THE CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE. SEPTEMBER, 1832. NOTICES OF THE OLDEN TIME. VENERABLE fabric! LINCOLN. But error sus Memorial world, and brought the artillery of the piety of past ages!-Such exclamations we have frequently heard, as we have been pacing the aisles of some of our cathedrals; and no slight reflections have been cast by the passing visitor upon the puny religion of the present day, which can only usher into existence, and that at distant intervals, a few miniature churches, or a still more degenerate brood of pigmy conventicles. At the same time that the class of persons, who give utterance to such expressions, are entitled, on many accounts, to our respect, it may be doubted whether, in such instances, they speak "the words of truth and soberness." Without withholding from our forefathers any particle of the credit they deserve for zeal and industry, we must refuse to entertain the notion that what is antiquated must necessarily be good, or that a certain system of ecclesiastical polity is perfect, because a number of structures were reared under its auspices which are large and splendid. How finely might a heathen have argued in this way in behalf of his religion, when the apostles broke in upon the idolatry of the ancient VOL. XV. N. S. NO. 93. picturesque as their neighbours; that they are not more closely allied to the race of Vandals; and that no kind of hostility whatever exists, either to painted windows or the pointed arch. So far as we are concerned, it has often hap pened that we have heard with a delightful feeling the "curfew toll the knell of parting day;" and we have so much poetry about us, that we would not for a good deal deprive a single belfry of its inhabitants, or infringe in the least upon the "vested" rights and immunities of any one of the "birds of Jove." Our veneration, however, will not allow us to go any further than to admire, as Goldsmith has it, "The decent church that topt the neighbouring hill;" and if stern necessity were to place the alternative before us, we should prefer the extinction of every trace of Gothic grandeur, to the continuance of the monstrous superstitions with which it has been connected. And we are not ashamed to acknowledge that the sacred edifices around us would be contemplated with far greater complacency, if they contained no blind leaders of the blind; that the picturesqueness of no old grey tower would be diminished by the change; that the entire removal of that ancient livery of damp, and green, and mould, which has been worn for ages, would be no subject of regret; and that multitudes would listen with far greater delight to the "church. going bell" ushering in the sabbatic morn, when it ceased to connect itself with the dismal intonations of that fearful statement-" when ye make many prayers I will not hear." These remarks have suggested themselves while arranging the following "Notices" they are not made in any uncandid spirit, but merely intended to guard against that poetic illusion which ecclesiastical pageantry is apt to inspire. Amid so much" pomp and circumstance" we are in danger of forgetting that the vain inventions of men usurp the place of the simplicity of the gospel, and of confounding the spirit of devotion with the pleasures of taste, and the gratification of the imagination. Lincoln, respecting which the following particulars will not, perhaps, be deemed uninteresting, goes back to remote antiquity; Romans, Saxons, Danes, alternately figure in its annals; and at an early period it was advanced to episcopal honours. The county was distinguished by the Saxon monarchs with several celebrated religious foundations; but owing to the incursions of the piratical northmen up the Humber, they were frequently subject to pillage and spoliation. After the conquest, the monasteries of this part of the kingdom retained the use of the Saxon dialect long after most of the others had not only submitted to the government of Norman ecclesiastics, but had neglected their vernacular tongue. The abbey of Croyland, for instance, had preceptors in the Saxon language up to the time of the second Henry, because, founded by a Saxon prince, it was necessary that the religious should understand their original charters. In the eleventh century Lincolnshire had among its ecclesiastics the celebrated Ingulph, an Englishman, Abbot of Croyland; a somewhat singular circumstance, in an age when Wolstan ejected from the bishopric of Worcester by the arbitrary Normans, for the sole crime of being an "English idiot, who could not was speak French." Ingulph tells us, with reference to his abbey, "We forbade, under the penalty of excommunication, the lending of our books, as well the smaller with out pictures, as the larger with pictures, to distant schools, without the abbot's leave, and his certain knowledge within what time they would be restored. As to the smaller books, as Psalteries, Donatus, Cato, et similibus poeticis ac quaternis de cantu,' adapted to the boys, and the relations of the monks, &c. we forbade to be lent more than one day without leave of the prior.' In the thirteenth century, the see of Lincoln was filled by Robert Grossteste or Grosthead, who was called to it in 1235. This was a distinguished and extraordinary individual, considering the barbarism of the age in which he lived; his life will present us with some curious notices connected with the city at the head of his diocese. He was born at Stradbrook, in Suffolk, in the year 1175; after having studied the Aristotelian philosophy, with the Greek and Hebrew, at Oxford and Paris, he was raised, on account of his virtues and learning, to the episcopal bench, and was the first who dared to set at naught and resist the authority of the papal hierarchy. Immediately, upon his election, he devoted him self sedulously to the duties of his office, visiting the deaneries and archdeaconries, enforcing upon the clergy a strict attention to their work, hearing the confessions of the people, and confirming their children. In a "Treatise on the Pastoral Care," which he wrote, *Ingulph died in 1109. The fire which consumed this celebrated abbey in 1091 destroyed the library, which contained 700 volumes. he exhorts the priest diligently to preach the word of God, which is the "food of the soul;" and then he states "If any one say, he knows not how, the proper remedy for him is to resign his benefice; nevertheless I can tell him of a better remedy; let every such person or priest thoroughly learn, every week, the text alone (i. e. without gloss or comment) of the gospel-lesson appointed for the following Sunday, that he may be, at least, able to repeat the history itself to the people." That Grossteste was a decided friend to vernacular translations of the Scriptures, appears from the following passage, cited from his works, by the author of an early English translation of the Bible: "Deus voluit, ut plures interpretes S. Scripturam transferrant, ut diversæ Translationes in ecclesiá essent: idcirco ut quod unus obscurius dixerat, alter manifestiùs redderet.” "It is the will of God, that the Holy Scriptures should be translated by many translators, and that there should be different translations in the church, so that what is obscurely expressed by one, may be more perspicuously translated by another."