of both, but part of the chapel of Cressing was still sound and entire, and therefore such part of the older building was still preserved: as may be observed in the early English window on the north side of that church, so unlike any other features which mark the rest of the building. We have good evidence that there was a former church at Witham, not merely in the grant of Stephen and Matilda, which implied a building as well as revenues, but also in what any one may observe by inspection of the present walls. He will there see long narrow bricks, which though perhaps not Roman are probably of Saxon construction: he will see also a material used in the walls, which is never known except in the oldest building, I mean the septaria or nodules of claystone, which are found in the London clay formation, and are now used only for the purposes of obtaining cement. In such a county as Essex, with no stone quarries, and great difficulty of carriage, it was the only substitute for a better stone; it was used extensively by the Romans in layers alternately with brick, as may be seen in the Roman wall at Colchester; and it probably formed either the building material obtained for the foundation of the first little church of St. Nicholas, or it may have been part of the walls of Edward the elder by which he surrounded his burgh of Witham, and, when that fell into decay, used again as the most accessible material which could be employed for the church. Besides this, however, the original church of Witham, however small, must have had some dressed stone in its doorway or chancel, for the remains of such castaway fragments of a column or of a doorway may clearly be seen among the flints and bricks which form the present wall. It is to be noticed that the new church now re-built at first only consisted of the nave and its aisles, together with the chancel: we shall presently refer to the time at which the other parts were added. In recording the first substantial building of the parish church with stone, it may be stated that the practice of building with less inflammable material than wood and thatch had become more common wherever it was possible, in consequence of the numerous conflagations which had occurred so repeatedly in London. The Londoners, indeed, while they encouraged stone houses had some singular provisions against fire. Plastering seems to have been first introduced for this purpose, and to have been applied to the roof as well as walls of the huts in the city. Water was to be ready, but in such small quantities that it could not have been of much use, and the alderman was bound under penalty to have some very simple instruments in his pos session to demolish the house or hovel if necessary. Thus runs the old direction, "Whoever wishes to build let him take care as he loveth himself and his goods, that he roof not with reed nor rush, but with tile only or shingle or boards. Also all houses which till now are covered with reed or rush, let them be plastered within eight days, and let those which shall not be plastered within the term be demolished by the alderman. All wooden houses which are nearest to the stonehouses in Cheap, whereby the stonehouses in Cheap may be in peril, shall be securely amended, or, without any exception whatever, to whomsoever they may belong, pulled down. Let all houses in which brewery or bakery is done, be whitewashed and plastered within and without, that they may be safe against fire. Let all aldermen have a proper hook and cord, and let him who shall not have one within the appointed time be amerced by the city. They say also that it is only proper that before every house there should be a tub full of water either of wood or stone." N.B. That they were little better than mean hovels may be inferred from the summary way in which this demolition is ordered, and from the fact that an alderman's hook and cord were implements quite sufficient to pull them down, in cases of sudden fire or any other emergency." دو But there were other inconveniences besides the danger of fire to those who lived in the 13th century; "there is no doubt that an immense portion of the country was covered with wood; in 1250 the forests under the controul of the Crown amounted to 70. There was one or more of these in every county, abounding in game, and wolves were common. To these woods resorted all lawless men, fugitive villains, and persons who preyed at will on passing travellers. In the reign of Edward I. the canons of St. Martin's-le-Grand obtained permission to build a gallery or bridge to connect their lodgings with the church tower, on account of the danger of the public street." Nor was travelling better by sea than by land; as late as the year 1407 we read of the King being nearly taken by pirates in passing across from Kent into Essex. "In the time of the pestilence the King durst not come near to the citie of London, wherefore being at the Castle of Leedes, in Kent, he departing from thence, took shipping at Queenborough, in the Isle of Sheppey, to sayle ouer into Essex, and so to goe to Plashey, there to passe the time til the mortality were ceased. But as the King was on the sea, certain French pirates, which lay lurking at the Thames' mouth to watch for some prey, got knowledge of the King's passage, and thereupon as he was in the midst of his course they entered amongst his fleete, and took four vessels next to the King's ship, and in one of the same vessels Syr Thomas Rampton, the King's Vice-Chamberlayne, with all his chamber stuffe and apparel. They followed the King so near, that if his ship had not been swift, he had landed sooner in France than in Essex, but such was his good hap that he escaped and arrived at his appointed port." It may not be out of place to give some account here of the living, travelling, and farming of these days. "The fingers and knives of folks served for many centuries afterwards to enable them to eat their several meals. Meat was at this period often brought to table on a spit, and served round by the attendants, when each guest as he pleased cut a portion with his knife. Among princes and nobles these spits were usually of silver: Henry III. had one of gold. "If from the palaces of royalty or dwellings of nobles or merchants we descend to the hut of the farmer or labourer, we find but the barest necessaries; his bed was in all probability his form or settle during the day, and an iron tripod or trivet, with a brass dish, formed the ordinary cooking apparatus of the peasant; he ate from wooden