28 
recorded that on this occasion the Lord Mayor had a gold chain 
about his neck, a personal decoration which he was entitled to 
assume in consequence of his having been raised to the dignity of 
knighthood. The gold chain mentioned by the annalist is doubtless 
the same which was one of the subjects of a generous proposition 
made to the Corporation by the worthy old knight in the month of 
December, 1609. Attending in his place in the Council Chamber, 
Sir Dobert Walter offered to give to the city the sum of £120 in 
money, and at his death his gold chain with silver plate to the 
value of 20 marks, on condition that the Corporation would under¬ 
take to pay to Mr. Doger Bellwood, the minister of St. Crux parish, 
the sum of £10 yearly for his life. The alderman’s offer was 
readily accepted. He siuwived until the month of May, 1612, and 
a few weeks after his death, Mr. Edward Cayley, of Brompton, the 
son-in-law of Mr. Wm. Walter, brother of Sir Eobert, and one of 
the executors of his will, delivered to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen 
in open court the sum of £120, together with the gold chain and 
three goblets, parcel-gilt, weighing 40 oz., all which were gratefully 
received, and an acknowledgement of the gift duly sealed by the 
Lord Mayor. The money was spent, but we cannot doubt that the 
Eev. Eoger Bellwood was regularly paid his annuity as long as he 
lived. The parcel-gilt goblets were worn out in course of time and 
melted down. Happily, the gold chain has been more carefully 
preserved, and is still used to adorn the person and add to the 
dignity of the Lord Mayor of York, by whom it is worn upon every 
Sabbath day, and other festival days, when he attends divine 
service in the Minster or elsewhere, in accordance with the testa¬ 
mentary wishes of the worshipful donor. 
Sir Eobert Watter was buried in the church of St. Crux, where 
a stately monument, erected to the memory of himself and his wife 
and their three children, now remains in a good state of ^^reservation. 
Sir Eobert took a still more effectual way of perpetuating his name 
by founding a hospital for the maintenance of ten persons with an 
annual stipend of 40s. each. The original hospital stood in Nowt- 
gate-lane, Walmgate. A new building has been recently substituted 
for it, upon another site, in the same neighbourhood. 
During his declining years Sir Eobert Watter was grievously 
tried by domestic bereavement. In the year 1608 his wife. Lady 
Watter, died, and not manj^ months later their only suiwiving child, 
Eobert Watter, followed his mother to the grave. Both were 
buried in the church of St. Crux, “before Sir Eobert his stalle,” as 
the register quaintly expresses it. 
