England as well as in Scotland, we may rationally conclude, from the marcheta mulierum that was anciently paid here, as well as there, in lieu of it. Whereof I have seen a particular record of one Maynard of Berkshire, who held his lands by this tenure of the abbot of Abington, per servitium 18d. per annum, et dandi maritagium et marchetum pro filia et sorore sua ad voluntatem ipsius abbatis (Plac. de Banco in Die Pasch. 34, H. III. Rot. 20, Berksh.)" This record is cited by Spelman, Glossar. v. Marcheta; together with another for Suffolk, where the tenants paid, on the marriage of their daughters, duas horas, or 32d. both which plainly prove, that this marcheta was nothing more than a fine certain, or at the will of the lord, paid by the copyholders for licence to marry their daughters. Keysler, a German of much reading, has detailed much nonsense on the same mistake (Antiq. Septentr. 484-489,) which his countryman Wachter first detected (Gloss. Germ. v. Reitschof, 1279,) without, however, ascertaining the meaning of the word. Marchetum implies both a fine paid to the lord by the tenant as a penalty for suffering his daughter to be debauched, and also a fine for a licence to give her in marriage. Instances of both may be seen in Spelman, ubi supra, and in Lord Hailes's judicious dissertation on this subject at the end of the first volume of his "Annals of Scotland," (p. 312-329,) where the very probable origin of the custom is assigned. Though we cannot possibly tell how the clause in the Essex lease is to be read; is it not therefore more than likely that it was capable of no other construction than that reserved by the abbot of Abington? and, whatever might be the inclinations of either lord, they derived no other power of doing wrong from this service, than the good cardinal of Piedmont did by his privilege, however his fancy prompted him to destroy the grant. As little probability is there in the account given by Dr. Layton of the prior of Maiden Bradley: Ye shall also receive a bag of relicks, where ye shall see strange things, as God's coat, our Lady's smock, part of God's supper, in caná Domini pars petræ super quam natus erat Jesus in Bethlehem, belike Bethlehem affords plenty of stone. These are all of Maiden Bradley, whereof a holy father is prior, who hath but six children, and but one daughter married yet, of the goods of the monastery, but trusting shortly to marry the rest: his sons, tall men, waiting upon him. He thanks God he never meddled with married women, but all with maidens, fairest that could be gotten, and always married them right well; the Pope, considering his fragilitie, gave him his licence to keep a w-e, and he had good writing, sub plumbo, to discharge his conscience, and to choose Mr. Underhill to be his ghostly father, and to give him plenam remissionem." 1787, May. D. A. D. CVII. Remarkable Particulars in our ancient Parochial Churches. MR. URBAN, HAVING frequent opportunities of travelling into Kent, and receiving much pleasure from antiquarian contemplation, I beg leave to submit to yourself and numerous correspondents, an humble attempt for the purpose of explaining the uses in which some of the most remarkable particulars yet remaining about our ancient parochial churches were employed, as well from observation, as the assistance of undoubted authority; and which I flatter myself, may not be wholly unacceptable. INDAGATOR. The first thing I shall mention as deserving notice is the vestibulum ecclesia, or porch, in which is generally found a bench on each side, extending its whole length; and, in many places yet remaining, the fragments of a stone bason, situated on the right-hand of the entrance to the church at the height of about three feet from the ground; this was the receptacle for holy water, used by every one about to enter the sacred edifice. The porch was, without doubt, a very ancient appendage to the church; for Sexburga, who founded the nunnery at Minster, in the isle of Sheppy, is said to have expired in the church porch at Milton in Kent, anno 680; and Gervase, the monk of Canterbury, in his account of the burning of Christ-church, 1174, says, "accensus est ignis ante portam ecclesiæ extra muros atrii." However the porch may have been passed over as a matter of mere ornament, it had its especial uses, which I will endeavour immediately to explain. In that part of the will of the pious Henry VI. relative to the foundation of his college at Eton, is this article: "Item, in the south side of the body of the church a fair large door with a porch, and the same for christening of children and weddings." Somner relates, that in 1299 Royal Wills, p. 279, Edward I. was married at Canterbury to Margaret, sister to the King of France, by Archbishop Winchelsea," in ostio ecclesiæ versus claustrum*." The following rubric occurs in a missal, printed at Paris in 1515, secundum usum Sarum: "statuantur vir et mulier ante ostium ecclesiæ, sive in faciem ecclesiæ coram Deo, et sacerdote et populo;" &c. which points out the use of the porch in the performance of this rite. By the rituals under the article, " de benedictione mulieris post partum," i. e. churching women, it appears, that the priest goes to the door of the church, where the woman is to receive ecclesiastical benediction, kneeling down; the 23d psalm is said, with some responses, after which she is led into the church, the conclusion being made before the altar. But the most particular use of the porch was in administering the sacrament of baptism. "Stans igitur in ecclesiæ limine sacerdos, interrogat catechizandum stantem ad fores ecclesiæt." Here the necessary questions being asked, and prayers being said, "ducat eum vel eam in ecclesiam dicendo, Ingredere in sanctam ecclesiam Dei ut accipias benedictionem cœlestem a Domino Jesu Christo." Nothing can be more apparent, than that the performance of these rites would have been many times impracticable, not to say dangerous to the health of persons so tender as women generally are at the time of churching, and particularly infants when