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BYGONE CHURCH LIFE IN SCOTLAND.
[Illustration: Glasgow Cathedral with Blacader's Aisle]
Bygone Church Life in Scotland
Edited by William Andrews
LONDON:
WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO., 5, FARRINGDON AVENUE, E.C.
1899.
WILLIAM.ANDREWS.& CO
THE.MULL.PRESS
Preface.
I hope the present collection of new studies on old themes will win a
welcome from Scotsmen at home and abroad.
My contributors, who have kindly furnished me with articles, are
recognized authorities on the subjects they have written about, and I
think their efforts cannot fail to find favour with the reader.
WILLIAM ANDREWS.
THE HULL PRESS,
_Christmas Eve, 1898._
Contents.
PAGE
THE CROSS IN SCOTLAND. By the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A. 1
BELL LORE. By England Howlett 34
SAINTS AND HOLY WELLS. By Thomas Frost 46
LIFE IN THE PRE-REFORMATION CATHEDRALS. By A. H. Millar,
F.S.A., Scot. 64
PUBLIC WORSHIP IN OLDEN TIMES. By the Rev. Alexander Waters,
M.A., B.D. 86
CHURCH MUSIC. By Thomas Frost 98
DISCIPLINE IN THE KIRK. By the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A. 108
CURIOSITIES OF CHURCH FINANCE. By the Rev. R. Wilkins Rees 130
WITCHCRAFT AND THE KIRK. By the Rev. R. Wilkins Rees 162
BIRTH AND BAPTISMS, CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS 194
MARRIAGE LAWS AND CUSTOMS 210
GRETNA GREEN GOSSIP 227
DEATH AND BURIAL CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS 237
THE STORY OF A STOOL 255
THE MARTYRS' MONUMENT, EDINBURGH 260
Bygone Church Life in Scotland.
The Cross in Scotland.
BY THE REV. GEO. S. TYACK, B.A.
The Reformation in Scotland was of a character more sweeping and
destructive than is easy of realisation by an Englishman at the present
day. In the southern kingdom much that as symbolism was valuable, and as
art was admirable, was wantonly given over to the hammer or the flames at
that time; but one learns to be thankful for the many works of glory and
of beauty that were nevertheless left to us, when one turns one's eyes to
the northern realm. Carried away by the violence of the most extreme men,
the Reformation there became a veritable revolution, in which everything
that spoke of earlier times was condemned, and was treated as if it were a
sacrament of Satan; and the attempt was seriously made to render "the
King's Daughter" yet more "glorious within" by stripping her of every
shred of her "clothing of wrought gold." Religion, that it might be more
truly spiritual, was to be sent forth into the world absolutely naked of
every external sign or form. The furniture of the churches was torn out,
and sold or burnt; the statues of the saints were of course broken up; but
the organs were also pulled down, and even the carved stalls and screens
of the cathedrals were declared to be "idolatrous." Nothing illustrates
more strongly, and more curiously, the indiscriminate frenzy of
destruction which for a time took possession of the people, than the fact
that monuments and tombstones were even condemned as superstitious and
sinful. Only a comparatively few of all the many memorials of Scottish
worthies of earlier centuries escaped demolition, and this not wrought by
the mere violence of a turbulent mob, but by formal resolutions of the
General Assembly in the seventeenth century. In 1640 the Kirk Session of
Aberdeen ordered the removal of a portrait of "Reid of Pitfoddels" from
the vestry of the church, on the ground of its "smelling somewhat of
Popery"; and in 1649 a similar authority at Kilmarnock condemned "a
graven image" on the tomb of Lord Boyd. This action was taken, no doubt,
in obedience to the summons issued by the General Assembly in 1640 to the
presbyteries to complete the removal and destruction of all monuments.
Such being the state of feeling in Scotland, we are not surprised to find
that the sign of our salvation was found even more obnoxious by the
leaders of the movement there than it was among their brethren in England.
With the latter, when the interiors of the churches were swept bare of
crosses, the passion for destruction was stayed so far as that emblem was
concerned; on spire and gable, on tomb and tablet, in churchyard and
market-place, the stone crosses were for the most part left; and even
when, under the Puritan regime of the following century, an attempt was
made to pull down these by Parliamentary authority, the popular feeling
was so far from being strongly in its favour, that the work was by no
means done thoroughly and completely.
In spite of all that was intended, and even attempted, Scotland has,
nevertheless, retained some examples of the ancient crosses, which are
well worthy of our attention. In remote places the sacred sign has been
spared in scattered instances for more appreciative days; in more populous
centres the cross has been preserved in a secularised form, its symbol
gone, and with it its meaning; but amid the wreck of so much, we must
receive gratefully the fragments that remain.
The strictly church crosses, those that once stood on altar or on
rood-screen, that led the stately procession, or cast their benign shadows
athwart the graves of the faithful--these were all swept away. The Synod
of Fife held, at the time of the Reformation, "visitations" from time to
time, to search out and remove "crosier staffes" and "divers crosses," as
well as other ancient furniture, from the parish churches; and in so
doing, doubtless, it was but acting as the other Synods of the country
did. The old crosses in the churchyards, many of them of great age, and
probably most interesting pieces of sculpture, were almost all destroyed.
