h had already found its way into the pockets of the
laity; and the other is the lamentable necessity there was at that period
to provide the English clergy with ready-made Homilies. These Homilies
were ordered (as the Prayer Book informs us, in the XXXV. Article), to be
read "diligently and distinctly" in the churches by the Ministers.

XII.--Before the Reformation--and After.

It may be assumed that Willenhall Church has been dedicated to St. Giles
from the first, because the period for holding the dedicatory Wake
synchronises with St. Gile's day (September 1st), making allowance for
the eleven days' difference effected in 1752 between the Old Style and
the New Style calendars. As the Protestant Reformers took objection to
non-Biblical saints (West Bromwich Church was altered from St. Clement's
to All Saints'), a dedication to St. Giles may safely be accepted as a
pre-Reformation one; and as St. Giles was the patron saint of cripples,
he doubtless retained his popularity here on account of the reputation
for healing qualities acquired by the Willenhall "Holy Well"--of which
more anon. But in addition to its Wake, the town seems to have possessed
in mediaeval times a much frequented Summer Fair, held on Trinity Sunday.
Our knowledge of this interesting fact is derived from the records of the
Court of Star Chamber.

This court was established by Henry VII. to deal with routs, riots, and
all other cases not sufficiently provided for by the common law; but the
oppression practised by the unscrupulous abuse of its indefinite
jurisdiction led to its summary extinction in the reign of Charles I.

The case to be quoted is one of an alleged riot in the year 1498 (13
Henry VII.), in which the men of Wednesbury were deeply involved. These
turbulent townsmen seem to have made themselves notorious for riotous
behaviour at various times; as witness the historic Wesley Riots of 1744,
their march on Birmingham to regulate the price of malt in 1782, and
their attack on the same town during the Church and King Riots in 1791.

It would appear that a company of Mummers, made up of performers from
Wolverhampton, Wednesbury, and Walsall, were regularly in the habit of
going round to the neighbouring Fairs, and performing to the
accompaniment of pipe and tabor a Morris-dance, in which the characters
were dressed up for the then popular dramatic interlude of "Robin Hood,"
including Maid Marian, Friar Tuck, and all the rest of t