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diff --git a/13363-h/13363-h.htm b/13363-h/13363-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9037a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/13363-h/13363-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11623 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content= +"HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 1st February 2004), see www.w3.org"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Parish Clerk, by P.H. +Ditchfield.</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + blockquote {text-align: justify; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + IMG { + BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; + BORDER-TOP: 0px; + BORDER-LEFT: 0px; + BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px } + .loc { TEXT-ALIGN: right; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + .ctr { TEXT-ALIGN: center } + .rgt { float: right; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: -5%; + margin-right: 0%; + TEXT-ALIGN: center } + .lft { float: left; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 0%; + TEXT-ALIGN: center } + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13363 ***</div> + +<br> +<a name="image01.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image01.jpg"><img src= +"images/image01.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>THE PARISH CLERK. By Thomas Gainsborough, R.A.</b></p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>THE PARISH CLERK</h1> +<h4>BY</h4> +<h2>P.H. DITCHFIELD</h2> +<h4>M.A., F.S.A.</h4> +<h4>WITH THIRTY-ONE ILLUSTRATIONS</h4> +<h4><i>First Published in 1907</i>.</h4> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<blockquote> +<table summary=""> +<tr> +<td>CHAPTER</td> +<td> </td> +<td>PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I. OLD-TIME CHOIRS AND PARSONS</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-1">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II. THE ANTIQUITY AND CONTINUITY OF THE +OFFICE OF CLERK</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-16">16</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III. THE MEDIÆVAL CLERK</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-31">31</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV. HIS DUTIES OF READING AND +SINGING</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-48">48</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V. THE CLERK IN LITERATURE</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-63">63</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI. CLERKS TOO CLERICAL--SMUGGLING DAYS +AND SMUGGLING WAYS</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-79">79</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII. THE CLERK IN EPITAPH</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-90">90</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII. THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF PARISH +CLERKS</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-104">104</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX. THE CLERKS OF LONDON: THEIR DUTIES +AND PRIVILEGES</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-115">115</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X. CLERKENWELL AND CLERKS' PLAYS</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-130">130</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI. THE CLERKS AND THE PARISH +REGISTERS</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-140">140</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII. THE CLERK AS A POET</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-154">154</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII. THE CLERK GIVING OUT +NOTICES</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-169">169</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV. SLEEPY CHURCH AND SLEEPY +CLERKS</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-179">179</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV. THE CLERK IN ART</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-195">195</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI. WOMEN AS PARISH CLERKS</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-201">201</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII. SOME YORKSHIRE CLERKS</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-206">206</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII. AN OLD CHESHIRE CLERK AND SOME +OTHER WORTHIES</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-225">225</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">XIX. THE CLERK AND THE LAW</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-245">245</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">XX. RECOLLECTIONS OF OLD CLERKS AND THEIR +WAYS</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-255">255</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">XXI. CURIOUS STORIES</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-306">306</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">XXII. LONGEVITY AND HEREDITY--THE +DEACON-CLERKS OF BARNSTAPLE</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-318">318</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII. CONCLUSION</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-333">333</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page-335">335</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-vii"></a>[pg vii]</span> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> +<blockquote> +<table summary=""> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image01.jpg">The Parish Clerk.</a> By Thomas +Gainsborough, R.A.</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><i><a href= +"#image01.jpg">Frontispiece</a></i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>From the original in the National +Gallery</i></td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image02.jpg">The Village Choir.</a> By Thomas +Webster</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image02.jpg">8</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>From the original in the Victoria and +Albert Museum</i></td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image03.jpg">The Mediæval Clerk: The Clerk In +Procession</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image03.jpg">18</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>From old engravings</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image05.jpg">The Clerk Bearing Holy Water And +Asperging The Cook, And Others</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image05.jpg">28</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>From old engravings</i></td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image07.jpg">The Old Church-Houses At Hurst And +Uffington, Berks</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image07.jpg">42</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>By permission of Messrs. G.J. Palmer and +Sons</i></td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image09.jpg">The Clerk And Priest Visiting The Sick +And Administering The Last Sacrament</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image09.jpg">46</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>By permission of the S.P.C.K.</i></td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image11.jpg">Old Beckenham Church.</a> By David +Cox</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image11.jpg">60</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>From the drawing at the Tate +Gallery</i></td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image12.jpg">Old Scarlett</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image12.jpg">98</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>From</i> "<i>The Book of Days</i>"</td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>By permission of Messrs. W. and R. +Chambers, Ltd</i>.</td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image13.jpg">Entrance To The Hall Of The Company Of +Parish Clerks.</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image13.jpg">104</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image14.jpg">The Master's Chair At The Parish Clerks' +Hall</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image14.jpg">106</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image15.jpg">Portrait Of William Roper, Son-In-Law +And Biographer Of</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <a href="#image15.jpg">Sir Thomas More, +Benefactor Of The Clerks' Company</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image15.jpg">110</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image16.jpg">The Grant Of Arms To The Company Of +Parish Clerks</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image16.jpg">111</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image17.jpg">Stained Glass Window At The Hall Of The +Parish Clerks'</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <a href="#image17.jpg">Company, Showing +Portraits Of John Clarke And Stephen Penckhurst</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image17.jpg">112</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image18.jpg">A Page Of The Bede Roll Of The Parish +Clerks' Company.</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image18.jpg">114</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image19.jpg">The Organ At The Parish Clerks' +Hall</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image19.jpg">121</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image20.jpg">A Page Of An Early Bill Of Mortality +Preserved At The</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <a href="#image20.jpg">Hall Of The Parish +Clerks' Company</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image20.jpg">122</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image21.jpg">Interior Of The Hall Of The Parish +Clerks' Company</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image21.jpg">126</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image22.jpg">Portrait Of John Clarke, Parish Clerk Of +The Church Of St. Michael, Cornhill</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image22.jpg">128</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image23.jpg">Old Map Of Clerkenwell</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image23.jpg">130</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image24.jpg">A Mystery Play At Chester</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image24.jpg">132</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>From a print after a painting by T. +Uwins</i></td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image25.jpg">The Descent Into Hell</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image25.jpg">136</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>From William Hone's "Ancient +Mysteries</i>"</td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image26.jpg">The Sleeping Congregation.</a> By W. +Hogarth</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image26.jpg">182</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>From an engraving at the British +Museum</i></td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image27.jpg">The Clerk Attending The Priest At Holy +Baptism</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image27.jpg">196</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>By permission of the S.P.C.K.</i></td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image29.jpg">The Duties Of A Clerk At A Death And +Funeral</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image29.jpg">198</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>By permission of the S.P.C.K.</i></td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image30.jpg">The Vicar Of Wakefield.</a> By W.P. +Frith</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image30.jpg">199</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>From a photograph by Messrs. W.A. Mansell +and Co</i>.</td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image31.jpg">Portrait Of Richard Hust, The Restorer +Of The Clerks' Almshouses</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image31.jpg">200</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image32.jpg">The Church Of St. Margaret, +Westminster</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image32.jpg">210</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>After an engraving from a photograph by +Messrs. W.A. Mansell and Co</i>.</td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image33.jpg">William Hinton, A Wiltshire Worthy.</a> +Drawn by the Rev. Julian Charles Young</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image33.jpg">239</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>By permission of Messrs. Macmillan and +Co</i>.</td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image34.jpg">Sunday Morning.</a> By John Absolon</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image34.jpg">270</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>From a photograph by Messrs. W.A. Mansell +and Co</i>.</td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image35.jpg">The Parish Clerk Of Quedgeley</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image35.jpg">280</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>By permission of Miss Isabel +Barnett</i></td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#image36.jpg">James Carne, Parish Clerk Of St. Columb +Minor, Cornwall, The Oldest Living Clerk</a></td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image36.jpg">32</a>0</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> <i>From a photograph by Mr. R.P. Griffith, +Newquay</i></td> +</tr> +</table> +</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-ix"></a>[pg ix]</span> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> +<br> +<p>The race of parish clerks is gradually becoming extinct. Before +the recollection of their quaint ways, their curious manners and +customs, has quite passed away, it has been thought advisable to +collect all that can be gathered together concerning them. Much +light has in recent years been thrown upon the history of the +office. The learned notes appended to Dr. Wickham Legg's edition of +<i>The Parish Clerk's Book</i>, published by the Henry Bradshaw +Society, Dr. Atchley's <i>Parish Clerk and his Right to Read the +Liturgical Epistle</i> (Alcuin Club Tracts), and other works, give +much information with regard to the antiquity of the office, and to +the duties of the clerk of mediæval times; and from these +books I have derived much information. By the kindness of many +friends and of many correspondents who are personally unknown to +me, I have been enabled to collect a large number of anecdotes, +recollections, facts, and biographical sketches of many clerks in +different parts of England, and I am greatly indebted to those who +have so kindly supplied me with so much valuable information. Many +of the writers are far advanced in years, when the labour of +putting pen to paper is a sore burden. I am deeply grateful to them +for the trouble which they kindly took in recording their +recollections <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-x"></a>[pg +x]</span> of the scenes of their youth. I have been much amused by +the humorous stories of old clerkly ways, by the +<i>facetiæ</i> which have been sent to me, and I have been +much impressed by the records of faithful service and devotion to +duty shown by many holders of the office who won the esteem and +affectionate regard of both priest and people. It is impossible for +me to publish the names of all those who have kindly written to me, +but I wish especially to thank the Rev. Canon Venables, who first +suggested the idea of this work, and to whom it owes its conception +and initiation <a name="FNanchor1"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_1">[1]</a>; to the Rev. B.D. Blyn-Stoyle, to Mr. F.W. +Hackwood, the Rev. W.V. Vickers, the Rev. W. Selwyn, the Rev. E.H. +L. Reeve, the Rev. W.H. Langhorne, Mr. E.J. Lupson, Mr. Charles +Wise, and many others, who have taken a kindly interest in the +writing of this book. I have also to express my thanks to the +editors of the <i>Treasury</i> and of <i>Pearson's Magazine</i> for +permission to reproduce portions of some of the articles which I +contributed to their periodicals, to the editor of <i>Chambers's +Journal</i> for the use of an article on some north-country clerics +and their clerks by a writer whose name is unknown to me, and to +the Rev. J. Gaskell Exton for sending to me an account of a +Yorkshire clerk which, by the kindness of the editor of the +<i>Yorkshire Weekly Post</i>, I am enabled to reproduce.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor1">[1]</a> +Since the above was written, and while this book has been passing +through the press, the venerable clergyman, Canon Venables, has +been called away from earth. A zealous parish priest, a voluminous +writer, a true friend, he will be much missed by all who knew him. +Some months ago he sent me some recollections of his early days, of +the clerks he had known, and his reflections on his long ministry, +and these have been recorded in this book, and will now have a +pathetic interest for his many friends and for all who admired his +noble, earnest, and strenuous life.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-1"></a>[pg 1]</span> +<h2>THE PARISH CLERK</h2> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> +<h3>OLD-TIME CHOIRS AND PARSONS</h3> +<br> +<p>A remarkable feature in the conduct of our modern ecclesiastical +services is the disappearance and painless extinction of the old +parish clerk who figured so prominently in the old-fashioned ritual +dear to the hearts of our forefathers. The Oxford Movement has much +to answer for! People who have scarcely passed the rubicon of +middle life can recall the curious scene which greeted their eyes +each Sunday morning when life was young, and perhaps retain a +tenderness for old abuses, and, like George Eliot, have a lingering +liking for nasal clerks and top-booted clerics, and sigh for the +departed shades of vulgar errors.</p> +<p>Then and now--the contrast is great. Then the hideous Georgian +"three-decker" reared its monstrous form, blocking out the sight of +the sanctuary; immense pews like cattle-pens filled the nave. The +woodwork was high and panelled, sometimes richly carved, as at +Whalley Church, Lancashire, where some pews have posts at the +corners like an old-fashioned four-posted bed. Sometimes two feet +above the top of the woodwork there were brass rods on which +slender curtains <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-2"></a>[pg +2]</span> ran, and were usually drawn during sermon time in order +that the attention of the occupants of the pew might not be +distracted from devout meditations on the preacher's discourse--or +was it to woo slumber? A Berkshire dame rather admired these +old-fashioned pews, wherein, as she naively expressed it, "a body +might sleep comfortable without all the parish knowin' on it."</p> +<p>It was of such pews that Swift wrote in his <i>Baucis and +Philemon</i>:</p> +<blockquote>"A bedstead of the antique mode,<br> +Compact of timber many a load,<br> +Such as our ancestors did use<br> +Was metamorphosed into pews;<br> +Which still their ancient nature keep<br> +By lodging folks disposed to sleep."</blockquote> +<p>The squire's pew was a wondrous structure, with its own special +fire-place, the fire in which the old gentleman used to poke +vigorously when the parson was too long in preaching. It was amply +furnished, this squire's pew, with arm-chairs and comfortable seats +and stools and books. Such a pew all furnished and adorned did a +worthy clerk point out to the witty Bishop of Oxford, Bishop +Wilberforce, with much pride and satisfaction. "If there be ought +your lordship can mention to mak' it better, I'm sure Squire will +no mind gettin' on it."</p> +<p>The bishop, with a merry twinkle in his eye, turned round to the +vicar, who was standing near, and maliciously whispered:</p> +<p>"A card table!"</p> +<p>Such comfortable squires' pews still exist in some churches, but +"restoration" has paid scanty regard to old-fashioned notions and +ideas, and the squire and his family usually sit nowadays on +benches similar to those used by the rest of the congregation.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-3"></a>[pg 3]</span> +<p>Then the choir sat in the west gallery and made strange noises +and sang curious tunes, the echoes of which we shall try to catch. +No organ then pealed forth its reverent tones and awaked the church +with dulcet harmonies: a pitch-pipe often the sole instrument. And +then--what terrible hymns were sung! Well did Campbell say of +Sternhold and Hopkins, the co-translators of the Psalms of David +into English metre, "mistaking vulgarity for simplicity, they +turned into bathos what they found sublime." And Tate and Brady's +version, the "Dry Psalter" of "Samuel Oxon's" witticism, was little +better. Think of the poetical beauties of the following lines, sung +with vigour by a bald-headed clerk:</p> +<blockquote>"My hairs are numerous, but few<br> +Compared to th' enemies that me pursue."</blockquote> +<p>It was of such a clerk and of such psalmody that John Wilmot, +Earl of Rochester, in the seventeenth century wrote his celebrated +epigram:</p> +<blockquote>"Sternhold and Hopkins had great qualms<br> +When they translated David's Psalms,<br> + To make the heart more glad;<br> +But had it been poor David's fate<br> +To hear thee sing and them translate,<br> + By Jove, 'twould have drove him +mad."</blockquote> +<p>When the time for singing the metrical Psalm arrived, the clerk +gave out the number in stentorian tones, using the usual formula, +"Let us sing to the praise and glory of God the one hundred and +fourth Psalm, first, second, seving (seven), and eleving verses +with the Doxology." Then, pulling out his pitch-pipe from the dusty +cushions of his seat, he would strut pompously down the church, +ascend the stairs leading to the west gallery, blow his pipe, and +give the basses, tenors, and <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-4"></a>[pg 4]</span> soprano voices their notes, which they +hung on to in a low tone until the clerk returned to his place in +the lowest tier of the "three-decker" and started the choir-folk +vigorously. Those Doxologies at the end! What a trouble they were! +You could find them if you knew where to look for them at the end +of the Prayer Book after Tate and Brady's metrical renderings of +the Psalms of David. There they were, but the right one was hard to +find. Some had two syllables too much to suit the tune, and some +had two syllables too little. But it did not matter very greatly, +and we were accustomed to add a word here, or leave out one there; +it was all in a day's work, and we went home with the comfortable +reflection that we had done our best.</p> +<p>But a pitch-pipe was not usually the sole instrument. Many +village churches had their band, composed of fiddles, flutes, +clarionets, and sometimes bassoons and a drum. "Let's go and hear +the baboons," said a clerk mentioned by the Rev. John Eagles in his +Essays. In order to preserve strict historical accuracy, I may add +that this invitation was recorded in the year 1837, and therefore +could have no reference to evolutionary theories and the Descent of +Man. This clerk, who invariably read "Cheberims and Sepherims," and +was always "a lion to my mother's children," looking not unlike one +with his shaggy hair and beard, was not inviting a neighbour to a +Sunday afternoon at the Zoo, but only to hear the bassoons.</p> +<p>When the clerk gave out the hymn or Psalm, or on rare occasions +the anthem, there was a strange sound of tuning up the instruments, +and then the instruments wailed forth discordant melody. The clerk +conducted the choir, composed of village lads and maidens, with a +few stalwart basses and tenors. It was often a curious <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-5"></a>[pg 5]</span> performance. Everybody +sang as loud as he could bawl; cheeks and elbows were at their +utmost efforts, the bassoon vying with the clarionet, the +goose-stop of the clarionet with the bassoon--it was Babel with the +addition of the beasts. And they were all so proud of their +performance. It was the only part of the service during which no +one could sleep, said one of them with pride--and he was right. No +one could sleep through the terrible din. They were the most +important officials in the church, for did not the Psalms make it +clear, "The singers go before, and the minstrels" (which they +understood to mean ministers) "follow after"? And then--those +anthems! They were terrible inflictions. Every bumpkin had his +favourite solo, and oh! the murder, the profanation! "Some put +their trust in charrots and some in 'orses," but they didn't "quite +pat off the stephany," as one of the singers remarked, meaning +symphony. It was all very strange and curious.</p> +<p>Then followed the era of barrel-organs, the clerk's duty being +to turn the handle and start the singing. He was the only person +who understood its mechanism and how to change the barrels. +Sometimes accidents happened, as at Aston Church, Yorkshire, some +time in the thirties. One Sunday morning during the singing of a +hymn the music came to a sudden stop. There was a solemn pause, and +then the clerk was seen to make his way to the front of the singing +gallery, and was heard addressing the vicar in a loud tone, saying, +"Please, sor, an-ell 'as coom off." The handle had come off the +instrument. At another church, in Huntingdonshire, the organ was +hidden from view by drawn curtains, behind which the clerk used to +retire when he had given out the Psalm. On one occasion, however, +no sound of music issued from behind the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-6"></a>[pg 6]</span> curtains; at last, +after a solemn pause, the clerk's quizzical face appeared, and his +harsh voice shouted out, "Dang it, she 'on't speak!" The "grinstun +organ," as David Diggs, the hero of Hewett's <i>Parish Clerk</i> +calls it, was not always to be depended on. Every one knows the +Lancashire dialect story of the "Barrel Organ" which refused to +stop, and had to be carried out of church and sat upon, and yet +still continued to pour forth its dirge-like melody.</p> +<p>David Diggs may not have been a strictly historical character, +but the sketch of him was doubtless founded upon fact, and the +account of the introduction of the barrel-organ into the church of +"Seatown" on the coast of Sussex is evidently drawn from life. A +vestry meeting was held to consider about having a <i>quire</i> in +church, and buying a barrel-organ with half a dozen simple Psalm +tunes upon it, which Davy was to turn while the parson put his gown +on, and the children taught to sing to. The clerk was ordered to +write to the squire and ask him for a liberal subscription. This +was his letter:</p> +<blockquote>"Mr Squir, sur,<br> +<br> +"Me & Farmer Field & the rest of the genelmen In vestri +sembled Thinks the parson want parish Relif in shape of A Grindstun +orgin betwin Survisses--i am to grind him & the sundy skool +kildren is to sing to him wile he Gos out of is sete.<br> +<br> +"We liv It to yuresef wart to giv as we dont wont to limit yur +malevolens<br> +<br> +"Your obedunt servunt<br> +<br> +"DAVY DIGGS."</blockquote> +<p>Of course this worthy scribe taught the children in the school, +though writing was happily considered a <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-7"></a>[pg 7]</span> superfluous +accomplishment. He taught little beyond the Church Catechism and +the Psalms, which he knew from frequent repetition, though he often +wanted to imbue the infant minds entrusted to his charge with the +Christening, Marriage, and Burial Services, and the Churching of +Women, because he "know'd um by heart himself."</p> +<p>The barrel-organ was scarcely a great improvement upon the +"cornet, flute, sackbut, psaltery"--I mean the violins, 'cellos, +clarionets, and bassoons which it supplanted. The music of the +village musicians in the west gallery was certainly not of the +highest order. The instruments were often out of tune, and the +fiddle-player and the flutist were often at logger-heads; but it +was a sad pity when their labours were brought to an end, and the +mechanical organ took their place. The very fact that all these +players took a keen interest in the conduct of Divine service was +in itself an advantage.</p> +<p>The barrel-organ killed the old musical life of the village. +England was once the most musical nation in Europe. Puritanism +tried to kill music. Organs were broken everywhere in the +cathedrals and colleges, choirs dispersed and musical publications +ceased. The professional players on violins, lutes, and flutes who +had performed in the theatres or at Court wandered away into the +villages, taught the rustics how to play on their beloved +instruments in the taverns and ale-houses, and bequeathed their +fiddles and clarionets to their rustic friends. Thus the rural +orchestra had its birth, and right heartily did they perform not +only in church, but at village feasts and harvest homes, wakes and +weddings. The parish clerk was usually their leader, and was a +welcome visitor in farm or cottage or <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-8"></a>[pg 8]</span> at the manor when he +conducted his companions to sing the Christmas carols.</p> +<p>The barrel-organ sealed the fate of the village orchestra. The +old fiddles were wanted no more, and were hung up in the cottages +as relics of the "good old times." For a time the clerk preserved +his dignity and continued to take his part in the music, turning +the handle of the organ.</p> +<p>Then the harmonium came, played by the school-mistress or some +other village performer. No wonder the clerk was indignant. His +musical autocracy had been overthrown. At one church--Swanscombe, +Kent--when, in 1854, the change had taken place, and a kind lady, +Miss F----, had consented to play the new harmonium, the clerk, +village cobbler and leader of parish orchestra, gave out the hymn +in his accustomed fashion, and then, with consummate scorn, +bellowed out, "Now, then, Miss F----, strike up!"</p> +<p>It would have been a far wiser policy to have reformed the old +village orchestra, to have taught the rustic musicians to play +better, than to have silenced them for ever and substituted the +"grinstun" instrument.</p> +<br> +<a name="image02.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image02.jpg"><img src= +"images/image02.jpg" width="100%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>The Village Choir.</b></p> +<br> +<p>Archbishop Tait once said that there is no one who<br> +does not look back with a kind of shame to the sort of sermons +which were preached, the sort of clergymen<br> +who preached them, the sort of building in which they preached +them, and the sort of psalmody with which the service was ushered +in. The late Mr. Beresford Hope thus describes the kind of service +that went on in the time of George IV in a market town of Surrey +not far from London. It was a handsome Gothic church, the chancel +being cut off from the nave by a solid partition covered with +verses and strange paintings, among which <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-9"></a>[pg 9]</span> Moses and Aaron show +in peculiar uncouthness. The aisles were filled with family pews or +private boxes, raised aloft, and approached by private doors and +staircases. These were owned by the magnates of the place, who were +wont to bow their recognitions across the nave. There was a +decrepit west gallery for the band, and the ground floor was +crammed with cranky pews of every shape. A Carolean pulpit stood +against a pillar, with reading-desk and clerk's box underneath. The +ante-Communion Service was read from the desk, separated from the +liturgy and sermon by such renderings of Tate and Brady as the +unruly gang of volunteers with fiddles and wind instruments in the +gallery pleased to contribute. The clerk, a wizened old fellow in a +brown wig, repeated the responses in a nasal twang, and with a +substitution of <i>w</i> for <i>v</i> so constant as not even to +spare the Beliefs; while the local rendering of briefs, citations, +and excommunications included announcements by this worthy, after +the Nicene Creed, of meetings at the town inn of the executors of a +deceased duke. Two hopeful cubs of the clerk sprawled behind him in +the desk, and the back-handers occasionally intended to reduce them +to order were apt to resound against the impassive boards. During +the sermon this zealous servant of the sanctuary would take up his +broom and sweep out the middle alley, in order to save himself the +fatigue of a weekday visit. Soon, however, the clerk and his broom +followed Moses and Aaron, the fiddles and the bassoons into the +land of shadows.</p> +<p>No sketch of bygone times, in which the clerk flourished in all +his glory, would be complete without some reference to the +important person who occupied the second tier in the +"three-decker," and decked in gown <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-10"></a>[pg 10]</span> and bands delivered somnolent sermons +from its upper storey. Curious stories are often told of the +careless parsons of former days, of their irreverence, their love +of sport, their neglect of their parishes, their quaint and +irreverent manners; but such characters, about whom these stories +were told, were exceptional. By far the greater number lived well +and did their duty and passed away, and left no memories behind +except in the tender recollections of a few simple-minded folk. +There were few local newspapers in those days to tell their +virtues, to print their sermons or their speeches at the opening of +bazaars or flower-shows. They did their duty and passed away and +were forgotten; while the parsons, like the wretch Chowne of the +<i>Maid of Sker</i>, live on in anecdote, and grave folk shake +their heads and think that the times must have been very bad, and +the clergy a disgrace to their cloth. As with the clerk, so with +his master; the evil that men do lives after them, the good is +forgotten. There has been a vast amount of exaggeration in the +accounts that have come down to us of the faithlessness, +sluggishness, idleness, and base conduct of the clergy of the +eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and perhaps a little too +much boasting about the progress which our age has witnessed.</p> +<p>It would be an easy task to record the lives of many worthy +country clergymen of the much-abused Hanoverian period, who were +exemplary parish priests, pious, laborious, and beloved. In +recording the eccentricities and lack of reverence of many clerics +and their faithful servitors, it is well to remember the many +bright lights that shone like lamps in a dark place.</p> +<p>It would be a difficult task to write a history of our +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-11"></a>[pg 11]</span> parish +priesthood, for reasons which have already been stated, and such a +labour is beyond our present purpose. But it may be well to record +a few of the observations which contemporary writers have made upon +the parsons of their day in order to show that they were by no +means a set of careless, disreputable, and unworthy men.</p> +<p>During the greater part of the eighteenth century there lived at +Seathwaite, Lancashire, as curate, the famous Robert Walker, styled +"the Wonderful," "a man singular for his temperance, industry, and +integrity," as the parish register records.</p> +<p>Wordsworth alludes to him in his eighteenth sonnet on Durdon as +a worthy compeer of the country parson of Chaucer, and in the +seventh book of the <i>Excursion</i> an abstract of his character +is given:</p> +<blockquote>"A priest abides before whose lips such doubts<br> +Fall to the ground, as in those days<br> +When this low pile a gospel preacher knew<br> +Whose good works formed an endless retinue;<br> +A pastor such as Chaucer's verse portrays,<br> +Such as the heaven-taught skill of Herbert drew,<br> +And tender Goldsmith crown'd with deathless praise."</blockquote> +<p>The poet also gives a short memoir of the Wonderful Walker. In +this occurs the following extract from a letter dated 1775:</p> +<p>"By his frugality and good management he keeps the wolf from the +door, as we say; and if he advances a little in the world it is +owing more to his own care than to anything else he has to rely +upon. I don't find his inclination in running after further +preferment. He is settled among the people that are happy among +themselves, and lives in the greatest unanimity and friendship with +them; and, I believe, the minister <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-12"></a>[pg 12]</span> and people are exceedingly satisfied +with each other: and indeed, how should they be dissatisfied, when +they have a person of so much worth and probity for their pastor? A +man who for his candour and meekness, his sober, chaste, and +virtuous conversation, his soundness in principle and practice, is +an ornament to his profession and an honour to the country he is +in; and bear with me if I say, the plainness of his dress, the +sanctity of his manners, the simplicity of his doctrine, and the +vehemence of his expression, have a sort of resemblance to the pure +practice of primitive Christianity."</p> +<p>The income of his chapelry was the munificent sum of £17 +10 s. He reared and educated a numerous family of twelve children. +Every Sunday he entertained those members of his congregation who +came from a distance, taught the village school, acted as scrivener +and lawyer for the district, farmed, and helped his neighbours in +haymaking and sheep-shearing, spun cloth, studied natural history, +and, in spite of all this, was throughout a devoted and earnest +parish priest. He was certainly entitled to his epithet "the +Wonderful."</p> +<p>Goldsmith has given us a charming picture of an old-world parson +in his <i>Vicar of Wakefield</i>, and Fielding sketches a no less +worthy cleric in his portrait of the Rev. Abraham Adams in <i>his +Joseph Andrews</i>. As a companion picture he drew the character of +the pig-keeping Parson Trulliber, no scandalous cleric, though he +cared more for his cows and pigs than he did for his +parishioners.</p> +<p>"Hawks should not peck out hawks' e'en," and parsons should not +scoff at their fellows; yet Crabbe <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-13"></a>[pg 13]</span> was a little unkind in his description +of country parsons, though he could say little against the +character of his vicar.</p> +<blockquote>"Our Priest was cheerful and in season gay;<br> +His frequent visits seldom fail'd to please;<br> +Easy himself, he sought his neighbour's ease.</blockquote> +<br> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>Simple he was, and loved the simple truth,<br> +Yet had some useful cunning from his youth;<br> +A cunning never to dishonour lent,<br> +And rather for defence than conquest meant;<br> +'Twas fear of power, with some desire to rise,<br> +But not enough to make him enemies;<br> +He ever aim'd to please; and to offend<br> +Was ever cautious; for he sought a friend.<br> +Fiddling and fishing were his arts, at times<br> +He alter'd sermons, and he aimed at rhymes;<br> +And his fair friends, not yet intent on cards,<br> +Oft he amused with riddles and charades,<br> +Mild were his doctrines, and not one discourse<br> +But gained in softness what it lost in force;<br> +Kind his opinions; he would not receive<br> +An ill report, nor evil act believe.</blockquote> +<br> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>Now rests our vicar. They who knew him best<br> +Proclaim his life t' have been entirely--rest.<br> +The rich approved--of them in awe he stood;<br> +The poor admired--they all believed him good;<br> +The old and serious of his habits spoke;<br> +The frank and youthful loved his pleasant joke;<br> +Mothers approved a safe contented guest,<br> +And daughters one who backed each small request;<br> +In him his flock found nothing to condemn;<br> +Him sectaries liked--he never troubled them;<br> +No trifles failed his yielding mind to please,<br> +And all his passions sunk in early ease;<br> +Nor one so old has left this world of sin<br> +More like the being that he entered in."</blockquote> +<p>A somewhat caustic and sarcastic sketch, and perhaps a little +ill-natured, of a somewhat amiable cleric. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-14"></a>[pg 14]</span> Dr. Syntax is a good +example of an old-world parson, whose biographer thus describes his +laborious life:</p> +<blockquote>"Of Church preferment he had none;<br> +Nay, all his hope of that was gone;<br> +He felt that he content must be<br> +With drudging-in a curacy.<br> +Indeed, on ev'ry Sabbath-day,<br> +Through eight long miles he took his way,<br> +To preach, to grumble, and to pray;<br> +To cheer the good, to warn the sinner,<br> +And if he got it,--eat a dinner:<br> +To bury these, to christen those,<br> +And marry such fond folks as chose<br> +To change the tenor of their life,<br> +And risk the matrimonial strife.<br> +Thus were his weekly journeys made,<br> +'Neath summer suns and wintry shade;<br> +And all his gains, it did appear,<br> +Were only thirty pounds a-year."</blockquote> +<p>And when the last event of his hard-working life was over--</p> +<blockquote>"The village wept, the hamlets round<br> +Crowded the consecrated ground;<br> +And waited there to see the end<br> +Of Pastor, Teacher, Father, Friend."</blockquote> +<p>Who could write a better epitaph?</p> +<p>Doubtless the crying evil of what is called "the dead period" of +the Church's history was pluralism. It was no uncommon thing for a +clergyman to hold half a dozen benefices, in one of which he would +reside, and appoint curates with slender stipends to the rest, only +showing himself "when tithing time draws near."</p> +<p>When Bishop Stanley became Bishop of Norwich in 1837 there were +six hundred non-resident incumbents, a state of things which he did +a vast amount of work to remedy. Mr. Clitherow tells me of a friend +who was going to be married and who requested a neighbour to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-15"></a>[pg 15]</span> take his +two services for him during his brief honeymoon. The neighbour at +first hesitated, but at last consented, having six other services +to take on the one Sunday.</p> +<p>An old clergyman named Field lived at Cambridge and served three +country parishes--Hauxton, Newton, and Barnington. On Sunday +morning he used to ride to Hauxton, which he could see from the +high road to Newton. If there was a congregation, the clerk used to +waggle his hat on the top of a long pole kept in the church porch, +and Field had to turn down the road and take the service. If there +was no congregation he went on straight to Newton, where there was +always a congregation, as two old ladies were always present. Field +used to turn his pony loose in the churchyard, and as he entered +the church began the Exhortation, so that by the time he was robed +he had progressed well through the service. My informant, the Rev. +M.J. Bacon, was curate at Newton, and remembers well the old +surplice turned up and shortened at the bottom, where the old +parson's spurs had frayed it.</p> +<p>It was this pluralism that led to much abuse, much neglect, and +much carelessness. However, enough has been said about the +shepherd, and we must return to his helper, the clerk, with whose +biography and history we are mainly concerned.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-16"></a>[pg 16]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> +<h3>THE ANTIQUITY AND CONTINUITY OF THE OFFICE OF CLERK</h3> +<br> +<p>The office of parish clerk can claim considerable antiquity, and +dates back to the times of Augustine and King Ethelbert. Pope +Gregory the Great, in writing to St. Augustine of Canterbury with +regard to the order and constitution of the Church in new lands and +under new circumstances, laid down sundry regulations with regard +to the clerk's marriage and mode of life. King Ethelbert, by the +advice of his Witenagemote, introduced certain judicial decrees, +which set down what satisfaction should be given by those who stole +anything belonging to the church. The purloiner of a clerk's +property was ordered to restore threefold <a name= +"FNanchor2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2">[2]</a>. The canons of King +Edgar, which may be attributed to the wise counsel of St. Dunstan, +ordered every clergyman to attend the synod yearly and to bring his +clerk with him.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor2">[2]</a> +Bede's <i>Hist. Eccles</i>., ii. v.</blockquote> +<p>Thus from early Saxon times the history of the office can be +traced.</p> +<p>His name is merely the English form of the Latin +<i>clericus</i>, a word which signified any one who took part in +the services of the Church, whether he was in major or minor +orders. A clergyman is still a "clerk in <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-17"></a>[pg 17]</span> Holy Orders," and a +parish clerk signified one who belonged to the rank of minor orders +and assisted the parish priest in the services of the parish +church. We find traces of him abroad in early days. In the seventh +century, the canons of the Ninth Council of Toledo and of the +Council of Merida tell of his services in the worship of the +sanctuary, and in the ninth century he has risen to prominence in +the Gallican Church, as we gather from the inquiries instituted by +Archbishop Hincmar, of Rheims, who demanded of the rural deans +whether each presbyter had a clerk who could keep school, or read +the epistle, or was able to sing.</p> +<p>In the decretals of Gregory IX there is a reference to the +clerk's office, and his duties obtain the sanction of canon law. +Every incumbent is ordered to have a clerk who shall sing with him +the service, read the epistle and lesson, teach in the school, and +admonish the parishioners to send their children to the church to +be instructed in the faith. It was thus in ancient days that the +Church provided for the education of children, a duty which she has +always endeavoured to perform. Her officers were the schoolmasters. +The weird cry of the abolition of tests for teachers was then +happily unknown.</p> +<p>The strenuous Bishop Grosseteste (1235-53), for the better +ordering of his diocese of Lincoln, laid down the injunction that +"in every church of sufficient means there shall be a deacon or +sub-deacon; but in the rest a fitting and honest clerk to serve the +priest in a comely habit." The clerk's office was also discussed in +the same century at a synod at Exeter in 1289, when it was decided +that where there was a school within ten miles of any parish some +scholar should be chosen for the office of parish clerk. This rule +provided for poor <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-18"></a>[pg +18]</span> scholars who intended to proceed to the priesthood, and +also secured suitable teachers for the children of the +parishes.</p> +<p>It appears that an attempt was made to enforce celibacy on the +holders of minor orders, an experiment which was not crowned with +success. William Lyndewoode, Official Principal of the Archbishop +of Canterbury in 1429, speaks thus of the married clerk:--</p> +<p>"He is a clerk, not therefore a layman; but if twice married he +must be counted among laymen, because such an one is deprived of +all clerical privilege. If, however, he were married, albeit not +twice, yet so long as he wears the clerical habit and tonsure he +shall be held a clerk in two respects, to wit, that he may enjoy +the clerical privilege in his person, and that he may not be +brought before the secular judges. But in all other respects he +shall be considered as a layman."</p> +<p>In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the parish clerks +became important officials. We shall see presently how they were +incorporated into fraternities or guilds, and how they played a +prominent part in civic functions, in state funerals, and in +ecclesiastical matters. The Reformation rather added to than +diminished the importance of the office and the dignity of the +holder of it.</p> +<br> +<a name="image03.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/image03.jpg" width="20%" alt= +""><br> +<b>The Mediaeval Clerk.</b></p> +<a name="image04.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/image04.jpg" width="35%" alt= +""><br> +<b>The Clerk in Procession.</b></p> +<br> +<p>The continuity of the office is worthy of record. From the days +of Augustine to the present time it has never ceased to exist. The +clerk is the last representative of the minor orders which the +ecclesiastical changes wrought in the sixteenth century have left +us. Prior to the Reformation there were sub-deacons who wore alb +and maniple, acolytes, the tokens of whose office were a taper +staff and small pitcher, ostiaries or doorkeepers corresponding to +our verger or clerk, readers, exorcists, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-19"></a>[pg 19]</span> <i>rectores +chori</i>, etc. This full staff would, of course, be not available +for every country church, and for such parishes a clerk and a boy +acolyte doubtless sufficed, though in large churches there were +representatives of all these various officials. They disappeared in +the Reformation; only the clerk remained, incorporating in his own +person the offices of reader, acolyte, sub-deacon.</p> +<p>Indeed, if in these enlightened days any proof were needed of +the historical continuity of the English Church, it would be found +in the permanence of the clerk's office. Just as in many instances +the same individual rector or vicar continued to hold his living +during the whole period of the Reformation era, witnessing the +spoliation of his church by the greedy Commissioners of Henry VIII +and Edward VI, the introduction of the First Prayer Book of Edward +VI, the revival of the "old religion" under Queen Mary, the triumph +of Reformation principles under Queen Elizabeth; so did the parish +clerk continue to hold office also. The Reformation changed many of +his functions and duties, but the office remained. The old +churchwardens' account books bear witness to this fact. Previous to +the Reformation he received certain wages and many "perquisites" +from the inhabitants of the parish for distributing the holy loaf +and the holy water. At St. Giles's, Reading, in the year 1518-19, +appears the item:</p> +<p>EXPENS. In p'mis paid for the dekays of the Clark's wages +vis.</p> +<p>In the following year we notice:</p> +<blockquote>WAGE. Paid to Harry Water Clerk for his wage for a yere +ended at thannacon of our lady a° xi° ... xxvi s. viii +d.</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-20"></a>[pg 20]</span> +<p>In 1545-6, Whitborne, the clerk, received 12 s. towards his +wages, and he "to be bound to teche ij children free for the +quere."</p> +<p>After the Reformation, in the same town we find the same clerk +continuing in office. He no longer went round the parish bearing +holy water, but the collecting of money for the holy loaf +continued, the proceeds being devoted to the necessary expenses of +the church. Thus in the Injunctions given by the King's Majesty's +visitors to the clergy and laity resident in the Deanery of +Doncaster in the second year of the reign of King Edward VI, +appears the following:</p> +<p>"<i>Item</i>. The churchwardens of every Parish-Church shall, +some one <i>Sunday</i>, or other Festival day, every month, go +about the Church, and make request to every of the Parish for their +charitable Contribution to the Poor; and the sum so collected shall +be put in the Chest of Alms for that purpose provided. And for as +much as the Parish-Clerk shall not hereafter go about the Parish +with his Holy Water as hath been accustomed, he shall, instead of +that labour, accompany the said Church-Wardens, and in a Book +Register the name and Sum of every man that giveth any thing to the +Poor, and the same shall intable; and against the next day of +Collection, shall hang up somewhere in the Church in open place, to +the intent the Poor having knowledge thereby, by whose Charity and +Alms they be relieved, may pray for the increase and prosperity of +the same <a name="FNanchor3"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_3">[3]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor3">[3]</a> +<i>The Clerk's Book of 1549</i>, edited by J. Wickham Legg, +Appendix IX, p. 95.</blockquote> +<p>This is only one instance out of many which might be quoted to +prove that the clerk's office by no means ceased to exist after the +Reformation changes. I shall refer later on to the survival of the +collection of money for the holy loaf and to its transference to +other uses.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-21"></a>[pg 21]</span> +<p>The clerk, therefore, appears to have continued to hold his +office shorn of some of his former duties. He witnessed all the +changes of that changeful time, the spoliation of his church, the +selling of numerous altar cloths, vestments, banners, plate, and +other costly furniture, and, moreover, took his part in the +destruction of altars and the desecration of the sanctuary. In the +accounts for the year 1559 of the Church of St. Lawrence, Reading, +appear the items:</p> +<p>"Itm--for taking-downe the awlters and laying the stones, +vs.</p> +<p>"To Loryman (the clerk) for carrying out the rubbish x d +<a name="FNanchor4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4">[4]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor4">[4]</a> +Rev. C. Kerry's <i>History of S. Lawrence's Church, Reading</i>, p. +25.</blockquote> +<p>Indeed, the clerk can claim a more perfect continuity of office +than the rector or vicar. There was a time when the incumbents were +forced to leave their cure and give place to an intruding minister +appointed by the Cromwellian Parliament. But the clerk remained on +to chant his "Amen" to the long-winded prayers of some black-gowned +Puritan. That is a very realistic scene sketched by Sir Walter +Besant when he describes the old clerk, an ancient man and +rheumatic, hobbling slowly through the village, key in hand, to the +church door. It was towards the end of the Puritan regime. After +ringing the bell and preparing the church for the service, he goes +into the vestry, where stood an ancient black oak coffer, the sides +curiously graven, and a great rusty key in the lock. The clerk (Sir +Walter calls him the sexton, but it is evidently the clerk who is +referred to) turns the key with difficulty, throws open the lid, +and looks in.</p> +<p>"Ay," he says, chuckling, "the old surplice and the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-22"></a>[pg 22]</span> old Book of Common +Prayer. Ye have had a long rest; 'tis time for you both to come out +again. When the surplice is out, the book will stay no longer +locked up." He draws forth an old and yellow roll. It was the +surplice which had once been white. "Here you be," he says; "put +you away for a matter of twelve year and more, and you bide your +time; you know you will come back again; you are not in any hurry. +Even the clerk dies; but you die not, you bide your time. +Everything comes again. The old woman shall give you a taste o' the +suds and the hot iron. Thus we go up and thus we go down." Then he +takes up the old book, musty and damp after twelve years' +imprisonment. "Fie," he says, "thy leather is parting from thy +boards, and thy leaves they do stick together. Shalt have a pot of +paste, and then lie in the sun before thou goest back to the desk. +Whether 'tis Mass or Common Prayer, whether 'tis Independent or +Presbyterian, folk mun still die and be buried--ay, and married and +born--whatever they do say. Parson goes and Preacher comes; +Preacher goes and Parson comes; but Sexton stays." He chuckles +again, puts back the surplice and the book, and locks the coffer +<a name="FNanchor5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5">[5]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor5">[5]</a> +<i>For Faith and Freedom</i>, by Sir Walter Besant, chap. +1.</blockquote> +<p>Like many of his brethren, he had seen the Church of England +displaced by the Presbyterians, and the Presbyterians by the +Independents, and the restoration of the Church. His father, who +had been clerk before him, had seen the worship of the "old +religion" in Queen Mary's time, and all the time the village life +had been going on, and the clerk's work had continued; his office +remained. In village churches the duties of clerk and sexton are +usually performed by the same person. Not long ago a gentleman was +visiting <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-23"></a>[pg 23]</span> +a village church, and was much struck by the remarks of an old man +who seemed to know each stone and tomb and legend. The stranger +asking him what his occupation was, he replied:</p> +<p>"I hardly know what I be. First vicar he called me clerk; then +another came, and he called me virgin; the last vicar said I were +the Christian, and now I be clerk again."</p> +<p>The "virgin" was naturally a slight confusion for verger, and +the "christian" was a corrupt form of sacristan or sexton. All the +duties of these various callings were combined in the one +individual.</p> +<p>That story reminds one of another concerning the diligent clerk +of R----, who, in addition to the ordinary duties of his office, +kept the registers and acted as groom, gardener, and footman at the +rectory. A rather pompous rector's wife used to like to refer at +intervals during a dinner-party to "our coachman says," "our +gardener always does this," "our footman is ...," leaving the +impression of a somewhat large establishment. The dear old rector +used to disturb the vision of a large retinue by saying, "They are +all one--old Corby, the clerk."</p> +<p>One of the chief characteristics of old parish clerks, whether +in ancient or modern times, is their faithfulness to their church +and to their clergyman. We notice this again and again in the +biographies of many of these worthy men which it has been a +privilege to study. The motto of the city of Exeter, <i>Semper +fidelis</i>, might with truth have been recorded as the legend of +their class. This fidelity must have been sorely tried in the sad +days of the Commonwealth period, when the sufferings of the clergy +began, and the poor clerk had to bid farewell to his beloved pastor +and welcome and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-24"></a>[pg +24]</span> "sit under" some hard-visaged Presbyterian or Puritan +preacher.</p> +<p>Isaac Walton tells the pathetic story of the faithful clerk of +the parish of Borne, near Canterbury, where the "Judicious" Hooker +was incumbent. The vicar and clerk were on terms of great +affection, and Hooker was of "so mild and humble a nature that his +poor clerk and he did never talk but with both their hats on, or +both off, at the same time."</p> +<p>This same clerk lived on in the quiet village until the third or +fourth year of the Long Parliament. Hooker died and was buried at +Borne, and many people used to visit his monument, and the clerk +had many rewards for showing his grave-place, and often heard his +praises sung by the visitors, and used to add his own recollections +of his holiness and humility. But evil days came; the parson of +Borne was sequestered, and a Genevan minister put into his good +living. The old clerk, seeing so many clergymen driven from their +homes and churches, used to say, "They have sequestered so many +good men, that I doubt if my good Master Hooker had lived till now, +they would have sequestered him too."</p> +<p>Walton then describes the conversion of the church into a +Genevan conventicle. He wrote: "It was not long before this +intruding minister had made a party in and about the said parish +that was desirous to receive the sacrament as at Geneva: to which +end, the day was appointed for a select company, and forms and +stools set about the altar or communion table for them to sit and +eat and drink; but when they went about this work, there was a want +of some joint-stools which the minister sent the clerk to fetch, +and then to fetch cushions. When the clerk saw them begin to sit +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-25"></a>[pg 25]</span> down, he +began to wonder; but the minister bade him cease wondering and lock +the church door: to whom he replied, 'Pray take you the keys, and +lock me out: I will never more come into this church; for men will +say my Master Hooker was a good man and a great scholar; and I am +sure it was not used to be thus in his days': and report says this +old man went presently home and died; I do not say died +immediately, but within a few days after. But let us leave this +grateful clerk in his quiet grave."</p> +<p>Another faithful clerk was William Hobbes, who served in the +church and parish of St. Andrew, Plymouth. Walker, in his +<i>Sufferings of the Clergy</i>, records the sad story of his +death. During the troubles of the Civil War period, when presumably +there was no clergyman to perform the last rites of the Church on +the body of a parishioner, the good clerk himself undertook the +office, and buried a corpse, using the service for the Burial of +the Dead contained in the Book of Common Prayer. The Puritans were +enraged, and threatened to throw him into the same grave if he came +there again with his "Mass-book" to bury any body: which "worked so +much upon his Spirits, that partly with Fear and partly with Grief, +he Died soon after." He died in 1643, and the accounts of the +church show that the balance of his salary was paid to his +widow.</p> +<p>Many such faithful clerks have devoted their years of active +life to the service of God in His sanctuary, both in ancient and +modern times; and it will be our pleasurable duty to record some of +the biographies of these earnest servants of the Church, whose +services are too often disregarded.