The market crosses, however, have in several cases survived, although the
national emblem, the unicorn, has usurped the place of the Christian
symbol, the cross; and the attack upon mortuary memorials was not
altogether successful; in fact, it was hardly to be expected that any
people would consent to the entire obliteration of the grave-stones of
their ancestors.
The most famous existing example is the High Cross, or Market Cross, of
the capital. The date of the foundation of this structure is unknown. Not
far from its site is an ancient well, known as the Cross Well, from which
some have conjectured that possibly the earliest cross was reared by some
unknown teacher of the faith, who, in a far distant age, established
himself in a cell beside this clear spring. Such a spot, we know, was
often chosen by these apostolic teachers, and not infrequently a rude
cross, erected hard by, served to mark the place as, in some sort, a
sanctuary. Our first authentic allusion to this Cross is, however, of a
date some centuries later than this. In 1175 William the Lion (1165-1214)
decreed that "all merchandisis salbe presentit at the mercat and mercat
croce of burghis." From this, we may safely conclude that Edinburgh had a
recognised Market Cross by that date, since we can hardly imagine that the
capital was without a symbol that was evidently usual in the burghs of
the country. A reference to the Cross is supposed to be contained in a
document of 1437. The assassins of the noble but unfortunate King James
I., who was barbarously slain in the February of that year, are said to
have suffered for their crime "mounted on a pillar in the market-place in
Edinburgh." Ten years later we meet with a definite reference to this
structure; the Charter of St Giles's Church, dated 1447, contains the
words "ex parte occidentali fori et crucis dicti burgi," on the west side
of the market-place and of the Cross of the said burgh. King James III.
(1460-1488), in an epistle to the citizens of his capital written in
October 1477, ordains that "all pietricks, pluvaris, capones, conyngs,
checkins, and all other wyld foulis and tame to be usit and sald about the
Market Croce and in na other place." At this time, therefore, we find the
Cross established as an acknowledged centre for commercial Edinburgh, such
as it was in the fifteenth century.
The exact form of this early Market Cross is as doubtful as the date of
its foundation. The pillar of the present erection is the same as that in
the earliest historical notices which we have of it; but whether this
originally stood upon a simple pedestal, upon a pyramid of steps, or upon
an elevated platform like that of a later date, we cannot say. It has been
thought probable, however, that the Cross was raised to its dignified
altitude by the addition of the arcaded platform in the time of James III.
This monarch was indolent, and unfit for the rule of a somewhat turbulent
kingdom, but he was a patron of the arts, and a friend of the Church.
Several improvements were made in Edinburgh during his reign, including
the enlargement of St Giles's Cathedral; hence it is possible that he also
took in hand the adornment of the neighbouring Cross. Under James VI.,
previously to his becoming Sovereign of Great Britain, further alterations
were made. In 1555 we read of work at the Cross consisting of "bigging the
rowme thereof," which is supposed to mean that at this time the open
arches which upheld the platform were filled in, so as to form an enclosed
"rowme" below. This room was entered by a door, which was secured with a
lock; so that thenceforward only those having some high and official duty
to perform, such as publishing a royal proclamation, could ascend to the
broad base of the Cross. In the City Treasurer's accounts for 1560 are
two entries as follows: "Item for ane band to ye Croce dur," and "Item for
mending of ye lok of ye Croce dur." Once more, we read in the same records
for 1584, "5 Julii, Item, ye sam day given for ane lok to ye Croce dur,
and three keyis for it." There is extant an old engraving giving a
bird's-eye view of Edinburgh in 1647, from which we may see that in its
main outlines the Market Cross was then much as it is to-day; the summit
of the shaft (from which, doubtless, the cross had already been flung
down) having been surmounted by the heraldic symbol of Scotland at the
date of the last-quoted entry from the city accounts. The record
concerning it is of a sum "payit to David Williamson for making and
upputting of the Unicorn upon the head of the Croce."
Early in the next century the whole erection was moved to a new site. In
1617 it was "translated by the devise of certain mariners of Leith from
the place where it stood past the memory of man to a place beneath in the
High Street." A new substructure was made for it, of stone "brocht from
the Deyne"; and the shaft was swung into "the new seat" on the 25th
March, the cost of the entire work being L4486, 5s. 6d. (Scots).
The republicans of the Commonwealth period defaced the Cross, tearing down
the royal arms, and hanging the crown from the head of the unicorn upon
the gallows. At the Restoration, therefore, certain repairs had to be
made; Robert Mylne was entrusted with the work, and a further contract was
made with George Porteous "for painting the Croce."
During the succeeding century frequent complaints were made that the Cross
was an obstruction to traffic; and at last in 1756 the complainants
obtained their wish. On the 13th March in that year the Market Cross of
Edinburgh was demolished. The pillar, which fell and broke during the
operation, was sold to Lord Somerville, who set it up in the vicinity of
his house at Drum; the medallions which had adorned the base came
eventually into the hands of Sir Walter Scott, who built them into a wall
at Abbotsford, where they remain; the site was marked out with stones, as
some small compensation for the loss to the lovers of antiquity; and
finally a plain stone pillar was erected beside the well hard by, and this
was officially declared to be from that day forward the Market Cross of
the city. Even this contemptible substitute was not, however, suffered
long to remain; but on the same plea of obstruction was presently removed
like the Cross itself.
