THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEONARD WHEATCROFT. 33 



" Upon Jeul [? July] 28, I went to a faire at Chesterfeild where 

 I staied all night, and as I came horn I help'd my vnckell 

 Anthoney Ragge to flit to his new hous which he had built 

 in the ' Hostige ' : this was in Aprill 1670. 



" In May after, I tooke a cow to the hire of my ant [aun^] 

 Frances Norman, which did please my wife and children well, 

 for they had had none to give them milk for 2 years before. 



" Vpon Saterday June 18, I went to Chesterfeild to louse 

 [redeefu] some goods I had pauned 2 years before and brought 

 them home : the week after was Ashover Wakes, upon which 

 Even (the Church is dedicated to All Saints) my wife was 

 brought to bed of a daughter y////e 25^//, 1670, whom after- 

 wards we called Elizabeth." 



[I cannot reconcile the Eve of the Wakes Sunday with June 

 25th — for as All Saints' Day always falls on the ist of November, 

 the Eve of that festival would be on the last day of October. 

 Can the Church have had a later dedication to All Saints, while 

 the villagers retained an earlier dedication festival for their 

 wakes ? If so, it is probable that the first dedication of 

 Ashover Church may have been to S. John Baptist (June 24th). 

 Dr. Cox, in his Churches of Derbyshire, writes : " In more than 

 one Directory for the county, Ashover Church is said to be 

 dedicated to S. John, but on what authority we know not : — 

 the Liber Regis, etc., etc., are unanimous as to its being under 

 the protection (? invocation) of All Saints." The Church 

 evidently then was re-dedicated to All Saints at the extensive 

 re-construction about the commencement of the sixteenth 

 century, whilst the original dedication festival connected with 

 S. John Baptist was retained.] 



" Shee was baptized July 23 and my wife churched y"^ same 

 day. After that I traveled many wayes vp and downe the 

 cuntry, and at last strained my anckell to my much sorrow for 

 many dayes, and upon my jorney Sep. 25, I was lost in my 

 way, and at last I found a marke upon the mores, vpon which 

 marke I writ this verse heare following : — 

 3 



