And all the said parcels safely to be kept & preserved, & all the
same & every parcel thereof to be forthcoming at all times when it
shall be of them [the churchwardens] required."
[22] A fine linen cloth made in Brittany (cf. _Coriolanus_, Act
ii. sc. 1).
[23] A rich sort of stuff interwoven with gold and silver, made at
Tournay, which was formerly called Dorneck, in Flanders.
[24] An alloy of copper and zinc.
[25] Large standard candlesticks.
[26] The Lent cloth, hung before the altar during Lent.
[27] A Pax.
This inventory of the goods of one small church enables us to judge of
the wealth of our country churches before they were despoiled. Of
private spoliators their name was legion. The arch-spoliator was
Protector Somerset, the King's uncle, Edward Seymour, formerly Earl of
Hertford and then created Duke of Somerset. He ruled England for three
years after King Henry's death. He was a glaring and unblushing
church-robber, setting an example which others were only too ready to
follow. Canon Overton[28] tells how Somerset House remains as a
standing memorial of his rapacity. In order to provide materials for
building it he pulled down the church of St. Mary-le-Strand and three
bishops' houses, and was proceeding also to pull down the historical
church of St.
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