IV.

NOTES ON THE COMMUNION PLATE LATELY PRESENTED TO THE FRENCH PROTESTANT HOSPITAL, VICTORIA PARK. LONDON.

In the 16th and 17th centuries each of the four Parishes of All Hallows the Great, All Hallows the Less, St Martin Vintry and St Michael Paternoster Royal possessed its own Church, but all were consumed in the Great Fire of London, and in the re-building of the City a single Church was erected to serve the Parishes of All Hallows the Great and Less, and another to serve the Parishes of St Martin Vintry and St Michael Paternoster Royal.

Under an Order in Council, made early in 1893 for uniting these four Benefices the Church of St Michael Paternoster Royal was retained as the Parish Church, and that of All Hallows was taken down and the site sold.

All Hallows Church had been noted for its beautiful Chancel Screen and for its magnificent double service of Sacramental Plate, both of which had been given early in the 17th century by the Foreign Protestant Merchants whose headquarters in London were in this Parish.

On the demolition of the Church the carved Screen was transferred to St Margaret's Lothbury, while the Communion Plate was "lodged in a chest in the adjoining City of London Brewery for security and to save expense."

Here fortunately it was seen by Sir Henry Peek, President of the Huguenot Society of London, and Senior Director of the French Protestant Hospital, and he at once suggested that one complete service of this Communion Plate would find its most appropriate destination in the Chapel of the Hospital—an Institution which was founded by a later generation of French Protestant Merchants and others as an Asylum for some of the poor and aged French Protestants who had fled to England from the cruel persecutions which followed upon the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Hospital-or Hospice-was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1718 and it has been maintained to this day as a home for poor French Protestants and their descendants in the last stage of their life's journey, so that in its Chapel the earliest traditions connected with this historic service of Sacramental Plate will be again taken up and carried on.

The suggestion of Sir Henry Peek was most kindly received by the Rector and Churchwardens of the United Parishes.

With their approval formal application was made to the Bishop of London to sanction the transfer and a special Joint Vestry of the United Parishes was called in November 1894 to consider the matter. But at this point legal difficulties arose which were only surmounted after about eighteen months' official correspondence and then, not by any legal process, but by mutual concession and goodwill.

On the 2nd May 1896 the Secretary of the French Protestant Hospital was invited to attend the Bishop of London at the office of his Registrar in the Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, when the Bishop, complying with the request of the Rector and Churchwardens of the United Parishes formally delivered to him the Sacramental Plate to be henceforth used in the Chapel of the Hospital. A copy of the Bishop's order dated 29th April under which the transfer was made was also handed to him.

For the afternoon of the same day a special General Court had been convened at the French Hospital to which the Rector and Churchwardens of the united Parishes had been invited.

Immediately on its arrival, the Communion Plate was placed on the Holy Table in the Chapel and a message conveyed to the Court that this had been done. At the invitation of the Deputy Governor, the Rector (the Revd Thomas Moore, M.A.), explained that under the scheme for amalgamating the several parishes represented by himself and the Churchwardens present the Church of All Hallows the Great had been removed and its Communion Plate became available for use elsewhere. He then spoke of the request of Sir Henry Peek, of its reception by himself and the Vestry and of the legal difficulties which had for so long prevented the proposed transfer. These having been at last overcome, and the Bishop having that day himself put the French Hospital in possession of the plate, he formally presented the sacred vessels to the Governor and Directors of the Corporation, commending their frequent and reverential use in the Chapel of the Hospital.

The Deputy Governor in gratefully accepting the gift to the Corporation begged the Rector and Churchwardens to join with the Directors and Inmates of the Hospital in a Dedication Service in the Chapel which had been arranged by the Chaplain. Sir Henry Peek also thanked the Rector and Churchwardens for the great courtesy with which they had received and considered his request, and for their patient conduct of the correspondence with the Bishop of London which had that day reached so satisfactory a termination, and he expressed a desire

to associate himself with the gift by providing a Chubb's steel safe for its safe keeping.

The Court was closed with the Blessing and all proceeded to the Chapel, where the Inmates were already assembled, to take part in the Dedication Service.

It will be seen by the illustration that the service of Sacramental Plate consists of:

6. A Spoon.

The following are the dimensions and weights of the several pieces and the inscriptions thereon:

1. The Flagon. Height 14in., circumference at base 19 in. Weight 63oz. 16dwt. Date of manufacture 1608; maker's name unknown. Inscription "This Pott "Belongeth to The Parish Church of great Al"hallowes in Tham Stret London, 1608. The "Guift of Thomas Kaddy."

2.

3.

The Chalice or Cup inclusive of cover. Height 11in., circumference at foot 13in, circumference at cover 15 in. Weight of Chalice and cover 27oz. 10dwt. Date of manufacture of Cup 1608. The cover is much earlier, probably about 1544. The makers' names are unknown. Inscription on the Cup "This cup and cover Belongeth to The Parish Church of great Alhallowes in Tham Streit Lon"don 1608."

The larger Paten. Height 3in., circumference at foot 11in., circumference at top 24in. Weight 13oz. 4dwt. Date of manufacture 1634. Maker's name unknown. Inscription "The free guifte of "John Hadson unto ye parishe of Allhallowes y "greate, London, Thames Streete."

4. The smaller Paten. Height 1in., circumference at foot 6 in., circumference at top 17 in. Weight Date of manufacture 1575. Maker unknown. Inscription "Great Alhallowes in Tham Streat, "London, 1608."

5. The Alms Dish. Circumference 221in. Weight 10oz. 18dwt. Date of manufacture 1608. Maker unknown. Inscription "This Plate Belongeth to the