Many a long journey Stow made in search of information. He could not ride, and had to travel on foot. In the midst of great trials it is recorded that his good humour never forsook him. In his old age he was troubled with pains in his feet, and quietly remarked that his “afflictions lay in the parts he had formerly made so much use of.”

We might well suppose that Stow’s blameless life would render him free from suspicion, and that his grateful countrymen would regard with respect his great work in writing the history of England. Such was not the case. It was thought that his researches would injure the reformed religion, and on this miserable plea he was cast into prison, and his humble home was searched. We obtain from the report of the searchers an interesting account of the contents of Stow’s library. It consisted, we are told, of “great collections of his own, of his English chronicles, also a great sort of old books, some fabulous, as Sir Gregory Triamour, and a great parcel of old manuscript chronicles in parchment and paper; besides miscellaneous tracts touching physic, surgery, herbs, and medical receipts, and also fantastical popish books printed in old time, and others written in old English on parchment.”

John Stow failed to make much money, but on the whole, he lived a peaceful life, enjoying the many pleasures that fall to the lot of the student. Happily for him, to use Howes’ words, “He was careless of the scoffers, backbiters, and detractors.”

It is Howes who also tells that Stow always protested never to have written anything either of malice, fear, or favour, nor to seek his own particular gain or vain-glory, and that his only pains and care was to write the truth.

At the age of four score years, his labours received State acknowledgment. It was indeed a poor acknowledgment, for, in answer to a petition, James I. granted him a licence to beg. Stow sought help, to use his own words, as “a recompense for his labour and travel of forty-five years, in setting forth the Chronicles of England, and eight years taken up in the Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, towards his relief in his old age, having left his former means of living, and also employing himself for the service and good of his country.”

The humble request was granted, and the document says:—“Whereas our loving subject, John Stow (a very aged and worthy member of our city of London), this five-and-forty years hath, to his great charge, and with neglect of his ordinary means of maintenance (for the general good, as well of posterity as of the present age), compiled and published divers necessary books and chronicles; and therefore we, in recompense of these his painful labours, and for encouragement of the like, have, in our Royal inclination, been pleased to grant our Letters Patent, under our Great Seal of England, thereby authorising him, the said John Stow, to collect among our loving subjects their voluntary contributions and kind gratuities.”

The foregoing authority to beg was granted for twelve months, but, as the response was so small, it pleased the King to extend the privilege for another year. From one parish in the City of London he only received seven shillings and sixpence—a poor reward, to use Stow’s words, “of many a weary day’s travel, and cold winter night’s study.”

His end now was drawing near, and mundane trials were almost over. On the 5th of April, 1605, his well-spent life closed, and his mortal remains were laid to rest in his parish church of St. Andrew, Undershaft. Here may still be seen the curious and interesting monument which his loving widow erected. It is pleasant to leave the busy streets of the great metropolis and repair to the quiet sanctuary where rests the old chronicler, and look upon his quaint monument, and reflect on ages long passed. When the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed the London Stow had so truthfully described, his monument escaped destruction.

INDEX.

