 | APPENDIX 5 Studies in bibliography |  |
Final Rear Free Endpaper, Recto and Verso
Introduction
Astell records a financial record (see figure 1) for Sutton's Hospital, also
known as King James's Hospital, but better known then (and generally
known
now) as the Charterhouse, a charitable institution created and
supported by a
bequest in the will of Thomas Sutton (1532-1611). The
"Brothers" to whom the
record refers speak to the Hospital's mission
as a pensioners' home for elderly
men, many of them sailors who, to
borrow a phrase from Gerald Davies, "had
served England well in the
hours of her need and were now left high and dry to
its other function as a school for promising boys of upstanding, but financially
limited, families. Not only Richard Steele, but Joseph Addison, John Wesley, and,
in the nineteenth century, William Thackeray would benefit from Sutton's gift.
The similarity between Sutton's dual-purpose foundation and Astell's Chel-
sea school for girls, itself an outgrowth of the Royal Hospital for
elderly veterans,
would not have been lost on her. Along with 80
brothers, Sutton's will made pro-
visions for 40 scholars; Astell's
Chelsea school, according to Perry, "was meant
to handle thirty poor
girls" (238).
Astell's source for this account is almost certainly Samuel Herne's Domus Car-
thusiana (1677), which, on 145-153,
transcribes in pounds, shillings, and pence the
Establishment for the Dyets, Liveries, Stipends, Wages,
and other Charges and Expences […]
at the humble Petition,
and only costs and charges of Thomas Sutton, Esquire […].
Astell's handwriting here is particularly
inscrutable; I devoted an embarrass-
ing number of months to
discovering "Fuller's Hospital," another contemporary
almshouse near
London (as it turns out), only to ascertain its utter incompatibility
with the numbers Astell recorded. I deciphered many of her other references
only
by consulting Herne.
Astell records many of the specific entries she found in Herne, though she
does at times combine several entries into a single category or ignore
single
entries entirely; she also renders Herne's roman numerals as
arabic. Interlaced
through several of the entries in smaller print are
Astell's attempts to arrive at
a "per person" figure, something Herne
does only on occasion—a point of dif-
ference tracked, along
with particularly archaic references, in the endnotes (ren-
dered as
arabic to avoid, as much as possible, confusion). The money system in
Astell's day and for nearly three centuries beyond, it should be noted,
consisted
of 12 pennies to the shilling, 20 shillings to the
pound.
Text
| £s d | |
| 8 At ye Masters Table weekly for Bread, 10[1] | 4. 0. 0 |
| Beer, Diet, Detriments[2] | |
| 80[3]
at ye Brothers for etc. ?at 1s 7 a head (-10) |
7. 13. 4 |
| 42 at ye Scholars | 6. 18. 3½ |
| at 3s 3½ 4½ |
|
| 10 at ye Manciples[4]
4s 5d |
2. 4. 2[5] |
| 2 of ye Kitchen & one Porter 4s 5d |
13. 0 |
| 5 Attendts at ye
?Masters Table for ?76 Bread and Beer 9/14 |
5. 10 |
| 8 at ye Masters 1s 2d [7] |
9. 4 |
| Five Attendts
1s.2d |
5. 10 |
| 40 Schol one Butlr one Groom 16½ + 2½[8] |
16. 4 |
| 80 Brothers in Money a head 1.9 |
7. 0. 0 |
| 10 at ye Mancip 2 Kite One Por ter in money 4.7½+ ½ |
3. 0. 0 |
| Dyet & Beav. Weekly Yearly |
33. 6. 1.½ 1731. 18. 6½ |
| Exceeding days[9] | 44. 9. 4 |
| 1776. 7. 10½[10] |
| 80 Brothers 40s a piece | 160. 0. 0 |
| 40 Schol. 36s. 2d Gowns | 72. 6. 8 |
| their Summer suits 29s. 6 | 69. 0. 0[14] |
| Winter suits 17s. 10d a piece | 35. 13. 4 |
| Shoes & Stockings etc. | 56. 0. 0[15] |
| Books Paper - - | 14. 0. 0 |
| Gowns for Organist etc.[12]
at 40s a ?piece |
8. 0. 0 |
| 16 Grooms etc.[13] | 16. 0. 0 |
| 431. 0. 0 | |
| Wages & Fees[16] | 1066. 6. 0 |
| Masters Fuel | 10. 0. 0 |
| Preachers | 5. 0. 0 |
| Fuel for ye Hospital | 152. 0. 0 |
| Renewing ye Housold stuff | 50. 0. 0 |
| Candles | 45. 0. 0 |
| Washing etc. in all[17] | 432. 16. 0 |
| Ye Whole 3706 £ . 9s. 10½[18] |
OED, s.v. detriment: "4. pl. The name of certain small charges made
by colleges and
similar societies upon their members. The
'detriments' at Cambridge corresponded to the
'decrements'
at Oxford, and appear to have been originally deductions from
the stipends of
foundation members on account of small
extras for the table, etc., not included in their statu-
tory or customary commons; the charge was afterwards extended to
all members and students
of die colleges. See Fowler Hist. C.C.C. (O.H.S.) 354."
0ED, s.v. manciple: "1. An officer or
servant who purchases provisions for a college, an
inn of
court, a monastery, etc."
It was in Davies that I learned "a 'hunk' of bread" was "called a
bevor," and that the
word was "still in use in Suffolk in
1863 … amongst labourers for the ten or eleven o'clock
snack in the harvest-field" (256 and note). Cf. OED, s.v. bever: "3. A small repast between
meals; a
'snack,' nuncheon, or lunch; esp. one in the
afternoon between mid-day dinner and
supper. Chiefly dial."
I.e., holidays. Herne identifies "Twenty three Exceeding days,"
including Christmas,
New years, Kings-day, Michaelmas, and
All Saints.
Astell provides the yearly total for, as Herne puts it, "all
Dyets, Beavors, and exceed-
ing days" (147).
Astell combines two of Herne's categories. The first comprises
such items as "Shoos,"
"Stockings" and "Garters" at £44, the second "Shirts" and "fix
Bands" at £22.
Cf. Herne: "Sixteen Gowns for Sixteen Grooms and other inferior
Officers at xx s. a
man" (148).
Astell elides three pages of specific charges included in
Herne—from the "Preacher"
(£40), to the "Gardner" (£20), to the "Clock keeper" (£2)—and instead provides only the
final total.
I.e, the total for "Ordinary Allowances." Note that Astell's
final total reflects specific
categories not included in
her list, hence the apparent discrepancy—the Manciple's
fuel allow-
ance, for instance, was £2, while £10 was
set aside for "Burials." "Washing" is indeed one of
the
specific charges included in Herne's list.
| APPENDIX 5 Studies in bibliography | |