June 22. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



55 



THE LOW WINDOW. 



The low windows in the chancel of so many of 

 our ancient churches have proved a fruitful source 

 of discussion among archaeologists, and numerous 

 theories have been advanced respecting their use. 

 Perhaps the words of the chameleon in the fable 

 might be addi-essed to many who have attempted 

 to account for their e.xistence, " You all are right 

 and all are wrong" — right in your supposition 

 that theywei'e thus used ; but wrong in maintain- 

 ing that this was the exclusive purpose. Some 

 example, in fact, may be adduced irrecoucileable 

 with any particular conjecture, and sufficient to 

 overturn every theory which may be set up. One 

 object assigned is, the distribution of alms ; and it 

 is surely reasonable to imagine that money col- 

 lected at the offertory should have been given to 

 paupers from the chancel through this convenient 

 aperture. The following passage from the Eccle- 

 siologist, quoted in page 441. of "Notes and 

 Queries," has induced me to bring this subject 

 forward : — 



" In them (churchyards) prayers are not now com- 

 monly poured forth to God, nor are doles distributed 

 to his poor." 



Now it must be admitted that relief could 

 scarcely be given to a crowd of importunate 

 claimants without the interposition of some barrier; 

 and where could a more appropriate place be found 

 than the low window ? Can any of your readers, 

 therefore, oblige me with some information upon 

 these points ? Where were the alms bestowed, if 

 not here ? An almonry is described in some recent 

 works as "a building near the church." What 

 authority is there for such an assertion, and do 

 any examples of such structures remain ? What 

 evidence is there that this business was transacted 

 in the churchyard, in the porch, or in any par- 

 ticular part of the edifice ? 



Although these mysterious openings are pro- 

 bably, with one or two exceptions in Normandy, 

 peculiar to this country, it is desirable to ascertain 

 where the poor on the Continent usually receive 

 such charitable donations. In an interior of a 

 Flemish cathedral, by an artist of the sixteenth 

 century, a man is represented in the act of deli- 

 vering bread to a number of eager beggars, from a 

 sort of pew ; showing, at least, as above remarked, 

 that some such protection was requisite. 



There is another Query connected with this 

 subject, which I beg to submit. Some ancient 

 frescoes were lately discovered in the chapel of 

 Eton College, with a compartment containing 

 (according to a letter in the Ecclasiologist) a bishop 

 administering tiie Holy Communion to a converted 

 Jew, through a low window. Can any one, from 

 recollection or the inspection of drawings, (for the 

 original has disappeared,) assure me that he does 

 not hold in his liand a piece of money, or a portion 

 of bread, for the supply uf his bodily wants? T. 



North Sides of Churchyards tinconsecrated. — • 

 In the West of England I have found an opinion 

 to prevail in rural parishes, that the nortli side of 

 our churchyards was left unconsecrated very com- 

 monly, in order that the youth of the villageraight 

 have the use of it as a playground. And, in one 

 parish, some few years ago, I had occasion to in- 

 terrupt the game of football in a churchyard on 

 the " revel" Sunday, and again on another festival. 

 I also found some reluctance in the people to have 

 their friends buried north of the church. 



Is there any ground for believing that our 

 churchyards were ever thus consecrated on the 

 south side of the church to the exclusion of the 

 north? J- Sansom. 



Hatfield — Consecration of Chapel there. — Le 

 Neve, in his Lives of Protestant Bishops (ii. 144.), 

 states, that Richard Neile, Bishop of Lincoln, 

 went to Hatfield, 6th May, 1615, to consecrate the 

 chapel in the house there lately built by Robert, 

 Earl of Salisbury. I have applied to the Registrar 

 of Lincoln diocese, in which Hatfield was (until 

 recently) locally situated, for a copy of the no- 

 tarial act of consecration ; but it appears that the 

 register of Bishop Neile was taken away or de- 

 stroyed in the Great Rebellion, and that, conse- 

 quently, no record of his episcopality now exists at 

 Lincoln. 



Le Neve says he had the most part of his account 

 of Bishop Neile from Thomas Baker, B.D. of St. 

 John's College, Cambridge, who had it from a 

 grandson of the Bishop's. He quotes also Featley's 

 MS. Collections. 



Can any of your readers inform me whether 

 Bishop Neile's episcopal register for Lincoln is in 

 existence, or whether any transcript of it is known? 

 or if any evidence, confirmatory of Le Neve's state- 

 ment of the fixct and date of the consecration of 

 the chapel of Hatfield, is known to exist ? 



WiiLiA-M H. Cope. 



P. S. I have examined Dr. Matthew Ilutton's 

 transcripts of the Lincoln registers, in the Harleian 

 MSS., but they do not come down to within a 

 century of Bishop Neile's episcopate. 



Ulrich von Hutten (Vol. i., p. 336.)- — In one 

 of the Quarterly Reviews is an account of Ulrich 

 von Hutten and the Epistolce Ohscurorum Viroruin. 

 Will S. W. S., or any one who takes interest in 

 Ulrich, tell me where it is? A meagre article in 

 the Retrospective Review, vol. v. p. 5G., mentions 

 only one edition of the Epistola, Francfurti ad 

 Mainum, 1643. Is there any recent edition with 

 notes? Mine, Loud. 1710, is without, and remark- 

 able only ibr its dedication to Isaac BickerstafTe, 

 Esq., and the curious mistake which Isaac mailo 

 when he acknowledged it in I'hc Taller, of sup- 

 Dosiu"- the letters genuine. Is it known to what 



