PART OF THE CHOIR
With the REMAINS of the SOUTH TRANSEPT of the CHURCH of St. BARTHOLOMEW the Great.
IN WEST SMITHFIELD
London. Published 25 March 1821 by Robert Wilkinson, 125 Fenchurch Street.
Rahere next proceeded to found the Priory of St. Bartholomew beside the Hospital. The House received its first Charter from Henry the First in 1133. In this Charter the King orders his successors to defend the House as jealously as their own crown. The Priory has long since disappeared, with the exception of part of the Church, but the Hospital exists to this day, enlarged and richly endowed, a perennial fountain of life and health, while the church of the Priory, such part of it as still remains, is the noblest mediæval monument left to London. The Hospital, according to the custom of the time, consisted of a double Hall, or a single Hall with aisles. Between the aisles, or at the end of the Hall, was the Chapel. In either aisle were the beds of the sick: the men on one side, the women on the other. As the patients were brought in, they were put to bed—two, four, even eight in one bed—without any regard to the kind of disease from which they suffered, so that in case of contagion or infection the other occupants of the bed were certain to catch it. One wonders how, in these circumstances, any one ever came out of the Hospital at all, and how any one could expect to recover. But all diseases were not infectious or contagious; and as for the patient, he was probably, from long experience of dirt and confined air, secure as regards many things which would now be fatal; then there was food for him; there was nursing of a kind; if one were thirsty he could drink; if one were hungry he could eat; the sisters were gentle and pitiful; the physician was always in readiness; his remedies were strange and wonderful, but the groundwork was the old wife’s knowledge of herbs and their uses—lore not to be despised;—moreover, the chief terror of death was removed, because the priest was always in the hospital with the last offices of the Church to fortify the dying. The Hall was spacious, lofty, and well lit—a paradise to a fever-stricken wretch from a hovel without chimney, floor, or window; the beds were soft and clean—as cleanliness was then understood; the way of death was made easy, even if the recovery of health were denied.
TOMB OF PRIOR RAHERE
In the Church of St. Bartholomew the Great.
Rahere himself became the first Prior of his monastery; he died September 20, 1144, and was buried in the Church; the canopied tomb of the fifteenth century, which still stands in the Chancel of St. Bartholomew the Great, is said to cover the dust of the Founder, whose effigy may be twelfth-century work. On the tomb are figured two monks reading in Bibles open at the fifty-first chapter of Isaiah and the third verse:—
“For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.”
It would be difficult to find a more appropriate text. There are four shields on the tomb, being those of England, London, the Hospital, and the Priory. The tomb itself was desecrated by workmen in 1864. One of the leather sandals was taken off Rahere’s foot, and lost for thirty years; it has now been recovered, and is placed with other things in a small glass case in the church.
Rahere joined the order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, who were great builders and architects, and, among other things, practised medicine.
Those of the original buildings which remain are small portions of the choir of the church, from which the whole has been restored, and perhaps a portion or fragments of the transepts. The nave has long since been destroyed; the transepts are later. Originally there were an apsidal Lady Chapel and two apsidal side chapels: that on the north side is dedicated to St. Bartholomew; that on the south to St. Stephen. When Rahere died there were thirteen canons for the new Foundation, a number increased to thirty-five under his successor. There can be no doubt, therefore, of the success of the House. The canons were not subject to duty in the Hospital. For the service of the sick there was another Foundation, consisting of a Hospitaller with eight Brothers and four Sisters, under the rule of the Prior. Rahere’s buildings were largely extended by his successor. About the same time was built the gateway into Smithfield, which still, most fortunately, stands, having escaped vandal, builder, landlord, and every danger. The present west front is, of course, modern, and the churchyard occupies the site of the former nave.