458 The Rev. E. H. Pearce [May 14, 



Westiiuiister plirase went, to sit by the bell, "sedere ad skillam" ; that 

 is, he moved up to the seniors' table in the Refectory, where was 

 the bell which gave the signal for grace to be said or for the reader 

 to begin the lection. Like the day of his first Mass, this promotion, 

 which came usually ten years later, was reckoned to be an occasion 

 for a little relaxation of the usual fare, and I can date it because 

 the Sacrist and the Infirmarer and the Treasurer each sent him 

 bread and wine to the value of 2s. 3^d., so that he might make 

 merry with his friends. 



Secondly, 'he begins to be recognized as an experienced person 

 who can safely be sent on missions involving prudence and judgment 

 of men. There is a payment made that same year 1^71-2 by the 

 Steward of the Abbot's mansion of 206'. for the expenses of Brother 

 AVilliam Colchester and two valets, who were sent to Northampton 

 for the meeting of the General Chapter of the Benedictine Order. 



In the next year, as we learn from the Sacrist, there fell to his 

 lot a still more delicate duty. It was on this wise. Among the 

 precious relics given to the Abbey by Edward the Confessor was 

 the girdle of the Virgin Mary — "zona beate Marie" — which she had 

 made with her own hands and had herself worn. It was regarded 

 as of especial virtue in securing a safe delivery to expectant mothers, 

 and, when our famous book of Customs was drawn up, about a 

 century before William Colchester's admission, by Abbot Richard de 

 Ware, it was the rule that the Sacrist, or as he was sometimes called 

 the Secretary, should carry the girdle of the Blessed Mother of God 

 to any destination which it was appointed to reach, or should be at 

 charges with any one who w^as to be the bearer of it in his place.* 

 So here is our Sacrist paying the expenses of William Colchester, 

 13s. Ad., and the more considerable cost of buying two horses for 

 the journey, £6 16s. Sd. But he has something to enter on the 

 other side, an offering of £2 from the Countess of March, the lady 

 who craved the aid of the girdle. If any one is churlish enough to 

 say that the bargain was a poor one — 150s. spent on the journey 

 and only 40s. received from the beneficiary — the answer is that the 

 horses would be sold at the end of the return journey for almost as 

 much as they cost. If, again, it is objected that the lady's gift 

 was in any case money thrown away, I can only say that, while on 

 February 12, 1371, the previous year, Philippa, granddaughter of 

 Edward III., did present her husband, Edmund Mortimer, third 

 Earl of March, with a daughter, who in process of time became the 

 wife of that Harry Hot spar of the house of Northumberland who 

 fell at the battle of Shrewsbury, yet it is not on record that she was 

 equally blessed in 1372 or 1373. 



Such dtities sensibly performed, William Colchester was not long 

 in attaining to administrative office. To begin wdth, the Abbot 



* Customary of Westminster, H. B. S. ii. 49. 



