138 



MEMORIALS OF RAY 



King Charles I, coming into the church, and reading 

 those verses, is reported to have added, 



" Even so free be." 



Hence of old the inhabitants of Beverley pay no toll or 

 custom in any city, tov^n, or port in England. In the 

 body of the church v^e observed an antient monument, 

 called the virgins' tomb, because two virgins, sisters, (whose 

 names they could not tell us,) were bmied there. These 

 virgins gave to the town of Beverley a piece of land, 

 into which any freeman of the town may put three milch 

 kine from Lady- day to Michaelmas. At the lower end 

 of the body of the church stands a very large and fair 

 font of agate stone. This town is large and long ; hath 

 a spacious and handsome market-place ; there have been 

 antiently in it four chm^ches, some of them now fallen 

 into decay. It is governed by a mayor and twelve 

 aldermen. Here is the seat of the family of the Gees, 

 whose monuments we saw in the church. The principal 

 church of the town is St. Mary's, built cathedral- wise. 

 In the year 1528, the steeple fell down, in the time of 

 divine service, and beat down part of the church, and 

 slew and wounded divers men, women, and children. 

 This we saw cut in wood, about one of the uppermost 

 seats in the church, " Prey ye for the soules of the men, 

 women, and children," &c. When this church was re- 

 edified, one Crosland, who hath a monument there, built 

 two pillars and a half, upon which there is this inscrip- 

 tion, (which, for Mr. Crosland's sake I copied out,) 

 " Xland and his wife made thess to pillors and an halfe." 

 Here are divers stories represented in picture on the roof, 

 as particularly the legend of St. Catherine. There is an 

 old inscription on the roof of the north isle ; 



" Mayn in thy lyffing lowfe God abown all thyng ; 

 And ever thynk of the begynning what shall eowme of the ending." 



From Selby we rode to Wistow, and from thence, the 

 same night, we went onward to Pontefract. By the way 



