which were then extant, and not expired, for inquisition of any manner of Concealments, should be by Supersedeas, out of her Court of Exchequer, revoked.2 "Thus," continues Mr. STRYPE, "were these Harpies and Helluones, this Turbidum hominum Genus, these graceless and wicked men, (such are Lord COKE's expressions bestowed upon them), thus were they for a time laid asleep,-but they awoke again at times, and plagued the nation throughout this Queen's and the most of the next King's reign.”3 The very ancient premises of JOHN TAVIE OF THAVIE, which were bequeathed by him in 1348 to the church of St. Andrew, Holborn, appear to have been comprised in the seizures made of lands in the City of London, that were supposed to have been concealed from the Crown, and which were afterwards granted by King JAMES the FIRST to Sir JOHN LEMAN, 2 Annals of the Reformation, vol. ii. p. 209. C Mayor, and CORNELIUS FISH, Chamberlain, in trust, for the particular uses mentioned in the wills or grants of the respective donors.1 * Report xiv. p. 83. SUPERSTITIOUS USES. SEVERAL instances occur in the Reports, in which premises devised by Will, were seized by the Crown, as being given to Superstitious uses, and which were subsequently granted out by Letters Patent in the reign of King EDWARD the Sixth. Many premises in the City of London, which had been so forfeited, were granted without condition to AUGUSTINE HYND, and RICHARD TURK, Aldermen, and WILLIAM BLACKWELL, Town-Clerk, their heirs and assigns, who appear to haye been Agents for the respective proprietors, for the re-purchase of the forfeited estates.1 The Will of Mr. HENRY BARTON, in 1434, is filled with a variety of provisions for keeping obits, celebrating masses, and offering prayers for departed Souls, with the performance of which he charged THE SKINNERS' COMPANY. All the uses for which the property was given, appear to have been Superstitious, --and as the habitations intended for the poor men, were to be enjoyed by them upon condition of their praying for Souls, such condition appears to have brought that part of the testator's bounty equally within the Statute of the 1° Edw. vI. c. 14. It is difficult to account for the continuation of the obit payments to so late a period as 1660. From all that appears, no valid charitable use is now subsisting under Mr. BARTON's will. According to the Statute above-mentioned, the property so given would belong to the Crown,but, after such a length of uninterrupted possession by The Company, a grant or release by the Crown might probably be presumed,-with respect to this point, however, The Commissioners do not give any decided opinion.2 Before THE REFORMATION, the parish estates in Skirpenbeck, Youlthorpe, and Tadcaster, were holden by the Church 2 Rep. vII. p. 372-4. wardens of the parish for certain Superstitious uses, and having become vested in the Crown, were granted to HENRY MAPPLETON and THOMAS JONES, as joint tenants, by Letters Patent, and were subsequently granted by HENRY MAPPLETON, the survivor, to trustees for the parish, subject to small reserved payments or quit-rents to the Crown.3 |