Abingdon, customs at, 56

Advertisement, novel, 194-197

Age of Snuffing, 168-185

Alleyn, Edward, founder of Dulwich College, 212

Altrincham, Mayor of, 60-61

Ambassadors, at bear-baitings, 211, 215-216

America, Muffs in, 45-46;
Cold places of worship, 46-47

Anglo-Saxon bread, 134

An Old-Time Chronicler, 266-274

Arise, Mistress, Arise!, 142-143

Armstrong, Sir Thomas, 84-87

Arrows, 152

Ashbourne, custom at, 241


Baker’s dozen, 138

Baiting animals stopped by Act of Parliament, 221

Banbury, customs at, 58

Banks, Mrs. G. L., on hair-dressing, 38

Bankside, plan of, 213

Barber’s shop, 21

Barley bread, 135

Baxter, Richard, on Sunday pleasure, 231

Barbers fined, 32

Barrington, G., poet and pickpocket, 180-181

Barrister’s wig, 18, 19

Barrow bells, 157

Bear-baiting, 132-133, 205-221

Bells as Time-Tellers, 156-167

Bell ringing bequests, 261-262

Beverley, funeral at, 123;
bear-baiting at, 133

Bewdley, custom at, 142

Bish, Mr., on Lotteries, 200-202

Blue-Coat boys, draw at lotteries, 194

Boar’s-head with mustard, 131

Bonfires, 234, 235

Bow bells, 159

Boroughbridge, Battle of, 77

Brandeston, removing a dead body to the church for protection, 117

Bread and Baking in Bygone Days, 134-141

Bread Street, 135

Bribes for the Palate, 63-73

British slaves, freeing, 257-258

Briscoe, J. P., on Nottingham customs, 61-62

Bromley-by-Bow, bakers at, 135

Burial at Cross Roads, 105-114

Burying the mace, 53

Butter and suet, prohibiting the use of in making bread, 140

Byng, Admiral, shot, 45


Cade, Jack, 81

Caius, Dr., on dogs, 145

Cambridge, regulations relating to tobacco, 173

Candles for lighting the streets, 52

Canterbury, curious customs at, 52-53

Capture of snuff, 171

Carlisle, Earl of, beheaded, 78-79

Carlisle, heads spiked at, 92-95

Charles II. and wigs, 7

Charlotte, Queen, gives up using hair-powder, 36;
taking snuff, 176

Christmas rhymes, 142

Chronicler, an Old-Time, 266-274

Churches, snuff taking in, 172-175

Clarinda, Burns on, 178

Clee, custom at, 263

Clergy and the wig, 15-17

Clifton rhyme, 219-220

Clocks, introduction of, 160

Clothiers in eighteenth century, 165

Closing shops, time for, 160

Cobham, Eleanor, trial of, 80

Cockledge, murder at, 123

Combing the wig, 10

Concerning Corporation Customs, 48-62

Congleton, bear-baiting at, 217-218

Conspiracy to assassinate William III., 87

Cooper’s Hall, Lotteries at, 193

Cornish Insurrection, 81;
folk-lore, 234-236

Corporation snuff-boxes, 168-169

Craven cartoon, 242

Crop Clubs, 34

Curious Charities, 255-265

Curious window at Betley, 225-227

Curfew bell, 166-167


Dagger Money, 57

Death, Superstitions relating to, 242

Death of William I., 167

Deering on snuff-taking, 178

Detaining the Dead for Debt, 115-121

Derby, suicide, burial of a, 106

Discarding wigs in court, 19

Doctors’ muffs, 42

Dogs, earliest writer on, 145;
in muffs, 44

Droylsden, suicide, burial of, 108-109

Druidical superstitions, 234

Dryden, Haunt of, 182

Ducking Stool, 138

Duels, 106


Earle, Mrs. A. M., on American Muffs, 46

Early closing of public-houses, 167

Eating custom, 242-243

Ecclesfield, tradition at, 220

Edward III., proclamation of, against bear-baiting, 205

Egypt, goose in, 150

Egyptians, invent wigs, 1

Eldon, Lord, objects to the wig, 18

Elizabeth, enjoys baiting animals, 208

Epitaphs, 109, 116, 197, 203-204, 260-261

Erasmus in England, 206

Exeter, salmon given at, 70


False hair, 20, 22

Famous snuff takers, 176

Fathers of the Church denounce wigs, 3

Felo-de-se, Acts relating to, 112-114

Female follies, 30

