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 A 
 
 DISSERTATION 
 
 ANTIQUITIES 
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN, 
 
 WORCESTERSHIRE. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. H. CARD, D.D. F.A.S. &c. kc. &c. 
 
 VICAU OF fillEAT MALVERN. 
 
 And O, yc swelling liills, ami spacious pluins! 
 
 BcRpront from shore to sliore with steeple towei-s. 
 
 And Hpircs wiiosc " silent tin^'er points to heaven ;" 
 
 Nor wanting at wide intervals the bulk 
 
 Of ancient Min?ter, lifted ahove the cloud 
 
 Of the dense air which town or city hrecvis 
 
 To intercept the sun's glad heams, — may ne*er 
 
 That true succession fail of Knglish hearts. 
 
 Who with ancestral feeling, can perceive 
 
 What in those holy structures ye possess 
 
 Of ornamental interest, and the charm 
 
 Of pious sentiment diffused afar, 
 
 Ami human charity, and social love. — Wordsworth. 
 
 Nor rough, nor hancn, are the winding ways 
 
 Of hoar antiquity, but strewn with tlowei-s. — Warton. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED roll J. <;. \ F. lUVlXGTON, 
 ST. Paul's ciiikiii vaud, and Waterloo place, i'vi.i. mai.l; 
 
 S: SOI, It nv uincK, woucrsTF.it. 
 ISM.
 
 LONDON : 
 GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, 
 
 ST. JOHN'S-SQI'ARE.
 
 (S90 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS 
 
 THE DUCHESS OF KENT. 
 
 Madam, 
 
 My pleasing labour is now finished; for pleasing 
 I can truly call it, since it was undertaken at the desire of 
 your Royal Highness, graciously communicated to me on a 
 recent occasion. I am far from thinking my performance 
 ])erfect, but do not imagine any thing I can add of sufficient 
 value to require longer delay in placing it before your Royal 
 Highness, with every sentiment of profovuid respect. 
 
 I have the honor to remain, 
 Madam, 
 Your Royal Highness' most obliged, 
 
 and most dutiful Servant, 
 
 HENRY CARD. 
 
 THE VICARAGE, 
 September 8, 1834. 
 
 (i3;a2i^i'i
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN, 
 
 WORCESTERSHIRE. 
 
 If antiquity impart additional dignity to the temple as well as to the 
 palace — and what acute observer of the human mind will dispute this 
 fact ? — then must those Christian edifices reared by the pious muni- 
 ficence of our forefathers excite our deepest reverence, and call forth 
 our most fervent aspirations for their preservation. Unquestionably 
 ]ni who has perused the frightful accounts unfolded at the Visitations 
 of the Abbeys — the detestable crimes practised in those cloisters of 
 iniquity and impurity', — cannot but acknowledge that Henry VIH., 
 
 ' " 1 know not by what right," observes Mr. Ilallam, " we should disbelieve the 
 reports of the visitation under Henry VIII. entering, as they do, into a multitude of 
 specific charges, both probable in their nature, and consonant to the unanimous opinion 
 of the world." Middle Ages, vol. iii. p. 352, 353. For additional coniinuation of 
 these assertions, see Fosbrooke's British Monachism, vol. i. p. 127, where that writer has 
 thoroughly exposed the delinqiicncies of the Monks. But nothing can be more indis- 
 putable than the fact, that the monasteries were the chief or sole preservers of the 
 historical Memorials of their times, however just may be the remark of Gibbon, " that 
 of such manuscripts, the casualty of fire, or the slow progress of damp and worms, 
 would often endanger their limited and precarious existence." See his Miscellnneous 
 Works, vol. ii. p. 709. We learn from Spelman, that some sympathy for the fate of the 
 
 B
 
 2 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 in their suppression, rendered an essential service to the cause of true 
 religion. Glorious as the era of the Reformation was, still it will 
 l)e ever matter of regret to the real lovers of the fine arts, whether 
 Roman Catholic or Protestant, tliat so many stately Abbeys, monu- 
 ments of tlie skill as well as the piety of our ancestors, should have 
 been demolished or dilapidated. Among, however, those national 
 ornaments which escaped the hand of destruction, the conventual 
 church of Great Malvern still retains most of its original perfection. 
 Occupying a spot as lovely as the eye ever rested upon, and built 
 after the customary form of a cross, this venerable structure, in its 
 magnitude, proportions, and decorations, with its dark grey tower 
 so full of impression and effect, — with its pierced battlements and 
 graceful pinnacles, — presents a most beautiful specimen of that 
 florid style of English architecture which prevailed in the reign 
 of Henry VII. The whole length of this majestic and picturesque 
 fabric, as given by Mr. Chambers in his History of Great Malvern ', 
 is an hundred and seventy-one feet, its breadth sixty-three feet. 
 The height of the nave is sixty-three feet ; and that of the tower a 
 hundred and twenty-four feet. Congreve must have had a building 
 
 Monks and Nuns was felt on the part of the Commons, as Henry was obliged to send 
 for them, and to declare, in his usual bluff manner, that if the Bill were not passed, 
 which put him and his heirs in possession of all monastic establishments, with the property 
 belonging to them, both real and personal, he would cause some of their heads to be 
 struck off. History of Sacrilege, p. 183. 
 
 ' P. 53. Before the demolition of the South Transept Aisle, and of the Lady Chapel, 
 at the east end of the church, which Cole the antiquary states to have been about fifty 
 feet in length, (see MSS. Brit. Mus. vol. x. folio 119), the building must have been quite 
 cathedral-like in appearance. Well, indeed, may Cole style it, " a most noble structure." 
 The old parish church was dedicated to St. Thomas the Apostle, and stood near the 
 present church, at the north-west corner of the church-yard. Its length was ninety feet, 
 its breadth tliirty-six, and it had one small chapel to the south. See Thomas. Antiq. 
 Priorat. Majoris Malveme, p. xci.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 3 
 
 of this sort in his mind, wlien, iu that noble passage of his Tragedy, 
 he exclaims, — 
 
 " How reverend is the face of this tall pile, 
 Whose ancient pillars rear their marble heads 
 To bear aloft its arched and ponderous roof, 
 By its own weight made stedfast and immoveable, 
 Looking tranquillity '." 
 
 In the middle ages^ art commenced with sacred subjects. Indeed, 
 ecclesiastical architecture was the chief boast of those dark times. 
 Churches, therefore, independently of early religious associations, 
 must always be objects of great interest, as they illustrate our history, 
 and the state of the arts at the time in which they were erected. It 
 is painful then to remark, that, after such a lavish prodigality of ex- 
 penditure, we have so few beautiful new Churches to compensate for 
 the loss and decay of the proud fanes of olden times. AA'hile these 
 fill the beholder with awe, admiration, and delight, there is nothing 
 in those to raise the mind to a loftier state of thought and feeling ; 
 the latter — sublime structures, and therefore awakening sublime emo- 
 tions, — are as distinguished for their vastness, grandeur and science, 
 as the former are devoid of such qualities or attributes. 
 
 Unfortunately, our present system of education pays little or no 
 attention to art ; or that great desideratum in our Universities, a 
 Professorship of Ecclesiastical Architecture from the era of the Norman 
 Conquest to that of the Reformation, — a period in which is exhibited 
 such boundless variety in all the diflercnt gradations of style, — would 
 long ago have contributed not only to form the national taste upon 
 
 ' Mourning Bride, Act ii. Scene 1. 
 
 * According to the authority of Mr. Ilallnm, and no higher can be produced on the 
 subject, tlie Middle Ages comprise about one tlious.-ind years, from the invasion of France 
 by Clovis, to that of Naples by Charles VIIL Vol. iii. p. .^OS. 
 
 U 2
 
 4 I'RIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 purer principles, but might have drawn the notice of the Government 
 to the better preservation of those highly interesting edifices which 
 have not sunk under the ruthless fury of the fanatic, or the more 
 silent operations of Time. 
 
 Formerly, upon this subject, there was an intensity of religious 
 feeling, instead of that obtusity which has been for so many years 
 past but too apparent on the part of those who have directed the 
 movements of the State. No stronger proof of this assertion can be 
 afforded, than that Sir Reginald Bray, the restorer of the Priory, a 
 brief history of which we are about to give, was, to use the parlia- 
 mentary phrase of this day, the Premier of Henry VII. His memory 
 is immortalized by the unrivalled skill and taste displayed by him in 
 the construction of Henry's Chapel at Westminster, " that glorious 
 work of fine intelligence V' and in the completion of that of St. 
 George's in Windsor Castle. The other points in his character entitle 
 him to an honourable renown. It was the complaint of a great states- 
 man and historian^, " that we are often declaiming about the wisdom 
 of our ancestors, without knowing what they mean, or hardly ever 
 citing any particulars of their conduct or of their dicta." That we 
 may not commit the error here censured, we will show in what a 
 brilliant light Sir Reginald's character is set by an ancient writer. 
 
 ' The pretensions of Alcock, Bishop of Ely, have been advanced as a participator with 
 Sir Reginald, on this memorable occasion. But this is pure assumption with many. 
 We believe, that the evidence of Sir Reginald being the architect of this wonder of the 
 norld, as it has been styled, will stand the strictest examination. There is just cause 
 for regret, that we are still without any certain or accurate knowledge upon the subject 
 of the other edifices constructed by him. " It is surprising," observes Jfr. Britton, " that 
 more particulars of this truly eminent man, and of the public buildings he is said to have 
 designed, have not been satisfactorily developed." Architectural Antiquities, vol. iii. 
 p. 34, .35. 
 
 ' See Correspondence of the late Gilbert Wakefield, B.A. with the late Right Honour- 
 able Charles Fox, p. 86.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 5 
 
 " After the death of this noble Princess Elizabeth, departed Sir 
 Reginalde Brayc, Knight of the Garter, a very ffuther of his country, 
 a sage and grave person, and a fervent lover of justice. Insomuch 
 that if any things had been done against good law or equitie, he 
 would, after an humble fashyon, reprehende the Kinge, and gyve him 
 good advertysement how to reform that offence, and to be more cir- 
 cumspect in another like case. Of the same vertue and honest 
 plainness was John Moreton, Archbyshop of Canterbury, which died 
 two years before. So these two persons were over restrayned of the 
 Kinge's wilful scope and unbridled liberties : whereas the rude and 
 ignoraunt people say and affirm that theyr counsaile infected and cor- 
 rupted the Kinges clean and immaculate conscience contrary to his 
 princely disposition and naturall inclination. Such is ever the errour 
 of the common people : but surely as longe as the Kinge would heare 
 and obeye such as warned him of his office royall and kingly duetie, 
 he could in no wise erre or swarve aside '." 
 
 In thus recoi'ding the courageous wisdom and public virtue of this 
 pillar of the state — for Sir Reginald shone as a soldier as well as a 
 counsellor — we shall so far testify our respect for the observation just 
 quoted, as to give a few more particulars respecting this most liberal 
 benefactor, or to speak more correctlj', second founder of the Priory. 
 The place of his nativity was St. John's Bcdwardine', in Worcester- 
 shire, and he entered into public life wiiji manj' of the external 
 advantages of birth and fortune. His ancestors came to Enjiland with 
 William the Concpu-ror. Sir Richard, the father of Sir Reginald, 
 
 ' Sec MS. LansJowiic, JIus. Brit. No. 'J7S; IJishop Kennel's Collections, fol. L'(>2. 
 
 l5o;j. 
 
 ' Some writers represent him to have been a native of Great Malvern ; but others, 
 who are better informed on the subject, aj^rec with Nash, that he was born in the parish 
 above mentioned, in 1st Richard 111, 1 183.
 
 6 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERX. 
 
 and, according to some, physician to Henry VI. was of Eaton Bray, 
 in the county of Bedford, and endeared himself so much to the King, 
 as to be sworn of the Privy Council. Sir Reginald early gained the 
 good opinion of Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derb}', and 
 ultimately became a chief instrument in assisting her son, Henry, to 
 mount the English throne. Great undertakings require great quali- 
 fications and abilities. And when that master-stroke of policy — the 
 union of the two Houses of York and Lancaster, by the marriage of 
 Henry with Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV. was projected by the 
 Duke of Buckingham, and Moreton, Bishop of Ely, they fixed on Sir 
 Reginald as the person to carry it into execution. In these words 
 did Moreton specify his merits to the Duke. " He is sober, secret, 
 and well-witted, and his prudent policy is known to encompass things 
 of great importance." The firmness, temper, and address of Sir 
 Reginald, in an enterprise where so many discordant feelings and 
 embroiled interests were concerned, led finally to complete success: 
 for he drew over to the cause of his mistress. Sir Giles D'Aubeny, 
 Sir John Cheyney, and other persons of great weight in the kingdom. 
 As a reward for having acted so prominent a part in this transac- 
 tion, Henry, at his accession, loaded him with estates and offices of 
 large profit. In 1494, he was elected High Steward of Oxford; and 
 he did not disappoint the hopes of that learned body in maintaining 
 their rights and privileges. Henry, in his letters-patent to his said 
 Steward, knight of his body, recognising, no doubt at Sir Reginald's 
 urgent solicitation, the franchises of the University, as including, 
 besides other matters, the right of hearing the criminal causes of 
 scholars and other privileged persons, accepted the nomination, and 
 allowed him and his other assessors (named in the patent) or any two 
 of them, to proceed in the common form against offenders. On the
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 7 
 
 marriage of Prince Arthur, the dowry of the Princess was guaranteed 
 to her by the Duke of York, the two Archbishops, the Bishops of 
 Winchester and Lincoln, and Sir Reginald Bray. The eminent ser- 
 vices which he had rendered to Henry procured him also the dignities 
 of Knight of the Garter, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. 
 Bred a soldier as well as a politician, his skill and gallantry were con- 
 spicuously displayed in the decisive battle of Bosworth Field, and in 
 that of Blackheath, where the Cornish insurgents were completely 
 routed. In short, placed in employments which he executed with 
 equal ability and integrit}', it was his rare good fortune to enjoy 
 uninterruptedly the favour of one of the most sagacious and sternest 
 Monarchs that ever held the British sceptre. Sir Reginald died on 
 the 5th of August, 1502-3, and was buried in the middle of a Chapel 
 at Windsor, which was founded by him, and still bears his name : and 
 Churton, summing up his character, says, " that he received from 
 the Crown innumerable patents, marks of favour, grants of emolument, 
 which, as they did not corrupt, served only to display the integrity of 
 the senator and the statesman : while his counsel carried so great a 
 sway witli the court, that, liail he not died before Henry, the acts of 
 rapacity and opjjrcssion with which that Monarch's later annals are 
 disgraced, would no doubt have been less numerous and less flagrant, 
 if not entirely prevented '." 
 
