MISCELLANIES.
Epigram by La Monnoye.—It has been ingeniously said, that "Life is an epigram, of which death is the point." Alas for human nature! good points are rare; and no wonder, according to this wicked, but witty,
EPIGRAM BY LA MONNOYE.
The world of fools has such a store,
That he who would not see an ass,
Must bide at home, and bolt his door,
And break his looking glass.
S.W.S.
Mickleham, Dec. 10. 1849.
Spur Money.—Two or three years since, a party of sappers and miners was stationed at Peterborough, engaged in the trigonometrical survey, when the officer entered the cathedral with his spurs on, and was immediately beset by the choristers, who demanded money of him for treading the sacred floor with armed heels. Does any one know the origin of this singular custom? I inquired of some of the dignitaries of the Cathedral, but they were not aware even of its existence. The boys, however, have more tenacious memories, at least where their interest is concerned; but we must not look to them for the origin of a custom which appears to have long existed. In the Memorials of John Ray, published by the Ray Society, p. 131., there is the following entry in his second Itinerary:—
"July the 26th, 1661, we began our journey northwards from Cambridge, and that day, passing through Huntingdon and Stilton, we rode as far as Peterborough twenty-five miles. There I first heard the Cathedral service. The choristers made us pay money for coming into the choir with our spurs on."
East Winch.
[The following note from The Book of the Court will serve to illustrate the curious custom referred to by our correspondent:
"In The Privy Purse Expenses of King Henry VIII. edited by Sir Harris Nicolas, there occur several entries of payments made to the choristers of Windsor 'in rewarde for the king's spurs'; which the editor supposes to mean 'money paid to redeem the king's spurs, which had become the fee of the choristers at Windsor, perhaps at installations, or at the annual celebration of St. George's feast.' No notice of the subject occurs in Ashmole's or Anstis's History of the Order of the Garter. Mr. Markland, quoting a note to Gifford's edition of Ben Jonson, vol. ii. p. 49., says, 'In the time of Ben Jonson, in consequence of the interruptions to Divine Service occasioned by the ringing of the spurs worn by persons walking and transacting business in cathedrals, and especially in St. Paul's, a small fine was imposed on them, called "spur-money," the exaction of which was committed to the beadles and singing-boys.' This practice, and to which, probably, the items in Henry's household-book bear reference, still obtains, or, at least, did till very lately, in the Chapel Royal and other choirs. Our informant himself claimed the penalty, in Westminster Abbey, from Dr. Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and received from him an eighteenpenny bank token as the fine. He likewise claimed the penalty from the King of Hanover (then Duke of Cumberland), for entering the choir of the Abbey in his spurs. But His Royal Highness, who had been installed there, excused himself with great readiness, pleading 'his right to wear his spurs in that church, inasmuch as it was the place where they were first put on him!'—See further, European Mag., vol. iii. p. 16.">[