observations may be required in explanation.-Dr. Rock, in his Church of our Fathers, vol, iii, p. 2, 174, on the Bridal Mass, quotes the following:-"Thre ornements longe principally to a wyfe-a rynge on her finger, a broche on her breste, and a garlonde on her hede: the garlonde betokenethe gladnesse and the dignitie of the sacrament of wedloke." Thus Chaucer describes Grisilde when adorned as a bride"A coronne on hire hed they have ydressed, And sette hire full of nouches gret and smal."

Clarke's Tale, v, 8257.

It was in pursuance of this ancient custom that parishes at this period kept ornaments for a bride, to be let out at weddings; but the word "bryde-paist" is not often to be met with, and the custom does not appear to have continued long. In the roll of expenses on the marriage of Sir Gervas Clifton of Clifton, Notts, in 1530 (printed at the end of the Forme of Cury, p. 166), the bride was provided with "black velvet bonnits, every bonnit 178., and three boxes to carry them in, and three pasts 9d." In Coates' History of Reading, p. 225, in the churchwardens' accounts of the parish of St. Lawrence in 1561, an entry occurs :-" Bryde Past. Item, received of John Radleye vis. viiid." In the inventory of the church property of St. Margaret's, Westminster, in 1540, occurs, “Paid to a goldsmith's wife of London for a cerclett to marry maydens in, iiili. x8. ;" and in 1564, "Cerclet for brydes. Item, one past for brydes set with perle and stone." (See Brand's Popular Antiq.) In Machyn's Diary (published by the Camden Society), p. 240, it is recorded, "1560, the 13 day of July was mared in Sant Mary Wolmar's in Lumbard Street, iii dowthers of Master Atkynson the skrevener in ther here and goodly pastes with chaines and perle and stones;" and in the Glossarial Index, p. 463 of the same volume, is a quotation from Palsgrave's Eclaircissement de la Langue Francaise (1530), "Paste for a lady or woman, unes paces. With the same meaning, Richelet's Dictionary (1759) gives "Passe (cincinnus) terme de faiseuse de bonnets-c'est un devant de bonnet de femme."

The term "paste" has been overlooked by glossarists, but it seems to have an affinity with "passement," lace, and to be derived, like it, from "passer, to draw or strain through,"

descriptive of the process of making the thin plates or threads of gold or other metal necessary for lace or tinsel. Embroiderers to this day use the terms "plate," "pearl," and passings," for their materials. Sir Thomas More, in his Supplicacion of Sowlys, made anno 1529 (p. 288 of his works, folio, 1557), mentions "pastes" among other ornaments of female attire:" With gay gownys and gay kyrtels, and much waste in apparell, rynges and owchis, with partelettes and pastis garnished with perle."

To check this "waste in apparell" a remarkable sumptuary law was passed by Parliament in 1541-2 (stat. 33 Hen. VIII, c. 5), professing in its preamble to be "for the brede and encrease of horses for the defence of this realme," and enacting that a certain number of horses, "three years old and in heyght 14 handfalls," should be compulsorily kept by various persons according to their rank and means. An archbishop or duke was to keep seven, and other peers and bishops in proportion. After which occurs this clause: "And all and every person temporall not afore mencyoned, whos wiff shall ware any goun of sylke, or whos wiff shall ware any Frenche hood or bonnet of velvet with any habiliment, past, or egg of gold, perle, or stone, or any chayne of gold about ther nekks or in ther partletts, or in any apparell of ther bodie, shall after the Feast of St. Michael, 1555, have, fynde, kepe, susteyne, and maynteyne, one trotting horse for the saddle upon pain of £10 forfeit." The result of this law would therefore be, that if a lady were fortunate enough to have a "past" to wear, her husband was compelled to keep a riding-horse for her.

A striking instance of a "paste" being worn by ladies of high degree, as well as by brides in country parishes, may be seen in the account of Lady Jane Grey's execution (Chronicle of Queen Jane, edited by J. G. Nichols, Esq., for the Camden Society, p. 58):-" Then she stode up and gave mistris Tylney her gloves and handkercher, and her book to maister Bruges, the Lyvetenante's brother; forthwith she untyed her gown. The hangman went to her to help her of therewith; then she desyred him to let her alone, turning towardes her two gentlewomen, who helped her off ther with, and also with her frose paast and neckercher, giving to her a fayre handkercher to knytte about her eyes.'

Sir Harris Nicolas, in a note on this passage (p. xci), is

inclined to interpret "frose paast as "fronts-piece;" and Mr. Nichols, finding the words altered by Foxe (Acts and Monuments) into "frowes past," considers them to mean "a matronly head-dress." An ornament however of frosted silver or tinsel may not improbably be intended, "frose" being used in the sense of what is now termed "frosted."