 According to Bishop Tanner and Dr. Nash, the Priory of Great 
 Malvern first rises into notice from a very remote period. The former 
 says, " here in the great wild forest was an hermitage, or some kind 
 of religious house for seculars, before the Conquest, with some en- 
 
 ' The most authentic information of Sir Roginatd Uray will be found in Dugdalc's 
 Baronage; Kippis's Edit, of the Biog. Brit. art. Bray; Churton's Lives of the Founders 
 of Brazen-nose College ; and Manning's Suney.
 
 8 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 dowment by the gift of King Edward the Confessor;" and the latter, 
 speaking of Malvern in his Collections for the History of Worcester- 
 shire, observes, "Before the Conquest it was a wilderness thick set 
 with trees, in the midst of which some monks, who aspired to greater 
 perfection, retired from the Priory of Worcester, and became hermits. 
 The enthusiasm spread so fast that the number soon increased to three 
 hundred, when, forming themselves into a society, they agreed to 
 live according to the order of St. Benedict, and elected Aldwin, 
 one of their number, to be superior. Thus was the monastery 
 founded about the year 1083, with the consent and approbation of St. 
 Wolstan, Bishop of Worcester." It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary 
 and also to St. Michael, as we learn from an original charter pre- 
 served in the British Museum '. 
 
 In the Annales Wigornienses, we are expressly told that Aldwin 
 was the founder of the Malvern Monaster)', a.d. 1085. William of 
 Malmesbury has furnished us with a somewhat detailed account of 
 the circumstances which induced him to commence the undertaking. 
 What person at the present day does not feel a peculiar pleasure, 
 especially if he have an archaic' tone of mind, M'hen satiated with 
 our profitless philosophizing, he turns to the simple but graphic tales 
 
 ' See Dugdale's Monast. Angl. N.E. Part xxii. p. 440. 
 
 ' Whether an}' of our readers be possessed with the feelings and sentiments we are now 
 about to speak of, would puzzle us as much to determine as a dubious case of law : 
 but we have known those who entirely participate in them ; to whom the study of the 
 dusty record and the mildewed charter has the same inexpressible charms as the sweet 
 chirpings of birds in woods and fields, the soft rippling of streams, and the rude whistling 
 of the winds, have for others. " I have heard one of the greatest geniuses this age 
 has produced, who had been trained up in all the polite studies of antiquity, assure me, 
 upon his being obliged to search into several rolls and records, that, notwithstanding such 
 an employment was at first very dry and irksome to him, he at last took an incredible 
 pleasure in it, and preferred it even to the reading of Virgil or Cicero." Spectator, 
 No. 447.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 9 
 
 of the good old gossiping chroniclers. For, in that pictorial age, of 
 which we are discoursing, when the manners and opinions of con- 
 temporaries were so naturally represented, there was no wide gulf 
 fixed between fancy's regions and those of sober reality ; between the 
 dim and tremulous twilight of uncertainty, and the steady effulgence 
 of convictidM, but annalists and their readers — rari nantes in gurgite 
 vasto', — were alike content to wander on in " the palpable obscure" 
 of the time, yielding unhesitating confidence to its delusions and its 
 dreams. Whenever the writer is firmly assured of what he relates, 
 his narrations generally bear an impress of truth to others. Indeed 
 he demands, and expects their faith in all that he propounds, as if 
 what he had ascertained to his own conviction was equally clear to 
 them. Such a national Chronicler was William, the Monk of Malmes- 
 bury ; for in his day the literary man was only to be found in the 
 monastery. None then handled the pen to any useful or edifying 
 purpose, but the member of a chapter or of a convent ^ The following 
 
 ' " The gross mass of tlie laity, from the baron to the mechanic, were then more 
 addicted to the exercises of the body than to tliose of the mind. Few among them could 
 read, still fewer could write : none were acquainted with the Latin tongue ; and if they 
 sometimes listened to a tale of past times, their puerile love of the marvellous would 
 prefer the romance of Sir Launcclot, or Sir Tristram, to the authentic narratives most 
 honourable to theu- country and their ancestors." See Gibbon's Address upon the Study 
 of the History and Antiquities of Great Britain; Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 709. But even 
 at the end of the sixteenth century, the ignorance and barbarism of the times were such, 
 that Marlow, " he of mighty line," makes one of the clowns, in his tragedy of Faustus, 
 say to another, " Snail, what hast thou got there, a book ? why thou can'st not tell ne'er 
 a word on't." 
 
 ' And not many there either. Parchment was an article of great expense, from its 
 scarcity, in those days, which was another obstacle to the spread of knowledge, and 
 an excuse to so many of the Monks for being content to sit lazily and proudly in (heir 
 ignorance, Mr. Ilallam quotes Warton for the fact, that no parchment could be procured 
 about 1120, for preparing an illuminated copy of the Bible. Middle Ages, vol. iii. p. .'J.'JS. 
 We shall offer no apology to the curious reader for presenting to him our researches upon 
 
 C
 
 10 , PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 legend, connected with the history of the Priory, may aptly serve as 
 an illustration of the foregoing remarks. Our translation, it will be 
 seen by the learned reader, is almost a literal one. 
 
 There was one Aldwin, a monk, wlio, witli a single companion 
 named Guido, lived as a recluse in that very densely wooded chase, 
 which is called Malvern. After long struggles of conscience, Guido 
 considered it absolutely necessary, as the shortest path to glory, to 
 visit Jerusalem, and see the Lord's sepulchre, or meet a blessed death 
 by the hand of the Saracens. Aldwin was disposed to follow his 
 example, but first consulted his spiritual adviser Wolstan. The prelate 
 dissuaded him, and cooled his ardour by saying, " Do not, I beseech 
 thee, Aldwin, go any where, but remain in your place : believe me, 
 you would wonder if you knew what I know ; how much God is about 
 to perform through you in that place." The monk having heard this 
 departed, and now remained firm in purpose, and soothed every sorrow 
 by the hope of the prophecy. Nor was it long after that the prophecy 
 hastened to its fulfilment. One after the other successively came, to 
 the number of thirty. Abundant were the stores of provision which 
 flowed in upon them from the neighbouring inhabitants, who judged 
 themselves happy in being permitted to minister aught to God's ser- 
 
 tbis subject. Many entries occur in the Wardrobe Accounts of various kings' reigns, and 
 in the Pipe Rolls, duplicates of which are now in the British Museum, of the sums paid 
 for parchment. One of these entries, in the printed Wardrobe Account of the 28th 
 Edward I. p. 51, is Juliane atte Flode, de Wyntonia, pro pcrgamens empt' de eadem per 
 Johem de Langeford pro expens' garde robe Regis, videlt pro 40 duodenis pergamen' 
 precio duodene 12d. — 21. Os. Od. — et pro 15 duodenis precio duodene 18d. — 1/. 2^. Gd. 
 per manus predicte. I. ibidem 15 die Marcii Siimnia. 3/. 2s. 6d." From this entry it 
 would appear, that 40 dozen skins, at 12f/. per dozen, cost 21. ; and 15 dozen of, perhaps, 
 a superior quality, or larger size,' cosf 1/. 2s. 6d. ; so that parchment must have been sold, 
 in Edward's reign, after the rate of Id. and lid. per skin. In another part of the same 
 Wardrobe Account, (28 Edward I.) GO dozen skins of parchment, with carriage of same 
 from Lincoln to Westminster, including cordage for packing them, cost 71. 12s.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. H 
 
 vants ; or if there chanced to be need of any thing, they supplied the 
 want by faitli, deeming it a little matter to be without carnal food, 
 seeing that they grew fat upon spiritual joys '. It would appear, by 
 the following story, that the same Bishop (Wolstau) did not want just 
 vision to discern that the spirits of men must become pure from their 
 errors and vices by first suffering for them, and that without continual 
 training and tutoring, spiritual growth would not proceed in that way 
 so as to be conducive to any permanently good purpose. 
 
 One Swclf, a merchant, had been accustomed to visit him once a 
 year to receive his advice in the healing of his spiritual ailments. 
 Once on a time, after giving the absolution, he observed, " You often 
 repeat the sins which you have confessed; because, as the proverb 
 goes, opportunity makes the thief. Wherefore I advise you to become 
 a monk, which, if you do, you will not long have the opportunity for 
 those sins." Upon this, the other rejoined, that he could not possibly 
 become a monk, because he found it so difficult to bring: his mind to 
 it. " Go your ways," said the Bishop, in somewhat of a passion ; " a 
 monk you will become, whether you choose it or not, but only when 
 the appliances and means of vice have wa.\en old in you." Which fact 
 we afterwards witnessed, because, when now broken down by old age, 
 and warned by disease, he betook himself to our monastery : but 
 though he had many times repented, yet, nevertheless, as often as any 
 one reminded him of the Bishop's saying, he still laboured to check 
 his temper, and to soften his disposition '. 
 
 In another respect, also, the prediction of this eminent saint ^ of the 
 
 ' Sec Note A, Appciulix. ' See Note B, Appendix. 
 
 * " WilsU'inus in sanctitate nostro sxculo nomatissimus." Vide (Jul. Malm. De Vilis 
 Pontificum, fol. 159. After this quotation we must suppose the mitred priest's pretensions 
 to canonization indisputable : but popular fame is not always to be taken as the best 
 criterion for the honours of saintship. Had some of tliosc worthies, who have been so 
 
 c2
 
 12 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 monastic calendar (Wolstan) was verified. After Aldwin had procured 
 letters-patent from Pope Gregory VII. and William the Conqueror, 
 Urso d'Abitot, or D'Abtot, a Norman baron, whose property was con- 
 siderable in this county, as well as other magnates, became a great 
 benefactor to the Priory. It was honoured also in a particular man- 
 ner by acts of liberality on the part of Henry I., who, besides 
 confirming all former grants, by his Charter, dated 1271, annexed 
 various lands to it. In No. IX. of the Charters and Instruments, in 
 the new edition of Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, are enumerated 
 the possessions, temporal and spiritual, of the Priory, at the period 
 of its taxation by Pope Nicholas IV. 1291. 
 
 It was fortunate for the prosperity of this establishment, that 
 Walkerius, or Walcher, its second prior, trod in the steps of the first, 
 in all benevolence to man, and in all humility to God. The zeal of 
 the faithful may well be supposed to have been eager to heap bounty 
 on him, who was so much an object of reverence, that to disbelieve 
 the words of Walcher, was, according to William of Malmesbury, 
 doing an injury to religion'. An epitaph is but au imperfect test 
 of merit, but, as an opinion on the worth of individual character, it 
 
 dignified, lived in the present day, we should naturally conclude that the police officer, or 
 the cachipoUis, as he is styled in Wiclif's New Testament, {Dcdis of ApostoUs, c. xvi.) 
 would have failed in his duty, if he had not provided his thief-catching apparatus as a 
 means for preventing them from further tainting the community by the badness of their 
 characters. In exemplification of this remark, take the following story of what occurred 
 to St. Martin, as given on the authority of Bellarmine, by Bishop Philpotts. " He had 
 long entertained some pretty strong doubts of the propriety of the devotions offered by 
 the people in his neighbourhood to a supposed saint ; because, in truth, there was nothing 
 very certain or satisfactory in the traditions concerning him. One day, when St. Martin 
 was at his prayers, the ghost of this personage appeared to him, and frankly confessed that 
 he was a damned spirit; that when alive, he had been a robber, and that he suffered death 
 for his crimes by the hand of the public executioner." Letters to Butler, p. 35. 
 ' " cujus verbis qui non credit injuriam religioni facit." De Regibus, &c. &-c.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 13 
 
 is at least deserving of equal regard with an eulogy on the living. He 
 then must be an epitaph-hater, who would deny that some grains of 
 truth may not lie witliiu the monkish lines inscribed on a stone of 
 coffin-like form in memory of Prior Walcher, which was dug up in 
 May, 1711, in a garden adjoining the church-wall, on the south side 
 of the nave, on which the Priory cloisters were supposed to have 
 stood ; a circumstance, be it observed, which gives a sort of warrant 
 to the conjecture that he was buried in them. 
 
 Philosophvs dignvs bonvs Astrologvs, Lotheringvs, 
 Vir pivs ac hvmilis, monachvs, Prior hvivs ovilis, 
 Hie jacet in cista, Geometricvs ac Abacista, 
 Doctor Walchervs ; flet pltbs, dolet vndiqve clervs ; 
 Hvic Ivx prima mori dcdit Octobris seniori ; 
 Vivat vt in coelis exoret qvis qve fidelis. mcxxxv '. 
 
