His place knows him no more in many churches. We have a black-gowned verger in our towns; a humble temple-sweeper in our villages. The only civil right which he retains is that the prospectors of new railways are obliged to deposit their plans and maps with him, and well do I remember the indignation of my own parish clerk when the plans of a proposed railway, addressed to "the Parish Clerk," were delivered by the postman to the clerk of the Parish Council. It was a wrong that could scarcely be righted.

I would venture to suggest, in conclusion, that it might be worth while for the authorities of the Church to consider the possibility of a revival of the office. It would be a great advantage to the Church to restore the parish clerk to his former important position, and to endeavour to obtain more learned and able men for the discharge of the duties. The office might be made again a sphere of training for those who wish to take Holy Orders, wherein a young man might be thoroughly educated in the duties of the clerical profession. It would be an immense assistance to an incumbent to have an active and educated layman associated with him in the work of the parish, in teaching, in reading and serving in church, and in visiting the sick. Like the clerk of old, he would be studying and preparing for ordination, and there could be no better school for training than actual parish work under the supervision of an earnest and wise rector.

The Church has witnessed vast changes and improvements during the last fifty years. The poor clerk has been left to look after himself. The revival of the office and an improvement in the position and education of the holders of it would, I fully believe, be of an immense advantage to the Church and a most valuable assistance to the clergy.



INDEX

Absolon, Chaucer's portrait of, 26 David, clerk of Great Yarmouth, 185 "Acts," a Christian name, 264 Addison, on clerks, 64 Advent, a carol for, 168 "Ales," clerk's, 42 Allington, Kent, 230 Alnwick, Turner, clerk of, 232 "Amen" epitaph, 97 Ancient Mysteries, 137 Andrews, W., Curious Epitaphs, 100 Curiosities of the Church, 188 Antiquity of clerk's office, 16, etc. Apostles, complimenting the, 265 Appointment, the right of, 246 Aquaebajalus, 27 Arms of the Company of Clerks, 111 Art of Politicks, 184 Art, the clerk in, 195, etc. Ashford, Isaac, the story of, 68 Aston, Yorks, 5 Astronomical clerks, 209, 258 Atchley, Dr. Cuthbert, 49 Atkinson, Rev. Canon, 302, 303 Atkins, Thomas of Chillenden, 236 Augustine of Canterbury, St., 16, 35 Avington, female clerk at, 202

Badger, H.W., of Mallow, 319 Baker, Anthony, deacon-clerk, 329 Bakewell, the Roe family of, 93 Barkham, 143, 312, 331 Barnet, East, clerk of, 60 Barnstaple, clerks of, 61, 327 Barrel-organs, 5 Barton Turf, Norfolk, dog-whippers land at, 34 Beating the bounds at Ringmer, 34 Bede Roll of the Company, 113 Bede, Cuthbert, 91, 161, 201, 317, 327 Bells to warn travellers, 83 Belbroughton, 96 Belts Life, in the pulpit, 231 Belton, Suffolk, Noah Pole, clerk of, 311 Bennet, John, of Woodstock, 163 Beresford Hope on old services, 8, 170 Besant, Sir W., description of old clerk, 21 Bilby, Thomas, author of hymn, 154 Bills of Mortality, 123 Bingley, Hezekiah Briggs, of, 100 Bletchley, clerk of, 59 Bly, Sarah, sexton, 201 "Bobber," or sluggard-waker, 204 Bond family of Worcester, 318 Boniface, Archbishop, constitutions of, 30 Borne, Hooker's parish, 24 Borough, The, by G. Crabbe, 66 Bradford-on-Avon, 158, 194 Bramwells of Chapel-en-le-Frith, 319 Bristol, St. Nicholas, 28, 50 Broadway, the Tustins of, 318 Bromfield, Salop, 280 Bromham, the clerk of, 190 Bromsgrove, Rose family of, 318 Burrows, Mrs., recollections of, 283 Buxted, clerk of, 55