The citizens of the ancient city did not unanimously concur, by any means,
in this destruction of a time-honoured landmark in the history of the
country; and efforts were repeatedly made to obtain its restoration. After
a time the movement was so far successful as to gain the return of "the
pillar of the Cross" to Edinburgh, where it was set up on a pedestal
within the railings of St Giles's Church. So matters stood until recent
times, when a complete restoration was effected by the generosity of the
late Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, who built a new and imposing octagonal
base, on one of the faces of which the following inscription was placed in
Latin, "Thanks be to God, this ancient monument, the Cross of Edinburgh,
devoted of old to public functions--having been destroyed by evil hands in
the Year of our Salvation 1756, and having been avenged and lamented, in
song both noble and manly, by that man of highest renown, Walter
Scott--has now, by permission of the city magistrates, been rebuilt by
William E. Gladstone, who, through both parents claims a descent entirely
Scottish. November 23rd, in the Year of Grace 1885." The date is that of
the day on which this noble present was formally given to the civic
authorities by Mr Gladstone, who was then member of Parliament for
Midlothian.
So far of the history of the fabric of the Cross: to trace in detail the
great events in which it has been called to play a part, would be to
recount no small portion of the annals of the Scottish kingdom. This spot
has long been treated as the very centre and heart of the country. Here
Scottish sovereigns met the citizens of their capital; here proclamation
was made of peace and war, of the accession of kings, and of aught else of
prime and pressing interest to the people; here, too, many have suffered
for their devotion to causes, political or religious, which had--at any
rate for a time--fallen before superior force.
A fountain near the old Cross ran red with wine when James IV. of Scotland
brought home his bride, Margaret of England, and the first link in the
golden chain was forged which should shortly join the realms. Here in
1512 the royal summons was read for the mustering of that army, so many of
the gallant members of which were to fall at Flodden; and here--most
fateful of all proclamations published there--the death of Elizabeth was
announced, and the accession of James VI. to the double Crown of Great
Britain.
[Illustration: EXECUTION OF THE EARL OF ARGYLE, SHEWING THE OLD HIGH
CROSS, EDINBURGH.]
John Knox was burnt in effigy at the Cross in 1555, when he failed to
return from Geneva in answer to a summons from the bishops; and ten years
later a Roman Catholic Priest was "tyed to the Cross" and pelted because
he had dared to say Mass on Easter Day. The Earl of Morton was beheaded
here in 1581. Under James the Seventh of Scotland and Second of England
many a powerful head fell on the scaffold beneath the shadow of the Cross.
Those were stormy times in which religion and politics were curiously and
unhappily mingled, so that those who to one side seemed mere rebels, to
the other appeared as martyrs. Among others who suffered was the Earl of
Argyle, together with many of his clan who had been led by him to open
revolt.
Edinburgh had another Cross, known as St John's, situated in the
Canongate; it was similar in design to the High Cross, but smaller.
The Crosses of the Metropolis seem to have been taken as models by other
Scottish burghs. Their plan was quite unlike any existing examples in
England. The base or pedestal was an elevated platform, supported either
by open arches, or by solid walls; on the top of this, the tall shaft of
the cross was placed, and latterly it was crowned by a unicorn holding
the Scottish shield. Steps, within the base, led to the platform from
which proclamations and official notices were published by the city
heralds. Judging from the analogy of the Market Crosses in the southern
kingdom, it seems probable that the base was originally intended to be
open, so as to afford shade or shelter, as the weather might require, to
some at least of the market folk. Many English Crosses, the best known
example of all, for instance, that of Chichester, provide accommodation of
this sort, but none of them have a flat roof serving as a platform.
Subsequently, as the business of the country grew, this shelter would
prove so inadequate as not to be worth considering; and then the lower
structure was in some cases built in, so as to protect the access to the
platform, reserved now for formal and official purposes only.
The city of Aberdeen boasts that her Market Cross is the finest in the
land. It was built in 1688 by a country mason named John Montgomery, and
was placed opposite the Tolbooth. In 1842 it was moved to the present site
in Castle Street, and was at the same time somewhat altered. It is
hexagonal in plan, six wide arches supporting the upper platform, round
which runs a circular balustrade garnished with shields of arms and
medallions of Scottish kings. The pillar rising from the midst is
handsomely carved, and supports a unicorn in white marble holding the
national shield. All the British sovereigns since its erection have been
proclaimed from this Cross, as well as the two Pretenders in 1715 and
1745. Near the spot now occupied by this erection originally stood the
Flesh Cross, close to which were the shambles; lower down Castle Street
was the Fish Cross, or Laich Cross, indicating the position of the fish
market.
