PROCEEDINGS FOR 1897 CLXIII 



church with rushes, and ornamenting it with flowers. For more than 

 400 years the custom has been observed. The day after I and Mr. 

 Davies left the shores of England in the present lovely month of June, 

 the civic procession, as of old, wended its way through the streets of 

 Bristol to the music of many church bells. The rushes were there, and 

 the flowers and the Pentecostal sermon, but no one asks what has be- 

 come of the original endowment, and probably no one could now tell. 



In connection with Eedclift'e church I hasten to speak of one 

 greater than the Medes, I mean William Canynge, not the elder of that 

 name, who, in 1376, according to the chronicles, " built the body of the 

 church from the cross-aisle downwards," but his grandson and namesake, 

 who repaired the damage done by the great storm in 1445. This William 

 Canynge is described as having with " others of the town of Bristol kept 

 masons and workmen to repair and beautify, cover and glaze, the Church 

 of St. Mary Redclitte, which his grandfather had founded in the reign of 

 Edward III." His was a commanding figure both in local and national 

 atfairs. Upon occasion he was both bailitf and shei'iff of Bristol. Five 

 times he tilled tbe office of mayor, and twice he represented the town as 

 its " Parliament-man." Canynge was the typical merchant-prince ot 

 the fifthteenth century. His ships were found in all waters where 

 trade was to be done. He was the king's host at the social board, and 

 his banker in times of necessity. He was called " the richest and the 

 wisest merchant." He supported his own alms-men in his lifetime, and 

 remembered them in his death. He was a religious man, and the chapel 

 attached to his house on the bank of the river, with its open-timbered 

 roof, still remains. And, as in previous ages of the world's history, the 

 warrior not unfrequently retired from the court and camp to the 

 .seclusion of the monastery, so did Canynge after the excitement of his 

 commercial and political life, retire to the seclusion of the college at 

 Westbury, of which he was tirst the founder and then the dean ; and at 

 last he found his resting place beneath the roof of his beloved church of 

 St. Mary, in a beautiful recessed tomb which he had himself prepared. 



We must not leave Redcliffe church until we have had a look at 

 that wonderful whale's bone, which during the past few months has 

 attracted more attention than was ever given it before. It is certainly 

 a very ancient relic, around which popular legends have gathered. But 

 there seems no reason to doubt the story which connects it with the voy- 

 age of Cabot, although at this distance of time the matter cannot be quite 

 cleared up. It is reasonable to conclude that it is a Cabot relic, although 

 I am not able to go into thci grounds of that conclusion at the present 

 time. 



St. John's gateway was referred to at the commencement of this 

 address, as the only one of the four original gateways now remaining, 

 and the church above it, from which it takes its name, as the only one 

 remaining of those that formerly stood upon the town wall. 