</p> +<p>I have mentioned the continuity of the clerk's office, unbroken +by either Reformation changes or by the confusion of the Puritan +regime. We will now <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-26"></a>[pg +26]</span> endeavour to sketch the appearance of the mediæval +clerk, and the numerous duties which fell to his lot.</p> +<p>Chaucer's gallery of ancient portraits contains a very life-like +presentment of a mediæval clerk in the person of "Jolly +Absolon," a somewhat frivolous specimen of his class, who figures +largely in <i>The Miller's Tale</i>.</p> +<blockquote>"Now was ther of that churche a parish clerk<br> +The which that was y-cleped <a name="FNanchor6"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_6">[6]</a> Absolon.<br> +Curl'd was his hair, and as the gold it shone,<br> +And strutted <a name="FNanchor7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7">[7]</a> +as a fannë large and broad;<br> +Full straight and even lay his folly shode. <a name= +"FNanchor8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8">[8]</a><br> +His rode <a name="FNanchor9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9">[9]</a> was +red, his eyen grey as goose,<br> +With Paulë's windows carven on his shoes. <a name= +"FNanchor10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10">[10]</a><br> +In hosen red he went full febishly. <a name= +"FNanchor11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11">[11]</a><br> +Y-clad he was full small and properly,<br> +All in a kirtle of a light waget; <a name="FNanchor12"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_12">[12]</a><br> +Full fair and thickë be the pointës set.<br> +And thereupon he had a gay surplice,<br> +As white as is the blossom on the rise. <a name= +"FNanchor13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13">[13]</a><br> +A merry child he was, so God me save;<br> +Well could he letten blood, and clip, and shave,<br> +And make a charter of land and a quittance.<br> +In twenty manners could he trip and dance,<br> +After the school of Oxenfordë tho', <a name= +"FNanchor14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14">[14]</a><br> +And with his leggës castë to and fro;<br> +And playen songës or a small ribible; <a name= +"FNanchor15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15">[15]</a><br> +Thereto he sung sometimes a loud quinible. <a name= +"FNanchor16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16">[16]</a><br> +And as well could he play on a gitern. <a name= +"FNanchor17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17">[17]</a><br> +In all the town was brewhouse nor tavern<br> +That he not visited with his solas, <a name= +"FNanchor18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18">[18]</a><br> +There as that any gaillard tapstere <a name= +"FNanchor19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19">[19]</a> was.<br> + This Absolon, that jolly was and gay<br> + Went with a censor on the holy day,<br> + Censing the wivës of the parish fast:<br> + And many a lovely look he on them cast,<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<br> +<br> + Sometimes to show his lightness and mast'ry<br> + He playeth Herod on a scaffold high."</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor6">[6]</a> +Called.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor7">[7]</a> +Stretched.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor8">[8]</a> +Head of hair.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor9">[9]</a> +Complexion.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_10"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor10">[10]</a> His shoes were decked with an ornament like +a rose-window in old St. Paul's.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_11"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor11">[11]</a> Daintily.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_12"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor12">[12]</a> A kind of cloth.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_13"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor13">[13]</a> A bush.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_14"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor14">[14]</a> The Oxford school of dancing is satirised by +the poet.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_15"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor15">[15]</a> A kind of fiddle.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_16"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor16">[16]</a> Treble.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_17"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor17">[17]</a> Guitar.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_18"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor18">[18]</a> Sport, mirth.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_19"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor19">[19]</a> Tavern-wench.</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-27"></a>[pg 27]</span> +<p>I fear me Master Absolon was a somewhat frivolous clerk, or his +memory has been traduced by the poet's pen, which lacked not satire +and a caustic but good-humoured wit. Here was a parish clerk who +could sing well, though he did not confine his melodies to "Psalms +and hymns and spiritual songs." He wore a surplice; he was an +accomplished scrivener, and therefore a man of some education; he +could perform the offices of the barber-surgeon, and one of his +duties was to cense the people in their houses. He was an actor of +no mean repute, and took a leading part in the mysteries or +miracle-plays, concerning which we shall have more to tell. He even +could undertake the prominent part of Herod, which doubtless was an +object of competition among the amateurs of the period. Such is the +picture which Chaucer draws of the frivolous clerk, a sketch which +is accurate enough as far as it goes, and one that we will +endeavour to fill in with sundry details culled from medieval +sources.</p> +<p>Chaucer tells us that Jolly Absolon used to go to the houses of +the parishioners on holy days with his censer. His more usual duty +was to bear to them the holy water, and hence he acquired the title +of <i>aquæbajalus</i>. This holy water consisted of water +into which, after exorcism, blest salt had been placed, and then +duly sanctified with the sign of the cross and sacerdotal +benediction. We can see the clerk clad in his surplice setting out +in the morning of Sunday on his rounds. He is carrying a holy-water +vat, made of brass or wood, containing the blest water, and in his +hand is an <i>aspergillum</i> or sprinkler. This consists of a +round brush of horse-hair with a short handle. When the clerk +arrives at the great house of the village he first enters the +kitchen, and seeing the cook engaged on her <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-28"></a>[pg 28]</span> household duties, he +dips the sprinkler into the holy-water vessel and shakes it towards +her, as in the accompanying illustration. Then he visits the lord +and lady of the manor, who are sitting at meat in their solar, and +asperges them in like manner. For his pains he receives from every +householder some gift, and goes on his way rejoicing. Bishop +Alexander, of Coventry, however, in his constitutions drawn up in +the year 1237, ordered that no clerk who serves in a church may +live from the fees derived from this source, and the penalty of +suspension was to be inflicted on any one who should transgress +this rule. The constitutions of the parish clerks at Trinity +Church, Coventry, made in 1462, are a most valuable source of +information with regard to the clerk's duties.</p> +<p>The following items refer to the orders relating to the holy +water:</p> +<blockquote>"Item, the dekyn shall bring a woly water stoke with +water for hys preste every Sonday for the preste to make woly +water.<br> +<br> +"Item, the said dekyn shall every Sonday beyr woly water of hys +chyldern to euery howse in hys warde, and he to have hys duty off +euery man affter hys degre quarterly."</blockquote> +<p>At the church of St. Nicholas, Bristol, in 1481, it was ordered +that the "Clerke to ordeynn spryngals <a name= +"FNanchor20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20">[20]</a> for the church, +and for him that visiteth the Sondays and dewly to bere his holy +water to euery howse Abyding soo convenient a space that every man +may receive hys Holy water under payne of iiii d. tociens +quociens."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_20"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor20">[20]</a> Bunches of twigs for sprinkling holy +water.</blockquote> +<br> +<a name="image05.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/image05.jpg" width="50%" alt= +""><br> +<b>The Clerk Bearing Holy Water And Asperging The Cook.</b></p> +<br> +<a name="image06.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/image06.jpg" width="50%" alt= +""><br> +<b>The Clerk Bearing Holy Water And Asperging The Lord And +Lady.</b></p> +<br> +<p>At Faversham a set of parish clerk's duties of the years 1506, +1548, and 1593 is preserved. In the rules <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-29"></a>[pg 29]</span> ordained for his +guidance in the first-mentioned year he with his assistant clerk is +ordered to bear holy water to every man's house, as of old time +hath been accustomed; in case of default he shall forfeit 8 d.; but +if he shall be very much occupied on account of a principal feast +falling on a Sunday or with any pressing parochial business, he is +to be excused.</p> +<p>A mighty dissension disturbed the equanimity of the little +parish of Morebath in the year 1531 and continued for several +years. The quarrel arose concerning the dues to be paid to the +parish clerk, a small number of persons refusing to pay the just +demands. After much disputing they finally came to an agreement, +and one of the items was that the clerk should go about the parish +with his holy water once a year, when men had shorn their sheep to +gather some wool to make him a coat to go in the parish in his +livery. There are many other items in the agreement to which we +shall have occasion again to refer. Let us hope that the good +people of Morebath settled down amicably after this great "storm in +a tea-cup"; but this godly union and concord could not have lasted +very long, as mighty changes were in progress, and much upsetting +of old-established custom and practice.</p> +<p>The clerk continued in many parishes to make his accustomed +round of the houses, and collected money which was used for the +defraying of the expenses of public worship; but he left behind him +his sprinkler and holy-water vat, which accorded not with the +principles and tenets, the practice and ceremonies of the reformed +Church of England.</p> +<p>This was, however, one of the minor duties of the mediæval +clerk, and the custom of giving offerings to him seems to have +started with a charitable intent. <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-30"></a>[pg 30]</span> The constitutions of Archbishop +Boniface of Canterbury issued in 1260 state:</p> +<p>"We have often heard from our elders that the benefices of holy +water were originally instituted from a motive of charity, in order +that one of their proper poor clerks might have exhibitions to the +schools, and so advance in learning, that they might be fit for +higher preferment."</p> +<p>He had many other and more important duties to perform, duties +requiring a degree of education far superior to that which we are +accustomed to associate with the holders of his office. We will +endeavour to obtain a truer sketch of him than even that drawn by +Chaucer, and to realise the multitudinous duties which fell to his +lot, and the great services he rendered to God and to his +Church.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-31"></a>[pg 31]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> +<h3>THE MEDIÆVAL CLERK</h3> +<br> +<p>At the present time loud complaints are frequently heard of a +lack of clergy. Rectors and vicars are sighing for assistant +curates, the vast populations of our great cities require +additional ministration, and the mission field is crying out for +more labourers to reap the harvests of the world. It might be well +in this emergency to inquire into the methods of the mediæval +Church, and observe how the clergy in those days faced the problem, +and gained for themselves tried and trusty helpers.</p> +<p>One method of great utility was to appoint poor scholars to the +office of parish clerk, by a due discharge of the duties of which +they were trained to serve in church and in the parish, and might +ultimately hope to attain to the ministry. This is borne out by the +evidence of wills wherein some good incumbent, grateful for the +faithful services of his clerk, bequeaths either books or money to +him, in order to enable him to prepare himself for higher +preferment. Thus in 1389 the rector of Marum, one Robert de Weston, +bequeaths to "John Penne, my clerk, a missal of the New Use of +Sarum, if he wishes to be a priest, otherwise I give him 20 s." In +1337 Giles de Gadlesmere leaves "to William Ockam, clerk, two +shillings, unless he be promoted before my death." Evidently it was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-32"></a>[pg 32]</span> no +unusual practice in early times for the clerk to be raised to Holy +Orders, his office being regarded as a stepping-stone to higher +preferment. The status of the clerk was then of no servile +character.</p> +<p>A canon of Newburgh asked for Sir William Plumpton's influence +that his brother might have a clerkship <a name= +"FNanchor21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21">[21]</a>. Even the sons of +kings and lords did not consider it beneath the dignity of their +position to perform the duties of a clerk, and John of Athon +considered the office of so much importance that he gave the +following advice to any one who held it:</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_21"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor21">[21]</a> <i>Plumpton Correspondence</i>, Camden +Society, 1839, P. 66, <i>temp</i>. Henry VII.</blockquote> +<p>"Whoever you may be, although the son of king, do not blush to +go up to the book in church, and read and sing; but if you know +nothing of yourself, follow those who do know."</p> +<p>It is recorded in the chronicle of Ralph de Coggeshall that +Richard I used to take great delight in divine service on the +principal festivals; going hither and thither in the choir, +encouraging the singers by voice and hand to sing louder. In the +<i>Life of Sir Thomas More</i>, written by William Roper, we find +an account of that charming incident in the career of the great and +worthy Lord Chancellor, when he was discovered by the Duke of +Norfolk, who had come to Chelsea to dine with him, singing in the +choir and wearing a surplice during the service of the Mass. After +the conclusion of the service host and guest walked arm in arm to +the house of Sir Thomas More.</p> +<p>"God's body, my Lord Chancellor, what turned Parish Clerk? You +dishonour the King and his office very much," said the Duke.</p> +<p>"Nay," replied Sir Thomas, smiling, "your grace <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-33"></a>[pg 33]</span> may not think that +the King, your master and mine, will be offended with me for +serving his Master, or thereby account his service any way +dishonoured."</p> +<p>We will endeavour to sketch the daily and Sunday duties of a +parish clerk, follow in his footsteps, and observe his manners and +customs, as they are set forth in mediæval documents.</p> +<p>He lived in a house near the church which was specially assigned +to him, and often called the clerk's house. He had a garden and +glebe. In the churchwardens' accounts of St. Giles's Church, +Reading, there is an item in 1542-3:--"Paid for a latice to the +clerkes hous ii s. x d." There was a clerk's house in St. Mary's +parish, in the same town, which is frequently mentioned in the +accounts (A.D. 1558-9).</p> +<p>"RESOLUTES for the guyet Rent of the Clerkes Howse xii d. +1559-60.</p> +<p>"RENTES to farme and at will. Of the tenement at Cornyshe Crosse +called the clerkes howse by the yere vi s. viii d."</p> +<p>It appears that the house was let, and the sum received for rent +was part of the clerk's stipend. This is borne out by the following +entry:--</p> +<p>"Md' that yt ys aggreed that the clerke most have for the office +of the sexten But xx s. That ys for Ringing of the Bell vs for the +quarter and the clerkes wayges by the howse <a name= +"FNanchor22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22">[22]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_22"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor22">[22]</a> <i>Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Mary's, +Reading</i>, by F.N.A. and A.G. Garry, p. 42.</blockquote> +<p>Doubtless there still remain many such houses attached to the +clerkship, as in the Act of 7 & 8 Victoria, c. 59, sect. 6, it +is expressly stated that any clerk dismissed from his office shall +give up any house, building, land, or premises held or occupied by +virtue or in respect of such office, and that if he fail to do +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-34"></a>[pg 34]</span> so the +bishop can take steps for his ejection therefrom. Mr. Wickham Legg +has collected several other instances of the existence of clerks' +houses. At St. Michael's Worcester, there was one, as in 1590 a sum +was paid for mending it. At St. Edmund's, Salisbury, the clerk had +a house and garden in 1653. At Barton Turf, Norfolk, three acres +are known as "dog-whipper's land," the task of whipping dogs out of +churches being part of the clerk's duties, as we shall notice more +particularly later on. The rent of this land was given to the +clerk. At Saltwood, Kent, the clerk had a house and garden, which +have recently been sold <a name="FNanchor23"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_23">[23]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_23"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor23">[23]</a> <i>The Clerk's Book of 1549</i>, edited by +J. Wickham Legg, lvi.</blockquote> +<p>Archbishop Sancroft, at Fressingfield, caused a comfortable +cottage to be built for the parish clerk, and also a kind of +hostelry for the shelter and accommodation of persons who came from +a distant part of that large scattered parish to attend the church, +so that they might bring their cold provisions there, and take +their luncheon in the interval between the morning and the +afternoon service.</p> +<p>There was a clerk's house at Ringmer. In the account of the +beating of the bounds of the parish in Rogation week, 1683, it is +recorded that at the close of the third day the procession arrived +at the Crab Tree, when the people sang a psalm, and "our minister +read the epistle and gospel, to request and supplicate the blessing +of God upon the fruits of the earth. Then did Mr. Richard Gunn +invite all the company to <i>the clerk's house</i>, where he +expended at his own charge a barrell of beer, besides a plentiful +supply of provisions: and so ended our third and last day's +perambulation <a name="FNanchor24"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_24">[24]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_24"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor24">[24]</a> <i>Social Life as told by Parish +Registers</i>, by T.F. Thiselton-Dyer, p. 197.</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-35"></a>[pg 35]</span> +<p>In his little house the clerk lived and tended his garden when +he was not engaged upon his ecclesiastical duties. He was often a +married man, although those who were intending to proceed to the +higher orders in the Church would naturally be celibate. Pope +Gregory, in writing to St. Augustine of Canterbury, offered no +objections to the marriage of clerks. Lyndewoode shows a preference +for the unmarried clerk, but if such could not be found, a married +clerk might perform his duties. Numerous wills are in existence +which show that very frequently the clerk was blest with a wife, +inasmuch as he left his goods to her; and in one instance, at Hull, +John Huyk, in 1514, expresses his wish to be buried beside his wife +in the wedding porch of the church <a name= +"FNanchor25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25">[25]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_25"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor25">[25]</a> Injunction by John Bishop of Norwich (1561), +B. i b., quoted by Mr. Legg in <i>The Parish Clerk's Book</i>, p. +xlii.</blockquote> +<p>One courageous clerk's wife did good service to her husband, who +had dared to speak insultingly of the high and mighty John of +Gaunt. He held office in the church of St. Peter-the-Less, in the +City of London, in 1378. His wife was so persevering in her behests +and so constant in her appeals for justice, that she won her suit +and obtained her husband's release <a name= +"FNanchor26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26">[26]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_26"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor26">[26]</a> Riley's <i>Memorials of London</i>, 1868, p. +425.</blockquote> +<p>We have the picture, then, of the mediæval clerk in his +little house nigh the church surrounded by his wife and children, +or as a bachelor intent upon preferment poring over his Missal, if +he did not sometimes emulate the frivolous feats of Chaucer's +"Jolly Absolon."</p> +<p>At early dawn he sallied forth to perform his earliest duty of +opening the church doors and ringing the day-bell. The ringing of +bells seems to have been a fairly <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-36"></a>[pg 36]</span> constant employment of the clerk, +though in some churches this duty was mainly performed by the +sexton, but the aid of the clerk was demanded whenever it was +needed. According to the constitution of the parish clerks at +Trinity Church, Coventry, made in 1462, he was ordered every day to +open the church doors at 6 a.m., and deliver to the priest who sang +the Trinity Mass a book and a chalice and vestment, and when Mass +was finished to see that these goods of the church be deposited in +safety in the vestry. He had to ring all the people in to Matins, +together with his fellow-clerk, at every commemoration and feast of +IX lessons, and see that the books were ready for the priest. Again +for High Mass he rang and sang in the choir. At 3 p.m. he rang for +Evensong, and sang the service in the south side of the choir, his +assistant occupying the north side. On weekdays they sang the +Psalms and responses antiphonally, and on Sundays and holy-days +acted as <i>rectores chori</i>, each one beginning the verses of +the Psalms for his own side. He had to be very careful that the +books were all securely locked up in the vestry, and the church +locked at a convenient hour, having searched the building to see +lest any one was lying in any seat or corner. On Sundays and +holidays he had to provide a clerk or "dekyn" to read the gospel at +High Mass. The sweeping of the floor of the church, the cleaning of +the leaden roofs, and sweeping away the snow from the gutters +"leste they be stoppyd," also came under his care. The bells he +also kept in order, examining the clappers and bawdricks and ropes, +and reporting to the churchwardens if they required mending. His +assistant had to grease the bells when necessary, and find the +materials. He had to tend the lamp and to <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-37"></a>[pg 37]</span> fetch oil and rychys +(rushes), and fix banners on holidays, fold up the albs and +vestments. On Saturdays and on the eve of saints' days he had to +ring the noon-tide bell, and to ring the sanctus bell every Sunday +and holy-day, and during processions.</p> +<p>Special seasons brought their special duties, and directions are +minutely given with regard to every point to be observed. On Palm +Sunday he was ordered to set a form at the priory door for the +stations of the Cross, so that a crucifix or rood should be set +there for the priest to sing <i>Ave rex</i>. He had to provide +palms for that Sunday, watch the Easter sepulchre "till the +resurrecion be don," and then take down the "lenten clothys" about +the altar and the rood. In Easter week, when a procession was made, +he bore the chrismatory. At the beginning of Lent he was ordered to +help the churchwardens to cover the altar and rood with "lentyn +clothys" and to hang the vail in the choir. The pulley which worked +this vail is still to be seen in some churches, as at Uffington, +Berks. For this labour the churchwardens were to give money to the +clerk for drink. The great bell had to be rung for compline every +Saturday in Lent. At Easter and Whit-Sunday the clerk was required +to hang a towel about the font, and see that three "copys" (copes) +be brought down to the font for the priests to sing <i>Rex +sanctorum</i>.</p> +<p>It was evidently considered the duty of the churchwardens to +deck the high altar for great festivals, but they were to have the +assistance of the clerk at the third peel of the first Evensong "to +aray the hye awter with clothys necessary for it." Perhaps this +duty of the churchwardens might with advantage be revived.</p> +<p>Sheer Thursday or Maundy Thursday was a special day for +cleansing the altars and font, which was done <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-38"></a>[pg 38]</span> by a priest; but the +clerk was required to provide a birch broom and also a barrel in +order that water might be placed in it for this purpose. On Easter +Eve and the eve of Whit-Sunday the ceremony of cleaning the altar +and font was repeated. Flagellation was not obsolete as a penance, +and the clerk was expected to find three discipline rods.</p> +<p>In mediæval times it was a common practice for rich men to +leave money or property to a church with the condition that Masses +should be said for the repose of their souls on certain days. The +first Latin word of a verse in the funeral psalm was <i>dirige</i> +("direct my steps," etc.), and this verse was used as an antiphon +to those psalms in the old English service for the dead. Hence the +service was called a <i>dirige</i>, and we find mention of "Master +Meynley's dirige," or as it is spelt often "derege," the origin of +the word "dirge." Those who attended were often regaled with +refreshments--bread and ale--and the clerk's duty was to serve them +with these things.</p> +<p>We have already referred to his obligations as regards his +bearing of holy water to the parishioners, a duty which brought him +into close relationship with them. Another custom which has long +since passed away was that of blessing a loaf of bread by the +priest, and distributing portions of it to the parishioners. +Sometimes this distribution took place in church, as at Coventry, +where one of the clerks, having seen the loaf duly cut, gave +portions of it to the assembled worshippers in the south aisle, and +the other clerk performed a like duty in the north aisle. The clerk +received some small fee for this service, usually a halfpenny. +Berkshire has several evidences of the existence of the holy +loaf.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-39"></a>[pg 39]</span> +<p>In the accounts of St. Lawrence's Church, Reading, in 1551, +occurs the following notice:</p> +<p>"At this day it was concluded and agreed that from henceforth +every inhabitant of the parish shall bear and pay every Sunday in +the year 5 d. for every tenement as of old time the Holy Loaf was +used to be paid and be received by the parish clerk weekly, the +said clerk to have every Sunday for his pains 1 d. And 4 d. residue +to be paid and delivered every Sunday to the churchwardens to be +employed for bread and wine for the communion. And if any overplus +thereof shall be of such money so received, to be to the use of the +church; and if any shall lack, to be borne and paid by the said +churchwardens: provided always, that all such persons as are poor +and not able to pay the whole, be to have aid of such others as +shall be thought good by the discretion of the churchwardens."</p> +<p>With the advent of Queen Mary the old custom was reverted to, as +the following item for the year 1555 plainly shows:</p> +<p>"Rec. of money gathered for the holy lofe ix s. iiij d."</p> +<p>At St. Mary's Church there is a constant allusion to this +practice from the year 1566-7 to 1617-18, after which date the +payment for the "holilofe" seems to have been merged in the charge +for seats. In 1567-8 the following resolution was passed:</p> +<p>"It is agreed that the clerk shall hereafter gather the Holy +Loaf money, or else to have nothing of that money, and to gather +all, or else to inform the parish of them that will not pay."</p> +<p>There seems to have been some difficulty in collecting this +money; so it was agreed in 1579-80 that <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-40"></a>[pg 40]</span> "John Marshall shall +every month in the year during the time that he shall be clerk, +gather the holy loaf and thereof yield an account to the +churchwardens."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Subsequently we constantly meet with such records as the +following:</p> +<p>"It'm for the holy loffe xiii s. vi d."</p> +<p>Ultimately, however, this mode of collecting money for the +providing of the sacred elements and defraying other expenses of +the church was, as we have said, abandoned in favour of pew-rents. +The clerk had long ceased to obtain any benefit from the custom of +collecting this curious form of subscription to the parochial +expenses.</p> +<p>An interesting document exists in the parish of +Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berkshire, relating to the holy loaf. It was +evidently written during the reign of Queen Mary, and runs as +follows:--</p> +<p>"Here following is the order of the giving of the loaves to make +holy bread with videlicit of when it beginneth and endeth, what the +whole value is, in what portions it is divided, and to whom the +portions be due, and though it be written in the fifth part of the +division of the book before in the beginning with these words (how +money shall be paid towards the charges of the communion) ye shall +understand that in the time of the Schism when this Realm was +divided from the Catholic Church, the which was in the year of our +Lord God in 1547, in the second year of King Edward the Sixth, all +godly ceremonies and good uses were taken out of the church within +this Realm, and then the money that was bestowed on the holy bread +was turned to the use of finding bread and wine for the communion, +and then the old order being <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-41"></a>[pg 41]</span> brought unto his [its] pristine state +before this book was written causeth me to write with this term +<a name="FNanchor27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27">[27]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_27"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor27">[27]</a> The spelling of the words I have ventured to +modernise.</blockquote> +<p>The order of the giving of the loaves is then set forth, +beginning at a piece of ground called Ganders and continuing +throughout the parish, together with names of the parishioners. The +collecting of this sum must have been an arduous part of the +clerk's duty. "And thus I make an end of this matter," as the +worthy clergyman at Stanford-in-the-Vale wrote at the conclusion of +his carefully drawn up document <a name="FNanchor28"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_28">[28]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_28"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor28">[28]</a> A relic of this custom existed in a small +town in Dorset fifty years ago. At Easter the clerk used to leave +at the house of each pew-holder a packet of Easter cakes--thin +wafery biscuits, not unlike Jewish Pass-over cakes. The packet +varied according to the size of the family and the depth of the +master's purse. When the fussy little clerk called for his Easter +offering, at one house he found 5 s. waiting for him, as a kind of +payment for five cakes. The shilling's were quickly transferred to +the clerk's pocket, who remarked, "Five shilling's is handsome for +the clerk, sir; but the vicar only takes gold."<br> +<br> +The custom of the clerk carrying round the parish Easter cakes +prevailed also at Milverton, Somerset, and at Langport in the same +county.</blockquote> +<p>In addition to his regular wages and to the dues received for +delivering holy water and in connection with the holy loaf, the +clerk enjoyed sundry other perquisites. At Christmas he received a +loaf from every house, a certain number of eggs at Easter, and some +sheaves when the harvest was gathered in. Among the documents in +the parish chest at Morebath there is a very curious manuscript +relating to a prolonged quarrel with regard to the dues to be paid +to the clerk. This took place in the year 1531 and lasted until +1536. This document throws much light on the customary fees and +gifts paid to the holder of this office. After endless wrangling +the parishioners decided that the clerk should have "a steche of +clene corn" from every household, if there should be any corn; if +not, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-42"></a>[pg 42]</span> a +"steche of wotis" (oats), or 3 d. in lieu of corn. Also 1 d. a +quarter from every household; at every wedding and funeral 2 d.; at +shearing time enough wool for a coat. Moreover, it was agreed that +he should have a clerk's ale in the church house. It is well known +that church ales were very common in medieval times, when the +churchwardens bought, and received presents of, a large quantity of +malt which they brewed into beer. The village folk collected other +provisions, and assembled in the church house, where there were +spits and crocks and other utensils for dressing a feast. Old and +young gathered together; the churchwardens' ale was sold freely. +The young folk danced, or played at bowls or practised archery, the +old people looking gravely on and enjoying the merry-making. Such +were the old church ales, the proceeds of which were devoted to the +maintenance of the poor or some other worthy object. An arbour of +boughs was erected in the churchyard called Robin Hood's Bower, +where the maidens collected money for the "ales." The clerk in some +parishes, as at Morebath, had "an ale" at Easter, and it was agreed +that "the parish should help to drink him a cost of ale in the +church house," which duty doubtless the village folk carried out +with much willingness and regularity.</p> +<br> +<a name="image07.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image07.jpg"><img src= +"images/image07.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>The Old Church-House At Hurst. Berkshire Now The Castle +Inn.</b></p> +<br> +<br> +<a name="image08.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image08.jpg"><img src= +"images/image08.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>The Old Church-House At Uffington. Berks Now Used As A +School.</b></p> +<br> +<p>Puritanism gradually killed these "ales." Sabbatarianism lifted +up its voice against them. The gatherings waxed merry, sometimes +too merry, so the stern Puritan thought, and the ballad-singer sang +profane songs, and the maidens danced with light-footed step, and +it was all very wrong because they were breaking the Sabbath; and +the ale was strong, and sometimes people drank too much, so the +critics said. But all <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-43"></a>[pg 43]</span> reasonable and sober-minded folk were +not opposed to them, and in reply to some inquiries instituted by +Archbishop Laud, the Bishop of Bath and Wells made the following +report:</p> +<blockquote>"Touching clerke-ales (which are lesser church-ales) +for the better maintenance of Parish-clerks they have been used +(until of late) in divers places, and there was great reason for +them; for in poor country parishes, where the wages of the clerk is +very small, the people thinking it unfit that the clerk should duly +attend at church and lose by his office, were wont to send in +Provisions, and then feast with him, and give him more liberality +than their quarterly payments would amount unto in many years. And +since these have been put down, some ministers have complained unto +me, that they are afraid they shall have no parish clerks for want +of maintenance for them."</blockquote> +<p>Mr. Wickham Legg has investigated the subsequent history of this +good Bishop Pierce, and shows how the Puritans when they were in +power used this reply as a means of accusation against him, whereby +they attempted to prove that "he profanely opposed the +sanctification of the Lord's Day by approving and allowing of +profane wakes and revels on that day," and was "a desperately +profane, impious, and turbulent Pilate."</p> +<p>It is well known that the incomes of the clergy were severely +taxed by the Pope, who demanded annates or first-fruits of one +year's value on all benefices and sundry other exactions. The poor +clerk's salary did not always escape from the rapacity of the +Pope's collectors, as the story told by Matthew Paris clearly sets +forth:</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-44"></a>[pg 44]</span> +<p>"It happened that an agent of the Pope met a petty clerk +carrying water in a little vessel, with a sprinkler and some bits +of bread given him for having sprinkled some holy water, and to him +the deceitful Roman thus addressed himself:</p> +<p>"'How much does the profits yielded to you by this church amount +to in a year?' To which the clerk, ignorant of the Roman's cunning, +replied:</p> +<p>"'To twenty shillings, I think.'</p> +<p>"Whereupon the agent demanded the percentage the Pope had just +demanded on all ecclesiastical benefices. And to pay that sum this +poor man was compelled to hold school for many days, and by selling +his books in the precincts, to drag on a half-starved life."</p> +<p>This story discloses another duty which fell to the lot of the +mediæval clerk. He was the parish schoolmaster--at least in +some cases. The decretals of Gregory IX require that he should have +enough learning in order to enable him to keep a school, and that +the parishioners should send their children to him to be taught in +the church. There is not much evidence of the carrying out of this +rule, but here and there we find allusions to this part of a +clerk's duties. Inasmuch as this may have been regarded as an +occupation somewhat separate from his ordinary duties as regards +the church, perhaps we should not expect to find constant allusion +to it. However, Archbishop Peckham ordered, in 1280, that in the +church of Bakewell and the chapels annexed to it there should be +<i>duos clericos scholasticos</i> carefully chosen by the +parishioners, from whose alms they would have to live, who should +carry holy water round in the parish and chapels on Lord's +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-45"></a>[pg 45]</span> Days and +festivals, and minister <i>in divinis officiis</i>, and on weekdays +should keep school <a name="FNanchor29"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_29">[29]</a>. It is said that Alexander, Bishop of +Coventry, in 1237, directed that there should be in country +villages parish clerks who should be schoolmasters.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_29"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor29">[29]</a> If that is the correct translation of +<i>profestis diebus disciplinis scolasticis indulgentes</i>. Dr. +Legg thinks that it may refer to their own education.</blockquote> +<p>It is certain--for the churchwarden accounts bear witness to the +fact--that in several parishes the clerks performed this duty of +teaching. Thus in the accounts of the church of St. Giles, Reading, +occurs the following:</p> +<blockquote>Pay'd to Whitborne the clerk towards his wages and he +to be bound to teach ij children for the choir ... xij +s.</blockquote> +<p>At Faversham, in 1506, it was ordered that "the clerks or one of +them, as much as in them is, shall endeavour themselves to teach +children to read and sing in the choir, and to do service in the +church as of old time hath been accustomed, they taking for their +teaching as belongeth thereto"; and at the church of St. Nicholas, +Bristol, in 1481, this duty of teaching is implied in the order +that the clerk ought not to take any book out of the choir for +children to learn in without licence of the procurators. We may +conclude, therefore, that the task of teaching the children of the +parish not unusually devolved upon the clerk, and that some +knowledge of Latin formed part of the instruction given, which +would be essential for those who took part in the services of the +church.</p> +<p>Nor were his labours yet finished. In John Myrc's +<i>Instructions to Parish Priests</i>, a poem written not later +than 1450, a treatise containing good sound morality, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-46"></a>[pg 46]</span> and a good sight of +the ecclesiastical customs of the Middle Ages, we find the +following lines:</p> +<blockquote>"When thou shalt to seke <a name= +"FNanchor30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30">[30]</a> <i>gon</i><br> +Hye thee fast and <i>go</i> a-non;<br> +For if thou tarry thou dost amiss,<br> +Thou shalt guyte <a name="FNanchor31"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_31">[31]</a> that soul I wys.<br> +When thou shalt to seke gon,<br> +A clene surples caste thee on;<br> +Take thy stole with thee ry't, <a name="FNanchor32"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_32">[32]</a><br> +And put thy hod ouer thy sy't <a name="FNanchor33"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_33">[33]</a><br> +Bere thyne ost <a name="FNanchor34"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_34">[34]</a> a-nout thy breste<br> +In a box that is honeste;<br> +Make thy clerk before thee synge,<br> +To bere light and belle ringe."</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_30"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor30">[30]</a> Sick.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_31"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor31">[31]</a> Quiet.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_32"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor32">[32]</a> Right.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_33"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor33">[33]</a> Sight.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_34"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor34">[34]</a> Host.</blockquote> +<p>It was customary, therefore, for the clerk to accompany the +priest to the house of the sick person, when the clergyman went to +administer the Last Sacrament or to visit the suffering. The clerk +was required to carry a lighted candle and ring a bell, and an +ancient MS. of the fourteenth century represents him marching +before the priest bearing his light and his bell. In some town +parishes he was ordered always to be at hand ready to accompany the +priest on his errands of mercy. It was a grievous offence for a +clerk to be absent from this duty. In the parish of St. Stephen's, +Coleman Street, the clerks were not allowed "to go or ride out of +the town without special licence had of the vicar and +churchwardens, and at no time were they to be out of the way, but +one of them had always to be ready to minister sacraments and +sacramentals, and to wait upon the Curate and to give him warning." +This custom of the clerk accompanying the priest when visiting the +sick was not abolished at the Reformation. <i>The Parish Clerk's +Guide</i>, published by the Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks in +1731, the history of <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-47"></a>[pg 47]</span> which it will be our privilege to +investigate, states that the holders of the office "are always +conversant in Holy Places and Holy Things, such as are the Holy +Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper; yea and in the most +serious Things too, such as the Visitation of the Sick, when we do +often attend, and at the Burial of the Dead."</p> +<br> +<a name="image09.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/image09.jpg" width="30%" alt= +""><br> +<b>The Clerk Accompanying The Priest When Visiting The Sick</b></p> +<br> +<br> +<a name="image10.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/image10.jpg" width="30%" alt= +""><br> +<b>The Clerk Attending The Priest, Who Is Administering The Last +Sacrament</b></p> +<br> +<p>Occupied with these numerous duties, engaged in a service which +delighted him, his time could never have hung heavy on his hands. +Faithful in his dutiful services to his rector, beloved by the +parishioners, a welcome guest in cot and hall, and serving God with +all his heart, according to his lights, he could doubtless exclaim +with David, <i>Laetus sorte mea</i>.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-48"></a>[pg 48]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> +<h3>THE DUTIES OF READING AND SINGING</h3> +<br> +<p>The clerk's highest privilege in pre-Reformation times was to +take his part in the great services of the church. His functions +were very important, and required considerable learning and skill. +When the songs of praise echoed through the vaulted aisles of the +great church, his voice was heard loud and clear leading the +choirmen and chanting the opening words of the Psalm. As early as +the time of St. Gregory this duty was required of him. In giving +directions to St. Augustine of Canterbury the Pope ordered that +clerks should be diligent in singing the Psalms. In the ninth +century Pope Leo IV directed that the clerks should read the Psalms +in divine service, and in 878 Archbishop Hincmar of Rheims issued +some articles of inquiry to his Rural Deans, asking, among other +questions, "Whether the presbyter has a clerk who can keep school, +or read the epistle, or is able to sing as far as may seem needful +to him?"</p> +<p>A canon of the Council of Nantes, embodied in the Decretals of +Pope Gregory IX, settled definitely that every presbyter who has +charge of a parish should have a clerk, who should sing with him +and read the epistle and lesson, and who should be able to keep +school and admonish the parishioners to send their <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-49"></a>[pg 49]</span> children to church +to learn the faith <a name="FNanchor35"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_35">[35]</a>. This ordinance was binding upon the Church +in this country as in other parts of Western Christendom, and +William Lyndewoode, Official Principal of the Archbishop of +Canterbury, when laying down the law with regard to the marriage of +clerks, states that the clerk has "to wait on the priest at the +altar, to sing with him, and to read the epistle." A notable +quarrel between two clerks, which is recorded by John of Athon +writing in the years 1333-1348, gives much information upon various +points of ecclesiastical usage and custom. The account says:</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_35"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor35">[35]</a> Decr. Greg. IX. Lib. III. tit. i. cap. iii., +quoted by Dr. Cuthbert Atchley in <i>Alcuin Club Tracts</i>, +IV.</blockquote> +<p>"Lately, when two clerks were contending about the carrying of +holy water, the clerk appointed by the parishioners against the +command of the priest, wrenched the book from the hands of the +clerk who had been appointed by the rector, and who had been +ordered to read the epistle by the priest, and hurled him violently +to the ground, drawing blood <a name="FNanchor36"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_36">[36]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_36"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor36">[36]</a> John of Athon, <i>Constit. Dom. +Othoboni</i>, tit. <i>De residentia archipreb. et episc.</i>: cap. +<i>Pastor bonus</i>: verb <i>sanctæ +obedientiæ</i>.</blockquote> +<p>A very unseemly disturbance truly! Two clerks righting for the +book in the midst of the sanctuary during the Eucharistic service! +Still their quarrel teaches us something about the appointment and +election of clerks in the Middle Ages, and of the duty of the +parish clerk with regard to the reading of the epistle.</p> +<p>In 1411 the vicar of Elmstead was enjoined by Clifford, Bishop +of London, to find a clerk to help him at private Masses on +weekdays, and on holy days to read the epistle.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-50"></a>[pg 50]</span> +<p>In the rules laid down for the guidance of clerks at the various +churches we find many references to the duties of reading and +singing. At Coventry he is required to sing in the choir at the +Mass, and to sing Evensong on the south side of the choir; on feast +days the first clerk was ordered to be <i>rector chori</i> on the +south side, while his fellow performed a like duty on the north +side. On every Sunday and holy day the latter had to read the +epistle. At Faversham the clerk was required to sing at every Mass +by note the Grail at the upper desk in the body of the choir, and +also the epistle, and to be diligent to sing all the office of the +Mass by note, and at all other services. Very careful instructions +were laid down for the proper musical arrangements in this church. +The clerk was ordered "to set the choir not after his own brest (= +voice) but as every man being a singer may sing conveniently his +part, and when plain song faileth one of the clerks shall leave +faburdon <a name="FNanchor37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37">[37]</a> +and keep plain song unto the time the choir be set again." A fine +of 2 d. was levied on all clerks as well as priests at St. +Michael's, Cornhill, who should be absent from the church, and not +take their places in the choir in their surplices, singing there +from the beginning of Matins, Mass and Evensong unto the end of the +services. At St. Nicholas, Bristol, the clerk was ordered "to sing +in reading the epistle daily under pain of ii d."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_37"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor37">[37]</a> <i>Faburdon</i> = faux-bourdon, a simple +kind of counterpoint to the church plain song-, much used in +England in the fifteenth century. Grove's <i>Dictionary of +Music</i>.</blockquote> +<p>These various rules and regulations, drawn up with consummate +care, together with the occasional glimpses of the mediæval +clerk and his duties, which old writers afford, enable us to +picture to ourselves what kind of <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-51"></a>[pg 51]</span> person he was, and to see him engaged +in his manifold occupations within the same walls which we know so +well. When the daylight is dying, musing within the dim mysterious +aisle, we can see him folding up the vestments, bearing the books +into their place of safe keeping in the vestry, singing softly to +himself:</p> +<blockquote>"<i>Et introibo ad altare Dei; ad Deum qui loetificat +juventutem meam</i>."</blockquote> +<p>The scene changes. The days of sweeping reform set in. The +Church of England regained her ancient independence and was +delivered from a foreign yoke. Her children obtained an open Bible, +and a liturgy in their own mother-tongue. But she was distressed +and despoiled by the rapacity of the commissioners of the Crown, by +such wretches as Protector Somerset, Dudley and the rest, private +peculation eclipsing the greediness of royal officials. Froude +draws a sad picture of the halls of country houses hung with altar +cloths, tables and beds quilted with copes, and knights and squires +drinking their claret out of chalices and watering their horses in +marble coffins. No wonder there was discontent among the people. No +wonder they disliked the despoiling of their heritage for the +enrichment of the Dudleys and the <i>nouveaux riches</i> who +fattened on the spoils of the monasteries, and left the church bare +of brass and ornament, chalice and vestment, the accumulation of +years of the pious offerings of the faithful. No wonder there were +risings and riots, quelled only by the stern and powerful hand of a +Tudor despot.</p> +<p>But in spite of all the changes that were wrought in that +tumultuous time, the parish clerk remained, and continued to +discharge many of the functions which had fallen to his lot before +the Reformation had begun. As I have already stated, his duties +with regard to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-52"></a>[pg +52]</span> bearing holy water and the holy loaf were discontinued, +although the collecting of money from the parishioners was +conducted in much the same way as before, and the "holy loaf" +corrupted into various forms--such as "holy looff," "holie loffe," +"holy cake," etc.--appears in churchwardens' account books as late +as the beginning of the seventeenth century.</p> +<p>As regards his main duties of reading and singing we find that +they were by no means discontinued. From a study of the First +Prayer Book of Edward VI, it is evident that his voice was still to +be heard reading in reverent tones the sacred words of Holy +Scripture, and chanting the Psalms in his mother-tongue instead of +in that of the Vulgate. The rubric in the communion service +immediately before the epistle directs that "the collectes ended, +the priest, or he that is appointed, shall read the epistle, in a +place assigned for the purpose." Who is the person signified by the +phrase "he that is appointed"? That question is decided for us by +<i>The Clerk's Book</i> recently edited by Dr. J. Wickham Legg, +wherein it is stated that "the priest or clerk" shall read the +epistle. The injunctions of 1547 interpret for us the meaning of +"the place assigned for the purpose" as being "the pulpit or such +convenient place as people may hear." Ability to read the epistle +was still therefore considered part of the functions of a parish +clerk, and the whole lesson derived from a study of <i>The Clerk's +Book</i> is the very important part which he took in the services. +As the title of the book shows, it contains "All that appertein to +the clerkes to say or syng at the Ministracion of the Communion, +and when there is no Communion. At Confirmacion. At Matrimonie. The +Visitacion of the Sicke. The Buriall of the Dedde. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-53"></a>[pg 53]</span> At the Purification +of Women. And the first daie of Lent."</p> +<p>He began the service of Holy Communion by singing the Psalm +appointed for the introit. In the book only the first words of the +part taken by the priest are given, whereas all the clerk's part is +printed in full. He leads the responses in the Lesser Litany, the +<i>Gloria in excelsis</i>, the Nicene Creed. He reads the offertory +sentences and says the <i>Ter Sanctus</i>, sings or says the +<i>Agnus Dei</i>, besides the responses. In the Marriage Service he +said or sang the Psalm with the priest, and responded diligently. +As in pre-Reformation times he accompanied the priest in the +visitation of the sick, and besides making the responses sang the +anthems, "Remember not, Lord, our iniquities," etc., and "O Saviour +of the world, save us, which by thy crosse and precious blood hast +redeemed us, help us, we beseech thee, O God." In the Communion of +the Sick the epistle is written out in full, showing that it was +the clerk's privilege to read it. A great part of the service for +the Burial of the Dead was ordered to be said or sung by the +"priest or clerk," and "at the communion when there was a burial" +he apparently sang the introit and read the epistle. In the +Communion Service the clerk with the priest said the fifty-first +Psalm and the anthem, "Turn thou us, O good Lord," etc. In Matins +and Evensong the clerk sang the Psalms and canticles and made +responses, and from other sources we gather that he used to read +either one or both of the lessons. In some churches he was called +the dekyn or deacon, and at Ludlow, in 1551, he received 3 s. 4 d. +for reading the first lesson.</p> +<p>In the accounts of St. Margaret's, Westminster, there is an item +in the year 1553 for the repair of the pulpit <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-54"></a>[pg 54]</span> where, it is stated, +"the curate and the clark did read the chapters at service +time."</p> +<p>Archbishop Grindal, in 1571, laid down the following injunction +for his province of York: "That no parish clerk be appointed +against the goodwill or without the consent of the parson, vicar, +or curate of any parish, and that he be obedient to the parson, +vicar, and curate, specially in the time of celebration of divine +service or of sacraments, or in any preparation thereunto; and that +he be able also to read the first lesson, the Epistle, and the +Psalms, with answers to the suffrages as is used, and also that he +endeavour himself to teach young children to read, if he be able so +to do." When this archbishop was translated to Canterbury he issued +very similar injunctions in the southern province. Other bishops +followed his example, and issued questions in their dioceses +relating to clerkly duties, and these injunctions show that to read +the first lesson and the epistle and to sing the Psalms constituted +the principal functions of a parish clerk.</p> +<p>Evidences of the continuance of this practice are not wanting +<a name="FNanchor38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38">[38]</a>. Indeed, +within the memory of living men at one church at least the custom +was observed. At Keighley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, some +thirty or forty years ago the parish clerk wore a black gown and +bands. He read the first lesson and the epistle. To read the latter +he left his seat below the pulpit and went up to the altar and took +down the book: after reading the epistle within the altar rails he +replaced the book and returned to his place. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-55"></a>[pg 55]</span> At Wimborne Minster +the clerk used to read the Lessons.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_38"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor38">[38]</a> cf. <i>The Parish Clerk's Book</i>, edited +by Dr. J. Wickham Legg, F.S.A., and <i>The Parish Clerk and his +right to read the Liturgical Epistle</i>, by Cuthbert Atchley, +L.R.C.P., M.R.C.S. <i>(Alcuin Club Tracts</i>, IV).</blockquote> +<p>Although it is evident that at the present time the clerk has a +right to read the epistle and one of the lessons, as well as the +Psalms and responses when they are not sung, it was perhaps +necessary that his efforts in this direction should have been +curtailed. When we remember the extraordinary blunders made by many +holders of the office in the last century, their lack of education, +and strange pronunciation, we should hardly care to hear the +mutilation of Holy Scripture which must have followed the +continuance of the practice. Would it not be possible to find men +qualified to hold the office of parish clerk by education and +powers of elocution who could revive the ancient practice with +advantage to the church both to the clergyman and the people?</p> +<p>Complaints about the eccentricities and defective reading and +singing of clerks have come down to us from Jacobean times. There +was one Thomas Milborne, clerk of Eastham, who was guilty of +several enormities; amongst others, "for that he singeth the psalms +in the church with such a jesticulous tone and altisonant voice, +viz: squeaking like a gelded pig, which doth not only interrupt the +other voices, but is altogether dissonant and disagreeing unto any +musical harmony, and he hath been requested by the minister to +leave it, but he doth obstinately persist and continue therein." +Verily Master Milborne must have been a sore trial to his vicar, +almost as great as the clerk of Buxted, Sussex, was to his rector, +who records in the parish register with a sigh of relief his death, +"whose melody warbled forth as if he had been thumped on the back +with a stone."