erected, bearing, over the entrance, the following inscrip tion : "MRS. SMITH'S ALMS HOUSES, erected in the year 1780, for the benefit of twelve poor women, of honest life and conversation, of the age of fifty years and upwards, being communicants of the Church of England, as by law established." In 1720, this Mrs. Ann Smith, of London, widow, left, by will, £5,000 for this purpose; but there being a deficiency in the assets, after adjusting all claims, the Court of Chancery appointed £4,432:6: 2 to be laid out in South Sea Annuities; and the ministers of the parishes of St. Peter and St. Mary at the Elms, were appointed trustees. This is one of the few instances of modern date, of an individual leaving money for erecting a building for a charitable institution. We have, now, no Greshams, Seckfords, Tooleys, or Smarts, anxious to hand down their names, as charitable benefactors, to futurity. This liberal age seems to act upon the more provident principle of the Irishman who observed, that "as posterity had never done anything for him, he did not see why he should do anything for posterity." In 1635, Mr. William Hunt gave £100 to the town of Ipswich, to be lent to five poor tradesmen, in the parish of St. Mary at the Elms, at 4 per cent., for five years; the interest to be paid to the churchwardens, to buy shirts and shifts, to be distributed to the poor of the said parish : but of this the corporation received no more than £60. We have not to record the names of many great or exalted characters which this parish has produced; hut the following account exhibits such a striking instance of the vicissitudes of fortune, that it might appear to be fabulous, had it not been attested by the evidence of Edward Bacon, esq., of this town, who is well acquainted with the veracity of the particulars. Some years ago, a pauper of the name of Jacob Dedham, alias Caulins Jaun, 1 ! ! left the parish workhouse of St. Mary at the Elms, with but one solitary shilling in his pocket, given him by the churchwarden. By some means or other he contrived to get a passage out to India, either as a soldier or sailor. This self-taught genius was a quiet inoffensive man, but was possessed of keen and quick penetration. He discovered a talent for drawing; and having attracted the attention of some persons in power, he was taken into the engineering department, and being employed as a spy, he assumed various disguises, and was instrumental in rendering great service to Lord Cornwallis; who was so sensible of the value of his communications, that he always intended to have placed him in independence; but his noble patron dying before Caulins returned to England, his services were overlooked or forgotten. After traversing our eastern territories, in various directions, and meeting with many singular adventures, he married the widow of a Nabob, immensely rich, and lived in the height of luxury and splendour. He was thoughtless and improvident, and probably not more correct in his transactions than some other East India Nabobs have been; but he did not escape the shafts of envy or detraction, and, from some suspicions attaching to his character, he was compelled to fly from the country, and leave his wife and his wealth behind, thinking himself fortunate to escape with his life. He returned to England; and, after being reduced to the most abject poverty, wretchedness, and disease, he once again arrived at Ipswich, in a state of beggary and starvation; and was actually found one morning asleep in the porch of St. Mary at the Elms' church. From his disgusting appearance, he was refused admittance into the workhouse, was carried before the magistrate as a vagabond, and gave an account of himself that was not believed. But, from the local knowledge which Mr. Bacon had of India, he was fully convinced of the truth of his narration; and, with the humanity which is so conspicuous in his character, interested himself warmly in this singular adventurer's behalf. He was relieved, clothed, and restored to health and comparative comfort; and maintained himself for some time, decently, by his pencil. He was employed by Mr. Bacon, to take a view of the town of Ipswich; which is now, with several other of his drawings, in the possession of the Rev. Richard Cobbold:-this view, though evidently not the production of a professional artist, is executed with an extraordinary degree of accuracy and precision, is a very pleasing picture, and a curious specimen of what may be effected by a person who had never been taught the rudiments of the art. After residing here for some time, his passion for adventures once more revived, and he proceeded to some port, where he engaged again to work out his passage to India; but he had scarcely got on board to take possession of his birth, when he accidentally fell into the hold of the ship, and was killed upon the spot. Thus strangely ended the more strange life of Caulins Jaun, the workhouse wanderer from St. Mary at the Elms. We now proceed through Little King-street, into the Old Butter-market, where we enter St. Lawrence' parish. St. Lawrence is said, in Doomsday, to have possessed twelve acres of land. Norman, the son of Eadnoth, gave this church to Trinity Priory, -to which it was impropriated; but, as there was no grant of its impropriation, at the dissolution of the priory, we may conclude that there was then no land belonging to the church. A convent of Carmelites, or White Friars, was established here, in 1279, by Sir Thomas Loudham. It was of considerable extent, reaching from St. Nicholas'-street, to St. Stephen's lane, taking in a portion of the Old Butter-market; and some part of the building was afterwards appropriated to the purpose of a county gaol, and was situated in what is still called the Old Gaol Lane, abutting upon Mr. Barnard Clarke's garden. Some fragments of the building are yet to be met with in this garden; which is opposite to the west entrance into the New Market. Some years ago, on excavating the earth for the purpose of laying the foundation of Mr. Bowman's brewery, great numbers of human bones were dug up; so that, doubtless, here was the cemetery of the convent. Sir Thomas Loudham, the founder, and John Loudham, esq., were buried in the conventual church; also John Barningham, a person very learned, who had studied long at Oxford, and among the Sorbonists at Paris: he wrote divers books, and died a wondrous old man, January 22nd, 1448; and had been prior of this convent. Several of the priors were much distinguished for their learning. The present church was begun by John Bottold; who died in 1431, and is buried in the church, with this inscription : "Subjacet hoc lapide John Bottold vir probus ipse, The chancel was built by John Baldwyn, draper; who died in 1449; and whose name is in the stone work, under the east window, accompanied with a pair of shears, indicative of his profession. This stone has been ridiculously plastered over. About this time, several legacies were also left for the erection of the steeple: which, we believe, is the highest in the town. In 1514, Edmund Daundy, then representative for the borough, and one of the most respectable men of the town, founded a chauntry in this church, for a secular priest to officiate at the altar of St. Thomas, in behalf of himself and his relations - among whom he reckoned Thomas Wolsey, then Dean of Lincoln, and the dean's parents, Robert and Jane Wolsey, deceased. To this priest and his successors, he gave his house, in this parish, for a residence, and his lands in Sproughton, Stoke, and Alnesborne, for a maintenance. Mr. Daundy died in 1515, and is buried in the chancel. A chauntry was a sacred edifice, generally placed in separate chapels, or at altars, within cathedrals, monasteries, and parish churches, endowed with possessions for the payment of mass to be sung for the soul of their founders or their kindred; but they were destroyed in all the churches visited by Wm. Dowsing and his merciless coadjutors. We may form some idea of the richness of this particular endowment, from the following document: " In the church chest of this parish, shuffled in among other papers, a receipt was found some years ago, given by Edward Grymeston, to Lionel Talmage and William Foster, esquires, John Holland, and Matthew Goodying, bailives of Ipswich, (commissioners for the sale of church goods, within the said town,) acknowledging these particulars, viz. thirty-eight pounds seven shillings and fourpence, in ready money, arising from goods already sold by them; four hundred, threescore, and seventeen ounces and a half, of plate; eight copes of cloth of gold and tissue; two vestments of cloth of gold and tissue; and two tunicles of cloth of gold and tissue, to be delivered over to the use of the king's majesty, by the said Edward Grymeston: dated 28th May, in the seventh year of Edward VI. 1553." John Clyatt, portman, who died 1529, is buried in the church; and a monument to the memory of John Moone, DD |