Paul's, namely,
"The Offering of a Buck and Doe." Sir William le Baud in 1328 made a
yearly grant to the Dean and Canons of a doe to be presented on the
Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, and of a fat buck to be offered
at the midsummer commemoration of the same Apostle.
These were to be offered at the high altar by Sir William and his
descendants, and afterwards to be distributed among the Canons
resident. This gift was in acknowledgment of a grant which they had
made him of twenty-two acres of land adjoining his park in Essex.
There was a grand ceremonial on each occasion, the Canons wore their
best vestments and garlands of flowers, and there was a procession
round the church, with the horns of the buck carried on a spear, and
a great noise of horn-blowers. Camden describes it all, as an
eye-witness. This festivity came to an end in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth.
[Illustration: BISHOP AND CANONS IN THE CHURCH OF ST. GREGORY-BY-ST.
PAUL. _From a MS. of Lydgate's Life of St. Edmund. British Museum,
Harl. 2278._]
Our illustration, showing the costume of the clergy of St.
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