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-56"></a>[pg 56]</span> +<p>The Puritan regime was not conducive to this improvement of the +status or education of the clerk or the cultivation of his musical +abilities. The Protectorate was a period of musical darkness. The +organs of the cathedrals and colleges were taken down; the choirs +were dispersed, musical publications ceased, and the gradual +twilight of the art, which commenced with the accession of the +Stuarts, faded into darkness. Many clerks, especially in the City +of London, deserve the highest honour for having endeavoured to +preserve the true taste for musical services in a dark age. Notable +amongst these was John Playford, clerk of the Temple Church in +1652. Benjamin Payne, clerk of St. Anne's, Blackfriars, in 1685, +the author of <i>The Parish Clerk's Guide</i>, wrote of Playford as +"one to whose memory all parish clerks owe perpetual thanks for +their furtherance in the knowledge of psalmody." The <i>History of +Music</i>, by Hawkins, describes him as "an honest and friendly +man, a good judge of music, with some skill in composition. He +contributed not a little to the art of printing music from +letterpress types. He is looked upon as the father of modern +psalmody, and it does not appear that the practice has much +improved." The account which Playford gives of the clerks of his +day is not very satisfactory, and their sorry condition is +attributed to "the late wars" and the confusion of the times. He +says:</p> +<p>"In and about this great city, in above a hundred parishes there +are but few parish clerks to be found that have either ear or +understanding to set one of these tunes musically, as it ought to +be, it having been a custom during the late wars, and since, to +chuse men into such places more for their poverty than skill and +ability, whereby that part of God's service hath been so +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-57"></a>[pg 57]</span> +ridiculously performed in most places, that it is now brought into +scorn and derision by many people." He goes on to tell us that "the +ancient practice of singing the psalms in church was for the clerk +to repeat each line, probably because, at the first introduction of +psalms into our service great numbers of the common people were +unable to read." The author of <i>The Parish Clerk's Guide</i> +states that "since faction prevailed in the Church, and troubles in +the State, Church music has laboured under inevitable prejudices, +more especially by its being decried by some misguided and peevish +sectaries as popery and anti-Christ, and so the minds of the common +people are alienated from Church music, although performed by men +of the greatest skill and judgment, under whom was wont to be +trained up abundance of youth in the respective cathedrals, that +did stock the whole kingdom at one time with good and able +songsters." The Company of Parish Clerks of London [to the history +and records of which we shall have occasion frequently to refer] +did good service in promoting the musical training of the members +and in upholding the dignity of their important office. In the +edition of <i>The Parish Clerk's Guide</i> for 1731, the writer +laments over the diminished status of his order, and states that +"the clerk is oftentimes chosen rather for his poverty, to prevent +a charge to the parish, than either for his virtue or skill; or +else for some by-end or purpose, more than for the immediate Honour +and Service of Almighty God and His Church."</p> +<p>If that was the case in rich and populous London parishes, how +much more was it true in poor village churches? Hence arose the +race of country clerks who stumbled over and miscalled the hard +words as they <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-58"></a>[pg +58]</span> occurred in the Psalms, who sang in a strange and weird +fashion, and brought discredit on their office. Indeed, the clergy +were not always above suspicion in the matter of reading, and even +now they have their detractors, who assert that it is often +impossible to hear what they say, that they read in a strained +unnatural voice, and are generally unintelligible. At any rate, +modern clergy are not so deficient in education as they were in the +early years of Queen Elizabeth, when, as Fuller states in his +<i>Triple Reconciler</i>, they were commanded "to read the chapters +over once or twice by themselves that so they might be the better +enabled to read them distinctly to the congregation." If the clergy +were not infallible in the matter of the pronunciation of difficult +words, it is not surprising that the clerk often puzzled or amused +his hearers, and mangled or skipped the proper names, after the +fashion of the mistress of a dame-school, who was wont to say when +a small pupil paused at such a name as Nebuchadnezzar, "That's a +bad word, child! go on to the next verse."</p> +<p>Of the mistakes in the clerk's reading of the Psalms there are +many instances. David Diggs, the hero of J. Hewett's <i>Parish +Clerk</i>, was remonstrated with for reading the proper names in +Psalm lxxxiii. 6, "Odommities, Osmallities, and Mobbities," and +replied: "Yes, no doubt, but that's noigh enow. Seatown folk +understand oi very well."</p> +<p>He is also reported to have said, "Jeball, Amon, and Almanac, +three Philistines with them that are tired." The vicar endeavoured +to teach him the correct mode of pronunciation of difficult words, +and for some weeks he read well, and then returned to his former +method of making a shot at the proper names.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-59"></a>[pg 59]</span> +<p>On being expostulated with he coolly replied:</p> +<p>"One on us must read better than t'other, or there wouldn't be +no difference 'twixt parson and clerk; so I gives in to you. +Besides, this sort of reading as you taught me would not do here. +The p'rishioners told oi, if oi didn't gi' in and read in th' old +style loike, as they wouldn't come to hear oi, so oi dropped +it!"</p> +<p>An old clerk at Hartlepool, who had been a sailor, used to +render Psalm civ. 26, as "There go the ships and there is that +lieutenant whom Thou hast made to take his pastime therein."</p> +<p>"Leviathan" has been responsible for many errors. A shoemaker +clerk used to call it "that great leather-thing." From various +sources comes to me the story, to which I have already referred, of +the transformation of "an alien to my mother's children" into "a +lion to my mother's children."</p> +<p>A clerk at Bletchley always called caterpillars +<i>saterpillars</i>, and in Psalm lxviii. never read JAH, but spelt +it J-A-H. He used to summon the children from their places to stand +in single file along the pews during three Sundays in Lent, and +say, "Children, say your catechayse."</p> +<p>Catechising during the service seems to have been not uncommon. +The clerk at Milverton used to summon the children, calling out, +"Children, catechise, pray draw near."</p> +<p>The clerk at Sidbury used to read, "Better than a bullock that +has horns <i>enough</i>"; his name was Timothy Karslake, commonly +called "Tim," and when he made a mistake in the responses some one +in the church would call out, "You be wrong, Tim."</p> +<p>Sometimes a little emphasis on the wrong word was used to +express the feelings engendered by private <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-60"></a>[pg 60]</span> piques and quarrels. +There were in one parish some differences between the parson and +the clerk, who showed his independence and proud spirit when he +read the verse of the Psalm, "If I <i>be</i> hungry, I will not +tell <i>thee</i>," casting a rather scornful glance at the +parson.</p> +<p>Another specimen of his class used to read "Ananias, Azarias, +and Mizzle," and one who was reading a lesson in church (Isaiah +liv. 12), "And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of +carbuncles," rendered the verse, "Thy window of a gate, and thy +gates of crab ancles."</p> +<p>Another clerk who was "not much of a scholard" used to allow no +difficulty to check his fluency. If the right word did not fall to +his hand he made shift with another of somewhat similar sound, the +result frequently taxing to the uttermost the self-control of the +better educated among his hearers. He was ill-mated to a shrewish +wife, and one was sensible of a thrill of sympathy when, without a +thought of irreverence, and in all simplicity, he rolled out, +instead of "Woe is me, that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech!" +"Woe is me, that I am constrained to dwell with <i>Missis</i>!"</p> +<p>Old age at length puts an end to the power of the most stalwart +clerks. That must have been a very pathetic scene in the church at +East Barnet which few of those present could have witnessed without +emotion. The clerk was a man of advanced age. He always conducted +the singing, which must have been somewhat monotonous, as the 95th +and the 100th Psalm (Old Version) were invariably sung. On one +occasion, after several vain attempts to begin the accustomed +melody, the poor old man exclaimed, "Well, my <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-61"></a>[pg 61]</span> friends, it's no +use. I'm too old. I can't sing any more."</p> +<br> +<a name="image11.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image11.jpg"><img src= +"images/image11.jpg" width="80%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Old Beckenham Church.</b></p> +<br> +<p>It was a bitter day for the old clerks when harmoniums and +organs came into fashion, and the old orchestras conducted by them +were abandoned. Dethroned monarchs could not feel more +distressed.</p> +<p>The period of the decline and fall of the status of the old +parish clerks was that of the Commonwealth, from 1640 to 1660. +During the spacious days of Elizabeth and the early Stuarts they +were considered most important officials. In pre-Reformation times +the incumbents used to receive assistance from the chantry priests +who were required to help the parson when not engaged in their +particular duties. After the suppression of the chantries they +continued their good offices and acted as assistant curates. But +the race soon died out. Then lecturers and special preachers were +frequently appointed by corporations or rich private individuals. +But these lecturers and preachers were a somewhat independent race +who were not very loyal to the parsons and impatient of episcopal +control, and proved themselves rather a hindrance than a help. In +North Devon <a name="FNanchor39"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_39">[39]</a> and doubtless in many other places the +experiment was tried of making use of the parish clerks and raising +them to the diaconate. Such a clerk so raised to major orders was +Robert Langdon (1584-1625), of Barnstaple, to whose history I shall +have occasion to refer again. His successor, Anthony Baker, was +also a clerk-deacon. The parish clerk then attained the zenith of +his power, dignity, and importance.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_39"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor39">[39]</a> <i>The Parish Clerks of Barnstaple</i>, +1500-1900, by Rev. J.F. Chanter (Transactions of the Devonshire +Association).</blockquote> +<p>After the disastrous period of the Commonwealth <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-62"></a>[pg 62]</span> rule he emerges +shorn of his learning, his rank, and status. His name remained; his +office was recognised by legal enactments and ecclesiastical usage; +but in most parishes he was chosen on account of his poverty rather +than for his fitness for the post. So long as the church rates +remained he received his salary, but when these were abolished it +was found difficult in many parishes to provide the funds. Hence as +the old race died out, the office was allowed to lapse, and the old +clerk's place knows him no more. Possibly it may be the delectable +task of some future historian to record the complete revival of the +office, which would prove under proper conditions an immense +advantage to the Church and a valuable assistance to the parochial +clergy.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-63"></a>[pg 63]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> +<h3>THE CLERK IN LITERATURE</h3> +<br> +<p>The parish clerk is so notable a character in our ecclesiastical +and social life, that he has not escaped the attention of many of +our great writers and poets. Some of them have with gentle satire +touched upon his idiosyncrasies and peculiarities; others have +recorded his many virtues, his zeal and faithfulness. Shakespeare +alludes to him in his play of <i>Richard II</i>, in the fourth act, +when he makes the monarch face his rebellious nobles, reproaching +them for their faithlessness, and saying:</p> +<blockquote>"God save the King! will no man say Amen?<br> +Am I both priest and clerk? Well then, Amen.<br> +God save the King! although I be not he;<br> +And yet, Amen, if Heaven do think him me."</blockquote> +<p>An old ballad, <i>King Cophetua and the Beggar-Maid</i>, +contains an interesting allusion to the parish clerk, and shows the +truth of that which has already been pointed out, viz. that the +office of clerk was often considered to be a step to higher +preferment in the Church. The lines of the old ballad run as +follows:</p> +<blockquote>"The proverb old is come to passe,<br> +The priest when he begins his masse<br> +Forgets that ever clarke he was;<br> + He knoweth not his estate."</blockquote> +<p>Christopher Harvey, the friend and imitator of George Herbert, +has some homely lines on the duties <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-64"></a>[pg 64]</span> of clerk and sexton in his poem <i>The +Synagogue</i>. Of the clerk he wrote:</p> +<blockquote>"The Churches Bible-clerk attends<br> + Her utensils, and ends<br> + Her prayers with Amen,<br> +Tunes Psalms, and to her Sacraments<br> + Brings in the Elements,<br> + And takes them out again;<br> +Is humble minded and industrious handed,<br> +Doth nothing of himself, but as commanded."</blockquote> +<p>Of the sexton he wrote:</p> +<blockquote>"The Churches key-keeper opens the door,<br> + And shuts it, sweeps the floor,<br> +Rings bells, digs graves, and fills them up again;<br> + All emblems unto men,<br> + Openly owning Christianity<br> + To mark and learn many good lessons by."</blockquote> +<p>In that delightful sketch of old-time manners and quaint humour, +<i>Sir Roger de Coverley</i>, the editor of <i>The Spectator</i> +gave a life-like representation of the old-fashioned service. Nor +is the clerk forgotten. They tell us that "Sir Roger has likewise +added five pounds a year to the clerk's place; and that he may +encourage the young fellows to make themselves perfect in the +Church services, has promised, upon the death of the present +incumbent, who is very old, to bestow it according to merit." The +details of the exquisite picture of a rural Sunday were probably +taken from the church of Milston on the Wiltshire downs where +Addison's father was incumbent, and where the author was born in +1672. Doubtless the recollections of his early home enabled Joseph +Addison to draw such an accurate picture of the ecclesiastical +customs of his youth. The deference shown by the members of the +congregation who did not presume to stir till Sir Roger had left +the building was practised in much more recent <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-65"></a>[pg 65]</span> times, and instances +will be given of the observance of this custom within living +memory.</p> +<p>Two other references to parish clerks I find in <i>The +Spectator</i> which are worthy of quotation:</p> +<blockquote>"<i>Spectator</i>, No. 372.<br> +<br> +"In three or four taverns I have, at different times, taken notice +of a precise set of people with grave countenances, short wigs, +black cloaths, or dark camblet trimmed black, with mourning gloves +and hat-bands, who went on certain days at each tavern +successively, and keep a sort of moving club. Having often met with +their faces, and observed a certain shrinking way in their dropping +in one after another, I had the unique curiosity to inquire into +their characters, being the rather moved to it by their agreeing in +the singularity of their dress; and I find upon due examination +they are a knot of parish clerks, who have taken a fancy to one +another, and perhaps settle the bills of mortality over their half +pints. I have so great a value and veneration for any who have but +even an assenting <i>Amen</i> in the service of religion, that I am +afraid but these persons should incur some scandal by this +practice; and would therefore have them, without raillery, advise +to send the florence and pullets home to their own homes, and not +to pretend to live as well as the overseers of the poor.<br> +<br> +"HUMPHRY TRANSFER.</blockquote> +<blockquote>"<i>Spectator</i>, No. 338.<br> +<br> +"A great many of our church-musicians being related to the theatre, +have in imitation of their epilogues introduced in their favourite +voluntaries a sort of music quite foreign to the design of church +services, to the great prejudice of well-disposed people. These +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-66"></a>[pg 66]</span> +fingering gentlemen should be informed that they ought to suit +their airs to the place and business; and that the musician is +obliged to keep to the text as much as the preacher. For want of +this, I have found by experience a great deal of mischief; for when +the preacher has often, with great piety and art enough, handled +his subject, and the judicious clerk has with utmost diligence +called out two staves proper to the discourse, and I have found in +myself and in the rest of the pew good thoughts and dispositions, +they have been all in a moment dissipated by a merry jig from the +organ loft."</blockquote> +<p>Dr. Johnson's definition of a parish clerk in his Dictionary +does not convey the whole truth about him and his historic office. +He is defined as "the layman who reads the responses to the +congregation in church, to direct the rest." The great +lexicographer had, however, a high estimation of this official. +Boswell tells us that on one occasion "the Rev. Mr. Palmer, Fellow +of Queens' College, Cambridge, dined with us. He expressed a wish +that a better provision were made for parish clerks. Johnson: 'Yes, +sir, a parish clerk should be a man who is able to make a will or +write a letter for anybody in the parish.'" I am afraid that a vast +number of our good clerks would have been sore puzzled to perform +the first task, and the caligraphy of the letter would in many +cases have been curious.</p> +<p>That careful delineator of rural manners as they existed at the +end of the eighteenth century, George Crabbe, devotes a whole poem +to the parish clerk in his nineteenth letter of <i>The Borough</i>. +He tells of the fortunes of Jachin, the clerk, a grave and austere +man, fully orthodox, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, and <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-67"></a>[pg 67]</span> detecter and opposer +of the wiles of Satan. Here is his picture:</p> +<blockquote>"With our late vicar, and his age the same,<br> +His clerk, bright Jachin, to his office came;<br> +The like slow speech was his, the like tall slender frame:<br> +But Jachin was the gravest man on ground,<br> +And heard his master's jokes with look profound;<br> +For worldly wealth this man of letters sigh'd,<br> +And had a sprinkling of the spirit's pride:<br> +But he was sober, chaste, devout, and just,<br> +One whom his neighbours could believe and trust:<br> +Of none suspected, neither man nor maid<br> +By him were wronged, or were of him afraid.<br> + There was indeed a frown, a trick of state<br> +In Jachin: formal was his air and gait:<br> +But if he seemed more solemn and less kind<br> +Than some light man to light affairs confined,<br> +Still 'twas allow'd that he should so behave<br> +As in high seat, and be severely grave."</blockquote> +<p>The arch-tempter tries in vain to seduce him from the right +path. "The house where swings the tempting sign," the smiles of +damsels, have no power over him. He "shuns a flowing bowl and rosy +lip," but he is not invulnerable after all. Want and avarice take +possession of his soul. He begins to take by stealth the money +collected in church, putting bran in his pockets so that the coin +shall not jingle. He offends with terror, repeats his offence, +grows familiar with crime, and is at last detected by a "stern +stout churl, an angry overseer." Disgrace, ruin, death soon follow; +shunned and despised by all, he "turns to the wall and silently +expired." A woeful story truly, the results of spiritual pride and +greed of gain! It is to be hoped that few clerks resembled poor +lost Jachin.</p> +<p>A companion picture to the disgraced clerk is that of "the noble +peasant Isaac Ashford <a name="FNanchor40"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_40">[40]</a>," who won from <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-68"></a>[pg 68]</span> Crabbe's pen a +gracious panegyric. He says of him:</p> +<blockquote>"Noble he was, contemning all things mean,<br> +His truth unquestioned, and his soul serene.<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<br> +<br> +If pride were his, 'twas not their vulgar pride,<br> +Who, in their base contempt, the great deride:<br> +Nor pride in learning--though by Clerk agreed,<br> +If fate should call him, Ashford might succeed."</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_40"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor40">[40]</a> <i>The Parish Register</i>, Part +III.</blockquote> +<p>He paints yet another portrait, that of old Dibble <a name= +"FNanchor41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41">[41]</a>, clerk and +sexton:</p> +<blockquote>"His eightieth year he reach'd still undecayed,<br> +And rectors five to one close vault conveyed.<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<br> +<br> +His masters lost, he'd oft in turn deplore,<br> +And kindly add,--'Heaven grant I lose no more!'<br> +Yet while he spake, a sly and pleasant glance<br> +Appear'd at variance with his complaisance:<br> +For as he told their fate and varying worth,<br> +He archly looked--'I yet may bear thee forth.'"</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_41"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor41">[41]</a> <i>The Parish Register</i>, Part +III.</blockquote> +<p>George Herbert, the saintly Christian poet, who sang on earth +such hymns and anthems as the angels sing in heaven, was no friend +of the old-fashioned duet between the minister and clerk in the +conduct of divine service. He would have no "talking, or sleeping, +or gazing, or leaning, or half-kneeling, or any undutiful behaviour +in them." Moreover, "everyone, man and child, should answer aloud +both Amen and all other answers which are on the clerk's and +people's part to answer, which answers also are to be done not in a +huddling or slubbering fashion, gaping, or scratching the head, or +spitting even in the midst of their answer, but gently and +pausably, thinking what they say, so that while they answer 'As it +was in the beginning, etc.,' they meditate as they speak, that God +hath ever had his people that have glorified <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-69"></a>[pg 69]</span> Him as well as now, +and that He shall have so for ever. And the like in other +answers."</p> +<p>Cowper's kindliness of heart is abundantly evinced by his +treatment of a parish clerk, one John Cox, the official of the +parish of All Saints, Northampton. The poet was living in the +little Buckinghamshire village of Weston Underwood, having left +Olney when mouldering walls and a tottering house warned him to +depart. He was recovering from his dread malady, and beginning to +feel the pleasures and inconveniences of authorship and fame. The +most amusing proof of his celebrity and his good nature is thus +related to Lady Hesketh:</p> +<p>"On Monday morning last, Sam brought me word that there was a +man in the kitchen who desired to speak with me. I ordered him in. +A plain, decent, elderly figure made its appearance, and being +desired to sit spoke as follows: 'Sir, I am clerk of the parish of +All Saints in Northampton, brother of Mr. Cox the upholsterer. It +is customary for the person in my office to annex to a bill of +mortality, which he publishes at Christmas, a copy of verses. You +will do me a great favour, sir, if you will furnish me with one.' +To this I replied: 'Mr. Cox, you have several men of genius in your +town, why have you not applied to some of them? There is a namesake +of yours in particular, Cox, the Statuary, who, everybody knows, is +a first-rate maker of verses. He surely is the man of all the world +for your purpose.' 'Alas, sir, I have heretofore borrowed help from +him, but he is a gentleman of so much reading that the people of +our town cannot understand him.'</p> +<p>"I confess to you, my dear, I felt all the force of the +compliment implied in this speech, and was almost <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-70"></a>[pg 70]</span> ready to answer, +Perhaps, my good friend, they may find me unintelligible too for +the same reason. But on asking him whether he had walked over to +Weston on purpose to implore the assistance of my muse, and on his +replying in the affirmative, I felt my mortified vanity a little +consoled, and pitying the poor man's distress, which appeared to be +considerable, promised to supply him. The waggon has accordingly +gone this day to Northampton loaded in part with my effusions in +the mortuary style. A fig for poets who write epitaphs upon +individuals! I have written <i>one</i> that serves <i>two +hundred</i> persons."</p> +<p>Seven successive years did Cowper, in his excellent good nature, +supply John Cox, the clerk of All Saints in Northampton, with his +mortuary verses <a name="FNanchor42"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_42">[42]</a>, and when Cox died, he bestowed a like +kindness on his successor, Samuel Wright.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_42"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor42">[42]</a> Southey's <i>Works of Cowper</i>, ii. p. +283.</blockquote> +<p>These stanzas are published in the complete editions of Cowper's +poems, and need not be quoted here. They begin with a quotation +from some Latin author--Horace, or Virgil, or Cicero--these +quotations being obligingly translated for the benefit of the +worthy townsfolk. The first of these stanzas begins with the +well-known lines:</p> +<blockquote>"While thirteen moons saw smoothly run<br> + The Nen's barge-laden wave,<br> +All these, life's rambling journey done,<br> + Have found their home, the grave."</blockquote> +<p>Another verse which has attained fame runs thus:</p> +<blockquote>"Like crowded forest trees we stand,<br> + And some are mark'd to fall;<br> +The axe will smite at God's command,<br> + And soon will smite us all."</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-71"></a>[pg 71]</span> +<p>And thus does Cowper, in his temporary rôle, point the +moral:</p> +<blockquote>"And O! that humble as my lot,<br> + And scorned as is my strain,<br> +These truths, though known, too much forgot,<br> + I may not teach in vain.<br> +<br> +"So prays your clerk with all his heart,<br> + And, ere he quits his pen,<br> +Begs you for once to take his part,<br> + And answer all--Amen."</blockquote> +<p>Again, in another copy of verses he alludes to his honourable +clerkship, and sings:</p> +<blockquote>"So your verse-man I, and clerk,<br> + Yearly in my song proclaim<br> +Death at hand--yourselves his mark--<br> + And the foe's unerring aim.<br> +<br> +"Duly at my time I come,<br> + Publishing to all aloud<br> +Soon the grave must be our home,<br> + And your only suit a shroud."</blockquote> +<p>On one occasion the clerk delayed to send a printed copy of the +verses; so we find the poet writing to his friend, William +Bagot:</p> +<p>"You would long since have received an answer to your last, had +not the wicked clerk of Northampton delayed to send me the printed +copy of my annual dirge, which I waited to enclose. Here it is at +last, and much good may it do the readers!"</p> +<p>Let us hope that at least the clerk was grateful.</p> +<p>Yet again does the poet allude to the occupant of the lowest +tier of the great "three-decker," when he in the opening lines of +<i>The Sofa</i> depicts the various seekers after sleep. After +telling of the snoring nurse, the sleeping traveller in the coach, +he continues:</p> +<blockquote>"Sweet sleep enjoys the curate in his desk,<br> +The tedious rector drawling o'er his head;<br> +And sweet the clerk below--"</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-72"></a>[pg 72]</span> +<p>a pretty picture truly of a stirring and impressive service!</p> +<p>Cowper, if he were alive now, would have been no admirer of +<i>Who's Who</i>, and poured scorn upon any</p> +<blockquote>"Fond attempt to give a deathless lot<br> +To names ignoble, born to be forgot."</blockquote> +<p>Beholding some "names of little note" in the <i>Biographia +Britannica</i>, he proceeded to satirise the publication, to laugh +at the imaginary procession of worthies--the squire, his lady, the +vicar, and other local celebrities, and chants in his anger:</p> +<blockquote>"There goes the parson, oh! illustrious spark!<br> +And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk."</blockquote> +<p>The poet Gay is not unmindful of the</p> +<blockquote>"Parish clerk who calls the hymns so +clear";</blockquote> +<p>and Tennyson, in his sonnet to J.M.K., wrote:</p> +<blockquote>"Our dusty velvets have much need of thee:<br> +Thou art no sabbath-drawler of old saws,<br> +Distill'd from some worm-canker'd homily;<br> +But spurr'd at heart with fiercest energy<br> +To embattail and to wall about thy cause<br> +With iron-worded proof, hating to hark<br> +The humming of the drowsy pulpit-drone<br> +Half God's good Sabbath, while the worn-out clerk<br> +Brow-beats his desk below."</blockquote> +<p>In the gallery of Dickens's characters stands out the immortal +Solomon Daisy of <i>Barnaby Rudge</i>, with his "cricket-like +chirrup" as he took his part in the social gossip round the Maypole +fire. Readers of Dickens will remember the timid Solomon's visit to +the church at midnight when he went to toll the passing bell, and +his account of the strange things that befell him there, and of the +ringing of the mysterious bell that told the murder of Reuben +Haredale.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-73"></a>[pg 73]</span> +<p>In the British Museum I discovered a fragmentary collection of +ballads and songs, made by Mr. Ballard, and amongst these is a song +relating to a very unworthy follower of St. Nicholas, whose memory +is thus unhappily preserved:</p> +<blockquote>THE PARISH CLERK<br> +<br> +A NEW COMIC SONG<br> +<br> +<i>Tune</i>--THE VICAR AND MOSES<br> +<br> +Here rests from his labours, by consent of his neighbours,<br> + A peevish, ill-natur'd old clerk;<br> +Who never design'd any good to mankind,<br> + For of goodness he ne'er had a spark.<br> + Tol lol de rol lol de rol lol.<br> +<br> +But greedy as Death, until his last breath,<br> + His method he ne'er failed to use;<br> +When interr'd a corpse lay, Amen he'd scarce say,<br> + Before he cry'd Who pays the dues?<br> +<br> +Not a tear now he's dead, by friend or foe shed;<br> + The first they were few, if he'd any;<br> +Of the last he had more, than tongue can count o'er,<br> + Who'd have hang'd the old churl for a penny.<br> +<br> +In Levi's black train, the clerk did remain<br> + Twenty years, squalling o'er a dull stave;<br> +Yet his mind was so evil, he'd swear like the devil,<br> + Nor repented on this side the grave.<br> +<br> + <i>Fowler, Printer, +Salisbury</i>.</blockquote> +<p>That extraordinary man Mr. William Hutton, who died in 1813, and +whose life has been written and his works edited by Mr. Llewellyn +Jewitt, F.S.A., amongst his other poems wrote a set of verses on +<i>The Way to Find Sunday without an Almanack</i>. It tells the +story of a Welsh clergyman who kept poultry, and how he told the +days of the week and marked the Sundays by the regularity with +which one of his hens laid her eggs. The seventh egg always became +his Sunday letter, and thus he always remembered to sally +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-74"></a>[pg 74]</span> forth +"with gown and cassock, book and band," and perform his accustomed +duty. Unfortunately the clerk was treacherous, and one week stole +an egg, with dire consequences to the congregation, which had to +wait until the clergyman, who was engaged in the unclerical task of +"soleing shoes," could be fetched. The poem is a poor trifle, but +it is perhaps worth mentioning on account of the personality of the +writer.</p> +<p>There is a charming sketch of an old clerk in the <i>Essays and +Tales</i> of the late Lady Verney. The story tells of the old +clerk's affection for his great-grandchild, Benny. He is a +delightfully drawn specimen of his race. We see him "creeping +slowly about the shadows of the aisle, in his long blue Sunday coat +with huge brass buttons, the tails of which reached almost to his +heels, shorts and brown leggings, and a low-crowned hat in his +hand. He was nearly eighty, but wiry still, rather blind and +somewhat deaf; but the post of clerk is one considered to be quite +independent and irremovable, <i>quam diu se bene gesserit</i>, +during good behaviour--on a level with Her Majesty's judges for +that matter. Having been raised to this great eminence some sixty +years before, when he was the only man in the parish who could +read, he would have stood out for his rights to remain there as +long as he pleased against all the powers and principalities in the +kingdom--if, indeed, he could have conceived the possibility of any +one, in or out of the parish, being sufficiently irreligious and +revolutionary to dispute his sovereignty. He was part of the +church, and the church was part of him--his rights and hers were +indissolubly connected in his mind.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>"The Psalms that day offered a fine field for his <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-75"></a>[pg 75]</span> Anglo-Saxon plurals +and south-country terminations; the 'housen,' 'priestesses,' +'beasteses of the field,' came rolling freely forth from his mouth, +upon which no remonstrances by the curate had had the smallest +effect. Was he, Michael Major, who had fulfilled the important +office 'afore that young jackanapes was born, to be teached how +'twere to be done?' he had observed more than once in rather a high +tone, though in general he patronised the successive occupants of +the pulpit with much kindness. 'And this 'un, as cannot spike +English nayther,' he added superciliously concerning the +north-country accent of his pastor and master."</p> +<p>On weekdays he wore a smock-frock, which he called his surplice, +with wonderful fancy stitches on the breast and back and sleeves. +At length he had to resign his post and take to his bed, and was +not afraid to die when his time came. It is a very tender and +touching little story, a very faithful picture of an old clerk +<a name="FNanchor43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43">[43]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_43"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor43">[43]</a> <i>Essays and Tales</i>, by Frances +Parthenope Lady Verney, p. 67.</blockquote> +<p>Passing from grave to gay, we find Tom Hood sketching the clerk +attending on his vicar, who is about to perform a wedding service +and make two people for ever happy. He christens the two officials +"the joiners, no rough mechanics, but a portly full-blown vicar +with his clerk, both rubicund, a peony paged by a pink. It made me +smile to observe the droll clerical turn of the clerk's beaver, +scrubbed into that fashion by his coat at the nape."</p> +<p>Few people know Alexander Pope's <i>Memoir of P.P., Clerk of +this Parish</i>, which was intended to ridicule Burnet's <i>History +of His Own Time</i>, a work characterised by a strong tincture of +self-importance <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-76"></a>[pg +76]</span> and egotism. These are abundantly exposed in the +<i>Memoir</i>, which begins thus:</p> +<p>"In the name of the Lord, Amen. I, P.P., by the Grace of God, +Clerk of this Parish, writeth this history.</p> +<p>"Ever since I arrived at the age of discretion I had a call to +take upon me the Function of a Parish Clerk, and to this end it +seemed unto me meet and profitable to associate myself with the +parish clerks of this land, such I mean as were right worthy in +their calling, men of a clear and sweet voice, and of becoming +gravity."</p> +<p>He tells how on the day of his birth Squire Bret gave a bell to +the ring of the parish. Hence that one and the same day did give to +their own church two rare gifts, its great bell and its clerk.</p> +<p>Leaving the account of P.P.'s youthful amours and bouts at +quarter-staff, we next find that:</p> +<p>"No sooner was I elected into my office, but I layed aside the +gallantries of my youth and became a new man. I considered myself +as in somewise of ecclesiastical dignity, since by wearing of a +band, which is no small part of the ornaments of our clergy, might +not unworthily be deemed, as it were, a shred of the linen +vestments of Aaron.</p> +<p>"Thou mayest conceive, O reader, with what concern I perceived +the eyes of the congregation fixed upon me, when I first took my +place at the feet of the Priest. When I raised the Psalm, how did +my voice quiver with fear! And when I arrayed the shoulders of the +minister with the surplice, how did my joints tremble under me! I +said within myself, 'Remember, Paul, thou standest before men of +high worship, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-77"></a>[pg +77]</span> wise Mr. Justice Freeman, the grave Mr. Justice Tonson, +the good Lady Jones.' Notwithstanding it was my good hap to acquit +myself to the good liking of the whole congregation, but the Lord +forbid I should glory therein."</p> +<p>He then proceeded to remove "the manifold corruptions and +abuses."</p> +<p>1. "I was especially severe in whipping forth dogs from the +Temple, all except the lap-dog of the good widow Howard, a sober +dog which yelped not, nor was there offence in his mouth.</p> +<p>2. "I did even proceed to moroseness, though sore against my +heart, unto poor babes, in tearing from them the half-eaten apple, +which they privily munched at church. But verily it pitied me, for +I remembered the days of my youth.</p> +<p>3. "With the sweat of my own hands I did make plain and smooth +the dog's ears throughout our Great Bible.</p> +<p>4. "I swept the pews, not before swept in the third year. I +darned the surplice and laid it in lavender."</p> +<p>The good clerk also made shoes, shaved and clipped hair, and +practised chirurgery also in the worming of dogs.</p> +<p>"Now was the long expected time arrived when the Psalms of King +David should be hymned unto the same tunes to which he played them +upon his harp, so I was informed by my singing-master, a man right +cunning in Psalmody. Now was our over-abundant quaver and trilling +done away, and in lieu thereof was instituted the sol-fa in such +guise as is sung in his Majesty's Chapel. We had London +singing-masters sent into every parish like unto excisemen."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-78"></a>[pg 78]</span> +<p>P.P. was accused by his enemies of humming through his nostrils +as a sackbut, yet he would not forgo the harmony, it having been +agreed by the worthy clerks of London still to preserve the same. +He tutored the young men and maidens to tune their voices as it +were a psaltery, and the church on Sunday was filled with new +Hallelujahs.</p> +<p>But the fame of the great is fleeting. Poor Paul Philips passed +away, and was forgotten. When his biographer went to see him, his +place knew him no more. No one could tell of his virtues, his +career, his excellences. Nothing remained but his epitaph:</p> +<blockquote>"O reader, if that thou canst read,<br> + Look down upon this stone;<br> +Do all we can, Death is a man<br> + That never spareth none."</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-79"></a>[pg 79]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> +<h3>CLERKS TOO CLERICAL. SMUGGLING DAYS AND SMUGGLING WAYS</h3> +<br> +<p>It is perhaps not altogether surprising that in times when +ordained clergymen were scarce, and when much confusion reigned, +the clerk should occasionally have taken upon himself to discharge +duties which scarcely pertained to his office. Great diversity of +opinion is evident as regards the right of the clerk to perform +certain ecclesiastical services, such as his reading of the Burial +Service, the Churching of Women, and the reading of the daily +services in the absence of the incumbent. In the days of Queen +Elizabeth, judging from the numerous inquiries issued by the +bishops at their visitations, one would imagine that the parish +clerk performed many services which pertained to the duties of the +parish priest. It is not likely that such inquiries should have +been made if some reports of clerks and readers exceeding their +prescribed functions had not reached episcopal ears. They ask if +readers presume to baptize or marry or celebrate Holy Communion. +And the answers received in several cases support the surmise of +the bishops. Thus we read that at Westbere, "When the parson is +absent the parish clerk reads the service." At Waltham the parish +clerk served the parish for the most as the vicar seldom came +there. At <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-80"></a>[pg +80]</span> Tenterden the service was read by a layman, one John +Hopton, and at Fairfield a reader served the church. This was the +condition of those parishes in 1569, and doubtless many others were +similarly situated.</p> +<p>The Injunctions of Archbishop Grindal, issued in 1571, are +severe and outspoken with regard to lay ministration. He wrote as +follows:</p> +<blockquote>"We do enjoin and straitly command, that from +henceforth no parish clerk, nor any other person not being ordered, +at the least, for a deacon, shall presume to solemnize Matrimony, +or to minister the Sacrament of Baptism, or to deliver the +communicants the Lord's cup at the celebration of the Holy +Communion. And that no person, not being a minister, deacon, or at +least, tolerated by the ordinary in writing, do attempt to supply +the office of a minister in saying divine service openly in any +church or chapel."</blockquote> +<p>In the Lincoln diocese in 1588 the clerk was still allowed to +read one lesson and the epistle, but he was forbidden from saying +the service, ministering any sacraments or reading any homily. In +some cases greater freedom was allowed. In the beautiful Lady +Chapel of the Church of St. Mary Overy there is preserved a curious +record relating to this:</p> +<blockquote>"Touching the Parish Clerk and Sexton all is well; only +our clerk doth sometimes to ease the minister read prayers, church +women, christen, bury and marry, being allowed so to do.<br> +<br> +"December 9. 1634."</blockquote> +<p>Bishop Joseph Hall of Exeter asked in 1638 in his visitation +articles, "Whether in the absence of the minister or at any other +time the Parish Clerk, or any other lay person, said Common Prayer +openly in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-81"></a>[pg +81]</span> church or any part of the Divine Service which is proper +to the Priest?"</p> +<p>Archdeacon Marsh, of Chichester, in 1640 inquires: "Hath your +Parish Clerk or Sexton taken upon him to meddle with anything above +his office, as churching of women, burying of the dead, or such +like?"</p> +<p>During the troublous times of the Commonwealth period it is not +surprising that the clerk often performed functions which were +"above his office," when clergymen were banished from their +livings. We have noticed already an example of the burial service +being performed by the clerk when he was so rudely treated by angry +Parliamentarians for using the Book of Common Prayer. Here is an +instance of the ceremony of marriage being performed by the parish +clerk:</p> +<blockquote>"The marriages in the Parish of Dale Abbey were till a +few years previous to the Marriage Act, solemnized by the Clerk of +the Parish, at one shilling each, there being no +minister."</blockquote> +<p>This Marriage Act was that passed by the Little Parliament of +1653, by which marriage was pronounced to be merely a civil +contract. Banns were published in the market-place, and the +marriages were performed by Cromwell's Justices of the Peace whom, +according to a Yorkshire vicar, "that impious and rebell appointed +out of the basest Hypocrites and dissemblers with God and man." The +clerks' marriage ceremony was no worse than that of the +justices.</p> +<p>Dr. Macray, of the Bodleian Library, has discovered the draft of +a licence granted by Dr. John Mountain, Bishop of London, to Thomas +Dickenson, parish clerk of Waltham Holy Cross, in the year 1621, +permitting <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-82"></a>[pg +82]</span> him to read prayers, church women, and bury the dead. +This licence states that the parish of Waltham Holy Cross was very +spacious, many houses being a long distance from the church, and +that the curate was very much occupied with his various duties of +visiting the sick, burying the dead, churching women, and other +business belonging to his office; hence permission is granted to +Thomas Dickenson to assist the curate in reading prayers in church, +burying dead corpses, and to church women in the absence of the +curate, or when the curate cannot conveniently perform the same +duty in his own person.</p> +<p>Doubtless this licence was no solitary exception, and it is +fairly certain that other clerks enjoyed the same privileges which +are here assigned to Master Thomas Dickenson. He must have been a +worthy member of his class, a man of education, and of skill and +ability in reading, or episcopal sanction would not have been given +to him to perform these important duties.</p> +<p>It is evident that parish clerks occasionally at least performed +several important clerical functions with the consent of, or in the +absence of the incumbents, and that in spite of the articles in the +visitations of some bishops who were opposed to this practice, +episcopal sanction was not altogether wanting.</p> +<p>The affection with which the parishioners regarded the clerk is +evidenced in many ways. He received from them many gifts in kind +and money, such as eggs and cakes and sheaves of corn. Some of them +were demanded in early times as a right that could not be evaded; +but the compulsory payment of such goods was abolished, and the +parishioners willingly gave by courtesy that which had been deemed +a right.</p> +<p>Sometimes land has been left to the clerk in order <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-83"></a>[pg 83]</span> that he may ring the +curfew-bell, or a bell at night and early morning, so that +travellers may be warned lest they should lose their way over wild +moorland or bleak down, and, guided by the sound of the bell, may +reach a place of safety.</p> +<p>An old lady once lost her way on the Lincolnshire wolds, nigh +Boston, but was guided to her home by the sound of the church bell +tolling at night. So grateful was she that she bequeathed a piece +of land to the parish clerk on condition that he should ring one of +the bells from seven to eight o'clock each evening during the +winter months.</p> +<p>There is a piece of land called "Curfew Land" at St. +Margaret's-at-Cliffe, Kent, the rent of which was directed to be +paid to the clerk or other person who should ring the curfew every +evening in order to warn travellers lest they should fall over the +cliff, as the unfortunate donor of the land did, for want of the +due and constant ringing of the bell.</p> +<p>In smuggling days, clerks, like many of their betters, were not +immaculate. The venerable vicar of Worthing, the Rev. E. K. +Elliott, records that the clerk of Broadwater was himself a +smuggler, and in league with those who throve by the illicit trade. +When a cargo was expected he would go up to the top of the spire, +which afforded a splendid view of the sea, and when the coast was +clear of preventive officers he would give the signal by hoisting a +flag. Kegs of contraband spirits were frequently placed inside two +huge tombs which have sliding tops, and which stand near the +western porch of Worthing church.</p> +<p>The last run of smuggled goods in that neighbourhood was well +within the recollection of the vicar, and took place in 1855. Some +kegs were taken to Charman <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-84"></a>[pg 84]</span> Dean and buried in the ground, and +although diligent search was made, the smugglers baffled their +pursuers.</p> +<p>At Soberton, Hants, there is an old vault near the chancel door. +Now the flat stone is level with the ground; but in 1800 it rested +on three feet of brickwork, and could be lifted off by two men. +Here many kegs of spirit that paid no duty were deposited by an +arrangement with the clerk, and the stone lifted on again. This +secret hiding-place was never discovered, neither did the curate +find out who requisitioned his horse when the nights favoured +smugglers.</p> +<p>In the wild days of Cornish wreckers and wrecking, both priest +and clerk are said to have taken part in the sharing of the tribute +of the sea cast upon their rockbound coast. The historian of +Cornwall, Richard Polwhele, tells of a wreck happening one Sunday +morning just before service. The clerk, eager to be at the fray, +announced to the assembled parishioners that "Measter would gee +them a holiday."</p> +<p>I will not vouch for the truth of that other story told in the +<i>Encyclopædia of Wit</i> (1801), which runs as follows:</p> +<p>"A parson who lived on the coast of Cornwall, where one great +business of the inhabitants is plundering from ships that are +wrecked, being once preaching when the alarm was given, found that +the sound of the wreck was so much more attractive than his sermon, +that all his congregation were scampering out of church. To check +their precipitation, he called out, 'My brethren, let me entreat +you to stay for five words more'; and marching out of the pulpit, +till he had got pretty near the door of the church, slowly +pronounced, 'Let us all start fair,' and ran off with the rest of +them."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-85"></a>[pg 85]</span> +<p>An old parishioner of the famous Rev. R. S. Hawker once told him +of a very successful run of a cargo of kegs, which the obliging +parish clerk allowed the smugglers to place underneath the benches +and in the tower stairs of the church. The old man told the story +thus:</p> +<blockquote>"We bribed Tom Hockaday, the sexton, and we had the +goods safe in the seats by Saturday night. The parson did wonder at +the large congregation, for divers of them were not regular +churchgoers at other times; and if he had known what was going on, +he could not have preached a more suitable discourse, for it was, +'Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.' It was one of his best +sermons; but, there, it did not touch us, you see; for we never +tasted anything but brandy and gin."</blockquote> +<p>In such smuggling ways the clerk was no worse than his +neighbours, who were all more or less involved in the illicit +trade.</p> +<p>The old Cornish clerks who used to help the smugglers were a +curious race of beings, remarkable for their familiar ways with the +parson. At St. Clements the clergyman one day was reading the +verse, "I have seen the ungodly flourish like a <i>green bay</i> +tree," when the clerk looked up with an inquiring glance from the +desk below, "How can that be, maister?" He was more familiar with +the colour of a bay horse than the tints of a bay tree.</p> +<p>At Kenwyn two dogs, one of which belonged to the parson, were +fighting at the west end of the church; the parson, who was then +reading the second lesson, rushed out of the pew and went down and +parted them. Returning to his pew, and doubtful where he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-86"></a>[pg 86]</span> had left +off, he asked the clerk, "Roger, where was I?" "Why, down parting +the dogs, maister," replied Roger.</p> +<p>Two rocks stand out on the South Devon coast near Dawlish, which +are known as the Parson and Clerk. A wild, weird legend is told +about these rocks--of a parson who desired the See of Exeter, and +often rode with his clerk to Dawlish to hear the latest news of the +bishop who was nigh unto death. The wanderers lost their way one +dark night, and the parson exhibited most unclerical anger, telling +his clerk that he would rather have the devil for a guide than him. +Of course, the devil or one of his imps obliged, and conducted the +wanderers to an old ruined house, where there was a large company +of disguised demons. They all passed a merry night, singing and +carousing. Then the news comes that the bishop is dead. The parson +and clerk determine to set out at once. Their steeds are brought, +but will not budge a step. The parson cuts savagely at his horse. +The demons roar with unearthly laughter. The ruined house and all +the devils vanish. The waves are overwhelming the riders, and in +the morning the wretches are found clinging to the rocks with the +grasp of death, which ever afterwards record their villainy and +their fate.</p> +<p>Among tales of awe and weird mystery stands out the story of the +adventures of Peter Priestly, clerk, sexton, and gravestone cutter, +of Wakefield, who flourished at the end of the eighteenth century. +He was an old and much respected inhabitant of the town, and not at +all given to superstitious fears. One Saturday evening he went to +the church to finish the epitaph on a stone which was to be in +readiness for removal before Sunday. Arrived at the church, where +he had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-87"></a>[pg 87]</span> +his workshop, he set down his lantern and lighted his other candle, +which was set in a primitive candlestick formed out of a potato. +The church clock struck eleven, and still some letters remained +unfinished, when he heard a strange sound, which seemed to say +"Hiss!" "Hush!" He resumes his work undaunted. Again that awful +voice breaks in once more. He lights his lantern and searches for +its cause. In vain his efforts. He resolves to leave the church, +but again remembers his promise and returns to his work. The mystic +hour of midnight strikes. He has nearly finished, and bends down to +examine the letters on the stone. Again he hears a louder "Hiss!" +He now stands appalled. Terror seizes him. He has profaned the +Sabbath, and the sentence of death has gone forth. With tottering +steps Peter finds his way home and goes to bed. Sleep forsakes him. +His wife ministers to him in vain. As morning dawns the good woman +notices Peter's wig suspended on the great chair. "Oh, Peter," she +cries, "what hast thou been doing to burn all t' hair off one side +of thy wig?" "Ah! bless thee," says the clerk, "thou hast cured me +with that word." The mysterious "hiss" and "hush" were sounds from +the frizzling of Peter's wig by the flame of the candle, which to +his imperfect sense of hearing imported things horrible and awful. +Such is the story which a writer in Hone's <i>Year Book</i> tells, +and which is said to have afforded Peter Priestly and the good +people of merry Wakefield many a joke.</p> +<p>The <i>Year Book</i> is always full of interest, and in the same +volume I find an account of a most worthy representative of the +profession, one John Kent, the parish clerk of St. Albans, who died +in 1798, aged eighty years. He was a very venerable and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-88"></a>[pg 88]</span> +intelligent man, who did service in the old abbey church, long +before the days when its beauties were desecrated by Grimthorpian +restoration, or when it was exalted to cathedral rank. For +fifty-two years Kent was the zealous clerk and custodian of the +minster, and loved to describe its attractions. He was the friend +of the learned Browne Willis. His name is mentioned in Cough's +<i>Sepulchral Monuments of Great Britain</i>, and his intelligence +and knowledge noticed, and Newcombe, the historian of the abbey, +expressed his gratitude to the good clerk for much information +imparted by him to the author. The monks could not have guarded the +shrine of St. Alban with greater care than did Kent protect the +relics of good Duke Humphrey. His veneration for all that the abbey +contained was remarkable. A story is told of a gentleman who +purloined a bone of the Duke. The clerk suspected the theft but +could never prove it, though he sometimes taxed the gentleman with +having removed the bone. At last, just before his death, the man +restored it, saying to the clerk, "I could not depart easy with it +in my possession."</p> +<p>Kent was a plumber and glazier by trade, in politics a staunch +partisan of "the Blues," and on account of his sturdy independence +was styled "Honest John." He performed his duties in the minster +with much zeal and ability, his knowledge of psalmody was +unsurpassed, his voice was strong and melodious, and he was a +complete master of church music. Unlike many of his +confrères, he liked to hear the congregation sing; but when +country choirs came from neighbouring churches to perform in the +abbey with instruments, contemptuously described by him as "a box +of whistles," the congregation being unable to join in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-89"></a>[pg 89]</span> +melodies, he used to give out the anthem thus: "Sing <i>ye</i> to +the praise and glory of God...." Five years before his death he had +an attack of paralysis which slightly crippled his power of +utterance, though this defect could scarcely be detected when he +was engaged in the services of the church. Two days before his +death he sang his "swan-song." Some colours were presented to the +volunteers of the town, and were consecrated in the abbey. During +the service he sang the 20th Psalm with all the strength and +vivacity of youth. When his funeral sermon was preached the rector +alluded to this dying effort, and said that on the day of the great +service "Nature seemed to have reassumed her throne; and, as she +knew it was to be his last effort, was determined it should be his +best." The body of the good clerk, John Kent, rests in the abbey +church which he loved so well, in a spot marked by himself, and we +hope that the "restoration," somewhat drastic and severe, which has +fallen upon the grand old church, has not obscured his grave or +destroyed the memorial of this worthy and excellent clerk.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-90"></a>[pg 90]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> +<h3>THE CLERK IN EPITAPH</h3> +<br> +<p>The virtues of many a parish clerk are recorded on numerous +humble tombstones in village churchyards. The gratitude felt by +both rector and people for many years of faithful service is thus +set forth, sometimes couched in homely verse, and occasionally +marred by the misplaced humour and jocular expressions and puns +with which our forefathers thought fit to honour the dead. In this +they were not original, and but followed the example of the Greeks +and Romans, the Italians, Spaniards, and French. This objectionable +fashion of punning on gravestones was formerly much in vogue in +England, and such a prominent official as the clerk did not escape +the attention of the punsters. Happily the quaint fancies and +primitive humour, which delighted our grandsires in the production +of rebuses and such-like pleasantries, no longer find themselves +displayed upon the fabric of our churches, and the "merry jests" +have ceased to appear upon the memorials of the dead. We will +glance at the clerkly epitaphs of some of the worthies who have +held the office of parish clerk who were deemed deserving of a +memorial.</p> +<p>In the southern portion of the churchyard attached <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-91"></a>[pg 91]</span> to St. Andrew's +Church, Rugby, is a plain upright stone containing the following +inscription:</p> +<blockquote> In memory of<br> + Peter Collis<br> + 33 years Clerk of<br> + this Parish<br> +who died Feb'y 28th 1818<br> + Aged 82 years</blockquote> +<p>[Some lines of poetry follow, but these unfortunately are not +now discernible.]</p> +<p>At the time Peter held office the incumbent was noted for his +card-playing propensities, and the clerk was much addicted to +cock-fighting. The following couplet relating to these worthies is +still remembered:</p> +<blockquote>No wonder the people of Rugby are all in the dark,<br> +With a card-playing parson and a cock-fighting clerk.</blockquote> +<p>Peter's father was clerk before him, and on a stone to his +memory is recorded as follows:</p> +<blockquote> + In +memory of<br> + John Collis Husband of<br> + Eliz: Collis who liv'd in<br> + Wedlock together 50 years<br> +he served as Parish Clerk 41 years<br> +And died June 19th 1781 aged 69 years<br> +<br> + Him who covered up the Dead<br> + Is himself laid in the same bed<br> + Time with his crooked scythe hath made<br> + Him lay his mattock down and spade<br> + May he and we all rise again<br> + To everlasting life AMEN.</blockquote> +<p>The name Collis occurs amongst those who held the office of +parish clerk at West Haddon. The Rev. John T. Page, to whom I am +indebted for the above information <a name= +"FNanchor44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44">[44]</a>, has gleaned the +following particulars <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-92"></a>[pg 92]</span> from the parish registers and other +sources. The clerk who reigned in 1903 was Thomas Adams, who filled +the position for eighteen years. He succeeded his father-in-law, +William Prestidge, who died 24 March, 1886, after holding the +office fifty-three years. His predecessor was Thomas Collis, who +died 30 January, 1833, after holding the office fifty-two years, +and succeeded John Colledge, who, according to an old +weather-beaten stone still standing in the churchyard, died 12 +September, 1781. How long Colledge held office cannot now be +ascertained. Here are some remarkable examples of long years of +service, Collis and Prestidge having held the office for 105 +years.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_44"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor44">[44]</a> cf. <i>Notes and Queries</i>, Tenth Series, +ii., 10 September, 1904, p. 215.</blockquote> +<p>In Shenley churchyard the following remarkable epitaph appears +to the memory of Joseph Rogers, who was a bricklayer as well as +parish clerk:</p> +<blockquote>Silent in dust lies mouldering here<br> +A Parish Clerk of voice most clear.<br> +None Joseph Rogers could excel<br> +In laying bricks or singing well;<br> +Though snapp'd his line, laid by his rod,<br> +We build for him our hopes in God.</blockquote> +<p>A remarkable instance of longevity is recorded on a tombstone in +Cromer churchyard. The inscription runs:</p> +<blockquote>Sacred to the memory of David Vial who departed this +life the 26th of March, 1873, aged 94 years, for sixty years clerk +of this parish.