 ' " Here lies entombed Walcherus of Lorraine, Prior of this Convent, noted for his 
 piety and humilitj', a distinguished Philosopher, a good Astronomer, Geometrician, and 
 Arithmetician; universally lamented by Laity and Clergy. He died on the first day of 
 October, advanced in years. Let every true Christian fervently pray, that he may live 
 in Heaven." — It is a debateable point among the critics, at what period these Latin 
 rhymes made their appearance in the world : and that verses of this kind should be 
 designated Leonine, has puzzled the learned Canulcn himself. " Riming verses, which 
 are called Versus Leoni, / know not wherefore (for a lyons taile doth not answer to the 
 middle parts as these verses do), began in the time of Carolus Magnus, and wore onlv in 
 request then and in many ages following, which dclighteth in nothing more than in this 
 minstrelsie of meeters." Remains, 1G14, p. 337. Might not this name have been given 
 to them after Leo the Great. The whole ancient Roman Liturgy was generally known 
 by the name of tlie Leonine Sacramentarj', though it is believed to have been equally put 
 together by Gclasius I. and by St. Gregory. Tiie monks, in honour of Leo, may likewise 
 have distinguislied these verses by liis name. Heame, in the Preface to his History of 
 Glastonbury, p. xivi. asserts, that a brass plate was found on the inscription of Walchcr's 
 tomb in Great Malvern Church : but, as tlie lively Walpole says, iu his letter to Cole on 
 this subject, " Tom Hearne must have here mistaken brass for stone." Cole's MSS. 
 vol. XXV. fol. 194. We presume that no objection, which will be deemed valid, can he 
 made to the assertion of Cole, " that the use of brass plates lor monumental inscriptions 
 was not introduced so early as the lime of Henry I."
 
 14 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 " My soul deligliteth," exclaims the author of Vatliek, " in a 
 legendary tale of the monastic sort;" and old Grose, no inconsiderable 
 name among those who are skilled in legendary lore, was used to say 
 to his boon companions, " that he loved a good ghost story, as much 
 as the clown did wrestling and single-stick." Perhaps some of our 
 readers may have the same bent of mind for the marvellous, " for 
 those bodyless creations that ecstacy is very cunning in," and there- 
 fore it would be uncourteous in us not to indulge their taste in this 
 respect ; especially, as it is incumbent upon us, in our capacity of his- 
 toriographer to the Priory, not to abbreviate or slur over any circum- 
 stance or event, which may revive the long-forgotten reputation of its 
 Superiors. The following story, related to William of Malmesbury 
 by him wliose epitaph we have just transcribed, must show in what 
 high estimation he stood with his contemporaries, when this chronicler 
 can invest fancy's air-drawn pictures with all the characters of a real 
 transaction ; can consider them as having sufficient warrant to be 
 entitled to a respectful belief, merely because they emanated from the 
 brain of Prior Walcher. " Read not to believe and take for granted," 
 was a piece of advice from Lord Bacon, that would have been thus 
 answered with contumelious scorn in the words of Spenser, by the 
 lovers of the preternatural and visionary. 
 
 " Why then should witless man so much miswecn 
 That nothing is but that which he hath seen." 
 
 " Not more than fifteen years have elapsed," said Walcher, "since 
 a contagious disease attacked the Prior of that place, and afterwards 
 destroyed many of the monks. The survivors at first began each to 
 fear for himself, and to pray and to give alms more abundantly than 
 usual : in process of time, however, for such is the nature of man,
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 15 
 
 their fear gradually subsiding, they began to omit them. The cellarer 
 more especially, who publicly and laughingly exclaimed, that the 
 stock of j)rovisions was not adequate to such a consumption as was 
 going on ; that he had lately hoped for some reduction of expense, 
 considering there had been so many funerals, but that his hopes were 
 at an end, if the dead consumed what the living could not. It hap- 
 pened on a certain night, when from some urgent business he had 
 deferred going to rest for a long time, that having at length got rid 
 of the difficulties which delayed him, he went towards his dormitory. 
 Singular is the circumstance now to be related. He saw in the 
 Chapter-house the Prior and all who had died that year sitting in the 
 order they had dt'parttd, whereat he was affrighted and endeavoured 
 to escape ; but was detained by force. Being reproved and corrected 
 after the monastic manner with the scourge, he heard the Prior speak 
 precisely to the following effect : — That it was foolish to be ravenously 
 seeking profit by another's death, seeing that all men were subject to 
 one common fate. That it was impious for a monk who had passed 
 his whole life in the service of the church to be grudged his pittance of 
 pay for a single year alter his death : that he himself should die very 
 shortly ; but that whatever others might do inr liiui, should rcdountl 
 only to the advantage of those whom he had defrauded : that he 
 mitilit now <'o, and endeavour to correct bv his example those whom 
 he had corrupted l)v Ids language. lie departed, and demonstrated 
 that he had seen nothing imaginary, as well by the recent marks of 
 the scourging, as by his death, which shortly followed '." 
 
 Before parting with Malmesbury, we cannot forbear adst riing to 
 his, apparently earnest desire to taki' the monastery of Malvern under 
 his especial protection. lie is anxious to hold it up to universal 
 
 ' Sec Note C, Appendix.
 
 16 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 respect; thou<>h he shows himself not to be the blind and indiscrimi- 
 nate eulogist of it, whon he closes his general remarks by saying, in 
 the way of brotherly counsel, that " he hands down this place to 
 immortal hope, while the penury of mortal things distracts and stimu- 
 lates the monks'." 
 
 The mitred Abbots of Westminster, ever since the period when 
 Gislibertus Crispinus, one of their number, bestowed several manors 
 and estates upon the Priory, had claimed pre-eminence of power over 
 it. In the reign of Henry II. a violent dispute arose between Richard 
 Ware, Abbot of Westminster, and Godfrey Giffard, Bishop of Wor- 
 cester, respecting the subordination of Great Malvern. Being both 
 men of inflexible spirit, and of equal energy, the litigation was long 
 protracted ; at last Edward I. in the plenary exercise of his royal 
 authority, brought this great cause of contention to an amicable 
 settlement : the Priory being made a grateful offering to the ambition 
 of the Abbot, and the Manor of Knightwick, in this county, given 
 to the Bishop and his successors ^ But although placed in this 
 instance under the jurisdiction of Westminster, the Prior and Convent 
 appear to have always acted as an independent corporation ^ with 
 respect to the mass of property they had accumulated in the counties 
 of Worcester, Hereford, Gloucester, and Warwick : for the Priors, like 
 
 1 " Ad iramortalem spem commemoro, dum mortalium rerum pemiria monachos 
 
 trahit et animat." De Monasteriis, fol. 1C2. 
 
 ' For evidence upon these points, vide Rcgist. chart, et privileg. Abbatiae Westmonast. 
 MS. Cotton. Mus. Brit. Faustina. A. 111. Malvern, fol. 276. Carta Godefridi Wygnrn 
 epT qd in cella maiori Malvemie nullam habeat jurisdictione. C. Ixxxv. fol. '276^ 
 Composico int. Westm. & Malverne capit Ixxxvj. fol. 277"^. Rex Edwardu5 confirmat 
 forraam pacis factam in V. Driiii. G. AVygom. Epm. & Westm. sup. cell. Malvern, cap. 
 Ixxxvij. fol. 279. Assensus Prioris & Convent Malvern sup ordinaciSn Dm Edwardi 
 Reg. cap. Ixxxix. 
 
 ' See Tanner's Notitia Monastica.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 17 
 
 many otliers of tlicir order, were desirous of procuring real property 
 by purchase, as well as by charters of donation, tliough sometimes 
 they alienated their lands in favor of their relations and friends'. 
 
 In 1151, 5 Henry II. William Burdet assigned to Roger, then Prior 
 of Malvern, Avercote or Aucote Monastery, in Warwickshire, as a cell 
 to that Prior)'. There was also another cell at Brockbury, in the 
 parish of Colwall, Herefordshire. Yet over these, the Abbots of 
 Westminster exercised no sort of control in the disposal of their reve- 
 nues or appointments. The occasion which led to the foundation of 
 the little monastery of Avecote is quite dramatic as to incident, but, 
 as an atonement for bloodshed, not uncommon in those ferocious 
 times. We shall give this tale to the reader in the direct and simple 
 narrative of Dugdale. 
 
 " William Burdet being both ii valiant and devout man, made a 
 journey to the Holy Land for subduing of the infidels in those parts, 
 and his steward, whilst he was thus absent, solicited the chastity of 
 his lady, who resisted those his uncivil attempts with much scorn ; 
 whereupon he grew so full of envy towards her, that so soon as he 
 had advertisement of his master's arrival in England, he wont to meet 
 him ; and to shadow his own foul crime, complained to him of her 
 looseness with others : which false accusation so enraged her husband, 
 that wlien lie came home, and siu- approaelud to receive him with 
 joyful embraces, he forthwith mortally stabbed her; and to e.xpiate 
 the same unhappy act, after he understood the truth, he built this 
 monastery '." 
 
 ' llanc terrain tenuit Sirof de Episcopo, tempore Rcf;is Eilwardi, quo mortuo dcdit 
 Kpiscopus filiam ejus euru liac terra, cuidam suo milili, qui et matrein pascerct, et Episcopo 
 inde servirct. See Proofs and Illustrations, Part II. p. ccclxvi. in Sir Francis Palgravc's 
 Rise and Progress of tlie English Coinmonwcalth. 
 
 ' Monas. Aiigl. p. •l.'iS.
 
 18 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 At the time of the dissolutiou of religious houses, the Priory was 
 valued, according to Dugdale, at £308. Is. 5^d., and according to 
 Speed, at £375. Os. 6^d., Tanner's M. T. Valor and Stevens's Supple- 
 ment give £307. Is. 4|(/. as the summa clara. i. e. the net amount. 
 Among its possessions are the manors of Wortefield, Newland, and 
 Powyke, in the county of Worcester, Northwode, in Shropshire, the 
 town of Hatfield, and lauds in Baldenhale Malvern, Branncsford and 
 Lye, tithes at Archcsfonte, in the diocese of Salisbury, of the yearly 
 value of 40s. Tlie Priory of Malvern had likewise the appropriate 
 churches of Longeney Powyke and Malvern, the patronage of the 
 churches of Hanleye, in the deanry of Powyke, of Upton Snodbury, 
 in the deanry of Pershore, and of Eastleach, in the deanry of Fayrford, 
 in the county of Gloucester'. - 
 
 " From the age of Charles Martel," emphatically asks a writer as 
 eloquent as he is profoundly learned, " down to tlie reigns of Henry, 
 or Joseph, or Napoleon, when could the Pontiff or the Priest retain 
 any possessions which the King and the soldier were determined to 
 acquire^?" We are not, therefore, to be surprised, that the domains 
 of this Priory should have shared the fate which befell ecclesiastical 
 possessions more or less in every country in Europe. The level of the 
 ocean changes. Field after field, as wave follows wave, has the Priory 
 been stripped of, by that great innovator Time, to use the often-quoted 
 words of Lord Bacon ; so that if one of its monks, who lived in the 
 twelfth or fourteenth century, could now revisit Malvern, he would 
 find all its fair acres alienated or sold'; and if he awoke from his 
 
 ' Nash, vol. ii. p. 122, 123. 
 
 ^ See the Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, by Sir Francis Palgrave, 
 Part I. p. 169. 
 
 ' We learn, upon distinct authority, that Philip and Mary confirmed a purchase made 
 by Henry Fayrefeld, of the manor of Woodfelde, in the county of Worcester, of part of
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 19 
 
 long slumber with his recollective faculties strong about him, after 
 gazing intently upon tliat church and well known cross ', he would, 
 
 the lands of the dissolved monastery of Malvern. See Dugdale, Jlonast. Angl. N. E. 
 p. 441, but into whose hands the other portions of the domain fell, we cannot discover 
 with any certainty. 
 
 ' Crosses, we are told by a writer to whom every student of ecclesiastical architecture 
 is highly indebted, were erected at the entrance of churches, to throw the mind into an 
 attitude of solemn thought and reverence. See Britton on Stone Crosses. May I avail 
 myself of this opportunity (for want of a better) of saying a few words upon some 
 animadversions which have been passed upon me for not removing a cross in the interior 
 of this church. To tlie prattle of the ignorant, and the sneers of the superficial, 1 will 
 not throw out a sentence in my defence : but I would endeavour to propitiate those of 
 sounder and more impartial understandings, by addressing them in these lines and note of 
 our great philosophic Poet : 
 
 " Yet will we not conceal the precious cross. 
 Like men asliamed. 
 