Prestonpans possesses a Market Cross of the same type as those already
described, and still in good condition, as also does Elgin; similar
Crosses at Perth and Dundee have been unhappily destroyed. Amongst other
notices of the Town Cross at Linlithgow is a record of punishment
inflicted upon an unfortunate burgess, for "in his great raschness and
suddantie destroying the head of the Toun's drum." This unmusical citizen
was deprived of the freedom of the burgh, fined L50 Scots, and ordered to
"sitt doune upon his knees at the Croce at ten houres before noone, and
crave the provost, baillies, and counsall pardone." Drums were evidently
of more account in Scotland in the seventeenth century than crosses or
tombstones.
The ceremony of beating the bounds, or as it is called in Scotland "riding
the marches," is still observed in some burghs, and the procession usually
starts and terminates at the Cross if there be one. At Lanark before
separating the company sings "Scots wha hae" beneath the Cross, near which
stands what would two centuries since have been called "an idolatrous
statue" of William Wallace. At Linlithgow the function begins by drinking
the sovereign's health at the Cross, and the procession returns thither
before breaking up. At Kilmarnock Fastern's Eve (in English, Shrove
Tuesday) used to be celebrated by a large amount of horse-play round the
ancient Cross; the town fire-engines and their hose being called into
requisition for the drenching of the crowd with water, who probably
drenched themselves with something rather stronger later in the day.
Of all the royal edicts proclaimed from these Crosses the following was
certainly one of the most curious. It was ordered to be published from
every Town Cross in Scotland in 1619, and was issued by King James from
London, whither a host of adventurers from his northern dominions had
promptly followed him. The proclamation warns "all manner of persons from
resorting out of Scotland to this our kingdome, unlesse it be gentlemen of
good qualitie, merchands for traffiques, or such as shall have a generall
license from our Counselle of that Kingdome, with prohibitioun to all
masters of shippes that they transport no such persons;" it further goes
on to announce that "Sir William Alexander, Master of Requests, hath
received a commission to apprehend and send home, or to punish all vagrant
persons who came to England to cause trouble, or bring discredit on their
country."
Here and there throughout Scotland crosses of various kinds have no doubt
escaped destruction, when they happen to be in obscure places, or small
and scarcely noticeable in form or situation; thus the old Cathedral of
Brechin still preserves one of the consecration Crosses, cut in its walls
as part of the ceremony of its original dedication. But almost the only
examples of importance left to us, besides those town crosses which we
have considered, are several exceedingly interesting ancient memorial or
sepulchral crosses, of which those at Iona are by far the best known.
An anonymous writer in 1688, speaking of this sacred isle, says, "that
M'Lean's Cross is one of the 360 standing before the Reformation; the
others were thrown into the sea by order of the Synod of Argyle." In the
absence of anything beyond the bare assertion, this statement must be
considered as at least doubtful. No earlier writers, including those who
had visited Iona, mention the fact; and if an organized attack of this
kind were made upon the monuments of the island, it is difficult to
explain why two were left untouched. That there were many more Crosses
here formerly may be taken for certain, and that the Synod of Argyle would
think them all idolatrous is equally clear; but it is not likely that it
ordered so great an undertaking as that of digging from their foundations
nearly four hundred massive blocks of stone, some, to judge by what is
left to us, of great size, and casting them into the sea. All such
monuments having been formally condemned throughout Scotland, it is fair
to assume that those of Iona met with a good deal of ill-usage. The "axes
and hammers" of the isle would be brought to bear upon "the carved work
thereof"; and it is more probable that the mode of destruction has been of
this kind, aided by time and storm, whose ravages nothing has been
attempted to stay or to repair, than that any definite scheme of
demolition has been carried out.
[Illustration: ST. MARTIN'S CROSS, IONA.]
Two fine crosses yet remain in good preservation in Iona, known
respectively as St. Martin's Cross and the Cross of the Maclean. The
former of these is considerably the older, and stands in front of the
ruined cathedral. It is a monolith measuring fourteen feet in height above
ground, eighteen inches in breadth, and ten inches in thickness, and is
set in a block of granite three feet in height. It is elaborately carved,
figures of the Blessed Virgin-Mother and the Holy Child, of ecclesiastics
in vestments, of musicians with harps and wind instruments, occupying one
face, together with foliage and twining snakes; while the other has a more
conventional design. On the roadside, near the ancient nunnery, stands
Maclean's Cross, which has been described as "one of the oldest Celtic
crosses in Scotland," and even as "the oldest Christian monument" in that
country. This is to ascribe to an undoubtedly ancient relic an antiquity
to which it has no claim; it dates probably from the fifteenth century. It
is eleven feet high, and is carved with the figure of the crucified
Redeemer, attended by angels, and with much graceful scroll-work. The
claimants for the greater age of this fine cross assert that it marks the
spot where St. Columba rested on his last walk about the monastic lands.
