Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/448

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 S.I.JUNE 3. me.

classical antiquary and traveller (' D.N.B., x. 40). Kirby accepted Chandler's rendering of the verses as a restoration of " the true reading," but somehow failed to reproduce it correctly. He omitted the third line (" Trans mundi," &c.), and made the fifth even less like a decent pentameter than Chandler had left it, printing it :

Annus erit Domini : X bis, ter II, I. I have no knowledge of the British Museum manuscript which Blackstone mentions, and if any reader can give information about it, I would beg him to do so. But, whatever the contents of that manuscript may be, it is plain, for a very simple chronological reason, that Chandler's amendment of the verses must be rejected. We know from the sixth line that the King's gift was made on Nov. 22, when (twice 11 being 22) the November day had become double the llth. But Nov. 22, 1449, occurred, not (as Chandler and Blackstone would seem to have supposed) in the 27th year of Henry VI. 's reign, but in the next regnal year, the 28th. That fact is fatal to Chandler's emendations.

Kirby, indeed, though he purported to follow Chandler, avoided his blunder by treating the basins as given on July 16, 1449, while the 27th H. VI. (which ended on Aug. 31, 1449) was still current. July 16, 1449, is the recorded date of another gift which the College received from Henry, a tabernacle of gold with precious stones and images of the Trinity and the Virgin in crystal. But to say, as Kirby does, that the basins were given at the same time as the tabernacle, is to give a quite unjustifiable go-by to the sixth line of their inscription. And here it should be mentioned that there is no foundation for Walcott's statement (' Wykeham and his Colleges,' p. 140) that the inscription occurs in the College Account- roll (" computus ") of 1449.

A problem is certainly presented by the fourth and fifth verses, as they appear in the inventory. The fourth vexse is capable of meaning 1454 (m -f cccc + xxxx+x-f- mi), whereas, if " ter et " ought to be construed as if it were " et ter " and it is difficult to see how it could be otherwise construed sensibly then the fifth verse means the 23rd H. VI., which began on Sept. 1, 1444.

In order to solve the problem satisfactorily, the first step should be to ascertain in what year or years the King was at the College in November, and this imposes no very la- borious task. Two pages of the ' Liber Albus ' are devoted to an elaborate record

of the occasions when Henry attended service in our Chapel. Its author must have- been deeply imbued with the " cult " that formed the subject of MB. MONTAGUE SUMMEBS'S recent article (ante, p. 161). He- was not content with specifying the day& upon which these royal visits happened ;; future generations would yearn to hear and it was his privilege to tell them the particu- lar services, whether vespers or mass, which Henry had blessed with his saintly presence. If any faith can be put in this unknown author's record, there was only one visit which was paid in November, and that was paid on St. Cecilia's Day, 1444. St. Cecilia's Day falls on Nov. 22. Therefore we are- already at the year, the month, and the dajr to which the fifth and sixth lines of the in- scription invited our attention. The record of the visit is as follows :

"Item Anno domini millesimo_cccc mo xliiij* in festo sancte Cecilie Virginis idem xpianissimus Rex Henricus sextus interfuit in hoc Collegio utrisque vesperis atque missein qua preter oblacionem suani cotidianam obtulit centum nobilia ad ornamentum summi altaris ibidem : contulitque notabilem auri summam scolaribus et choristis in eodem videlicet vj/i. xiijs. iiijd. : qui insuper ex babundancia affluentissime gratie sue privilegia libertates et franchesias eiusdem collegii confirmavit et ampli- avit: quare dignum est ut eius in eodem perhennis memoria iugiter babeatur. Et obtulit xiijs. "

The foregoing record mentions a gift of money for the adornment of the high altar,. but does not say how the money was used. Let us see, however, what can be learnt from the Account-roll of 1444-5 (Sept. 26,. 23 H. VI. Oct. 2, 24 H. VI.), when John Parke and William Nyghtyngale were the Bursars :

" ...... Et in Expensis factis circa familiam domini

R-egis venientis ad Collegium xxj et xxij diebus tfqvembris, vs. Et in Datis Roberto Derby clerico Prioris sancti Suthuni ludenti in Organis i'n choro "n presencia domini Regis diebus supradictis, ijs. iiijd. Et in Datis JBlakeney clerico Secretarii domini Regis pro scriptura in missali Summi 1 altaris Collegii memorandi sive note de largissimis lonacionibus et beneticiis per dominum Regem I!ollegio factis et ostensis diebus predictis et alii diebus precedentibus, xxrf ....... Et in Expensis

Johannis Parke et Johannis Holden equitancium ondon. in mense Maii pro pelvibus argenteis ex. donacione domini Regis erga adventum Regine ad Wynton. cum xvjrf. solutis pro j equo conducto odem tempore pro predicto Johanne Parke, et vjd. pro emendacione selle Custodis prestite predicto Fohanni Parke eodem tempore, yijs. jd. ob ..... Et in

>ane vino et carnibus bovinis expensis circa amiliam domine Regine ij die Maii in Aula Collegii, iij.s. iiijd ....... Et in datis famulis Wynne

le civitate london. pro eorum expensis adducentibus )elves argenteas et deauratas ex donacione domini

Hegis ad Collegium in mense Septembris, iijs. iiij ..... " 'Custus necessarii i'orinseci cum donis.'