 " The Lutherans have retained the cross within their churches : it is to be regretted that 
 we have not done the same." Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Sketches, p. 123. Similar 
 sentiments were once expressed to me by the late Mr. Davison^^7io;HCH meniorahile — 
 a name never to be pronounced by low as well as high Churchmen, without a pause of 
 admiration. If moral and intellectual excellences — if orthodoxy without any species of 
 bigotry — if an ardent desire to advance the great cause of Christianity in every quarter 
 of the globe — if a firm attachment to our ecclesiastical establishments, without any 
 hunting after professional honours — if singleness of purpose — if inflexible integrity and 
 extensive charity, without ostentation — be among the best recommendations for a 
 bishopric — as sure they arc, or ought to be — then should not this man have died without 
 a mitre on his head. Alas! how many eminent pastors, patterns to believers, " in faith, 
 in purity, and in conversation," have been removed in the midst of their days and 
 usefulness ; " perhaps to tell us," says one, distinguished alike for his piety and talents, 
 " that the Lord's cause does not depend on any instruments, however necessary as well 
 as desirable they seem to us — but upon Himself, who has the residue of the Spirit." — 
 In the last number of the Uritish Critic, p. 242, the epithet illiislrioits is aflixcd to the 
 name of Davison. Now those, who were not thoroughly acquainted with his great 
 intellectual superiority — with his vast reach and comprehension of view — especially those 
 who know his work on Prophecy only by hearsay, in every chapter of which there are 
 marks of deep thouglit and a most powerful mind, may not perh.ips consider tlie foregoing 
 terra as truly applicable to the subject of these hasty observations. The number, however, 
 of his important christian virtues — and the variety of his attainments, which mark the 
 highest order of intellect, fully sanction an epithet appropriated only to those who are 
 
 d2
 
 20 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 turning his ej'es towards the monastic refectory", have as much diffi- 
 culty in recognizing it, as tlie way-faring man in discovering a safe 
 tread between shifting sands and mirages; so different an aspect has it 
 assumed under the lapse of ages. That hall, where he held high 
 festivals with his Prior and brethren, is now converted into a barn ; 
 and the oaken board on which he partook of his meals, changed into 
 mangers for horses and oxen. 
 
 In the Gate-house, however, of the Priory, disfigured and deterior- 
 ated as it is, he would still discern some of the features remaining as 
 he left them. This genuine and interesting piece of antiquity is of 
 the perpendicular style of architecture, being erected about the same 
 period as the greater part of the church. The front is composed of 
 two divisions ; the arch has a square head, and the spandrils are filled 
 with quatrefoils enclosed in circular ribs ; on each side arc five 
 pannels witli cinquefoil heads, and pannels charged with shields : over 
 all is a boldly projecting cornice, which runs along the front of the 
 structure, and forms the base of the upper division. Springing from 
 the apex of the arch, on a moulded corbel, is a highly enriched oriel 
 window, having its angular mullions relieved with delicately carved 
 pinnacles. On each side are eight transom-headed pannels, two of 
 which are perforated as windows. At each angle of tlie front of the 
 building is a buttress of two stages, the face of the lower one being 
 
 gifted wath the rarest mental endowments. Indeed the appointment of such a character 
 even to a i'rebendal Stall, will throw a moral splendour over the administration of Lord 
 Livei-pool, whenever the disposal of his church patronage shall be discussed. But, ere 
 long, I hope to have a fitter opportunity of paying my unbiassed tribute of respect to 
 this most distinguished Minister of the Gospel, than is presented in the corner of a note. 
 
 ' Refectories, or Fratries, were large wainscoted halls, with a crucifixion above the 
 boards, a dresser, almories or cupboards, windows opening unto the kitchen, through 
 which the meat was served, and desk with a bible for reading during the dinner. See 
 Fosbrooke's Encyclopaedia of Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 108.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN'. 21 
 
 pannelled : while at the west side we find a number of painted tiles 
 fixed on the wall near the roof, similarly ornamented to some of those 
 in the church. There are good reasons for believing that this Gate- 
 house is now not more than half of its original size, for the roof is 
 without its corresponding parts, and the back is cased with nothing 
 but common brick. Here, perhaps, was a chronicle composed, and 
 the original deposited among other muniments kept under the triple 
 keys of the Superior of the House ; while some of the rooms were 
 aj)propriated for the distribution of eleemosynary gifts ; for it will be 
 reckoned among the chief merits of the monastic establishments, next 
 to their successful promotion of agriculture', and the estimation which 
 is due to them as conservatories of mental treasures, that a great 
 portion of their wealth was employed in the daily' exercise of acts of 
 charity and benevolence. 
 
 ' If their inmates did not deeply cultivate the study of divinity, we may conclude that 
 they did well in the useful philosophy of the spade; for we are told hy Mr. Turner, 
 " that Domesday Survey gives us some indication that the cidtivation of the church lands 
 was much superior to that of anj' other order of society : they had much less wood 
 upon them, and less common of pasture: and wliat they had appears often in small 
 irregular pieces : while their meadow was more ahundant, and in more numerous distri- 
 butions." See his valuable History of the Anglo-Saxons, Vol. II. p. 1C7. 
 
 ' According to that close observer of human nature, Piers Ploughman, or Robert 
 Langland, or John Malvernc, for so the author of the Vision of William has been 
 variously styled, the dole was not dealt out so liberally to the beadsman at the gate of 
 the abbey and priory as some of those who would wish to get rid of the system of tythes 
 assume it to have been. 
 
 " Little had lordes to do to give lands 
 from tiieir heirs 
 To religious that have no ruthe 
 
 though it rain on their aultrcs. 
 In many places there the parsons 
 
 be themselves at ease. 
 Of the poor they have no pitie, and 
 that is their poor charilie." 
 
 But whoever was the writer of these Visions, tiiere is uncommon tact evinced in his
 
 22 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 One more observation respecting the Gate-house, before we take 
 leave of this part of our subject. It lias been remarked by Dr. 
 Johnson, in his life of Milton, that " every house in which this great 
 man resided is historically mentioned, as if it were an injury to neglect 
 naming any place that he honoured by his presence." In like manner 
 may we say that this Gate-house ' is honoured, as there is a tradition, 
 
 description of manners and character, while he has delivered what has been boldly called 
 " prophecies of the history of the Reformation." The vehicle of allegory serves to 
 shelter the satirist; but satirist as he was, he has imparted to many of his lines that 
 rural and touchingly simple air which must ever continue to please. Even to the unpoetical 
 reader, the musings on Malvern Hills, with which he opens the poem, will not be dis- 
 tasteful ; there are many passages also full of the facetious humour of his great contem- 
 porary, Chaucer. " The Vision," remarks the great Selden, " is WTitten in a kind of 
 English metre which for the discovery of the infecting corruptions of those times, I prefer 
 before many of the more seemingly serious invectives, as well for invention as for 
 judgment." Note in Polyolbion, fol. p. 109. Hollinshed, Stow, and Wood, thus allude 
 to this writer, who has studied so thoroughly the characters and manners of his fellow 
 countrymen and contemporaries. " Among the learned men of that age, (Edward 111.) 
 was Robert Langland, a secular priest, born in Salopshire, in Mortimer's Clebury." 
 llolinshed, ed. I. Vol. II. p. 1003. — " This year, John Malverne, fellow of Oriel college, 
 in Oxford, made and finished his book entitled the Visions of Piers Plowman." Stow"s 
 Ann. p. 238.—" Robertus Langland Johannes Malverne nonnullis appellatur : fertur 
 autem inter sui steculi poetas maxime facetos exeelluise." Wood, Hist, and Antiq. Univ. 
 Oxon. 1. ii. p. 10. 7. — And Spenser assigns to him a high poetical rank, when he says, 
 
 " Go but a lowly gate among the meaner sort. 
 Dare not to match thy pipe with Tityms his style. 
 Nor with the Pilgrim that the Plowman plaid awhile." 
 
 Epilogue to ShejihercCs Calendar. 
 
 ' The following is a description of part of the Gate-house of the Priory of Bridlington, 
 in Yorkshire, as surveyed by one of Henry the Eighth's general surveyors, and the remains 
 of the Malvern Gate-house would encourage the opinion, that it had not been without similar 
 accommodations ; so that the King, during his temporary sejour there, would not have 
 been without what may be called the salu7i and boudoir of those days. " At the cummyng 
 yn of the said Priory is a Gate-house foure square of Towre facyon, buylded Ffrestone, 
 and well covered with leade. And one the South Syde of the same Gate-house ys a 
 Porter's lodge w' a Chymnej', a rounde Stayre leding up to a hye Chamber wherein the 
 thre Weks Courte ys always kepte in w' a Chymney in the same, and betweene the Stayre
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 23 
 
 which, according- to Cole, represents with much probability, that 
 Henry VII. took up his abode there — the sovereign upon whom Bacon 
 has pronounced this noble eulogy. "His laws (whoso marks them 
 well) were deep and not vulgar; not made on the spur of a particular 
 occasion for the present, but out of providence for the future ; to make 
 the estate of his people still more and more happy, after the manner 
 of the legislators in ancient and heroic times '." 
 
 The readers of our popular histories are imbued with the notion 
 that the patrician class were the chief instigators with Henry to com- 
 mence his work of spoliation on the ancient Church. True it is, that 
 they shared in the division of the bounty, and many of them most 
 larg(!ly, but those, whose knowledge is not merely superficial, are 
 well aware that the sole suggestor and prime agent and director of 
 this doubtful and dangerous experiment was the Secretary Cromwell. 
 "^e," says the accurate Strype, "had the great stroke in all this. 
 All these counsels and methods were struck out of his head; for which, 
 as he received the curse, and brought upon himself the hatred of many, 
 80 many more, well affected to a reformation of superstitions in the 
 Church, extolled him highly*;"' although we question much whether 
 these very persons would have been so desirous of pushing matters to 
 extremity, could they have anticipated that the secularization of the 
 monastic estates, however defensible enough in itself <iu Protestant 
 principles, would have led to the plunder of bishoprics under our good 
 virgin Queen'. 
 
 foote and the same hie Chamber where the Courte ys kepte be tow proper Chambers one 
 above the other w' Chymneys." Arch.xologia, Vol. XIX. p. 27«. AVo are informed by 
 Du Cange sur Joinvillc, Tom. II. p. .'J2. tliat tlie descendants of Hugh Capet hchl their 
 courts in tliese places in imitation of the Hebrew kings. 
 
 • Historic of King Henry Vll. Lond. 1047, p. 72. 
 
 • Annals of the Reformation, Vol. VI. p. 205. 
 
 • Sec Lansdownc MSS. No. 090. fol. 225. Bishop Kcnnctl's Coll. Vol. LVI. for .nn
 
 24 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVRRX. 
 
 Wlicn this bold minister drew up his indictment against the monas- 
 teries, and made a condemnatory matter of it, the good Bishop Latimer 
 petitioned that two or three religious houses in each county, and in 
 particular that of Great Malvern, might be suffered to remain, and 
 their estates converted to educational purposes. The letter of solici- 
 tation from this staunch champion of the Reformation to Cromwell, 
 that Great Malvern might not be under his ban, is still extant. We 
 shall give it to the reader in its rough black-letter language, without 
 any attempt to modernize it, that he may see the production in all its 
 rusticity, plainness, and strength. Now we remember to have read 
 somewhere of a person who refused to peruse some old book because 
 it had such very poor spelling ; but we hope that this address of 
 Latimer will not be deemed beneath notice on that account, when it 
 is so valuable as a specimen of the idiomatic English of the age, and 
 likewise most valuable as reflecting great credit upon Malvern Priory, 
 seeing that its character was such as to influence a man of his 
 apostolical purity of manners to stand forth its advocate. 
 
 " But now syre a nother thynge, that by your favour I myglit be a 
 motionare unto you, at the request of an honeste man, the Prior of 
 Grett Malverne, in my dioc. referryng the successe of the hooU matter 
 to your ownly approvyd w^'ssdoom and benyinge goodnesse in everj- 
 case ffor I knoo that 1 doo play the ff'owU, butt yett with my foolyssh- 
 nesse I sumwhatt qwiett an unqwiett man, and mytygatt hys 
 heuynesse, which I am bold to doo with you, ftbr that I kno by 
 experience your goodnesse, that you wyll here with fowlls in there 
 freylnesse. Thys man both heryth and feryth (as he sayth) the 
 
 account of Scambler, Bishop of Peterborough, resigning a good part of his bishopric into 
 the Queen's hands. We could easily multiply instances of this kind. But this proof is 
 sufficient for the purpose.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 25 
 
 suppressioiie of hys Howse, wicli tliowgh lie wyll be coiilbrmable in 
 all poyntts to the kyngs hynesse plesewre and yours ons knoyn, as 
 both I advertysed him, ande also hys bowndon dewtye ys to be, yett 
 neurthelesse yf he thowght hys interpryesse shuld natt be mystake nor 
 turne to ony displesewr he wold be an humble sewtere to your lord- 
 shype, and by the same to the kyngs good grace for the upstandynge 
 of hys forsayd howse, and contynuauce of the same to man}' good 
 purpassesse, natt in Monkrye, he mayneth natt soo, God forbyd, butt 
 ony other ways, as shuld be thought andeseyme good to the kyng's 
 majestye, as to mayntayne tochynge prechynge, studye, with prayynge, 
 ande (to the which he ys much gyvyne) good howskepynge ; for to 
 the vertu of hospitalyte he hatlie byn grettly inclynyd from hys 
 begynnynge, and ys very much commendyd in thes partees for the 
 same : so that if ccccc. marks to the kyng's hynesse, with cc. marks 
 to yourselffe for your good wyll might occasione the promotione of hys 
 intentt, att leste way for the tyme of hys lyffe, he doubtyth natt to 
 make hys frends for the same, yf so lytuU cold bringe soo much to 
 passe. The man ys old, a good howskepere, fedyth many, and that 
 dayly, for the contreth ys poore and full of penurye : and, alas my good 
 Lord, shall we nat see ij. or iij. in every shy re changyd to such remydye? 
 " Thus too, thys honeste man is importunyte hath browght me to 
 be younde my dewtye, savyng for the confydence and truste that 1 
 have always in your benignytye. As he hath knolege froom you, soo 
 he wyll prepare for you, ever obedyentt to your aduertyessmentt. 
 Syr Wylliam Kyngston can make reportt of the man. 
 
 "H. L. 
 
 "13 Dccemb. 
 
 "Jiartl. WiGOr'." 
 
