Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/138

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io< s. m. F C. 11, 1905.

there, which was looted at the same time) ; the inscription lie put upon it that, originally designed for the baptism only of the children of kings, it now offers the same service for the meanest of the English ; and its ultimate melting down into money in the reign of Charles I. during the Civil Wars, a century later.

There appears to be no actual description of the font. It is variously called a fair font of solid brass, a very noble font of solid brass, an eminent font of solid brass, and a curious work of gilded brass. J. L. ANDERSON.

Edinburgh.

The following is from a paper by Mr. Galloway, architect, which was read at a meeting of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, held at Edinburgh, 11 April, 1879:

"Apart from any conjectures as to its history, this lectern is of special interest as being the only known example formerly pertaining to Scotland which has escaped the disastrous issues of civil and religious commotions. Its history is very sin- gular. About the year 1750, when a grave was being dug in the chancel of St. Stephen's Church, St. Albans, Hertfordshire, the lectern was found buried in the soil. It is supposed to have been thus concealed at some time during the Civil Wars. It is of cast brass, and of a handsome design, con- sisting of an eagle with expanded wings supported by a shaft decorated with several groups of mould- ings, partly circular and partly hexagonal. The eagle stands upon a globe, and the shaft has been originally supported on three feet, which are now gone. In its present state the lectern is five feet seven inches in total height. It bears the inscrip- tion, Oeorffius Creichtoun, Episcopus Dunkeldensis. He died 24th January, 1543, and previous to his elevation to the see of Dunkeld he had been Abbot of Holyrood. The probability therefore is, that the lectern had been presented to Holyrood by the Abbot on his elevation to the see of Dunkeld, and that it was taken from Holyrood by Sir Richard Lee, who accompanied the Earl of Hertford in his invasion of Scotland in 1543. On his return, Sir Richard presented to the parish church of St. Albans a brazen font bearing a magniloquent in- scription, to the effect that though previously designed for the baptism only of the children of kings, it now, in gratitude for its rescue from the fire which consumed Edinburgh and Leith, per- formed the same service for the meanest of the English. This font, which was doubtless abstracted from Holyrood, is no longer known to exist, and there seems no reason to doubt that the lectern, which was saved by being buried during the Civil Wars, was abstracted at the same time, and given to the parish church of St. Albans by the donor of the font."

The "gret brasin fownt" is said to have been the gift of Robert Bellenden when he was Abbot of Holyrood, about the year 1490.

W. S.

In ' St. Albans, Historical and Picturesque,' by Messrs. Ashdown and Kitton (1893), will

be found (p. 89) the following reference to this font :

" The far-famed brass font of S. Alban's Abbey perished in the Cromwellian period. Sir Richard Lee is said to have brought away as spoil from Scotland a richly decorated brass font, in which the children of the Kings of Scotland were wont to be baptised, and it was presented by him to the Abbey Church. Camden, who published his ' Britannia ' in 1586, speaks of this font. Norden mentions it, and also quotes the inscription upon it ; and Weever states it to have been in the church in his time, 1631. It was removed during the Civil War by one Hickman (see Newcpurt's ' Repertorium '), an ironmonger, and a Justice of the Peace, who, in his Puritan zeal, probably smashed it and converted into money the material of which it was made. A vyooden one, of the same shape (see Fuller's 'Worthies'), supplied its place until a marble one of Georgian style surmounting a slender pillar, still preserved in the building, was substituted. The inscription upon Lee's gift, as printed in Norden, reads : ' Cum Letha oppiduin apud Scotos non incelebre et Edenburgus primaria apud eos ciuitas, incendio conflagrarent, Richardus Leus eques auratus me flammis ereptum ad Anglps_ perduxit. Huius ego beneficij memor, non nisi Regum liberos lauare solitus, nunc meam operam etiam infimis Anglorum libenter condixi. Leus victor sic voluit. Anno domini M.D.XLIIII & Hen- rici Octaui xxxvi.'"

Further, on p. 176 we read :

" Sir Richard Lee came from an old Sussex family

and probably lived at St. Albans previous to

the grant to him of the Nunnery [Sopwell]

He accompanied the expedition under the Earl of Hertford to Scotland in 1547 |_?]t and in the plunder of Edinburgh brought away from Holyrood the curious font of brass, adorned with embossed figures, which was used in the Abbey Church until Cromwell's time, when it disappeared. (See Ne\v- come's ' Abbey of St. Albans,' A.D. 1795.) There is every likelihood that the curious eagle lectern now in St. Stephen's Church (St. Albans) formed part of the Scotch plunder of Sir Richard."

Newcome, the historian referred to above, remarks (p. 469) :

"On this expedition he [Sir Richard] accom- panied the army into Scotland, and, in the plunder of Edinburgh, brought away from Holyrood House a curious font of brass, adorned with figures embossed. He afterwards set this font up in the Abbey Church. It had on it a proud inscription (see Camden) ' that it had served for the baptizing the king's children in Scotland.' But this privi- lege, though it raised veneration in the minds of the pious, yet could not save it from the rapine of Cromwell's soldiers, after being used in the church about 100 years."

This author records (p. 471), "Sir Richard had a very handsome wife (whose maiden name was Margaret Greenfield), who was in no small favour with the king." The knight died in 1575, "and was buried in the chancel of St. Peter's Church (St. Albans), where also, in the same vault, were deposited the bodies of his wife and two daughters."