[1] This altar is an interesting piece of (Jacobean?) woodwork which has recently been uncovered. The low recess in which it stands seems better suited for a tomb, or recumbent effigy, while the more lofty recess against the eastern wall, originally supposed to have been open to the Walden Chantry, would hold the altar admirably, and give it the proper orientation.
[2] There are two large canvases of his on the staircase of the Hospital representing "The Pool of Bethesda" and "The Good Samaritan," besides four smaller paintings, one of which gives "Rahere's Dream," and another "The Building of the Priory."
[3] The manor of Canonbury, formerly included in the Priory estates, is said to have been presented to the community by Sir Ralph de Berners in the reign of Edward III. The Prior and canons built themselves a mansion there as a country residence, and there is no doubt that the place takes its name from their connection with it. According to Stow (Ed. Strype, vol. 1), the manor-house was rebuilt by Prior Bolton, whose rebus on the walls of the tower seemed to prove that it was either his work, or erected shortly after his time to his memory. The house is a plain brick structure with gable ends, and the tower (of the same material) covers a rather large square. The spacious rooms within it have some literary interest, as at one time occupied by Ephraim Chambers, the encyclopaedist (1680-1750), and by the more famous Oliver Goldsmith. The whole building, renovated within and without, is now held by a social club. For many years a fable was believed that a subterranean passage connected it with the Smithfield Priory.
[4] The new bronze railing to the sanctuary forms part of the memorial to the late Rector, the Rev. Sir Borradaile Savory, Bart. It is in the Renaissance style, and the words from the Gloria in Excelsis ("We praise Thee," etc.), in each of its four divisions, were selected by his successor, the present Rector, as suitable to the place, and expressing the governing principle of Sir Borradaile's life, as well as that of Rahere the Founder.
[5] The substructure in the chamber of the Pix, at Westminster, will be remembered among the surviving examples of this early kind of vaulting in England.
[6] Francis Anthony (1550-1623) lived in Bartholomew Close. He had obtained the M.A. degree at Cambridge, but none in medicine, and having practised for six months in London without a licence, he was summoned before the President and Censors of the College of Physicians to give an account of himself. Failing to satisfy his examiners, he was interdicted from practice, but ignored the prohibition, and suffered more than one imprisonment in consequence. The medicine "of purest gold" was a panacea, known as Aurum potabile, which was supposed to be made from the precious metal, and certainly put a great deal of it into the inventor's pocket, as a fashionable remedy for all kinds of diseases.
(See article in the "Dictionary of National Biography" for a sketch of his life.)
[7] A tablet, in the Renaissance style, has recently been affixed to the north wall in memory of Sir Borradaile Savory, Bart., the late Rector. It was unveiled and formally dedicated by the Bishop of Stepney, on Sunday, 10th May, 1908.