 ' The whole of this letter is given in Dugdalc's Monast. Angl. N. E. p. 1.')]. We 
 h.ive cited only the passages iii point with our subject.
 
 26 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 When the Priory was dissolved, it was granted by Henry, together 
 with certain lands and tenements immediately adjoining, and others in 
 Upton and Hanley, to William Pynnock and his heirs, who in the 
 following year alienated the same to John Knottysford, Esq, Serjeant 
 at Arms, from whom the Church was purchased by the inhabitants of 
 Malvern ; and to the happy circumstance of its being made parochial, 
 we owe the preservation of a fabric so touching to the heart of the 
 Christian, and which serves to gratify the eye of the painter as well as 
 of the antiquary, from its having all the painter's beauties of intricacy 
 of form, and light and shade. The older portions of the Church, the 
 round piers worked with plain capitals, the semi-circular arches of the 
 nave, are decidedly ' architectural features of an early Norman origin, 
 
 ' The following judicious hints upon the subject of Saxon and Nonnan edifices, we 
 would recommend to the especial notice of certain dilettanti antiquarians, who are so 
 oracular in their fiats as to what are, or what are not, buildings of a Saxon or of a Norman 
 date. " On that part of our architectural history which follows the departure of the Romans 
 from Britain, and which precedes the Norman conquest, there is of course great obscurity ; 
 Init while in the days of Dr. Stukeley and Horace Walpole there appears to have been 
 much too easy an admission of Saxon dates, on the mere appearance of the semi-circular 
 arch, I think there has been of late perhaps too great a leaning the other way ; and 
 because we cannot directly prove that certain edifices are Saxon by documentary evidence, 
 we have been induced too easily perhaps to consider that no Saxon buildings did exist, 
 and have not given ourselves the trouble sufficiently to examine our earlier Nonnan 
 works, to see if they were not some of them entitled to be considered as erected before the 
 conquest. I confess I have myself been heretofore of this class of doubters as to Saxon 
 dates ; but having in various parts found buildings which are not Norman, and which 
 from their peculiar construction cannot well be considered either as modern, or as any 
 intermediate style, I think they must be anterior, and therefore entitled to be called 
 Saxon." See four most instructive letters on the Ecclesiastical Architecture, by Thomas 
 Rickman, Esq. in the twenty-fifth volume of the Archasologia, Lett. III. p. IGG. These 
 very remarks were made to us by King Leopold, when we had the honour of being his 
 duclor historicus while viewing the church. This is not the place to eulogize his Majesty's 
 taste or learning, or else, \vithout exaggeration, we might add, that his knowledge of 
 ecclesiastical architecture, especially of what belongs to the continental buildings called 
 Gothic, is as accurate as that of the late Mr. Hope's on the costume of the Ancients. A 
 professional architect might profit by his Majesty's judgment.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 27 
 
 and coeval with the foundation of the monastery; the rest of the edifice 
 is an elegant and diversified specimen of design and embellishment in 
 the latest period of tlie pointed style. 
 
 Both Dugdale and Nash observe a total silence respecting the Lich- 
 field ' MS. which instructs us to believe, that Henry VII., his Queen, 
 and the Princes Arthur and Henry, were so captivated with the scenery 
 of Malvern, that the stained and painted windows in the Church, 
 casting " a dim religious light." and constituting one of its most 
 striking and attractive ornaments, were introduced by the devotional 
 munificence ^ of these royal personages. Whatever uncertainty may 
 exist as to the extent of their bounty to the Priorj', \\ e tliiiik it may be 
 fairly and legitimately inferred, that they were in some manner, 
 though now unknown to us, benefactors to it, from the fact, that in the 
 large window in Jesus' Chapel, which forms the extremity of the north 
 transept, were the figures of Henry VII. armed and crowned with an 
 imperial crown ; on his upper garments the arms of France and 
 England ; behind him, Elizabeth his queen, with the same arms on 
 her garment ; behind her, Arthur, Prince of Wales, likewise armed ; 
 behind him. Sir Reginald Bray, (which last two figures still remain 
 perfect after 300 years), bearing in a shield argent a chevron, between 
 three eagles' legs erased sable : behind him, Sir John Savage and Sir 
 Thomas Lovell, all kneeling, bearing palm branches lifted up to heaven 
 \\ itli the inscription. Orate pro bono statu iiobiUssimi ct cxcellentisshni 
 regis Henrici Septimi et Elizahclhe regine ac domini Arthur t principisji Hi 
 corundcm, nee non predilectissime consortia sue et suorum trium militum '. 
 
 ' See Chambers's Historj- of Malvern, p. 31. for an account of this manuscript. 
 
 ' Nasi), in his Addenda, Vol. II. p. 53, says that " the painted glass in Malvern 
 church was chiefly put here in the time of Henry VII." but he quotes no authority for 
 this assertion. 
 
 ' Latin terms have a larictij of acceptations, but there cannot be a doubt, I apprehend, 
 
 E 2
 
 28 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 Mr. Dallaway, in his Anecdotes of the Arts, has indulged in many 
 fanciful speculations : for instance, his conjecture that the pointed 
 arch originated from mere love of novelty, or in the caprice of the 
 Italians ', is unsupported by the authority of any one fact. It is, 
 however, " passing strange," that in speaking of the interior of this 
 church, he should have ventured peremptorily to affirm, " that all 
 the stained glass remaining is but poorly executed," when so many 
 compartments of the windows supply the refutation of the extrava- 
 gant assertion. The rich stained glass, which admits its light into the 
 church, in red, purple, and yellow streams, and especially from that 
 brilliant colour the ruby, now in great measure lost, has been pro- 
 nounced by connoisseurs^ on this subject, to afford exquisite specimens, 
 
 that Dr. Nash is chargeable with an error in an eminent degree, when he translates Miles 
 into Esquire. Hist, of Worcestershire, Vol. II. p. 1.31. — Down from Roman to what has 
 been called kitchen Latin, — that is the Latin of the monasteries, — no instance can be 
 produced of the word Miles bearing any other meaning in inscriptions than that of 
 Knight or Soldier of Christ. The writer, in his description of the arms in the church 
 of Great Malvern, in the time of Charles, to whom we shall have hereafter to refer, may 
 be said to agree with every other authority on this subject when he recites, " that the last 
 of the three attenders on theyre M"" is S' Thomas Lovell, a Pryvie Consellor." 
 
 " Pray for the good estate of the most noble and excellent King Henry VII. and of 
 Elizabeth his Queen, and of the Lord Prince Arthur, their son, as well as of his most 
 dearly beloved consort, and of their three knights." The orate pro anima was discontinued 
 tempore Ed. VI. See Gough, Introd. p. 305. To those who are unacquainted with the 
 Mediaeval Archaeology, it is fitting to remark, that the records and Latin compositions of 
 that period universally drop the a in the diphthong ce ; that is, they give regine, e.\cellen- 
 tissime, sue, &c. &c. &c. in the room of reginae, excellentissimK, suae. 
 
 ' P. 2. The tower of the Schools at 0.\ford is of the Italian order, and as little like 
 true Gothic, as the Church of Great Malvern is to a Grecian temple. 
 
 • In his brief but well written account " of St. Mary's Church, Worcestershire," Mr. 
 Neale, alluding to the painted and stained glass, says, " that many beautiful specimens 
 remain :" and again, in reference to this subject, " there is still sufficient remaining to 
 attest its original splendour." In speaking of stained glass, Mr. Rickman, in his Letters 
 on the Ecclesiastical Architecture of France, Archseol. Vol. XXV. observes, " that a careful 
 examination with a good telescope is (from its distance from the eye) essential to a proper
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 29 
 
 not to be surpassed by any which adorn cathedrals of the first class in 
 this kingdom. The west window of the chapel, to which we have just 
 alluded, consists of three divisions, all entire ; and the beauty of the 
 drawing, and the splendour of the colours, excite great admiration. 
 Among other subjects contained in them are these ; tlie Salutation of 
 Elizabeth, the Visitation of the Angel to Mary, the Nativity, the Pre- 
 sentation in the Temple, the Blind restored to Sight, the Resurrection 
 of Lazarus, the Multitude following our Saviour, and the Last Supper. 
 The great east window also still glows witli those gorgeous colours 
 that modern art in vain attempts to equal, realizing all that the poet' 
 has so eloquently described : — 
 
 " As diamonded with panes of quaint device 
 Innumerable of stains and splendid dyes, 
 As are the tiger-moth's deep damask'd wings ; 
 And in the midst 'mong thousand heraldries 
 And twilight saints and dim cmblazonings, 
 A shielded scutcheon blush'd with blood of queens and kings." 
 
 appreciation of its value." We have made this experiment, and therefore can vouch, 
 (exclusive of the high authority of Mr. Rickman) that the fact is true to the letter. 
 
 ' See the description of Agnes praying beneath the painted window, in one of the best 
 productions of that extraordinary young man, the late John Keats, who is said by some 
 to have fallen a victim to early studiousness ; and by others, to the poisoned arrows of 
 criticism. That he was " cursed with too much sensibility," is sufficiently obvious, from 
 the following passage in the Preface to his Endymion : — " This may be speaking too 
 presumptuously, and may deserve a punishment, but no feeling man will be forward to 
 inflict it : he may leave me alone, with the conviction that there is no fiercer hell than the 
 failure in a great object." His fate may be likened to that of 
 
 " A bud bit by an envious worm 
 
 Ere it could spread its sweet leaves to the air, 
 Or dedicate its beauty to the sun." 
 
 Dwelling, in the true sj)irit of criticism, more upon the beauties than tlie defects of this 
 youthful genius, we shall say, at the hazard of forfeiting all pretensions to nicety of discri- 
 mination, that there arc many passages in his Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and in
 
 30 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 By a benefaction from the late Princess Charlotte of Wales, the 
 west window in like manner has been filled with splendid representa- 
 tions of Pontiffs, Prelates, and Saints, brought from less observable 
 situations in other parts of the church. 
 
 Among the Harleian MSS.' is an account, written in the time of 
 Charles I. of the arms in the church of Great Malvern. The follow- 
 ing quotations from it will not only be acceptable to the mere anti- 
 quaiy, but from their plaintive moralizing tone leave a pleasing im- 
 pression upon the minds of those, who relish the simple reflections and 
 phraseology of the earlier annalists, and which are in such strict 
 keeping, as the painters call it, with their subject ; while the pom- 
 pous inscriptions, which sometimes accompany royal shields, have in 
 them the sting of an epigram, since they oftener show what they 
 whom they commemorate ought to have been, than what they actually 
 were. " Let no man deceive you with vain words," is the admonition 
 of an apostle, which the sage or the moralist will apply to those who 
 seek to blazon forth a name to the world, which wisdom had consigned 
 to oblivion : for how many, canopied in state, have been such idolaters 
 of vain glory, or oppressors of their species, that bursts of scorn or 
 indignation escape at the very sight of their proud monuments. 
 
 After alluding to the representation of Prince Arthur, " nypt in 
 the bud w"' an untymely deathe, so that he hasted fyrst who by 
 nature's course shoulde have gon last," our genealogist thus proceeds : 
 " Lastly I conclude w* the large west windowe, representinge to vs 
 the dreadfull daye of Judgment wheareon the ryght hand is Quarterly 
 Fraunce and England, supported w"' towe boares. Argent, and couered 
 
 his noble fragment of Hyperion, which render him fully deserving " laurea donandus 
 Apollinari," of the sacred name of poet, and therefore justly entitled to a niche in the 
 temple of Fame. 
 
 ' No. 2205. fo. 17 — 19. Armes in the Churche of Great Malvern.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 31 
 
 w''^ a Duke's crowne, Or. The Duke's crowne shewethe hee was yet 
 a subiect, although these Amies w'^out difference threaten that hee 
 aymethe at a kingdome, W^*" he cruelly won, and drowned hys singular 
 wysdome, renowned valure, and other rare partes, in a blouddy 
 vsurpation. Richard the thyrd, haddest thou deepely consydered 
 of the Judgment seate (the resemblance wheareof by all lykelihood 
 thy bounty here erected), thou wouldest never so highely have prysed 
 a puffe of ambition. On the other syde are the Armes of hys Duches, 
 afterwardes Queen disorderly marshalled and thus quartered. 1 . Gules 
 a fesse between six crosses croslets Or. 2. Or. three cheuerons Gules. 
 3. Quarterly Argent and Gules fretted Or a bendelet Sables. 4. Checkic 
 Or and Asure a cheueron Erin. Impalinge Gules a Salteyre Argent 
 couered w''' lier husbandcs, and supported w"' towe beares Argent. 
 So Royalty beginnethe and endethe the Armoiy of this Charge'."' 
 
 If rareness heighten the interest of that which in itself is interesting, 
 either as an object of taste or of high antiquity, then the carved stone 
 image in the recess of Jesus' Chapel claims particular notice. Stukeley - 
 described it to be a kni^Iit covered with a mail and his surcoat: in his 
 right liand a halbert like ;t picka.\e ; in his left, a round target. 
 Gough ^ saj'S, this figure is in the oldest mail armour ; and Carter* 
 
 ' This remarkable coat of arms is still in existence, and is now to be found in the third 
 window on the south side of the nave. The following opinion is given by Xash, on the 
 authority of George Lord Lyttleton. " The two shields, containing the arms and supporters 
 of Richard III. and the other tliose of his Cjueen, have both coronets over thcni, which, 
 perhaps, is the earliest instance of coronets borne over the arms of princes and nobility 
 as at this day." Addenda, vol. ii. p. ,^)3. The late Lord Colchestei first pointed out these 
 arms to us ; and he observed at the same time, that it cost him a good liour's work before 
 he could discover them, in consequence of their having been completely misplaced by an 
 ignorant glazier. 
 
