Not. II. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



381 



far stronirer measures of Nicholas, would confirm 

 and uphold it. The writer concludes hj saying 

 that — 



" If Nicholas had governed in the manner intended hy 

 Alexander at the commencement of his reign, the reforms 

 contemplated in Europe would have been already ter- 

 minated without a revolution. Who shall write the in- 

 scription on the grave of the Czar Nicholas I., the son of 

 Paul?" 



J. Maceay. 



Oxford. 



HOSPITAL OF ST. CROSS. 



(Vol.x.,p. 183.) 



THE IXSECUIUTY OF HUMAIf INSTITUTIONS FROM PEU- 

 VEKSIOX (even when FOUNDED ON THE BASIS- OP 

 KELIGION AND FOK THE BEST OF PUKPOSES), IN THE 

 ABSENCE OF THE Vi'^ATCHFUL GUARDIANSHIP OF THE 

 PKESS. 



As before noticed, the Hospital of St. Cross was 

 refounded by Henry de Blois, Bishop of Win- 

 chester, and brother of King Stephen ; so firmly 

 as he hoped that it should not be shaken by any 

 lapse of time, and where the sick poor in Christ 

 might be decently supported and enabled to 

 humbly and devoutly serve God. 



In his charter, the bishop continues : 



" We farther enjoin j-ou compassionately to impart 

 other assistance according to the means of "the house to 

 the needy of every description. . . . And if any person 

 hereafter shall take upon himself to appropriate or di- 

 minish the rents, or to disturb or deteriorate the statutes 

 and customs of the house ... let him incur the 

 anger of Almighty God, and of the Bishop of Winchester, 

 and all good men, unless he shall study to amend his 

 faults by fitting satisfaction. But to you and your suc- 

 cessors, while you preserve our constitutions without 

 breach, may there be peace and mercy from the Lord 

 Jesus Christ." 



This was written about 1157. 



Six hundred and ninety-six years afterwards, 

 the vicissitudes which had befallen this hospital, 

 and the many irregularities which had crept into 

 its management, were brought under the notice of 

 the Court of Chancery for reformation. On that 

 occasion Sir John Romilly, the Master of the 

 Rolls, feelingly remarked : 



"The records of the events attending this charitv are 

 interesting as displaying the natural tendency to decay 

 and perversion which affects all institutions of this de- 

 scription, but more strikinglv in the present case than in 

 most of those which I can call to mind. ... In 1372, 

 two hundred years after the charitv was established, the 

 master endeavoured to convert it to his own use, and failed. 

 In 15/6, two hundred years later, the master again at- 

 tempted the same course, and was defeated by the statute 

 18th Eliz. One hundred and twenty years afterwards 

 the master again attempted the same"course with greater 

 success than had attended the previous attempts, and 

 succeeded in diverting the charitv from its legitimate 

 purposes for one hundred and fiftv years. 



"1 shall endeavour to make a decree which shall plainly, 

 but not more plainly than has been done, state the 



charitable nature of the foundation ; but looking at the 

 pertinacious attempts so often repeated, and apparently 

 with increasing success, I cannot but foresee the proba- 

 bility that some century or two hence my decree may be 

 produced and become the subject of comment also, in the 

 endeavour to defeat the attempt by the superintendent of 

 this charity to pervert its revenues to his own use." — 

 Law Journal, 1853 ; " Chancery Cases," 793 — 809. 



It might naturally be asked, how could such 

 things happen or be permitted ? The answer 

 is, partlj' from wickedness, but chiefly from 

 ignorance ; there were no " N. & Q." in those 

 days. In 1157 not one person in a hundred 

 thousand could read. The bishop's registrar was 

 almost the only one that knew where the charter 

 was lodged ; and of those that cared about the 

 hospital or its welfare, scarcely one possessed the 

 means of pursuing an inquiry for information. 

 How very few persons of the present enlightened 

 times can tell where to search for a bull of Pope 

 Clement XI., or the proceedings of a commission 

 that sat in 1372, or know the contents of a private 

 act of parliament passed in 1575, but never 

 printed. Yet all these, and many more important 

 documents relating to this valuable charity, are 

 preserved ; and if their contents had been printed, 

 the grievances complained of by the Master of 

 the Rolls would not so frequently have hap- 

 pened. 



If future Masters of the Hospital, local his- 

 torians, and antiquaries, will consult the columns 

 of " N. & Q.," they will discover that if the 

 original charter is lost, a copy of it is registered 

 in the register of John de Stratford, the Bishop of 

 Winchester from 1323 to 1333 ; and in the index 

 to the registers of the bishopric, which commence 

 about 1200, a reference to "The Charter of 

 Foundation of St. Cross " occurs under the date 

 of the same bishop; — that although Dugdale, 

 Tanner, Lowth, Milner, and others, have given 

 able descriptions of the hospital, which can be 

 readily found in the works of those writers, by 

 far the fullest and best account of the history, 

 estates, property, charter, and mismanagement of 

 the House of St. Cross, is in the thirty-first 

 printed report of the commissioners for inquiring 

 concerning charities, and published in 1837, a 

 copy of which is lodged in each of the principal 

 public libraries in the United Kingdom. 



They will also learn with satisfaction that on 

 the 31st July, 1849, the Queen of England as- 

 sured the House of Commons, — 



" That her Majesty had given directions that the ne- 

 cessary steps should be taken by the Attorney-General to 

 place the Hospital of St. Cross on suoh a footing as may 

 secure the greatest benefit to the public consistent with 

 its original design." 



This assurance was succeeded by an investigation 

 in the Court of Chancery, and followed by the 

 judgment of the Master of the Rolls in August, 

 1853, as before alluded to. 



