Saint Catherine's (JE[361],c). This is probably St. Catherine's near Guildford, which was one of the stations on the "Pilgrim's way" from Winchester to Canterbury, the route lying also through Kent. From St. Catherine's, which stands on a knoll just to the south of Guildford, the "way" leads up through "The Chantries" to St. Martha's Chapel, which crowns a considerable hill, thence proceeding eastward into Kent.
Saint Chad (IP[336],c). Of course this saint was picked for the rhyme's sake. St. Chad was better known by his Saxon name of St. Ceadda, a Northumbrian by birth. His early life was spent in a monastery in Ireland. In 664 he succeeded Bishop Cedda, his brother, as abbot of Lastingham. Subsequently he became Bishop of York, but resigned the bishopric on a question arising as to the regularity of his consecration, retiring to his old office at Lastingham. On the death of Jaruman, bishop of Mercia, Ceadda was induced to enter the episcopate once more. He died at Lichfield in 672. He has always been a popular saint in the English Calendar, his festival falling on the 2nd March.
Saint Charity (M[11],b), see Anon. Plays (E.E.D.S.), 3 Ser., 293,d.
Saint Gabriel's Mother (M[35],b), perhaps a reference to the Virgin Mary. There are three St. Gabriels, of whom the one recognised in the gnostic systems is the more likely. He was the angel specially associated with the conception of the Virgin Mary, and according to some versions was Jesus Himself taking the form of the angel Gabriel for the purpose of preparing the Virgin, in a physical sense, for the miraculous conception.
Saint George, "Saint George thee borrow" (R[208],a), whether merely used as a salutation or referring to some song is not clear: as regards the phrase, see Udal, Works (E.E.D.S.), 146,d.
Saint Hugh (IP[341],a). There are no less than four St. Hughs who were bishops, viz.:—Hugh, 9th Bishop of Geneva, early in 7th century; Hugh, 13th Bishop of Alby, said to have been in possession of the See when the Saracens took the city in 722; Hugh, 37th Bishop of Paris, died in 730; Hugh, 18th Bishop of Séez, in latter half of 8th century. There is also a legendary St. Hugh, patron of the Abbey of Tewkesbury, who is said to have buried Brihtric, King of Mercia, in the chapel of St. Faith at Tewkesbury, and to have been buried there himself in 812. According to Dictionary of Christian Biography, the story is an impudent fabrication.
Saint Quintin (M[13],b) came into Gaul with St. Lucian of Beavais, and was martyred by the Romans under Rectiovarus.
Saint Trunnion, see Heywood, Works (E.E.D.S.), I., 272,d.
Sallet, "for lack of a sallet" (R[229],b), a light helmet, chiefly used by foot-soldiers in the fifteenth century: see God's Good. "Many a time, but for a sallet, my brain-pan had been cleft with a brown-bill."—Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI., ix. 10.