Alphe a forseyde shal haue the seyde cuppe to be boryn a fore them att the manage yff they come to the church wardens and dezier itt."
I should be glad to know whether any other such bequests are on record, and also what special significance the bearing of a cup before the bride could have had.
One of the ancient revenues of the king was the lathe-silver, collected by lathes from each hundred of the county, the lathe for this purpose being sometimes farmed out by the sheriff. Its origin has, I believe, not been settled, and although it was a very small burden, it was—like most other taxes—considered a grievance. John Passey of Eltham, in his will, dated 5th July 1509 [Book VI, fo. 252b], consequently thought to do his friends a good turn, and so bequeaths
"after the death of Agnes my wife xiijs. iiijd. to the borowsolder of Eltham for the tyme beyng for thuse of our souerayne lord the kynge toward the discharge yerly of the seruants, inhabitants of Eltham, for euer, of and for a certen some of money callid hedesiluer other wise callid the coman fyne, payable yerly at Mihilmass lawdaye in Eltham, which usually is and in tymes passd hath be lovyed by the borowsolder ther yerly of the said inhabitants."
This lathe-silver has ceased to be paid in Kent for about a century.
In the will of William Colt of Sent Warborugh, Hoo, dated 1516 [Book VII, fo. 83a], is a bequest for distributing cakes. He desires that
"On accar of land lyng in Northefeld, callyd Longland, shall remayn to John my son and to his heyrys on thys condycon, that he, hys heyrys, &c., euery Goode Fryday for euermore, do bake or cause to be bakyn, a bushell of goode whete in Wastell breede, and euery Wastell in valor of a ob., and so to be delyuered to poure people where ned ys most or shalbe in the chyrche of Hoo."
It was, I conclude, some such bequest as this which led