St. Oran's Chapel, alleged to have been built by Queen Margaret some time
after 1072, contains one or two broken crosses. There is the shaft of one
erected in memory of the Abbot Mackinnon in 1489, a portion of another
known now as the "Flat stone of Oran," and a fragment of yet a third. The
famous burial ground of Iona, the Reilig Orain, to which were brought the
remains of kings, not only from the mainland of Scotland, but from Ireland
and even from Norway, has several sepulchral slabs which still bear the
sacred sign. One, probably of the twelfth century, has a well-designed
interlaced cross stretching almost the whole length and breadth of the
stone, with a galley carved upon the one side of it and a sword upon the
other; another, alleged to commemorate Ranald, Lord of the Isles in the
early thirteenth century, has a small interlaced cross upon one side of a
sword, and two "disguised" crosses, somewhat of the fylfot shape, upon the
other. There is also a broken stone, with a portion of a cross of Irish
design, and a fragmentary inscription. It has been supposed to mark the
burial-place of Maol Patrick O'Banan, the saintly bishop of Conor and
Down, who died in Iona in 1174.[1] Two boulders, measuring rather less
than two feet in length, have also been found in the island, each incised
with a cross. One, which has a well-proportioned figure of the type
commonly called "runic," is supposed by some to have been the stone,
which, according to his biographer Adamnan, formed the pillow of St.
Columba.
Some others of the Western Isles have preserved a few of their ancient
crosses. Boswell, in his "Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides" in 1773,
speaks thus of the approach to Rasay: "Just as we landed I observed a
cross, or rather the ruins of one, upon a rock, which had to me a pleasing
vestige of religion." A few days later the traveller set out to explore
the island, and he made other discoveries of the same nature. "On one of
the rocks just where we landed," he tells us, "there is rudely carved a
square, with a crucifix in the middle: here, it is said, the Lairds of
Rasay, in old times, used to offer up their devotions; I could not
approach the spot without a grateful recollection of the event
commemorated by this symbol." A little further on he writes, "The eight
crosses, which Martin mentions as pyramids for deceased ladies, stood in a
semicircular line, which contained within it the chapel; they marked out
the boundaries of the sacred territory, within which an asylum was to be
had; one of them, which we observed upon our landing, made the first point
of the semicircle; there are few of them now remaining." On the islet of
Oronsay, immediately to the south of Colonsay, is a Celtic cross with a
Latin inscription, erected in memory of a Prior who died in 1510. Some of
the crosses from Iona are said to have been carried to the neighbouring
island of Mull, and to the mainland of Argyle. At Campbelltown in that
county is a handsome cross, carved from a monolith of blue granite, and
now serving as a Market Cross, which is alleged to be one of the spoils of
St. Columba's isle.
Argyleshire has also preserved some interesting sculptured tombstones. The
churchyard of Kilfinan has two such; one is adorned with a wheel-headed
cross, the shaft of which is covered with scrolls, a wicker-pattern design
running down either side of it; the other has a cross with deep hollows at
the intersection of the arms. At Nereabolls, in Islay, is the upper
portion of a crucifix, broken off beneath the arms of the figure; it is
roughly carved, but has nothing of the grotesqueness of some very early
attempts at the human form. All these stones date from the fourteenth or
following century.
In certain districts several Celtic crosses have been suffered to survive,
or have been brought forth from the concealment into which the neglect, or
the violence, of past ages had thrown them; and they present perhaps the
most valuable examples of runic inscriptions and of contemporary carving
which we now have in Great Britain. Some of them are quadrilateral slabs
on which the sacred symbol is cut, others are carved into the shape of a
cross; most of them have a large amount of characteristic adornment. There
are men riding and hunting, animals conventional, if not actually
grotesque, interlaced chain designs, and intricate and often very graceful
scrolls. Among other figures cut on these ancient monuments we find
constantly repeated some of those Pictish symbols, the meaning of which is
one of the apparently insoluble problems of archaeology. The twin circles
connected by three lines like a Z, or included within the arms of it, the
crescent crossed by two lines forming a V, a grotesque somewhat distantly
resembling an elephant; these and other forms constantly meet us. They are
characteristic of the carving of a time not more than eight or nine
centuries from our own, yet the very alphabet of the symbolic language
which they speak is lost. They have been described as the work of Cymric
Christians, as Gnostic, as magical, as derived from oriental Paganism, as
learned from Scandinavian heathenism; but even if we could agree as to
their origin, we should yet be in the dark as to their meaning. In
Wigtonshire are several crosses, including some of this type: we find them
at Kirkcolm, Kirkmadrine, Whithorn, Monreith, and St. Ninian's cave. At
Kirkcolm is an exceedingly rudely carved crucifix; beneath the figure of
the Crucified is another human figure accompanied by two creatures meant
apparently for birds; the whole being of the roughest description. The
Monreith Cross stands seven and a quarter feet in height, and has a wheel
head, with a shaft whose sides curve slightly outwards from top and
bottom; an ingeniously contrived scroll covers the face. The Kirkmadrine
example has incised upon it the sacred monogram XP conjoined, and arranged
crosswise within a circle.
In Kirkcudbright is the splendid Ruthwell Cross, standing over seventeen
feet in height. The shaft tapers gracefully towards the head, and has
within panels upon it the effigies of several saints; the sides have a
singularly fine scroll of conventional foliage with birds; and the head is
light and elegant. It is altogether a very beautiful structure.
Other stones worthy of notice now are, or have been found, at St Madoes
and Dupplin, near Perth; at Kirriemuir, and elsewhere, in Forfar; and in
some other places, chiefly along the north-eastern coast of the country.
