BESIDES mentions of the plague in 1603 and 1605, and of a
lease granted by King James 1. of several houses in Eton Street, very little
seems to be known of the town for the first forty years of this century.
Its growth had probably been checked by two causes, namely,
the pulling down of so many houses to make room for the building and the
extension of the College, and further, the increasing importance of New
Windsor. At any rate, the weekly market seems to have dropped out of existence.
But a new industry was started under the Provost, Sir Henry
Savile, which although intended mainly for the benefit of the College, and to
meet the growing demand for learning, must indirectly have affected the town,
and given work to its inhabitants. This was the setting up of a printing press
in the buildings which had served for men's almshouses in Henry VI.'s reign.
This site is now occupied by Savile House in Weston's Yard, or ' the Stable
Yard,' as it was then called.
In the reign of Charles 1. there was a little temporary
stir. A regiment of soldiers was quartered in the town, contrary to the
privileges granted to the College by Henry VI. A remonstrance was at once sent
to the Duke of Buckingham, then Lord-Lieutenant of the county, pointing out the
inconvenience caused to " the youth repairing to the Schole and lodging in
the towne, with whom such companie doo not well comport."
It was towards the end of this reign, during the Civil War,
that there was an alarming report that Essex and his levy of London apprentices
were marching by Windsor towards Newbury. This report led to Windsor bridge
being destroyed. At that date, the only other bridges were at Staines and
Maidenhead.
As to the Church, the only changes noticed were the
introduction of altar rails, under the order of Archbishop Laud, and in 1613
the erection of an organ beneath one of the windows.
Archbishop Laud, whatever his faults, saw the real greatness
of the English Church in its two-fold character, as at once Catholic and
Anti-papal, and in its double appeal to Scripture and History. But his
over-zealous enforcement of stern discipline, while it had the effect he
desired of reducing the Puritan party to outward conformity, increased the
bitterness of their spirit, and led to his own fall and execution, as well as
that of King Charles 1. It enabled his enemies to strike, what seemed likely to
prove a deadly blow, at both Church and Monarchy.
Cromwell and the Long Parliament were now in power. For the
next seventeen years Church people had a sad time of it in Eton, as elsewhere.
Early in 1643, an order came to the College for-bidding the
wearing of surplices in the Church as "against law and the liberty of the
subject."
In December of the same year instructions were given to
Colonel Venn, who had already displayed his zeal by destroying the monuments
and pictures in St. George's Chapel, to do the same in the Church at Eton.
Then the Provost was deposed, and compelled to fly to the
Continent, and a layman, Francis Rouse, afterwards Speaker in the House of
Commons during the famous Barebones' Parliament, was appointed in his place.
The choir was disbanded, and the use of t e Prayer Book was
forbidden under heavy penalties.
A book called the Directory of Public Worship was ordered
for use instead, and a special Catechist was appointed to instruct the youth of
Eton and Windsor in what was accounted sound doctrine.'
The Collegiate and Parochial Church of Eton was now first
called the Chapel, and the arms of the Commonwealth were put up i a conspicuous
place, and the Commonwealth banners adorned the walls.
As some result of the prevalent teaching of those days, it
is noticeable that from 1653 to 1661 no children are recorded as baptized in
the parish.
Instead of baptisms, the date of birth only is recorded in
the Register, and for two or three years marriages were performed by Captain
Robert Aldridge, " a Justice of the Peace of the Commonwealth according to
a late Act of Parliament made concerning marriages."
It appears also that the banns of marriages were published
by the Registrar appointed for the parish, sometimes in the Parish Church, but
more often on three market days in three several weeks, between the hours of eleven
and two, in Colnbrook market. This must have been at that time the nearest
market in the county.
Provost Rouse, the Speaker, died in 1659, a few months after
Oliver Cromwell, and was buried at Eton. His burial is registered as that of “the
Hon. Francis Lord Rouse." He left one good legacy to the place. The fine
elms in the Playing Fields are said to have been planted by him.
The next Provost and Rector was an Independent Minister,
formerly one of Cromwell's Chaplains, but he only held office about a year, and
then prudently resigned it.
For fifteen dreary years, till the death of Cromwell, the
Church of England remained in a state of suspended or stifled animation; its
life still remained, but all out-ward signs of it were suppressed under heavy
penalties. Then came what is known as the Restoration, and once more the
ancient Constitution of the country was restored, and the ancient Church
revived, although it was long before it threw off the effects of the crisis
through which it had passed.
Once again Eton had a proper Rector, a clergyman being
appointed Provost, who was brother of the famous General Monk. Presently signs
of reaction showed them-selves. The banners hung by Lord Rouse were torn down
from the walls of the Church, and the book of Common Prayer again came into
use. In December 1660 a notice was issued that the service would be held at ten
o'clock each morning and at four in the afternoon. Holy Communion was to be administered
at the three great festivals and on the Sunday after Michaelmas.
The Choristers were also reinstated, and surplices again
worn at all the services. An Act of Parliament was passed to entitle those who
had been married by Justices of the Peace to such legal advantages as then
belonged only to those who were married according to the rites of the Church.
In 1647 and 1661 there seems to have been another outbreak
of the plague in Eton. In the former year seven burials appear in the Parish
Register marked P. A precaution, taken by the College authorities to check its
spread among the boys, must have helped the tobacconists' trade in the town. In
a diary of a few years' later date occurs the following " Even children
were obliged to smoak—and I remember that I heard formerly Tom Rogers, who was
yeoman beadle, say that when he was that year a school boy at Eaton, all the
boys of the school were obliged to smoak in the school every morning, and that
he was never whipped so much in his life as he was one morning for not
smoaking." A pest-house for the reception of patients was erected in
Little Town-piece.
This visitation of the plague seems to have led to much
distress in the town, for in 1677 contributions were sent from various places
(from Chatham £1 1s. 8d. among others) for the relief of the inhabitants of
Eton. A note to this effect in the register of Chatham Church led in the last
century to a request being made to Eton to make a return contribution and help
Chatham in some Church work.
In the Eton Parish Register for 1686 to 1688 there appear
the names of fifty-four parishioners who were "touched for the evil,"
as it was then called.
From the days of Edward the Confessor to Queen Anne, it was
the common belief that the King had power to cure certain skin diseases, which
are nowadays treated at special hospitals, and there seems to be little doubt
that, partly aided by the force of imagination and belief in this power,
frequent cures were effected.
The `touching' was always accompanied by a religious service,
which under the title of ' prayers for the healing' or at the healing' is to be
found in Prayer Books of the reigns of Charles 1. and 2., James 2. and Anne.
A Gospel was read, generally St. Mark xvi. 14, and those who
were presented for healing knelt before the King, who "laid his hands on
them and put the gold about their necks," while the Chaplain prayed for a
blessing on the act.
The date of these records in the register agrees with the
apparent revival of this custom by a proclamation in 1683, ordered to be
published in every parish, specifying certain seasons for these public
healings.
The revival was probably partly due to a desire to restore
the King's popularity after the Civil War. The practice was discontinued when
the Georges came to the throne.
There is also a curious entry among the burials, " On
Sept. 2, 1678, Elizabeth Worland, buried in wollen only, no affidavit within 8
days according to the Act."
This refers to a law which discouraged the use of wool for
such purposes.
From Old days of Eton Parish by The Rev. John Sheppard MA published by Spottiswood and co Ltd in 1908
No comments:
Post a Comment