Volume II
All you that in the condemn'd hold do lie, The following extract from Stowe's Survey of London, p. 125 of the quarto edition printed in 1618, will prove that the above verses ought to have been repeated by a clergyman instead of a bellman :--- "Robert Doue, Citizen and Merchant Taylor, of London, -- gaue to the parish church of St Sepulchres, the somme of 50l. That after the seueral sessions of London, when the prisoners remain in the gaole, as condemned men to death, expecting execution on the morning following ; the clarke (that is, the parson) of the church should come in the night time, and like-wise early in the morning, to the window of the prison where they lye, and there ringing certain toles with a hand-bell, appointed for the purpose, he doth afterwards (in most Christian manner) put them in mind of their present condition, and ensuing execution, desiring them to be prepared therefor as they ought to be. When they are in the cart, and brought before the wall of the church, there he standeth ready with the same bell, and after certain toles rehearseth an appointed praier, desiring all the people there present to pray for them. The beadle also of Merchant Taylors Hall hath an honest stipend allowed to see that this is duely done." |