THE HOSPITAL OF ST. CROSS, EAST END, HAMPSHIRE. THE Hospital of St. Cross is situated in a delightful valley, at the distance of about one mile from the city of Winchester, from which place the footpath to St. Cross winds along the margin of a pleasant river, which enlivens a scene rendered beautiful and picturesque by cottages and farms, that are interspersed in every direction. Drawing nearer to the ancient walls of St. Cross, the mind is imperceptibly diverted from the charms of nature and of rural life, to ruminate on the remains of this once splendid establishment, which retains more of the appearance of monastic order than is now to be found elsewhere in the kingdom. It was founded by Henry de Blois, bishop of Winchester, in the year 1132, for the health of his own soul and the souls of the kings of England. The original institution was for the maintenance of thirteen poor men, so debilitated by age and infirmities as to be unable to maintain themselves without charitable assistance: these men were to have continual habitation in the Hospital, and to be provided with proper clothing, and beds suitable to their infirmities; and also to have a daily allowance of good wheaten bread, good small beer, three messes each for dinner, and one for supper: but in case any one of these should happen to recover a sufficient degree of strength, so as to be judged able to maintain himself, he should be respectfully discharged, and another admitted into his place. Besides these thir teen poor brethren, one hundred other poor, of modest behaviour, and the most indigent that could be found, should be received daily at dinner, and have each a loaf of common bread, one mess, and a proper allowance of beer, with leave to carry away with them whatever they did not consume on the spot. The founder also directed other charities to be distributed among the poor in general, in such proportion as the revenues of the Hospital should be found able to allow, the whole of which was to be applied to charitable uses. There was also a foundation for a master, with the salary of from seven to eight pounds annually, together with a steward, four chaplains, thirteen clerks, and seven choristers (the latter of whom were kept at school in the Hospital), besides servants. The endowments of this Hospital were not altogether derived from the founder's own private fortune, but consisted principally in the donations of divers considerable rectories belonging to his diocess, or that were under his patronage; the greater part of which, though granted to the Hospital by his express terms of the charter of foundation, were, nevertheless, only made subject to the payment of certain annual pensions, except the churches of Husborne, Whitchurch, Fareham, and Twyford, with their chapels. The revenues of the Hospital appear, by an old BEAUFORT'S TOWER, HOSPITAL OF ST. CROSS. record of inquisition, to have amounted originally to 2501. per annum; in Wykeham's time they were said by him, in his letters to the pope, to be above 300l. per annum, and were afterwards proved by one of the stewards, cotemporary with that bishop, as well as to several other persons, to have exceeded the yearly amount of 400l.: the whole free from all deductions or taxes, either to the pope or king, as being entirely appropriated to the use and benefit of the poor, except 71. 48. 6d. per annum, which was the valuation of the master's portion. The particular allowances to the poor, according to the above inquisition, were as follow: each of the thirteen secular brethren were allowed daily one loaf of good wheaten bread, of five marks weight (viz. three pounds four ounces), one gallon and a half of good small beer: they had also a pottage called mortrel, made of milk and Wastel bred, a dish of flesh or fish, as the day should require, and a pittance for their dinner, likewise one dish for their supper. The hundred casual poor were fed in a hall appointed for this purpose, called from this circumstance-Hundred-mennes-hall. The controllers and head administrators of this charity were, by the appointment of De Blois, the Religious Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, whose peculiar institute was to take care of hospitals, and who had a preceptory at Baddesley, near Lymington, in this county. But the succeeding bishop, Richard Toclyve, disagreeing with them concerning the administration of the Hospital, at he instance of the sovereign, Henry II. and upon certain conditions agreed upon between the parties, they resigned their charge into the hands of the prelate and his successors. Toclyve, being bent upon the improvement of this charity, provided that an additional hundred poor persons should be supported on it, besides those appointed by his predecessor. In the end, however, he seems to have built and founded an hospital of his own (St. Mary Magdalen) on the opposite side of the city. The institution of St. Cross, having been much injured and diverted from its original purpose, by certain masters of it, in the fourteenth century, it was, with infinite pains, and many a tedious process, both in the spiritual and temporal courts, brought back to its original perfection by William of Wykeham, who made use for this purpose of his able confidant John de Campden, having appointed him to the mastership of it. In short, this establishment, as Lowth remarks, was put upon so good a footing by Wykeham and Campden, that the succeeding bishop, cardinal Beaufort, being resolved to imitate the conduct of his predecessors, in making some permanent charitable foundation, chose rather to enlarge this ancient institution than to erect a new one. With this view he made an endowment for the maintenance of two more priests, thirty-five additional poor men, residents in the house, and of three women to attend upon such as were sick. The intention of Beaufort was, that this charity should be applied |
