50 C.C. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 



Another of Isaac Ballinger has 



" Reader pray covet not the world, 



Qut of it you may soon be hurled, 



For as a wheel it turns about ; 



It was a wheel that turned me out." 

 In another, the deceased commits his public house to God and his 

 children to a faithful friend, a curious distribution. But you look in 

 vain for the often quoted inscription : 



" Here lie I and my three daughters 



Died of drinking Cheltenham waters. 



If we only had stuck to Epsom Salts 



We shouldn't have now been in these vaults." 

 The Church is very beautiful inside; we may notice especially the 

 marigold window, the ballflower decoration and the little chamber in 

 the North porch, one of the most interesting in the country. Several 

 of the tombs are interesting ; by the high altar is buried William 

 Payne, a past owner of Charlton Park, who played no little part in the 

 reign of Charles I. For writing a pamphlet in 1633 called " Histrio- 

 mastix," he was tried by the Star Chamber and his sentence helped to 

 bring that Court to its well-merited destruction ; his crime was that 

 he wrote against masques and sabbath-wakes though he knew the 

 Queen attended them. He was found guilty with the following sen- 

 tence : — 



" That his book be burned by the common hangman ; to be put 

 from the bar and to be for ever incapable of his profession ; to be 

 turned out of the Society of Lincoln's Inn ; to be degraded at 

 Oxford ; to stand in the Pillory at Westminster and Cheapside ; to 

 lose both his ears, one in each place ; to pay a fine of ;^5ooo and to 

 suffer perpetual imprisonment." 



For a later offence he had the rest of his ears sawn off, and S.L. 

 branded on his cheeks with a red hot iron. Subsequently being re 

 stored to his profession, having had his fine paid back to him out of 

 the estates of those who spoke against him on his trial, he grew rich 

 and purchased Charlton Park. 



There is a fine brass of Judge Grevile (time of Henry VII.) which 

 shows well the costume of the period. There is also the tomb of 

 Captain Skillicorne whose enterprise brought George III. to Chelten- 

 ham, among whose virtues it is recorded that he was never once 

 intoxicated. Those who like horrors can see the tomb of Katherine 

 Comt, killed by a revengeful servant for detection in a crime. It is 

 recorded that the murderer was found guilty, executed at Glo'ster and 

 according to the horrible practice of the time his body was hanged 



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