In every church was a poor man's box, but I never
remembered the use of it; nay, there was one at great inns, as I
remember it was before the wars. Before the Reformation, at their
vigils or revels, sat up all night fasting and praying. The night
before the day of the dedication of the church, certain officers were
chosen for gathering the money for charitable uses. Old John
Wastfield, of Langley, was Peter-man at St. Peter's Chapel there; at
which time is one of the greatest revels in these parts, but the
chapel is converted into a dwelling-house. Such joy and merriment was
every holiday, which days were kept with great solemnity and
reverence. These were the days when England was famous for the " grey
goose quills." The clerk's was in the Easter holidays for his benefit,
and the solace of the neighbourhood.
Since the Reformation, and inclosures aforesaid, these parts have
swarmed with poor people. The parish of Cain pays to the poor (1663)
L500 per annum; and the parish of Chippenham little less, as appears
by the poor's books there. Inclosures are for the private, not for the
public, good. For a shepherd and his dog, or a milk-maid, can manage
meadow-land, that upon arable, employed the hands of several scores of
labourers.
In those times (besides the jollities already mentioned) they had
their pilgrimages to Walsingham, Canterbury, &c.
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