96 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



Decay of worldly Goods as by Sekenes or Hurt by the 

 Warrys, or upon Land or See, or by any other means." 

 Those belonging to the Fraternity who had paid the full 

 sum due, namely lOs. 4d., in " money, plate, or any other 

 honest stufe," were entitled to fourteen pence a week, 

 house-room and bedding, " and a woman to wash his 

 clothes and to dresse his mete ; and so to continue Yere 

 by Yere and Weke by Weke durynge his Lyfe," like a 

 modern benefit society. The fine old church contained 

 many monuments, some of which were transferred to the 

 new church when the removal took place. Among them 

 the effigy of John Holland, Duke of Exeter, and one of 

 his wives, dating from 1447, reposes under a fine canopy. 

 The stalls and pulpit of the sixteenth century were also 

 brought to the new building. Thus shorn of all its 

 associations and all its beauty, the foundation remains, 

 like a flower ruthlessly transplanted too late to take root 

 and regain its former charm. 



The Master's house makes a most delightful residence, 

 and has always been let. Mr. Marley, the present tenant, 

 who has filled the house with works of art, has made a 

 very charming garden also, more like an Italian than an 

 English villa garden, as the view reproduced in this 

 volume testifies. 



Three Societies occupy pieces of ground within the 

 Park. The most ancient and least well known is the 

 Toxophilite. Archery has for many hundred years been 

 practised by the citizens of London. The ground chosen 

 for shooting was chiefly near Islington, Hoxton, and 

 Shoreditch. To encourage the use of bows and arrows 

 Henry VIII. ordered Sir Christopher Morris, Master of 

 Ordnance, to form the " Fraternitye or Guylde of Saint 

 George" about 1537, and these archers used to shoot in 



