Wanderings in Wessex: An Exploration of the Southern Realm from Itchen to OtterHolmes, Edric
History
Wanderings in Wessex: An Exploration of the Southern Realm from Itchen to Otter
Holmes, Edric
England -- Description and travel
"On September 25 the Archduke and Duchess of Austria with their
suite arrived in town from Bath. On the road, as they came through
the Devizes, they met with a singular occurrence, which afforded
them some entertainment. A custom has prevailed in that place, of
which the following story is the foundation: A poor weaver passing
through the place without money and friends, being overtaken by
hunger and in the utmost necessity, applied for charity to a baker,
who kindly gave him a penny loaf. The weaver made his way to
Coventry, where, after many years' industry, he amassed a fortune,
and by his will, in remembrance of the seasonable charity of
the Devizes, he bequeathed a sum in trust, for the purpose of
distributing on the anniversary of the day when he was so relieved
a halfpenny loaf to every person in the town, gentle and simple,
and to every traveller that should pass through the town on that
day a penny loaf. The will is faithfully adminstered, and the Duke
of Austria and his suite passing through the town on the day of
the Coventry loaf, on their way from Bath to London, a loaf was
presented to each of them, of which the Duke and Duchess were most
cheerfully pleased to accept, and the custom struck the Archduke so
forcibly as a curious anecdote in his travels that he minuted down
the circumstance, and the high personages seemed to take delight in
breakfasting on the loaf thus given as the testimony of gratitude
for a favour seasonably conferred."
[Illustration: BISHOP'S CANNINGS.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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