THE HOSPITAL OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW, IN GLOUCESTER. The Hospital of St. Bartholomew, in Gloucester, as a Religious House, appears also to have been of very ancient date. The oldest instrument respecting it, in the possession of The Corporation, is a Charter of King Henry the 3d., dated the 12th of September, in the 49th year of his reign, 1265, whereby he granted to the Brethren of St Bartholomew's 16 ells of land in length and 5 ells in breadth, to be taken out of the street, to enlarge their Chantry. These lands were confirmed to them by a Charter of King Henry the 4th, dated the 19th of November, in the 9th year of his reign, 1408, in which he granted that the Hospital, being of the Foundation of his Progenitors, should be esteemed of the patronage of the Kings of England, with certain privileges and emoluments therein enumerated. Queen ELIZABETH, by her charter, dated the 14th of July 1564, renewed the foundation as an Hospital for poor people, and thereby granted to the Mayor and Burgesses of the City of Gloucester, and their successors for ever, the right of patronage, and all the lands and possessions belonging to the same.15 THE MAISON DIEU, IN NORTH ALLERTON. An indenture of feoffment, dated the 1st of October 1476, recites, that JOHN NORMANBY and THOMAS FOXTON had been enfeoffed by RICHARD MOORE, with certain lands and tenements therein mentioned, in North Allerton and elsewhere, to the intent to establish a Chantry in the Church at North Allerton, and appoint a Chantry Priest, with a salary of 41. 13s. 4d. a year, and also to appoint thirteen poor persons, men and women, to reside and perform hospitality in the tene13 Rep. xiv. p. 6. ments in North Allerton, called " Maison Dieu," according to the will and appointment of the said RICHARD MOORE,-and that such poor persons, out of the rents and profits of the said lands and tenements, should receive annually 20s. to buy sea coals, and find two beds for poor wandering Travellers, for one night, and no longer, and to buy other necessaries for the said poor, at proper times. From the want of documentary evidence, The Commissioners were not able to trace the subsequent history of this Charity, later than the 20th of King HENRY the 8th, 1529,—but it appears to have long subsisted as an Hospital or Almshouse for four poor Widows. Their number has of late years been increased to nine.14 14 Rep. VIII. p. 697, 698. THE THREE KINGS OF COLOGNE, IN BRISTOL. In 1492, JOHN FOSTER, a Merchant, and some time Mayor of Bristol, built a Chapel, in the honour of God and The Three Kings of Coleyn, with an Almshouse thereto annexed, containing fourteen chambers, with fourteen gardens, for a Priest, and eight poor men and five poor women, to dwell in the same, and which he afterwards endowed. This institution is still in existence, and the almspeople are appointed by The Mayor and Aldermen. 15 The Tomb of "The Three Kings" at Cologne appears to have been attended with unusual Superstition, and to have been enriched by the credulous to a vast amount,—and, although it was wantonly stripped of it's ornaments of value by the French, it seems even now to be again acquiring great splendour. 15 Rep. vi. p. 520. In 1479, THEOBALDE EVIAS devised "her ring of gold with the rubye to the Sepulchre of The Three Kings of Coleyne." 16 Mr. COATES in his History of Reading, p. 214., gives us under the head of Churchwardens' Accounts in 1499, the following extract, "Item, payed for horsemete to the horsys for the Kyngs of Colen on May-day, 6a. And a note adds, "This was a part of the pageant called The KingPlay, or King-Game,' which was a representation of the Wise men's offering, who are supposed by the Romish Church to have been Kings, and to have been interred at Cologne." The following " Charm, or Protection," was found in a linen purse belonging to JACKSON, the murderer and smuggler, who died (a Roman Catholic) in Chichester Gaol, in February, 1749. He was struck with such horror on being measured for his irons, that he soon after expired.— 16 Hasted's Hist. of Kent. vol. ii. p. 703, note. |