† Grossteste was in every respect a reformer, and put down several sports and festivals, to which the clergy and citizens of Lincoln were much attached. He prohibited miracle plays, the Maii Inductio, Scot-Ales, and the Feast of Asses. The Feast of the Ass was celebrated annually in the cathedral, on the feast of the Circumcision, intended to commemorate the flight 455. Townley's Illustrations, Bib. Lit. i. + Whartoni Auctarium Hist. Dogmat. cap. ii. pp. 416–418. Henry's Hist. of Great Britain, viii. lib. 4. c. 4. Grati Fascic. 2 ep. 123, pp. 392. 410. of the Virgin Mary upon that animal into Egypt. This ridiculous festivity, so far as we are acquainted, was not practised in any other place in England besides Lincoln ; but in several of the churches of France and Germany it was celebrated with great parade. At Beauvais, on the 14th of January, a beautiful young woman was chosen, and placed upon an ass richly caparisoned, with an infant in her arms. She then rode in procession from the cathedral, followed by the bishop and clergy to the church of St. Stephen, Orientis partibus Hez, Sire Asnes, car chantez ; Hic in collibus Sichem, Jam nutritus sub Ruben: Transiit per Jordanem, Saliit in Bethlehem. Hez, Sire Asnes, &c. where she was placed near the altar, and high mass commenced. The people, however, instead of repeating the usual responses, were taught to imitate the braying of the ass; and at the conclusion of the service, the priest, instead of the usual benediction, brayed three times, and the people uttered the imitative sounds Hinham, Hinham, Hinham! During the ceremony a ludicrous composition, half Latin, half French, in praise of the ass, was sung with great vociferation, of which we may cite two stanzas : From the country of the east, Now, Seignior Ass, a noble bray; He was born on Shechem's hill, He who, disdaining the simplicity of the meeting-house, can only see evidences of devotion, where there are gothic screens and architectural magnificence, will do well to bear in mind this asinine festivity. The Maii Inductio, of which the bishop deprived the Lincoln clergy and laity, consisted of various ceremonies, practised on the first of May. The priests, accompanied with the people, especially in the country villages, were accustomed, on a May-day morning, to go to some adjoining wood, and return with boughs and garlands, in honour of the return of spring. This custom was derived from the heathen feast of Flora, the goddess of fruits and flowers, and was celebrated with the most sottish superstition on the four last days of wholly forbid clergymen the ill practice, by which all that drink together are obliged to equal draughts, and he carries away the credit, who hath made most drunk, and taken off largest cups; therefore we forbid all forcing to drink; let him that is drunk be suspended from office and benefice according to the statutes of the council,"(Lateran 1216.c.15) “unless upon admonition from his superior he make competent satisfaction. We forbid the publication of Scot-ales to be made by priests." In Anselm's Canons, passed at Westminster, A. D. 1102, we find the following constitution. "Can. 9. Ut Presbyteri non eant ad potationes, nec ad pinnas bibant,"-" That priests go not to drinking-bouts, nor drink to pegs. The miracle-plays, mysteries, or sacred dramas, which were performed at Lincoln, were commonly acted throughout Europe, during the middle ages; and consisted of theatrical exhibitions, founded on Scripture narratives. They were first introduced into England, by Geoffrey, a learned Norman, who came over from the university of Paris, to superintend the school of the priory of Dunstable. He composed the play of St. Catherine, A. D. 1110; and according to Matthew Paris, he borrowed the capes from the sacrist of the neighbouring abbey of St. Albans, to dress his characters. Cornwall was celebrated for these religious exhibitions, but the most remark * Such great drinkers were the Danes, and so much did their example influence the English, that Edgar ordained that pegs or nails should be fastened into the drinking-cups at stated distances, and that whosoever should drink beyond those marks at one draught should be obnoxious to a severe punishment. Strutt, in Brand's Observations, &c. able was a play of the Old and New Testament, acted at Chester, in the year 1327. It treated of the Creation-the fall of Manthe expulsion from Paradise; afterwards Adam appears digging the ground and Eve spinning. The following extract relating to the deluge is made in Lyson's Magna Brittania, from the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum.* Noe and his Shippe. "Then Noe shall goe into the arke with all his familye, his wife excepte, the arke must be borded rounde aboute, and upon the bordes all the beastes and fowles hereafter rehearsed must be painted, that their wordes may agree with the pictures." Noe. "Wiffe come in, why standes thou there, Thou arte ever frowarde I dare well sweare." Noe's Wiffe. "Yea Sir set up your sayle And rowe forth with evill haile, But I have my gossippes every eich one, But thou wylt let them into that cheist, The Good Gossippes. "The flood comes flitting in full fast." * There are extant three collections of miracle-plays, formerly represented in this country. 1. The Townley Collection, supposed to have belonged to Nidkirk Abbey, containing thirty plays. 2. The Ludus Coventriæ, probably performed at Coventry, at the feast of Corpus Christi, forty-two plays. 3. The Chester Mysteries, edited and illustrated by Mr. Markland. Mr. Davies Gilbert, late President of the Royal Society, has also edited some Cornish plays. Interesting information respecting these religious dramas may be found in a recent publication : "History of English Dramatic Poetry to the time of Shakspeare, &c. by J. Payne Collier, Esq. 3 vols. 8vo. London. 1831." |