It must be remembered that the Reformation progressed much more slowly in
the Highlands than in the Lowlands, so that we might naturally expect that
the demolition of the crosses would not be carried out quite so thoroughly
in the north as in the south.
It was, however, in a southern town that we read of the last use, until
recent times, of that ancient ceremony for Good Friday which our
forefathers called "Creeping to the Cross." On May 8th, 1568, Grindal,
then bishop of London, writes to Sir William Cecil, afterwards Lord
Burleigh: "Evans, who is thought a man of more simplicity than the rest,
hath reported (as I am credibly informed) that at Dunbar, on Good Friday,
they saw certain persons go bare-foot and bare-legged to the church, to
creep to the cross; if it be so the Church of Scotland will not be pure
enough for our men."
In spite of the abolition of the sign of the cross in the ceremonial of
the church, and the destruction, so far as possible, of the material cross
in its buildings, even Presbyterian Scotland could not discard the emblem
of St. Andrew from among its national devices. The Covenanters marched
across the Border in the Great Civil War, under a flag which bore that
symbol; the white Cross of St. Andrew lay athwart its field, charged at
the centre with the thistle, while in the spaces between the four members
of the cross was the motto, "Covenants for Religion, Croune, and
Kingdoms." Under the Commonwealth the royal arms, of course, dropt out of
use, their place being taken by a shield, the first and fourth quarters of
which were charged with St. George's Cross (for England), the second with
St. Andrew's Cross (for Scotland), and the third with the Irish harp.
[Illustration: COVENANTER'S FLAG.]
Some few folk-customs, involving the use of this sign have also lived on
in the northern kingdom. At Borera, for instance, is a Celtic cross, now
overthrown; and whosoever wishes for rain has but to raise this, according
to the local belief at one time, and he will obtain his desire. It used
also to be customary in some parts of the country, when a bridegroom
arrived at the church door ready for his wedding, to unfasten the
shoe-string on his right foot and to draw a cross upon the doorpost. Such
usages, however, seem to have been rarer in Scotland than in England.
St. Margaret of Scotland, a queen worthy of everlasting remembrance, who
died in the year 1093, gave to one of the churches in her husband's
dominions a splendid crucifix, on which was a figure of the Redeemer in
pure gold. The one historic crucifix of the country, however, is the
famous Black Rood of Scotland, round which gathers much both of legend and
of history, and from which the royal palace and abbey in Edinburgh
received its name of Holy Rood. The story of this ancient cross is
recounted at length in the "Rites of Durham," and is as follows.
King David Bruce was hunting in a forest hard by Edinburgh one Holy Cross
Day, or Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (September 14th), and had
become separated from his companions, when a wondrous hart, of great
beauty and strength, suddenly appeared to him. The creature charged the
king's horse, and so terrified it that it took to flight; but the hart
followed "so fiercely and swiftly" that it bore down both the horse and
its royal rider to the ground. Bruce, putting forth his hands to save
himself, was about to seize the antlers of his assailant, when, from the
head of the hart, "there most strangly slypped into the King's hands the
said crosse most wonderously," and forthwith the animal vanished. On the
following night Bruce was warned in his sleep to build an abbey at the
spot where this miracle had happened. Accordingly, he sent to France and
Flanders for workmen, built the abbey of the Holy Rood, which he gave to
the canons regular of St. Augustine, and "placed the said Cross most
sumptuously and richly in the said Abbey, ther to remayne in a most
renowned monument." So it continued until "the said king" invaded England
previous to the Battle of Neville's Cross; this sacred relic was then
brought forth, and carried to the war. Again the king received a vision
during his sleep, in which he was warned in no case to damage the
patrimony of St. Cuthbert; but, in spite of this, he proceeded to lay
waste and to destroy the domains of the great Abbey at Durham; and for
this disobedience divine vengeance fell upon him. He himself was captured
at the ensuing fight, many of the flower of his nobility fell on the
field, his royal standard became a prize to the English, and the Holy Rood
was taken! All the trophies of the victory were solemnly offered by the
English as an act of thanksgiving at St. Cuthbert's shrine at Durham, and
the Rood "was sett up most exactlie in the piller next St. Cuthbert's
shrine in the south alley of the said Abbey." The writer of the "Rites"
tells us in one place that "no man knew certenly what mettell or wood the
said crosse was mayd of;" at a later point in his story he implies that it
was of silver and was termed the "Black Rude of Scotland" from "being, as
yt weare, smoked all over," doubtless from the tapers constantly burnt
before it both in Edinburgh and in Durham. At the Reformation this
valuable and historic cross was carried off with the other abbey
treasures, and no doubt found its way into the melting pot.
Our chronicler is not quite sound in his history. It was David I. who
founded Holyrood Abbey, about the year 1128; and to whom, therefore, the
first part of the story relates; but it was David II., son of Robert
Bruce, and thus a descendant of the first Scottish King of that name, who
lost the relic at Neville's Cross in 1346. There is another story to the
effect that St. Margaret brought the crucifix from the Holy Land in 1070;
and that both religious and filial devotion thus prompted David I., the
youngest of her sons, to raise and dedicate the abbey, which was to
enshrine it. The saintly queen may perhaps have received the rood from
Jerusalem, she can hardly have brought it thence herself, for it does not
seem that she ever undertook that pilgrimage.