Caistor, Lincolnshire, 227 Calculating clerk, a, 211 Cambridgeshire curate, a, 15 Canes in churches, 190 Canterbury, Guild of Clerks at, 105 Carley, Thomas, of Grafton Underwood, 152 Carne, James, oldest living parish clerk, 319 Carshalton, register of, 141 Catechising, 228 Catechising in church by the clerk, 59, 274 Catwick, Thomas Dixon, of, 206 Celibacy of clerks, 18 Chanter, Rev. J.F., on clerks of Barnstaple, 327 Chapel-en-le-Frith, 319 Chapple, William, of Swymbridge, 174 Charman Dean, smuggling at, 84 Charters of Company of Clerks, 106, 109 Chaucer's portrait of frivolous clerk, 26 Cheshire clerk, an old, 225 Chess in a village, 242 Chester, plays at, 134 Sir Robert, spoliator of Clerks' Company, 108 Chillenden, Kent, 236 Choirs, old-time, 1, 3, 4, 198, 213 "Chosen people," 235 Church, description of an old, 1 Churching of women, 231 Churchwardens' Account books, 19 Clark, John, the register book of, 145 Clarke, John, 111 Clarkson, David, of Feckenham, 318 Claverley, Shropshire, 188 Clergy, defective readers, 58 Clerk's ale, 42 house, 33 Clerks Book, The, 52, 248 Clerks, too clerical, 79, etc. Clerk's Latin, 242 Clerkenwell and clerks' plays, 130, etc. Clerkship, stepping-stone to higher preferment, 32 Coaching days, 241 Collis family of clerks, 91 Collumpton, female clerk at, 202 Company of parish clerks, 104, etc. Cornish parsons, 180 Cornish wreckers, 84 Coronation changes in the Prayer Book, 314 Council of Merida, 17 Toledo, 17 Court, George, of Wednesbury, 289 Coventry, Trinity Church, 28, 36, 50 Coventry, plays at, 134 Cowper's mortuary verses, 69 The Sofa, 71 The Task, 184 Crabbe's sketch of old clerics, 13 Crabbe's sketch of old clerks, 66 Crayford, Kent, "Amen" epitaph at, 97 Cromer, David Vial of, 92 Cropthorne, Worcestershire, 102 Crosthwaite and catechising, 277 Curious stories, 307, etc.

Dagenham and its clerk, 313 Dean, West, Sussex, 233 Decline of clerks, 61 Decorating the church, 193 Deputations, 217 Descent into Hell, 136 Dickenson, Thomas, licensed to officiate, 81 Dicker, Robert, of Crediton, 257 Diggs, David, 6, 58, 162 Dismissing a clerk, 247, 250 Dixon, Thomas, a curious character, 206 Dog, an archbishop's, 189 Dogs fighting in church, 85 Dog-whippers, 34, 188 Dogs lost, notices of, 176 Dogs in churches, 189 Duke's present of game, a, 177 Dunstable, 20 Dunstan, St., 16

Easter cakes, 41 Eastham, clerk of, 55 Ecclesfield, clerks at, 298 Eccleshall's cricketing clerk, 182 Ecclesiastical Law, by Sir R. Phillimore, 247 Edgar, King, canons of, 16 Elliott, Rev. E.K., recollections of, 83 Elmstead, 49 Elton, Miss, recollections of, 292 Epitaphs of clerks, 90, etc. Epworth and John Wesley, 193 Ethelbert, King, 16 Evison, Thomas, of Wragsby, 281 Exeter, Synod of, 17

Faithfulness of clerks, 23 Fairfield, 80 Fasting Communion, a tradition, 237 Faversham, 28, 45, 50 Feckenham, 318 Feudal customs, 284 Fewson, Richard, a curious clerk, 208 Fielding's clerics, 11 Fighting in church, 49, 279 Finch, Betty, "bobber," 204 Flore, carol by the clerk of, 167 Ford family of King's Norton, 102, 318 Foster, Joshua, of Caistor, 227 Foston-le-Clay and Sydney Smith, 216 Fressingfield, clerk's house at, 34 Frith's Vicar of Wakefield, 199 Funerals, London clerks at, 116 Funerals, old time, 218, 222 Furness, Richard, clerk of Dore, 164