 ' Itinerarium curiosum. 
 
 ' Sepulchral Monuments in Great Britain. ^ 
 
 ' Ancient sculpture and painting.
 
 32 PRIORY OF GREAT iMALVERN. 
 
 States, that no similar figure ever came under his observation. Upon 
 the principle just referred to, the yellow or orange-coloured tiles in 
 the pavement of this church are not to be overlooked ; they are finely 
 glazed, and richly ornamented ; many with armorial bearings : those 
 of the woman-hearted Confessor ', of Henry VII. (France and England 
 (juarterly ') of the Abbey of Westminster, and of several great baronial 
 families. But as a more specific mention may be desiderated by those 
 who are versed in the science of heraldry, the following then will, 
 perhaps, be interesting to persons of such tastes. 
 
 " ] . A cross moline inter 5 martlets for y« Abbey of Westminster to 
 w*^*" this Priory belonged. 
 
 2. Three Lions passant gardant for England, or King Henry y« 3"^ 
 who was a great Benefactor. 
 
 ' " The woman-hearted Confessor prepares 
 The evanescence of the Saxon line." 
 
 Eccles. Sketches, p. 33. 
 But we should be disposed to dispute the accuracy of this epithet, if meant to refer to all 
 the actions of this last legitimate Anglo-Saxon king. In the bestowal of his ecclesiastical 
 preferments, there was nothing timid or vacillating in his conduct. He treated the autho- 
 rity of the Pope with the same bold disregard as Martin Luther himself would have done, 
 if invested with similar powers and functions. " When Edward the Confessor," says Sir 
 Francis Palgrave, " notified the promotion of a prelate, it was by the promulgation of a 
 charter, whicli stated, that he had given and granted the bishopric, and all that tliereto 
 belonged. Not the slightest allusion is made to the will of the Pontiff, or the postulation of 
 the Clergy : he declares his will and pleasure, and in terms more than emulating those 
 employed by our eighth Henry in the plenitude of his power. The same royal authority 
 controlled the other branches of ecclesiastical promotion. The abbot was elected by the 
 king's consent ; he resigned his monastery in favour of a successor, by the king's license ; 
 and when the Bishop wished to remove his See, he applied in the first instance, not to 
 the Pope, but to the King." The Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, Part I. 
 p. 173, 174. 
 
 ' " The first instance extant of an approach to the system of quartering arms, which," says 
 Sir Nicholas Harris Nicholas, " was not regularly adopted in this country until the reign of 
 Edward III. is afforded in the Bohuns." See Remarks on the Seals attached to the Letter 
 from the Barons of England to Pope Boniface the Eighth. Archaeologia, Vol. XXI. p. 192.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 33 
 
 3. A Bend cotised inter G Lions rampant, for Bohun Earl of 
 Hereford. 
 
 4. Barry of G on a Chief, 2 Pallets inter 2 Esquires, an Escocheon 
 of Pretence Ermine for Mortimer Earl of March. 
 
 5. Quarterly on f. 2'' and 3"^ a Fret, over all a Bend for Spencer 
 Earl of Glocester. 
 
 6. A Fess inter 6 Martlets for Beauchamp ' of Powike. 
 
 7. 3. Cheuronels for Clare Earl of Glocester. 
 
 8. A Fess inter G crosses botony for Beauchamp Earl of Warwic. 
 The same arms are on y'' Floor in divers parts of y^ Church. 
 
 Checquy a Cheuron, and y« arms of Bracy, viz. : a Fess and 2 Mullets 
 in Chief: with this Date all behind y"^ Altar after y^ aforesaid 
 8 Coats. 
 
 There have been some, and those professed antiquaries too, whose 
 notions on these tiles are certainly of a most original nature, conceiv- 
 ing them to be Alhambra tiles, brought from Portugal, although there 
 is such clear and decisive evidence of their having been manufactured 
 in Britain. Now the least learned antiquary is aware, that after 
 heraldic devices were carved or painted upon escutcheons, or stained 
 in glass in consecrated places, they were painted upon glazed bricks 
 and tiles on the floors. During the middle centuries, most of the great 
 Abbeys and Priories had kilns for preparing them, from which also the 
 conventual churches were siijjplied. The most obvious and rational 
 conclusion therefore is, that the monks, having acquired this branch 
 of encaustic painting, devoted much of their leisure time to it. At 
 first these tiles, baked almost to vitrification, and admirably calculated 
 to resist damp and wear, were of an irregular shape, but afterwards 
 they were made equilateral, and about four inches square ; " and when 
 
 ' De Bello-Campo, as it is vrittcn in some charters ami otlior public instruments. 
 
 F
 
 34 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 arranged and connected," observes Mr. Fosbrookc', " produced an 
 effect very much resembling the Roman designs, yet wanting their 
 simplicity and taste. There will be, however, with the most sceptical, 
 a perfectly satisfactory settlement of the question as to their being of 
 foreign fabrication, when they learn, that within the last year a kiln ^ 
 has been discovered on the Priory farm, in which were found tiles of 
 the same dimensions and materials as those that decorate the floors of 
 the church. On one of these tiles, which is fixed in the third pillar 
 on the north side of the nave, we have an inscription, which, for its 
 curiosity, is well worthy to be recorded ; and, when translated into 
 intellio-ible Eno-lish, will read thus : — 
 
 Clirnfec . nioit . iit . Ifffc . 
 mai . not . cu . rntturf . 
 gat . nolu . Host. ni. Self, 
 of . nat . jjoto . ait . Stiiic . 
 but . pat . j)oto . gfbrst . 
 un . to . in . Scrtur . rtirc . 
 anS . fu . jjit . abailc . iir . 
 i)it . ii . but . abcntiuf . 
 
 Think man thy life 
 May not ever endure 
 That thou dost thyself 
 Of that thou art sure 
 But that thou givest 
 To thy executors cure 
 An ever it avail thee 
 It is but a venture '. 
 
 ' Encyclop. of Antiq. Vol. I. p. 104. 
 
 - See Note D. Appendix. 
 
 ■■ A tile with the same inscription as that just mentioned was dug up in the ruins of an 
 old house called the Ranger's Lodge, now the property of Lady Lyttleton. In alluding 
 again to this venerable person, for whether referring to her virtues or her years, the epithet 
 venerable is strictly applicable, as her Ladyship has now attained the honoured old age of
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 35 
 
 The spectator of antiquarian taste will examine with attention a 
 small chapel in the aisle of the church, the vaulting of which is deco- 
 rated with fan tracery, and other analogous enrichments. The exterior 
 of this chapel, or perhaps it was nothing more than a recess occupied 
 by an ancient tomb, at all events it is quite erroneous to style it, as 
 some have done, a Confessional ', is pannelled with quatrefoils, over 
 which is a cornice with figures bearing shields. His eye, after survey- 
 ing a screen of beautifully carved oak on the left side of the chancel, 
 will also notice the range of antique stalls, the subsellae of which 
 exhibit various grotesque and other carvings in alto relievo. Among 
 the subjects are to be seen a miser on his death-bed, with the priest at 
 his head, and a leach at his feet, to whom he is offering his money 
 bags ; 2. the prodigal son ; 3. a small figure holding a large goblet in 
 each hand, designed, no doubt, for an emblem of gluttony, as he is 
 
 ninety-one, we cannot refrain from saying that her coronet well deserves to be entwined 
 with the wreath of public gratitude : indeed, her benevolent feelings, like the genius of 
 some great men, may be said to bum brightest at the last. Without specifying the 
 numerous charities elsewhere bestowed by this ornament of her sex, for of them we 
 have a perfect knowledge, suffice it to observe, that in this parish, and within a few years, 
 her Ladyship has made extensive additions to the Sunday school, erected at her sole 
 expence — contributed largely to the school of industry — to the infant school, of both of 
 wliich she was tlie establisher, besides being a most liberal benefactress to the North-hill 
 Royal school, and other institutions of this place. And all these things " that are 
 excellent, lovely in conduct, and of good report," have been done by this admirable 
 woman out of an income which many in the station of life to which she belongs would 
 deem inadequate for its due maintenance. Truly then, may we exclaim, in the words of 
 the great Father of English poetry, " she will be holden digne of reverence." AVho 
 indeed can fail to be struck with the image of such excellence ? 
 
 ' Directly opposite to this description of a Confessional, is that which has been called 
 so in this church. " On each side of the altar at Crcwkernc, in Somersetshire, is a door 
 leading into a small room ; tliat by whicli tlie penitent entered for confession has two 
 swine carved over it, to signify their pollution : that by which they returned, two angels, 
 to signify their purity. At Gloucester, the Confessional is a large chair by tlie side of 
 tlie door." Fosbrooke's Encyclopa'diu of Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 07. 
 
 f2
 
 36 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 sitting over the fragments of a repast; 4. three rats strangling 
 a cat. 
 
 Swift, in one of his cutting sarcasms, called our churches the dormi- 
 tories of the living . Hhe Miserere was a very ingenious expedient of 
 the Priors for preventing theirs from becoming so. It was indeed as 
 admirable a contrivance against the indulgence of fits of somnolency, 
 as the American camp meetings are for keeping alive the excitement 
 of fanatical passions. Dr. Milner has thus accurately described this 
 monitor to drowsy monks : — " The small shelving stool, which the 
 seats of the stalls formed, when turned up in their proper position, is 
 called a Miserere. On these, the monks and canons of ancient times, 
 with the assistance of their elbows on the upper part of the stalls, half 
 supported themselves during certain parts of their long offices, not to 
 be obliged always to stand or kneel. The stool, however, was so con- 
 trived, that if the body became supine by sleep, it naturally fell down, 
 and the person who rested upon it was thrown forward into the middle 
 of the choir. The present usage in this country is to keep them 
 always turned down, in which position they form a firm horizontal 
 seat ; an indulgence that was very rarely granted to those who kept 
 choir in ancient times'." 
 
 ' Historical Account of Winchester Cathedral, Note, p. 60. If the reports of the 
 Commissioners at the General Visitation of the Monasteries were not extant to assure us 
 that so many brotherhoods had completely debased themselves in sensual indulgence, we 
 should have doubted, from the severe daily discipline with which they were fenced in, 
 that human nature could have fallen into such corruption. The following regulations, if 
 strictly enforced, were surely calculated to restrain the monks, since a rigorous employ- 
 ment of time has always been considered as the best security against the practice of every 
 species of wickedness. Matins, or ^latutina, or Lauds, from midnight until Prime. The 
 morning service commenced about three a. m., and was called Matins, or Lauds. Prime, 
 or Prima ; from about six a. m. Tierce, this service immediately succeeded Matins. 
 " If the office of Lauds be finished by daybreak as is fit, let them begin Prime ; if not 
 let them wait for daylight. Tierce, or Tertia, from about nine a. m. to Sext. Sext, or
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 37 
 
 Confining ourselves to the illustration of the antiquities of the church, 
 we shall pass over in silence its modern monuments and inscriptions. 
 On a very handsome monument of alabaster, on the steps, by the 
 south side of the altar, and standing on a sort of chapel beneath it, 
 are the figures of John Knottesford, Esq., and Jane, his lady, in 
 recumbent postures. He is represented, in plate armour, on the altar 
 monument ; several children are at their sides. Against the east arch 
 at their feet, on a piece of marble, are these arms, viz. S on a cross 
 engrailed A a mullet for Knottesford, impaling O. 2 Pallets G for 
 Knightly. Under them is this inscription : " Here lieth the body of 
 John Knottesford, Esquire, servant to King Henry the Eighth, and 
 Jane his wife, daughter to Sir Richard Knightly, who being first 
 named to Mr. William Lumley, had issue John Lord Lumley, and by 
 John Knottesford had issue five daughters and coheirs : he dyed in 
 the year 1589." At the head of the tomb is a large figure of a 
 lady kneeling before a desk, and looking towards the altar, with these 
 arms on the desk, viz. A. G lions rampant, S for Savage impales 
 Knottesford, being the eldest daughter Anne, who caused this monu- 
 ment to be erected. 
 
 The remains of many of the ancient family of Lygon ' in this 
 
 Sexta, from about twelve, or noon, to Xones. Nones, or Nona, from about two or 
 three p. m. to Vespers. Vespers, or Vespera, from about four o'clock to Complin, or 
 second Vespers. Completorium, or Compline, Second Vespers, about seven o'clock." See 
 Chronology of History, by Sir Harris Nicholas, p. 184. 
 
 ' See MS. account of Worcestershire families sub uomiiic, in Biblioth. Societ. .\ntit]. 
 also Genealogy of the Beauchamp Family in Genealogical History of the Crooke Family, 
 by Sir Alexander Croke, D.C.L. Oxon. 1832, Vol. III. p. 140 : and that of Dr. Nash 
 previous to the Lygon connexion with the baronial family of Beauchamp of Powyke, 
 Hist, of Wore. Vol. II. p. 264. We are told by this last writer, that the Lygons had a 
 right to quarter twenty-seven coats of arms, Vol. II. p. 117. After this minute observa- 
 tion, it is extraordinary, that in his account of the parish of Mamble or Mamelc, and 
 enumeration of tlie lords of the soil, he should, if acquainted with tlie fact, have omitted
 
 yS PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 county have here found their resting places. The inscriptions over 
 them chiefly commemorate their household virtues, domestic affections, 
 and social charities. But in reading the simple and affecting lines 
 affixed to the stone which records the death of Maria, wife of William 
 Lygon of Madresfield, we feel that we are treading on the ashes of 
 her, who was not beautiful only, but united with transient beauty the 
 more durable gifts of piety and virtue. 
 