Fined for arresting the dead, 118-119, 121

Fined for being deficient in elegance, 52

First English lottery, 186-188

Fish, presentation of, 70

Fisher, Bishop, beheaded, 81-82

Fishtoft, burial of a suicide at, 107

Fitstephen on bear-baiting, 205

Fletcher, Captain, 88-89

Folk-Lore of Midsummer Eve, 234-243

France, Mania for Wigs in, 6-7

Funeral, stately, 123


Garrick, Mrs., 178

George II., a selfish snuff-taker, 185

Glayer, Sir John, 258-261

Globe Theatre, 209

Gold-dust used for hair-powder, 28

Gossip about the Goose, 150-155

Great Plague, tobacco and snuff used during, 169-171

Guinea-pigs, 35


Harvest bell, 156, 157-158

Harvest Home, 244-254

Hair, cut off with a bread-knife, 44

Hale, Sir Matthew, 63-64

Hamlet, Grave scene in, 105

Hampton Court Palace, clock at, 162-163

Hannibal and his wigs, 5-6

Hartlepool, strange enactment at, 62

Hawarden attacked, 74

Heart-breakers, 20

Hempseed, sowing, 241

Henzner, Paul, 84

Herrick on harvest customs, 252-253

Hilton, Jack of, 152

Hockley-in-the-Hole, 220

Holy bread, 134

Hope theatre, 207

Horse Guards, protect the lottery wheel, 193

Howard’s Household Book, 145

Hull, curious ordinances at, 51-53;
Sheriff to provide his wife with a scarlet gown, 52;
Andrew Marvell and Hull ale, 71-73;
head spiked at, 95;
ducking-stool at, 96;
Mayor slain, 98;
snuff-box at, 168-169


Incorporation of towns, 48

Inscription on bells, 159

Ireland, St. John’s eve in, 236-237

Irish folk-lore, 175


Jackson, John, and his clock, 162-166

Jacobites, defeat of, 102

James I. and tobacco, 173;
orders a bear to be baited to death, 215

Johnson, Dr. Samuel, and his snuff, 182

Judge’s wig, 18


Keeping people awake, 255

Kenilworth, bears baited at, 211

King eating meal and rye bread, 141

Kingston-upon-Thames, Morris Dancers at, 223

Knocking feet in meeting houses, 47


Lady, origin of, 134

Lamb, Charles and Mary, 184

Lanthorns, bequests for providing, 262-263

Last Lottery in England, 198-200

Layer, Councillor, 87-88

Leconfield castle, 123

Leeds bridge, market on, 165

Leicester, mace lowering at, 51;
bear-baiting at, 216-217

Leighton, Robert, poem by, 183-184

Letters from the dead to the living, 11

Licence to beg, 272-273

Lincolnshire geese, 153

Lion Sermon, 258-261

London Bakers’ Company, 135-136

London Bridge, 75-84

London, burials of suicides, 110-111

Love divinations, 238-240

Louth, ringing custom at, 158

Lowering the mace, 51

Ludlow, customs at, 59

Lycians, heads shaven and wigs worn, 5


Mace, as a weapon and as an ensign of authority, 49

Manchester, curious baking regulations, 140

Manorial service, curious, 144, 152

Margarett, Princess, 49, 123-124

Mar, Rising of, 87

Marvell, Andrew, and Hull ale, 71-73

Mary, Queen of Scots, 102

May-pole, 233

Meals in the olden time, 127-129

Medical men and the wig, 17-18

Men wearing Muffs, 40-47

Michaelmas goose, 154

Micklegate Bar, York, 98-99;
heads stolen from, 103

Milk, price of, in the olden time, 268

More, Sir Thomas, beheaded, 83

Morley, custom at, 143

Morris-Dancers, 222-233

Municipal Reform Act, 48

Murder, strange story of a, 137


Napoleon taking snuff, 181;
snuff-box, 177-178

Newcastle-on-Tyne, assize custom at, 56-58;
presents of wine and sugar loaves, 64-66;
brank at, 66, 67;
burial of a suicide, 111

Nobleman’s Household in Tudor Times, 122-133

North Wingfield, dead body stopped at, 115-116

Northumberland Household Book, 125-133

Norwich, burial of a suicide, 107

Nottingham, burying the mace at, 53-55;
ale and bread custom, 61-62;
town’s presents, 69;
Goose Fair, 154