[Illustration: SEAL OF HOLYROOD ABBEY.]
The seal of Holyrood Abbey, probably the most famous of all the many
foundations dedicated in honour of the Holy Cross, contains a memorial of
the legend above given. The centre is occupied by a crucifix beneath a
canopy, with the Blessed Virgin and St. John on either side; below this is
the Madonna enthroned and holding the Holy Child. A crosier, on one side
of these figures, marks the dignity of the abbey; a stag, on the other
side, with a cross rising from its forehead recalls the tradition of its
inception; while the royal shield of Scotland below informs us of the
sovereignty of the founder.
Bell Lore.
BY ENGLAND HOWLETT.
In all Christian countries from the earliest ages the use of bells is
practically as old as Christianity itself. The bell in its original form
was nothing more or less than a piece of metal rolled into a wedge-like
form and riveted together, and it is a curious instance of survival that
the cattle bells in many countries are now practically of this primitive
pattern. In the early days of Christianity small portable handbells were
used for summoning the people to worship. It was not long, however, before
the bell founder's art made great progress, and long before the year 1000
the music of bells pealing from church towers could not have been by any
means a rare sound.
We must remember that although bells are primarily connected with matters
ecclesiastical, still, more especially in the middle ages, they were used
in all cases where it was necessary to give a public notice or warning.
The commercial transactions of a market were to a great extent regulated
by bells. In case of fire or danger the bells were sounded to arouse or
warn the people. In harvest time the gleaners' bell was rung to limit the
time when the gleaners should set forth and return from their work. Before
the days of the telegraph and quick travelling, bells were found to be a
good medium for passing on intimation of any great national event or
danger; and perhaps no sound has carried the news of such great joy and
sorrow as the sound of the bell.
Gifts of bells to churches, particularly in the earlier ages, were always
deemed the most acceptable of gifts, and during the middle ages these
bells were not uncommonly given as a memorial of some deceased friend or
relation. Kings and Queens may be found amongst the donors of bells, and
one of the earliest royal bell givers was probably Canute, who presented a
pair of bells to Winchester Cathedral in 1035.
The art of bell founding was principally, if not entirely, carried out
under the direction of the ecclesiastics, prior to the thirteenth century.
This, of course, is not to be wondered at when we remember that at this
period the arts in general owed their preservation and development to the
zeal and industry of the church.
In the early middle ages, not only in Scotland but also in England and on
the Continent, we are told by Mr F. C. Eeles[2] that the richer churches
each possessed several bells, obtained usually at various times, and often
without regard to their respective sizes, or to the relations between
their notes. The great bell was often dedicated to the patron saint of the
church, and the smaller bells to the other saints who were commemorated in
the church below; each was used separately for the services at the
corresponding altar, while all were used for High Mass, and on great
occasions. A desire to ring the bells in a musical way made itself felt
very early. On the continent this took the form of adding a carillon to
the already existing collection of heavy bells, while here it showed
itself in a tendency to make the heavy bells themselves form a part of the
diatonic scale, and therefore suitable for ringing in succession. Shortly
before the Reformation the carillon developed very rapidly on the
continent, and reached its perfection in the seventeenth century. It
consisted of a large number of small light bells, fixed "dead," and
sounded by hammers worked by wires from an arrangement of levers,
something like the keys of an organ.
In Scotland, during the middle ages, the country churches as a rule had no
tower. This was one of the architectural peculiarities of the country at
this period, and as the use and appreciation of bells was steadily
progressing at the time, we find the architects gradually adapting
themselves to the requirements of the case. This they did, not by building
towers as in England, but by elaborating a type of belfry which became
almost peculiar to Scotland, a sort of architectural feature of the
country. It is curious and interesting to notice that this type of belfry
survived the destructive element of the Reformation, and lived on through
the re-actionary period when art and taste were practically dead. Thus we
often find in buildings otherwise devoid of all architectural pretensions,
these redeeming little belfries which were evolved simply to meet the
growing use of the bell.
Most of these belfries come under the head of the open stonework class,
which, from their very formation give an air of lightness and freedom to
the building they surmount. When the Renaissance period came in the form
of the belfry was not altered, but the detail then became of classical
design.
In Scotland we find that in some of the larger towns both the steeples and
the bells are the property of the municipality, the Church only having the
use of the bells on Sundays, while on week days they are used by the town
authorities. The origin of this curious sort of co-ownership would appear
to lie in the fact that in former times it was no uncommon thing for a
town to acquire a lien on the bells in exchange for helping to build the
steeple or undertaking to keep it in order.[3]
The following extract from the Burgh Records[4] of Peebles exhibits a good
instance of this:--
"1778, December 29. The Council in conjunction with the heritors, agree to
the proposition of building a new church.... The town to be at the expense
of building the steeple and furnishing it with a clock and bells, for
which it is to be the property of the burgh."
