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nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." His body was appropriately interred within the chantry that he had himself erected in the parochial chapel of All-saints. And mournful must have been the gathering upon that day, of the inhabitants throughout the Vale; who venerating the character and office of their late spiritual father, now thronged to witness the committal of his body to its silent resting-place. A marble slab still covers his remains, indented for an inlaid effigy and inscription; to which we shall have occasion to recur in an ensuing chapter. Himself unchanged in pious sentiment, amidst an almost general conformity with the assumed opinions of the king, no doubt nor question can be made of the sincerity of abbot Lichfield. Consistent even in death, he ordains a strict compliance with the usages of that Church of which he was yet a minister,-the observances of which extend beyond the coffin and the shroud. His own stately fabric is in ruins and its monastic choristers are wide dispersed; and the imposing services which that community were wont to offer at stated periods for the welfare of the departed, cannot be there observed for him and therefore he is content that the postmortuary offices be rendered for his soul's repose in an obscure structure-a distant chapel, once dependent on his own-the mother church. And though vast estates are no longer vested in him, wherewith to charge the cost of yearly observances on his behalf, throughout all time,-observances which many of his predecessors thought they had in perpetuity secured→→→ he yet bequeathes to the church at Littleton "three kine, to have mass and dirige," with a provision for some slight refreshment to the poor parishioners at his year's-mind "for ever." 295

294 Revelation of St. John, chapter xv.

:

25 The following appears in the contemporary register of South Littleton, near Evesham :

"Ao. Dni.

m. v. xlvj

"Nota"

The xviij day of the monyth of october in the xxxviij yere of the reygn of ow', sowrygn lorde kynge henry the viijth dyed and was beryed in the parysh churche of all halowyn in Eveshm Mast' clement Wych bacheler of diuinite and sume tyme abbott of the monestery of Eveshm the wyche geve to ow chwrche before he dyed iij kyne to have masse and dirige wt serte Refreshyng to the paryfshoners at evry yere mynde for Ever."The interment is entered in the register of All-saints at Evesham; but in transferring the entries of that century at a later period from paper to parchment, in compliance with the canon of 1597, the month of October appears to be substituted for that

Upon the resignation of abbot Lichfield, in 1539, the king, at the instigation of Cromwell, to effect an appearance of voluntary surrender on the part of the convent, caused Philip Hawford or Hayford-whose family-name was Ballard-and who had been cellarer of the monastery,2 296 to assume the character of its abbot. In an original letter dated July 26th-given in our Appendix 297– this individual admits that it was only through Cromwell that he had been "preferryde to occupye the roome of abbott here;" and on the 17th of November following he delivered up the monastery to the king. For this subserviency, he was rewarded by grants and patronage from the crown. His immediate provision was, a part of the monastic buildings reserved for him during life—as will be noticed in the following chapter-together with a pension of £240 a year. He was afterward made king's chaplain, and on the 5th September, 1543, was presented to the rectory of Elmeley Lovet, in this county. In 1553 he was, in lieu of his pension, preferred to the deanery of Worcester; and according to Dr. Thomas, he died July 30th 1557, and was buried in the south-east transept of that cathedral, in a stone coffin, upon which was placed his effigy clad in the abbatial robes and insignia. 298 But during the erection of the present altar-screen, in 1812, it being deemed desirable to remove the effigy, a recess was constructed in the basement of the screen at the eastern side, and the figure was removed thither; 299 where it still remains. Dr. Nash, and others after him, have objected to the above date as that of Hawford's death, because Willis says that mortuus is written opposite his name in the pension book in 1533. But this was the year in which he had received the rectory in lieu of his pension, therefore the word might have been inserted to mark that off as extinct.

of November, and therefore the entry erroneously stands thus-"A.D. 1546. Clement Lechfielde, abbott of Evesham, buryed the ixth of October."

296 Thus distinguished in repeated entries upon a Manorial Court Roll, temp. 23d Henry VIII. in possession of Fisher Tomes, of Welford, esq.

297 Unpublished Letter from Philip abbot of Evesham to Cromwell Lord Privy Seal, A. D. 1539. See it in Appendix, No. II.

298 Vide Thomas's Survey of the Cathedrall-Church of Worcester, page 68; also Green's History of Worcester, vol. i. page 153.

209 Wild's Worcester Cathedral, page 29.

The effigy which is of stone-continues in tolerable preservation; but is somewhat indifferently cut; as though the art had already begun to decline with the overthrow of monastic institutions. It lies extended upon the coffin-lid in the robes of an abbot as decked for the altar; the head is mitred and upheld by angels, the right hand is uplifted for the benediction, and in the left is an abbatial staff with an ornamented head, but destitute either of cross or crosier. The gloves upon the hands have each a large jewel represented upon the back, and at the feet is carved a couching lion. The sides and ends of the coffin are faced with ancient quatrefoils, but the niche and canopy are of modern work.

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CHAPTER VI.

SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERY-VALUATION OF ITS REVENUE -TRANSFER OF ITS LAND IN DEMESNE.

THE present chapter forms the last in the history of that magnificent foundation, the rise and progress of which we have hitherto endeavoured to trace. It now remains that we recount the mode of its suppression, and the consequent destruction of those splendid edifices, of which—like to the baseless fabric of a vision, no wreck is left behind.'

Henry the Eighth, foiled, as is well known, by pope Clement VII. in obtaining that divorce from Catherine of Arragon, for which he had waited with amazing patience during six long years; first privately married and then publicly acknowledged Anne Boleyn as his queen. His public marriage was effected on the twelfth of April 1532; on the first of June the ceremony of her coronation was performed; 300 and in 1533 the marriage was by act of parliament declared legal. In the succeeding year-when the whole business

300 Mr. Turner, in his passing notice of the pageant on this occasion-while referring to the young and lovely queen, introduces the following beautiful observations. "At this moment she appears to have been highly popular; and with such attractions how could she be otherwise? The smiling beauty of a lovely face, is the nearest representation we can have, on earth, of a celestial countenance. It is the most expressive picture that we can behold of what is heavenly and, as yet, invisible. If its magic were not daily experienced, the effect might be called supernatural. It partakes of this character. It acts at once upon the admiring reason, the taste, and the sensibility; and all that is unearthly within us, feels and obeys its eloquent, its irresistible appeal. The features and deportment of Anne Boleyn had this witchery: and no voice was heard to blame her unassuming exultation."-Henry VIII, vol. ii. p. 339.

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