On a Chantry in the Chapelry of Alnwick. 77 



their short legs : high overhead wheel two or three noble 

 herring gulls, others have chosen suitable pinnacles, and their 

 loud challenge is in keeping with the hollow moanings of the 

 guillemot and other choral cries, until a gun is fired, when all 

 sounds are blended in wild confusion. 



Notices of a Chantry in the Parochial Chapelry of Alnwick, de- 

 dicated to the Virgin Mary. Communicated by William 

 Dickson of Alnwick and of Whitecross in Berwickshire. 



" For though in feudal strife, a foe 

 Hath laid our Lady's Chapel low, 

 Yet still, beneath the hallow'd soil, 

 The peasant rests him from his toil, 

 And dying, bids his bones be laid 

 Where erst his simple fathers pray'd." — Marmion. 



As one of the objects of our Club is to investigate the antiquities 

 of Berwickshire and its vicinage, I presume to place upon the 

 records a few notices of this Chantry, which have never ap- 

 peared before the public in print. It is interesting to show the 

 mode in which our ancestors lived and worshiped God ; besides, 

 it forms a link in the history of a county, and, aided by similar 

 inquiries, becomes of great service to the future topographer. 



By way of explanation I may observe, that a Chantry or Chaun- 

 try (Cantaria) is a small chapel or church, or private altar, in a 

 cathedral or other public place of worship, with an endowment 

 for one or more priests, on condition that they should sing mass 

 and perform other divine services for the soul of the founder, and 

 of such also of his descendants, or other relations, as he may have . 

 provided for by the grant. 



A man might make a Chantry by licence of the King, 

 without the Ordinary, for the Ordinary hath nothing to do there- 

 with — as was the case with this Chantry. The main use and 

 intent of these Chantries was, for prayers for souls departed, 

 on a supposition of purgatory, and of being released from thence 

 by masses satisfactory*. 



* That they were used for other purposes, may be learned from an in- 

 teresting passage in Shakspeare's Twelfth Night : — 



Act 4. Scene 3. — Sebastian, Olivia, and the Priest. 

 Olivia to Sebastian. If you mean well, 

 Now go with me, and with this holy man, 

 Into the Chantry by : there, before him 

 And underneath that consecrated roof, 

 Plight me the full assurance of your faith ; 

 That my most jealous and too doubtful soul 

 May live at peace. 



Act 5. Scene 1. 

 Olivia. Father, I charge thee by thy reverence, 



