HISTORY OF HARTING. 57 



tecture" ; * but the reader of Dalloway must not expect 

 accuracy. Like the Irish penitent whom St. Columba 

 absolved on condition that he would speak the truth 

 once out of seven times, about one-seventh of what 

 Dalloway says may be considered worth verification. 



The completion of this great work of Puritan re- 

 storation took place in the year 1577, in the time of 

 John Ford and Francis Fortescue, Esqs., sons-in-law 

 of Edmond, and joint lords of Harting. It was 

 probably effected by general subscription, as we have 

 seen that the Feoffees took their part. At the same 

 time it cannot be doubted that another member of the 

 Ford family took great interest in Harting Church. 

 William (?) Ford, of Hartyng, by his will dated 1 568, 

 now at the Record Office,t first provides that he shall 

 be buried in the south side of the chancel of his parish 

 Church. He then bequeaths certain legacies : first to 

 his wife, and then, to quote his own words, " Item, I 

 give and bequeath to the Vicar of Hartyng for the 

 tyme being, to pray for my soul and other Christian 

 souls, and especially every Sunday in his bede-roll, 

 over and above his mortuary, 20 shillings. Item, I 

 give and bequeath to the Parish Church of Hartyng, 

 towards the buying of a fair cope to go in procession 

 (the yearly walking of the bounds on Rogation day 

 in May), and a fair vestment to sing mass in, or other 

 ornaments most necessary, if the law will not permit 

 the others, 10 pounds." This is curious, as showing that 

 the much-contested law of vestments was not settled 

 in the reign of Elizabeth, and the passage has been 

 used in controversy. Whether the cope or vestments 

 were bought for Harting Church or no, it is certain 

 that they would soon disappear in the long incumbency 

 of the Puritan Vicar, Ralphe Dear, who succeeded, 

 from 1 587 to 161 1. But we may conclude that William 



Dalloway's Sussex, I., 197. 



t Lecture by Hon. C. L. Wood to the English Church Union 

 at Brighton, April 2, 1868. 