</blockquote> +<p>At the village church of Whittington, near Oswestry, there is a +well-known epitaph, which is worth recording:</p> +<blockquote>March 13th 1766 died Thomas Evans, Parish Clerk, aged +72.</blockquote> +<blockquote>Old Sternhold's lines or "Vicar of Bray"<br> +Which he tuned best 'twas hard to say.</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-93"></a>[pg 93]</span> +<p>Another remarkable instance of longevity is that recorded on a +tombstone in the cemetery of Eye, Suffolk, erected to the memory of +a faithful clerk:</p> +<center>Erected to the memory of<br> +George Herbert<br> +who was clerk of this parish for more<br> +than 71 years<br> +and who died on the 17th May 1873<br> +aged 81 years.<br> +<br> +This monument<br> +Is erected to his memory by his grateful<br> +Friend<br> +the Rev. W. Page Roberts<br> +Vicar of Eye.</center> +<p>Herbert must have commenced his duties very early in life; +according to the inscription, at the age of ten years.</p> +<p>At Scothorne, in Lincolnshire, there is a sexton-ringer-clerk +epitaph on John Blackburn's tombstone, dated 1739-40. It reads +thus:</p> +<blockquote>Alas poor John<br> +Is dead and gone<br> +Who often toll'd the Bell<br> +And with a spade<br> +Dug many a grave<br> +And said Amen as well.</blockquote> +<p>The Roes were a great family of clerks at Bakewell, and the two +members who occupied that office at the end of the eighteenth and +beginning of the nineteenth century seem to have been endowed with +good voices, and with a devoted attachment to the church and its +monuments. Samuel Roe had the honour of being mentioned in the +<i>Gentleman's Magazine</i>, and receives well-deserved praise for +his care of the fabric of Bakewell <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-94"></a>[pg 94]</span> Church, and his epitaph is given, +which runs as follows:</p> +<center>To<br> +The memory of<br> +SAMUEL ROE<br> +Clerk<br> +of the Parish Church of Bakewell,<br> +which office<br> +he filled thirty-five years<br> +with credit to himself<br> +and satisfaction to the inhabitants.<br> +His natural powers of voice,<br> +in clearness, strength, and sweetness<br> +were altogether unequalled.<br> +He died October 31st, 1792<br> +Aged 70 years</center> +<p>The correspondent of the <i>Gentleman's Magazine</i> wrote thus +of this faithful clerk:</p> +<blockquote>"Mr. Urban,<br> +<br> +"It was with much concern that I read the epitaph upon Mr. Roe in +your last volume, page 1192. Upon a little tour which I made in +Derbyshire in 1789, I met with that worthy and very intelligent man +at Bakewell, and in the course of my antiquarian researches there, +derived no inconsiderable assistance from his zeal and civility. If +he did not possess the learning of his namesake, your old and +valuable correspondent <a name="FNanchor45"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_45">[45]</a>, I will venture to declare that he was not +less influenced by a love and veneration for antiquity, many proofs +of which he had given by his care and attention to the monuments of +the church which were committed to his charge; for he united the +characters of sexton, clerk, singing-master, will-maker, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-95"></a>[pg 95]</span> and +schoolmaster. Finding that I was quite alone, he requested +permission to wait upon me at the inn in the evening, urging as a +reason for this request that he must be exceedingly gratified by +the conversation of a gentleman who could read the characters upon +the monument of Vernon, the founder of Haddon House, a treat he had +not met with for many years. After a very pleasant gossip we +parted, but not till my honest friend had, after some apparent +struggle, begged of me to indulge him with my name."</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_45"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor45">[45]</a> T. Row stands for T<i>he</i> R<i>ector</i> +O<i>f</i> W<i>hittington</i>, the Rev. Samuel Pegge. cf. <i>Curious +Epitaphs</i>, by W. Andrews, p. 124.</blockquote> +<p>To this worthy clerk's care is due the preservation of the +Vernon and other monuments in Bakewell Church. Mr. Andrews tells us +that "in some instances he placed a wooden framework to keep off +the rough hands and rougher knives of the boys and young men of the +congregation. He also watched with special care the Wenderley tomb, +and even took careful rubbings of the inscriptions <a name= +"FNanchor46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46">[46]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_46"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor46">[46]</a> W. Andrews, <i>Curious Epitaphs</i>, p. +124.</blockquote> +<p>The inscription on the tomb of the son of this worthy clerk +proves that he inherited his father's talents as regards musical +ability:</p> +<center>Erected<br> +In remembrance of<br> +PHILIP ROE<br> +Who died 12th September, 1815,<br> +Aged 52 years.</center> +<br> +<blockquote>The vocal Powers here let us mark<br> +Of Philip our late Parish Clerk,<br> +In church none ever heard a Layman<br> +With a clearer voice say 'Amen'!<br> +Who now with Hallelujahs sound<br> +Like him can make this roof rebound?<br> +The Choir lament his Choral Tones<br> +The Town--so soon Here lie his Bones.<br> +Sleep undisturb'd within thy peaceful shrine<br> +Till Angels wake thee with such notes as thine.</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-96"></a>[pg 96]</span> +<p>The last two lines are a sweet and tender tribute truly to the +memory of this melodious clerk.</p> +<p>A writer in <i>All the Year Round</i> <a name= +"FNanchor47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47">[47]</a>, who has been +identified as Cuthbert Bede, the author of the immortal <i>Verdant +Green</i>, tells of the Osbornes and Worrals, famous families of +clerks, quoting instances of the hereditary nature of the office. +He wrote as follows concerning them:</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_47"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor47">[47]</a> No. 624, New Series, p. 83.</blockquote> +<p>"As a boy I often attended the service at Belbroughton Church, +Worcestershire, when the clerk was Mr. Osborne, tailor. His family +had been parish clerks and tailors since the time of Henry VIII, +and were lineally descended from William Fitz-Osborne, who in the +twelfth century had been deprived by Ralph Fitz-Herbert of his +right to the manor of Bellam, in the parish of Bellroughton. Often +have I stood in the picturesque churchyard of Wolverley, +Worcestershire, by the grave of the old parish clerk, whom I well +remember, old Thomas Worrall, the inscription on whose monument is +as follows:</p> +<blockquote> Sacred to the memory of<br> + THOMAS WORRALL,<br> + parish clerk of Wolverley for a period +of<br> + forty-seven years.<br> + Died A.D. 1854, February 23rd.<br> + He served with faithfulness in humble +sphere<br> + As one who could his talents well +employ,<br> + Hope that when Christ his Lord shall +reappear,<br> + He may be bidden to his Master's joy.<br> +<br> +This tombstone was erected to the memory of the deceased<br> +by a few parishioners in testimony of his worth, April 1855.<br> +<br> + Charles R. Somers Cocks,<br> + Vicar.</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-97"></a>[pg 97]</span> +<p>It may be noted of this worthy clerk that, with the exception of +a week or two before his death, he was never absent from his Sunday +and weekday duties in the forty-seven years during which he held +office.</p> +<p>He succeeded his father, James Worrall, who died in 1806, aged +seventy-nine, after being parish clerk of Wolverley for thirty +years. His tombstone, near to that of his son, was erected "to +record his worth both in his public and private character, and as a +mark of personal esteem--p. 1. F.H. and W.C. p.c." I am told that +these initials stand for F. Hustle, and the Rev. William Callow, +and that the latter was the author of the following lines inscribed +on the monument, which are well worth quoting:</p> +<blockquote>If courtly bards adorn each statesman's bust<br> +And strew their laurels o'er each warrior's dust,<br> +Alike immortalise, as good and great,<br> +Him who enslaved as him who saved the State,<br> +Surely the Muse (a rustic minstrel) may<br> +Drop one wild flower upon a poor man's clay.<br> +This artless tribute to his mem'ry give<br> +Whose life was such as heroes seldom live.<br> +In worldly knowledge, poor indeed his store--<br> +He knew the village, and he scarce knew more.<br> +The worth of heavenly truth he justly knew--<br> +In faith a Christian, and in practice too.<br> +Yes, here lies one, excel him ye who can:<br> +Go! imitate the virtues of that man!</blockquote> +<p>The famous "Amen" epitaph at Crayford, Kent, is well known, +though the name of the clerk who is thus commemorated is sometimes +forgotten. It is to the memory of one Peter Snell, who repeated his +"Amens" diligently for a period of thirty years, and runs as +follows:</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-98"></a>[pg 98]</span> +<blockquote>Here lieth the body of<br> +Peter Snell,<br> +Thirty years clerk of this Parish.<br> +He lived respected as a pious and mirthful man,<br> +and died on his way to church to<br> +assist at a wedding,<br> +on the 31st of March, 1811,<br> +Aged seventy years.</blockquote> +<blockquote>The inhabitants of Crayford have raised this stone to +his cheerful memory, and as a tribute to his long and faithful +services.</blockquote> +<blockquote>The life of this clerk was just threescore and ten,<br> +Nearly half of which time he had sung out Amen.<br> +In his youth he had married like other young men,<br> +But his wife died one day--so he chanted Amen.<br> +A second he took--she departed--what then?<br> +He married and buried a third with Amen.<br> +Thus his joys and his sorrows were treble, but then<br> +His voice was deep base, as he sung out Amen.<br> +On the horn he could blow as well as most men,<br> +So his horn was exalted to blowing Amen.<br> +But he lost all his wind after threescore and ten,<br> +And here with three wives he waits till again<br> +The trumpet shall rouse him to sing out Amen.</blockquote> +<br> +<a name="image12.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/image12.jpg" width="45%" alt= +""><br> +<b>Old Scarlett.</b></p> +<br> +<p>The duties of sexton and parish clerk were usually performed by +one person, as we have already frequently noticed, and therefore it +is fitting that we should record the epitaph of Old Scarlett, most +famous of grave-diggers, who buried two queens, both the victims of +stern persecution, ill-usage, and Tudor tyranny--Catherine, the +divorced wife of Henry VIII, and poor sinning Mary Queen of Scots. +His famous picture in Peterborough Cathedral, on the wall of the +western transept, usually attracts the chief attention of the +tourist, and has preserved his name and fame. He is represented +with a spade, pickaxe, keys, and a whip in his leathern girdle, and +at his feet lies a skull. In <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-99"></a>[pg 99]</span> the upper left-hand corner appear the +arms of the see of Peterborough, save that the cross-keys are +converted into cross-swords. The whip at his girdle appears to show +that Old Scarlett occupied the position of dog-whipper as well as +sexton. There is a description of this portrait in the <i>Book of +Days</i>, wherein the writer says:</p> +<blockquote>"What a lively effigy--short, stout, hardy, +self-complacent, perfectly satisfied, and perhaps even proud of his +profession, and content to be exhibited with all its insignia about +him! Two queens had passed through his hands into that bed which +gives a lasting rest to queens and to peasants alike. An officer of +death, who had so long defied his principal, could not but have +made some impression on the minds of bishop, dean, prebends, and +other magnates of the cathedral, and hence, as we may suppose, the +erection of this lively portraiture of the old man, which is +believed to have been only once renewed since it was first put up. +Dr. Dibdin, who last copied it, tells us that 'old Scarlett's +jacket and trunkhose are of a brownish red, his stockings blue, his +shoes black, tied with blue ribbons, and the soles of his feet red. +The cap upon his head is red, and so also is the ground of the coat +armour.'" Beneath the portrait are these lines:</blockquote> +<blockquote> YOU SEE OLD SCARLETTS PICTURE +STAND ON HIE<br> + BUT AT YOUR FEETE THERE DOTH HIS BODY +LYE<br> + HIS GRAVESTONE DOTH HIS AGE AND DEATH TIME +SHOW<br> + HIS OFFICE BY THEIS TOKENS YOU MAY +KNOW<br> + SECOND TO NONE FOR STRENGTH AND STURDYE +LIMM<br> + A SCARBABE MIGHTY VOICE WITH VISAGE +GRIM<br> + HEE HAD INTER'D TWO QUEENES WITHIN THIS +PLACE<br> + AND THIS TOWNES HOUSEHOLDERS IN HIS LIVES +SPACE<br> + TWICE OVER: BUT AT LENGTH HIS OWN TURNE +CAME<br> + WHAT HE FOR OTHERS DID FOR HIM THE +SAME<br> + WAS DONE: NO DOUBT HIS SOUL DOTH LIVE FOR +AYE<br> + IN HEAVEN: THOUGH HERE HIS BODY CLAD IN +CLAY.</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-100"></a>[pg 100]</span> +<p>On the floor is a stone inscribed "JULY 2 1594 R.S. ætatis +98." This painting is not a contemporary portrait of the old +sexton, but a copy made in 1747.</p> +<p>The sentiment expressed in the penult couplet is not uncommon, +the idea of retributive justice, of others performing the last +offices for the clerk who had so often done the like for his +neighbours. The same notion is expressed in the epitaph of Frank +Raw, clerk and monumental mason, of Selby, Yorkshire, which runs as +follows:</p> +<blockquote>Here lies the body of poor FRANK RAW<br> + Parish clerk and gravestone cutter,<br> +And this is writ to let you know<br> +What Frank for others used to do<br> + Is now for Frank done by another <a name= +"FNanchor48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48">[48]</a>.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_48"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor48">[48]</a> <i>Curious Epitaphs</i>, by W. Andrews, p. +120.</blockquote> +<p>The achievement of Old Scarlett with regard to his interring +"the town's householders in his life's space twice over," has +doubtless been equalled by many of the long-lived clerks whose +memoirs have been recorded, but it is not always recorded on a +tombstone. At Ratcliffe-on-Soar there is, however, the grave of an +old clerk, one Robert Smith, who died in 1782, at the advanced age +of eighty-two years, and his epitaph records the following +facts:</p> +<blockquote>Fifty-five years it was, and something more,<br> + Clerk of this parish he the office bore,<br> +And in that space, 'tis awful to declare,<br> + Two generations buried by him were <a name= +"FNanchor49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49">[49]</a>!</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_49"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor49">[49]</a> <i>Ibid</i>. p. 121.</blockquote> +<p>It is recorded on the tomb of Hezekiah Briggs, who died in 1844 +in his eightieth year, the clerk and sexton of Bingley, Yorkshire, +that "he buried seven thousand corpses <a name= +"FNanchor50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50">[50]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_50"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor50">[50]</a> <i>Notes and Queries</i>, Ninth Series, xii. +453.</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-101"></a>[pg 101]</span> +<p>The verses written in his honour are worth quoting:</p> +<blockquote>Here lies an old ringer beneath the cold clay<br> +Who has rung many peals both for serious and gay;<br> +Through Grandsire and Trebles with ease he could range,<br> +Till death called Bob, which brought round the last change.<br> +<br> + For all the village came to him<br> + When they had need to call;<br> + His counsel free to all was given,<br> + For he was kind to all.<br> +<br> +Ring on, ring' on, sweet Sabbath bell,<br> +Still kind to me thy matins swell,<br> +And when from earthly things I part,<br> +Sigh o'er my grave and lull my heart.</blockquote> +<p>These last four lines strike a sweet note, and are far superior +to the usual class of monumental poetry. I will not guarantee the +correct copying of the third and fourth lines. Various copyists +have produced various versions. One version runs:</p> +<blockquote>Bob majors and trebles with ease he could bang,<br> +Till Death called a bob which brought the last clang.</blockquote> +<p>In Staple-next-Wingham, Kent, there is a stone to the memory of +the parish clerk who died in 1820, aged eighty-six years, and thus +inscribed:</p> +<blockquote>He was honest and just, in friendship sincere,<br> +And Clerk of this Parish for sixty-seven years.</blockquote> +<p>At Worth Church, Sussex, near the south entrance is a headstone, +inscribed thus:</p> +<blockquote>In memory of John Alcorn, Clerk and Sexton of this +parish, who died Dec. 13: 1868 in the 81st year of his +age.</blockquote> +<blockquote> Thine honoured friend for +fifty three full years,<br> + He saw each bridal's joy, each Burial's +tears;<br> + Within the walls, by Saxons reared of +old,<br> + By the stone sculptured font of antique +mould,<br> + Under the massive arches in the glow,<br> + Tinged by dyed sun-beams passing to and +fro,<br> + A sentient portion of the sacred +place,<br> + A worthy presence with a well-worn +face.<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-102"></a>[pg 102]</span> + The lich-gate's shadow, o'er his pall at +last<br> + Bids kind adieu as poor old John goes +past.<br> + Unseen the path, the trees, the old oak +door,<br> + No more his foot-falls touch the +tomb-paved floor,<br> + His silvery head is hid, his service +done<br> + Of all these Sabbaths absent only one.<br> + And now amidst the graves he delved +around,<br> + He rests and sleeps, beneath the hallowed +ground.</blockquote> +<blockquote>Keep Innocency, and take heed unto the thing that is +right, For that shall bring a man peace at the last. Psalm XXXVII. +38.</blockquote> +<p>There is an interesting memorial of an aged parish clerk in +Cropthorne Church, Worcestershire, an edifice of considerable note. +It consists of a small painted-glass window in the tower, +containing a full-length portrait of the deceased official, duly +apparelled in a cassock.</p> +<p>There is in the King's Norton parish churchyard an old +gravestone the existence of which I dare say a good many people had +forgotten until recently, owing to the inscription having become +almost illegible. Within the past few weeks it has been renovated, +and thus a record has been prevented from dropping out of public +memory. The stone sets forth that it was erected to the memory of +Isaac Ford, a shoemaker, who was for sixty-two years parish clerk +of King's Norton, and who died on 10 July, 1755, aged eighty-five +years. Beneath is another interesting inscription to the effect +that Henry Ford, son of Isaac, who died on 11 July, 1795, aged +eighty-one, was also parish clerk for forty years. The two men thus +held continuous office for one hundred and two years. This is a +famous record of long service, though it has been surpassed by a +few others, our parish clerks being a long-lived race.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-103"></a>[pg 103]</span> +<p>At Stoulton Church a clerk died in 1812, and it is recorded on +his epitaph that "He was clerk of this parish more 30 years and +much envied." It was not his office or his salary which was envied, +but "a worn't much liked by the t'others," and yet followed the +verse:</p> +<blockquote>A loving' husband, father dear,<br> +A faithful friend lies buried here.</blockquote> +<p>An epitaph without a "werse" was considered very degrading.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-104"></a>[pg 104]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> +<h3>THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF PARISH CLERKS</h3> +<br> +<p>The story of the City companies of London has many attractions +for the historian and antiquary. When we visit the ancient homes of +these great societies we are impressed by their magnificence and +interesting associations. Portraits of old City worthies and royal +benefactors gaze at us from the walls, and link our time with +theirs, when they, too, strove to uphold the honour of their guild +and benefit their generation. Many a quaint old-time custom and +ceremonial usage linger on within the old halls, and there too are +enshrined cuirass and targe, helmet, sword and buckler, which tell +the story of the past, and of the part the companies played in +national defence or in the protection of civic rights. Turning down +some dark alley and entering the portals of one of their halls, we +are transported at once from the busy streets and din of modern +London into a region of old-world memories which has a fascination +that is all its own.</p> +<br> +<a name="image13.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image13.jpg"><img src= +"images/image13.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Entrance to the Hall of the Company of Parish Clerks.</b></p> +<br> +<p>This is not the place to discuss the origin of guilds and City +companies, which can trace back their descent to Anglo-Saxon times +and were usually of a religious type. They were the benefit +societies of ancient days, <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-105"></a>[pg 105]</span> institutions of self-help, combining +care for the needy with the practice of religion, justice, and +morality. There were guilds exclusively religious, guilds of the +calendars for the clergy, social guilds for the purpose of +promoting good fellowship, benevolence, and thrift, merchant guilds +for the regulation of trade, and frith guilds for the promotion of +peace and the establishment of law and order.</p> +<p>In this goodly company we find evidences at an early date of the +existence of the Fraternity of Parish Clerks. Its long and +important career, though it ranked not with the Livery Companies, +and sent not its members to take part in the deliberations of the +Common Council, is full of interest, and reflects the greatest +credit on the worthy clerks who composed it.</p> +<p>In other cities besides London the clerks seem to have formed +their guilds. As early as the time of the <i>Domesday Survey</i> +there was a clerks' guild at Canterbury, wherein it is stated +"<i>In civitate Cantuaria habet achiepiscopus</i> xii burgesses and +xxxii mansuras which the clerks of the town, <i>clerici de +villa</i>, hold within their gild and do yield xxxv shillings."</p> +<p>The first mention of the company carries us back to the early +days of Henry III, when in the seventeenth year of that monarch's +reign (A.D. 1233), according to Stow, they were incorporated and +registered in the books of the Guildhall. The patron saint of the +company was St. Nicholas, who also extended his patronage to +robbers and mariners. Thieves are dubbed by Shakespeare as St. +Nicholas's clerks <a name="FNanchor51"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_51">[51]</a>, and Rowley calls highwaymen by the same +title. Possibly this may be accounted for by the association of the +light-fingered fraternity with Nicholas, or Old Nick, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-106"></a>[pg 106]</span> a cant name for +the devil, or because <i>The Golden Legend</i> tells of the +conversion of some thieves through the saint's agency. At any rate, +the good Bishop of Myra was the patron saint of scholars, and +therefore was naturally selected as tutelary guardian of +clerks.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_51"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor51">[51]</a> <i>Henry IV</i>, act ii. sc. 1.</blockquote> +<p>In 1442 Henry VI granted a charter to "the Chief or Parish +Clerks of the City of London for the honour and glory of Almighty +God and of the undefiled and most glorious Virgin Mary, His Mother, +and on account of that special devotion, which they especially bore +to Christ's glorious confessor, St. Nicholas, on whose day or +festival we were first presented into this present world, at the +hands of a mother of memory ever to be revered." The charter states +that they had maintained a poor brotherhood of themselves, as well +as a certain divine service, and divine words of charity and piety, +devised and exhibited by them year by year, for forty years or more +by part; and it conferred on them the right of a perpetual +corporate community, having two roasters and two chaplains to +celebrate divine offices every day, for the King's welfare whether +alive or dead, and for the souls of all faithful departed, for +ever. By special royal grace they were allowed, on petitioning His +Majesty, to have the charter without paying any fine or fee.</p> +<p>Seven years later a second charter was granted, wherein it is +stated that their services were held in the Chapel of Mary +Magdalene by the Guildhall. "Bretherne and Sisterne" were included +in the fraternity. Bad times and the Wars of the Roses brought +distress to the community, and they prayed Edward IV to refound +their guild, allowing only the maintenance of one chaplain instead +of two in the chapel nigh the Guildhall, together with the support +of seven poor <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-107"></a>[pg +107]</span> persons who daily offered up their prayers for the +welfare of the King and the repose of the souls of the faithful. +They provided "a prest, brede, wyne, wex, boke, vestments and +chalise for their auter of S. Nicholas in the said chapel." The +King granted their request.</p> +<br> +<a name="image14.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image14.jpg"><img src= +"images/image14.jpg" width="35%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>The Master's Chair at the Parish Clerks' Hall.</b></p> +<br> +<p>The original home of the guild was in Bishopsgate. Brewers' Hall +was, in 1422, lent to them for their meetings. But the old deeds in +the possession of the company show that as early as 1274 they +acquired property "near the King's highway in the parish of St. +Ethelburga, extending from the west side of the garden of the Nuns +of St. Helen's to near the stone wall of Bishopsgate on the north, +in breadth from the east side of William the Whit Tawyer's to the +King's highway on the south." These two highways are now known as +Bishopsgate Street and Camomile Street. They had property also at +Finsbury on the east side of Whitecross Street. Inasmuch as the +guild did not in those early days possess a charter and was not +incorporated, it had no power to hold property; hence the lands +were transmitted to individual members of the fraternity <a name= +"FNanchor52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52">[52]</a>. After their +incorporation in 1442 the trustees of the lands and possessions +were all clerks. Another property belonged to them at Enfield.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_52"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor52">[52]</a> The transmission of the property is +carefully traced in <i>Some Account of Parish Clerks</i>, by Mr. +James Christie, p. 78. He had access to the company's +muniments.</blockquote> +<p>The chief possession of the clerks was the Bishopsgate property. +It consisted of an inn called "The Wrestlers," another inn which +bore the sign of "The Angel," and a fair entry or gate near the +latter which still bears the name Clerks' Place. Wrestlers' Court +still marks the site of the old inn--so conservative are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-108"></a>[pg 108]</span> the +old names in the city of London. Passing through the entry we +should have seen seven modest almshouses for the brethren and +sisters of the guilds. Beyond these was the hall of the company. It +consisted of a parlour (36 ft. by 14 ft.), with three chambers over +it. The east side with fan glasses overlooked the garden, 72 ft. in +length by 21 ft. wide. The west side was lined with wainscot. The +actual hall adjoined, a fine room 30 ft. by 25 ft., with a gallery +at the nether end, with a little parlour at the west end. A room +for the Bedell, a kitchen with a vault under it, larder-rooms, +buttery, and a little house called the Ewery, completed the +buildings. It must have been a very delightful little home for the +company, not so palatial as that of some of the greater guilds, but +compact, charming, and altogether attractive.</p> +<p>But evil days set in for the City companies of London. +Spoliation, greed, destruction were in the air. Churches, +monasteries, charities felt the rude hand of the spoiler, and it +could scarcely be that the rich corporations of the City should +fail to attract the covetous eyes of the rapacious courtiers. They +were forced to surrender all their property which had been used for +so-called "superstitious" purposes, and most of them bought this +back with large sums of money, which went into the coffers of the +King or his ministers. The Parish Clerks' Company fared no better +than the rest. Their hall was seized by the King, or rather by the +infamous courtiers of Edward VI, and sold, together with the +almshouses, to Sir Robert Chester in 1548. He at once took +possession of the property, but the clerks protested that they had +been wrongfully despoiled, and again seized their rightful +possessions. In spite of the sympathy <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-109"></a>[pg 109]</span> and support of the +Lord Mayor, who "communed with the wardens of the Great Companies +for their gentle aid to be granted to the parish clerks towards +their charges in defence of their title to their Common Hall and +lands," the clerks lost their case, and were compelled to give up +their home or submit to a heavy fine of 1000 marks besides +imprisonment. The poor dispossessed clerks were defeated, but not +disheartened. In the days of Queen Mary they renewed their suit, +and "being likely to have prevailed, Sir Robert Chester pulled down +the hall, sold the timber, stone and land, and thereupon the suit +was ended"--very summary conclusion truly!</p> +<p>The Lord Mayor and his colleagues again showed sympathy and +compassion for the dispossessed clerks, and offered them the church +of the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem in 1552 for their +meetings. They did not lack friends. William Roper, whose picture +still hangs in the hall of the company, the son-in-law of Sir +Thomas More, was a great benefactor, who bequeathed to them some +tenements in Southwark on condition that they should distribute +£4 among the poor prisoners in Newgate and other jails. He +was the biographer of Sir Thomas More, and died in 1577.</p> +<p>In 1610 the clerks applied for a new charter, and obtained it +from James I, under the title of "The Parish Clerks of the Parishes +and Parish Churches of the City of London, the liberties thereof +and seven out of nine out-parishes adjoining." They were required +to make returns for the bills of mortality and of the deaths of +freemen. The masters and wardens had power granted to them to +examine clerks as to whether they could sing the Psalms of David +according to the usual tunes used in the parish churches, and +whether <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-110"></a>[pg +110]</span> they were sufficiently qualified to make their weekly +returns. In 1636 a new charter was granted by Charles I, and again +in 1640, this last charter being that by which the company is now +governed. By this instrument their jurisdiction was extended so as +to include Hackney and the other fifteen out-parishes, and they +gained the right of collecting their own wages, and of suing for it +in the ecclesiastical courts, and of printing the bills of +mortality.</p> +<p>Soon after the company lost their hall through the high-handed +proceedings of Sir Robert Chester, they purchased or leased a new +hall, which was situated at the north-east corner of Brode Lane, +Vintry, where they lived from 1562, until the Great Fire in 1666 +again made them homeless. The Sun Tavern in Leadenhall Street, the +Green Dragon, Queenhythe, the Quest House, Cripplegate, the Gun, +near Aldgate, and the Mitre in Fenchurch Street, afforded them +temporary accommodation. In 1669 they began to arrange for a new +hall to be built off Wood Street, which was completed in 1671, and +has since been their home. Various sums of money have been voted at +different times for its repair or embellishment. It has once been +damaged by fire, and on another occasion severely threatened. In +1825 the entrance into Wood Street was blocked up and the entrance +into Silver Street opened. The hall has been a favourite place of +meeting for several other companies--the Fruiterers' Company, the +Tinplate Workers' Company, the Society of Porters, and other +private companies have been their tenants.</p> +<br> +<a name="image15.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image15.jpg"><img src= +"images/image15.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Portrait of William Roper.</b><br> +Son-In-Law And Biographer Of Sir Thomas More, Benefactor Of The +Clerks' Company</p> +<br> +<br> +<a name="image16.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image16.jpg"><img src= +"images/image16.jpg" width="80%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>The Grant Of Arms To The Company Of Parish Clerks.]</b></p> +<br> +<p>I had recently the privilege of visiting the Parish Clerks' +Hall, and was kindly conducted there by Mr. William John Smith, the +"Father" of the company, <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-111"></a>[pg 111]</span> and a liberal benefactor, whose +portrait hangs in the hall. He has been three times master, and his +father and grandfather were members of the fraternity.</p> +<p>The premises consist of a ground floor with cellars, which are +let for private purposes, and a first floor with two rooms of +moderate size. The old courtyard is now covered with business +offices. Over the court-room door stands a copy of the Clerks' +Arms, which are thus described: "The feyld azur, a flower de lice +goulde on chieffe gules, a leopard's head betwen two pricksonge +bookes of the second, the laces that bind the books next, and to +the creast upon the healme, on a wreathe gules and azur, an arm, +from the elbow upwards, holding a pricking book, 30th March, 1582." +These are the arms "purged of superstition" by Robert Cook, +Clarencieux Herald, on the aforementioned date. The company's motto +is, <i>Unitas Societatis Stabilitas</i>. The arms over the +court-room door have the motto <i>Pange lingua gloriosa</i>, which +is accounted for by the fact that this copy of the clerks' heraldic +achievement formerly stood over the organ in the hall. This organ +is a small but pleasant instrument, and was purchased in 1737 in +order to enable the members to practise psalmody. Several portraits +of worthy clerks adorn the walls. Amongst them we notice that of +William Roper, a benefactor of the company, whose name has been +already mentioned.</p> +<p>The portrait of John Clarke shows a firm, dignified old man, who +was the parish clerk of St. Michael's, Cornhill, in 1805, and wrote +extracts from the minute-books of the company. The picture was +presented to the company in 1827. There are other portraits of +worthy clerks, of Richard Hust, who died in 1835, and was a great +benefactor of the company and the restorer of <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-112"></a>[pg 112]</span> the almshouses; of +James Mayhew (1896), and of William John Smith (1903).</p> +<p>In one of the windows is the portrait, in stained glass, of John +Clarke, parish clerk of Bartholomew-the-Less, London, master of the +company, A.D. 1675, <i>ætatis suæ</i> 45. He is +represented with a dark skull cap on his head, long hair, a +moustache, and a large falling band or collar.</p> +<p>There are also portraits in stained glass of Stephen Penckhurst, +parish clerk of St. Mary Magdalene, Fish Street, London, master in +1685; of James Maddox, parish clerk of St. Olive's, Jury, master in +1684; of Nicholas Hudles, parish clerk of St. Andrew's, Undershaft, +twice master, in 1674 and 1682; of Thomas Williams, parish clerk of +St. Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, master in 1680; of Robert Seal, +parish clerk of St. Gregory, master in 1681; of William Disbrow, +parish clerk of St. Vedast, Foster Lane, and of St. Michael Le +Querne, master in 1674; and of William Hornbuck, parish clerk of +St. James, Clerkenwell, master in 1679.</p> +<p>One of the windows has a curious emblematical representation of +music and its effects, showing King David surrounded by cherubs. +The royal arms of the time of Charles II, the arms of the company, +the arms of the Prince of Wales, and a portrait of Queen Anne also +appear in the windows.</p> +<p>The master's chair was presented by Samuel Andrews, master in +1716, which date appears on the back together with the arms of the +company, the crest being an arm raised bearing a scroll on which is +inscribed the ninety-fourth Psalm. The seat of the chair is cane +webbing. Psalm x. is inscribed on the front, and below is the +fleur-de-lis.</p> +<br> +<a name="image17.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image17.jpg"><img src= +"images/image17.jpg" width="80%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Stained Glass Window At The Hall Of The Parish Clerks' +Company</b></p> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-113"></a>[pg 113]</span> +<p>There is an interesting warden's or clerk's chair, made of +mahogany, dating about the middle of the eighteenth century, and +some walnut chairs fashioned in 1690.</p> +<p>Amongst other treasures I noticed an old Dutch chest, an ancient +clock, the gift of the master and wardens in 1786, a reprint of +Visscher's View of London in 1616, the grant of arms to the +company, a panel painting of the Flight into Egypt, and the Orders +and Rules of the company in 1709.</p> +<p>A snuff-box made of the wood of the <i>Victory</i>, mounted in +silver, is one of the clerks' valued possessions, and they have a +goodly store of plate, in spite of the fact that they, like many of +their distinguished brethren, the Livery Companies of the City, +have been obliged at various critical times in their history to +dispose of their plate in order to meet the heavy demands upon +their treasury. They still possess their pall, which is used on the +occasion of the funeral of deceased members, and also "two garlands +of crimson velvet embroidered" bearing the date 1601, which were +formerly used at the election of the two masters. The master now +wears a silver badge, the gift of Richard Perkins in 1879, which +bears the inscription: <i>Hoc insigne in usum Magistri D.D. +Richardus Perkins, SS. Augustini et Fidis Clericus, his Magistri +1878, 1879</i>.</p> +<p>By far the most interesting document in the possession of the +company is the Bede Roll, which contains a list of the members of +the fraternity from the time of Henry VI. The writing is +magnificent, and the lettering varies in colours--red, blue, and +black ink having been used. Amongst the distinguished names of the +honorary members I noticed John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and +Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-114"></a>[pg 114]</span> +<p>The company, by the aid of generous benefactors, looks well +after the poor widows of clerks and the decayed brethren, bestowing +upon them adequate pensions for their support in their indigence +and old age. These benefactions entrusted to the care of the +company, and the gifts by its members of plate and other treasures, +show the affectionate regard of the parish clerks for their ancient +and interesting associations, which has done much to preserve the +dignity of the office, to keep inviolate its traditions, and to +improve the status of its members.</p> +<br> +<a name="image18.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image18.jpg"><img src= +"images/image18.jpg" width="40%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>A Page Of The Bede Roll Of The Parish Clerks' Company</b></p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-115"></a>[pg 115]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> +<h3>THE CLERKS OF LONDON: THEIR DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES</h3> +<br> +<p>A brief study of the history of the Parish Clerks' Company has +already revealed the important part which its members played in the +old City life of London. They were intimately connected with the +Corporation. The clerks held their services in the Guildhall +Chapel, and were required on Michaelmas Day to sing the Mass before +the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and commoners before they went to the +election of a new Lord Mayor. As early as the days of the famous +Richard Whittington, on the occasion of his first election to the +mayoralty, which as the popular rhyme says he held three times, we +hear of their services being required for this great function.</p> +<p>In the year 1406 it was ordered that "a Mass of the Holy Ghost +should be celebrated with solemn music in the chapel annexed to the +Guildhall, to the end that the same commonalty by the grace of the +Holy Spirit might be able peacefully and amicably to nominate two +able and proper persons to be mayor of the City for the ensuing +year, the same Mass, by the ordinance of the Chamberlain for the +time being, to be solemnly chanted by the finest singers, in the +chapel aforesaid and upon that feast."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-116"></a>[pg 116]</span> +<p>And when the Mass was no longer sung in the chapel of the +Guildhall, they still chanted the Psalms and anthems before and +after divine service and sermon, sometimes with the help of "two +singing men of Paul's," who received twelvepence apiece for their +pains; and sometimes the singing was done by a convenient number of +the Clerks' Company most skilful in singing, and deemed most fit by +the master and wardens to perform that service.</p> +<p>They were in great request at the great and stately funerals of +the sixteenth century, going before the hearse and singing with +their surplices hanging on their arms till they came to the church. +The changes wrought by the Reformation strongly affected their use. +In the early years of the century we can hear them chanting +anthems, dirige, and Mass; later on they sing "the Te Deum in +English new fashion, Geneva wise--men, women and all do sing and +boys."</p> +<p>These splendid funerals were a fruitful source of income to the +Clerks' Company. We see Masters William Holland and John Aungell, +clerks of the Brotherhood of St. Nicholas, with twenty-four persons +and three children singing the Masses of Our Lady, the Trinity and +Requiem at the interment of Sir Thomas Lovell, the sage and witty +counsellor of King Henry VIII and Constable of the Tower, while +sixty-four more clerks met the body on its way and conducted it to +its last resting-place at Holywell, Shoreditch. Perhaps it was not +without some satisfaction that the clerks took a prominent part in +the burial of the Duke of Somerset, the iniquitous spoiler of their +goods. In the ordinances of the companies issued in 1553, very +minute regulations are laid down with <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-117"></a>[pg 117]</span> regard to the fees +for funerals and the order in which each clerk should serve. At the +burials of "noble honourable, worshipful men or women or citizens +of the City of London," the attendance of the clerks was limited to +the number asked for by the friends of the deceased. No person was +to receive more than eight-pence. The beadle might charge fourpence +for the use of the hearse cloth. An extra charge of fourpence could +be made if the clerks were wanted both in the afternoon and in the +forenoon for the sermon or other service. The bearers might have +twopence more than the usual wage. Each clerk was to have his turn +in attending funerals, so that no one man might be taken for favour +or left out for displeasure.</p> +<p>The records of these gorgeous funerals, which are preserved in +Machyn's diary and other chronicles, reveal the changes wrought by +the spread of Reformation principles and Puritan notions. In Mary's +reign they were very magnificent, "priests and clerks chanting in +Latin, the priest having a cope and the clerk the holy water +sprinkle in his hand." The accession of Elizabeth seems at first to +have wrought little change, and the services of the Clerks' Company +were in great request. On 21 October, 1559, "the Countess of +Rutland was brought from Halewell to Shoreditch Church with thirty +priests and clarkes singing," and "Sir Thomas Pope was buried at +Clerkenwell with two services of pryke song <a name= +"FNanchor53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53">[53]</a>, and two masses of +requiem and all clerkes of London." "Poules Choir and the Clarkes +of London" united their services on some occasions. Funeral sermons +began to be considered an important part of the function, and +Machyn records the names of the preachers. Even though such keen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-118"></a>[pg 118]</span> +Protestants as Coverdale, Bishop Pilkington, Robert Crowley, and +Veron preached the sermons, twenty clerks of the company were +usually present singing. Machyn much disliked the innovations made +by the Puritan party, their singing "Geneva wise" or "the tune of +Genevay," men, women, and children all singing together, without +any clerk. Here is a description of such a funeral on 7 March, +1559: "And there was a great company of people two and two +together, and neither priest nor clarke, the new preachers in their +gowns like laymen, neither singing nor saying till they came to the +grave, and afore she was put in the grave, a collect in English, +and then put in the grave, and after, took some earth and cast it +on the corse, and red a thyng ... for the sam, and contenent cast +the earth into the grave, and contenent read the Epistle of St. +Paul to the Stesselonyans the ... chapter, and after they sang +<i>Pater noster</i> in English, bothe preachers and other, and ... +of a new fashion, and after, one of them went into the pulpit and +made a sermon." Machyn especially disliked the preacher Veron, +rector of St. Martin's, Ludgate, a French Protestant, who had been +ordained by Bishop Ridley, and was "a leader in the change from the +old ecclesiastical music for the services to the Psalms in metre, +versified by Sternhold and Hopkins <a name= +"FNanchor54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54">[54]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_53"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor53">[53]</a> The notes of the harmony were pricked on the +lines of music.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_54"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor54">[54]</a> <i>Some Account of Parish Clerks</i>, by J. +Christie, p. 153.</blockquote> +<p>The clerks indirectly caused the disgrace and suspension of +Robert Crowley, vicar of St. Giles, Cripplegate, and prebendary of +St. Paul's Cathedral, a keen Puritan and hater of clerkly ways. He +loathed surplices as "rags of Popery," and could not bear to see +the clerks marching in orderly procession singing and chanting. A +funeral took place at his church on 1 April, 1566. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-119"></a>[pg 119]</span> A few days before, +the Archbishop of Canterbury had issued his Advertisements ordering +the use of the surplice. The friends of the deceased had engaged +the services of the parish clerks, who, believing that the order +with regard to the use of surplices applied to them as well as to +the clergy, appeared at the door of the church attired according to +their ancient usage. A scene occurred. The angry Crowley met them +at the door and bade them take off those "porter's coats." The +deputy of the ward supported the vicar and threatened to lay them +up by the feet if they dared to enter the church in such obnoxious +robes. There was a mighty disturbance. "Those who took their part +according to the queen's prosedyngs were fain to give over and +tarry without the church door." The Lord Mayor's attention was +called to this disgraceful scene. He complained to the archbishop. +The deputy of the ward was bound over to keep the peace, and +Crowley was ordered to stay in his house, and for not wearing a +surplice was deprived of his living, to which he was again +appointed twelve years later <a name="FNanchor55"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_55">[55]</a>. The clerks triumphed, but their services +at funerals soon ceased. Puritan opinions spread; no longer did the +clerks lead the singing and processions at funereal pageants, and a +few boys from Christ's Hospital or school children took their +places in degenerate days.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_55"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor55">[55]</a> <i>Some Account of Parish Clerks</i>, by J. +Christie, p. 154.</blockquote> +<p>The Parish Clerks' Company were not a whit behind other City +companies in their love of processions and pageantry, and their +annual feasts and elections were conducted with great ceremony and +magnificence. The elections took place on Ascension Day, and the +feast on the following Monday. The clerks in 1529 were ordered to +come to the Guildhall College on the Sunday <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-120"></a>[pg 120]</span> before Whit-Sunday +to Evensong clad in surplices, and on the following day to attend +Mass, when each man offered one halfpenny. When Mass was over they +marched in procession wearing copes from the Guildhall to Clerks' +Hall, where the feast was held. Fines were levied for absence or +non-obedience to these observances. Machyn describes the accustomed +usages in Mary's reign as follows: "The sixth of May was a goodly +evensong at Yeldhall College with singing and playing as you have +heard. The morrow after was a great Mass at the same place by the +same Fraternity, when every clerk offered a halfpenny. The Mass was +sung by divers of the Queen's Chapel and children. And after Mass +was done every clerk went their procession, two and two together, +each having a surplice, a rich cope and a garland. After them +fourscore standards, streamers and banners, and every one that bare +had an albe, or else a surplice, and two and two together. Then +came the waits playing, and then between, thirty Clarkes again +singing <i>Salva festa dies</i>. So there were four quires. Then +came a canopy, borne by four of the masters of the Clarkes over the +Sacrament with a twelve staff torches burning, up St. Lawrence Lane +and so to the further end of Cheap, then back again by Cornhill, +and so down to Bishopsgate, into St. Albrose Church, and there they +did put off their copes, and so to dinner every man, and then +everyone that bare a streamer had money, as they were of bigness +then." A very striking procession it must have been, and those who +often traverse the familiar streets of the City to-day can picture +to themselves the clerks' pageant of former times, which wended its +way along the same accustomed thoroughfares.</p> +<br> +<a name="image19.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image19.jpg"><img src= +"images/image19.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>The Organ At The Parish Clerks Hall</b></p> +<br> +<p>But times were changing, and religious ceremonies <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-121"></a>[pg 121]</span> changed too. Less +pomp and pageantry characterise the celebrations of the clerks. +There is the Evensong as usual, and a Communion on the following +day, followed by a dinner and "a goodly concert of children of +Westminster, with viols and regals." A little later we read that +the clerks marched clad in their liveries, gowns, and hoods of +white damask. Copes are no longer recognised as proper vestments. +Standards, banners, and streamers remain locked up in the City's +treasure-house, and Puritan simplicity is duly observed. But the +clerks lacked not feasting. Besides the election dinner, there were +quarterly dinners, and dinners for the wardens and assistants. Time +has wrought some changes in the mode of celebrating election day +and other festive occasions. Sometimes "plain living and high +thinking" were the watchwords that guided the principles of the +company. Processions and gown-wearing have long been discontinued, +but in its essential character the election day is still observed, +though pomp and pageantry no longer form important features of its +ceremonial.</p> +<p>We have seen that the parish clerks of London were in great +request on account of their musical abilities. In 1610 the masters +and wardens were called upon to examine all those who wished to be +admitted into the honourable company, as to whether they could read +the Psalms of David according to the usual tunes used in the parish +churches. The finest singers chanted Mass in pre-Reformation times +in the Guildhall at the election of the Lord Mayor. In order to +improve themselves in this part of their duties, the parish clerks +soon after the Restoration of the monarchy, in 1660, provided +themselves with an organ in order to perfect themselves in the art +of chanting. The minute book <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-122"></a>[pg 122]</span> of the company tells that it was +acquired "the better to enable them to perform a service incumbent +upon them before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City on +Michaelmas Day, and also the better to enable them who already are, +or hereafter shall be, parish clerks of the City in performing +their duties in the several parishes to which they stand related." +Here the clerks used to meet on Tuesday afternoons for a regular +weekly practice in music, and for many years an organist was +appointed by the company to assist the brethren in their +cultivation of psalmody. The selection of psalms specially suited +for each Sunday in the year was made by the company and set forth +in <i>The Parish Clerks' Guide</i>, in order that the special +teaching of the Sunday, as set forth in the Collect, Epistle, and +Gospel, might be duly followed in the Psalms.</p> +<p>Another important duty which the parish clerks of London, and +also in some provincial towns, discharged was the publishing of the +bills of mortality for the City. This duty is enjoined in their +charter of 1610. The corporation required from them returns of the +deaths of freemen in their respective parishes, and also returns of +the number of deaths and christenings. The records of the City of +London contain a copy of the agreement, made in 1545-6 between the +Lord Mayor and the Parish Clerks' Company, which provides that +"They shall cause all clerks of the City to present to the common +crier the name and surname of any freeman that shall die having any +children under the age of 21 years." The Chamberlain was instructed +to pay to the company 13 s. 4 d. yearly for their services. The +custody of all orphans, with that of their lands and goods, had +been entrusted to the City by the charter of Richard III, and this +agreement was made in order to <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-123"></a>[pg 123]</span> enable the "City Fathers" to +faithfully discharge their duties in looking after children of +deceased freemen. In spite of many difficulties, especially after +the Great Fire which rendered thousands homeless and scattered the +population, the clerks continued to perform this duty, though not +always to the satisfaction of their employers, until the beginning +of the eighteenth century, when the custom seems to have +lapsed.</p> +<br> +<a name="image20.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image20.jpg"><img src= +"images/image20.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>A Page Of An Early Bill Of Mortality Preserved At The Hall Of +The Parish Clerks Company</b></p> +<br> +<p>The earliest bills of mortality now in existence date back to +the time of Henry VIII, when the clerks were required to furnish +information with regard to the deaths caused by plague, as well as +those resulting from other causes. The returns of the victims of +plague are occasionally very large. In 1562, 20,372 persons died, +of which number 17,404 died from the plague. The burial grounds of +the City became terribly overcrowded, and the parish clerks were +ordered to report upon the space available in the City churchyards. +They also were appointed to see to "the shutting up of infected +houses and putting papers on the doors."</p> +<p>An early "Bill of Mortality" is preserved at the Hall. It tells +of "the Number of those who dyed in the Citie of London and +Liberties of the same from the 28th of December 1581 to the 17th of +December 1582, with the Christenings. And also the number of all +those who have died of the plague in every parish particularly. +Blessed are the Dead." There is also preserved a number of the +weekly bills of mortality. Referring to the year of the Great +Plague, 1665, these documents show that at the beginning of the +pestilence in April, during one week only fifty-seven persons died; +whereas in September the death-roll had reached the enormous number +of 6544.</p> +<p>The company seems to have been a useful agency for <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-124"></a>[pg 124]</span> carrying out all +kinds of duties connected with gathering the statistics of +mortality, nor do they seem to have been overpaid for their +trouble. In the early years of the seventeenth century £ 3. 6 +s. 8 d. was all that they received. In 1607 the sum was increased +to £8, inasmuch as they were ordered to furnish a bill to the +Queen and the Lord Chancellor as well as to the King. Some clerks +endeavoured to make illicit gains by supplying the public with +"false and untrue bills," or distributing some bills for each week +before they had been sent to the Lord Mayor; and any brother who +"by any cunning device gave away, dispersed, uttered, or declared, +or by sinister device cast forth at any window, hole, or crevice of +a wall any bills or notes" before the due returns had been sent to +the Lord Mayor, was ordered to pay a fine of 10 s. and other divers +penalties.</p> +<p>The methods of making out these returns are very curious, and +did not conduce to infallible accuracy. In each parish there were +persons called searchers, ancient women who were informed by the +sexton of a death, and whose duty it was to visit the deceased and +state the cause of death. They had no medical knowledge, and +therefore their diagnosis could only have been very conjectural. +This they reported to the parish clerk. The clerk made out his bill +for the week, took it to the Hall of the company, and deposited it +in a box on the staircase. All the returns were then tabulated, +arranged, and printed, and when copies had been sent to the +authorities, others were placed in the hands of the clerks for +sale.</p> +<p>The system was all very excellent and satisfactory, but its +carrying out was defective. Negligent clerks did not send their +returns in spite of admonition, caution, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-125"></a>[pg 125]</span> fine, or brotherly +persuasion. The searchers' information was usually unreliable. +Complications arose on account of the Act of the Commonwealth +Parliament requiring the registration of births instead of +baptisms, of civil marriages, and banns published in the market +place; also on account of the vast mortality caused by the Great +Plague, the burials in the large common pits and public burial +grounds, and the opposition of the Quakers to inspection and +registration. All these causes contributed to the issuing of +unreliable returns. The company did their best to grapple with all +these difficulties. They did not escape censure, and were blamed on +account of the faults of individual clerks. The contest went on for +years, and was only finally settled in 1859, when the last bills of +mortality were issued, and the Public Registration Act rendered the +work of the clerks, which they had carried on for three centuries +to the best of their skill and ability, unnecessary. In the +Guildhall Library are preserved a large number of the volumes of +these bills which the industry of the clerks of London had issued +with so much perseverance and energy under difficult circumstances, +and they form a valuable and interesting collection of documents +illustrative of the old life of the City.</p> +<p>One happy result of the duty laid upon the clerks of issuing +bills of mortality in the City of London was that they were allowed +to set up a printing press in the Hall of their company. The +licence for this press was obtained in 1625, and in the following +year it was duly established with the consent of the authorities. +It was no easy task in the early Stuart times to obtain leave to +have a printing press, and severe were the restrictions laid down, +and the penalties for any violation of any of them. The Archbishop +of Canterbury and the Bishop <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-126"></a>[pg 126]</span> of London had mighty powers over the +Press, and the clerks could not choose their printer save with the +approval of these ecclesiastical dignitaries.</p> +<p>Very strict regulations were laid down by the company in order +to prevent any improper use being made of the productions of their +press. The door of the chamber containing their printing machine +was provided with three locks; the key of the upper lock was placed +in the charge of the upper master, that of the middle lock was in +the custody of the upper warden, while the key of the lower lock +was kept by the under warden. They appointed one Richard Hodgkinson +as their printer in 1630, with whom they had much disputing. Six +years later one of their own company, Thomas Cotes, parish clerk of +Cripplegate Without, was chosen to succeed him. Richard Cotes +followed in 1641, and then a female printer carried on the work, +Mrs. Ellinor Cotes, probably the widow of Richard.