Another passage in the Rolls of Parliament seems to afford a respectable civic precedent for the services performed by Nicholas Assheton and other liveried gentlemen, when they waited at the lords' table at Houghton Tower:
"11th Edward III. A.D. 1337.
"A nre Seigneur le Roy et a son conseil monstre Richard de Bettoyne de Loundres, qe come au Coronement nre Seigneur le Roy q ore est il adonge Meire de Loundres fesoit l'office de Botiller ove CCC e LX vadletz vestutz d'une sute chescun portant en sa mayn un coupe blanche d'argent come autres Meirs de Loundres ountz faitz as Coronementz des
genitours nostre Seigneur le Roy dont memoire ne court pars et le fee q appendoit a cel jorne c'est asavoir un coupe d'or ove la covercle et un ewer d'or enamaille lui fust livere
assent du Counte de Lancastre et d'autres Grantz qu'adonges y furent du Conseil nostre Seigneur le Roy
la mayn Sire Roƀt de Wodehouse et ore vient en estreite as Viscountes de Londres hors del Chekker de faire lever des Biens et Chateux du dit Richard xx/iiii ixli. xiis. vid. pur le fee avant dit dont il prie qe remedie lui soit ordeyne.
"Et le Meire et Citoyens d'Oxenford ount
point de chartre q'ils vendront a Londres l'Encorronement d'eyder le Meire de Loundres pur servir a la fest et toutz jours l'ount usee. Et si i plest a nre Seigneur le Roy et a son Conseil nous payerons volonters la fee issent qe nous soyons descharges de la service."—Rolls of Parliament, vol. ii. p. 96.
"To our lord the King and to his Council sheweth Richard de Bettoyne of London, that whereas at the coronation of our lord the King that now is, he their mayor of London performed the office of butler with three hundred and sixty valets clothed of one suit each, bearing in his hand a white cup of silver, as other mayors of London have done at the coronations of the progenitors of our lord the King, whereof memory runneth not, and the fee which appertained to this day's work, that is to wit, a cup of gold with the cover, and a ewer of gold enamelled, were delivered to him by assent of the Earl of Lancaster, and of the other grandees who then there were of the council of our lord the King, by the hand of Sire Robert de Wodehouse, and now comes in estreat to the viscounts of London out of the Checquer, to cause to take the goods and chattels of the said Richard, eighty-nine pounds twelve shillings and sixpence, for the fee aforesaid, whereof he prays that remedy be ordained to him.
"And the mayor and citizens of Oxford have, by point of charter, that they shall come to London to the coronation, to help the mayor of London to serve at the feast, and always have so done. And if it please our lord the King and his Council, we will pay willingly the fee, provided that we be discharged of the service."
There can be little doubt that the citizens of Oxford bore their own travelling expenses; and it seems probable that the citizens of London and Oxford bore the cost of the three hundred and sixty suits of clothes and three hundred and sixty silver cups; but this is scarcely sufficient to account for their willingness to pay a sum of money equivalent to about fifteen hundred pounds in the present day, in order to be relieved from the honourable service of waiting clothed in uniform, each with a silver cup in his hand, helping the Mayor of London to perform the office of butler at coronation feasts. However this may be, it is still somewhat remarkable that, in the seventeenth century, Nicholas Assheton of Downham, Esq., and other gentlemen of Lancashire, upon a less important occasion than a coronation feast, dressed in the livery of Sir Richard Houghton and voluntarily attended, day after day, at the lords' table at Houghton Tower, and served the lords with biscuit, wine, and Jelly.
J. Lewelyn Curtis.
FEMALE PARISH CLERKS.
(Vol. viii., p. 338.)
The cases of Rex v. Stubbs and Olive v. Ingram, mentioned in the following extracts from Prideaux's Guide to Churchwardens, p. 4., may be of service:
"Generally speaking, all persons inhabitants of the parish are liable to serve the office of churchwarden, and from the cases of Rex v. Stubbs (2 T. R. 395.; 1 Bott. 10.), in which it was held that a woman is not exempt from serving the office of overseer of the poor, and Olive v. Ingram (2 Str. 1114.), in which it was held that she may be a parish sexton, there may, perhaps, be some ground for contending a woman is not exempt from this duty."
Russell Gole.