Gadara, swine of, 238 Gainsborough's portrait of Orpin, 195 Gargrave, York, 157 Gay's allusion to clerks, 72 George IV and Queen Caroline, 183 Ghost story, 313 Gill, Mrs., recollections of, 170, 278 "God speed 'em well," 215, 230 Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield, 12 Goose in the pulpit, 266 Grafton Underwood, 152 Gray, John, clerk at Eton College, Green, Rev. W.F., recollections of, 293 Gregory IX, decretals of, 17 Gregory Smith, Rev. Canon, recollections of, 315 Grindal, Archbishop, injunctions of, 54, 80 Grosseteste, Bishop, 17 Guild of Clerks, 18, 104, etc. Guinea-fowls, disturbing congregation, 261 Gunpowder Plot, 161

Haddon, West, 91 Halls of the Clerks' Company, 107, 110, etc. "Harmun," a Christian name, 263 Hartlepool, clerk of, 59 Harvey, Christopher, 63 Haw of Halton Holgate, 236 Hawker, Rev. R.S., recollections of, 85, 313 Hayes, disgraceful scenes at, 187 Hebrew scholar, a, 323 Hemmans, Rev. Canon, recollections of, 281 Herbert, George, on responding, 68 Herbert, George, clerk of Eye, 93 Heredity of the clerk's office, 318 Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, 17 Hinton, William, a Wilts clerk, 239 Hobbes, William, clerk at Plymouth, 25 Hobby, a matrimonial, 315 Hogarth's Sleeping Congregation, 131 Holy loaf, 38, etc. Holy water, 27 Hone's Year Book and Book of Days, 87, 99 Hooker, the Judicious, 24 Hopkins, John, clerk at Salisbury, 162 Houses for clerks, 33 How, Bishop Walsham, recollections of, 298 Hust, Richard, portrait of, 111 Hutchinson, F., a Yorkshire clerk, 302 Hutton, William, verses by, 73 Huyk, John, of Hull, 35 Hymn in praise of William III, 160

Illuminated MSS., 197 Ingenious clerk, an, 259 Ingham, James, of Whalley, 236

Jachin, the story of, 66 Jenkins, Rev. M.E., recollections of, 302 Jenner's "Mount Sion," 185 Jerry and the "Northern Lights," 218 John of Althon, 32, 49 Johnson's definition and opinion of clerks, 66

Kennicott, Dr., a clerk's son, 326 Kent, John, clerk of St. Albans, 87 Kenwyn, dogs fighting in church, 85 Kilbrogan, Ireland, 159 King's Norton, the Fords of, 102, 318

Lainston, romance of parish register of, 151 Langdon, Robert, deacon-clerk, 329 Langhorne, Rev. W.H., recollections of, 231 Langport, Somerset, 41 Laracor, Meath, 180 Latin, a clerk's, 242 Lavant, East, Russell of, 260 Law and the clerk, the, 245, etc. Lawton, Cheshire, 225 Leckhampton, 235 "Leg end, the," 282 Legg, Dr. J. Wickham, 52, 169, 248 Legge, Rev. A.G., recollections of, 259, 265 Lessons, right of reading, 53 Licence granted to clerk to officiate, 81 Liston, Essex, 286 Literature, the clerk in, 63, etc. London, St. Peter-the-Less, 35 London, St. Stephen, Coleman Street, 46, 142 London, St. Michael, Cornhill, 50, 111 London, St. Margaret, Westminster, 53, 200 London, the clerks of, 115, etc. London, Guildhall chapel, 115 London, St. Margaret, Lothbury, 142 London, Lambeth parish, 147 London, Battersea, 147 London, St. Mary's, Islington, 154 London, St. Matthew's Chapel, Spring Gardens, 191 London, parishes, 129 Longevity of clerks, 318 Lowestoft, Suffolk, Newson of, 311 Lupson, E.J. of Great Yarmouth, 320 Lyndewoode, William, on married clerks, 18, 35, 49

