[157] See "Flemings in Oxford."
[158] West's Antiquities of Furness.
[159] The outlay connected with Henry's appointment was considerable. His expenses in Carlisle with his brother Daniel amounted to £2. 7s. 6d.; also after ordination "For ye Bread and Wine at ye Communion in Carlile-Cathedral" 2s. 6d., and 1s. given at the offertory. At Chester, besides expenses and fees, he paid the Bishop of Chester's secretary £5. 5s. Next, on February 13th, comes the item "Delivered my Son Henry to pay tomorrow at Kendal for his Tenths for Gresmer due at Xtmas last, ye sum of" £2. 17s. 01⁄2 d. Again on May 30th, "Paid at London unto Mr. James Bird for ye first payment of my Son Henry Fleming's First-Fruites for ye Parsonage of Gresmere, ye Sum of" £6. 8s. 7d. On November 18th, the same amount was paid as second instalment; the third on October 9th, 1687, £6. 11s. 1d.; and a final of £7. 1s. on July 31st, 1688. The total, £26. 19s. 3d., is a little over the amount paid by the Rector of Clayworth as first-fruits in 1672. Money was, however, now coming in, and Parson Brathwaite would seem to have furnished the new rector with a round sum of £20 at intervals, beginning in May, 1685; two such being paid in 1687. What the arrangement was in regard to the curate's stipend is not clear.
[160] The beam was dislodged when the new rectory was built in 1895, but upon the furnishing of the old tithe barn as a parish room in 1905, it was appropriately set up there.
[161] Ry. Hall MSS., His. MS. Com. 2084.
[162] See A Westmorland Township, Westmorland Gazette, May 7th, 1910. He was not, however, as there stated, the son of Michael.
[163] See Ambleside Town and Chapel, p. 53.
[164] See Ambleside Town and Chapel. More particulars of the education of George Fleming will be found in the forthcoming Chronicles of Rydal.
[165] See Dictionary of National Biography. The fact of his having acquired the rectorate of Grasmere seems, however, not to have been known to his biographers; but the Registry of Chester shows it.
[166] One would willingly connect this Grasmere land-holder with the astronomer of the same name who enjoys a place in the National Dictionary of Biography. This remarkable man was born of statesmen parents as near as Whitbeck, under Black Combe, in 1767, and was educated at the Hawkshead Grammar School. His biographer, Dr. Lonsdale, in the Worthies of Cumberland, says, "Between his leaving Hawkshead and his becoming a clergyman of the Church of England I have no facts to guide me: but it may be inferred that he went to Cambridge."