 " Stay, passenger, and from this dusty ume 
 Both what I was and what thou must be leame. 
 Grace, \nrtue, beauty, had no privilege 
 That everlasting statute to abridge, 
 That all must die ; then, gentle friend, with care 
 In life for death and happiness prepare." 
 
 " Hark — speaking to themselves 
 Are Malvern sweet nine bells ; 
 Now they troll — troll — troll '." 
 
 Thus blithely is supposed to have sung a poetical pastor of Malvern, 
 whose lays on another subject we shall give as an appropriate conclu- 
 sion to our Dissertation. But where are the other three? (for six 
 only now remain,) is the first and natural question of the lover of 
 campanology. Gone, irrecoverably gone, to St. Mary Overj^'s church 
 in Southwark, is the sorrowing reply. Through whose instru- 
 mentality, or for what price, or upon what occasion — on these points 
 we are unhappily without the irresistible evidence of dates, figures, or 
 
 to notice that Henry Lijggon received the manor of Mamele in the reign of Henry the 
 Fourth. For this statement see the learned work just referred to. Vol. II. Book III. 
 Chap. I. 
 
 ' For a further reference to the supposed author of these lines " of rude and homely 
 vulgar poesie," see Note at the end of our Dissertation.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 39 
 
 facts. When Cole was at Malvern, in 1746, the Parish Clerk told 
 hina ' that they had been sold some fifty or sixty years ago. This 
 great antiquary, however, seems, from some subsequent remarks 
 which he makes on this su])ject, to have been as incredulous 
 respecting the truth of this statement, as he would be upon that of an 
 old legend. 
 
 But if it be a sad truth to learn that a grand act of larceny has 
 been committed on three bells, it would have been still sadder if the 
 tenor bell had been removed, as it is the most musical and the most 
 ancient of them all, bearing the following inscription, in what appears 
 to be the Lombardic^ character, since it exactly resembles the motto 
 on the earliest seal of the city of Norwich ^, which is assigned by 
 most of our eminent antiquarians to that origin. 
 
 The antiquity of this bell may be startling to some of our readers, 
 who are not aware that bells were used in the time of the Anglo- 
 Saxons. If our assertion be not sufficient, the following passage from 
 the venerable Bede will, it is hoped, satisfy the most sceptical on this 
 point. " She, while tarrying at that time in the Sisters' Dormitory, 
 suddenly heard in the air the well known sound of a bell, whereby, 
 
 ' MSS. Brit. Mus. Vol. X. fol. ll'J. 
 
 ' " The Lonibardic running-hand was a branch of the Roman, modelled after that used 
 in the sixth and seventli centuries. There is a striking resemblance between the Loni- 
 bardic and Merovingian running-hands. Lombardic characters are still to be seen in 
 some charters of the thirteenth century, even in Germany. The affinity between the 
 Roman, Lombardic, and Merovingian ninning-hand is so great that they may be consi- 
 dered as one." Encyclopa-'dia of Antiquities, Vol. L p. 484. 
 
 ' See ArchsElogia, Vol. XXI. p. 80. 
 
 ' Decyphered in Roman characters, this inscription stands thus : " Virginis cgrcgiae 
 vocor campuna Mariac." — i. e. " I am called the Virgin Mary's IJell."
 
 40 PRIORY OF GREAT MALYEllN. 
 
 when any one had been called from this life, they were wont to be 
 roused or summoned to prayers'." 
 
 Malvern Church, indeed, seems fated to experience every sort of 
 spoliation. Its very porch has fallen into lay hands ; and its roof 
 would not now have been crumbling into ruins, had not the lead been 
 stolen. Its exterior truly may be compared to those cabinets of ivory 
 one sometimes meets with in old family mansions, scratched, flawed, 
 splintered, carrying all the marks of time-worn decay. " Albeit, 
 however unused to the sanguine mood," we cannot quite despair that 
 public piety and liberality will preserve an Edifice which is connected 
 with so many associations of the historical kind, and which calls up 
 so many sentiments delightful to minds of pure taste and religious 
 sensibility. We trust then, that the hope is not presumptuous, espe- 
 cially after the example of the Illustrious Personage ^ to whom these 
 pages are inscribed, — an example which has such various and noble 
 claims to respect and imitation, that those of the upper classes of the 
 Laity, as well as of the Clergy, who have resorted to Malvern for the 
 renovation of their health, and not in vain — will do something — will 
 do a little — will do all they can to save the exterior from further 
 dilapidation ; now that our humble efforts, may we be permitted to 
 add without incurring the risk of being taxed with the fault of 
 egotism, have been crowned with complete success, in repairing 
 the interior. That this assistance is not craved before it is pecu- 
 liarly needed, the Extract in the Appendix, from a Report given of 
 
 ' " Haec tunc in dormitorio sororum pausans audivit subito in aere notum companae 
 sonum, quo ad orationes excitari vel convocari solebant cum quis de saeculo fuisset 
 evocatus." Hist. Eccles. Gentis Angl. Lib. IV. Cap. XXIII. 
 
 ' The Duchess of Kent marked the Church for an object of her beneficent liberality, 
 soon after her arrival at Malvern. Her Royal Highness's donation of £50. was imme- 
 diately followed by a similar sum from King Leopold.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 41 
 
 the State of the Church, at a general meeting of the parishioners, in 
 
 1831, will bring before them evidence broad and undeniable as the 
 
 light of day. At a time when there are those who impiously desire 
 
 to signalize themselves by pulling down churches, — let us trust that 
 
 this disgraceful fact will so rouse the holy zeal of every true lover of 
 
 God and man, and more especially of those who are dedicated to the 
 
 service of the Church, — will so animate them, that they make no delay 
 
 in preserving those ancient places of divine worship which are still left 
 
 to us. 
 
 Eighty-three years ago, the following remark was made by that 
 
 distinguished ornament of our Church, Bishop Butler: — " In the 
 
 present turn of the age, one may observe a wonderful frugality in 
 
 every thing that has respect to religion, and extravagance in every 
 
 thing else. But amidst the appearance of opulence and improvement 
 
 in all common things which are now seen in most places, it would be 
 
 hard to find a reason why these monuments of ancient piety should 
 
 not be preserved in their original beauty and magnificence '."' Some 
 
 there are who think, that symptoms of this disposition are appearing 
 
 in the present time : speaking for ourselves, we cannot imagine the 
 
 return of that day of VandaVism and Fanaticism, when Christian men 
 
 of this country shall become supinely negligent of upholding and 
 
 adorning their terrestrial sanctuaries, before they pass into their 
 
 Maker's temple of the heavens. Horace told the Roman people, 
 
 that 
 
 " Dii niulta neglecti dederunt 
 Hesperia; mala luetuosas," 
 
 and predicted, that their misfortunes would not terminate, till they 
 had repaired the fanes of the gods : — 
 
 ' See Primary Charge to the Clergy of Durham, a. d. 17j1. 
 
 O
 
 42 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 " Delicta majorum immeritus lues, 
 Romane, donee tenipla refeceris 
 jEdesque labentes deorum et 
 Foeda nigro simulacra fumo." 
 
 And if this Protestant nation shall ever become settled into a profound 
 indifference respecting the fate of its fabrics consecrated to the pur- 
 poses of religion, it will, we fear, cease to be the favoured country 
 for the diffusion of the triumphs of truth ; and instead of being thus 
 exalted above all the kingdoms of the earth, it will lose the protec- 
 tion of heaven, because no longer deserving it. For where is the 
 people, we would ask, with whom the Giver of all Good has dealt as 
 he has dealt with us ? But if that prophecy is no longer to receive 
 its accomplishment, which proclaims, that " Kings and Queens shall 
 be the nursing fathers and mothers" of our Church, adieu to the 
 magnificence of this nation's destinies • — the beauty and strength of 
 our Israel are gone — never to rise again. 
 
 David calls the house of God, " the beauty of holiness." Yet there 
 are some of such perverted taste and feeling, as to deem no place holy 
 which is beautiful ; wliile again we meet with others who are fully 
 persuaded that to bestow much cost and care upon any ancient religious 
 edifices of a cathedral character, " partakes," to use the words of Sir 
 Walter Raleigh, " of a kind of popery, and proceeds from an idola- 
 trous disposition." To such as may labour under this mean and fan- 
 ciful apprehension, we would respond in the exclamation of the great 
 Chillingworth : " What, if out of devotion towards God, out of a 
 desire that he should be worshipped, as in spirit and truth in the first 
 place, so all in the beauty of holiness — what, if out of fear that too 
 much simplicity and nakedness in the public service of God, may 
 beget in the ordinary sort of men dull and stupid irreverence, and out
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 43 
 
 of hope that the outward state and glory of it being well disposed 
 and wisely moderated, may engender, quicken, increase, and nourish 
 tlie inward reverence, respect, and devotion which is due unto Gods 
 sovereign majesty and power — I say, what if out of these considerations, 
 tlie governors of our Church, more of late than formerly, have set 
 themselves to adorn and beautify the places where God's honour dwells, 
 and to make them as heaven-like as they can with earthly ornaments 
 — is this a sign that they are warping towards popery ? Is their 
 devotion in the Church of England an argument that she is coming 
 over to the Church of Rome?" 
 
 Now even a Bolingbroke would not be thought a stranger to those 
 hallowed emotions which are elicited " by the solemn magnificence of 
 a well ornamented church'." Can their zeal then be questioned on 
 the subject, whose I'eligion is not a transient impulse, but a permanent 
 principle, producing an uninterrupted series of useful exertions ? 
 Can we entertain the suspicion for a moment that they will not })nt 
 forth their influence to restore the exterior of the venerable church of 
 Great Malvern to its pristine state of beauty and magnificence ? No 
 — we feel confident, that such will answer as willingly to our simple 
 but Christian appeal as a band of faithful warriors would to the 
 trumpet-call, which summons them to preserve their honour, tlieir 
 freedom, and their loyalty. 
 
 It will not be straying materially from the subject of this Disserta- 
 tion, to close it with an old Song, the date of which composition, 
 whether written in tlie reign of James the First, or at a later piTJoiI, 
 has baffled the researches of the most persevering antiquarians*. Tlie 
 
 ' See Philosophical Essays, Vol. II. p. .3-24. 
 
 ' " One copy," says Xash, " was found dated IGOO, but on what authority I know 
 not." Hist, of Wore. Vol. II. p. 127- We have seen an old common-place book of the 
 
 o 2
 
 44 PRIORY OF GREAT xMALVERN, 
 
 worthy rhymer will certainly not take his place among the Immortals 
 of this earth, as the}' are called, for not a single trace of the higher 
 poetry of his betters, is discoverable in this production, but still we 
 are indebted to him for his quaint memorial lines, since they are 
 authority for the interesting fact, that Great Malvern was as famous 
 in by-gone days, as it now is, for the salubrity of its air, and the 
 medicinal properties of its waters. 
 
 " As I did walk alone, 
 Late in an evening, 
 I heard the voice of one 
 Most sweetly singing ; 
 Which did delight me much, 
 Because the song was such. 
 And ended with a touch, 
 
 O praise the Lord. 
 
 " The God of sea and land, 
 That rules above us, 
 Stays his avenging hand, 
 
 'Cause he doth love us; 
 And doth his blessings send, 
 Altho' we do offend, 
 Then let us all amend. 
 
 And praise the Lord. 
 
 Rev. .John Webb, in which it is said that Edmund Rea, wlio was Vicar of Great Malveni, 
 in 1610, was the author of this song, and of the metrical fragment quoted a few pages 
 before, though we desire not to be understood as contending for the positive certainty of 
 this assertion. Webb was incumbent in 1708. " He gave," says Cole, " 100'"''' in order 
 to get the Queen's Bounty toward the augmentation of the Vicarage, wliich is about 
 .55 per afin." 1\ISS. Vol XXV. fol. 194. The reader will bear in mind that this was 
 written in 1746. The date of Cole's Letter to his friend Walpole respecting " the 
 inexactitude of Tom Heame," was September 30, 1780.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 45 
 
 " Great Malvern on a rock, 
 Thou standest surely ; 
 Do not thyself forget, 
 
 Living securely ; 
 Thou hast of blessings store — 
 No country town hath more — 
 Do not forget therefore, 
 
 To praise the Lord. 
 
 " Thou hast a famous church. 
 And rarely builded ; 
 No country town ' hath such. 
 
 Most men have yielded ; 
 For pillars stout and strong. 
 And windows large and long, 
 Remember in thy song. 
 
 To praise the Lord. 
 
 ' The lady who, in our hearing, desired a rustic of Malvern not to call it a lorvn, as slie 
 did not wish to be reminded of gas-lights, flag pavements, and noisy streets, will consider 
 our Poet as sinning most egrcgiously against all propriety in here using tlie word " town." 
 That others may not suppose he has committed a great blunder, and violated all historical 
 truth, we will cite, for their instruction, the following passage from a writer who appears 
 to have investigated the subject in all its bearings. " We imagine that a town, according 
 to tlie import of its name, must consist of houses, built side by side, and standing in 
 rows, streets, or lanes. But the primeval town was a tract of land enjoyed by a com- 
 munity ; and it mattered little whether the dwellings were placed side by side, or disposed 
 up and down the township. Nay, a town may be a very good town, according to the old 
 law, though not a house remains standing. It is equally erroneous to consider, with 
 Hume, tliat trade formed the characteristic of the burgess. He may have cheapened and 
 chalfered, and bought and sold ; but in his primitive occupation he was a tiller of land, 
 for it was the land, the burgage, which gave him his qualification. In Ireland, the word 
 totvn retains its real sense ; and as Miss Edgeworth informs us, English visitors are often 
 perplexed by its application, and it was probably in use among the Bclgic Britons before 
 tlie Saxon invasion. Ton, in the ancient British language, is still applied to a hu-ge tract 
 of pasture land." Edinburgh Review, Vol. XXXVI. p. 311. Sir Francis Palgrave, in his 
 Analysis of the Anglo-Saxon State, oliserves, " the first and prim.iry element appears to 
 be the community, whieli in England during the Saxon period, was denominated the 
 tuiiii or loviiship; {tun, hora lynan, to enclose, ibid.) In times comparatively modem, 
 tliis tenn has liccome less frecpiently used, and has been often superseded by tlie word 
 manor." The Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, Part I, p. 05.
 
