42 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 273. 



that some plants of it existed in Dauphine in the 

 year 1333, Other writers have supposed that it 

 was brought from Asia by the Venetians or Ge- 

 noese. But whatever may have been the precise 

 time at which the orange-tree was introduced into 

 Europe, and whatever the channel by which it 

 came, it is certain that Gibbon has committed an 

 anachronism of at least ten centuries, in ascribing 

 the cultivation of the orange to the Romans of the 

 first period of the Empire. L. 



HOSPITAIi OF ST. CROSS. 



THE CHARTER OF DE BLOI3. — AUGMENTATION BY CAR- 

 DINAL BEAUFORT. — ALLEGED LOSS OF THE STATUTES. 

 — CONSUETUDIJf AEIUM. — OPINION OF THE MASTER OF 

 THE ROLLS, ETC.* 



The Charter from the 31st Report of the Com- 

 missioners appointed in pursuance of the act 

 6 Wm. IV. c. 71., and presented to both Houses of 

 Parliament, by command of Her Majesty, 1837 : — 



" Henry, by the Grace of God, Minister of the Church 

 of Winchester, to the Venerable Lord in Christ, Raymond, 

 Master of the Hospital of Jerusalem, and his brethren in 

 due succession for ever; Those things, which are appointed 

 for the honour of God, and for the health of their souls by 

 the faithful in Christ, ought to be so securely established 

 as not to be shaken by any lapse of time ; wherefore, be- 

 loved brethren in the Lord, I deliver and commit to Pro- 

 vidence and to the administration of yourself and your 

 successors (as evidenced by this writing), the Hospital of 

 the poor of Christ, which I, for the health of my soul and 

 of the souls of my predecessors, and of the kings of Eng- 

 land, have founded anew without the walls of Winchester, 

 preserving its condition unchanged, so that, as it has been 

 constituted by me, and has been confirmed by those apo- 

 stolic men of pious memory Pope Innocent and Pope Lucius, 

 the poor in Christ mav there humblv and devotedly serve 

 God. 



" Now the form of the service and the constitution ap- 

 pointed b}' me is this : 



" Thirteen poor impotent men, and so reduced in strength 

 as rarely or never to be able to support themselves with- 

 out the assistance of another, shall remain permanently 

 in the Hospital, to whom shall be given necessary gar- 

 ments, provided by the Prior of the house, and beds 

 suitable to their infirmities; also good wheaten bread to 

 the amount of five measures daily, with three dishes at 

 dinner and one for supper, and sufficient drink. 



" If, however, it should happen that any one of these 

 recover his strength, he shall be dismissed with decency 

 and respect, and another shall be introduced in his room. 



" Besides which thirteen poor men, 100 other poor men of 

 good conduct, and of the more indigent, shall be received 

 at the hour of dinner, to whom shall be given coarser bread 

 of the same weight as above, and one dish, as shall seem 

 meet according to the convenience of the day, and a cup 

 of the measure aforesaid ; and who when they rise from 

 dinner shall be permitted to take away whatever shall 

 remain of the meat or drink. 



"We farther enjoin you compassionately to impart 

 other assistance, according to the means of the house, to 

 the needy of every description. 



* See « N. & Q.," Vol. x., pp. 183. 299. 381. 



" All these things I with the assistance of Divine grace 

 have appointed to be observed in the aforesaid house of 

 God for ever, to be continually and faithfully fulfilled 

 by you, but preserving in all things the canonical juris- 

 diction of the Bishop of Winchester, that the appoint- 

 ment and administration of the Prior of the said Hospital 

 may be by the hands of the said bishop ; and that the 

 rents, together with all the appurtenances, bestowed upon 

 the said Hospital by me, may remain without disturbance 

 or misapplication for the purposes of the said Hospital ; 

 among which appurtenances we have thought it right to 

 enumerate the following by their proper names : — The 

 churches of Fareham, of Nursling, of Milbrook, of Twy- 

 ford, of Hinton, of Alverstoke, of Exton, of Hurstbourne, 

 of Whitchurch, of Chilbolton, of Woodhay, of Alton, of 

 Wintney, of Stockton, of Ovington, with all their appur- 

 tenances and appendages, and the tithes of demesne of 

 Waltham, and other rents assigned to them in the city 

 of Winton : and if any person hereafter shall take upon 

 himself to appropriate or diminish the said rents, or to 

 disturb or deteriorate the statutes and customs of the 

 aforesaid House of God, which have been confirmed by 

 the authority of the Holy See and of the King, let him 

 incur the anger of Almightj' God, and of the Bishop of 

 Winchester, and of all good men, unless he shall study to 

 amend his fault by fitting satisfaction. But to you and 

 your successors, benefactors of the poor, while j'ou preserve 

 our constitutions without breach, may there be peace and 

 mercy from the Lord Jesus Christ." — P. 843. 



The date is not affixed, but 1157 is assigned as 

 the year in which this charter was granted. 



Augmentation. 



Cardinal Beaufort, brother to King Henry IV. 

 and Bishop of Winchester, about the year 1444 

 made considerable additions to the buildings of the 

 Hospital and its revenues, and directed an increased 

 number of poor and others to be maintained 

 therein ; he also imposed statutes and regulations 

 to be observed on the part of the persons admitted 

 on his foundation, which was to be described as 

 the Alms-house of Noble Poverty. But the car- 

 dinal, although a very wealthy man, had numerous 

 enemies. He was scarcely dead before the malice 

 of those who envied and hated him became too ap- 

 parent, and the Hospital was soon stripped of the 

 secular estates which he had annexed to it. How- 

 ever, by the zeal and perseverance of Bishop Wayn- 

 flete, a charter was granted by King Henry VI. 

 in 1486, directing that with what remained of 

 the cardinal's endowment, one chaplain and two 

 brethren should be maintained instead of the two 

 chaplains, thirty-five poor men and three women, 

 appointed by Beaufort ; that ithe chaplain should 

 celebrate mass daily with a special collect for the 

 soul of the founder, and with the other prayers en- 

 joined in the statutes : the two brethren were also 

 bound to say private prayers like the old brethren, 

 but their habiliments should be difierent. ( Life 

 of Bishop Waynflete, p. 225.). 



Statutes. 



With reference to the statutes of tl.e house, 

 a local historian states that the widcw of a 