baptized, had it not been for the kind invention of the porch, which effectually secured them against the inclemency of the seasons, and by which every necessity for delaying these duties was removed. Entering the body of the church, or "aula ecclesiæ," the font is discovered usually placed near the doors at the west end. They are to be met with of very ancient forms; many, as may be conjectured from their decorations, seeming to have remained since the Norman, and even the Saxon times; nor has due attention been wanting to these venerable remains of sacred antiquity, though the reason for their vast capacity is as yet, in some measure, to be freed from doubt. Respecting the font itself, it should, by a constitution of Archbishop Edmund, be placed in every church where baptism might be performed; also the font, or "baptisterium," must be "lapideum, vel aliud competens, scil. quod baptizandus possit in eo mergit," according to Lynwood, which may be assigned as one sufficient cause of its largeness: it Hist. Canterbury, 167. + Missale Rom. secundum Usum Romanæ Ecclesiæ, Lugduni, 1528. Gibson's Codex, vol. 1. 435. should also be inclosed within a lattice, nor should the water be kept in it, according to the said constitution, above seven days. As the method of baptizing throws some light on the subject, it will be worth the insertion. By the 42d apostolic canon, three ablutions of one mystery were commanded on pain of being deposed; this seems to have been the usual practice of the church. The mode of baptizing was thus, according to the practice of the Roman Court: "tunc baptizet eum sub trina mersione sanctam trinitatem semel invocando, sic dicens, N. ego te baptizo in nomine patris, et merget semel, et filii, et merget secundo, et spiritus sancti, et merget tertio*." I shall now beg your attention towards the chancel, at the entrance of which, placed on the "gradus chori," (where many things were read in the jejune seasons of the year,) stands the skreen dividing it from the "aula." This is frequently of excellent work, but too well known to need any description, though it will not be impertinent to remark, that in the above will of Henry VI. there is mention of a "reredosse (skreen,) bearing the rood-loft departing the choir and the body of the churcht." At the North end of the skreen, in many old churches, the entrance of a small staircase seems worthy of attention. This leads up to a door, at a moderate height from the pavement. At this door was the place of the pulpit, probably the rood-loft, as appears from the following rubrics: "Incepta vero ultima oratione ante epistolam subdiaconus per medium chori ad legendum epistolam in pulpitum accedat."-"Quando epistola legitur duo pueri in superpelliciis, facta inclinatione ad altare ante gradum chori in pulpitum per medium chori ad gradale incipiendum se preparent et suum versum cantandum." There is also another, for reading the Gospel towards the North, in the same place by the deacon, attended by the subdeacon, who holds the book; as also by two clerks, bearing candles, with a third, having the thuribulum." As it would be impossible for so many to perform their duty with propriety, circumscribed in the narrow limits of the present pulpit, it is natural to conclude, the pulpit to which these stairs led might be the rood-loft, particularly as it appears to have been placed over the skreen, as is manifest from the will of Henry VI. and that the upper stair usually ascends nearly even with the top of the skreen. From this place also the sermon was made, the curate being obliged to Missale, 1528. Royal Wills, 302. Missale, 1515. preach four times in the year, by an ecclesiastical constitution of Archbishop Peckham, in which this injunction is worth remarking: "Exponat populo vulgariter absque cujuslibet subtilitatis textura fantastica*." From which reading and preaching to the people assembled in the nave, "ubi insident ipsi parochiani laicit," it may be concluded, the body of the church received the name of "auditorium." The chancel itself comes next in order to be considered. Lynwood says, " Cancellus est intersticium inter propugnacula murorum quale est quod claudit chorum a nave ecclesiat." This seems to have been considered, in all ages, as the most sacred part of the church. We find, by the 19th Laodicean canon, none were admitted but those of the priesthood during the oblation; and women were totally excluded by the 44th canon of the same council. From the present remains of our old parochial chancels it is natural to conclude them to have been adapted to the most solemn acts of religion. Upon entering it from the nave, we observe, on either hand, the remaining stalls, with desks before them, appropriated to the use of the choir; which, notwithstanding, the author of "The Kentish Traveller's Companion" (who observes, the sacred offices of superstition were sung in this place,) thinks was composed of priests officiating at the altars of chauntries, founded in the church or parisng: and Dr. Harris, or Mr. Thorpe after him, supposes them to be for accommodating the clergy attending the archbishops residing at their mansion: who might have seen them in churches not of the peculiars, and where there never were any episcopal mansions. But as stalls are found in churches where it is improbable there should be priests officiating in chauntries sufficient to fill perhaps a dozen or more seats, and also where no great flocks of clergy had occasion to come, the choir might have been composed of such of the parishioners as should chuse to sing, there being no reason for excluding the laity from thence, since the establishment of St. Stephen's, Westminster, and several other foundations of that kind, admitted of choristers, an office not included in the seven degrees of orders in the church. Proceeding up the chancel, we ascend three steps, on which once stood the high altar, now occupied by the communion table. The altar should be of stone, and consecrated by the bishop. The ends were termed its horns; + Ibid. * Gib. Codex. Ibid. 222. § Page 71. |