 46 PUIOIIY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 " There is God's service read, 
 With reverence duly ; 
 There is his word preached, 
 
 Learned and truly ; 
 And ev'ry Sabbath day, 
 Singing of psalms, they say, 
 'Tis surely the only way. 
 
 To praise the Lord. 
 
 " The Sun in glory great. 
 When first it riseth. 
 Doth bless thy happy seat. 
 
 And thee adviseth ; 
 That then it's time to pray, 
 Tliat God may bless thy way. 
 And keep thee all the day. 
 
 To praise the Lord. 
 
 " That thy prospect 's good, 
 None can deny thee ; 
 Thou hast great store of wood, 
 
 Growing hard by thee, 
 'WTiich is a blessing great, 
 To roast and boil thy meat. 
 And thee in cold to heat, 
 
 O praise the Lord. 
 
 " Preserve it, I ad\'ise. 
 
 Whilst that thou hast it ; 
 Spare not, in any wise, 
 But do not waste it, 
 Lest thou repent too late, 
 Remember Hanley's ' fate. 
 In time shut up thy gate. 
 
 And praise the Lord. 
 
 ' It is supposed by some " that Hanley's fate" has reference to Richard, the great Earl 
 of Warwick and Salisbury, who obtained possession of this Castle by marriage, as we 
 are told by Nash, vol. i. p. 557, but he being attainted of high treason, his estates were 
 escheated to the Crown.
 
 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 47 
 
 " A chace for royal deer, 
 Round doth beset thee ; 
 For many I do fear, 
 
 For aught they get thee ; 
 Yet, tho' they eat away 
 Thy corn ; thy grass, and hay ; 
 Do not forget, I say, 
 
 To praise the Lord. 
 
 " That noble chace dotli give 
 
 Thy beasts their feeding, 
 
 AVTiere they in summer live, 
 
 With little heeding ; 
 Thy sheep and swine there go. 
 So doth thy horse also, 
 'Till winter brings in snow. 
 
 Then praise the Lord. 
 
 " Turn up thine eyes on high. 
 
 There fairly standing, 
 
 See Malvern's highest hill, 
 
 All hills commanding ; 
 They all confess at will 
 Their sov'reign, Malvern Hill, 
 Let it be mighty still. 
 
 And praise the Lord. 
 
 " W[\cn western winds do rock, 
 Both town and country ; 
 Thy hill doth break the shock. 
 
 They cannot hurt thee ; 
 When waters great abound, 
 And many a country's drown'd, 
 Thou standest safe and sound ; 
 O praise the Lord. 
 
 " Out of tl\at famous hill, 
 There daily springeth, 
 A water passing still, 
 
 Wiicli always bringeth, 
 Great comfort to all them. 
 That are diseas'd men, 
 And makes them well again, 
 To praise the Lord.
 
 48 PRIORY OF GREAT MALVERN. 
 
 " Hast thou a wound to heal, 
 The which doth grieve thee ; 
 Come then unto this well, 
 
 It will relieve thee ; 
 Noli me tangere, 
 And other maladies. 
 Have here their remedies — 
 
 Prais'd he the Lord. 
 
 " To drink thy water's store, 
 Lie in thy bushes, 
 Many with ulcers sore, 
 
 Many with bruises. 
 Who succour find from ill. 
 By money given still — 
 Thanks to the Christian will, 
 O praise the Lord. 
 
 " A thousand bottles there 
 AVere filled weekly, 
 And many costrils rare, 
 For stomachs sickly ; 
 Some of them into Kent; 
 Some were to London sent ; 
 Others to Berwick went — 
 
 O praise the Lord."
 
 APPENDIX.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Note A. 
 
 " Aldwinus erat quidam ab eo factus Monachus sicque in vastissimo illo 
 saltu quod Malvernum vocatur Eremiticam \itam cum Guidone socio exercebat. 
 Guidoni post longos agones compendiosius ad gloriam visum, vt lerosolymam 
 iret, vbi labore itinerario vel Domini sepulcrum videret, vel foeliciter manu Sar- 
 raccnorum mortem anticiparct. Aldwinus, eidem sententiaj inductus, consilium 
 tamen cum patre Wilstano quajsiuit. Dissuasit Pontifex, et ardentem refrigerauit, 
 dicens : ' Noli sodes Aldwine quoquam ire, sed in loco mane : crede mihi, mira- 
 reris si scires quod scio : quantum in illo loco per te Deus operaturus est.' Dis- 
 cessit hoc audito Monachus, firmoque iam durabat in proposito, leuabatque spe 
 prophetiae omne genus erumnae. Nee multo post vaticinium propcrauit im- 
 pleri: — ^veniebantque ad Aldwinum alter post unum, — tertius post alterum, et 
 ita vsque ad tricenariitm ' numerum : affluebatque eis in primis victualium copia, 
 vicinis beatos se iudicantibus, qui aliquid Dei famulis impertirentur. Quod 
 vero eis deerat, fide supplebant, duni parvi facerent, si carerent carnali cibo, 
 qui spirituali pinguescebant gaudio." — Saville's Scriptorcs, fol. Lond. 159G. Gul. 
 Malmesb. do (jcstis Pontificum Ansl. Lib. iii. fol. 160. 
 
 Note B. 
 
 " Sewlfus quidam ncgociator ad eum quotannis venire consucverat, vt ejus 
 consilio morbis mcderctur aninia;. Cui semcl post absolutionem factam dixit, 
 Sa^pe peccata, quae confessus es, reiteras, quia (vt dicitur) opportunitas latronem 
 
 ' The following Note should have been inserted in the body of the work. Due praise is to be 
 given to Nash as a diligent collector of what others have written on the anti(|uilies of his county ; 
 but he is often most careless in his (quotations. By a stroke of his magical pen, thirty eremites 
 are here turned into three hundred. As there were no political economists — no Professors 
 Malthus's in those days, to point out the evils incident to a redund.-int |Hipulation, a community 
 of three hundred taking possession of an uncultivated tract of land, might have increased the 
 danger of perishing by starvation, or the diseases which not unfrequcnlly result from insuAicient 
 diet. 
 
 II 2
 
 52 APPENDIX. 
 
 tacit. Quare consulo vt Moiiaclius fias : quod si feceris, hoium peccatoruin oppur- 
 tunitate carebis. Cum retulisset ille, non se monachum pro rigore propositi fieri 
 posse. Substomachatus Episcopus, Vade (inquit), Monachus fies, velis nolis ; sed 
 ci'ini \'itiorum vtensilia in te scnucrint. Quod nos postca vidimus ; quia in nostro 
 Monasterio, iam senectute fractus, morbo admonente conuersus est. Sed licet 
 multotiens poenituerit, quotiescunque tamen dictum Episcopi aliquis praesentasset 
 ei, reuocabat impetum, remolliebat animum." — Gul. Malmcsb. de gestis Ponti- 
 ficum Angl. Lib. iii. fol. 160. 
 
 Note C. 
 
 " Sed quia Fuldense ccenobium nominaui, dicam quod ibidem accidisse vir 
 reuerendus mihi narrauit, Walkerius, Prior Maluerniae, cuius verbis qui non 
 credit iniuriam religioni facit. Non (ait) plusqua quindecim anni sunt, quod in 
 eodem loco exitialis lues grassata, prius Abbatem corripuit, mox multos Mona- 
 choru extinxit; superstites primo quisqj sibi timere, orationes et eleemosynas 
 largiores facere ; sed processu temporis, vt est omnium hominum natura pede- 
 tentim metu dempto omittere ; Cellerarius praesertim qui palam et ridicule 
 clamitaret, non posse penum tot expensis sufficere ; sperasse se nuper aliquod 
 alleuiamentum, pro tot elationibus funerum : nibil ultra spei esse, si quod viui 
 nequissent mortui consumerent. Itaque cum quadam nocte propter necessaria 
 soporem distulisset diu, tandem elaqueatis morarum retibus in dormitorium ire 
 pergebat ; et ecce rem miram auditurus es : videt in capitulo Abbatem, et omnes, 
 qui obierant illo anno, eo quo excesserant ordine sedere : timidus et efTugere 
 gestiens, vi retractus est ; increpitus et Monastico more flagellis exercitus, audiuit 
 verba Abbatis in banc omnino sententiam, Stultum esse de alterius morte emolu- 
 raento inhiare, ciira sors cuiusque sub eodem pendeat fato. Impium esse cum 
 Monachus omnem vitam in Ecclesiae consumpserit obsequio, vt careat saltern 
 vnius anni post mortem stipendio : Ilium citissime obiturum, sed quicquid pro eo 
 fieret ad aliorum, quibus abstulerat, refundendum commodum, iret modo et alios 
 corrigeret exemplo, quos corruperat verbo. Abijt ille, et nihil se vanum ^^disse 
 tarn recentibus plagis, quam proximo sui obitu monstrauit." — Willielmi Malmes- 
 buriensis de gestis Regum Anglorum [de Willielmi primo. Lib. iii.] p. 65. edit. 
 Lond. 1596. 
 
 Note D. 
 The following remarks are the result of an investigation on this subject by Mr. 
 Eginton, a young architect of much promise, and a devoted admirer of buildings
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 53 
 
 after the Gothic manner. The paper was drawn up at my request; and with it 
 Mr. E. has obhgingly prepared a drawing as a suitable accompaniment to his 
 
 interesting observations. 
 
 " The tile-kihi was discovered seven feet under ground, on huid formerly 
 belonging to the Priory of Malvern, and carefully opened in the presence of Dr. 
 Card, and several other gentlemen interested in the study of antiquities. A 
 correct idea of it is formed from the accompanying section, its length being 35 feet. 
 
 
 t^y 
 
 A R'lMAN TILE-IOLN, M funnaJjyUiiRVXY EGQf TON.ARCHXTECT . 
 
 " The arch most exposed to heat was composed of brick, and the outer arch of 
 common red tiles. The sides were carefully backed in with Malvern rag-stone, 
 evidently to prevent the kiln bursting from the intense heat ; and the eqdal 
 necessity of protecting tlie crown of the arch probably suggested the idea of 
 burying the kiln. The floor, on which there can be no doubt the tiles were burnt, 
 was ingeniously constructed with bricks, the outside ones being worked into the 
 wall at the springing of the arch, the ends of which being bevelled, the middle 
 brick acted as a key-stone; a peculiarity in this lloorwas its remaining unvitrilied, 
 altiiough the whole of the bricks in the arch, and even the tiles of the outer arch.
 
 54 APPENDIX. 
 
 were perfectly glazed. The floor on which the fire was placed being the natural 
 soil (marl), was bui-nt till in hardness and colour it resembled lime-stone. As no 
 apertures were discovered for the escape of smoke, and as a quantity of charcoal 
 was found near it, it is probable the tiles discovered were similar to those in the 
 Churches of Great and Little Malvern, but these differ in external appearance 
 from most that I have seen, in the characters, or pattern upon them. In most 
 instances the pattern is sunk in the body of the tile ; in these it is painted upon 
 the surface. It may therefore be reasonably conjectured, that the same ingenuity 
 which planned this Church, discovered this means of ornamenting it." 
 
 We must here avail ourselves of this opportunity to bring into notice the 
 following extract from a Report of the state of the exterior of the Church, at a 
 General Meeting of the Parishioners of Great Malvern, held on the 27th of May, 
 1831, at the Vestry Room. 
 
 "The roofing and the masonry of the Church, however, (then in a mouldering 
 state,) were left untouched, as the money collected by the Reverend Vicar was no 
 more than sufficient to defray the expences for flooring and pewing, and restoring 
 other parts of the Church ; and now, after a further lapse of fifteen years, the 
 roof, both in its tiling and timber, is so dilapidated, that unless it is soon repaired 
 in a substantial manner, it will threaten ruin to the whole of this venerable 
 structure, which has so long attracted the notice and admiration of the antiquary, 
 and of every man of taste and science. Besides the roof, the exterior walls of 
 the nave, chancel, and side aisles require a thorough repair and fresh cementing. 
 The battlements and pinnacles which surround the tower and the body of the 
 Church, want new stone work. The crockets, finials, and mouldings of the 
 exterior require to be re-sculptured ; and, for the permanence of the foundation, 
 new drains are absolutely necessary." 
 
 N.B. Shortly will be published the names of those Gentlemen who have 
 already contributed their donations for the foregoing objects. In the meantime 
 it may not be improper here to add, that Subscriptions for the repairs of the 
 Church will be received by the following banking houses : Coutts & Co , Strand ; 
 RoBARTS & Co., Lombard Street; and Berwick & Co., Worcester. • 
 
 GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE, LONDON.
 
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 XVII 
 A DISSERIATIO.N » >N THE I'KlNCIl'Al, WHITINGS OF BI.SHuP BURNETT. 
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