The Conflict Was Hard On Both Sides,
Till Brassy's Black-Winged Was Choked;
The Colliers Were Tarnationly Vexed,
And The Nailers Were Sorely Provoked.
Peter Stevens He Swore A Great Oath,
That Scroggins Had Played His Cock Foul;
Scroggins Gave Him A Kick On The Head,
And Cried, Yea, - Thy Soul.
The company then fell in discord,
A bold, bold fight did ensue;
-, -, and bite was the word,
Till the
Walsall men all were subdued.
Ralph Moody bit off a man's nose,
And wished that he could have him slain,
So they trampled both cocks to death,
And they made a draw of the main.
The cock-pit was near to the church,
An ornament unto the town;
On one side an old coal pit,
The other well gorsed around.
Peter Hadley peeped through the gorse,
In order to see them fight;
Spittle jobbed out his eye with a fork,
And said, - thee, it served thee right.
Some people may think this strange,
Who Wednesbury never knew;
But those who have ever been there,
Will not have the least doubt it's true;
For they are as savage by nature,
And guilty of deeds the most shocking;
Jack Baker whacked his own father,
And thus ended Wednesbury cocking.
APPENDIX B - Reforms Instituted at S. Michele in the year 1478 (See
p. 105)
The palmiest days of the sanctuary were during the time that
Rodolfo di Montebello or Mombello was abbot - that is to say,
roughly, between the years 1325-60. "His rectorate," says
Claretta, "was the golden age of the Abbey of La Chiusa, which
reaped the glory acquired by its head in the difficult negotiations
entrusted to him by his princes. But after his death, either lot
or intrigue caused the election to fall upon those who prepared the
ruin of one of the most ancient and illustrious monasteries in
Piedmont." {34}
By the last quarter of the fifteenth century things got so bad that
a commission of inquiry was held under one Giovanni di Varax in the
year 1478. The following extracts from the ordinances then made
may not be unwelcome to the reader. The document from which they
are taken is to be found, pp. 322-336 of Claretta's work. The text
is evidently in many places corrupt or misprinted, and there are
several words which I have looked for in vain in all the
dictionaries - Latin, Italian, and French - in the reading-room of
the British Museum which seemed in the least likely to contain
them. I should say that for this translation, I have availed
myself, in part, of the assistance of a well-known mediaeval
scholar, the Rev. Ponsonby A. Lyons, but he is in no way
responsible for the translation as a whole.
After a preamble, stating the names of the commissioners, with the
objects of the commission and the circumstances under which it had
been called together, the following orders were unanimously agreed
upon, to wit:-
"Firstly, That repairs urgently required to prevent the building
from falling into a ruinous state (as shown by the ocular testimony
of the commissioners, assisted by competent advisers whom they
instructed to survey the fabric), be paid for by a true tithe, to
be rendered by all priors, provosts, and agents directly subject to
the monastery. This tithe is to be placed in the hands of two
merchants to be chosen by the bishop commendatory, and a sum is to
be taken from it for the restoration of the fountain which played
formerly in the monastery. The proctors who collect the tithes are
to be instructed by the abbot and commendatory not to press harshly
upon the contributories by way of expense and labour; and the money
when collected is, as already said, to be placed in the hands of
two suitable merchants, clients of the said monastery, who shall
hold it on trust to pay it for the above-named purposes, as the
reverends the commendatory and chamberlain and treasurer of the
said monastery shall direct. In the absence of one of these three
the order of the other two shall be sufficient.
"Item, it is ordered that the mandes, {35} or customary alms, be
made daily to the value of what would suffice for the support of
four monks.
"Item, that the offices in the gift of the monastery be conferred
by the said reverend the lord commendatory, and that those which
have been hitherto at the personal disposition of the abbot be
reserved for the pleasure of the Apostolic See. Item, that no one
do beg a benefice without reasonable cause and consonancy of
justice. Item, that those who have had books, privileges, or other
documents belonging to the monastery do restore them to the
treasury within three months from the publication of these
presents, under pain of excommunication. Item, that no one
henceforth take privileges or other documents from the monastery
without a deposit of caution money, or taking oath to return the
same within three months, under like pain of excommunication.
Item, that no laymen do enter the treasury of the monastery without
the consent of the prior of cloister, {36} nor without the presence
of those who hold the keys of the treasury, or of three monks, and
that those who hold the keys do not deliver them to laymen. Item,
it is ordered that the places subject to the said monastery be
visited every five years by persons in holy orders, and by
seculars; and that, in like manner, every five years a general
chapter be held, but this period may be extended or shortened for
reasonable cause, and the proctors-general are to be bound in each
chapter to bring their procurations, and at some chapter each monk
is to bring the account of the fines and all other rights
appertaining to his benefice, drawn up by a notary in public form,
and undersigned by him, that they may be kept in the treasury, and
this under pain of suspension.
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