HISTORY OF HARTING. 6l 



registers contain several entries of nurse or midwife 

 baptism, which was duly allowed, and of which the 

 noble family of the Cowpers of Ditcham seem at one 

 time to have availed themselves.* 



The farmers of Halting were well established and 

 well-to-do even in the time of Henry VIII. Here is 

 the will of one of them : 1549. Will of Richard 

 Sylvester of Hartynge. " In the name of God. Amen. 

 The iiii th day of September in the year of our Lord 

 God a thousand five hundred forty and nine (1549). 

 I Richard Sylvester, of the parish of Hartynge, being 

 holde (whole) of mind and of good remembrance, do 

 make this my last will in maner and form following : 

 First, I bequeath my soull to Almighty God, to our 

 blessed Ladye Saynte Marye, and to all the blessed 

 company of heaven, and my body to be buried in the 

 church lyten (' lidden,' still vernacular for 'churchyard') 

 of Hartyng. Item, I bequeath to the Hyght Aulter 

 (High Altar) of Hartyng ii d - Item, to the Mother 

 Church of Chichester ii d - Item, to my son Rich d - 

 vi u xiii s iv d (6 133. 4d., or ten marks) and my great 

 capake (query cassock ?) ; after the decease of my 

 wyfe, my beggeste (biggest) brass pott and my greate 

 cheaste (chest) ; all these to be delivered when he 

 cometh to the age of xxiii yers (years). Item, to 

 Agnes my daughter v marke sterlinge, to be delivered 

 when she is xviii yers of age, and eche (each) of them 

 to be the other's heire of this my legacye. Item, to 



and his instrument with wyars unto sundry of my good friends, 

 namely, to my cosen S r - Phillippe Sydney, who doth expect to 

 have yo r - man at Salsbury before the vii th of Marche next, 

 where there will be an honorable assembly e and receyte of many 

 gentlemen of good calling." Robert Sydney, brother of Sir 

 Philip, and afterwards Earl of Leicester, married a Glamorgan- 

 shire heiress, Barbara Gamage, of whom Sir Edward Stradling 

 was guardian. (Sidneyana, Nichol, Shakespeare Press, 1837.) 



Dec. 13, 1583. Margaret Cowper. Baptizata erat domi 

 p(er) obstetricem. 