From the Perth Session Records, October 6, 1578, we find that "The Session
ordains James Sym, uptaker of the casualities that intervenes in the kirk,
to buy a tow to the little skellit bell--the which bell shall only be rung
to the affairs of the kirk, also to the examinations, or to the
assemblies."
The same Session Records for Perth, under date February 6, 1586, tells us
that "The Session ordains Nicol Balmain to ring the curfew and workmen's
bell in the morning and evening, the space of one quarter of an hour, at
the times appointed--viz., four hours in the morning and eight at even."
In many primitive parts of Scotland, where there was no belfry, it seems
to have been the custom to hang the solitary bell on a tree. A writer in
1679 protests against "that pitiful spectacle, bells hanging upon trees
for want of bell houses." At Drumlithe the town bell used to hang on an
ash tree, and thus continued to do until 1777, when a small steeple was
provided for it.
Among the Church ornaments to be provided by the parishioners in the
fourteenth century was "a bell to carry before the body of Christ in the
visitation of the sick." This was done in order that all, according to the
then teaching of the Church, might be warned of its approach and pay
reverence to it.[5]
Saint John before the bread doth go, and poynting towards him
Doth show the same to be the Lambe that takes away our sinne,
On whome two clad in Angels' shape do sundrie flowres fling,
A number great of sacring Belles with pleasant sound do ringe.[6]
These hand-bells were also used in procession on the Rogation days, and
frequent notices of them are to be found in Church inventories.
Small hand-bells were in general use in a variety of ways in
pre-Reformation times. At the burial of the dead we find them used for the
double purpose of clearing the way for the funeral procession, and also to
call for prayer for the deceased. The Bayeux Tapestry, which was worked by
Matilda, the Queen of William the Conqueror, depicts the burial of Edward
the Confessor, and in this a boy appears on each side of the bier carrying
a small bell. We find reference to the use of these hand-bells at
funerals by Chaucer:--
... they heard a bell clink
Before a corse was carried to the grave.
Hand-bells which were kept for this purpose were generally called "the
corse bell" or "the lych bell," and by these names they are constantly
found mentioned in Church inventories. The custom of ringing these small
bells at funerals was sought to be stopped by the Bishops in the sixteenth
century. In 1571, Grindal directs that "at burials no ringing of
hand-bells," and a few years later (1583), Middleton directs "that the
clerk nor his deputy do carry about the town a little bell called the
Sainctes bell before the burial."[7]
It is a very prevalent belief that a large quantity of silver was used in
the composition of the old bells, and that to this fact we owe much of the
beauty and purity of their tone. It is commonly stated that in the middle
ages it was the practice for our ancestors to throw in their silver
tankards and spoons when the parish church bells were cast. However, a
subsequent analysis of many bells of this period which have since been
recast show the proportion of silver in them to have been exceedingly
small.
The ancient bells, when cast, were set apart for their sacred uses by a
solemn benediction, often called, from a too close approximation to the
office of Holy Baptism, the Baptism of Bells. The office and the
ceremonies used, which can be found in the Pontificals of the Mediaeval
Church, varied very little after the ninth century. The bell itself was
washed by the bishop with water, into which salt had been previously cast.
After it had been dried by the attendants, the bishop next dipped the
thumb of his right hand in the holy oil for the sick, and made the sign of
the cross on the top of the bell; after which he again marked it both with
the holy oil for the sick and with chrism, saying the words:--
"Sancti + ficetur, et conse + cretur, Domine, signumistud: in nomine
Pa + tris, et Fi + lii, et Spiritus + sancti in honorem Sancti N. pax
tibi."[8]
It is interesting to notice that in many places the practice still remains
of ringing the bells at particular hours when no service is to be held.
This is clearly a survival of the times when the bells were rung to call
people to the mediaeval services. We are reminded in "The Bells of
Kincardineshire,"[9] that at the present day various reasons, more or less
utilitarian, have been given in Scotland for these old service bells. The
country people say that the eight o'clock bell is to "let you ken it's the
Sabbath," or to "gar the hill folk mak' theirsel ready or the kirk win
in." This is very often called the "rousing bell," and the later bell the
"dressing bell," or the "get ready."
The Perth Session Records, July 10, 1560, provide that "The Session, after
the appointment of the order of communication, ordains that the first bell
should be rung at four in the morning; the second at half five o'clock;
the third at five. The second ministration, the first bell to be rung at
half nine o'clock; the second at nine; the third at half ten." July 6,
1703, "The Session appoints that the church doors be opened at seven of
the clock in the morning, and _not_ till then; as also that the first bell
be rung at eight of the clock; the second at half nine; and the third at
nine."
The ringing of bells at funerals is a custom of ancient origin. It was a
popular belief that the sound of the bell had power to drive away evil
spirits. In England, Bishop Grandison of Exeter in 1339 found it necessary
to check the long ringings at burials, on the grounds that "they do no
good to the departed, are an annoyance to the living, and injurious to the
fabrick and the bells."[10]
Before the Reformation there were five bells at Dundee on which "six score
and nine straiks" were given three times a day, to call to "matins, mess,
and even-sang."