A.D. 1548. M. The xiii daye of Februarii in the second yere of the rayne of our Sovrane Lord Kyng Edward the VI, came Rich. Farnfold and Wyllim Pellet the chh. wardens of the churche of Stenyng for the yere past, and so the said wardens broghte clerely to the churche boxe for the churche ale xxvis., and so ther remayneth in the churche boxe at this daye £vi. vs. viiid., and so the sayd wardens be clerely dyschargyd.

"M. That Rychard Farnfold broght to the churche box, and payd for the bryd past the same yere vs. iiijd."

"A.D. 1549. On the vith day of Marche in the thyrde yere of the raigne of our Sovrayne Lord Kynge Edward the VIth, came Thomas Booker, one of the churchwardens of Stenyng for the yere past, and brought clerely to the churche boxe for the churche ale xxs., and so ther remaynith in the churche boxe at this day vi angells of golde, and in silver xxviiis. ivd., and so the said wardens be discharged."

May 1, 1553. The same day and yere came the sayd Rychard Farnfold, and brought in for the bryde past xiid."

On a sheet in the middle of the book, which has been bound up out of its proper place, is an account of the letting of the churche lands by feoffees on the 10th September, in the 30th year of Henry VIII (A.D. 1538); but the only entry which has in it anything peculiar is the following

·--

"Also the same daye and yeare before written the said feoffees have granted to Mr. Richard Farnfold of Gatewycke two crofts, called George's Crofts, for the space and time of viii yeares, conditionally that he should kepe yearly from Maii day till Michaelmas day xii kine for the poore occupiers of Stenyng, they payinge to him xiid. a peace every yeare for And the saide Richard covenantyth to breake up all the sayde George's Crofts withyn the space of the sayde eighte yeres.

every cowe.

IN

Boss from the Chapel Roof.

In my examination of the records belonging to this monastery, I have derived assistance from the previous inquiries of the Rev. E. Venables, who having undertaken to be its historian, but being unfortunately prevented from completing his design, has allowed me to benefit by the result of his labours. A supply of matter, not hitherto made public, has also been very obligingly placed in my hands by the Rev. G. R. Boissier, consisting of nearly two hundred deeds of conveyance and other documents relating to the abbey, accidentally discovered, a few years since, as that gentleman was passing through a neglected room in Penshurst Castle. A seal protruding itself from a heap of rubbish, led to an investigation which brought to light a large number of parchments and papers, whose existence had been for a long time unknown or forgotten. Mr. Boissier subsequently cleaned and arranged them for the late Lord De Lisle, the noble owner of the castle, and has permitted me to use his transcripts for the purposes of the present essay, of which indeed they will be found to furnish the principal materials. These deeds, there

can be no doubt, had been in the possession of the Sidney family from an early date after the dissolution; for in the 32 Henry VIII, the site of the abbey, with other lands, was granted to Sir William Sydney and his wife Agnes, in exchange for the manor of Kingston-upon-Hull, the manor of Myton, and certain other property in York and Lincoln. They are all of parchment, excepting the grants and licenses of the three Edwards, which are on paper; and the seals of the parties concerned remain for the most part tolerably entire. It will readily be supposed that many of these deeds, establishing the title of the abbey to lands and tenements, of which the names are not mentioned or no longer known, contain in them little to excite a present interest. I propose only to select such as appear most worthy of remark from the nature of the gift or the name of the giver.

The Abbey of Robertsbridge belonged to the Cistercians, a branch of the Benedictines which took its name from Cistertium, or Cisteaux, in Burgundy, where it began A.D. 1098. Stephen Harding, an Englishman, the third abbot of Cisteaux, is thought to have introduced the Order into this country about A.D. 1128; their monasteries, generally built in solitary and uncultivated places, were reckoned in 26 Henry VIII to be seventy-five in number, exclusive of twenty-six Cistercian Nunneries.

The house at Robertsbridge, on the banks of the Rother, was founded in the year 1176 (22 Henry III) by Robert de Sancto Martino, according to the Chronicle of the church of Rochester; but the confirmatory charter of 10 Richard I, a better authority, makes the founder to be Alured (or Alfred) of St. Martin. From the earlier documents it appears likely that Robert was the originator of the institution, afterwards so confirmed and enlarged by Alured as to procure him the title and honour of founder; an occurrence by no means singular in the establishment of such houses. In this very instance, Alicia, the wife of Alured, because a principal benefactrix, is in one charter termed the "Foundress." Foundations, like inventions, are often difficult to trace up with certainty to the first author. This Robert in all probability built the bridge at this place, which gave name first to the hamlet and then to the abbey: for, although some authorities contend that the