</p> +<p>The Great Fire caused the destruction of the clerks' press; but +a few years later a prominent member of the company, whose portrait +we see in the Hall, Mr. John Clarke, procured for them another +press with type, and Andrew Clarke was appointed printer. He was +succeeded by Benjamin Motte, whose widow carried on the work after +his death. An intruding printer, appointed by the Archbishop of +Canterbury and the Bishop of London without the consent of the +company, one Humphreys, made his appearance, much to the +displeasure of the clerks, who objected to be dictated to with +regard to the choice of their own official. Litigation ensued, but +in the end Humphreys was appointed. He was not a satisfactory +printer, and was careless and neglectful. The clerks reprimanded +him and he promised amendment, but his <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-127"></a>[pg 127]</span> errors continued, +and after a petition was presented to the Archbishop and the Bishop +of London by the company, he was compelled to resign.</p> +<br> +<a name="image21.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image21.jpg"><img src= +"images/image21.jpg" width="60%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Interior Of The Hall Of The Parish Clerks Company</b></p> +<br> +<p>The increase of newspapers and the publication of the bills of +mortality in their sheets taken from the records of the clerks +materially affected the sale of the company's issue of the same, +and efforts were made in Parliament to obtain a monopoly for the +company. This action was costly, and no benefit was derived. After +the removal of the unsatisfactory Humphreys the printing of the +company passed into the hands of the Rivingtons, a name honoured +amongst printers and publishers for many generations. Mr. Charles +Rivington was printer for the clerks in 1787, his brother being a +bookseller in St. Paul's Churchyard, to whose son's widow, Mrs. +Anne Rivington, the office passed in 1790. The printing of the +bills of mortality was carried on by the company until 1850, having +been conducted by the Rivington family for over sixty years +<a name="FNanchor56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56">[56]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_56"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor56">[56]</a> I am indebted for this list of printers to +Mr. James Christie's <i>Some Account of Parish +Clerks</i>.</blockquote> +<p>In addition to their statistical returns, the Company of Parish +Clerks are responsible for some other and more important works +which reflect great credit upon them. Foremost among them is a book +entitled:</p> +<p>"<i>New Remarks of London</i>; or, a Survey of the Cities of +London and Westminster, of Southwark and part of Middlesex and +Surrey within the circumference of the Bills of Mortality." It +contains "an account of the situation, antiquity, and rebuilding of +each church, the value of the Rectory or Vicarage, in whose gifts +they are, and the names of the present incumbents or lecturers. Of +the several vestries, Hours <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-128"></a>[pg 128]</span> of Prayer, Parish and Ward Officers, +Charity and other schools, the number of Charity Children, how +maintained, educated and placed out apprentices, or put to service. +Of the Almshouses, Workhouses and Hospitals. The remarkable Places +and Things in each Parish, with the limits or Bounds, Streets, +Lanes, Courts, and numbers of Houses. An alphabetical table of all +the Streets, Courts, Lanes, Alleys, Yards, Rows, Rents, Squares, +etc. within the Bills of Mortality, shewing in which Liberty or +Freedom they are, and an easy method of finding them. Of the +several Inns of Court, and Inns of Chancery, with their several +Buildings, Courts, Lanes, etc.</p> +<p>"Collected by the Company of Parish-Clerks to which is added the +Places to which Penny Post Letters are sent, with proper Directions +therein. The Wharfs, Keys, Docks, etc. near the River Thames, of +water-carriage to several Cities, Towns, etc. The Rates of +Watermen, Porters of all kinds and Carmen. To what Inns Stage +Coaches, Flying Coaches, Waggons and Carriers come, and the days +they go out. The whole being very useful for Ladies, Gentlemen, +Clergymen, Merchants, Tradesmen, Coachmen, Chair-men, Car-men, +Porters, Bailiffs and others.</p> +<blockquote>"London, Printed for E. Midwinter at <i>the</i><br> +<br> + <i>Looking Glass and three Crowns</i> in +St Paul's<br> +<br> + Churchyard +MDCCXXXII."</blockquote> +<br> +<a name="image22.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image22.jpg"><img src= +"images/image22.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Portrait Of John Clarke, Parish Clerk Of The Church Of St. +Michael. Cornhill</b></p> +<br> +<p>This is a wonderfully interesting little book. Each clerk +compiled the information for his own parish and appended his name. +Most carefully is the information contained in the book arranged, +and the volume is a most creditable production of the worshipful +company.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-129"></a>[pg 129]</span> +<p>Amongst the books preserved in the Hall is another volume, +entitled "<i>London Parishes</i>; containing an account of the +Rise, Corruption, and Reformation of the Church of England." This +was published by the parish clerks in 1824.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-130"></a>[pg 130]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> +<h3>CLERKENWELL AND CLERKS' PLAYS</h3> +<br> +<p>Parish clerks are immortalised by having given their name to an +important part of London. Clerkenwell is the <i>fons clericorum</i> +of the old chronicler, Fitz-Stephen. It is the Clerks' Well, the +syllable <i>en</i> being the form of the old Saxon plural. +Fitz-Stephen wrote in the time of King Stephen: "There are also +round London on the northern side, in the suburbs, excellent +springs, the water of which is sweet, clear, salubrious, 'mid +glistening pebbles gliding playfully; amongst which Holywell, +Clerkenwell, (<i>fons clericorum</i>), and St. Clement's Well are +of most note, and most frequently visited, as well by the scholars +from the schools as by the youth of the City when they go out to +take air in the summer evenings."</p> +<p>It was then, and for centuries later, a rural spot, not far from +the City, just beyond Smithfield, a place of green sward and gently +sloping ground, watered by a pleasant stream, far different from +the crowded streets of the modern Clerkenwell. It was a spot famous +for athletic contests, for wrestling bouts and archery, and hither +came the Lord Mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen at Bartholomew Fair +time to witness the sports, and especially the wrestling.</p> +<br> +<a name="image23.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image23.jpg"><img src= +"images/image23.jpg" width="60%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Old Map Of Clerkenwell</b></p> +<br> +<p>But that which gave to the place its name and chief <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-131"></a>[pg 131]</span> glory was the fact +that once a year at least the parish clerks of London came here to +perform their mystery plays and moralities. "Their profession," +wrote Warton <a name="FNanchor57"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_57">[57]</a>, "employment and character, naturally +dictated to this spiritual brotherhood the representation of plays, +especially those of the scriptural kind, and their constant +practice in shows, processions, and vocal music easily accounts for +their address in detaining the best company which England afforded +in the fourteenth century at a religious farce for more than a +week." These plays were no ordinary performances, no afternoon or +evening entertainment, but a protracted drama lasting from three to +eight days. In the reign of Richard II, A.D. 1391, the clerks were +acting before the King, his Queen, and many nobles. The +performances continued for three days, and the representations were +the "Passion of Our Lord and the Creation of the World," which so +well pleased the King that he commanded £10, a very +considerable sum of money in those days, to be paid to the clerks +of the parish churches and to divers other clerks of the City of +London. Here is the record of his gift:</p> +<blockquote>"<i>Issue Roll</i>, Easter, 14 Ric. II.<br> +<br> +"11 July. To the clerks of the parish churches and to divers other +clerks of the city of London. In money paid to them in discharge of +£10 which the Lord the King commanded to be paid to them of +his gift on account of the play of the 'Passion of Our Lord and the +Creation of the World' by them performed at Skynnerwell after the +feast of St. Bartholomew last past. By writ of Privy Seal amongst +the mandates of this term--£10."</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_57"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor57">[57]</a> <i>English Poetry</i>, vol. ii. p. +397.</blockquote> +<p>Skinners' Well was close to the Clerks' Well, and it was so +called, so Stow informs us, "for that the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-132"></a>[pg 132]</span> Skinners of London +held there certain plays yearly of Holy Scripture,"</p> +<p>A few years later, in the succeeding reign, 10 Henry IV, A.D. +1409, the fraternity of clerks were again performing at the same +place. Stow says: "In the year 1409 was a great play at Skynners' +Welle, neere unto Clarkenwell, besides London, which lasted eight +daies, and was of matter from the creation of the world; there were +to see the same the most part of the nobles and gentles in +England"--a mighty audience truly, which not even Sir Henry Irving +could command in his farewell performances at Drury Lane.</p> +<br> +<a name="image24.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image24.jpg"><img src= +"images/image24.jpg" width="80%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>A Mystery Play At Chester (From A Print After A Painting By T. +Uwins)</b></p> +<br> +<p>These religious plays or mysteries were a powerful means for +instructing the people; and if we had lived in mediæval +times, we should not have needed to fly to Ober-Ammergau in order +to witness a Passion Play. In the streets of Coventry or Chester, +York, or Tewkesbury, Witney, or Reading, or on the Green at +Clerkenwell, we could have seen the appealing spectacle; and though +sometimes the actors lapsed into buffoonery, and the red demons +carrying souls to hell's mouth created merriment rather than +terror, and though realism was carried to such a pitch that Adam +and Eve appeared in a state of nature, yet many of the spectators +would carry away with them pious thoughts and some grasp of the +facts of Scripture history, and of the mysteries of the faith. +Originally the plays were performed in churches, but owing to the +gradually increased size of the stage and the more elaborate stage +effects, the sacred buildings were abandoned as the scenes of +mediæval drama. Then the churchyard was utilised for the +purpose. The clergy no longer took part in the pageants, and in the +fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the people liked to act their +plays in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-133"></a>[pg +133]</span> the highways and public places as at Clerkenwell. The +guilds and fraternities in many places provided the chief actors, +and in towns where there were many guilds and companies, each +company performed part of the great drama, the movable stage being +drawn about from street to street. Thus at York the story of the +Creation and the Redemption was divided into forty-eight parts, +each part being acted by a guild, or group of companies. The +Tanners represented God the Father creating the heavens, angels and +archangels, and the fall of Lucifer and the disobedient angels. +Then the Plasterers showed the Creation of the Earth, and the work +of the first five days. The Card-makers exhibited the Creation of +Adam of the clay of the earth, and the making of Eve of Adam's rib, +thus inspiring them with the breath of life. The Fall, the story of +Cain and Abel, of Noah and the Flood, of Moses, the Annunciation +and all Gospel history, ending with the Coronation of the Virgin +and the Final Judgment.</p> +<p>The stage upon which the clerks performed their plays, according +to Strutt, consisted of three platforms, one above another. On the +uppermost sat God the Father surrounded by His angels. He was +represented in a white robe, and until it was discovered how +injurious the process was, the actor who played the part used to +have his face gilded. On the second platform were the glorified +saints, and on the lowest men who had not yet passed from life. On +one side of the lowest platform was hell's mouth, a dark pitchy +cavern, whence issued the appearance of fire and flames, and +sometimes hideous yellings and noises in imitation of the howlings +and cries of wretched souls tormented by relentless demons. From +this yawning cave the devils constantly ascended to delight +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-134"></a>[pg 134]</span> the +spectators and afford comic relief to the more serious drama. The +three stages were not always used. Archdeacon Rogers, who died in +1595, left an account of the Chester play which he himself saw, and +he wrote that the stage was a high scaffold with two rooms, a +higher and a lower, upon four wheels. In the lower the actors +apparelled themselves, and in the higher they played. But this was +a movable stage on wheels. The clerks' stage would, doubtless, be a +fixed structure, and of a more elaborate construction.</p> +<p>The dresses used by the actors were very gorgeous and splendid, +though little care was bestowed upon the appropriateness of the +costumes. The words of the play of the Creation differ in the +various versions which have come down to us. Strutt thinks that the +clerks' play, acted before "the most part of the nobles and gentles +in England," was very similar to the Coventry play, which cannot +compare in grandeur and vigour with the York play discovered in the +library of Lord Ashburnham, and edited by Miss Toulmin Smith +<a name="FNanchor58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58">[58]</a>. But as +the north-country dialect of the York version would have been +difficult for the learned clerks of London to pronounce, their +version would doubtless resemble more that of Coventry than that of +York. The first act represents the Deity seated upon His throne and +speaking as follows:</p> +<blockquote> <i>Ego sum Alpha et Omega, principium et +finis</i>.<br> +My name is knowyn, God and Kynge;<br> + My work to make now wyl I wende;<br> +In myselfe resteth my reynenge,<br> + It hath no gynnyng, ne no ende,<br> +And all that evyr shall have beynge<br> + Is closed in my mende; <a name= +"FNanchor59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59">[59]</a><br> +When it is made at my lykynge<br> + I may it save, I may it shende <a name= +"FNanchor60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60">[60]</a><br> +After my plesawns." <a name="FNanchor61"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_61">[61]</a></blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_58"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor58">[58]</a> Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1885. A portion of +this is published in Mr. A.W. Pollard's <i>English Miracle +Plays</i>.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_59"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor59">[59]</a> Mind.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_60"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor60">[60]</a> Destroy.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_61"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor61">[61]</a> Pleasure.</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-135"></a>[pg 135]</span> +<p>At the close of this oration, which consists of forty lines, the +angels enter upon the upper stage, surround the throne of the +Deity, and sing from the <i>Te Deum</i>:</p> +<blockquote><i>Te Deum laudamus, te dominum +confitemur</i>.</blockquote> +<p>The Father bestows much honour and brightness on Lucifer, who is +full of pride. He demands of the good angels in whose honour they +are singing their songs of praise. Are they worshipping God or +reverencing him? They reply that they are worshipping God, the +mighty and most strong, who made them and Lucifer. Then Lucifer +daringly usurps the seat of the Almighty, and receives the homage +of the rebellious angels. Then the Father orders them and their +leader to fall from heaven to hell, and in His bliss never more to +dwell. Then does Lucifer reply:</p> +<blockquote>"At thy byddyng y wyl I werke,<br> +And pass from joy to peyne and smerte.<br> +Now I am a devyl full derke,<br> +That was an angel bryght.<br> +Now to Helle the way I take,<br> +In endless peyn'y to be put;<br> +For fere of fyr apart I quake<br> +In Helle dongeon my dene is dyth."</blockquote> +<p>Then the Devil and his angels sink into the cavern of hell's +mouth.</p> +<p>We cannot follow all the scenes in this strange drama. The final +representation included the Descent into Hell, or the Harrowing of +Hell, as it was called, when the soul of Christ goes down into the +infernal regions and rescues Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses, and the +saints of old. The <i>Anima Christi</i> says:</p> +<blockquote>"Come forth, Adam and Eve, with the,<br> +And all my fryends that herein be;<br> +In Paradyse come forth with me,<br> + In blysse for to dwell.<br> +The fende of hell that is your foe,<br> +He shall be wrappyd and woundyn in woo;<br> +Fro wo to welth now shall ye go,<br> + With myrth ever mo to melle."</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-136"></a>[pg 136]</span> +<p>Adam replies:</p> +<blockquote>"I thank the Lord of thy grete grace,<br> +That now is forgiven my great trespase;<br> +No shall we dwell in blyssful place."</blockquote> +<br> +<a name="image25.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image25.jpg"><img src= +"images/image25.jpg" width="80%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>The Descent into Hell.</b></p> +<br> +<p>The accompanying print of the Descent into Hell was engraved by +Michael Burghers from an ancient drawing for our Berkshire +antiquary, Thomas Herne.</p> +<p>Modern buildings have obliterated the scene of this ancient +drama acted by the clerks of London, but some traces of the +association of the fraternity with the neighbourhood can still be +found. The two famous conventual houses, for which Clerkenwell was +famous, the nunnery of St. Mary and the priory of St. John of +Jerusalem, founded in 1100, have long since disappeared. Clerks' +Close is mentioned in numerous documents, and formed part of the +estate belonging to the Skinners' Company, where Skinner Street now +runs. Clerks' Well was close to the modern church of St. James's, +Clerkenwell, which occupies the site of the church and nunnery of +St. Mary <i>de fonte clericorum</i>, which once possessed one of +the six water-pots in which Jesus turned the water into wine. Vine +Street formerly delighted in the name Mutton Lane, which is said to +be a corruption of meeting or moteing lane, referring to the +clerks' mote or meeting place by the well. When Mr. Pink wrote his +history of Clerkenwell forty years ago, there was at the east side +of Ray Street a broken iron pump let into the front wall of a +dilapidated house which showed the site of Clerks' Well. In 1673 +the spring and plot of ground were given by the Earl of Northampton +to the poor of the parish, but the vestry leased the spring to a +brewer. Strype, writing in 1720, states that "the old well at +Clerkenwell, whence the parish had its name, is still <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-137"></a>[pg 137]</span> known among the +inhabitants. It is on the right hand of a lane that leads from +Clerkenwell to Hockley-in-the-Hole, in a bottom. One Mr. Crosse, a +brewer, hath this well enclosed; but the water runs from him, by +means of a watercourse above-mentioned, into the said place. It is +enclosed with a high wall, which was formerly built to bound in +Clerkenwell Close; the present well (the conduit head) being also +enclosed by another lower wall from the street. The way to it is +through a little house, which was the watch-house. You go down a +good many steps to it. The well had formerly ironwork and brass +cocks, which are now cut off; the water spins through the old wall. +I was there and tasted the water, and found it excellently clear, +sweet, and well tasted."</p> +<p>In 1800 a pump was erected on the east side of Ray Street to +celebrate the parish clerks' ancient performances, which were +immortalised in raised letters of iron with this inscription:</p> +<blockquote>A.D. 1800. William Bound, Joseph Bird, Churchwardens. +For the better accommodation of the neighbourhood, this pump was +removed to the spot where it now stands. The spring by which it is +supplied is situated four feet eastward, and round it, as history +informs us, the Parish Clerks of London in remote ages commonly +performed sacred plays. That custom caused it to be denominated +Clerks'-Well, and from which this parish derived its name. The +water was greatly esteemed by the Prior and Brethren of the Order +of St. John of Jerusalem and the Benedictine Nuns in the +neighbourhood.</blockquote> +<p>Hone, in his <i>Ancient Mysteries</i>, describes this pump, +which in his day, A.D. 1832, stood between an earthenware shop and +the abode of a bird-seller, and states that the monument denoting +the histrionic fame of the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-138"></a>[pg 138]</span> place, and alluding to the +miraculous powers of the water for healing incurable diseases, +remains unobserved beneath its living attractions. "The present +simplicity of the scene powerfully contrasts with the recollection +of its former splendour. The choral chant of the Benedictine Nuns, +accompanying the peal of the deep-toned organ through their +cloisters, and the frankincense curling its perfume from priestly +censers at the altar, are succeeded by the stunning sounds of +numerous quickly plied hammers, and the smith's bellows flashing +the fires of Mr. Bound's ironfoundry, erected upon the unrecognised +site of the convent. The religious house stood about half-way down +the declivity of the hill, which commencing near the church on +Clerkenwell Green, terminates at the River Fleet. The prospect then +was uninterrupted by houses, and the people upon the rising ground +could have had an uninterrupted view of the performances at the +well."</p> +<p>In the parish there is a vineyard walk, which marks the site of +the old vineyard attached to the priory of St. John. The +cultivation of the vine was carried on in many monasteries. In +1859, in front of the old Vineyard Inn, a signboard was set up +which stated that "This house is celebrated from old associations +connected with the City of London. After the City clerks partook of +the water of Clerks' Well, from which the parish derives its name, +they repaired hither to partake of the fruit of the finest English +grapes." This was an ingenious contrivance on the part of the +landlord to solicit custom. It need hardly be stated that the +information given on this signboard was incorrect. Before the +Reformation there were few inns, and the old Vineyard Inn can +scarcely claim such a remote ancestry.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-139"></a>[pg 139]</span> +<p>When miracle plays ceased to be performed the clerks did not +desert their old quarters. It is, indeed, stated that the ancient +society of parish clerks became divided; some turned their +attention to wrestling and mimicry at Bartholomew Fair, whilst +others, for their better administration, formed themselves into the +Society of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Recorder of Stroud Green, +assembling in the Old Crown at Islington; but still "saving their +right to exhibit at the Old London Spaw, formerly Clerks' Well, +when they might happen to have learned sheriffs and other officers +to get up their sacred pieces as usual." Even so late as 1774 the +members of this ancient society were accustomed to meet annually in +the summer time at Stroud Green, and to regale themselves in the +open air, the number of persons assembling on some occasions +producing a scene similar to that of a country wake or fair. These +assemblies had no connection with the Worshipful Company of Parish +Clerks.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-140"></a>[pg 140]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> +<h3>THE CLERKS AND THE PARISH REGISTERS</h3> +<br> +<p>A study of an old parish register reveals a remarkable variation +in the style and character of the handwriting. We see in the old +parchment pages numerous entries recorded in a careless scribble, +and others evidently written by the hand of a learned and careful +scholar. The rector or vicar ever since the days of Henry VIII, +when in 1536 Vicar-General Thomas Cromwell ordered the keeping of +registers, was usually supposed to have recorded the entries in the +register. Cromwell derived the notion of ordering the keeping of +the registers from his observation of the records kept by the +Spanish priests in the Low Countries where he resided in his youth. +Archbishop Ximenes of Toledo instituted a system of registration in +Spain in 1497, and this was carried on by the Spanish priests in +the Netherlands, and thus laid the foundation of that system which +Thomas Cromwell introduced to this country and which has continued +ever since.</p> +<p>But not all these entries were made by the incumbents. There is +good evidence that the parish clerks not infrequently kept the +registers, especially in later times, and from the beginning they +were responsible for the facts recorded. The entries do not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-141"></a>[pg 141]</span> seem +to have been made when the baptism, marriage, or burial took place. +Cromwell's edict required that the records of each week should be +entered in the register on the following Sunday, in the presence of +the churchwardens. It seems to have been the custom for the clerk +or vicar to write down particulars of the baptism, marriage, or +burial in a private memorandum book or on loose sheets of paper at +the time of the ceremony. Afterwards these rough notes were copied +into the register book. Sometimes this was done each week; but +human nature is fallible; the clerk or his master forgot sometimes +to make the required entries in the book. Days and weeks slipped +by; note-books and scraps of paper were mislaid and lost; the +spelling of the clerk was not always his strongest point; hence +mistakes, omissions, inaccuracies were not infrequent. Sometimes +the vicar did not make up his books until a whole year had elapsed. +This was the case with the poor parson of Carshalton, who was +terribly distressed because his clerk would not furnish him with +the necessary notes, and mightily afraid lest he should incur the +censure of his parishioners. Hence we find the following note in +his register, dated 10 March, 1651:</p> +<blockquote>"Good reader, tread gently:<br> +<br> +"For though these vacant years may seem to make me guilty of thy +censure, neither will I excuse myself from all blemishe; yet if +thou doe but cast thine eye upon the former pages and see with what +care I have kept the Annalls of mine owne time, and rectifyed +sundry errors of former times, thou wilt begin to think ther is +some reason why he that began to build so well should not be able +to make an ende.<br> +<br> +"The truth is that besyde the miserys and distractions of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-142"></a>[pg 142]</span> these +ptermitted years which it may be God in his owne wisdom would not +suffer to be kept uppon record, the special ground of that +permission ought to be imputed to Richard Finch, the p'rishe +Clarke, whose office it was by long pscrition to gather the +ephemeris or dyary by the dayly passages, and to exhibit them once +a year to be transcribed into this registry; and though I have +often called upon him agayne and agayne to remember his chadge, and +he always told me that he had the accompts lying by him, yet at +last p'ceaving his excuses, and revolving upon suspicion of his +words to put him home to a full tryall I found to my great griefe +that all his accompts were written in sand, and his words committed +to the empty winds. God is witness to the truth of this apologie, +and that I made it knowne at some parish meetings before his own +face, who could not deny it, neither do I write it to blemishe him, +but to cleere my own integritie as far as I may, and to give +accompt of this miscarryage to after ages by the subscription of my +hand <a name="FNanchor62"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_62">[62]</a>."</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_62"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor62">[62]</a> <i>Social Life as told by Parish +Registers</i>, by T.F. Thiselton-Dyer, p. 57.</blockquote> +<p>We may hope that all clerks were not so neglectful as poor +Richard Finch, whose name is thus handed down as an "awful example" +to all careless clerks. The same practice of the parish clerks +recording the particulars of weddings, christenings, and burials +seems to have prevailed at St. Stephen's, Coleman Street, London, +in 1542, as the following order shows:</p> +<blockquote>"They shall every week certify to the curate and the +churchwardens all the names and sir-names of them that be wedded, +christened, and buried in the same parish that week <i>sub pena</i> +of a 1 d. to be paid to the churche."</blockquote> +<p>In this case the curate doubtless entered the items in the +register as they were delivered to him.</p> +<p>At St. Margaret's, Lothbury, the clerk seems to have kept the +register himself. Amongst the ordinances <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-143"></a>[pg 143]</span> made by "the hole +consent of the parrishiners" in 1571, appears the following:</p> +<blockquote>"Item the Clarcke shall kepe the register of +cristeninge weddinge and burynge perfectlye, and shall present the +same everie Sondaie to the churche wardens to be perused by them, +and shall have for his paines in this behaufe yearelye 0. 03. +4."</blockquote> +<p>It is evident that in some cases in the sixteenth century the +clerk kept the register. But in far the larger number of parishes +the records were inserted by the vicar or rector, and in many books +the records are made in Latin. The "clerk's notes" from which the +entries were made are still preserved in some parishes.</p> +<p>In times of laxity and confusion wrought by the Civil War and +Puritan persecution, the clerk would doubtless be the only person +capable of keeping the registers. In my own parish the earliest +book begins in the year 1538, and is kept with great accuracy, the +entries being written in a neat scholarly hand. As time goes on the +writing is still very good, but it does not seem to be that of the +rector, who signs his name at the foot of the page. If it be that +of the clerk, he is a very clerkly clerk. The writing gradually +gets worse, especially during the Commonwealth period; but it is no +careless scribble. The clerk evidently took pains and fashioned his +letters after the model of the old court-hand. An entry appears +which tells of the appointment of a Parish Registrar, or "Register" +as he was called. This is the announcement:</p> +<blockquote>"Whereas Robt. Williams of the p ish of Barkham in the +County of Berks was elected and chosen by the Inhabitants of the +same P ish to be their p ish Register, he therefore ye sd Ro: Wms +was approved and sworne this sixteenth day of Novemb.. 1653<br> +<br> +Snd R. Bigg."</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-144"></a>[pg 144]</span> +<p>Judging from the similarity of the writing immediately above and +below this entry, I imagine that Robert Williams must have been the +old clerk who was so beloved by the inhabitants that in an era of +change, when the rector was banished from his parish, they elected +him "Parish Register," and thus preserved in some measure the +traditions of the place. The children are now entered as "borne" +and not baptised as formerly.</p> +<p>The writing gradually gets more illiterate and careless, until +the Restoration takes place. A little space is left, and then the +entries are recorded in a scholarly handwriting, evidently the work +of the new rector. Subsequently the register appears to have been +usually kept by the rector, though occasionally there are lapses +and indifferent writing appears. Sometimes the clerk has evidently +supplied the deficiencies of his master, recording a burial or a +wedding which the rector had omitted. In later times, when +pluralism was general, and this living was held in conjunction with +three or four other parishes, the rector must have been very +dependent upon the clerk for information concerning the functions +to be recorded. Moreover, when a former rector who was a noted +sportsman and one of the best riders and keenest hunters in the +county, sometimes took a wedding on his way to the meet, he would +doubtless be so eager for the chase that he had little leisure to +record the exact details of the names of the "happy pair," and must +have trusted much to the clerk.</p> +<p>Some of the private registers kept by clerks are still +preserved. There is one at Pattishall which contains entries of +births, marriages, and burials, and was probably commenced in 1774, +that date being on the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-145"></a>[pg 145]</span> front page together with the +inscription: "John Clark's Register Book." The writing is of a good +round-hand character, and far superior to the caligraphy of many +present-day clerks. The book is bound in vellum <a name= +"FNanchor63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63">[63]</a>. The following +entry, taken from the end of the volume, is worth recording:</p> +<blockquote>"London, March 31th<br> +<br> +"Yesterday the Rev'd Mr Hetherington ... transferred. 20,000 +£. South-Sea Annuities into the Names of S'r Henry Banks +Kn't. Thos Burfoot, Joseph Eyre, Thos Coventry, and Samuel Salt. +Esqu'rs in Trust to pay always to 50 Blind people, Objects of, +Charity, not being Beggars, nor receiving, Alms from the Parish, 10 +£. each for their lives, it may be said with great propriety +of this truly benevolent Gentleman that 'he hath displeased abroad, +and given to the poor and is Righteousness remaineth for ever; his +Horn shall exalted with Honour.'"</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_63"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor63">[63]</a> By the information of the Rev. B.W. +Blyn-Stoyle, who has most kindly assisted me in many ways in +discovering quaint records of old clerks.</blockquote> +<p>Amongst the register books of Wednesbury there is a volume bound +in parchment bearing this inscription:</p> +<blockquote>"This Book seems to be the private register of +Alexander Bunn, Parish Clerk, because it corresponds with another +bearing the same dates; the private accounts written in this book +by the said A. Bunn seem to corroborate my opinion.<br> +<br> +"A.B. Haden<br> +<br> +"Vicar of Wednesbury<br> +<br> +"August 7th 1782."</blockquote> +<p>These accounts appear to be of items incurred by the parish +clerk in his official capacity, and which were due to him in +repayment from the churchwardens. The accompanying remarks of this +old Wednesbury parish clerk are often quaint and interesting.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-146"></a>[pg 146]</span> +<p>The following extracts will show the nature of the book and of +the systematic record the good clerk kept of his expenditure. The +only item about which there is some uncertainty is the amount +"spent at Freeman's Coming from Visitation." Is it possible that he +was so much excited or intoxicated that he could not remember?</p> +<blockquote>"1737. Land tax to hon. Adenbrook 0. 0. 11 Acount<br> + What Mary Tunks as ad. +Redy money 4/-, for a<br> + hapern 2/-, for caps 1/6 +and for shoes 2/6, and for<br> + ye werk 6 d. Stokins and +sues mendering 6 d, and<br> + for string 2 d, and for a +Gound 3/-, and for ale for<br> + Hur father 2 d, for +mending Gound 8 d, for stokens<br> + 10 d, for more Shuse +strong 2/6, Shift mending<br> + and maken 5 d, for Hur +mother 1/6, for a Shift<br> + 2/7."</blockquote> +<p>To this day old Wednesbury natives say "hapern" for apron, and +"sues" for shoes.</p> +<blockquote>"Sep. the 10th, 1745, then recd of Alex. Bunn the sum +of<br> + six pounds for one +year's rent due at Midsmar.<br> + Last past Ellin Moris. +Wm. Selvester and his<br> + man the first wick 14/-. +Mr. Butler and Gilbut<br> + Wrigh, church wardens +for the year 1741, due to<br> + Alex Bunn as under. +Ringing for the Visitation<br> + 2/-, spent at Roshall, +going to the visitation 1/6-,<br> + spent at Henery Rutoll +1/-, paid at Litchfield to<br> + the Horsbox (?) 6 d, Wm. +Aston Had Ale at my<br> + House 6 d, for Micklmas +Supeles washing and<br> + lining 1/8, for Ringing +for the 11th of October<br> + 5/-, for Ringing for the +30th of October 5/-, for<br> + half year's wages Due +June ye 24 £ 1 12 s. 6.<br> + Ringing for the 5th +November, for washing the<br> + Supelis and Lining and +Bread at Chrsmus 1/3,<br> + for Easter Supelis +washing and Lining and Bread<br> + 1/8, for Joyle for the +Clock and Bells 2/6, for<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-147"></a>[pg 147]</span> + Leader for the 4th Bell +Clapper 5 d, Ringing for<br> + the 23rd of April 5/-, +for making the Levy 2/-,<br> + for a hors to Lichfield +11/6, pd John Stack<br> + going to Dudley 2 times +for the Clockman 1/-.<br> + For a monthly (?) +meeting to Ralph Momford<br> + Sep. the 15th 2/-, Spent +at freeman's Coming from<br> + the Visitation-----" +<a name="FNanchor64"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_64">[64]</a></blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_64"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor64">[64]</a> <i>Olden Wednesbury</i>, by F.W. Hackwood, +who kindly sent me this information.</blockquote> +<p>But we have grievous things to record with regard to the clerks +and the registers, not that they were to blame so much as the +proper custodians, who neglected their duties and left these +precious books in the hands of ignorant clerks to be preserved in +poor overcrowded cottages. But the parish clerks sinned grievously. +One Phillips, clerk of Lambeth parish, ran away with the register +book, so Francis Sadler tells us in his curious book, <i>The +Exaction and Imposition of Parish Fees Discovered</i>, published in +1738, "whereby the parish became great sufferers; and in such a +case no person that is fifty years old, and born in the parish, can +have a transcript of the Register to prove themselves heir to an +estate." Moreover, Master Sadler, who was very severe on parish +clerks, tells of the iniquities of the Battersea clerk who used to +register boys for girls and girls for boys, and not one-half of the +register book, in his time, was correct and authentic, as it ought +to be.</p> +<p>What shall be said of the carelessness of an incumbent who +allowed the register to be kept by the clerk in his poor cottage? +When a gentleman called to obtain an extract from the book, the +clerk produced the valuable tome from a drawer in an old table, +where it was reposing with a mass of rubbish. Another old +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-148"></a>[pg 148]</span> +parchment register was discovered in a cottage in a +Northamptonshire parish, some of the pages of which were tacked +together as a covering for the tester of a bedstead. The clerk in +another parish followed the calling of a tailor, and found the old +register book useful for the purpose of providing himself with +measures. With this object he cut out sixteen leaves of the old +book, which he regarded in the light of waste paper.</p> +<p>A gentleman on one occasion visited a church in order to examine +the registers of an Essex parish. He found the record for which he +was searching, and asked the clerk to make the extract for him. +Unfortunately this official had no ink or paper at hand with which +to copy out the entry, and casually observed:</p> +<p>"Oh, you may as well have the leaf as it is," and without any +hesitation took out his pocket-knife, cut out the leaf and gave the +gentleman the two entire pages <a name="FNanchor65"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_65">[65]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_65"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor65">[65]</a> <i>History of Parish Registers</i>, by Burn; +<i>Social Life as told by Parish Registers</i>, by T.F. +Thiselton-Dyer, p. 2.</blockquote> +<p>Another scandalous case was that of the clerk who combined his +ecclesiastical duties with those of the village grocer. The pages +of the parish register he found most useful for wrapping up his +goods for his customers. He was, however, no worse than the +curate's wife, who ought to have known better, and who used the +leaves of the registers for making her husband's +kettle-holders.</p> +<p>What shall be said for the guardians of the church documents of +Blythburgh, Suffolk? The parish chest preserved in the church was +at one time full of valuable documents in addition to very complete +registers. So Suckling, the historian of Suffolk, reported. Alas! +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-149"></a>[pg 149]</span> these +have nearly all disappeared. Scarcely anything remains of the +earliest volume of the register which concludes with the end of the +seventeenth century, and the old deeds have gone also. How could +this terrible loss have occurred? It appears that a parish clerk, +"in showing this fine old church to visitors, presented those +curious in old papers and autographs with a leaf from the register, +or some other document, as a memento of their visit <a name= +"FNanchor66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66">[66]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_66"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor66">[66]</a> <i>Social Life as told by Parish +Registers</i>; also <i>Standard</i>, 8 Jan., 1880.</blockquote> +<p>Another clerk was extremely popular with the old ladies of the +village, and used to cut out the parchment leaves of the registers +and present them to his old lady friends for wrapping their +knitting pins. He was also the village schoolmaster, as many of his +predecessors had been, but this wretch used to cover the backs of +his pupil's lesson-books with leaves of parchment taken from the +parish chest. Another clerk found the leaves of the registers very +useful for "singeing a goose."</p> +<p>The value of old registers for proving titles to estates and +other property is of course inestimable. Sometimes incomes of +thousands of pounds depend upon a little entry in one of these old +books, and it is terrible to think of the jeopardy in which they +stand when they rest in the custody of a careless clerk or +apathetic vicar.</p> +<p>The present writer owes much to the faithful care of a good +clerk, who guarded well the registers of a defunct City church of +London. My father was endeavouring to prove his title to an estate +in the north country, and had to obtain the certificates of the +births, deaths, and marriages of the family during about a century. +One wedding could not be proved. <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-150"></a>[pg 150]</span> Report stated that it had been a +runaway marriage, and that the bride and bridegroom had fled to +London to be married in a City church. My father casually heard of +the name of some church where it was thought that the wedding might +have taken place. He wrote to the authorities of that church. It +had, however, ceased to exist. The church had disappeared, but the +old clerk was alive and knew where the books were. He searched, and +found the missing register, and the chain of evidence was complete +and the title to the property fully established, which was +confirmed after much troublesome litigation by the Court of +Chancery.</p> +<p>Sometimes litigants have sought to remove troublesome entries in +those invaluable books which record with equal impartiality the +entrance into the world and the departure from it of peer or +peasant. And in such dramas the clerk frequently appears. The old +man has to be bribed or cajoled to allow the books to be tampered +with. A stranger arrives one evening at Rochester, and demands of +the clerk to be shown the registers. The stranger finds the entry +upon which much depends. In its present form it does not support +his case. It must be altered in order to meet his requirements. The +clerk hovers about the vestry, alert, vigilant. He must be got rid +of. The stranger proposes various inducements; the temptation of a +comfortable seat in a cosy corner of the nearest inn, a stimulating +glass, but all in vain. There is something suspicious about the +stranger's looks and manners; so the clerk thinks. He sticks to his +elbow like a leech, and nothing can shake him off. At length the +stranger offers the poor clerk a goodly bribe if only he will help +him to alter a few words in that all-important register. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-151"></a>[pg 151]</span> I am +not sure whether the clerk yielded to the temptation.</p> +<p>There was a still more dramatic scene in the old vestry of +Lainston Church, where a few years previously a Miss Chudleigh had +been married to Lieutenant Hervey. This young lady, who was not +remarkable for her virtue, arrived one day at the church +accompanied by a fascinating friend who, while Mrs. Hervey examined +the register, exercised her blandishments on the clerk. She +expressed much interest in the church, and asked him endless +questions about its architecture, the state of his health, his +family, his duties; and while this little by-play was proceeding +Mrs. Hervey was carefully and noiselessly cutting out the page in +the register which contained the entry of her marriage. Having +removed the tell-tale page she hastily closed the book, summoned +her fascinating friend, and hastened back to London. The clerk, +still thinking of the beautiful lady who had been so friendly and +given him such a handsome present, locked the safe, and never +discovered the theft. But time brought its revenge. Lieutenant +Hervey succeeded unexpectedly to the title of the earldom of +Bristol. His wife was overcome with remorse. By her foolish scheme +she had sacrificed a coronet. That missing paper must be restored; +and so the lady pays another visit to Lainston Church, on this +occasion in the company of a lawyer. The old clerk unlocks again +the parish chest. The books are again produced; confession is made +of the former theft; the lawyer looks threateningly at the clerk, +and tells him that if it should ever be discovered he will suffer +as an accomplice; and then, with the promise of a substantial +bribe, the clerk consents to give his aid. The missing paper is +produced and deftly <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-152"></a>[pg 152]</span> inserted in its former place in the +book, and Miss Chudleigh becomes the Countess of Bristol. It is a +curious story, but it has the merit of being true. Many strange +romances are bound up within the stained and battered parchment +covers of an old register.</p> +<p>Sometimes the clerk seems to have recorded in the register book +some entries which scarcely relate to ecclesiastical usages or +spiritual concerns. Agreements or bargains were inserted +occasionally, and the fact that it was recorded in the church books +testified to the binding nature of the transaction. Thus in the +book of St. Mary Magdalene, Cambridge, in the year 1692, it is +announced that Thomas Smith promises to supply John Wingate "with +hatts for twenty shillings the yeare during life." Mr. +Thiselton-Dyer, who records this transaction in his book on +<i>Social Life as told by Parish Registers</i>, conjectures with +evident truth that the aforenamed men made this bargain at an +ale-house, and the parish clerk, being present, undertook to +register the agreement.</p> +<p>A most remarkable clerk lived at Grafton Underwood in the +eighteenth century, one Thomas Carley, who was born in that village +in 1755, having no hands and one deformed leg. Notwithstanding that +nature seemed to have deprived him of all means of manual labour, +he rose to the position of parish schoolmaster and parish clerk. He +contrived a pair of leather rings, into which he thrust the stumps +of his arms, which ended at the elbow, and with the aid of these he +held a pen, ruler, knife and fork, etc. The register books of the +parish show admirable specimens of his wonderful writing, and I +have in my possession a tracing made by Mr. Wise, of Weekley, from +the label fixed inside the cover of one of the large folio Prayer +Books which used to <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-153"></a>[pg 153]</span> be in the Duke of Buccleuch's pew +before the church was restored, and were then removed to Boughton +House. These books contain many beautifully written papers, chiefly +supplying lost ones from the Psalms. The writing is simply like +copper-plate engraving. In the British Museum, amongst the +"additional MSS." is an interleaved edition of Bridge's <i>History +of Northamptonshire</i>, bound in five volumes. In the fourth +volume, under the account of Grafton Underwood, some particulars +have been inserted of the life of this extraordinary man, with a +water-colour portrait of him taken by one of his pupils, E. +Bradley. There is also a specimen of his writing, the Lord's Prayer +inscribed within a circle about the size of a shilling. There is +also in existence "a mariner's compass," most accurately drawn by +him. He died in 1823.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-154"></a>[pg 154]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> +<h3>THE CLERK AS A POET</h3> +<br> +<p>The parish clerk, skilled in psalmody, has sometimes shown +evidences of true poetic feeling. The divine afflatus has +occasionally inspired in him some fine thoughts and graceful +fancies. His race has produced many writers of terrible doggerel of +the monumental class of poetry; but far removed from these there +have been some who have composed fine hymns and sweet verse.</p> +<p>An obscure hymn-writer, whose verses have been sung in all parts +of the world, was Thomas Bilby, parish clerk of St. Mary's Church, +Islington, between the years 1842 and 1872. He was the parish +schoolmaster also, and thus maintained the traditions of his office +handed down from mediæval times. Before the days of School +Boards it was not unusual for the clerk to teach the children of +the working classes the three R's and religious knowledge, charging +a fee of twopence per week for each child. Mrs. Mary Strathern has +kindly sent me the following account of the church wherein Thomas +Bilby served as clerk, and of the famous hymn which he wrote.</p> +<p>The church of St. Mary's, Islington, was not internally a thing +of beauty. It was square; it had no chancel; the walls were covered +with monuments and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-155"></a>[pg +155]</span> tablets to the praise and glory of departed +parishioners. On three sides it had a wide gallery, the west end of +which contained the organ, with the Royal Arms as large as life in +front. On either side below the galleries were double rows of high +pews, and down the centre passage a row of open benches for the +poor. Between these benches and the altar, completely hiding the +altar from the congregation, stood a huge "three-decker." The +pulpit, on a level with the galleries, was reached by a staircase +at the back; below that was "the reading desk," from which the +curate said the prayers; and below that again, a smaller desk, +where, Sunday after Sunday, for thirty years, T. Bilby, parish +clerk and schoolmaster, gave out the hymns, read the notices, and +published the banns of marriage. He was short and stout; his hair +was white; he wore a black gown with deep velvet collar, ornamented +with many tassels and fringes; and he carried a staff of +office.</p> +<p>It was a great missionary parish. The vicar, Daniel Wilson, was +a son of that well-known Daniel Wilson, sometime vicar of +Islington, and afterwards Bishop of Calcutta. The Church Missionary +College, where many young missionaries sent out by the Church +Missionary Society are trained, stood in our midst; and it was +within St. Mary's Church the writer saw the venerable Bishop +Crowther, of the Niger, ordain his own son deacon. Mr. Bilby had at +one time been a catechist and schoolmaster in Sierra Leone, and was +full of interesting stories of the mission work amongst the freed +slaves in that settlement. He had a magic lantern, with many views +of Africa, and of the churches and schools in the mission fields, +and often gave missionary lectures to the school children. It was +on <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-156"></a>[pg 156]</span> one +of these occasions, when he had been telling us about his work +abroad, and how he soon got to know when a black boy had a dirty +face, that he said: "While I was in Africa, I composed a hymn, and +taught the black children to sing it; and now there is not a +Christian school in any part of the world where my hymn is not +known and sung. I will begin it now, and you will all sing it with +me." Then the old man began:</p> +<blockquote>"Here we suffer grief and pain."</blockquote> +<p>Immediately every child in the room took it up, and sang with +might and main:</p> +<blockquote>"Here we meet to part again;<br> +In heaven we part no more."</blockquote> +<p>We had always thought the familiar words were as old as the +Bible itself, and could scarcely believe they had been written by +our own old friend.</p> +<p>Soon after that memorable night, the old man began to get +feeble; his place in the church and schools was frequently filled +by "Young Bilby," as he was familiarly called; and in 1872, aged +seventy-eight, the old parish clerk was gathered to his fathers, +and his son reigned in his stead.</p> +<p>The other day a copy of a Presbyterian hymn-book found its way +into my house, and there I found "Here we suffer grief and pain." I +turned up the index which gives the names of authors, wondering if +the compilers knew anything of the source from whence it came, and +found the name "Bilby"; but who "Bilby" was, and where he lived, is +known to very few outside the parish, where the name is a household +word, for Mr. Bilby's son is still the parish clerk of St. Mary, +Islington, and through him we learn that his father <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-157"></a>[pg 157]</span> composed the +<i>tune</i> as well as the words of "Here we suffer grief and +pain."</p> +<p>As the hymn is not included in <i>Hymns Ancient and Modern</i> +or some other well-known collection, perhaps it will be well to +print the first two verses. It is published in John Curwen's <i>The +Child's Own Hymn Book</i>:</p> +<blockquote>"Here we suffer grief and pain;<br> +Here we meet to part again:<br> +In heaven we part no more.<br> +<br> + O! that will be joyful,<br> + Joyful, joyful, joyful,<br> + O! that will be joyful!<br> + When we meet to part no more!<br> +<br> +"All who love the Lord below,<br> +When they die to heaven will go,<br> +And sing with saints above.<br> + O! that," etc.</blockquote> +<p>A poet of a different school was Robert Story, schoolmaster and +parish clerk of Gargrave, Yorkshire. He was born at Wark, +Northumberland, in 1795, but migrated to Gargrave in 1820, where he +remained twenty years. Then he obtained the situation of a clerk in +the Audit Office, Somerset House, at a salary of £90 a year, +which he held till his death in 1860. His volume of poems, entitled +<i>Songs and Lyrical Poems</i>, contains some charming verse. He +wrote a pathetic poem on the death of the son of a gentleman at +Malham, killed while bird-nesting on the rocks of Cam Scar. Another +poem, <i>The Danish Camp</i>, tells of the visit of King Alfred to +the stronghold of his foes, and has some pretty lines. "O, love has +a favourite scene for roaming," is a tender little poem. The +following example of his verse is of a humorous and festive type. +It is taken from a volume of his <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-158"></a>[pg 158]</span> productions, entitled <i>The Magic +Fountain, and Other Poems</i>, published in 1829:</p> +<blockquote>"Learn next that I am parish clerk:<br> +A noble office, by St. Mark!<br> +It brings me in six guineas clear,<br> +Besides <i>et cæteras</i> every year.<br> +I waive my Sunday duty, when<br> +I give the solemn deep Amen;<br> +Exalted then to breathe aloud<br> +The heart-devotion of the crowd.<br> +But oh, the fun! when Christmas chimes<br> +Have ushered in the festal times,<br> +And sent the clerk and sexton round<br> +To pledge their friends in draughts profound,<br> +And keep on foot the good old plan,<br> +As only clerk and sexton can!<br> +Nor less the sport, when Easter sees<br> +The daisy spring to deck her leas;<br> +Then, claim'd as dues by Mother Church,<br> +I pluck the cackler from the perch;<br> +Or, in its place, the shilling clasp<br> +From grumbling dame's slow opening grasp.<br> +But, Visitation Day! 'tis thine<br> +Best to deserve my native line.<br> +Great day! the purest, brightest gem<br> +That decks the fair year's diadem.<br> +Grand day! that sees me costless dine<br> +And costless quaff the rosy wine,<br> +Till seven churchwardens doubled seem,<br> +And doubled every taper's gleam;<br> +And I triumphant over time,<br> +And over tune, and over rhyme,<br> +Call'd by the gay convivial throng,<br> +Lead, in full glee, the choral song!"</blockquote> +<p>The writers of doggerel verses have been numerous. The following +is a somewhat famous composition which has been kindly sent to me +by various correspondents. My father used to tell us the rhymes +when we were children, and they have evidently become notorious. +The clerk who composed them lived in <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-159"></a>[pg 159]</span> Somersetshire <a name= +"FNanchor67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67">[67]</a>, and when the Lord +Bishop of the Diocese came to visit his church, he thought that +such an occasion ought not to be passed over without a fitting +tribute to the distinguished prelate. He therefore composed a new +and revised version of Tate and Brady's metrical rendering of Psalm +lxvii., and announced his production after this manner:</p> +<p>"Let us zing to the Praze an' Glory of God part of the +zixty-zeventh Zalm; zspeshul varshun zspesh'ly 'dapted vur +t'cazshun.</p> +<blockquote>"W'y 'op ye zo ye little 'ills?<br> + And what var du 'ee zskip?<br> +Is it a'cause ter prach too we<br> + Is cum'd me Lord Biship?<br> +<br> +"W'y zskip ye zo ye little 'ills?<br> + An' whot var du 'ee 'op?<br> +Is it a'cause to prach too we<br> + Is cum'd me Lord Bishop?<br> +<br> +"Then let us awl arize an' zing,<br> + An' let us awl stric up,<br> +An' zing a glawrious zong uv praze;<br> + An' bless me Lord Bishup."</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_67"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor67">[67]</a> Another correspondent states that the +incident occurred at Bradford-on-Avon in 1806. Mr. Francis Bevan +remembers hearing a similar version at Dover about sixty years ago. +Can it be that these various clerks were plagiarists?</blockquote> +<p>A somewhat similar effusion was composed by Eldad Holland, +parish clerk of Christ Church, Kilbrogan parish, Bandon, County +Cork, in Ireland. This church was built in 1610, and has the +reputation of being the first edifice erected in Ireland for the +use of the Church of Ireland after the Reformation. Bandon was +originally colonised by English settlers in the reign of Queen +Elizabeth, and for a long time was a noted stronghold of +Protestantism. This fact may throw light upon the opinions and +sentiments of Master Holland, an original <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-160"></a>[pg 160]</span> character, whose +tombstone records that "he departed this life ye 29th day of 7ber +1722." When the news of the victory of William III reached Bandon +there were great rejoicings, and Eldad paraphrased a portion of the +morning service in honour of the occasion. After the first lesson +he gave out the following notice:</p> +<p>"Let us sing to the praise and glory of William, a psalm of my +own composing:</p> +<blockquote>"William is come home, come home,<br> + William home is come,<br> +And now let us in his praise<br> + Sing a <i>Te Deum</i>."</blockquote> +<p>He then continued: "We praise thee, O William! we acknowledge +thee to be our king!" adding with an impressive shake of the head, +"And faith, a good right we have, for it was he who saved us from +brass money, wooden shoes and Popery." He then resumed the old +version, and reverently continued it to the end <a name= +"FNanchor68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68">[68]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_68"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor68">[68]</a> This information was kindly sent to me by +Mr. Robert Clarke, of Castle Eden, Durham, who states that he +derived the information from <i>The History of Bandon</i>, by +George Bennett (1869). My father used to repeat the following +version:<br> +<br> +<blockquote>"King William is come home,<br> +Come home King William is come;<br> +So let us then together sing<br> +A hymn that's called <i>Te D'um</i>."