Page:Notes by the Way.djvu/148

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78

��NOTES BY THE WAY.

��" The Earl of Crewe : There has existed in the public mind a curious confusion as to what flags may be flown and what may not be flown. At one time it seemed to be believed that the Royal Standard could be flown anywhere and by anybody. That, however, we now know is not the case. It was formally announced that the Royal Standard is the personal flag of the Sovereign, and cannot be flown without His Majesty's permission, and that is only granted when the King and Queen are present. Of course, a very different state of things applies with regard to the Union Jack. I think it may fairly be stated that the Union Jack should be regarded as the National Flag, and it may undoubtedly be flown on land by all His Majesty's subjects."

��1900, Aug. 18.

��Whitgift Hospital, Croydon.

Daily Telegraph account of

quaint regulations.

��WHITGIFT HOSPITAL, CROYDON.

The Daily Telegraph of August 13th, 1900, states that this institution, founded in the reign of Elizabeth by Archbishop Whit- gift, is threatened with demolition. It was established for the maintenance of a warden, schoolmaster, and twenty-eight men and women, or as many more under forty as the revenues would admit. The Daily Telegraph, in an interesting account of the quaint regulations by which it was originally governed, mentions :

" ' Iff anie glasse windowe be broken, or other decay e, by wyllful- ness or necgligence, be made in private roome of the hospitall, the same, upon wareninge given by the wardeine, shal be amendid within one monethe by him or her, and at his or her charges whome the roome is, uppon payne to loose foure pence for every weeke after tell yt be mendid.' Among the interesting relics preserved, in addition to one or two stained-glass medallions, are a black-letter folio Bible, dated 1599, the year in which the building was completed ; a portrait of a lady, dated 1616, supposed to be one of the Archbishop's daughters ; two framed elegiac inscriptions in Latin and English, eulogizing the founder ; the original letters patent, embellished with a portrait of Elizabeth on vellum ; and the deed of foundation. The late Duke of Saxe-Coburg was entertained at luncheon in the Great Hall after opening the new wing of the Croydon General Hospital in 1883."

��1900, Sept. 22.

Vanishing

London :

Bream's

Buildings.

Fetter Lane :

"Fewter

Lane."

��VANISHING LONDON.

No part of London has been richer in interesting landmarks than the neighbourhood of Bream's Buildings. Most of these have now been removed. Indeed, the only one likely to remain is the old gateway to Lincoln's Inn. This, although long threatened, still survives.

Fetter Lane, or " Fewter Lane," was so called from " fewters " or idle persons. Here once resided Hobbes of Malmesbury ; Sir Thomas Wentworth (Strafford) writes from it on March 26th, 1621 ; John Bagford the antiquary was born here in 1675 ; Tom

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