Chelsea in the olden & present times / by George Bryan.

  • Bryan, George.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chelsea in the olden & present times / by George Bryan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    29/240 (page 17)
    PENANCE. it: SPRING TIDES.—TAKEN TO CHURCH IN A BOAT. A circumstance occurred at the church, about the year 1809, of a singular character. I'here had been some very high tides during the week, and on the following Sunday morning the waters rose several feet against the southern boundary wall, which rendered the employment of a boat necessary to convey those of the congregation who resided in the neighbourhood near to Battersea Bridge to the western entrance of the church. Although there have been some very high spring tides since that time, I am happy to say, the congregation have always been enabled to walk to the Old Church without the least fear of being drowned on their way to it ! The. raising of the road, and other alterations, have no doubt checked such overflowings at this particular spot. DOING PENANCE. The next event is one of unusual interest. The statement may .be relied upon as authentic, and the circumstance of its not having gained publicity has been owing to the few persons who witnessed it and the secrecy enjoined, but after nearly sixty years have elapsed, and the individuals concerned being long since deceased, the particulars may now be fairly dis- closed without any breach of confidence. A short time after the conclusion of Divine Service, on a Sunday morning, a gentleman alighted from a carriage and pro- ceeded to the Vestry Room, where two others were waiting his arrival. As soon as the congregation had dispersed, the parties, with two or three parochial officers, &c., went to the entrance of the middle aisle, and the inner door being closed, the person especially referred to hurriedly knelt down. A paper was then placed in his hand, which was a recantation of certain opprobrious epithets that he had applied to a lady in one of the streets in the parish, stigmatizing her publicly by a term which the reader can easily supply. When he recited the offensive words he laid particular emphasis on them, evidently in a spirit of bravado and not of contrition. Penance and penitence were not in any way, apparently, considered by him c