King be such that they ought to give place to them. And this is the disposition of the first seat. On the second bench, which is on the long side of the Exchequer, in the chief seat is placed the clerk or other servant of the Chamberlains, with the counter-tallies of receipt next to him, and after any of those who are not seated there ex officio, but are sent by the King, there is a place in the middle of the side of the Exchequer for him who takes the account by the ranging of the counters; after him some not ex officio yet necessary. At the end of that bench is the seat of the clerk who is set over the Scriptorium, and he sits ex officio. Thus you have the disposition of the second bench. But to the right of the presiding judge, and in the first place, sits the present bishop of Winchester not ex officio, but under a recent appointment, in order that he may sit next to the Treasurer, & apply himself diligently to the writing upon the roll. After him the Treasurer at the top of the second [third?] bench on the right hand. Next after him sits his clerk, who is the writer of the Treasury roll. After him a writer of the Chancery roll. After him the chancellor's clerk. After him, at the bottom of that bench, sits the con stable's clerk. And this is the descrip. tion of the third bench. On the fourth bench, which is opposite to the justiciary, at the top sits Master Thomas Brown with the third roll, lately added by the King, because, as it is written, "a threefold cord is not easily broken." After him the sheriffs & their clerks, who sit to account with tallies and other ne cessary things. And this is the dispo sition of the fourth seat. It is apparent from this description of the Court as it appeared in the time of Henry II. that it bears but a very slight resemblance to the court as depicted in our sketch; slight however as the resemblance is, we gather from it the fact that the sheriffs and their clerks then sat to account in the Exchequer at a time when the court was composed of its principal members; and that in Edward the Second's reign the Treasurer, Barons, Chamberlains, and other officers sat in pleno scaccario upon the proffers of sheriffs and other accountants is shown by the Memoranda Roll of the English Exchequer, 5 Edw. II., when the Earls of Pem * broke and Hereford, and other magnates, came to the court, and with threats directed the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield to act no longer as treasurer. Upon referring to the Calendar to the Patent and Close Rolls of the Irish Chancery, pp. 105 and 108, we find that in the 1st and 4th years of Richard the Second, the Court of Exchequer in Ireland consisted of a Treasurer, Chancellor, a chief and two puisne Barons, two Chamberlains, two Engrossers, the Treasurer's clerk, the King's Attorney of the Exchequer, Chief Remembrancer, the Second Remembrancer, Summonister, Transcriptor of the Estreats, the Chaplain, Marshal, and Usher. These records present to us a court composed of five judges and twelve officers, and consequently fail to convey a true picture of it as it is given in our sketch, which is composed of but twelve figures, exclusive of that at the bottom, whom I take to be a sheriff and not a member of the court. Elizabeth, acting under the advice of her Treasurer Burghley, was extremely anxious to reform the Irish Exchequer, and to make the practice of the court analogous to that of England, and for this purpose she transmitted to Ireland a Book of Orders, which contains the following entry : Item, the Barons of the saide Exchequor & all other officers and ministers of the same Courte, shall geve theire diligent attendaunce in the same Courte in crastino Sancti Michaelis and crastino clausi Pascha, yerelie there to take & receyve the proffers of all and singuler shreves, eschetors, sceneshalles or stewards of liberties, & bayliffes accomptable in the same Eschequor, &c. accordinge to the auncient course of the sayde Eschequor. This record however fails to throw much, if any, light upon the figures in the sketch; and even the following, although it goes more fully into particulars, affords but little aid towards that object. It is remarkable however as giving precedence to the Treasurer before the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and I shall assume it to be the fact that the Treasurer was the principal judge of the Irish Ex * Madox, vol. i. p. 267. chequer at the time when our sketch was made. Saturday, 5th July, 1617. Memorandum, this day the right honorable the Lord Deputy came into Court, attended with divers of the Barons & others of the privy council, & also by Sir Dominick Sarsfield, knight, lord chief justice of the Common Pleas, & Sir Francis Aungier, knight, master of the rolls, in assistance to be present at the taking of an office or inquisition post mortem of Richard late lord baron Bourke of Castleconnell, &c. And the lord deputy being set on the highest bench of the Courte, and the lord cheefe barron and the master of the Rolls on his left hand, and Master vice-threasurer & the lord Sarsfield and Mr. Chauncellor of the Exchequer on his right hande, and all the other lords and privy councell and barrons and the king's councell sett on the lower benches, the Courte proceeded to the said inquiry, &c. I propose now to take in review the different figures of our sketch, commencing with the usher, who is placed at the extreme right and at the top with his staff of office in his right hand, and ending with the sheriff, who is seated at the table at the foot of the sketch, and whose head is covered with a cap of a peculiar form. There can be little doubt that the exclamations which proceed as it were from the mouths of the several figures, and also the words that appear upon the parchments which are placed in the hands of three of the officers, and the words upon the sheriff's cap, were intended to convey the nature of the office that was held by each of those persons, and thus assisted I have assigned to them the following offices: 1. to the figure to the left of the usher the office of second remembrancer; 2. to his left is placed the chief remembrancer; 3. the summonister to the left of the chief remembrancer; 4. the pursui vant; and, 5, the marshal. These occupy the upper bench. Upon the bench to the left of the picture we have three figures, the uppermost I conceive to be one of the Barons of the Exchequer; immediately beneath him is probably the chancellor of the court, and the third may be the treasurer. Opposite to the judges and at the bar we have, as I presume, three suitors or strangers to the court; and, lastly, as I have already observed, we have the sheriff seated alone at the table. THE USHER. It appears by an Exchequer record* of 5 Edw. II., that when John Dymmok and John de Eggemere were appointed ushers (hostiares) of the English Exchequer, the barons directed them to cause the court to be firmly closed at sunset and not to be again opened until sunrise; that persons for whom they would be responsible should sleep therein every night; and that they should not permit a candle or any fire to be therein introduced, so that, as Madox observes, "the King's records which were laid up there might be in safety." And, says the author of the Dialogus de Scaccario, Ostium domus illius in qua Scaccarium residet, Ostiarius ille solus sine consorte custodit. The following document has relation to the usher's robe, which it appears was by an ancient custom in Ireland supplied to him by the sheriff of the county of Dublin once every year. Be it remembered that John Gerard the deputy of Martin de Fishacre the usher of Derpatrick the sheriff of Dublin for the the Exchequer proceeded against John fee of 208. for taking his oath; to which the sheriff replied that it was not the custom for any sheriff to pay the usher any fee save the gown (robam) he had on when he was being sworn, which he is ready to give; and the treasurer and barons, considering that the sheriff had used his gown ever since he was sworn, and that it was much deteriorated and of less value than when he took his oath, they adjudged him to pay the usher his demand. (Memoranda Roll Scacc. Hib. 6 Edw. II. m. 13). By the Rotulus Exituum of the Exchequer of Ireland of the 1st Hen. V. it appears that it formed a part of the duty of the usher to supply the court and its officers with parchment, ink, and other necessaries. The following payments were made to Thomas Walleys, the usher, in the year 1414. For 18 dozen & 4 skins of parch ment One pottle & a pynt " of ink Two bags for holding the books of the two chamberlains * Madox, vol. ii. p. 278. 8. d. 27 5 |