Machyn's Diary, 117 Maldon, Essex, a curious letter, 309 Mangotsfield, Bamford, clerk of, 230 Marlow, Bucks, 319 Marriage Act of 1653, 81 Marriages by clerks, 81 Matthew Paris, 43 Maundy Thursday, 37 Maybrick, William, and his sons, 308 Mediaeval clerk, 31, etc. Milston, clerk at, 64 Milverton, Somerset, 41, 59 Moody, clerk at Redbourn, 172 More, Sir Thomas, 32, 109 Morebath, dispute at, 29 Mortality, Bills of, 123 Morwenstow and its ghost story, 313 Myre, John, instructions to parish priests, 45

New Remarks of London, 127 Newport Pagnell, Bucks, 285 Northampton, All Saints, 69 "Northern Lights," 217 Notices, the clerk giving out, 169, etc. curious, 270

Oldswinford, the Orfords of, 318 Orchestra, village, 4, 213 Orpin, portrait by Gainsborough, 195 Osbornes of Belbroughton, 96 Overy, St. Mary, 80

Pageantry of clerks, 119 Pall used as horsecloth, 295 The Parish Clerk, a new comic song, 73 Parish Clerk's Guide, The, 46, 57 Parish Clerk, by Hewett, 6, 58, 162 Parish Clerks, Some Account of, by J. Christie, 107 Parish Register, The, by Crabbe, 67 Parish registers and the clerks, 140, etc. Parish Registers, History of, 148 Parsons, old-time, 1, 10-15 Parson and Clerk, rocks so named, 86 Pattishall, clerk's register of, 145 Perquisites of clerks, 41 Pews, old-fashioned, 2 Pierce, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 43 Plague in London, 125 Playford, John, 56 Plays performed by clerks, 131, etc. Pluralism, evil effects of, 14 Plymouth, St. Andrew, 25 Poet, the clerk as a, 154, etc. Poor rates levied on the altar, 268 Pope, Alexander, Memoir of P.P., 75 Portraits in the hall of the Company, 112 Prideaux, Dr., 327 Priestly, Peter, clerk of Wakefield, 86 Printing press, the clerks', 125 Pup wanted, a, 317 Puritanism, effects of, 7

Radcliffe, Lancashire, 304 Radcliffe-on-Sour, 100 Railways, the advent of, 242 Raw, Frank, of Selby, epitaph of, 100 Rawsley, Miss, recollections of, 236 Rawsley, Canon, story told by, 313 Reading, duty of, 48, etc. Reading, St. Giles, 19, 33, 45 Reading, St. Lawrence, 21, 39 Reading, St. Mary, 33, 39 Rectores chori, 36 Recollections of old clerks, 255, etc. Redbourn, Herts, 172 Reeve, Rev. E.H.L., recollections of, 286 Reformation changes, 51 Rempstone, wages of clerk at, 248 "Responding inaudibly," 307 Revival of office of clerk, 334 Rex v. Erasmus Warren, 251 Richard I as rector chori, 32 Ringmer, 34 Rival clerks, 49, 211, 279 Rivington family, 127 Robinson, Daniel, of Flore, 167 Rochester and its parish register, 150 Rochester, Earl of, epigram by, 3 Roe family at Bakewell, 93 Romford, 307 Roper, William, of Clerks' Company, 109 Rose family of Bromsgrove, 318 Rugby, St. Andrew, 91 Russell, Rev. J., of Swymbridge, 174 Russell, clerk of East Lavant, 260

