2«<»S. VI. 133., July 17. '58.1 NOTES AND QUERIES. 



51 



had pensions, and are styled ' CoUeginarii sive cantaristw 

 iu coUegio sive Nova aula de la Mounteroy prope civita- 

 tem Wellensem.' (Liber 5IS. pensionum penes Petrum 

 Le Xeve.) There are but fifteen said to have pensions 

 in Willis' Abbies, ii. 200., but their pensions amounted 

 to 62/. 8s. per annum. Quare. Whether this College was 

 not dedicated to St. Anne, and had not the induction of 

 the chantry priests ; for 2i July, 1.520, ' Hen. Harrison 

 institutus "ad cantariam S. Kalixti in eccl. cath. Wel- 

 lensi ; et scriptum fuit pro inductione principalibus col- 

 legii S. Annae de Wells.' Dr. Button's Collections out of 

 the registers of Wells."] 



Priory of St. John, Wells, Somerset. — I am 

 anxious to obtain accurate information about tbis 

 Priory, or Hospital, as it is often called. It was 

 founded about 1206 by Hugh de Welles, after- 

 wards Bishop of Lincoln, and his brother Joceline 

 de Welles, afterwards Bishop of Bath and Glaston- 

 bury, which title he was induced to drop for 

 " Bath and Wells." The Priory or Hospital was 

 (it is said) founded for a prior and ten brethren, 

 and as such it is referred to by Godwin and other 

 authorities. It was dissolved in 1539. The ruins 

 are now being removed for the erection of public 

 schools, and before the whole fabric is swept 

 away, I wish to preserve some memorial of the 

 establishment. Will any of the readers of " N". & 

 Q." .give such particulars as they can from Dug- 

 dale's Monasticon or elsewhere as to the design 

 and objects of this priory ; the number of the 

 inmates at its dissolution ; the value of its re- 

 venues at that time? Was it altogether a religious 

 institution, or partly religious and partly eleemosy- 

 nary ? Early notice of this would be taken as a 

 great favour. Tna. 



Wells, Somerset. 



[The following is Dugdale's account of this priory, as 

 given in the last edition of his 3Ionasticon, vi. G64. : — 

 " Hugh de Wells, archdeacon of Wells, and afterwards 

 bishop of Lincoln, was, about the beginning of King John's 

 reign, the original founder of this hospital, in the south 

 part of the city of Wells, dedicated to St. John Baptist, 

 which was so much augmented by Josceline, bishop of 

 Bath, and other benefactors, that in the 26th Henry VIII. 

 the yearly revenues of the master and brethren [Dr. 

 Hutt'on says, A. d. 1350, there were ten priests and 

 brethren] amounted to 41/. 3s. 6Jd. according to Speed; 

 and 40/. Os. 2irf. according to Dugdale. The site and 

 most of the lands belonging to this house were granted, 

 32 Henry VIII. to John Clerk, then bishop of Bath and 

 Wells, and his successors, in consideration of the manor 

 and park of Dogmeresfield, &c. However, the crown got 

 it again afterwards, and granted it, 17 Eliz., to Sir 

 Christopher Hatton. In some of the Records, as well as 

 in tlie Valor of King Henry VIII., this house is called a 

 priory. In the latter record also the last master, John 

 Pynnock, is called prior. The surrender of this hospital, 

 dated 3d Feb., 30th Hen. VIII., is in the Augmentation 

 Office. Appendant to it is the common seal, representing 

 St. John Baptist, with the following legend, sigilu hos- 

 I'lTAL. .SCI. .lOHASNis. D. WKLLES." Tanner says, " If 

 Hugh founded the priory before he went from Wells, it 

 must be so; for he waamade bishop of Lincoln in Uth 

 King John; but Dr. llutton sailh, that by his will dated 

 anno ptmtiJii.tiliiK 3, he gave .500 marks-towards founding 

 an hugpitul here at Wells ; so that perhaps it might not 



be founded till after his death, which happened 19 Hen. 

 III., when Josceline was bishop of Bath." Both Dugdale 

 and Tanner give numerous references to various rolls and 

 charters.] 



THOMAS CAREY, OK CAEEW. 



(2°'' S. vi. 12. 38.) 



I feel greatly indebted to Mr. G. H. Kingsley 

 for his interesting reply to my query ; and any 

 unpublished particulars he may possess of the ele- 

 gant and witty Carew, " Love's Oracle," will, I am 

 sure, be most acceptable to the readers of "N. & 

 Q." Perhaps the best and longest account of this 

 charming old song-writer is that by Kippis in his 

 Biogi-aphia Britumiica ; but even this sketch, in- 

 teresting as it is, makes one desirous to know 

 more of this perspicuous and natural poet. Phil- 

 lips states that Carew " was reckoned among the 

 chiefest of his time for delicacy of wit and poetic 

 fancy ; " and a contemporary pronounced his 

 verses 



" As smooth and high 

 As glorj-, love, or wine, from wit can raise." 



Oldys, in his notes on Langbaine, informs us, 

 that " Carew's Sonnets were more in request than 

 any poet's of his time, that is, between 1630 and 

 1640. Many of them were set to music by the 

 two famous composers, Henry and William Lawes, 

 and other eminent masters, and sung at court in 

 their Masques, &c." The first edition of Carew's 

 Poems, Songs, and Sonriets, bears an imprimatur 

 under date April 29, 1640, at the commencement 

 of those troublous times when, as good Izaak 

 Walton assures us, " it was dangerous for honest 

 men to live in London." But notwithstanding 

 the convulsed state of the nation, the Poems were 

 again published in 1642. In 1651, a third edition 

 was required; and a fourth in 1670-1.* Honest 

 Tom Davies, the bookseller, rescued them from en- 

 tire neglect, by reprinting them in 1772. In 1810, 

 Mr. John Fry of Bristol printed a Selection from 

 Carew's Poems, to which he prefi.xed a meagre ac- 

 count of the author. Iu the following year he 

 proposed to publish a complete edition of his 

 works, as we learn from the following communi- 

 cation to the Gentleman' s Magazine for Jan. 1811, 

 p. 32. : 



" I am now collecting materials at my leisure for a 

 complete edition of Carew's Works, containing some 

 pieces hitherto unpublished. The materials of his life are 

 few ; it is possible, however, some of your numerous 

 readers may be able to assist me with information from 

 manuscript authorities tending to supply in some measure 

 the deficiency. It appears from Oldj-s's MS. notes to 

 Langbaine, that the Prince of Wales then had in his pos- 

 session a Vandyke, containing a portrait of Carew. 

 Query, In whose' possession is that painting at present, 



* Dr. Bliss's copy of this edition sold for Us. 



