"A saint whose head quarters were probably in the parish of Shorn and
Merston near Gravesend, but who seems to have had shrines in other
parts of the country. He was chiefly popular with persons who suffered
from ague."
Mr. Corrie then gives an extract from p. 218. of the _Letters relating to
the Suppression of Monasteries_, edited by Mr. Wright for the Camden
Society; but we quote from the original, Mr. Corrie having omitted the
words given in our extract in Italics:--
"At Merston, Mr. Johan Schorn stondith blessing a bote, whereunto they
do say he conveyd the devill. He ys moch sowzt for the agou. _If it be
your lordeschips pleasur, I schall sett that botyd ymage in a nother
place, and so do wyth other in other parties wher lyke seeking ys._"
In that extraordinary poem _The Fantassie of Idolatrie_, printed by Fox in
his edition of 1563, but not afterwards reprinted until it appeared in
Seeley's edition (vol. v. p. 406.), we read--
"To Maister John Shorne
That blessed man borne;
For the ague to him we apply,
Whiche jugeleth with a _bote_
I beschrewe his herte rote
That will truste him, and it be I."
The editor, Mr. Cattley, having explained _bote_ "a recompense or fee," Dr.
Maitland, in his _Remarks on Rev. S. R. Cattley's Defence of his Edition of
Fox's Martyrology_, p. 46., after making a reference to Nares, and quoting
his explanation, proceeds:
"The going on pilgrimage to St. John Shorne is incidentally mentioned
at pages 232. and 580. of the FOURTH volume of Fox, but in a way which
throws no light on the subject. The verse which I have quoted seems as
if there was some relic which was supposed to cure the ague, and by
which the juggle was carried on. Now another passage in this same fifth
volume, p. 468., leads me to believe that this relic really was, and
therefore the word 'bote' simply means, a boot. In this passage we
learn, that one of the causes of Robert Testwood's troyble was his
ridiculing the relics which were to be distributed to be borne by
various persons in a procession upon a relic Sunday. St. George's
dagger having been given to one Master Hake, Testwood said to Dr.
Clifton,--'Sir, Master Hake hath St. George's dagger. Now if he had his
horse, and St. Martin's cloak, and _Master John Shorne's boots_, with
King Harry's spurs and his hat, he might ride when he list.'"
That there is some legend connected with Master John Shorne and "his bote,
whereunto they do say he conveyd the devill," is evident from {388} a fact
we learn from the _Proceedings of the Archaeological Institute_, namely,
that at the meeting on the 5th Nov. 1847, the Rev. James Bulwer, of
Aylsham, Norfolk, sent a series of drawings exhibiting the curious painted
decorations of the rood screen in Cawston Church, Norfolk, amongst which
appears the singular saintly personage bearing a boot, from which issues a
demon. An inscription beneath the figures gives the name "Magister Johannes
Schorn." It is much to be regretted that fuller details of this painting
have not been preserved in the Journal of the Institute.
The earliest mention of _Master John Schorne_ is in the indenture for
roofing St. George's Chapel at Windsor, dated 5th June, 21 Henry VII.
(1506), printed in the _Reliquiae Antiquae_, vol. ii. p. 115., where it is
covenanted
"That the creastes, corses, beastes, above on the outsides of Maister
John Shorne's Chappell, bee done and wrought according to the other
creastes, and comprised within the said bargayne."