</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +I am not sure which version is the better poetry! The latter +corresponds with the version composed by Wesley's clerk at Epworth, +old John; so Clarke in his memoirs of the Wesley family +records.</blockquote> +<p>In a parish in North Devon <a name="FNanchor69"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_69">[69]</a> there was a poetical clerk who had great +reverence for Bishop Henry Phillpotts, and on giving out the hymn +he proclaimed his regard in this form: "Let us sing to the glory of +God, and of the Lord Bishop of Exeter." On one occasion his +lordship held a confirmation in the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-161"></a>[pg 161]</span> church on 5 November, when it is +said the clerk gave out the Psalm in the usual way, adding, "in a +stave of my own composing":</p> +<blockquote>"This is the day that was the night<br> + When the Papists did conspire<br> +To blow up the King and Parliament House<br> + With Gundy-powdy-ire."</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_69"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor69">[69]</a> My kind correspondent, the Rev. J.B. Hughes, +abstains from mentioning the name of the parish.</blockquote> +<p>My informant cannot vouch for the truth of this story, but he +can for the fact that when Bishop Phillpotts on another occasion +visited the church his lordship was surprised to hear the clerk +give out at the end of the service, "Let us sing in honour of his +lordship, 'God save the King.'" The bishop rose somewhat hastily, +saying to his chaplain, "Come along, Barnes; we shall have 'Rule, +Britannia!' next."</p> +<p>Cuthbert Bede tells the story of a poetical clerk who was much +aggrieved because some disagreeable and naughty folk had +maliciously damaged his garden fence. On the next Sunday he gave +out "a stave of his own composing":</p> +<blockquote>"Oh, Lord, how doth the wicked man;<br> + They increases more and more;<br> +They break the posts, likewise the rails<br> + Around this poor clerk's door."</blockquote> +<p>He almost deserved his fate for barbarously mutilating a +metrical Psalm, and was evidently a proper victim of poetical +justice.</p> +<p>A Devonshire clerk wrote the following noble effort:--</p> +<blockquote>"Mount Edgcumbe is a pleasant place<br> +Right o'er agenst the Ham-o-aze,<br> +Where ships do ride at anchor,<br> +To guard us agin our foes. Amen."</blockquote> +<p>Besides writing "hymns of his own composing," the parish clerk +often used to give vent to his poetical talents in the production +of epitaphs. The occupation <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-162"></a>[pg 162]</span> of writing epitaphs must have been a +lucrative one, and the effusions recording the numerous virtues of +the deceased are quaint and curious. Well might a modern English +child ask her mother after hearing these records read to her, +"Where were all the bad people buried?" Learned scholars and abbots +applied their talents to the production of the Latin verses +inscribed on old brass memorials of the dead, and clever ladies +like Dame Elizabeth Hobby sometimes wrote them and appended their +names to their compositions. In later times this task seems to have +been often undertaken by the parish clerk with not altogether +satisfactory results, though incumbents and great poets, among whom +may be enumerated Pope and Byron, sometimes wrote memorials of +their friends. But the clerk was usually responsible for these +inscriptions. Master John Hopkins, clerk at one of the churches at +Salisbury at the end of the eighteenth century, issued an +advertisement of his various accomplishments which ran thus:</p> +<blockquote>"John Hopkins, parish clerk and undertaker, sells +epitaphs of all sorts and prices. Shaves neat, and plays the +bassoon. Teeth drawn, and the Salisbury Journal read gratis every +Sunday morning at eight. A school for psalmody every Thursday +evening, when my son, born blind, will play the fiddle. Specimen +epitaph on my wife:<br> +<br> +<blockquote>My wife ten years, not much to my ease,<br> +But now she is dead, in cælo quies.</blockquote> +<br> +Great variety to be seen within. Your humble servant, John +Hopkins."</blockquote> +<p>Poor David Diggs, the hero of Hewett's story of <i>The Parish +Clerk</i>, used to write epitaphs in strange and <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-163"></a>[pg 163]</span> curious English. +Just before his death he put a small piece of paper into the hands +of the clergyman of the parish, and whispered a request that its +contents might be attended to. When the clergyman afterwards read +the paper he found the following epitaph, which was duly inscribed +on the clerk's grave:</p> +<blockquote>"Reader Don't stop nor shed no tears<br> +For I was parish clerk For 60 years;<br> +If I lived on I could not now as Then<br> +Say to the Parson's Prases A loud Amen."</blockquote> +<p>A very worthy poetical clerk was John Bennet, shoemaker, of +Woodstock. A long account of him appears in the <i>Lives of +Illustrious Shoemakers</i>, written by W.E. Winks. He inherited the +office of parish clerk from his father, and with it some degree of +musical taste. In the preface to his poems he wrote: "Witness my +early acquaintance with the pious strains of Sternhold and Hopkins, +under that melodious psalmodist my honoured Father, and your +approved Parish Clerk." This is addressed to the Rev. Thomas +Warton, Professor of Poetry at Oxford, and sometime curate of +Woodstock, to whose patronage and ready aid John Bennet was greatly +indebted. Southey, who succeeded Warton in the Professorship, wrote +that "This Woodstock shoemaker was chiefly indebted for the +patronage which he received to Thomas Warton's good nature; for my +predecessor was the best-hearted man that ever wore a great wig." +Certainly the list of subscribers printed at the beginning of his +early work is amazingly long. Noblemen, squires, parsons, great +ladies, all rushed to secure the cobbler-clerk's poems, which were +published in 1774. The poems consist mainly of simple rhymes or +rustic themes, and are not without merit or humour. He is very +modest and humble about <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-164"></a>[pg 164]</span> his poetical powers, and tells that +his reason for publishing his verses was "to enable the author to +rear an infant offspring and to drive away all anxious solicitude +from the breast of a most amiable wife." His humour is shown in the +conclusion of his Dedication, where he wrote:</p> +<p>"I had proceeded thus far when I was called to measure a +gentleman of a certain college for a pair of fashionable boots, and +the gentleman having insisted on a perusal of what I was writing, +told me that a dedication should be as laconic as the boots he had +employed me to make; and then, taking up my pen, added this scrap +of Latin for a Heel-piece, as he called it, to my Dedication:</p> +<blockquote>"<i>Jam satis est; ne me Crispini scrinia lippi<br> +Compilasse putes, vertum non amplius</i>."</blockquote> +<p>The cobbler poet concludes his verses with the humorous +lines:</p> +<blockquote>"So may our cobler rise by friendly aid,<br> +Be happy and successful in his trade;<br> +His awl and pen with readiness be found,<br> +To make or keep our understandings sound."</blockquote> +<p>Later in life John Bennet published another volume, entitled +<i>Redemption</i>. It was dedicated to Dr. Mavor, rector of +Woodstock. It is a noble poem, far exceeding in merit his first +essay, and it is a remarkable and wonderful composition for a +self-taught village shoemaker. The author-clerk died and was buried +at Woodstock in 1803.</p> +<p>A fine character and graceful poet was Richard Furness <a name= +"FNanchor70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70">[70]</a>, parish clerk of +Dore, five miles from Shalfield, a secluded hamlet. He was then +styled "The Poet of the Peak," of sonorous voice and clear of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-165"></a>[pg 165]</span> +speech, the author of many poems, and factotum supreme of the +village and neighbourhood. Two volumes of his poems have been +published. He combined, like many of his order, the office of +parish clerk with that of schoolmaster, his schoolroom being under +the same roof as his house. Thither crowds flocked. He was an +immense favourite. The teacher of children, healer of all the lame +and sick folk, the consoler and adviser of the troubled, he played +an important part in the village life. His accomplishments were +numerous. He could make a will, survey or convey an estate, reduce +a dislocation, perform the functions of a parish clerk, lead a +choir, and write an ode. This remarkable man was born at Eyam in +1791, the village so famous for the story of its plague, in an old +house long held by his family. Over the door is carved:</p> +<blockquote>R. 1615. F</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_70"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor70">[70]</a> <i>Biographical Sketches of Remarkable +People</i>, by Spencer T. Hall.</blockquote> +<p>When a boy he was very fond of reading, and studied mathematics +and poetry. <i>Don Quixote</i> was his favourite romance. His +father would not allow him to read at night, but the student could +not be prevented from studying his beloved books. In order to +prevent the light in his bedroom from being seen in other parts of +the house, he placed a candle in a large box, knelt by its side, +and with the lid half closed few rays of the glimmering taper could +reach the window or door. When he grew to be a man he migrated to +Dore, and there set up a school, and began that active life of +which an admirable account is given by Dr. G. Calvert Holland in +the introduction of <i>The Poetical Works of Richard Furness</i>, +published in 1858. In addition to other duties he sometimes +discharged clerical functions. The vicar of the parish of Dore, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-166"></a>[pg 166]</span> Mr. +Parker, was somewhat old and infirm, and sometimes found it +difficult to tramp over the high moors in winter to privately +baptize a sick child. So he often sent his clerk to perform the +duty. On dark and stormy nights Richard Furness used to tramp over +moor and fell, through snow and rain to some lonely farm or +moorland cottage in order to baptize some suffering infant. On one +occasion he omitted to ascertain before commencing the service +whether the child was a boy or a girl. Turning to the father in the +midst of a prayer, when the question whether he ought to use +<i>his</i> or <i>her</i> had to be decided, he inquired, "What +sex?" The father, an ignorant labourer, did not understand the +meaning of the question. "Male or female?" asked the clerk. Still +the father did not comprehend. At last the meaning of the query +dawned upon his rustic intelligence, and he whispered, "It's a mon +childt."</p> +<p>Thus does Richard Furness in his poems describe his many +duties:</p> +<blockquote>"I Richard Furness, schoolmaster, Dore,<br> +Keep parish books and pay the poor;<br> +Draw plans for buildings and indite<br> +Letters for those who cannot write;<br> +Make wills and recommend a proctor;<br> +Cure wounds, let blood with any doctor;<br> +Draw teeth, sing psalms, the hautboy play<br> +At chapel on each holy day;<br> +Paint sign-boards, cast names at command,<br> +Survey and plot estates of land:<br> +Collect at Easter, one in ten,<br> +And on the Sunday say Amen."</blockquote> +<p>He wrote a poem entitled <i>Medicus Magus, or the +Astrologer</i>, a droll story brimming over with quiet humour, +folk-lore, philology and archaic lore. Also <i>The Ragbag</i>, +which is dedicated to "John Bull, Esq." The style of his poetry was +Johnsonian, or after the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-167"></a>[pg 167]</span> manner of Erasmus Darwin, a bard +whom the present generation has forgotten, but whose <i>Botanic +Garden</i>, published in 1825, is full of quaint plant-lore and +classical allusions, if it does not reach the highest form of +poetic talent. Here is a poem by our clerkly poet on the Old Year's +funeral:</p> +<blockquote>"The clock in oblivion's mouldering tower<br> +By the raven's nest struck the midnight hour,<br> +And the ghosts of the seasons wept over the bier<br> +Of Old Time's last son--the departing year.<br> +<br> +"Spring showered her daisies and dews on his bed,<br> +Summer covered with roses his shelterless head,<br> +And as Autumn embalmed his bodiless form,<br> +Winter wove his snow shroud in his Jacquard of storm;<br> +For his coffin-plate, charged with a common device,<br> +Frost figured his arms on a tablet of ice,<br> +While a ray from the sun in the interim came,<br> +And daguerreotyped neatly his age, death, and name.<br> + Then the shadowing months at call<br> + Stood up to bear the pall,<br> +And three hundred and sixty-five days in gloom<br> +Formed a vista that reached from his birth to his tomb.<br> +And oh, what a progeny followed in tears--<br> +Hours, minutes, and moments--the children of years!<br> + Death marshall'd th' array,<br> + Slowly leading the way,<br> +With his darts newly fashioned for New Year's Day."</blockquote> +<p>Richard Furness died in 1857, and was buried with his ancestors +at Eyam. He thus sang his own requiem shortly before he passed +away:</p> +<blockquote>"To joys and griefs, to hopes and fears,<br> + To all pride would, and power could do,<br> +To sorrow's cup, to pity's tears,<br> + To mortal life, to death adieu."</blockquote> +<p>I will conclude this chapter on poetical clerks with a sweet +carol for Advent, written by Mr. Daniel Robinson, ex-parish clerk +of Flore, Weedon, which is worthy of preservation:</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-168"></a>[pg 168]</span> +<h2>A CAROL FOR ADVENT</h2> +<p>"Behold, thy King cometh unto thee."--MATTHEW xxi. 5.</p> +<blockquote>Behold, thy King is coming<br> + Upon this earth to reign,<br> +To take away oppression<br> + And break the captive's chain;<br> +Then trim your lamps, ye virgins,<br> + Your oil of love prepare,<br> +To meet the coming Bridegroom<br> + Triumphant in the air.<br> +<br> +Behold, thy King is coming,<br> + Hark! 'tis the midnight cry,<br> +The herald's voice proclaimeth<br> + The hour is drawing nigh;<br> +Then go ye forth to meet Him,<br> + With lamps all burning bright,<br> +Let sweet hosannahs greet Him,<br> + And welcome Him aright.<br> +<br> +Go decorate your churches<br> + With evergreens and flowers,<br> +And let the bells' sweet music<br> + Resound from all your towers;<br> +And sing your sweetest anthems,<br> + For lo, your King is nigh,<br> +While songs of praise are soaring<br> + O'er vale and mountain high.<br> +<br> +Let sounds of heavenly music<br> + From sweet-voiced organs peal,<br> +While old and young assembling<br> + Before God's "Altar" kneel;<br> +In humble adoration<br> + Let each one praise and pray,<br> +And give the King a welcome<br> + This coming Christmas Day.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-169"></a>[pg 169]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> +<h3>THE CLERK GIVING OUT NOTICES</h3> +<br> +<p>After the Nicene Creed in the Book of Common Prayer occurs a +rubric with regard to the giving out of notices, the observance of +Holy-days or Feasting-days, the publication of Briefs, Citations +and Ex-communications, which ends with the following words:</p> +<p>"And nothing shall be proclaimed or published in the Church, +during the time of Divine Service, but by the Minister; nor by him +any thing but what is prescribed in the Rules of this Book, or +enjoined by the King or by the Ordinary of the place."</p> +<p>This rubric was added to the Prayer Book in the revision of +1662, and doubtless was intended to correct the undesirable +practice of publishing all kinds of secular notices during the time +of divine service. Dr. Wickham Legg has unearthed an inquiry made +in an archidiaconal visitation in 1630, relating to the +proclamation of lay businesses made in church, when the following +question was asked:</p> +<p>"Whether hath your Parish Clerk, or any other in Prayers time, +or before Prayers or Sermon ended, before the people departed, made +proclamation in your church touching any goods strayed away or +wanting, or of any Leet court to be held, or of common-dayes-works +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-170"></a>[pg 170]</span> to be +made, or touching any other thing which is not merely +ecclesiasticall, or a Church-businesse?"</p> +<p>In times of Puritan laxity it was natural that notices sacred +and profane should be indiscriminately mingled, and the rubric +mentioned above would be sorely needed when church order and a +reverent service were revived. But in spite of this direction the +practice survived of not very strictly confining the notices to the +concerns of the Church.</p> +<p>An aged lady, Mrs. Gill, who is now eighty-four years of age, +remembers that between the years 1825 and 1835, in a parish church +near Welbeck Abbey, the clerk used to announce the date of the Duke +of Rutland's rent-day. Another correspondent states that after +service the clerk used to take his stand on one of the high flat +tombstones and announce sales by auction, the straying of cattle, +etc., and Sir Walter Scott wrote that at Hexham cattle-dealers used +to carry their business letters to the church, "when after service +the clerk was accustomed to read them aloud and answer them +according to circumstances."</p> +<p>Mr. Beresford Hope recollected that in a Surrey town church the +notices given out by the clerk included the announcement of the +meetings at the principal inn of the town of the executors of a +deceased duke.</p> +<p>In the days of that extraordinary free-and-easy go-as-you-please +style of service which prevailed at the end of the eighteenth and +beginning of the nineteenth century, the most extraordinary +announcements were frequently made by the clerk, and very numerous +stories are told of the laxity of the times and the quaintness of +the remarks of the clerk.</p> +<p>An old Shropshire clerk gave out on Easter Day the following +extraordinary notice:</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-171"></a>[pg 171]</span> +<p>"Last Friday was Good Friday, but we've forgotten un; so next +Friday will be."</p> +<p>Another clerk gave out a strange notice on Quinquagesima Sunday +with regard to the due observance of Ash Wednesday. He said: "There +will be no service on Wednesday--'coss why? Mester be going +hunting, and so beeze I!" with triumphant emphasis. He is not the +only sporting clerk of whom history speaks, and in the biographies +of some worthies of the profession we hope to mention the +achievements of a clerkly tailor who denied himself every luxury of +life in order to save enough money to buy and keep a horse in order +that he might follow the hounds "like a gentleman."</p> +<p>Sporting parsons have furnished quite a crop of stories with +regard to strange notices given out by their clerks. Some of them +are well known and have often been repeated; but perhaps it is well +that they should not be omitted here.</p> +<p>About the year 1850 a clerk gave out in his rector's hearing +this notice: "There'll be no service next Sunday, as the rector's +going out grouse-shooting."</p> +<p>A Devonshire hunting parson went to help a neighbouring +clergyman in the old days when all kinds of music made up the +village choir. Unfortunately some difficulty arose in the tuning of +the instruments. The fiddles and bass-viol would not accord, and +the parson grew impatient. At last, leaning over the reading-desk +and throwing up his arms, he shouted out, "Hark away, Jack! Hark +away, Jack! Tally-ho! Tally-ho! <a name="FNanchor71"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_71">[71]</a>"</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_71"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor71">[71]</a> <i>Mumpits and Crumpits</i>, by Sarah +Hewitt, p. 175.</blockquote> +<p>Another clerk caused amusement and consternation in a +south-country parish and roused the rector's wrath. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-172"></a>[pg 172]</span> The young rector, +who was of a sporting turn of mind, told him that he wanted to get +to Worthing on a Sunday afternoon in time for the races which began +on the following day, and that therefore there would be no service. +This was explained to the clerk in confidence. The rector's horror +may be imagined when he heard him give out in loud sonorous tones: +"This is to give notice, no suvviss here this arternoon, becos +measter meyans to get to Worthing to-night to be in good toime for +reayces to-morrow mornin'."</p> +<p>Old Moody, of Redbourn, Herts, was a typical parish clerk, and +his vicar, Lord Frederick Beauclerk, and the curate, the Rev. W.S. +Wade, were both hunting parsons of the old school. One Sunday +morning Moody announced, just before giving out the hymn, that "the +vicar was going on Friday to the throwing off of the Leicestershire +hounds, and could not return home until Monday next week; therefore +next Sunday there would not be any service in the church on that +day." Moody was quite one of the leading characters of the place, +whose words and opinions were law.</p> +<p>No one in those days thought of disputing the right or +questioning the conduct of a rector closing the church, and +abandoning the accustomed services on a Sunday, in order to keep a +sporting engagement.</p> +<p>That other notice about the fishing parson is well known. The +clerk announced: "This is to gi notus, there won't be no surviss +here this arternoon becos parson's going fishing in the next +parish." When he was remonstrated with after service for giving out +such a strange notice, he replied:</p> +<p>"Parson told I so 'fore church."</p> +<p>"Surely he said officiating--not fishing?" said his monitor. +"The bishop would not be pleased to hear <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-173"></a>[pg 173]</span> of one of his +clergy going fishing on a Sunday afternoon."</p> +<p>The clerk was not convinced, and made a clever defence, grounded +on the employment of some of the Apostles. The reader's imagination +will supply the gist of the argument.</p> +<p>Another rector, who had lost his favourite setter, told his +clerk to make inquiries about it, but was much astonished to hear +him give it out as a notice in church, coupled with the offer of a +reward of three pounds if the dog should be restored to his +owner.</p> +<p>The clerk of the sporting parson was often quite as keen as his +master in following the chase. It was not unusual for rectors to +take "occasional services," weddings or funerals, on the way to a +meet, wearing "pink" under their surplices. A wedding was +proceeding in a Devonshire church, and when the happy pair were +united and the Psalm was just about to be said, the clerk called +out, "Please to make 'aste, sir, or he'll be gone afore you have +done." The parson nodded and looked inquiringly at the clerk, who +said, "He's turned into the vuzz bushes down in ten acres. Do look +sharp, sir <a name="FNanchor72"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_72">[72]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_72"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor72">[72]</a> This story is told by Mrs. Hewett in her +<i>Peasant Speech of Devon</i>, but I have ventured to anglicise +the broad Devonshire a little, and to suggest that the scene could +scarcely have taken place on a Sunday morning, as Mrs. Hewett +suggests in her admirable book.</blockquote> +<p>The story is told of a rector who, when walking to church across +the squire's park during a severe winter, found a partridge +apparently frozen to death. He placed the poor bird in the +voluminous pocket of his coat. During the service the warmth of the +rector's pocket revived the bird and thawed it back to life; and +when during the sermon the rector pulled out his <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-174"></a>[pg 174]</span> handkerchief, the +revived bird flew vigorously away towards the west end of the +church. The clerk, who sat in his seat below, was not unaccustomed +to the task of beating for the squire's shooting parties, called +out lustily:</p> +<p>"It be all right, sir; I've marked him down in the belfry."</p> +<p>The fame of the Rev. John Russell, the sporting parson of +Swymbridge, is widespread, and his parish clerk, William Chapple, +is also entitled to a small niche beneath the statue of the great +man. The curate had left, and Mr. Russell inserted the following +advertisement:</p> +<p>"Wanted, a curate for Swymbridge; must be a gentleman of +moderate and orthodox views."</p> +<p>The word <i>orthodox</i> rather puzzled the inhabitants of +Swymbridge, who asked Chapple what it meant. The clerk did not +know, but was unwilling to confess such ignorance, and knowing his +master's predilections, replied, "I 'spects it be a chap as can +ride well to hounds."</p> +<p>The strangest notice ever given out in church that I ever have +heard of, related to a set of false teeth. The story has been told +by many. Perhaps Cuthbert Bede's version is the best. An old rector +of a small country parish had been compelled to send to a dentist +his set of false teeth, in order that some repairs might be made. +The dentist had faithfully promised to send them back "by +Saturday," but the Saturday's post did not bring the box containing +the rector's teeth. There was <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-175"></a>[pg 175]</span> no Sunday post, and the village was +nine miles from the post town. The dentist, it afterwards appeared, +had posted the teeth on the Saturday afternoon with the full +conviction that their owner would receive them on Sunday morning in +time for service. The old rector bravely tried to do that duty +which England expects every man to do, more especially if he is a +parson and if it be Sunday morning; but after he had mumbled +through the prayers with equal difficulty and incoherency, he +decided that it would be advisable to abandon any further attempts +to address his congregation on that day. While the hymn was being +sung he summoned his clerk to the vestry, and then said to him, "It +is quite useless for me to attempt to go on. The fact is, that my +dentist has not sent me back my artificial teeth; and as it is +impossible for me to make myself understood, you must tell the +congregation that the service is ended for this morning, and that +there will be no service this afternoon." The old clerk went back +to his desk; the singing of the hymn was brought to an end; and the +rector, from his retreat in the vestry, heard the clerk address the +congregation as follows:</p> +<p>"This is to give notice! as there won't be no sarmon, nor no +more service this mornin', so you'd better all go whum (home); and +there won't be no sarvice this afternoon, as the rector ain't got +his artful teeth back from the dentist!"</p> +<p>This story so amused George Cruikshank that he wanted to make an +illustration of it. But the journal in which it ought to have +appeared was very short-lived. Hence Cruikshank's drawing was lost +to the world.</p> +<p>The clerk is a firm upholder of established custom. "We will now +sing the evening hymn," said the rector of an East Anglian church +in the sixties. "No, sir, it's doxology to-night." The preacher +again said, "We'll sing the evening hymn." The clerk, however, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-176"></a>[pg 176]</span> +persisted, "It's doxology to-night"; and doxology it was, in spite +of the parson's protests.</p> +<p>In the days when parish notices with reference to the lost, +stolen, or strayed animals were read out in church at the +commencement of the service, the clerk of a church [my informant +has forgotten the name of the parish] rose in his place and +said:</p> +<p>"This is to give notice that my Lady ---- has lost her little +dog; he comes to the name of Shock; he is all white except two +patches of black on his sides and he has +got--eh?--what?--yes--no--upon my soul he has got four eyes!" It +should have been sore eyes, but the long <i>s</i> had misled the +clerk.</p> +<p>The clerk does not always shine as an orator, but a +correspondent who writes from the Charterhouse can vouch for the +following effort of one who lived in a village not a hundred miles +from Harrow about thirty years ago.</p> +<p>There was a tea for the school children, at which the clerk, a +farm labourer, spoke thus: "You know, my friends, that if we wants +to get a good crop of anything we dungs the ground. Now what I say +is, if we wants our youngsters to crop properly, we must see that +they are properly dunged--- put the larning into them like dung, +and they'll do all right."</p> +<p>The subject of the Disestablishment of the Church was scarcely +contemplated by a clerk in the diocese of Peterborough, who, after +the amalgamation of two parishes, stated that he was desired by the +vicar to announce that the services in each parish would be morning +and evening to <i>all eternity</i>. It is thought that he meant to +say <i>alternately</i>.</p> +<p>I have often referred to the ancient clerkly method of giving +out the hymns. It was a terrible blow to the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-177"></a>[pg 177]</span> clerk when the +parsons began to interfere with his prerogative and give out the +hymns themselves. All clerks did not revenge themselves on the +usurpers of their ancient right as did one of their number, who was +very indignant when a strange clergyman insisted on giving out the +hymns himself. In due course he gave out "the fifty-third hymn," +when out popped the old clerk's head from under the red curtains +which hung round the gallery, and which gave him the appearance of +wearing a nightcap, and he shouted, "That a baint! A be the +varty-zeventh."</p> +<p>The following account of a notice, which was scarcely +authorised, shows the homely manners of former days. It was at +Sapiston Church, a small village on the Duke of Grafton's estate. +The grandfather of the present Duke was returning from a shooting +expedition, and was passing the church on Sunday afternoon while +service was going on. The Duke quietly entered the vestry, and +signed to the clerk to come to him. The Duke gave the man a hare, +and told him to put it into the parson's trap, and give a +complimentary message about it at the end of the service. But the +clerk, knowing his master would be pleased at the little attention, +could not refrain from delivering both hare and message at once +before the whole congregation. At the close of the hymn before the +sermon he marched into a prominent position holding up the gift, +and shouted out, "His Grace's compliments, and, please sir, he's +sent ye a hare."</p> +<p>In giving out the hymns or Psalms many difficulties of +pronunciation would often arise. One clerk had many struggles over +the line, "Awed by Thy gracious word." He could not manage that +tiresome first word, and always called it "a wed." The old metrical +version <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-178"></a>[pg +178]</span> of the Psalm, "Like as the hart desireth the +water-brooks," etc. is still with us, and a beautiful hymn it +is:</p> +<blockquote>"As pants the hart for cooling streams<br> + When heated in the chase."</blockquote> +<p>A Northumbrian clerk used to give out the words thus:</p> +<blockquote>"As pants the 'art for coolin' streams<br> + When 'eated in the chaise,"</blockquote> +<p>which seems to foreshadow the triumph of modern civilisation, +the carted deer, a mode of stag-hunting that was scarcely +contemplated by Tate and Brady.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-179"></a>[pg 179]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> +<h3>SLEEPY CHURCH AND SLEEPY CLERKS</h3> +<br> +<p>There was a time when the Church of England seemed to be asleep. +Perhaps it may have been that "tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy +sleep," was only preparing her exhausted energies for the unwonted +activities of the last half-century; or was it the sleep that +presaged death? Her enemies told her so in plain and unvarnished +language. Her friends, too, said that she was folding her robes to +die with what dignity she could. Lethargy, sloth, sleep--a dead, +dull, dreary sleep--fell like a leaden pall upon her spiritual +life, darkening the light that shone but vaguely through the +storied panes of her mediæval windows, while a paralysing +numbness crippled her limbs and quenched her activity.</p> +<p>Such scenes as Archbishop Benson describes as his early +recollection of Upton, near Droitwich, were not uncommon. The +church was aisleless, and the middle passage, with high pews on +each side, led up to the chancel-arch, in which was a +"three-decker," fifteen feet high. The clerk wore a wig and immense +horn spectacles. He was a shoemaker, dressed in black, with a white +tie. In the gallery sat "the music"--a clarionet, flute, violin, +and 'cello. The clerk gave out the "Twentieth Psalm of David," and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-180"></a>[pg 180]</span> the +fiddlers tuned for a moment and then played at once. Then they +struck up, and the clerk, absolutely alone, in a majestic voice +which swayed up and down without regard to time or tune, sang it +through like the braying of an ass; not a soul else joined in; the +farmers amused and smiling at each other. Such scenes were quite +usual.</p> +<p>In Cornwall affairs were worse. In one church the +curate-in-charge had to be chained to the altar rails while he read +the service, as he had a harmless mania, which made him suddenly +flee from the church if his own activities were for an instant +suspended, as, for example, by a response. The churchwarden, a +farmer, kept the padlock-key in his pocket till the service was +safely over, and then released the imprisoned cleric. At another +Cornish church the vicar's sister used to read the lessons in a +deep bass voice.</p> +<p>Congregations were often very sparse. Few people attended, and +perhaps none on weekdays, unless the clerk was in his place. On +such occasions the parson was tempted to emulate the humour of Dean +Swift, who at the first weekday service that he held after his +appointment to the living of Laracor, in the diocese of Meath, +after waiting for some time in vain for a congregation, began the +service, addressing his clerk, "Dearly beloved Roger, the scripture +moveth you and me in sundry places," etc.</p> +<p>When the Psalms were read, you heard the first verse read in a +mellifluous and cultured voice. Perhaps it was the evening of the +twenty-eighth day of the month, and you listened to the sacred +words of Psalm cxxxvii., "By the waters of Babylon we sat down and +wept, when we remembered thee, O Sion." Then followed a bellow from +a raucous throat: "Has <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-181"></a>[pg 181]</span> fur ur 'arp, we 'anged 'em hup hupon +the trees that hare thurin." And then at the end of the Lord's +Prayer, after every one had finished, the same voice came drowsily +cantering in: "For hever and hever, Haymen." Sometimes we heard, +"Let us sing to the praise and glory of God the 'undred and +sixtieth Psalm--<i>'Ymn 'ooever."</i> The numbers of the hymns or +Psalms were scored on the two sides of a slate. Sometimes the +functionary in the gallery forgot to turn the slate after the first +hymn. "Let us sing," began the clerk--(pause)--"Turn the slate, +will you, if you please, Master Scroomes?" he continued, addressing +the neglectful person.</p> +<p>The singing was no mechanical affair of official routine--it was +a drama. "As the moment of psalmody approached a slate appeared in +front of the gallery, advertising in bold characters the Psalm +about to be sung. The clerk gave out the Psalm, and then migrated +to the gallery, where in company with a bassoon and two key-bugles, +a carpenter understood to have an amazing power of singing +'counter,' and two lesser musical stars, formed the choir. Hymns +were not known. The New Version was regarded with melancholy +tolerance. 'Sternhold and Hopkins' formed the main source of +musical tastes. On great occasions the choir sang an anthem, in +which the key-bugles always ran away at a great pace, while the +bassoon every now and then boomed a flying shot after them." It was +all very curious, very quaint, very primitive. The Church was +asleep, and cared not to disturb the relics of old crumbling +inefficiency. The Church was asleep, the congregation slept, and +the clerk often slept too.</p> +<p>Hogarth's engraving of <i>The Sleeping Congregation</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-182"></a>[pg 182]</span> is a +parable of the state of the Church of England in his day. It is a +striking picture truly. The parson is delivering a long and drowsy +discourse on the text: "Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and I +will give you rest." The congregation is certainly resting, and the +pulpit bears the appropriate verse: "I am afraid of you, lest I +have bestowed upon you labour in vain." The clerk is attired in his +cassock and bands, contrives to keep one eye awake during the +sermon, and this wakeful eye rests upon a comely fat matron, who is +fast asleep, and has evidently been meditating "on matrimony," as +her open book declares. A sleepy church, sleepy congregation, +sleepy times!</p> +<p>Many stories are told of dull and sleepy clerks.</p> +<p>A canon of a northern cathedral tells me of one such clerk, +whose duty it was, when the rector finished his sermon, to say +"Amen." On a summer afternoon, this aged official was overtaken +with drowsiness, and as soon as the clergyman had given out his +text, slept the sleep of the just. Sermons in former years were +remarkable for their length and many divisions.</p> +<p>After the "firstly" was concluded, the preacher paused. The +clerk, suddenly awaking, thought that the discourse was concluded, +and pronounced his usual "Arummen." The congregation rose, and the +service came to a close. As the gathering dispersed, the squire +slipped half a crown into the clerk's hand, and whispered: "Thomas, +you managed that very well, and deserve a little present. I will +give you the same next time."</p> +<br> +<a name="image26.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image26.jpg"><img src= +"images/image26.jpg" width="50%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>The Sleeping Congregation By Hogarth</b></p> +<br> +<p>At Eccleshall, near Sheffield, the clerk, named Thompson, had +been, in the days of his youth, a good cricketer, and always acted +as umpire for the village <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-183"></a>[pg 183]</span> team. One hot Sunday morning, the +sermon being very long, old Thompson fell asleep. His dream was of +his favourite game; for when the parson finished his discourse and +waited for the clerk's "Amen," old Thompson awoke, and, to the +amazement of the congregation, shouted out "Over!" After all, he +was no worse than the cricketing curate who, after reading the +first lesson, announced: "Here endeth the first innings."</p> +<p>Every one has heard of that Irish clerk who used to snore so +loudly during the sermon that he drowned the parson's voice. The +old vicar, being of a good-natured as well as a somewhat humorous +turn of mind, devised a plan for arousing his lethargic clerk. He +provided himself with a box of hard peas, and when the well-known +snore echoed through the church, he quietly dropped one of the peas +on the head of the offender, who was at once aroused to the sense +of his duties, and uttered a loud "Amen."</p> +<p>This plan acted admirably for a time, but unfortunately the +parson was one day carried away by his eloquence, gesticulated +wildly, and dropped the whole box of peas on the head of the +unfortunate clerk. The result was such a strenuous chorus of +"Amens," that the laughter of the congregation could not be +restrained, and the peas were abolished and consigned to the limbo +of impractical inventions. Possibly the story may be an invention +too.</p> +<p>One of the causes which tended to the unpopularity of the Church +was the accession of George IV to the throne of England. "Church +and King" were so closely connected in the mind of the people that +the sins of the monarch were visited on the former, and deemed to +have brought some discredit on it. Moreover, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-184"></a>[pg 184]</span> the King by his +first act placed the loyal members of the Church in some +difficulty, and that was the order to expunge the name of the +ill-used, if erring, Queen Caroline from the Prayers for the Royal +Family in the Book of Common Prayer.</p> +<p>One good clergyman, Dr. Parr, vicar of Hatton, placed an +interesting record in his Prayer Book after the required erasure: +"It is my duty as a subject and as an ecclesiastic to read what is +prescribed by my Sovereign as head of the Church, but it is not my +duty to express my approbation." The sympathy of the people was +with the injured Queen, and they knew not how much the clergy +agreed with them. During the trial popular excitement ran high. In +a Berkshire village the parish clerk "improved the occasion" by +giving out in church "the first, fourth, eleventh, and twelfth +verses of the thirty-fifth Psalm" in Tate and Brady's New +Version:</p> +<blockquote>"False witnesses with forged complaints<br> + Against my truth combined,<br> +And to my charge such things they laid<br> + As I had ne'er designed."</blockquote> +<p>These words he sang most lustily.</p> +<p>Cowper mentions a similar application of psalmody to political +affairs in his <i>Task</i>:</p> +<blockquote>"So in the chapel of old Ely House<br> +When wandering Charles who meant to be the third,<br> +Had fled from William, and the news was fresh,<br> +The simple clerk, but loyal, did announce,<br> +And eke did rear right merrily, two staves<br> +Sung to the praise and glory of King George."</blockquote> +<p>It was not an unusual thing for a parish clerk to select a psalm +suited to the occasion when any special excitement gave him an +opportunity. Branston, the satirist, in his <i>Art of Politicks</i> +published in 1729, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-185"></a>[pg +185]</span> alluded to this misapplication of psalmody occasionally +made by parish clerks in the lines:</p> +<blockquote>"Not long since parish clerks with saucy airs<br> +Apply'd King David's psalms to State affairs."</blockquote> +<p>In order to avoid this unfortunate habit, a country rector in +Devonshire compiled in 1725 "Twenty-six Psalms of Thanksgiving, +Praise, Love, and Glory, for the use of a parish church, with the +omission of all the imprecatory psalms, lest a parish clerk or any +other should be whetting his spleen, or obliging his spite, when he +should be entertaining his devotion."</p> +<p>Sometimes the clerks ventured to apply the verses of the Psalms +to their own private needs and requirements, so as to convey gentle +hints and suggestions to the ears of those who could supply their +needs. Canon Ridgeway tells of the old clerk of the Church of King +Charles the Martyr at Tunbridge Wells. His name was Jenner. He was +a well-known character; he used to have a pipe and pitch the tune, +and also select the hymns. It was commonly said that the +congregation always knew when the lodgings in his house on Mount +Sion were unlet; for when this was the case he was wont to give out +the Psalm:</p> +<blockquote>"Mount Sion is a pleasant place to dwell."</blockquote> +<p>At Great Yarmouth, until about the year 1850, the parish clerk +was always invited to the banquets or "feasts" given by the +corporation of the borough; and he was honoured annually with a +card of invitation to the "mayor's feast" on Michaelmas Day. On one +occasion the mayor-elect had omitted to send a card to the clerk, +Mr. David Absolon, who was clerk from 1811 to 1831, and had been a +member of the corporation and common councillor previous to his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-186"></a>[pg 186]</span> +appointment to his ecclesiastical office. On the following Sunday, +Master David Absolon reminded his worship of his remissness by +giving out the following verse, directing his voice at the same +time to the mayor-elect:</p> +<blockquote>Let David his accustomed place<br> + In thy remembrance find."</blockquote> +<p>The words in Tate and Brady's metrical version of Psalm cxxxii. +run thus:</p> +<blockquote>"Let David, Lord, a constant place<br> + In Thy remembrance find <a name= +"FNanchor73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73">[73]</a>."</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_73"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor73">[73]</a> <i>History of St. Nicholas' Church, Great +Yarmouth</i>, by the present Clerk, Mr. Edward J. Lupson, p. +24.</blockquote> +<p>In the same town great excitement used to attend the election of +the mayor on 29 August in each year. Before the election the +corporation attended service in the parish church, and the clerk on +these occasions gave out for singing "the first two staves of the +fifteenth Psalm:</p> +<blockquote>"Lord, who's the happy man," etc.</blockquote> +<p>The passing of the Municipal Act changed the manner and time of +the election, but it did not take away the interest felt in the +event. As long as Tate and Brady's version of the Psalms was used +in the church, that is until the year 1840, these "two staves" were +annually sung on the Sunday preceding the election <a name= +"FNanchor74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74">[74]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_74"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor74">[74]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 23.</blockquote> +<p>In these days of reverent worship it seems hardly possible that +the beautiful expressions in the psalms of praise to Almighty God +should ever have been prostituted to the baser purposes of private +gain or municipal elections.</p> +<p>Sleepy times and sleepy clerks--and yet these were not always +sleepy; in fact, far too lively, riotous, and unruly. At least, so +the poor rector of Hayes found <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-187"></a>[pg 187]</span> them in the middle of the eighteenth +century. Such conduct in church is scarcely credible as that which +was witnessed in this not very remote parish church in not very +remote times. The registers of the parish of Hayes tell the story +in plain language. On 18 March, 1749, "the clerk gave out the 100th +Psalm, and the singers immediately opposed him, and sung the 15th, +and bred a disturbance. <i>The clerk then ceased</i>." Poor man, +what else could he have done, with a company of brawling, bawling +singers shouting at him from the gallery! On another occasion +affairs were worse, the ringers and others disturbing the service, +from the beginning of the service to the end of the sermon, by +ringing the bells and going into the gallery to spit below. On +another occasion a fellow came into church with a pot of beer and a +pipe, and remained smoking in his pew until the end of the sermon +<a name="FNanchor75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75">[75]</a>. <i>O +tempora! O mores!</i> as some disconsolate clergymen wrote in their +registers when the depravity of the times was worse than usual. The +slumbering congregation of Hogarth's picture would have been a +comfort to the distracted parson.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_75"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor75">[75]</a> <i>Antiquary</i>, vol. xviii, p. 65. Quoted +in <i>Social Life as told by Parish Registers</i>, p. +54.</blockquote> +<p>To prevent people from sleeping during the long sermons a +special officer was appointed, in order to banish slumber when the +parson was long in preaching. This official was called a +sluggard-waker, and was usually our old friend the parish clerk +with a new title. Several persons, perhaps reflecting in their last +moments on all the good advice which they had missed through +slumbering during sermon time, have bequeathed money for the +support of an officer who should perambulate the church, and call +to attention <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-188"></a>[pg +188]</span> any one who, through sleep, was missing the preacher's +timely admonition. Richard Dovey, of Farmcote, in 1659 left +property at Claverley, Shropshire, with the condition that eight +shillings should be paid to, and a room provided for, a poor man, +who should undertake to awaken sleepers, and to whip out dogs from +the church of Claverley during divine service <a name= +"FNanchor76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76">[76]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_76"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor76">[76]</a> <i>Old English Customs and Curious +Bequests</i>, S.H. Edwards (1842), p. 220.</blockquote> +<p>John Rudge, of Trysull, Staffordshire, left a like bequest to a +poor man to go about the parish church of Trysull during sermon to +keep people awake, and to keep dogs out of church <a name= +"FNanchor77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77">[77]</a>. Ten shillings a +year is paid by a tenant of Sir John Bridges, at Chislett, Kent, as +a charge on lands called Dog-whipper's Marsh, to a person for +keeping order in the church during service <a name= +"FNanchor78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78">[78]</a>, and from time +immemorial an acre of land at Peterchurch, Herefordshire, was +appropriated to the use of a person for keeping dogs out of church, +such person being appointed by the minister and churchwardens.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_77"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor77">[77]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 221.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_78"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor78">[78]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 222.</blockquote> +<p>Mr. W. Andrews, Librarian of the Hull Institute, has collected +in his <i>Curiosities of the Church</i> much information concerning +sluggard-wakers and dog-whippers. The clerk in one church used a +long staff, at one end of which was a fox's brush for gently +arousing a somnolent female, while at the other end was a knob for +a more forcible awakening of a male sleeper. The Dunchurch +sluggard-waker used a stout wand with a fork at the end of it. +During the sermon he stepped stealthily up and down the nave and +aisles and into the gallery marking down his prey. And no one +resented his forcible awakenings.</p> +<p>The sluggard-waker and dog-whipper appear in many old +churchwardens' account-books. Thus in the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-189"></a>[pg 189]</span> accounts of +Barton-on-Humber there is an entry for the year 1740: "Paid +Brocklebank for waking sleepers 2 s. 0." At Castleton the officer +in 1722 received 10 s. 0 <a name="FNanchor79"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_79">[79]</a>. The clerk in his capacity of dog-whipper +had often arduous duties to perform in the old dale churches of +Yorkshire when farmers and shepherds frequently brought their dogs +to church. The animals usually lay very quietly beneath their +masters' seat, but occasionally there would be a scrimmage and +fight, and the clerk's staff was called into play to beat the dogs +and produce order.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_79"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor79">[79]</a> The reader will find numerous entries +relating to this subject in the work of Mr. W. Andrews to which I +have referred.</blockquote> +<p>Why dogs should have been ruthlessly and relentlessly whipped +out of churches I can scarcely tell. The Highland shepherd's dog +usually lies contentedly under his master's seat during a long +service, and even an archbishop's collie, named Watch, used to be +very still and well-behaved during the daily service, only once +being roused to attention and a stately progress to the lectern by +the sound of his master's voice reading the verse "I say unto all, +Watch." But our ancestors made war against dogs entering churches. +In mediæval and Elizabethan times such does not seem to have +been the case, as one of the duties of the clerks in those days was +to make the church clean from the "shomeryng of dogs." The nave of +the church was often used for secular purposes, and dogs followed +their masters. Mastiffs were sometimes let loose in the church to +guard the treasures, and I believe that I am right in stating that +chancel rails owe their origin to the presence of dogs in churches, +and were erected to prevent them from entering the sanctuary. Old +Scarlett bears a dog-whip as a badge of his office, and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-190"></a>[pg 190]</span> +numerous bequests to dog-whippers show the importance of the +office.</p> +<p>Nor were dogs the only creatures who were accustomed to receive +chastisement in church. The clerk was usually armed with a cane or +rod, and woe betide the luckless child who talked or misbehaved +himself during service. Frequently during the course of a long +sermon the sound of a cane (the Tottenham clerk had a split cane +which made no little noise when used vigorously) striking a boy's +back was heard and startled a sleepy congregation. It was all quite +usual. No one objected, or thought anything about it, and the +sermon proceeded as if nothing had happened. Paul Wootton, clerk at +Bromham, Wilts, seventy years ago performed various duties during +the service, taking his part in the gallery among the performers as +bass, flute serpent, an instrument unknown now, etc., pronouncing +his Amen <i>ore rotundo</i> and during the sermon armed with a long +stick sitting among the children to preserve order. If any one of +the small creatures felt that <i>opere in longo fas est obrepere +somnum</i>, the long stick fell with unerring whack upon the +urchin's head. When Mr. Stracey Clitherow went to his first curacy +at Skeyton, Norfolk, in 1845, he found the clerk sweeping the whole +chancel clear of snow which had fallen through the roof. The font +was of wood painted orange and red. The singers sat within the +altar rails with a desk for their books inside the rails. There was +a famous old clerk, named Bird, who died only a year or two ago, +aged ninety, and, as Mr. Clitherow informed Bishop Stanley, was the +best man in the parish, and was well worthy of that character.</p> +<p>Even in London churches unfortunate events happened, and +somnolent clerks were not confined to the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-191"></a>[pg 191]</span> country. A +correspondent remembers that in 1860, when St. +Martin's-in-the-Fields was closed for the purpose of redecorating, +his family migrated to St. Matthew's Chapel, Spring Gardens +(recently demolished), where one hot Sunday evening one of the +curates of St. Martin's was preaching, and in the course of his +sermon said that it was the duty of the laity to pray that God +would "endue His ministers with righteousness." The clerk was at +the moment sound asleep, but suddenly aroused by the familiar +words, which acted like a bugle call to a slumbering soldier, he at +once slid down on the hassock at his feet and uttered the response +"And make Thy chosen people joyful." My informant remarks that the +"chosen people" who were present became "joyful" to an unseemly +degree, in spite of strenuous efforts to restrain their +feelings.</p> +<p>Sometimes the clerk was not the only sleeper. A tenor soloist of +Wednesbury Old Church eighty years ago used to tell the story of +the vicar of Wednesbury, who one very sultry afternoon retired into +the vestry, which was under the western tower, to don his black +gown while a hymn was being sung by the expectant congregation. The +hymn having been sung through, and the preacher not having returned +to ascend the pulpit, the clerk gave out the last verse again. +Still no parson. Then he started the hymn, directing it to be sung +all through again; but still the vicar returned not. At last in +desperation he gave out that they "would now sing," etc. etc., the +119th Psalm. Mercifully before they had all sunk back into their +seats exhausted the long-lost parson made his hurried reappearance. +The poor old gentleman had dropped into an arm-chair in the vestry, +and overcome by the heat had fallen soundly asleep. As to the +clerk, he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-192"></a>[pg +192]</span> could not leave his seat to go in search of him; there +was no precedent for both vicar and clerk to be away from the +three-decker before the service was brought to a close.</p> +<p>The old clerk is usually intensely loyal to the Church and to +his clergyman, but there have been some exceptions. An example of a +disloyal clerk comes from the neighbourhood of Barnstaple.</p> +<p>A parish clerk, apparently religious and venerable, held his +position in a village church in that district for thirty years. He +carried out his duties with regularity and thoroughness equalled +only by the parish priest. This old clerk would frequently make +remarks--not altogether pleasing--about Nonconformists, whom he +summed up as a lot of "mithudy nüzenses" (methodist +nuisances).</p> +<p>A new rector came and brought with him new ideas. The parish +clerk would not be required for the future. As soon as the old +clerk heard this he attached himself to a local dissenting body and +joined with them to worship in their small chapel. This, after +thirty years' service in the Church and a bitter feeling against +Nonconformists, is rather remarkable.</p> +<p>In the forties there was a sleepy clerk at Hampstead, a very +portly man, who did ample justice to his bright red waistcoat and +brass buttons. The church had a model old-time three-decker. The +lower deck was occupied by the clerk, the upper deck by the reader, +and the quarter-deck by the preacher. The clerk, during the sermon, +would often fall asleep and make known his state by a snore. Then +the reader would tap his bald head with a hymn-book, whereupon he +would wake up and startle the congregation by a loud and prolonged +"Ah-men."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-193"></a>[pg 193]</span> +<p>We are accustomed now to have our churches beautifully decorated +with flowers and fruits and holly and evergreens at the great +festivals and harvest thanksgiving services. Sometimes on the +latter occasions our decorations are perhaps a little too +elaborate, and remind one of a horticultural show. No such charge +could be brought against the old-fashioned method of church +decoration. Christmas was the only season when it was attempted, +and sprigs of holly stuck at the corners of the old square pews in +little holes made for the purpose were always deemed sufficient. +This was always the duty of the clerk. Later on, when a country +church was found to be elaborately decorated for Christmas and the +clerk was questioned on the subject, he replied, shaking his head, +"Ah! we're getting a little High Church now." At Langport, +Somerset, the pews were similarly adorned on Palm Sunday with +sprigs of the catkins from willow trees to represent palms.</p> +<p>I have already mentioned some instances of clerks who were +sometimes elated by the dignity of the office and full of conceit. +Wesley enjoyed the experience of having a conceited clerk at +Epworth, who not only was proud of his singing and other +accomplishments, but also of his personal appearance. He delighted +to wear Wesley's old clerical clothes and especially his wig, which +was much too big for the insignificant clerk's head. John Wesley +must have had a sense of humour, though perhaps it might have been +exhibited in a more appropriate place. However, he was determined +to humble his conceited clerk, and said to him one Sunday morning, +"John, I shall preach on a particular subject this morning, and +shall choose my own psalm, of which I will give out the first line, +and you will proceed and repeat the next as usual." When +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-194"></a>[pg 194]</span> the +time for psalmody arrived Wesley gave out, "Like to an owl in ivy +bush," and the clerk immediately responded, "That rueful thing am +I." The members of the congregation looked up and saw his small +head half-buried in his large wig, and could not restrain their +smiles. The clerk was mortified and the rector gratified that he +should have been taught a lesson and learned to be less vain.</p> +<p>Old-fashioned ways die hard. Only seven years ago the incumbent +of a small Somerset parish found when in the pulpit that he had +left his spectacles at home. Casting a shrewd glance around, he +perceived just below him, well within reach, one of his +parishioners who was wearing a large pair of what in rustic circles +are termed "barnacles" tied behind his head. Stretching down, the +parson plucked them from the astonished owner's brow, and, fitting +them on his clerical nose, proceeded to deliver his discourse. +Thenceforward the clerk, doubtless fearing for his own glasses, +never failed to carry to church a second pair wherewith to supply, +if need be, his coadjutor's shortcomings.</p> +<p>Another and final story of sleepy manners comes to us from the +north country. A short-sighted clergyman of what is known as the +"old school" was preaching one winter afternoon to a slumberous +congregation. Dusk was falling, the church was badly lighted, and +his manuscript difficult to decipher. He managed to stumble along +until he reached a passage which he rendered as follows: +"Enthusiasm, my brethren, enthusiasm in a good cause is an +excellent--excellent quality, but unless it is tempered with +judgment, it is apt to lead us--apt to lead us--Here, Thomas," +handing the sermon to the clerk, "go to the window and see what it +is apt to lead us into."