bowls, with a spoon of the same material; his meat was cut on the square trencher board, not quite out of use in collegiate hall or moorland hovel;" his dress was the leather jerkin, easily obtained from the animals of the forest, and which continued to be worn till after the Commonwealth. "For travelling, there were companies of hackney men, who provided horses for travellers at a fixed rate per stage; he who hired a hackney in Southwark paid 16d. for the stage to Rochester; these were reasonable fares, but the travellers sometimes hired, and forgot to pay, or paid less than the charge, and, moreover, they often rode off with them whither they would, and the steeds of the contractors were frequently lost, destroyed, and at times sold. and utterly taken away from their owners, and in order that the theft might be the better concealed, the ears and tails of horses were cut off, to prevent their identification. "In farming, it was a common practice to let stock of every description to farm, even bees, the lord receiving in return so much of the produce, besides the original investment. Daily labourers on farms were fed at the lord's expense, their chief diet being a kind of porridge. The whole arrangements were under the reeve or steward, who also managed the stock. One of his duties was to collect the hair of the cattle, for the purpose of making ropes for the ploughs and wains; for the same object he was bound to grow a crop of hemp on the demesne land. All farm implements were originally furnished and kept in repair by the lord. I will mention here the price of poultry, and in enumerating the several kinds, it will be observed not only what extent of forest there must have been, but also what abundance of watery and marsh ground to sup. ply the market. The price was fixed for the London market, in 1299, thus-a fat cock three halfpence, two pullets three halfpence, a fat capon two pence halfpenny, a goose fourpence, a mallard three halfpence, a partridge three halfpence, a pheasant fourpence, a heron sixpence, a plover one penny, a swan for three shillings, a crane for twelve pence, two woodcocks three halfpence, a fat lamb from Christmas to Shrovetide sixpence, and all the whole year after for four pence. The various workmen mentioned at this period are carpenters, masons, tilers, cutters of free stone, whitewashers, mud plasterers, torchers, excavators, barrow men. The daily pay of carpenters, masons, and tilers, was the sum of 3d. with keep, or 44d. without; far higher wages than the present, when we consider that corn was considered very dear in 1288, at 3s. 4d. per quarter, and that 200 years afterwards in A.D. 1491, George Almond left by will, that his almswomen, in Witham, were to be supported in honourable old age, by the weekly sum of twopence. There is a curious document which I have lately seen belonging to this period. The knights of St. John, on coming to their property, were required to send an account of their possessions to the Grand Master, at Malta, and among the records discovered at that place, was found the following account of the Manor of Witham, which held a foremost place among their estates in England : "Inventory taken by Philip de Thame, prior of the order, in England, A.D., 1338. At Wytham, in co. Essex, 200 acres, worth 12d. an acre per annum. 200 8d. 2 10 0 Pasture for 20 oxen and 12 cows, worth 3 4 0 per annum. Pasture for 600 sheep Expenses of the house, for the brother warden there, and his fellow brother; two chaplains and others of the household. Bread, 42 quarters wheat at 3s. per qr. per year 6 6 0 9 qrs. 6 bush. mixed, at 2s. 4d. qr. Beer, 26-qrs. barley for brewing, at 2s. In expenses of kitchen, 3s. a week ... In wages of two boys (garcionum) half a mark (6s. 8d.) each, and of 2 pages (pagettorum) 4s. each. Names of the chaplains-Brother Hugh de Cumberton, warden, chaplain; Brother William, tenor de Ripon, chaplain." I must now return to our own church-consisting as it did, when first built, of a nave, two aisles, and the chancel; the high altar was at the extreme east, and side altars at the east end of each aisle, the one on the north side in honor of St. John Baptist, that on the south side in honor of the Blessed Virgin: a proof of the latter may still be seen in the 3-light window which has lately been filled with painted glass: where the stone frame work of the window is prolonged below the tops of the pews, so as to form sedilia or seats for the clergy, who may have officiated at the holy communion. It may also be observed that the beams of both aisles are more highly ornamented at the east end of the aisle than the other beams, indicating that the holiest rite of the christian church was there performed, and the place therefore considered worthy of greater attention and reverence. The first addition which was made to the church after it was built, was the present noble porch, about 1350, That it was an addition a little subsequent to the body of the building, is clear, I think, from the mortar being of a different and inferior character: from the depressed tracery of the windows, and from the fact that the wall of the church runs through uninterruptedly, the porch walls not being bonded into it. It was probably an afterthought of the architect, who, when he found that the earlier doorway projected beyond the church wall, considered a porch necessary, to hide the awkward projection: and so was induced to make this handsome entrance for his employers, the Knights of St. John. But it was after a few years found necessary to build the present vestry: and with it, as I conceive, the solid screen of oak, which divides the chancel from the nave. Connected with that building, I must refer to the circumstances of the times. Ever since the Conquest there had been a natural feeling of discontent among those who had been forcibly dispossessed of their property. It was not likely that Leftan and Bureard should have been turned out of their comfortable quarters, where Powers Hall now. stands, or Brictmar and Aluin have been expelled from Hobbrigge, or a free Saxon lady with her relations obliged to leave Blunts Hall, without causing a deeprooted indignation, not only in the Saxon owners, but in the Saxon and Danish population, who had long been amalgamated in these parts: and who constituted in all the eastern counties a peasantry of a freer spirit than were found in other districts, where the people were kept in subjection under the Norman castles. The discontent had been continually increased by the F |