St. Albans, clerk of, 87 St. Columb Minor, Cornwall, 320 St. Nicholas, patron saint of clerks, 105 Salehurst, wages of clerk, 249 Salisbury, St. Edmund, clerk's house at, 34 Salisbury, John Hopkins of, 162 Saltwood, Kent, clerk's house at, 34 Sapiston and the Duke's hare, 177 Scarlett, Old, of Peterborough, 98 Schoolmaster, clerk as, 44 Scothorne, Blackburn's epitaph, 103 Selwyn, Rev. W., recollections of, 279 Sermon forgotten, 287 Sexton and clerk, 22, 64, 253 Shakespeare's allusion to clerks, 63 Shenley, Rogers of, 92 Sherlock, F., recollections of, 308 Shoes in church, 226 Sidbury, clerk of, 59 Singing, duty of, 48, etc. Singing, efforts to improve, 121 Skinners' Well, 131 Sleeping Congregation, by Hogarth 181 Sleepy church and sleepy clerks, 179, etc. Sluggard-waker, 187 Smuggling days and smuggling ways, 79, 83, etc. Smoking in church, 228, 295, 303 Snell, Peter, of Crayford, 97 Soberton, Hants, smuggling at, 84 Social Life as told by Parish Registers, 142, 148 Solomon Daisy of Barnaby Rudge, 72 Song during the sermon, a, 292 Spectator, The, 64, 65 Spoliation of Clerks' Company, 108 Sporting parsons, 171, 269 Sporting clerks, 211 Squire's pew, the, 2 Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berks, 40 Staple-next-Wingham, 101 Sternhold and Hopkins's Psalter, 3 Stoke, 300 Story, Robert, poet, 157 Stoulton, epitaph at, 103 Stratfieldsaye, 300, 305 Surplices objected to, 118 Swanscombe, Kent, 8 Swift on old pews, 2 Swift and his clerk Roger, 180 Syntax, Dr., 14

Tait, Archbishop, on old services, 8 Teeth, story of "artful," 174 Tennyson's allusion to clerks, 72 Tenterden, John Hopton of, 80 Thame, curious banns at, 316 Thirza, a Christian name, 282 Tingrith and its potentate, 283 Totnes, Devon, 326 Tourists' queries, 321 Town crier as clerk, 293 Tunbridge Wells, Jenner's "Mount Sion," 185

Uffington, Salop, 299 Upton, near Droitwich, 179

Venables, Rev. Canon, recollections of, 267 Verney, Lady, Essays and Tales, 74 Vickers, Rev. W.V., recollections of, 255 Visitation of the sick, 46

Wages of clerks, 248 Wakefield, 87 Walker, Rev. Robert, the "Wonderful," 11 Waltham, 79 Holy Cross, 81 Walton, Isaac, story of faithful clerk, 24 Warrington and its "bobber," 204 Way to find Sunday without an Almanack, The, 73 Webster's Village Choir, 198 Wednesbury, 145, 191, 289 Wesley and his clerk, 193 Westbere, 79 Westhoughton, 305 Westley, 228 Whalley, clerk at, 236 Wheatley, female clerk at, 202 Whitewashed church, a, 295 Whittingdon, Thomas Evans of, 92 "Wicked man, the," 256 Wilberforce, Bishop, on squire's pew, 2 Willoughton, Betty Wells of, 203 Wills containing bequests to clerks, 31 Wimborne Minster, 55, 233 Windermere, clerk of, 230 Wise, Mr., of Weekley, recollections of, 292 Witch as parish clerk, 203 Woburn, J. Brewer of, 293 Wolstanton, 299 Wolverley, Worcestershire, 96 Women as parish clerks, 200, etc. as sextons, 254 Woodmancote, old clerk at, 233 Woodstock, J. Bennet, clerk of, 163 Wootton, Paul, clerk at Bromham, 190 Worcester, St. Michael, clerk's house at, 34 Worcester, St. Michael, the Bond family of, 318 Wordsworth, on the "Wonderful Walker," 11 Workington and its beadle, 299 Worrall family of Wolverley, 96 Worthing, smuggling at, 83 Worth, John Alcorn of, 101 Wragby, clerk of, 281 Wren, William, of Stondon Massey, 287

Yarmouth, Great, the clerk of, 320 York, mystery plays at, 133 Yorkshire clerks, 206, etc., 302 Young, Rev. J.C., recollections of, 239

"Zulphur," a Christian name, 258

THE END