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-195"></a>[pg 195]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> +<h3>THE CLERK IN ART</h3> +<br> +<p>The finest portrait ever painted of a parish clerk is that of +Orpin, clerk of Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts, whose interesting old +house still stands near the grand parish church and the beautiful +little Saxon ecclesiastical structure. This picture is the work of +Thomas Gainsborough, R.A., and is now happily preserved in the +National Gallery. Orpin has a fine and noble face upon which the +sunlight is shining through a window as he turns from the Divine +Book to see the glories of the blue sky.</p> +<blockquote>"Some word of life e'en now has met<br> + His calm benignant eye;<br> +Some ancient promise breathing yet<br> + Of immortality.<br> +Some heart's deep language which the glow<br> + Of faith unwavering gives;<br> +And every feature says 'I know<br> + That my Redeemer lives.'"</blockquote> +<p>The size of this canvas is four feet by three feet two inches. +Orpin is wearing a blue coat, black vest, white neck-cloth, and +dark breeches. His hair is grey and curly, and falls upon his +shoulders. He sits on a gilt-nailed chair at a round wooden table, +on which is a reading-easel, supporting a large volume bound in +dark green, and labelled "Bible, Vol. I." The background is warm +brown.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-196"></a>[pg 196]</span> +<p>Of this picture a critic states: "The very noble character of +the worthy old clerk's head was probably an additional inducement +to Gainsborough to paint the picture, Seldom does so fine a subject +present itself to the portrait painter, and Gainsborough evidently +sought to do justice to his venerable model by unusual and striking +effect of lighting, and by more than ordinary care in execution. It +might almost seem like impertinence to eulogise such painting, as +this canvas contains painting which, unlike the works of Reynolds, +seems fresh and pure as the day it left the easel; and it would be +still more futile to attempt to define the master's method."</p> +<p>The history of the portrait is interesting. It was painted at +Shockerwick, near Bradford, where Wiltshire, the Bath carrier, +lived, who loved art so much that he conveyed to London +Gainsborough's pictures from the year 1761 to 1774 entirely free of +charge. The artist rewarded him by presenting him with some of his +paintings, <i>The Return from Harvest, The Gipsies' Repast</i>, and +probably this portrait of Orpin was one of his gifts. It was sold +at Christie's in 1868 by a descendant of the art-loving carrier, +and purchased for the nation by Mr. Boxall for the low sum of +£325.</p> +<p>The mediæval clerk appears in many ancient manuscripts and +illuminations, which show us, better than words can describe, the +actual duties which he was called upon to perform. The British +Museum possesses a number of pontificals and other illustrated +manuscripts containing artistic representations of clerks. We see +him accompanying the priest who is taking the last sacrament to the +sick. He is carrying a taper and a bell, which he is evidently +ringing as he goes, its tones asking for the prayers of the +faithful for the sick <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-197"></a>[pg 197]</span> man's soul. This picture occurs in a +fourteenth-century MS. [6 E. VI, f. 427], and in the same MS. we +see another illustration of the priest administering the last +sacrament attended by the clerk [6 E. VII, f. 70].</p> +<br> +<a name="image27.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/image27.jpg" width="30%" alt= +""><br> +<b>The Clerk Attending The Priest At Holy Baptism</b></p> +<br> +<br> +<a name="image28.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/image28.jpg" width="30%" alt= +""><br> +<b>The Clerk Attending The Priest At Holy Baptism</b></p> +<br> +<p>Another illustration shows the priest baptizing an infant which +the male sponsor holds over the font, while the priest pours water +over its head from a shallow vessel. The faithful parish clerk +stands by the priest. This appears in the fifteenth-century MS. +Egerton, 2019, f. 135.</p> +<p>In the MS. of Froissart's Chronicle there is an illustration of +the coronation procession of Charles V of France. The clerk goes +before the cross-bearer and the bishop bearing his holy-water +vessel and his sprinkler for the purpose of aspersing the +spectators. We have already given two illustrations taken from a +fourteenth-century MS. in the British Museum, which depict the +clerk, as the <i>aquæbajalus</i>, entering the lord's house +and going first into the kitchen to sprinkle the cook with holy +water, and then into the hall to perform a like duty to the lord +and lady as they sit at dinner.</p> +<p>There is a fine picture in a French pontifical of the fifteenth +century, which is in the British Museum (Tiberius, B. VIII, f. 43), +of the anointing and coronation of a king of France. An +ecclesiastical procession is represented meeting the king and his +courtiers at the door of the cathedral of Rheims, and amongst the +dignitaries we see the clerk bearing the holy-water vessel, the +cross-bearer, and the thurifer swinging his censer. The clerk wears +a surplice over a red tunic.</p> +<p>One other of these mediæval representations of the clerk's +duties may be mentioned. It is a fifteenth-century <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-198"></a>[pg 198]</span> French MS. in the +British Museum (Egerton, 2019, f. 142), and represents the last +scenes of this mortal life. The absolution of the penitent, the +administration of the last sacrament, the woman mourning for her +husband and arranging the grave-clothes, the singing of the dirige, +the burial, and the reception of the soul of the departed by our +Lord in glory. The clerk appears in several of these scenes. He is +kneeling behind the priest in the administration of the last +sacrament. Robed in surplice and cope he is chanting the Psalms for +the departed, and at the burial he is holding the holy-water vessel +for the asperging of the corpse.</p> +<p>There are several paintings by English artists which represent +the old-fashioned clerk in all his glory in his throne in the +lowest seat of the "three-decker." Perhaps the most striking is the +satirical sketch of the pompous eighteenth-century clerk as shown +in Hogarth's engraving of <i>The Sleeping Congregation</i>, to +which I have already referred. As a contrast to Hogarth's +<i>Sleeping Congregation</i> we may place Webster's famous painting +of a village choir, which is thoroughly life-like and inspiring. +The old clerk with enrapt countenance is singing lustily. The +musicians are performing on the 'cello, clarionet, and hautboy, and +the singers are chanting very earnestly and very vigorously the +strains of some familiar melody. The picture is a very exact +presentment of an old village choir of the better sort.</p> +<br> +<a name="image29.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image29.jpg"><img src= +"images/image29.jpg" width="50%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>The Duties Of A Clerk At A Death And Funeral</b></p> +<br> +<br> +<a name="image30.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image30.jpg"><img src= +"images/image30.jpg" width="80%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>The Vicar Of Wakefield By W.P. Frith</b></p> +<br> +<p>It was perhaps such a choir as this that an aged friend +remembers in a remote Cornish village. It was a mixed choir, led by +a 'cello, flute, and clarionet. Tate and Brady's version of the +Psalms was used alternately with a favourite anthem arranged by +some of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-199"></a>[pg +199]</span> the members. "We'll wash our hands," the basses led off +in stentorian tones. Then the tenors followed. Then the trebles in +shrill voices--"washed hands." Finally, after a pause, the whole +choir shouted triumphantly, "in innocenc<i>ee</i>"; and the +congregation bore it, my friend naïvely remarks. The orchestra +on one occasion struck work. Only the clerk, who played his 'cello, +remained faithful. To prove his loyalty he appeared as usual, gave +out a hymn of many verses, and sang it through in his clear bass +voice, to the accompaniment of his instrument.</p> +<p>It was not an unusual thing for the clerk to be the only +chorister in a village church, and then sometimes strange things +happened. There was a favourite tune which required the first half +of one of the lines to be repeated thrice. This led to such curious +utterances as "My own sal," called out lustily three times, and +then finished with "My own salvation's rock to praise." The +thrice-repeated "My poor poll" was no less striking, but it was +only a prelude to "My poor polluted heart." A chorus of women and +girls in the west gallery sang lustily, "Oh for a man," <i>bis, +bis</i>--a pause--"A mansion in the skies." Another clerk sang "And +in the pie" three times, supplementing it with "And in the pious He +delights." Another bade his hearers "Stir up this stew," but he was +only referring to "This stupid heart of mine." Yet another sang +lustily "Take Thy pill," but when the line was completed it was +heard to be "Take Thy pilgrim home."</p> +<p>Returning to the artistic presentment of clerks, there is a fine +sketch of one in Frith's famous painting of the Vicar of Wakefield, +whose gentle manners and loving character as conceived by Goldsmith +are admirably depicted by the artist. Near the vicar stands +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-200"></a>[pg 200]</span> the +faithful clerk, a dear old man, who is scarcely less reverend than +his vicar.</p> +<p>There is an old print of a portion of the church of St. +Margaret, Westminster, which shows the Carolian "three-decker," a +very elaborate structure, crowned by a huge sounding-board. The +clergyman is officiating in the reading desk, and a very +nice-looking old clerk, clad in his black gown with bands, sits +below. There is a pompous beadle with his flowing wig and a mace in +an adjoining pew, and some members of the congregation appear at +the foot of the "three-decker," and in the gallery. It is a very +correct representation of the better sort of old-fashioned +service.</p> +<p>The hall of the Parish Clerks' Company possesses several +portraits of distinguished members of the profession, which have +already been mentioned in the chapter relating to the history of +the fraternity. By the courtesy of the company we are enabled to +reproduce some of the paintings, and to record some of the +treasures of art which the fraternity possesses.</p> +<br> +<a name="image31.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image31.jpg"><img src= +"images/image31.jpg" width="50%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Portrait Of Richard Hunt</b><br> +The Restorer Of The Clerks' Almshouses</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-201"></a>[pg 201]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> +<h3>WOMEN AS PARISH CLERKS</h3> +<br> +<p>A woman cannot legally be elected to the office of parish clerk, +though she may be a sexton. There was the famous case of +<i>Olive</i> v. <i>Ingram</i> (12 George I) which determined this. +One Sarah Bly was elected sexton of the parish of St. Botolph +without Aldersgate by 169 indisputable votes and 40 which were +given by women who were householders and paid to the church and +poor, against 174 indisputable votes and 20 given by women for her +male rival. Sarah Bly was declared elected, and the Court upheld +the appointment and decreed that women could vote on such +elections.</p> +<p>Cuthbert Bede states that in 1857 there were at least three +female sextons, or "sextonesses," in the City of London, viz.: Mrs. +Crook at St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury; Mrs. E. Worley at St. +Laurence, Jewry, King Street; and Mrs. Stapleton at St. Michael's, +Wood Street. In 1867 Mrs. Noble was sextoness of St. John the +Baptist, Peterborough. The <i>Annual Register</i> for 1759 mentions +an extraordinary centenarian sextoness:</p> +<blockquote>Died, April 30th, Mary Hall, sexton of Bishop Hill, +York City, aged one hundred and five; she walked about and retained +her senses till within three days of her death.</blockquote> +<p>Evidently the duties of her office had not worn out the stalwart +old dame.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-202"></a>[pg 202]</span> +<p>Although legally a woman may not perform the duties of a parish +clerk, there have been numerous instances of female holders of the +office. In the census returns it is not quite unusual to see the +names of women returned as parish clerks, and we have many who +discharge the duties of churchwarden, overseer, rate-collector, and +other parochial offices.</p> +<p>One Ann Hopps was parish clerk of Linton about the year 1770, +but nothing is known of her by her descendants except her name. +Madame D'Arblay speaks in her diary of that "poor, wretched, ragged +woman, a female clerk" who showed her the church of Collumpton, +Devon. This good woman inherited her office from her deceased +husband and received the salary, but she did not take the clerk's +place in the services on Sunday, but paid a man to perform that +part of her functions.</p> +<p>The parish register of Totteridge tells of the fame of Elizabeth +King, who was clerk of that place for forty-six years. The +following extract tells its own story:</p> +<blockquote>March 2nd, 1802, buried Elizabeth King, widow, for 46 +years clerk of this parish, in the 91st year of her age, who died +at Whetstone in the Parish of Finchley, Feb. 24th.<br> +<br> +N.B.--This old woman, as long as she was able to attend, did +constantly, and read on the prayer-days, with great strength and +pleasure to the hearers, though not in the clerk's place; the desk +being filled on the Sunday by her son-in-law, Benjamin Withall, who +did his best <a name="FNanchor80"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_80">[80]</a>.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_80"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor80">[80]</a> Burn's <i>History of Parish Registers</i>, +p. 129.</blockquote> +<p>Under the shade of the episcopal palace at Cuddesdon, at +Wheatley, near Oxford, about sixty-five years ago, a female clerk, +Mrs. Sheddon, performed the duties of the office which had been +previously discharged by her husband. At Avington, near Hungerford, +Berks, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-203"></a>[pg 203]</span> +Mrs. Poffley was parish clerk for a period of twenty-five years at +the beginning of the last century. About the same time Mary +Mountford was parish clerk of Misterton, near Crewkerne, +Somersetshire, for upwards of thirty years. A female clerk was +acting at Igburgh, Norfolk, in 1853; and at Sudbrook, near Lincoln, +in 1830, a woman also officiated and died in the service of the +Church. Nor was the office confined to rural women of the working +class. Mr. Ellacombe remembered to have seen "a gentle-woman acting +as parish clerk of some church in London."</p> +<p>There are doubtless many other instances of women serving as +parish clerks, and one of my correspondents remembers a very +remarkable example.</p> +<p>In the village of Willoughton, Lincolnshire, more than seventy +years ago, there lived an old dame named Betty Wells, who +officiated as parish clerk. For many years Betty sat in the lowest +compartment of the three-decker pulpit, reading the lessons and +leading the responses, and, with the exception of ringing the +church bell, fulfilling all the duties of clerk.</p> +<p>But Betty was also looked upon as a witch, and several stories +are told of how she made things very unpleasant for those who +offended her.</p> +<p>One day there had been a christening at which Betty had done her +share; but by some unfortunate oversight she was not invited to the +feast which took place afterwards. No sooner had the guests seated +themselves at the table than a great cloud of soot fell down the +chimney smothering all the good things, so that nothing could be +eaten. Then, too late, they remembered that Betty Wells had not +been invited, and perfectly confident were they that she had had +her revenge by spoiling the feast.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-204"></a>[pg 204]</span> +<p>One of the farmers let Betty have straw for bedding her pig in +return for manure. When one of his men came to fetch the manure +away, she thought he had taken too much. So she warned him that he +would not go far--neither did he, for the cart tipped right over. +And that was Betty again!</p> +<p>We know Betty had a husband, for we hear that one evening when +he came home from his work his wife had ever so many tailors +sitting on the table all busily stitching. When John came in they +vanished.</p> +<p>A few people still remember Betty Wells, and they shake their +heads as they say, "Well, you see, the old woman had a very +queer-looking eye," giving you to understand that it was with that +particular eye she worked all these wonders.</p> +<p>The story of Betty Wells has been gleaned from scraps supplied +by various old people and collected by Miss Frances A. Hill, of +Willoughton. The unfortunate christening feast took place after the +baptism of her father, and the story was told to her by an old +aunt, now dead, who was grown up at the time (1830) and could +remember it all distinctly. The people who told Miss Hill about +Betty and her weird witch-like ways fully believed in her +supernatural powers.</p> +<p>Another Betty, whose surname was Finch, was employed at the +beginning of the last century at Holy Trinity Church, Warrington, +as a "bobber," or sluggard-waker <a name="FNanchor81"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_81">[81]</a>. She was the wife of the clerk, and was +well fitted on account of her masculine form to perform this duty +which usually fell to the lot of the parish clerk. She used to +perambulate the church armed with a long rod, like a fishing-rod, +which had a "bob" fastened to the end of it. With this instrument +she <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-205"></a>[pg 205]</span> +effectually disturbed the peaceful slumbers of any one who was +overcome with drowsiness. The whole family of Betty was +ecclesiastically employed, as her son used to sing:</p> +<blockquote>"My father's a clerk,<br> + My sister's a singer,<br> +My mother's a bobber,<br> + And I am a ringer."</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_81"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor81">[81]</a> W. Andrews, <i>Curiosities of the +Church</i>, p. 176.</blockquote> +<p>One of my correspondents tells of another female clerk who +officiated in a dilapidated old church with a defective roof, and +who held an umbrella over the unfortunate clergyman when he was +reading the service, in order to protect him from the drops of rain +that poured down upon him.</p> +<p>Doubtless in country places there are many other churches where +female clerks have discharged the duties of the office, but history +has not, as far as I am aware, recorded their names or their +services. Perhaps in an age in which women have taken upon +themselves to perform all kinds of work and professional duties +formerly confined to men alone, we may expect an increase in the +number of female parish clerks, in spite of legal enactments and +other absurd restrictions. Since women can be churchwardens, and +have been so long ago as 1672, sextons, overseers and registrars of +births, and much else, and even at one time were parish constables, +it seems that the pleasant duties of a parish clerk might not be +uncongenial to them, though they be debarred by law from receiving +the title and rank of the office.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-206"></a>[pg 206]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> +<h3>SOME YORKSHIRE CLERKS</h3> +<br> +<p>During many years of the time that the Rev. John Torre occupied +the rectory of Catwick, Thomas Dixon <a name= +"FNanchor82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82">[82]</a> was associated +with him as parish clerk. He is described as a little man, +old-looking for his age, and in the later years of his life able to +walk only with difficulty. These peculiarities, however, did not +prevent his winning a young woman for his wife. Possibly she saw +the sterling character of the man, and admired and loved him for +it.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_82"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor82">[82]</a> This account of the clerks Dixon and Fewson +was sent by the Rev. J. Gaskell Exton, and is published by the +permission of the editor of the <i>Yorkshire Weekly +Post</i>.</blockquote> +<p>Dixon was strongly attached to the rector, so much so, that to +him neither the rector nor the things belonging to the rector, +whether animate or inanimate, could do wrong. He had a watch, and +even though it might not be one of the best, a watch was no small +acquisition to a working man of his time. He did not live in the +days of the three-and-sixpenny marvel, or of the half-crown wonder, +now to be found in the pocket of almost every schoolboy. Dixon's +watch was of the kind worn by the well-known Captain Cuttle, which +Dickens describes as being "a silver watch, which was so big and so +tight in the pocket that it came out like a bung" when its owner +drew it from the depths to see the time. It must, consequently, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-207"></a>[pg 207]</span> have +cost many half-crowns, but yet as timekeeper it was somewhat of a +failure. In this, too, it resembled that of the famous captain of +which its proud possessor, as everybody knows, used to say, "Put +you back half-an-hour every morning, and about another quarter +towards the afternoon, and you've a watch that can be equalled by a +few and excelled by none." Dixon, therefore, when asked the time of +day, was usually obliged to go through an arithmetical calculation +before he could reply.</p> +<p>On Sunday, however, all was different; he then had no hesitation +whatever in at once declaring the correct time. For every Sunday +morning he put his watch by the rector's clock, and it mattered not +how far the rector's clock might be fast or slow, what that clock +said was the true time for Dixon. And though the remonstrances of +the parishioners might be loud and long, they were all in vain, for +according to the rector's clock he rang the church bells, and so +the services commenced. He loved the rector, therefore the rector's +clock could not be wrong. Evidently Dixon was capable of strong +affection, a quality of no mean moral order.</p> +<p>Before the enclosure of parishes was common, and their various +fields separated by hedges or other fences; before, too, the +ordnance survey with its many calculations was an accomplished +fact, much more measuring of land in connection with work done each +year was required than at present. It was a necessity, therefore, +that each village should have in or near it a man skilled in the +science of calculation. Consequently, the acquirement of figures +was fostered, and so in the earlier part of the nineteenth century +almost every parish could produce a man supposed to be, and who +probably was, great in arithmetic. Catwick's <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-208"></a>[pg 208]</span> calculator was +Dixon, and he was generally thought by his co-villagers to be as +learned a one as any other, if not more so.</p> +<p>He had, however, a great rival at Long Riston. This was one +Richard Fewson, who, like Dixon, was clerk of his parish; but while +Dixon was a shopkeeper Fewson kept the village school.</p> +<p>Fewson's modes of punishing refractory scholars were somewhat +peculiar. Either a culprit was hoisted on the back of another +scholar, or made to stoop till his nose entered a hole in the desk, +and when in one or other of these positions was made to feel the +singular sensation caused by a sound caning on that particular part +of his anatomy which it is said "nature intends for correction." +Sometimes, too, an offender was made to sit in a small basket, to +the cross handle of which a rope had been tied, and by this means +he was hoisted to a beam near the roof of the school. Here he was +compelled to stay for a longer or shorter period, according to the +offence, knowing that, if he moved to ease his crippled position, +the basket would tilt and he would fall to the floor.</p> +<p>On one occasion, with an exceptionally refractory pupil, his +mode of punishment was even more peculiar still. Having told all +the girls to turn their faces to the wall--and not one of them, so +my informant, one of the boys, said, would dare to disobey the +order--he chalked the shape of a grave on the floor of the +schoolroom. He then made the boy, an incorrigible truant, strip off +all his clothes, and when he stood covered only in nature's dress, +told him in solemn tones that he was going to bury him alive and +under the floor. One scholar was then sent for a pick, and when +this was fetched, another was sent for a shovel. By the time +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-209"></a>[pg 209]</span> they +were both brought, the truant was in a panic of fear, the end hoped +for. The master then sternly asked the boy if he would play truant +again, to which the boy quickly answered no. On this, he was +allowed to dress, being assured as he did so that if ever again he +stopped from school without leave he should certainly be buried +alive, and so great was the dread produced, the boy from that time +was regularly found at school.</p> +<p>If parents objected to these punishments, they were simply told +to take their children from school, which, as Fewson was the only +master for miles around, he knew they would be loath to do. Fewson +taught nearly all the children of the district whose parents felt +it necessary that they should have any education. He is said to +have turned out good scholars in the three R's, his curriculum +being limited to these subjects, with, for an extra fee, +mensuration added.</p> +<p>But Fewson, if he did not teach it, felt himself to be well up +in astronomy. One summer, an old boy of his told me, he got the +children--my informant amongst the number--to collect from their +parents and others for a trip to Hornsea. When the money was all in +he complained that the amount was insufficient for a trip, and +suggested that a telescope he had seen advertised should be bought +with the money. If this were done, he promised that those who had +subscribed should have the telescope in turn to look through from +Saturday to Monday. The telescope was purchased, and each +subscriber had it once, and then it was no more seen. From that +time it became the entire property of the master. The children +never again collected for a trip, and small wonder.</p> +<p>Fewson was a good singer and musician generally, so in addition +to his office as clerk he held the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-210"></a>[pg 210]</span> position of choirmaster. At church +on Sunday he sat at the west end, the boys of the village sitting +behind him, and it was part of his duty to see that they behaved +themselves decorously. Should a boy make any disturbance Fewson's +hand fell heavily on the offender's ears, and so sharply that the +sound of the blows could be heard throughout the church. Such +incidents as this were by no means uncommon in churches in the days +when Fewson and Dixon flourished, and they were looked upon as +nothing extraordinary, for small compunction was felt in the +punishment of unruly urchins.</p> +<p>I have been told of another clerk, for instance, who dealt such +severe blows on the heads of boys, who behaved in the least badly, +with a by no means small stick, that, like Fewson's, they, too, +resounded all over the church. This clerk was known as "Old Crack +Skull," and there were many others who might as appropriately have +borne the name.</p> +<p>As parish clerk, Fewson attended the Archdeacon's visitation +with the churchwardens, whose custom it was on each such occasion +to spend about £3 in eating and drinking. On the appointment +of a new and reforming churchwarden this expenditure was stopped, +and for the first time Fewson returned to Riston sober. Here he +looked at the churchwarden and sorrowfully said, "For thirty years +I have been to the visitation and always got home drunk; Sally will +think I haven't been." He then turned into the public-house, and +afterwards reached home in the condition Sally, his wife, would +expect.</p> +<br> +<a name="image32.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image32.jpg"><img src= +"images/image32.jpg" width="60%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>The Church Of St. Margaret, Westminster</b></p> +<br> +<p>Insobriety was the normal condition of Fewson after school +hours. It was his invariable custom to visit the public-house each +evening, where he always found <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-211"></a>[pg 211]</span> a clean pipe and an ounce of tobacco +ready for him. Here he acted as president of those who forgathered, +being by virtue of his wisdom readily conceded this position. His +favourite drink was gin, and of this he imbibed freely; leaving for +home about ten o'clock, which he found usually only after many a +stumble and sometimes a fall. He, however, managed to save money, +with which he built himself a house at Arnold, adorning it, as +still to be seen, with the carved heads of saints and others, +begged from the owners of the various ancient ecclesiastical piles +of the neighbourhood. He died about seventy years ago, and was +buried at Riston.</p> +<p>Between Dixon and Fewson there was much friendly strife with +regard to the solving of hard arithmetical problems. This contest +was no mere private matter. It was entered into with great zest by +the men of both the villages concerned; the Catwickians and the +Ristonians each backing their man to win. "A straw shows which way +the wind blows," we say, and herein we may feel a breathing of the +Holderness man's love of his clan, an affection which has done much +to develop and to strengthen his character.</p> +<p>Dixon was employed by the harvesters and others to measure the +land which they had reaped, or on which they had otherwise worked. +When the different measurements had been taken, he, of course, had +to find the result. For this, he needed no pen, ink, or paper, nor +yet a slate and pencil. He made his calculations by a much more +economic method than these would supply. He sat down in the field +he had measured, took off his beaver hat, and, using it as a kind +of blackboard, with a piece of chalk worked out the result of his +measurements on its crown.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-212"></a>[pg 212]</span> +<p>Dixon must have been a man of resources, as are most Holderness +men where the saving of money is concerned. I have heard it said +that the spirit of economy has so permeated their character that it +has influenced even their speech. "So saving are they," say some, +"that the definite article, <i>the</i>, is never used by them in +their talk." But this is a libel; another and a truer reason may be +found for the omission in their Scandinavian origin.</p> +<p>Another parish clerk who held office at a church about five +miles from Catwick, by trade a tailor, was a noted character and +remarkable for his parsimonious habits. He is described as having +been a very little man and of an extremely attenuated appearance. +The story of his economy during his honeymoon, when the happy pair +stayed in some cheap town lodgings, is not pleasing.</p> +<p>His great effort in saving, however, resulted from his sporting +proclivities. Tailor though he was, he conceived a great desire to +be a mighty hunter. So strong did this passion burn within him that +he made up his mind, sooner or later, to hunt, and with the best, +in a red coat, too. He therefore began to save with this object in +view. Denying himself every luxury and most other things which are +usually counted necessaries, for long he lived, it is said, on half +a salt herring a day with a little bread or a few vegetables in +addition. By doing so, he was able to put almost all he earned to +the furtherance of the purpose of his heart. This went on till he +had saved £200. Then he felt his day was come. He bought a +horse, made himself the scarlet coat, and went to the hunt as he +thought a gentleman should. His hunting lasted for two seasons, +when, the money he had saved being <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-213"></a>[pg 213]</span> spent, he went back to his trade, at +which he worked as energetically as ever.</p> +<p>At the west end of the nave of Catwick Church formerly was +erected a gallery. In this loft, as it was commonly called, the +musicians of the parish sang or played. Various instruments, +bassoon, trombone, violoncello, cornet, cornopean, and clarionet, +flute, fiddle, and flageolet, or some of their number, were +employed, calling to mind the band of Nebuchadnezzar of old. The +noise made in the tuning of the instruments to the proper pitch may +be readily imagined. Now, the church possesses an organ, and the +choirmen and boys have their places in the chancel, while the +musicians of the parish occupy the front seats of the nave. This +arrangement is eminently suitable for effectually leading the +praises of the people, but not perhaps more so, its noise +notwithstanding, than the former style; indeed, I am somewhat +doubtful if the new equals the old. The old certainly had the merit +of engaging most, if not all, the musicians of the village in the +worship of the church.</p> +<p>At the east end of the nave, in the days of the loft, stood a +kind of triple pulpit, commonly called a three-decker. It was +composed of three compartments, the second above and behind the +first, and the third similarly placed with regard to the second. +The lowest, resting on the floor, was the place for the clerk, the +middle was for the parson when reading the prayers and Scriptures, +and the highest for the parson when preaching. Such pulpits are now +almost as completely things of the past as the old warships from +which, in derision, they got their name. Once only have I read the +service and preached from a three-decker, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-214"></a>[pg 214]</span> and then the clerk +did not occupy the position assigned to him. Dixon, however, always +used the little desk at the foot of the Catwick pulpit, and from it +took his share of the service.</p> +<p>It was part of his duty, as clerk, to choose and to give out the +number of the hymns. Now Dixon, like Fewson, was a singer, and felt +that the choir could not get on without the help of his voice in +the gallery when the hymns were sung. Consequently, he then left +his box and went to the singing loft; but, to save time, as he +marched down the aisle from east to west, and as he mounted the +steps of the gallery, he slowly and solemnly announced the number +of the hymn and read the lines of the first verse. When the hymn +was sung, our bird-like clerk came down again from the heights of +the loft and returned to his perch at the base of the pulpit.</p> +<p>Nowadays, we should consider such proceedings very unseemly, but +it would have been thought nothing of in the days of Dixon. Scenes, +according to our ideas, much more grotesque were then of frequent +occurrence. We have already looked on at least one; here is another +which took place in the neighbouring church of Skipsea one Sunday +afternoon some sixty years ago, and in connection with singing. The +account was given to me by a parishioner of about eighty years of +age, who was one of the choirmen on the occasion.</p> +<p>The leading singer, he said, there being no instrument, started +a tune for the hymn. It would not fit the words, and he soon came +to a full stop, and choir and congregation with him. At this, one +of the congregation, in a voice that could be heard the whole +church over, called out, "Give it up, George! Give <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-215"></a>[pg 215]</span> it up!" "No, no," +said the vicar in answer, leaning over his desk, "No, no, George, +try again! try again!" George tried again, and again failed. But +the vicar still encouraged him with "Have another try, George! Have +another try! You may get it yet!" George tried the third time, and +now hit upon a right tune; and to the general delight the hymn was +sung through.</p> +<p>Without doubt, in the days of our forefathers the services of +the Church were conducted with the greatest freedom. But we may not +judge those who preceded us by our own standard, nor yet apart from +the time in which they lived.</p> +<p>When two young people of Catwick or its neighbourhood feel they +can live no longer without each other, they in local phrase "put in +the banns." They then, of course, expect to have them published, or +again in local idiom "thrown over the pulpit." On all such +occasions, according to a very old custom, after the rector had +read out the names, with the usual injunction following, from the +middle compartment of the three-decker, Dixon would rise from his +seat below, and slowly and clearly cry out, "God speed 'em weel" +(God speed them well). By this pious wish he prayed for a blessing +on those about to be wed, and in this the congregation joined, for +they responded with Amen.</p> +<p>Dixon was the last of the Catwick clerks to keep this custom. +Much more recently, however, than the time he held office, members +of the congregation, usually those seated in the loft, on the +publication of the banns of some well-known people, have called out +the time-honoured phrase. But it is now heard no more. The custom +has gone into a like oblivion to that of the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-216"></a>[pg 216]</span> parish clerk +himself, once so important a person, in his own estimation if in +that of no other, both in church and parish. "The old order +changeth."</p> +<p>Thomas Dixon died at Catwick when sixty-seven years of age. He +was buried in the churchyard on January 2, 1833, and by the Rev. +John Torre, the rector he served so faithfully.</p> +<p>When Sydney Smith went to see the out-of-the-way Yorkshire +village of Foston-le-Clay, to which benefice he had been presented, +his arrival occasioned great excitement. The parish clerk came +forward to welcome him, a man eighty years of age, with long grey +hair, thread-bare coat, deep wrinkles, stooping gait, and a crutch +stick. He looked at the new parson for some time from under his +grey shaggy eyebrows, and talked, and showed that age had not +quenched the natural shrewdness of the Yorkshireman.</p> +<p>At last, after a pause, he said, striking his crutch stick on +the ground:</p> +<p>"Master Smith, it often stroikes moy moind that folks as come +frae London be such fools. But you," he added, giving Sydney Smith +a nudge with his stick, "I see you be no fool." The new vicar was +gratified.</p> +<p>Yorkshiremen are keen songsters, and <i>fortissimo</i> is their +favourite note of expression. "Straack up a bit, Jock! straack up a +bit," a Yorkshire parson used to shout to his clerk, when he wanted +the Old Hundredth to be sung. Well do I remember a delightful old +clerk in the Craven district, who used to give out the hymn in the +accustomed form with charming manner. He liked not itinerant +choirs, which were not uncommon forty or fifty years ago, and used +to migrate from church to church, and sometimes to chapel, in the +district where the members lived. One <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-217"></a>[pg 217]</span> of these choirs +visited the church where the Rev. ---- Morris was rector, and he +was directed to give out the anthem which the itinerant strangers +were prepared to sing. He neither knew nor cared what an anthem +was; and he gave the following somewhat confused notice:</p> +<p>"Let us sing to the praise and glory of God the fiftieth Psalm, +<i>while you folks sing th' anthem</i>," casting a scornful glance +at the wandering musicians in the opposite gallery.</p> +<p>Missionary meetings and sermons were somewhat rare in those +days, but the special preacher for missions, commonly called the +deputation, who performs for lazy clerics the task of instructing +the people about work in the mission field--a duty which could well +be performed by the vicar himself--had already begun his itinerant +course. The congregation were waiting in the churchyard for his +arrival, when the old Yorkshire vicar, mentioned above, said to his +clerk, "Jock, ye maunt let 'em into th' church; the dippitation +a'n't coom." Presently two clergymen arrived, when the clerk called +out, "Ye maunt gang hoame; t' deppitation's coom." The old vicar +made an excellent chairman, his introductory remarks being models +of brevity: "T' furst deppitation will speak!" "T' second +deppitation will speak!" after which the clerk lighted some candles +in the singing gallery, and gave out for an appropriate hymn, +"Vital spark of heavenly flame."</p> +<p>A writer in <i>Chambers's Journal</i> tells of a curious class +of clergymen who existed forty years ago, and were known as +"Northern Lights," the light from a spiritual point of view being +somewhat dim and flickering. The writer, who was the vicar for +twenty-five <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-218"></a>[pg +218]</span> years of a moorland parish, tells of several clerks who +were associated with these clerics, and who were as quaint and +curious in their ways as their masters <a name= +"FNanchor83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83">[83]</a>. The village was a +hamlet on the edge of the Yorkshire moors, near the confines of +Derbyshire. Beside the church was a public-house kept by the parish +clerk, Jerry, a dapper little man, who on Sundays and funeral days +always wore a wig, an old-fashioned tailed coat, black stockings, +and shoes with buckles. His house was known as "Heaven's Gate," +where the farmers from the neighbouring farms used to drink and +stay a week at a time. Jerry used to direct the funerals, make the +clerkly responses, and then provide the funeral party with good +cheer at his inn. His invitation was always given at the graveside +in a high-pitched falsetto voice, and the formula ran in these +words, and was never varied:</p> +<p>"Friends of the corpse is respectfully requested to call at my +house, and partake then and there of such refreshments as is +provided for them."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_83"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor83">[83]</a> By the kindness of the editor of +<i>Chambers's Journal</i> I am permitted to retell some of the +stories of the manners of these clerks and parsons.</blockquote> +<p>Much intemperance and disorder often followed these funeral +feastings. An old song long preserved in the district depicts one +of these funerals, which was by no means a one-day affair, but +sometimes lasted several days, during which the drinking went on. +The inn was perhaps a necessity in this out-of-the-world place, but +it was unfortunately a great temptation to the inhabitants, and to +the old Northern Light parson who preceded the vicar whose +reminiscences we are recording. Here in the inn the old parson sat +between morning and afternoon service with a long clay pipe in his +mouth and a glass of whisky by his <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-219"></a>[pg 219]</span> side. When the bells began to settle +and the time of service approached, he would send Jerry to the +church to see if many people had arrived. When Jerry replied:</p> +<p>"There's not many comed yet, Mr. Nowton," the parson would +say:</p> +<p>"Then tell them to ring another peal, Jerry, and just fill up my +glass again."</p> +<p>The communion plate was kept at the inn under Jerry's charge. +Three times a year it was used, and the circumstances were +disgraceful. Four bottles of port wine were deemed the proper +allowance on communion days, and after a fractional quantity had +been consumed in the church, the rest was finished by the +churchwardens at the inn. One of these churchwardens drank himself +to death after the communion service. He was a big man with a red +face, and was always present when a bear was baited at the top of +the hill above the village. One day the bear escaped and ran on to +the moor; everybody scattered in all directions, and several dogs +were killed before the bear was caught.</p> +<p>The successor of Jerry as clerk, but not as publican, was a +rough, honest individual who was called Dick. When excited he had +two oaths, "By'r Lady!" and "By the mass!" but as he always +pronounced this last word <i>mess</i>, it was evident he did not +understand the nature of the oath he used. He had a rough-and-ready +way of doing things, and when handing out hymn-books during service +he used to throw a book up to an applicant in the gallery to save +the trouble of walking up the stairs in proper fashion. He talked +the broadest Yorkshire dialect, and it was not always easy to +understand him. This was particularly the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-220"></a>[pg 220]</span> case when, in his +capacity as clerk, he repeated the responses at the funeral +service.</p> +<p>A tremendous snowfall happened one winter, and the roads were +all blocked. It was impossible for any one to go to church on the +Sunday morning following the fall, as the snow had not been cleared +away. It was necessary for the vicar, however, to get there, as he +had to read out the banns of marriage which were being published; +so, putting on fishing-waders to protect himself from the wet snow, +he succeeded with some difficulty in getting through the drifts. In +the churchyard, standing before the church clock, he found Dick +intently gazing at it, so he asked him if it was going. His reply +was laconic: "Noa; shoo's froz." He and the vicar then went into +the church, and the necessary publication of banns was read in the +presence of the clerk alone.</p> +<p>In those days it was necessary that the wedding service should +be all over by twelve o'clock, and it was most important that due +notice should be given of the date of the wedding, a matter about +which Dick was sometimes rather careless.</p> +<p>The vicar had gone into Derbyshire for a few days to fish the +River Derwent. He was fishing a long distance up the stream when he +heard his name called, and saw his servant running towards him, who +said that a wedding was waiting for him at the church. Dick had +forgotten to give due notice of this event. The vicarage trap was +in readiness, but the road over the Derbyshire Peak was rough and +steep, the pony small, the distance ten miles, and the vicar +encumbered with wet clothes. The chance of getting to the church +before twelve o'clock seemed remote. But the vicar and pony did +their best; it was, however, half an hour <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-221"></a>[pg 221]</span> after the +appointed time when they reached the church. Glancing at the clock +in the tower, the vicar, to his astonishment, found the hands +pointing to half-past eleven. The situation was saved, and the +service was concluded within the prescribed time. The vicar turned +to the clerk for an explanation. "I seed yer coming over the hill," +he said, "and I just stopped the clock a bit." Dick was an +ingenious man.</p> +<p>There was another character in the parish quite as peculiar as +Dick, and he was one of the principal singers, who sat in the west +gallery. He had formerly played the clarionet, before an organ was +put into the church. During service he always kept a red cotton +handkerchief over his bald head, which gave him a decidedly comic +appearance.</p> +<p>On one occasion the clergyman gave out a hymn in the +old-fashioned way: "Let us sing to the praise and glory of God the +twenty-first hymn, second version." Up jumped the old singer and +shouted, "You're wrang, maister; it's first version." The clergyman +corrected himself, when the singer again rose: "You're wrang +agearn; it's twenty-second hymn." Without any remark the clergyman +corrected the number, and the man again jumped up: "That's reet, +mon, that's reet." When the old singer died his widow was very +anxious there should be some record on his tombstone of his having +played the clarionet in church; so above his name a trumpet-shaped +instrument was carved on the stone, and some doggerel lines were to +be added below. The vicar had great difficulty in persuading the +family to abandon the lines for the text, "The trumpet shall sound, +and the dead shall be raised."</p> +<p>A neighbouring vicar was on one occasion taking the duty of an +old man with failing eyesight, and Dick reminded <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-222"></a>[pg 222]</span> him before the +afternoon service that there was a funeral at four o'clock. "You +must come into the church and tell me when it arrives," he told the +clerk, "and I will stop my sermon." It was the habit of the old +clergyman to relapse into a strong Yorkshire dialect when speaking +familiarly, and this will account for the brief dialogue which +passed between him and Dick as he stood at the lectern. In due +course the funeral arrived at the church gates, and the first +intimation the congregation inside the church had of this fact was +the appearance of Dick, who noisily threw open the big doors of the +south porch. He then stood and beckoned to the clergyman, but his +poor blind eyes could not see so far. Dick then came nearer and +waved his hat before him. This again met with no response. Then he +got near enough to pluck him by the arm, which he did rather +vigorously, shouting at the same time, "Shoo's coomed." "Wha's +coomed?" replied the clergyman, relapsing into his Yorkshire +speech. "Funeral's coomed," retorted Dick. "Then tell her to wait a +bit while I finish my sermon"; and the old man went quietly on with +his discourse.</p> +<p>Another instance of Dick's failing to give proper notice of a +service was as follows; but on this occasion it was not really his +fault. Some large reservoirs were being made in the parish, and +nearly a thousand navvies were employed on the works. These men +were constantly coming and going, and very often they brought some +infectious disorder which spread among the huts where they lived. +One day a navvy arrived who broke out in smallpox of a very severe +kind, and in a couple of days the man died, and the doctor ordered +the body to be buried the moment a coffin could be got. It was +winter-time, and the vicar had ridden over to see <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-223"></a>[pg 223]</span> some friends about +ten miles away. As the afternoon advanced it began to rain very +heavily, and he decided not to ride back home, but to sleep at his +friend's house. About five o'clock a messenger arrived to say a +funeral was waiting in the church, and he was to come at once. He +started in drenching rain, which turned to sleet and snow as he +approached the moor edges. It was pitch-dark when he got off his +horse at the church gates, and with some difficulty he found his +way into the vestry and put a surplice over his wet garments. He +could see nothing in the church, but he asked when he got into the +reading-desk if any one was there. A deep voice answered, "Yes, +sir; we are here"; and he began the service, which long practice +had taught him to repeat by heart. When about half-way through the +lesson he saw a glimmer of light, and Dick entered the church with +a lantern, which he placed on the top of the coffin. It was a +gruesome scene which the lantern brought into view. There was the +coffin, and before it, in a seat, four figures of the +navvy-bearers, and Dick himself covered with snow and as white as +if he wore a surplice. They filed out into the churchyard, but the +wind had blown the snow into the grave, and this had to be got out +before they could lower the body into it. The navvies, who were +kind-hearted fellows, explained that they could give no notice of +the funeral beforehand, and they quite understood the delay was no +fault of the vicar's or Dick's.</p> +<p>Dick was, in spite of his faults, an honest and kind-hearted +man, and his death, caused by a fall from a ladder, was much +regretted by his good vicar. On his death-bed the old clerk sent +for his favourite grandson, who succeeded him in his office, and +made this pathetic request: "Thou'lt dig my grave, Jont, lad."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-224"></a>[pg 224]</span> +<p>With Dick the last of the "Northern Lights" flickered out. +Nothing now remains in the village recalling those old times. The +village inn has been suppressed, and the drinking bouts are over. +The old church has been entirely restored, and there is order and +decency in the services. The strange thing is that it should have +been possible that only forty years ago matters were in such a +state of chaos and disorder, and in such need of drastic +reformation.</p> +<p>Another Yorkshire clerk flourished in the thirties at +Bolton-on-Dearne named Thomas Rollin, commonly called Tommy. He +used to render Psalm cii. 6: "I am become a <i>pee-li-can</i> in +the wilderness, and an owl in the <i>dee-sert</i>." Tommy was a +tailor by trade, and made use of a ready-reckoner to assist him in +making up his accounts, and his familiarity with that useful book +was shown when reading the second verse of the forty-fifth Psalm, +which Tommy invariably read: "My tongue is the pen of a +<i>ready-reckoner</i>," to the immense delight of the youthful +members of the congregation.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-225"></a>[pg 225]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> +<h3>AN OLD CHESHIRE CLERK AND SOME OTHER WORTHIES</h3> +<br> +<p>It is nearly fifty years since I used to attend the quaint old +parish church at Lawton, Cheshire, situate half-way between +Congleton and Crewe. It is a lonely spot, "miles from anywhere," +having not the vestige of a village, and the congregation was +formed of well-to-do farmers, who came from the scattered +farmsteads. How well I remember the old parish clerk and the +numerous duties which fell to his lot! He united in his person the +offices of clerk, sexton, beadle, church-keeper, organist, and +ringer. The organ was of the barrel kind, and no one knew how to +manipulate the instrument or to change the barrels, except the +clerk. He had also to place ten decent loaves in a row on the +communion table every Sunday morning, which were provided by a +charitable bequest for the benefit of the poor widows of the +parish. If the widows did not attend service to curtsy for them, +the loaves were given to any one who liked to take them. Old Clerk +Briscall baked them himself. He kept a small village shop about two +miles from the church. He was also the village shoemaker. A curious +system prevailed. As you entered the church, near the large stove +you would see a long bench, and under <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-226"></a>[pg 226]</span> this bench a row +of boots and shoes. If any one wanted his boots to be mended, he +would take them to church with him and put them under the bench. +These were collected by the cobbler-clerk, carried home in a sack, +and brought back on the following Sunday neatly and carefully soled +and heeled. It would seem strange now if on entering a church our +eyes should light upon a row of farmers' dirty old boots and the +freshly-mended evidences of the clerk's skill. All this took place +in the fifties. In the sixties a new vicar came. The old organ +wheezed its last phlegmatic tune; it was replaced by a modern +instrument with six stops, and a player who did his best, but +occasioned not a little laughter on account of his numerous +breakdowns. The old high pews have disappeared, nice open benches +erected, the floor relaid, a good choir enlisted, and everything +changed for the better.</p> +<p>The poor old clerk must have been almost overwhelmed by his +numerous duties, and was often much embarrassed and exasperated by +the old squire, Mr. C.B. Lawton, who was somewhat whimsical in his +ways. This gentleman used to enter the church by his own private +door, and go to his large, square, high-panelled family pew, and +when the vicar gave out the hymn, he used often to shout out, +"Here, hold on! I don't like that one; let's have hymn Number 25," +or some such effort of psalmody. This request, or command, used to +upset the organ arrangement, and the poor old clerk had to rummage +among his barrels to get a suitable tune, and the operation, even +if successful, took at least ten minutes, during which time a large +amount of squeaking and the sounds of the writhing of woodwork and +snapping of sundry catches were heard in the church. But the +congregation was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-227"></a>[pg +227]</span> accustomed to the performance and thought little of it. +(John Smallwood, 2 Mount Pleasant, Strangeways, Manchester.)</p> +<p>Caistor Church, Lincolnshire, famous for the curious old +ceremony of the gad-whip, was also celebrated for its clerk, old +Joshua Foster, who was officiating there in 1884 at the time of the +advent of a new vicar. Trinity Sunday was the first Sunday of the +new clergyman, who sorely puzzled the clerk by reading the +Athanasian Creed. The old man peered down into the vicar's family +pew from his desk, casting a despairing glance at the wife of the +vicar, who handed him a Prayer Book with the place found, so that +he could make the responses. He was very economical in the use of +handkerchiefs, and used the small pieces of paper on which the +numbers of the metrical psalm were written. In vain did the wife of +the vicar present him with red-and-white-spotted handkerchiefs, +which were used as comforters. The church was lighted with tallow +candles--"dips" they were called--and at intervals during the +service Joshua would go round and snuff them. The snuffers soon +became full, and it was a matter of deep interest to the +congregation to see on whose head the snuff would fall, and to +dodge it if it came their way.</p> +<p>The Psalms of Tate and Brady's version were sung and were given +out with the usual preface, "Let us sing to the praise and glory of +God the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 20th verses of the ---- Psalm with +the Doxology." How that Doxology bothered the congregation! The +Doxologies were all at the end of the Prayer Book, and it was not +always easy to hit the right metre; but that was of little +consequence. A word added if the line <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-228"></a>[pg 228]</span> was too short, or +omitted if too long, required skill, and made all feel that they +had done their best when it was successfully over. After the old +clerk's death, he was succeeded by his son Joshua, or Jos-a-way, as +the name was pronounced, whose son, also named Joshua the third, +became clerk, and still holds the office.</p> +<p>The predecessor of the vicar was a pluralist, who held Caistor +with its two chapelries of Holton and Clixby and the living of +Rothwell. He was non-resident, and the numerous churches were +served by a curate. This man was a great smoker, and used to retire +to the vestry to don the black gown and smoke a pipe before the +sermon, the congregation singing a Psalm meanwhile. One Sunday he +had an extra pipe, and Joshua told him that the people were getting +impatient.</p> +<p>"Let them sing another Psalm," said the curate.</p> +<p>"They have, sir," replied the clerk.</p> +<p>"Then let them sing the 119th," replied the curate.</p> +<p>At last he finished his pipe, and began to put on the black +gown, but its folds were troublesome, and he could not get it +on.</p> +<p>"I think the devil's in the gown," muttered the curate.</p> +<p>"I think he be," dryly replied old Joshua.</p> +<p>That the clerk was often a person of dignity and importance is +shown by the recollections of an old parishioner of the rector of +Fornham All Saints, near Bury St. Edmunds. "Mr. Baker, the clerk," +of Westley, who flourished seventy years ago, used to hear the +children their catechism in church on Sunday afternoons. "Ah, sir, +I often think of what he told us, that the world would not come to +an end till people <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-229"></a>[pg +229]</span> were killed <i>wholesale</i>, and now think how often +that happens!" She was probably not alluding to the South African +or the Japanese war, but to railway accidents, as she at once told +her favourite story of her solitary journey to Newmarket, when on +her return she remarked, "If I live to set foot on firm ground, +never no more for me."</p> +<p>The old clerk used to escort the boys and girls to their +confirmation at Bury, and superintended their meal of bread, beer, +and cheese after the rite. There was no music at Westley, except +when Mr. Humm, the clerk of Fornham, "brought up his fiddle and +some of the Fornham girls." Nowadays, adds the rector, the Rev. +C.L. Feltoe, the clerks are much more illiterate than their +predecessors, and, unlike them, non-communicants.</p> +<p>Another East Anglian clerk was a quaint character, who had a +great respect for all the old familiar residents in his town of +S----, and a corresponding contempt for all new-comers. The family +of my informant had resided there for nearly a century, and had, +therefore, the approval of the clerk. On one occasion some of the +family found their seat occupied by some new people who had +recently settled in the town. The clerk rushed up, and in a loud +voice, audible all over the church, exclaimed:</p> +<p>"Never you mind that air muck in your pew. I'll soon turn 'em +out. The imperent muck, takin' your seats!"