Novel mode of distributing a charity, 265


Over, Mayor of, 60-61

O’Connell, D., and his wig, 22-23


Parading a head, 79

Parliament sitting at Shrewsbury, 75

Palm-Sunday, battle on, 101

Penzance, customs at, 235

Pepys and his wigs, 7-9;
muffs, 41;
on the Plague, 170

Percy family, 122-133

Peter the Great obtaining the loan of a wig, 23

Petticoat charity, 265

Pig-tail, 12, 14

Pillory, bakers in the, 137

Pipes and tobacco for judges, 58

Piper playing to workmen, 247-248

Pliny on the goose, 150

Poets’ Corner, Johnson and Goldsmith in, 91-92

Porpoise regarded as a delicacy, 69

Pope on Belinda, 177

Potatoes, preservation of, 70-71

Powdering the Hair, 28-39

Pontefract Castle, head spiked at, 77

Prison charities, 255-256

Punishing bakers, 138-140, 141

Puritans and lotteries, 189


Quill pens, 155


Ramillie Wig, 13

Reading, Morris Dancers at, 224

Rebel Heads on City Gates, 74-104

Revolt against Henry IV., 79

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 184-185

Riot, Wig, 25-27

Rollit, Sir Albert K., 168

Rome saved by the cackling of the goose, 151

Roper, Margaret, 83, 85

Rushes for church floors, 263-265

Rye, authority of Mayor, 62

Rye House Plot, 84-87


Saxons colouring their hair, 28

Scarlet gowns for the Mayoress, 52

Scotland, wigs in, 36-37;
muff in, 42;
body arrested in, 120;
snuff taking in, 171-173

Scott, Sir Walter, on wigs, 37

School-boys obliged to smoke, 170

Schoolmasters forbidden to smoke, 174

Scrope, Richard, beheaded, 96-97

Selkirk, Making a sutor of, 59

Selling the Church Bible to pay for a Bear, 217-220

Sheridan, curious report respecting, 120

Shrewsbury, Parliament sitting at, 75

Shrouds for prisoners, 256-257

Shouting a kirn, 248-250

Slaves, freeing christian, 257-258

Smoking forbidden in the streets, 173-174

Snuffing, earliest allusion to, 169

Southampton, Mayoress of, 50

South Shields, suicide, burial of, 109-110

Sowing hempseed, 241

Sparsholt, dead body detained at, 115

Speaker’s wig, 18

Spice bread, making prohibited, 140

St. Albans, clock at, 161

St. Paul’s Lotteries drawn at the doors of, 188

State Lotteries, 186-204

Stealing wigs, 24-25

Sterne, a snuff taker, 184

Stow, John, 266-274

Stratford-le-Bow, bakers at, 135

Sugar-loaves, presentation of, 62-69


Tamworth, curious bye-law at, 167

Taxing hair-powder, 31, 33;
repealing tax, 39

Taylor, John, on Hull ale, 72-73

Tea and snuff, 178

Temple Bar, 84-92

Test Act, 48

Thewes at Hull, 96

Towneley, Colonel, 88-92

Towton-field, battle of, 101

Turnspit, The, 144-149

Twyford, suicide, burial of, 113-114


Unwin, Mrs., fond of snuff, 177


Valuable snuff-boxes, 181

Vesper bell, 167


Wakefield, battle of, 97-98

Wales, subjugation of, 74

Wallace, Sir William, 75

Watches not usually carried, 165

Welsh rebels beheaded, 74

Wesley, Rev. John, and snuff-taking, 175

West Hallam, burial at four lane ends, 107

West Riding lore, 120-121

When Wigs were Worn, 1-27

Whittington, Dick, 159

Whitsun morris dance, 228

Wigs, 1-27;
Riots, 25-27

Wildridge, T. Tindall, on Hull, 95

Winchester, presents of sugar loaves at, 66-69;
curious regulations, 215

Women wearing wigs, 9, 22

Worcester, curious baking regulation, 140

Wressel Castle, 125

Wycombe, customs at, 55-56


York, Duke of, slain, 98;
head spiked, 98

York, Lord Mayor of, 49

York, walls and gates of, 96-104