destructive pestilence which had been raging throughout the whole of Europe and Asia, made its appearance in this metropolis, and caused the death of the greater part of its inhabitants, so that the burial grounds of the churches soon became entirely filled. At that crisis, Ralph Stratford, the then Bishop of London, purchased a piece of ground, consisting of three acres, called "No Man's Land," near St. John's Hospital, at Clerkenwell, which he consecrated for a burial place, and having enclosed it with a brick wall, erected a chapel, in which prayers for the souls of the deceased were offered up, and which was afterwards designated Pardon Church Hawe and Chapel. A short time afterwards Sir Walter de Manny* purchased an adjoining plot of ground, lying southward, called " Spittle Croft," containing thirteen acres and one rood, which was consecrated for the like purpose, and was called the New Church Hawe, In this ground, in which he also erected a Chapel, it is recorded that upwards of 50,000 persons were interred. In 1360, it was the intention of Sir Walter de Manny to found a college for a dean and twelve secular priests, on this spot; for which purpose, says Dugdale, he had obtained a bull from Pope Clement the Sixth: in this * This nobleman was a native of Hainault, and greatly distinguished himself under Edward the Third, in his wars with the King of France. He came into England with his royal mistress, Philippa of Hainault, on her marriage with Edward the Third; and died shortly after he had founded this convent. He was buried in the choir of the chapel, his remains being attended to the grave by the king and the whole court. benevolent design, however, he was at that time prevented by the French wars; but in a few years afterwards, Michael de Northburgh, Bishop of London, having at his death bequeathed £2000 for founding a convent for monks of the Carthusian order, Sir Walter obtained a grant from Edward III. in 1371, to found the said convent on his ground, called the New Church Hawe, in honour of God and the Virgin Mary, by the appellation of the "Salutation of the Mother of God." This establishment acquired the name of the Charter House, and the original endowments were so much augmented by benevolent persons, that at the time of its surrender to Henry the Eighth, on the 10th of June 1537, its clear annual revenues amounted to between six and seven hundred pounds. Prior, however, to that event, this convent was placed under the management of the King's commissioners, and considerable pains were taken, both by preaching and admonitory advice, to overcome the refractoriness of the monks, in regard to the succession and supremacy. On the latter point the Carthusians were particularly untractable, and their obduracy led to the most fatal consequences, for they were selected as the first victims of the law which constituted the King supreme head of the English church. John Howghton, Prior of the Charter House, with the Carthusian priors of Axholm and Belleval, the vicar of Isleworth, and a Brigetine monk of Sion, were all condemned for high treason in denying the supremacy (Lingard affirms, through Cromwell intimidating the jury), on the 29th of April 1535; and, five days afterwards, they "were drawn, hanged, and quartered at Tiborne, and their heads and quarters set on the gates of the citie, all save one quarter [that of Prior Houwhton] which was set on the Charter House at London."* Notwithstanding this appalling exhibition, the firmness of the Carthusians was not subdued, and on the 18th of the following June, Mydlemore, the procurator, and two other monks of this house, named Exmew and Newdigate, were also hanged, disbowelled and dismembered at Tyburn, for the like offence. What adds to the extreme barbarity of these inflictions is, that the three last unfortunate sufferers were kept chained in an upright position for thirteen days previously to the execution of their sentence.† It is a trite remark, that persecution in religion renders obstinacy inflexible,-it proved so here, and although every kind of persuasive means were employed to remove the scrupulous adherence of the monks to papal supremacy, those means were but partially successful, and in May 1537, ten more persons of this brotherhood were committed close prisoners to Newgate, "for their traitorous behaviour," in questioning the King's assumption of the Pope's authority. When thus incarcerated, five of these miserable victims perished within six weeks, for want of air, exercise, and sufficient food; a similar fate progressively befel four others, and the hapless survivor, after lan † Smythe's "Historical Account of the Charter House," quarto, p.74. guishing in prison above four years, was at length dispatched by the hands of the executioner, on the 4th of November 1541. From a letter preserved in the British Museum,* which had been addressed to Cromwell, the vicar-general, in September 1535, by Jasper Fyloll, who, on the execution of Prior Howghton, had been placed here, both as a superintendent and a spy, we learn that the expenditure of the monks in alms-giving was most profuse, and that although "theyr rent of asyse," or clear annual revenue, "amounted to £642. 4s." only, "the proctour hath accompted for Mli. a yere," the deficiency being "borne of the benevolence and charitye of the citie of London." The writer then proceeds: "Nowe, they (the monks) not regarding this derthe, nether the increase of ther sup'fluous nomber, nether yet the decay of the said benevolence and charyte, wold have and hathe that same fare co'tynuall that then was usid, and wold have like plentye of brede, and ale, and fyshe, gevyn to strangers, in the butterye, and at the butterye door, and as large distributions of bread and ale, to all their s'vants, and to vagabunds at the gate, as was then uside, which cannot be. Wherefor, under the favour of yo' w'shipe, hit semythe to be moche necessary to mynche eyther the nomber, or deyntye fare, and also, the sup'fluus gift of brede and ale. "These Charter-howse monks wold be callyd sōlytary, but to the cloyster doer ther be xxiiii keys, in the hands of xxiiii psons, and hit is lyk many letters unp'fytable, tales • Vide Bibl. Cot. Cleopatra, E, iv. |