RELIGIOUS LIFE 57

annual holiday, was a religious exercise ; at the
same time this day was devoted especially to
entertainment. Wills of the century show that the
citizens lived as religiously as formerly. This spirit
is seen perhaps most characteristically in the numbers
of candles that wealthy citizens bequeathed for
use in church, and in the sums of money they
left to specified clerg}- and other " religious"
for the provision of masses for the souls of them-
selves, their wives and families, and for those for
whom they ought to pray. Masses were thus
provided for by hundreds, and in some cases by
thousands. The following extracts from the will1
of a rich citizen and merchant of York, who had
been sheriff and mayor of the city, show admirably
the spirit of a member of the middle class in the
fifteenth century: —

" In the name of God Amen. The 4th day of
September in the year of our L,ord 1436, I Thomas
Bracebrig, Citizen and merchant, York, sound of
mind and having health of body, establish and
dispose my Will in this manner. First, I command
and bequeath my soul to God Almighty, to the
blessed Mary, Mother of God and ever Virgin, and
to All Saints, and my body to be buried in the parish
church of St. Saviour in York, before the image of
the Crucifix of our Lord Jesus Christ, next to the
bodies of my wives and children lately buried there,
for having which burial in that place I bequeath to
the fabric of the same parish church 20$. Also
I bequeath for my mortuary my best garment with
hood appropriate for my body. Also I bequeath to
Master John Amall, Rector of the said parish church

* As translated from the Latin by the late Mr. R, B. Cook
and found among his valuable contributions to the publications
of The Yorkshire Architectural Society.