</p> +<p>The family insisted upon "the muck" being left in peace, and +forbade the eviction.</p> +<p>The old clerk used vigorously a long stick to keep the school +children in order. He was much respected, and his death universally +regretted.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-230"></a>[pg 230]</span> +<p>Fifty years ago there was a dear, good old clerk, named Bamford, +at Mangotsfield Church, who used to give out the hymns, verse by +verse. The vicar always impressed upon him to read out the words in +a loud voice, and at the last word in each verse to pitch his +voice. The hymn, "This world's a dream," was rendered in this +fashion:</p> +<blockquote>"This world's a <i>drame</i>, an empty shoe,<br> +But this bright world to which I goo<br> +Hath jaays substantial an' sincere,<br> +When shall I wack and find me THEER?"</blockquote> +<p>William Smart, the parish clerk of Windermere in the sixties, +was a rare specimen. By trade an auctioneer and purveyor of +Westmorland hams, he was known all round the countryside. He was +very patronising to the assistant curates, and a favourite +expression of his was "me and my curate." When one of his curates +first took a wedding he was commanded by the clerk, "When you get +to 'hold his peace,' do you stop, for I have something to say." The +curate was obedient, and stopped at the end of his prescribed +words, when William shouted out, "God speed them well!"</p> +<p>This unauthorised but excellent clerkly custom was not confined +to Windermere, but was common in several Norfolk churches, and at +Hope Church, Derbyshire, the clerk used to express the good wish +after the publication of the banns.</p> +<p>The old-fashioned clerk was usually much impressed by the +importance of his office. Crowhurst, the old clerk at Allington, +Kent, in 1852, just before a wedding took place, marched up to the +rector, the Rev. E.B. Heawood, and said:</p> +<p>"If you please, sir, the ceremony can't proceed."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-231"></a>[pg 231]</span> +<p>"Why not? What do you mean?" asked the surprised rector.</p> +<p>"The marriage can't take place, sir," he answered solemnly, +"'cos I've lost my specs."</p> +<p>Fortunately a pupil of the rector's came forward and confessed +that he had hidden the old man's spectacles in a hole in the wall, +and the ceremony was no longer delayed.</p> +<p>At Bromley College the same clergyman had a curious experience, +when the clerk was called to assist at a service for the Churching +of Women. As it was very unusually performed there, he was totally +at a loss what service to find, and asked in great +perturbation:</p> +<p>"Please, sir, be I to read the responses in the services for the +Queen's Accession?"</p> +<p>The same service sadly puzzled the clerk at Haddington, who was +in the employment of the then Earl of W----. One Sunday Lady W---- +came to be churched, when in response to the clergyman's prayer, "O +Lord, save this woman, Thy servant," the clerk said, "Who putteth +her ladyship's trust in Thee."</p> +<p>The Rev. W.H. Langhorne tells me some amusing anecdotes of old +clerks. Once he was preaching in a village church for home +missions, and just as he was reaching the pulpit he observed that +the clerk was preparing to take round the plate. He whispered to +him to wait till he had finished his sermon. "It won't make a +ha'porth o' difference," was the encouraging reply. But at the +close of the sermon there was another invitation to give additional +offerings, which were not withheld.</p> +<p>In the old days when <i>Bell's Life</i> was the chief sporting +paper, a hunting parson was taking the service one Sunday morning +and gave out the day of the month <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-232"></a>[pg 232]</span> and the Psalm. The clerk corrected +him, but the rector again gave out the same day and was again +corrected. The rector, in order to decide the controversy, produced +a copy of <i>Bell's Life</i> and handed it to the clerk, who then +submitted. It is not often, I imagine, that a sporting paper has +been appealed to for the purpose of deciding what Psalms should be +read in church.</p> +<p>One very wet Sunday Mr. Langhorne was summoned to take an +afternoon service several miles distant from his residence. The +congregation consisted of only half a dozen people. After service +he said to the clerk that it was hardly worth while coming so far. +"We might have done with a worse 'un," was his reply.</p> +<p>That reminds me of another clerk who apologised to a church +dignitary who had been summoned to take a service at a small +country church. The form of the apology was not quite happily +expressed. He said, "I am sorry, sir, to have brought such a +gentleman as you to this poor place. A worse would have done, if we +had only known where to find him!"</p> +<p>The new vicar of D---- was calling upon an old parishioner, who +said to him: "Ah! I've seen mony changes. I've seen four vicars of +D----. First there was Canon G----, then there was Mr. T----, who's +now a bishop, and then Mr. F---- came, and now you've coom, and +we've wossened (worsened) every toime."</p> +<p>A clerk named Turner, who officiated at Alnwick, was a great +character, and in spite of his odd ways was esteemed for his +genuine worth and fidelity to the three vicars under whom he +served. He looked upon the church and parish as his own, and used +to say that he had trained many "kewrats" in their duties. His +responses in the Psalms were often startling. Instead <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-233"></a>[pg 233]</span> of "The Lord +setteth up the meek," he would say, "The Lord sitteth upon the +meek." "The great leviathan" he rendered "the great live thing." +"Caterpillars innumerable" he pronounced "caterpilliars +innumerabble." When a funeral was late he scolded the bearers at +the churchyard gate.</p> +<p>At Wimborne Minster, Dorset, there used to be three priest +vicars, and each of them had a clerk. It was the custom for each of +the priest vicars to take the services for a week in rotation, and +the first lesson was always read by "the clerk of the week," as he +was called. On Sundays, when there was a celebration of the Holy +Communion, the "clerk of the week" advanced to the lectern after +the sermon was finished, and said, "All who wish to receive the +Holy Communion, draw near." These words, in the case of one worthy, +named David Butler, were always spoken in a high-pitched, drawling +voice, and finished off with a kick to the rearwards of the right +leg.</p> +<p>The old clerk at Woodmancote, near Henfield, Sussex, was a very +important person. There was never any committee meeting but he +attended. So much so, that one day in church leading the singing +and music with voice and flute, when it came to the "Gloria" he +sang loudly, "As it was in the committee meeting, is now, and ever +shall be ..."</p> +<p>An acquaintance remarked to him afterwards that the last meeting +he attended must have been a rather long one!</p> +<p>A story is told of the clerk at West Dean, near Alfriston, +Sussex. Starting the first line of the Psalm or hymn, he found that +he could not see owing to the failing light on a dark wintry +afternoon. So he said, "My eyes are dim, I canna see," at which the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-234"></a>[pg 234]</span> +congregation, composed of ignorant labourers, sang after him the +<i>same</i> words. The clerk was wroth, and cried out, "Tarnation +fools you all must be." Here again the congregation sang the same +words after the clerk.</p> +<p>Strange times, strange manners!</p> +<p>A writer in the <i>Spectator</i> tells of a clerk who, like many +of his fellows, used to convert "leviathan" into "that girt livin' +thing," thus letting loose before his hearers' imagination a whole +travelling menagerie, from which each could select the beast which +most struck his fancy. This clerk was a picturesque personality, +although, unlike his predecessor, he had discarded top-boots and +cords for Sunday wear in favour of black broadcloth. When not +engaged in marrying or burying one of his flock, he fetched and +carried for the neighbours from the adjacent country town, or sold +herrings and oranges (what mysterious affinity is there between +these two dissimilar edibles that they are invariably hawked in +company?) from door to door. During harvest he rang the morning +"leazing bell" to start the gleaners to the fields, and every night +he tolled the curfew, by which the villagers set their clocks. He +it was who, when the sermon was ended, strode with dignity from his +box on the "lower deck" down the aisle to the belfry, and pulled +the "dishing-up bell" to let home-keeping mothers know that hungry +husbands and sons were set free. Folks in those days were less +easily fatigued than they are now. Services were longer, the +preacher's "leanings to mercy" were less marked, and congregations +counted themselves ill-used if they broke up under the two hours. +The boys stood in wholesome awe of the clerk, as well they might, +for his eye was keen and his stick far-reaching. Moreover, no fear +of man prevented <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-235"></a>[pg +235]</span> him from applying the latter with effect to the heads +of slumberers during divine service. By way of retaliation the +youths, when opportunity occurred, would tie the cord of the +"tinkler" to the weathercock, and the parish on a stormy night +would be startled by the sound of ghostly, fitful ting-tangs. To +Sunday blows the clerk, who was afflicted with rheumatism, added +weekday anathemas as he climbed the steep ascent to the +bell-chamber and the yet steeper ladder that gave access to the +leads of the tower. The perpetual hostility that reigned between +discipliner and disciplined bred no ill will on either side. "Boys +must be boys" and "He's paid for lookin' arter things" were the +arguments whereby the antagonists testified their mutual respect, +in both of which the parents concurred; and his severity did not +cost the old man a penny when he made his Easter rounds to collect +the "sweepings." It may, perhaps, be well to explain that the +"sweepings" consisted of an annual sum of threepence which every +householder contributed towards the cleaning of the church, and +which represented a large part of the clerk's salary <a name= +"FNanchor84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84">[84]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_84"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor84">[84]</a> <i>Spectator</i>, 14 October, +1905.</blockquote> +<p>The Rev. C.C. Prichard recollects a curious old character at +Churchdown, near Gloucester, commonly pronounced "Chosen" in those +days.</p> +<p>This old clerk was only absent one Sunday from "Chosen" Church, +and then he was lent to the neighbouring church of Leckhampton. +Instead of the response "And make Thy chosen people joyful," +mindful of his change of locality he gave out with a strong nasal +twang, "And make Thy Leck'ampton people joyful." The Psalms were +somewhat a trouble to him, and to the congregation too. One verse +he rendered "Like a <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-236"></a>[pg 236]</span> paycock in a wild-dook's nest, and a +howl in the dessert, even so be I." He was a thoroughly good old +man, and brought up a large family very respectably.</p> +<p>I remember the old clerk, James Ingham, of Whalley Church, +Lancashire. It is a grand old church, full of old dark oak square +pews, and the clerk was in keeping with his surroundings. He was a +humorous character, and had a splendid deep bass voice. He used to +show people over the ruined abbey, and his imagination supplied the +place of accurate historical information. Some American visitors +asked him what a certain path was used for. "Well, marm," said +James, "it's onsartin: but they do say the monks and nuns used to +walk up and down this 'ere path, arm-in-arm, of a summer +arternoon."</p> +<p>It is recorded of one Thomas Atkins, clerk of Chillenden Church, +Kent, that he used to leave his reading-desk at the commencement of +the General Thanksgiving and proceed to the west gallery, where he +gave out the hymn and sang a duet with the village cobbler, in +which the congregation joined as best they could. He walked very +slowly down the church, and said the Amen at the end of the +Thanksgiving wherever he happened to be, and that was generally +half-way up the gallery stairs, whence his feeble voice, with a +good <i>tremolo</i>, used to sound like the distant baaing of a +sheep. It was a strange and curious performance.</p> +<p>Miss Rawnsley, of Raithby Hall, Spilsby, gives some delightful +reminiscences of a most original specimen of the race of clerks, +old Haw, who officiated at Halton Holgate, Lincolnshire. He was a +curious mixture of worldly wisdom and strong religious feeling. The +former was exemplified by his greeting to a cousin of my +correspondent, just returned from his ordination.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-237"></a>[pg 237]</span> +<p>He said, "Now, Mr. Hardwick, remember thou must creep an' crawl +along the 'edge bottoms, and then tha'ill make thee a bishop."</p> +<p>He was a strong advocate of Fasting Communion. No one ever knew +whence he derived his strong views on the subject. The rector never +taught it. Probably his ideas were derived from some long lingering +tradition. When over seventy years of age he set out fasting to +walk six miles to attend a late celebration at a distant church on +the occasion of its consecration. Nothing would ever induce him to +break his fast before communicating; and on this occasion he was +picked up in a dead faint, his journey being only half +completed.</p> +<p>On Wednesdays and Fridays he always went into the church at +eleven o'clock and said the Litany aloud. When asked his reason, he +said, "I've gotten an ungodly wife and two ungodly bairns to pray +for, sir." He once asked one of the rector's daughters to help him +in the <i>Parody</i> of the Psalms he was making; and on another +occasion requested to have the old altar-cloth, which had just been +replaced by a new one, "to make a slop to dig the graves in, and no +sacrilege neither."</p> +<p>At Sutton Maddock, Shropshire, there was a clerk who used to +read "<i>Pe</i>-li-<i>can</i> in the wilderness," and the usual +"<i>Howl</i> in the <i>De</i>sart," and "Teach the <i>Se</i>nators +wisdom," and when the Litany was said on Wednesdays and Fridays +declared that it was not in his Prayer Book though he took part in +it every Sunday. When a kind lady, Miss Barnfield, expressed a wish +that his wife would get better, he replied, "I hope her will or +<i>summat</i>."</p> +<p>At Claverley, in the same county, on one Sunday, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-238"></a>[pg 238]</span> rector +told the clerk to give notice that there would be no service that +afternoon, adding <i>sotto voce</i>, "I am going to dine at the +Paper Mill." He was rather disgusted when the clerk announced, +"There will be no Diving Service this arternoon, the Parson is +going to dine at the Peaper Mill." The clerk was no respecter of +persons, and once marched up to the rector's wife in church and +told her to keep her eyes from beholding vanity.</p> +<p>The Rev. F.A. Davis tells me of a story of an illiterate clerk +who served in a Wiltshire church, where a cousin of my informant +was vicar. A London clergyman, who had never preached or been in a +country church before, came to take the duty. He was anxious to +find out if the people listened or understood sermons. His Sunday +morning discourse was based on the text St. Mark v. 1-17, +containing the account of the healing of the demoniacally possessed +persons at Gadara, and the destruction of the herd of swine. On the +Monday he asked the clerk if he understood the sermon. The clerk +replied somewhat doubtfully, "Yes." "But is there anything you do +not quite understand?" said the clergyman; "I shall be only too +glad to explain anything I can, so as to help you." After a good +deal of scratching the back of his head and much hesitating, the +clerk replied, "Who paid for them pigs?"</p> +<br> +<a name="image33.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image33.jpg"><img src= +"images/image33.jpg" width="25%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>William Hinton, A Wiltshire Worthy</b><br> +Drawn By The Rev. Julian Charles Young</p> +<br> +<p>Many examples I have given of the dry humour of old clerks, +which is sometimes rather disconcerting. A stranger was taking the +duty in a church, and after service made a few remarks about the +weather, asserting that it promised to be a fine day for the +haymaking to-morrow. "Ah, sir," replied the clerk, "they do say +that the hypocrites can discern the face of the sky."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-239"></a>[pg 239]</span> +<p>The Rev. Julian Charles Young, rector of Ilmington, in his +<i>Memoir of Charles Mayne Young, Tragedian</i>, published in 1871, +speaks of the race of parish clerks who flourished in Wiltshire in +the first half of the last century. Instead of a nice +discrimination being exercised in the choice of a clerk, it seems +to have been the rule to select the sorriest driveller that could +be found--some "lean and slippered pantaloon, with spectacles on +nose and pouch at side,"</p> +<blockquote>"triumphant over time,<br> +And over tune, and over rhyme"--</blockquote> +<p>who by his snivelling enunciation of the responses and his nasal +drawlings of the A--mens, was sure to provoke the risibility of his +hearers. Mr. Young's own clerk was, however, a very worthy man, of +such lofty aspirations and of such blameless purity of life, that +in making him Nature made the very ideal of a village clerk and +schoolmaster, and then "broke the mould." His grave yet kindly +countenance, his well-proportioned limbs encased in breeches and +gaiters of corded kerseymere, and the natural dignity of his +carriage, combined "to give the world assurance of" a bishop rather +than a clerk. It needed familiarity with his inner life to know how +much simpleness of purpose and simplicity of mind and contentment +and piety lay hid under a pompous exterior and a phraseology +somewhat stilted.</p> +<p>His name was William Hinton, and he dwelt in a small whitewashed +cottage which, by virtue of his situation as schoolmaster, he +enjoyed rent free. It stood in the heart of a small but +well-stocked kitchen garden. His salary was £40 per annum, +and on this, with perhaps £5 a year more derived from church +fees, he brought up five children in the greatest respectability, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-240"></a>[pg 240]</span> all of +whom did well in life. They regarded their father with absolute +veneration. By the side of the labourer who only knew what he had +taught him, or of the farmer who knew less, he was a giant among +pygmies--a Triton among minnows.</p> +<p>When Mr. Young went to the village, with the exception of a +Bible, a Prayer Book, a random tract or two, and a <i>Moore's +Almanac</i>, there was scarcely a book to be found in it. The +rector kindly allowed his clerk the run of his well-stocked +library. Hinton devoured the books greedily. So receptive and +imitative was his intellect that his conversation, his deportment, +even his spirit, became imbued with the individuality of the author +whose writings he had been studying. After reading Dr. Johnson's +works his conversation became sententious and dogmatic. <i>Lord +Chesterfield's Letters</i> produced an airiness and jauntiness that +were quite foreign to his nature. His favourite authors were Jeremy +Taylor, Bacon, and Milton. After many months reverential communion +with these Goliaths of literature he became pensive and +contemplative, and his manner more chastened and severe. The +secluded village in which he dwelt had been his birthplace, and +there he remained to the day of his death. He knew nothing of the +outer world, and the rector found his intercourse with a man so +original, fresh, and untainted a real pleasure. He was physically +timid, and the account of a voyage across the Channel or a journey +by coach filled him with dread. One day he said to Mr. Young, "Am +I, reverend sir, to understand that you voluntarily trust your +perishable body to the outside of a vehicle, of the soundness of +which you know nothing, and suffer yourself to be drawn to and fro +by four strange animals, of whose temper you are ignorant, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-241"></a>[pg 241]</span> and +are willing to be driven by a coachman of whose capacity and +sobriety you are uninformed?" On being assured that such was the +case, he concluded that "the love of risk and adventure must be a +very widely-spread instinct, seeing that so many people are ready +to expose themselves to such fearful casualties." He was grateful +to think that he had never been exposed to such terrific hazards. +What the worthy clerk would have said concerning the risks of +motoring somewhat baffles imagination.</p> +<p>When just before the opening of the Great Western Railway line +the Company ran a coach through the village from Bath to Swindon, +the clerk witnessed with his own eyes the dangers of travelling. +The school children were marshalled in line to welcome the coach, +bouquets of laurestina and chrysanthema were ready to be bestowed +on the passengers, the church bells rang gaily, when after long +waiting the cheery notes of the key-bugle sounded the familiar +strains of "Sodger Laddie," and the steaming steeds hove in sight, +an accident occurred. At a sharp turn just opposite the clerk's +house the swaying coach overturned, and the outside passengers were +thrown into the midst of his much-prized ash-leaf kidneys. The +clerk fled precipitately to the extreme borders of his domain, and +afterwards said to the rector, "Ah, sir, was I right in saying I +would never enter such a dangerous carriage as a four-horse coach? +I assure you I was not the least surprised. It was just what I +expected."</p> +<p>When the first railway train passed through the village he was +overwhelmed with emotion at the sight. He fell prostrate on the +bank as if struck by a thunder-bolt. When he stood up his brain +reeled, he was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-242"></a>[pg +242]</span> speechless, and stood aghast, unutterable amazement +stamped upon his face. In the tone of a Jeremiah he at length +gasped out, "Well, sir, what a sight to have seen: but one I never +care to see again! How awful! I tremble to think of it! I don't +know what to compare it to, unless it be to a messenger despatched +from the infernal regions with a commission to spread desolation +and destruction over the fair land. How much longer shall knowledge +be allowed to go on increasing?"</p> +<p>The rector taught the clerk how to play chess, to which game he +took eagerly, and taught it to the village youths. They played it +on half-holidays in winter and became engrossed in it, +manufacturing chess-boards out of old book-covers and carving very +creditable chessmen out of bits of wood. When he was playing with +his rector one evening he lost his queen and at once resigned, +saying, "I consider, reverend sir, that chess without a queen is +like life without a female."</p> +<p>Hinton knew not a word of Latin, but he had a pedantic pleasure +in introducing it whenever he could. Genders were ever a mystery to +him, though with the help of a dictionary he would often substitute +a Latin for an English word. Thus he used the signatures "Gulielmus +Hintoniensis, Rusticus Sacrista," and when writing to Mrs. Young he +always addressed her as "Charus Domina." On this lady's return +after a long absence, the clerk wrote in large letters, "Gratus, +gratus, optatus," and dated his greeting, "Martius quinta, 1842." A +funeral notice was usually sent in doggerel.</p> +<p>The following letter was sent to the rector's unmarried +sister:</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-243"></a>[pg 243]</span> +<blockquote>"<i>Januarius Prima</i>, 1840.<br> +<br> +"CHARUS DOMINA,</blockquote> +<p>"That the humble Sacrista should be still retained on the +tablets of your memory is an unexpected pleasure. Your gift, as a +criterion of your esteem, will be often looked at with delight, and +be carefully preserved, as a memorial of your friendship; and for +which I beg to return my sincere thanks. May the meridian sunshine +of happiness brighten your days through the voyage of life; and may +your soul be borne on the wings of seraphic angels to the realms of +bliss eternal in the world to come is the sincere wish and fervent +prayer of Charus Domina, your most obedient, most respectful, most +obliged servant,</p> +<blockquote>"GULIELMUS HINTONIENSIS,<br> +<br> +"<i>Rusticus Sacrista</i>.<br> +"GRATITUDE<br> +<br> +"A gift from the virtuous, the fair, and the good,<br> + From the affluent to the humble and low,<br> +Is a favour so great, so obliging and kind,<br> + To acknowledge I scarcely know how.<br> +I fain would express the sensations I feel,<br> + By imploring the blessing of Heaven<br> +May be showered on the lovely, the amiable maid,<br> + Who this gift to Sacrista has given.<br> +May the choicest of husbands, the best of his kind,<br> + Be hers by the appointment of Heaven!<br> +And may sweet smiling infants as pledges of love<br> + To crown her connubium be given."</blockquote> +<p>The following is a characteristic note of this worthy clerk, +which differs somewhat from the notices usually sent to vicars as +reminders of approaching weddings:</p> +<p>"REV. SIR,</p> +<p>"I hope it has not escaped your memory that the young couple at +Clack are hoping to offer incense at the shrine of Venus this +morning at the hour of ten. I anticipate the bridegrooms's +anxiety.</p> +<p>"RUSTICUS SACRISTA."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-244"></a>[pg 244]</span> +<p>He was somewhat curious on the subject of fashionable ladies' +dresses, and once asked the rector "in what guise feminine +respectability usually appeared at an evening party?" When a low +dress was described to him, he blushed and shivered and exclaimed, +"Then methinks, sir, there must be revelations of much which +modesty would gladly veil." He was terribly overcome on one +occasion when he met in the rector's drawing-room one evening some +ladies who were attired, as any other gentlewomen would be, in low +gowns.</p> +<p>William Hinton was, in spite of his air of importance and his +inflated phraseology, a simple, single-minded, humble soul. When +the rector visited him on his death-bed, he greeted Mr. Young with +as much serenity of manner as if he had been only going on a +journey to a far country for which he had long been preparing. +"Well, reverend and dear sir. Here we are, you see! come to the +nightcap scene at last! Doubtless you can discern that I am dying. +I am not afraid to die. I wish your prayers.... I say I am not +afraid to die, and you know why. Because I know in whom I have +believed; and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I +have committed unto Him against that day." A little later he said, +"Thanks, reverend sir! Thanks for much goodwill! Thanks for much +happy intercourse! For nearly seven years we have been friends +here. I trust we shall be still better friends hereafter. I shall +not see you again on this side Jordan. I fear not to cross over. +Good-bye. My Joshua beckons me. The Promised Land is in sight."</p> +<p>This worthy and much-mourned clerk was buried on 5 July, +1843.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-245"></a>[pg 245]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> +<h3>THE CLERK AND THE LAW</h3> +<br> +<p>The parish clerk is so important a person that divers laws have +been framed relating to his office. His appointment, his rights, +his dismissal are so closely regulated by law that incumbents and +churchwardens have to be very careful lest they in any way +transgress the legal enactments and judgments of the courts. It is +not an easy matter to dismiss an undesirable clerk: it is almost as +difficult as to disturb the parson's freehold; and unless the clerk +be found guilty of grievous faults, he may laugh to scorn the +malice of his enemies and retain his office while life lasts.</p> +<p>It may be useful, therefore, to devote a chapter to the laws +relating to parish clerks--a chapter which some of my readers who +have no liking for legal technicalities can well afford to +skip.</p> +<p>As regards his qualifications the clerk must be at least twenty +years of age, and known to the parson as a man of honest +conversation, and sufficient for his reading, writing, and for his +competent skill in singing, "if it may be <a name= +"FNanchor85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85">[85]</a>." The visitation +articles of the seventeenth century frequently inquire whether the +clerk be of the age of twenty years at least.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_85"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor85">[85]</a> Canon 91 (1603).</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-246"></a>[pg 246]</span> +<p>The method of his appointment has caused much disputing. With +whom does the appointment rest? In former times the parish clerk +was always nominated by the incumbent both by common law and the +custom of the realm. This is borne out by the constitution of +Archbishop Boniface and the 91st Canon, which states that "No +parish clerk upon any vacation shall be chosen within the city of +London or elsewhere, but by the parson or vicar: or where there is +no parson or vicar, by the minister of that place for the time +being; which choice shall be signified by the said minister, vicar +or parson, to the parishioners the next Sunday following, in the +time of Divine Service."</p> +<p>But this arrangement has often been the subject of dispute +between the parson and his flock as to the right of the former to +appoint the clerk. In pre-Reformation times there was a diversity +of practice, some parishioners claiming the right to elect the +clerk, as they provided the offerings by which he lived. A terrible +scene occurred in the fourteenth century at one church. The +parishioners appointed a clerk, and the rector selected another. +The rector was celebrating Mass, assisted by his clerk, when the +people's candidate approached the altar and nearly murdered his +rival, so that blood was shed in the sanctuary.</p> +<p>Custom in many churches sanctioned the right of the +parishioners, who sometimes neglected to exercise it, and the +choice of clerk was left to the vicar. The visitations in the time +of Elizabeth show that the people were expected to appoint to the +office, but the episcopal inquiries also demonstrate that the +parson or vicar could exercise a veto, and that no one could be +chosen without his goodwill and consent.</p> +<p>The canon of 1603 was an attempt to change this <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-247"></a>[pg 247]</span> variety of usage, +but such is the force of custom that many decisions of the +spiritual courts have been against the canon and in favour of +accustomed usage when such could be proved. It was so in the case +of <i>Cundict</i> v. <i>Plomer</i> (8 Jac. I) <a name= +"FNanchor86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86">[86]</a>, and in +<i>Jermyn's Case</i> (21 Jac. I).</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_86"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor86">[86]</a> <i>Ecclesiastical Law</i>, Sir R. +Phillimore, p. 1901.</blockquote> +<p>At the present time such disputes with regard to the appointment +of clerks are unlikely to arise. They are usually elected to their +office by the vestry, and the person recommended by the vicar is +generally appointed. Indeed, by the Act 7 & 8 Victoria, c. 49, +"for better regulating the office of Lecturers and Parish Clerks," +it is provided that when the appointment is by others than the +parson, it is to be subject to the approval of the parson. Owing to +the difficulty of dismissing a clerk, to which I shall presently +refer, it is not unusual to appoint a gentleman or farmer to the +office, and to nominate a deputy to discharge the actual duties. If +we may look forward to a revival of the office and to a restoration +of its ancient dignity and importance, it might be possible for the +more highly educated man to perform the chief functions, the +reading the lessons and epistle, serving at the altar, and other +like duties, while his deputy could perform the more menial +functions, opening the church, ringing the bell, digging graves, if +there be no sexton, and the like.</p> +<p>It is not absolutely necessary that the clerk, after having been +chosen and appointed, should be licensed by the ordinary, but this +is not unusual; and when licensed he is sworn to obey the incumbent +of the parish <a name="FNanchor87"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_87">[87]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_87"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor87">[87]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 1902.</blockquote> +<p>We have recorded some of the perquisites, fees and <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-248"></a>[pg 248]</span> wages, which the +clerk of ancient times was accustomed to receive when he had been +duly appointed. No longer does he receive accustomed alms by reason +of his office of <i>aquæbajalus</i>. No longer does he derive +profit from bearing the holy loaf; and the cakes and eggs at +Easter, and certain sheaves at harvest-tide, are perquisites of the +past.</p> +<p>The following were the accustomed wages of the clerk at +Rempstone in the year 1629 <a name="FNanchor88"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_88">[88]</a>:</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_88"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor88">[88]</a> <i>The Clerks' Book</i>, Dr. Wickham Legg, +lv.</blockquote> +<blockquote>"22nd November, 1629.<br> +<br> +"The wages of the Clarke of the Parish Church of Rempstone. At +Easter yearely he is to have of every Husbandman one pennie for +every yard land he hath in occupation. And of every Cottager two +pence.<br> +<br> +"Furthermore he is to have for every yard land one peche of Barley +of the Husbandman yearely.<br> +<br> +"Egges at Easter by Courtesie.<br> +<br> +"For every marriage two pence. And at the churching of a woman his +dinner.<br> +<br> +"The said Barley is to be payed between Christmasse and the Feast +of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary."</blockquote> +<p>Clerk's Ales have vanished, too, together with the cakes and +eggs, but his fees remain, and marriage bells and funeral knells, +christenings and churchings bring to him the accustomed dues and +offerings. Tables of Fees hang in most churches. It is important to +have them in order that no dispute may arise. The following table +appears in the parish books of Salehurst, Sussex, and is curious +and interesting:</p> +<blockquote>"April 18, 1597.<br> +<br> +"Memorandum that the duties for Churchinge of women in the parishe +of Salehurst is unto the minister ix d. 0 b. and unto the Clarke ij +d.<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-249"></a>[pg 249]</span> "Item +the due unto the minister for a marriadge is xxj d. And unto the +Clarke ij d. the Banes, and iiij d. the marriadge.</blockquote> +<blockquote>"Item due for burialls as followeth<br> + To the Minister in the Chancell . +. xiii s. iiij +d.<br> + To the Clarke in the Chancell . +. vi +s. viiij d.<br> + To the Parish in the Church . . +. vi +s. viii d.<br> + To the Clarke in the Church . . +. v +s. o d.<br> + To the Clarke in the churchyard for great<br> + coffins . . . . . . +. ii +s. vi d.<br> + For great Corses uncoffined . . +. ii +s. o d.<br> + For Chrisomers and such like coffined +. i s. iiii d.<br> + And uncoffined . . . . +. xij +d.<br> + For tolling the passing bell and houre +. i s.<br> + For ringing the sermon bell an houre +. i +s. 0 d.<br> + To the Clarke for carrying the beere +. +iiij d.<br> + If it be fetched . . . . +. +ij d.</blockquote> +<blockquote>"Item for funerals the Minister is to have the mourning +pullpit Cloth and the Clarke the herst Cloth.<br> +<br> +"Item the Minister hathe ever chosen the parishe Clarke and one of +the Churchwardens and bothe the Sydemen.<br> +<br> +"Item if they bring a beere or poles with the corps the Clarke is +to have them.<br> +<br> +"If any Corps goe out of the parish they are to pay double dutyes +and to have leave.<br> +<br> +"If any Corps come out of another parish to be buryed here, they +are to pay double dutyes besides breakinge the ground; which is +xiij s. 4 d. in the church, and vi s. viii d. in the +churchyard.<br> +<br> +"For marryage by licence double fees both to the Minister and +Clarke <a name="FNanchor89"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_89">[89]</a>."</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_89"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor89">[89]</a> <i>Sussex Archæological +Collections</i>, 1873, vol. xxv. p. 154.</blockquote> +<p>In addition to the fees to which the clerk is entitled by +long-established custom, he receives wages, which he can recover by +law if he be unjustly deprived of them. Churchwardens who in the +old days neglected to levy a church rate in order to pay the +expenses of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-250"></a>[pg +250]</span> the parish and the salary of the clerk, have been +compelled by law to do so, in order to satisfy the clerk's +claims.</p> +<p>The wages which he received varied considerably. The +churchwardens' accounts reveal the amounts paid the holders of the +office at different periods. At St. Mary's, Reading, there are the +items in 1557:</p> +<blockquote>"Imprimis the Rent of the Clerke's<br> +howse . . . . . +. +vi s. viii d."<br> +<br> +"Paid to Marshall (the clerk) for parcell of<br> +his wages that he was unpaide . +. +v s."</blockquote> +<p>In 1561 the clerk's wages were 40 s., in 1586 only 20 s. At St. +Giles's, Reading, in 1520, he received 26 s. 8 d., as the following +entry shows:</p> +<blockquote>"Paid to Harry Water Clerk for his<br> +wage for a yere ended at thannacon<br> +(the Annunciation) of Our Lady. xxvi s. viii."</blockquote> +<p>The clerk at St. Lawrence, Reading, received 20 s. for his +services in 1547. Owing to the decrease in the value of money the +wages gradually rose in town churches, but in the eighteenth +century in many country places 10 s. was deemed sufficient. The sum +of £10 is not an unusual wage at the present time for a +village clerk.</p> +<p>The dismissal of a parish clerk was a somewhat difficult and +dangerous task. In the eyes of the law he is no menial servant--no +labourer who can be discharged if he fail to please his master. The +law regards him as an officer for life, and one who has a freehold +in his place. Sixty years ago no ecclesiastical court could deprive +him of his office, but he could be censured for his faults and +misdemeanours, though not discharged. Several cases have appeared +in the law <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-251"></a>[pg +251]</span> courts which have decided that as long as a clerk +behaves himself well, he has a good right and title to continue in +his office. Thus in <i>Rex</i> v. <i>Erasmus Warren</i> (16 Geo. +III) it was shown that the clerk became bankrupt, had been guilty +of many omissions in his office, was actually in prison at the time +of his amoval, and had appointed a deputy who was totally unfit for +the office. Against which it was insisted that the office of parish +clerk was a temporal office during life, that the parson could not +remove him, and that he had a right to appoint a deputy. One of the +judges stated that though the minister might have power of removing +the clerk on a good and sufficient cause, he could never be the +sole judge and remove him at pleasure, without being subject to the +control of the court. No misbehaviour of consequence was proved +against him, and the clerk was restored to his office.</p> +<p>In a more recent case the clerk had conducted himself on several +occasions by designedly irreverent and ridiculous behaviour in his +performance of his duty. He had appeared in church drunk, and had +indecently disturbed the congregation during the administration of +Holy Communion. He had been repeatedly reproved by the vicar, and +finally removed from his office. But the court decided that because +the clerk had not been summoned to answer for his conduct before +his removal, a mandamus should be issued for his restoration to his +office <a name="FNanchor90"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_90">[90]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_90"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor90">[90]</a> <i>Ecclesiastical Law</i>, Sir R. +Phillimore, p. 1907.</blockquote> +<p>No deputy clerk when removed can claim to be restored. It will +be gathered, therefore, that an incumbent is compelled by law to +restore a clerk removed by him without just cause, that the justice +of the cause is not determined in the law courts by an +<i>ex-parte</i> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-252"></a>[pg +252]</span> statement of the incumbent, and that an accused clerk +must have an opportunity of answering the charges made against him. +If a man performs the duties of the office for one year he gains a +settlement, and cannot afterwards be removed without just +cause.</p> +<p>An important Act was passed in 1844, to which I have already +referred, for the better regulating the office of lecturers and +parish clerks. Sections 5 and 6 of this Act bear directly on the +method of removal of a clerk who may be guilty of neglect or +misbehaviour. I will endeavour to divest the wording of the Act +from legal technicalities, and write it in "plain English."</p> +<p>If a complaint is made to the archdeacon, or other ordinary, +with regard to the misconduct of a clerk, stating that he is an +unfit and improper person to hold that office, the archdeacon may +summon the clerk and call witnesses who shall be able to give +evidence or information with regard to the charges made. He can +examine these witnesses upon oath, and hear and determine the truth +of the accusations which have been made against the clerk. If he +should find these charges proved he may suspend or remove the +offender from his office, and give a certificate under his hand and +seal to the incumbent, declaring the office vacant, which +certificate should be affixed to the door of the church. Then +another person may be elected or appointed to the vacant office: +"Provided always, that the exercise of such office by a sufficient +deputy who shall duly and faithfully perform the duties thereof, +and in all respects well and properly demean himself, shall not be +deemed a wilful neglect of his office on the part of such church +clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk, so as to render him liable, +for such cause alone, to be suspended or removed therefrom."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-253"></a>[pg 253]</span> +<p>A special section of the Act deals with such possessions as +clerks' houses, buildings, lands or premises, held by a clerk by +virtue of his office. If, when deprived of his office, he should +refuse to give up such buildings or possessions, the matter must be +brought before the bishop of the diocese, who shall summon the +clerk to appear before him. If he fail to appear, or if the bishop +should decide against him, the bishop shall grant a certificate of +the facts to the person or persons entitled to the possession of +the land or premises, who may thereupon go before a justice of the +peace. The magistrate shall then issue his warrant to the +constables to expel the clerk from the premises, and to hand them +over to the rightful owners, the cost of executing the warrant +being levied upon the goods and chattels of the expelled clerk. If +this cost should be disputed, it shall be determined by the +magistrate. Happily few cases arise, but perhaps it is well to know +the procedure which the law lays down for the carrying out of such +troublesome matters.</p> +<p>The law also takes cognizance of the humbler office of sexton, +the duties of which are usually combined in country places with +those of the parish clerk. The sexton is, of course, the sacristan, +the keeper of the holy things relating to divine worship, and seems +to correspond with the <i>ostarius</i> in the Roman Church. His +duties consist in the care of the church, the vestments and +vessels, in keeping the church clean, in ringing the bells, in +opening and closing the doors for divine service, and to these the +task of digging graves and the care of the churchyard are also +added. He is appointed by the churchwardens if his duties be +confined to the church, but if he is employed in the churchyard the +appointment is vested in the rector. If <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-254"></a>[pg 254]</span> his duties embrace +the care of both church and churchyard, he should be appointed by +the churchwardens and incumbent jointly <a name= +"FNanchor91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91">[91]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_91"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor91">[91]</a> <i>Ecclesiastical Law</i>, p. +1914.</blockquote> +<p>Many cases have come before the law courts relating to sextons +and their election and appointment. He does not usually hold the +same fixity of tenure as the parish clerk, he being a servant of +the parish rather than an officer or one that has a freehold in his +place; but in some cases a sexton has determined his right to hold +the office for life, and gained a mandamus from the court to be +restored to his position after having been removed by the +churchwardens.</p> +<p>The law has also decided that women may be appointed +sextons.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-255"></a>[pg 255]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> +<h3>RECOLLECTIONS OF OLD CLERKS AND THEIR WAYS</h3> +<br> +<p>Personal recollections of the manners and curious ways of old +village clerks are valuable, and several writers have kindly +favoured me with the descriptions of these quaint personages, who +were well known to them in the days of their youth.</p> +<p>The clerk of a Midland village was an old man who combined with +his sacred functions the secular calling of the keeper of the +village inn. He was very deaf, and consequently spoke in a loud, +harsh voice, and scraps of conversation which were heard in the +squire's high square box pew occasioned much amusement among the +squire's sons. The Rev. W.V. Vickers records the following +incidents:</p> +<p>It was "Sacrament Sunday," and part of the clerk's duty was to +prepare the Elements in the vestry, which was under the western +tower. Apparently the wine was not forthcoming when wanted, and we +heard the following stage-aside in broad Staffordshire: "Weir's the +bottle? Oh! 'ere it is, under the teeble (table) all the +whoile."</p> +<p>Another part of his duty was to sing in the choir, for which +purpose he used to leave the lower deck of the three-decker and +hobble with his heavy oak stick to <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-256"></a>[pg 256]</span> the chancel for the canticles and +hymns, and having swelled the volume of praise, hobble back again, +a pause being made for his journey both to and fro. Not only did he +sing in the choir but he gave out the hymns. This he did in a +peculiar sing-song voice with up-and-down cadences: "Let us sing +(low) to the praise (high) and glory (low) of God (high) the +hundredth (low) psalm (high)." Very much the same intonation +accompanied his reading of the alternate verses of the Psalms.</p> +<p>On one occasion a locum tenens, who officiated for a few weeks, +was <i>stone</i> deaf. Hence a difficulty arose in his knowing when +our worthy, and the congregation, had finished each response or +verse. This the clerk got over by keeping one hand well forward +upon his book and raising the fingers as he came to the close. This +was the signal to the deaf man above him that it was <i>his</i> +turn! The old man, by half sitting upon a table in the belfry, +could chime the four bells. It was his habit, instead of going by +his watch, to look out for the first appearance of my father's +carriage (an old-fashioned "britska," I believe it was called, with +yellow body and wheels and large black hood, and so very +conspicuous) at a certain part of the road, and then, and not till +then, commence chiming. It was a compliment to my father's +punctuality; but what happened when, by chance, he failed to attend +church I know not--but such occasions were rare <a name= +"FNanchor92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92">[92]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_92"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor92">[92]</a> In olden days it seems to have been the +usual practice in many churches to delay service until the advent +of the squire. Every one knows the old story of how, through some +inadvertence, the minister had not looked out to see that the great +man was in his accustomed pew. He began, "When the wicked man--" +The parish clerk tugged him by his coat, saying, "Please, sir, he +hasn't come yet!" As to whether the clergyman took the hint and +waited for "the wicked man" history sayeth not. Another clerk told +a young deacon, who was impatient to begin the service, "You must +wait a bit, sir, we ain't ready." He then clambered on the +Communion table, and peered through the east window, which +commanded a view of the door in the wall of the squire's garden. +"Come down!" shouted the curate. "I can see best where I be," +replied the imperturbable clerk; "I'm watching the garden door. +Here she be, and the squire." Whereupon he clambered down again, +and without much further delay the service proceeded.</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-257"></a>[pg 257]</span> +<p>Our <i>parish</i> church we seldom attended, for the simple +reason that the aged vicar was scarcely audible; but there the +clerk, after robing the vicar, mounted to the gallery above the +vestry, where, taking a front seat, he watched for the exit of the +vicar (whose habit it was to wait for the young men, who also +waited in the church porch for him to begin the service!), and +then, taking his seat at the organ, commenced the voluntary. It was +his duty also to give out the hymns. I have known him play an +eight-line tune to a four-line verse (or psalm--we used Tate and +Brady), repeating the words of each verse twice!</p> +<p>The organ produced the most curious sounds. In course of time +the mice got into it, and the churchwardens, of whom the clerk was +one, approached the vicar with the information, at the same time +venturing a hint that the organ was quite worn out and that a +harmonium would be more acceptable to the congregation than the +present music. His reply was that a harmonium was not a +sufficiently sacred instrument, and added, "Let a mouse-trap be set +at once." #/</p> +<p>Robert Dicker, quondam cabinet-maker in the town of Crediton, +Devon, reigned for many years as parish clerk to the, at one time, +collegiate church of the same town. He appears to have fulfilled +his office satisfactorily up to about 1870, when his mind became +somewhat <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-258"></a>[pg +258]</span> feeble. Nevertheless, no desire was apparent to shorten +the days of his office, as he was regular in his attendance and +musically inclined; but when he began to play pranks upon the vicar +it became necessary to consider the advisability of finding a +substitute who should do the work and receive half the pay. One of +his escapades was to stand up in the middle of service and call the +vicar a liar; at another time he announced that a wedding was to +take place on a certain day. The vicar, therefore, attended and +waited for an hour, when the clerk affirmed that he must have +dreamed it! Dicker was given to the study of astronomy, and it is +related that he once gave a lecture on this subject in the Public +Rooms. There is close to the town a small park in memory of one of +the Duller family. A man one night was much alarmed when walking +therein to discover a bright light in one of the trees, and, later, +to hear the voice of the worthy clerk, who addressed him in these +words: "Fear not, my friend, and do not be affrighted. I am Robert +Dicker, clerk of the parish. I am examining the stars." Another +account alleges that he affirmed himself to be "counting the +stars." Whichever account is the true one, it will be gathered that +he was already "far gone."</p> +<p>Another of his achievements was the conversion of a barrel +organ, purchased from a neighbouring church, into a manual, +obtaining the wind therefor by a pedal arrangement which worked a +large wheel attached to a crank working the bellows. On all great +festivals and especially on Christmas Day he was wont to rouse the +neighbourhood as early as three and four o'clock, remarking of the +ungrateful, complaining neighbours that they had no heart for music +or religion.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-259"></a>[pg 259]</span> +<p>The wheel mentioned above was part of one of his tricycle +schemes. His first attempt in cycle-making resulted in the +construction of a bicycle the wheels of which resembled the top of +a round deal table; this soon came to grief. His second endeavour +was more successful and became a tricycle, the wheels of which were +made of wrought iron and the base of a triangular shape. Upon the +large end he placed an arm-chair, averring that it would be useful +to rest in whenever he should grow weary! Then, making another +attempt, he succeeded in turning out (being aided by another +person) a very respectable and useful tricycle upon which he made +many journeys to Barnstaple and elsewhere.</p> +<p>However, just as an end comes to everything that is mortal, so +did an end come to our friend the clerk; for, as so many stories +finish, he died in a good old age, and his substitute reigned in +his stead.</p> +<p>The following reminiscences of a parish clerk were sent by the +Rev. Augustus G. Legge, who has since died.</p> +<p>It is reported of an enthusiastic archæologian that he +blessed the day of the Commonwealth because, he said, if Cromwell +and all his destructive followers had never lived, there would have +been no ruins in the country to repay the antiquary's researches. +And the converse of this is true of a race of men who before long +will be "improved" off the face of the earth, if the restoration of +our parish churches is to go on at the present rate. I allude to +the old parish clerks of our boy-hood days. Who does not remember +their quaint figures and quainter, though somewhat irreverent, +manner of leading the responses of the congregation? It is well +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-260"></a>[pg 260]</span> indeed +that our churches, sadly given over to the laxity and carelessness +of a bygone age, should be renovated and beautified, the tone of +the services raised, and the "bray" of the old clerks, unsuited to +the devotional feelings of a more enlightened day, silenced, but +still a shade of regret will be mingled with their dismissal, if +only for the sake of the large stock of amusing anecdotes which +their names recall.</p> +<p>My earliest recollections are connected with old Russell +<a name="FNanchor93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93">[93]</a>, my +father's clerk. He was a little man but possessed of a +consequential manner sufficient for a giant. A shoemaker by trade, +his real element was in the church. His conversation was +embellished by high-flown grandiloquence, and he invariably walked +upon the heels of his boots. This latter peculiarity, as may well +be imagined, was the cause of a most comical effect whenever he had +occasion to leave his seat and clatter down the aisle of the +church. How often when a boy did I make my old nurse's sides shake +with laughter by imitating old Russell's walk! His manner of +reading the responses in the service can only be compared to a kind +of bellow--as my father used to say, "he bellowed like a calf"--and +his rendering of parts of it was calculated to raise a smile upon +the lips of the most devout. The following are a few instances of +his perversions of the text. "Leviathan" under his quaint +manipulation became "leather thing," his trade of shoemaker helping +him, no doubt, to his interpretation. Whether he had ever attended +a fish-dinner at Greenwich and his mind had thus become impressed +with the number and variety of the inhabitants of the deep, history +does not record, but, be that as it may, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-261"></a>[pg 261]</span> "Bring hither the +tabret" was invariably read as "Bring hither the turbot." +"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego" did service for "Ananias, +Azarias, and Misael" in the "Benedicite," and "Destructions are +come to a perpetual end" was transmogrified into "<i>parental</i> +end" in the ninth Psalm. My father once took the trouble to point +out and try to correct some of his inaccuracies, but he never +attempted it again. Old Russell listened attentively and +respectfully, but when the lecture was over he dismissed the +subject with a superior shake of the head and the disdainful +remark, "Well, sir, I have heerd tell of people who think with +you." Never a bit though did he make any change in his own peculiar +rendering of the Bible and Book of Common Prayer.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_93"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor93">[93]</a> Old Russell, for many years clerk of the +parish of East Lavant in the county of Sussex.</blockquote> +<p>There was one occasion on which he especially distinguished +himself, and I shall never forget it. A farmyard of six +outbuildings abutted upon the church burial ground, and it was but +natural that all the fowls should stray into it to feed and enjoy +themselves in the grass. Amongst these was a goodly flock of +guinea-fowls, which oftentimes no little disturbed the congregation +by their peculiar cry of "Come back! come back! come back!" One +Sunday the climax of annoyance was reached when the whole flock +gathered around the west door just as my father was beginning to +read the first lesson. His voice, never at any time very strong, +was completely drowned. Whereupon old Russell hastily left his +seat, book in hand, and clattering as usual on his heels down the +aisle disappeared through the door on vengeance bent. The +discomfiture of the offending fowls was instantly apparent by the +change in their cry to one more piercing still as they fled away in +terror. Then all was still, <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-262"></a>[pg 262]</span> and back comes old Russell, a gleam +of triumph on his face and somewhat out of breath, but nevertheless +able without much difficulty to take up the responses in the +canticle which followed the lesson. Scarcely, however, had the +congregation resumed their seats for the reading of the second +lesson when the offending flock again gathered round the west door, +and again, as if in defiant derision of Russell, raised their +mocking cry of "Come back! come back! come back!" And back +accordingly he went clatter, clatter down the aisle, a stern +resolution flashing from his eye, and causing the little boys as he +passed to quail before him. Now it so happened that the lesson was +a short one, and, moreover, Russell took more time, making a +farther excursion into the churchyard than before, in order if +possible to be rid entirely of the noisy intruders. Just as he +returned to the church door, this time completely breathless, the +first verse of the canticle which followed was being read, but +Russell was equal to the occasion. All breathless as he was, +without a moment's hesitation, he opened his book at the place and +bellowed forth the responses as he proceeded up the church to his +seat. The scene may be imagined, but scarcely described: Russell's +quaint little figure, the broad-rimmed spectacles on his nose, the +ponderous book in his hands, the clatter of his heels, the choking +gasps with which he bellowed out the words as he laboured for +breath, and finally the sudden disappearance of the congregation +beneath the shelter of their high pews with a view to giving vent +to their feelings unobserved--all this requires to have been +witnessed to be fully appreciated.</p> +<p>It chanced one Sunday that a parishioner coming into church +after the service had begun omitted to <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-263"></a>[pg 263]</span> close the door, +causing thereby an unseemly draught. My father directed Russell to +shut it. Accordingly, book in hand and with a thumb between the +leaves to keep the place, he sallied forth. But, alas! in shutting +the door the thumb fell out and the place was lost, and after +floundering about awhile to find, if possible, the proper response, +he at length made known to the congregation the misfortune which +had befallen him by exclaiming aloud, "I've lost my place or +<i>summut</i>."</p> +<p>A very amusing incident once took place at a baptism. The +service proceeded with due decorum and regularity till my father +demanded of the godfather the child's name. The answer was so +indistinctly given that he had to repeat the question more than +once, and even then the name remained a mystery. All he could make +out was something which sounded like "Harmun," the godfather +indignantly asserting the while that it was a "Scriptur" name. In +his perplexity my father turned to Russell with the query: "Clerk, +do you know what the name is?" "No, sir. I'm sure I don't know, +unless it be he at the end of the prayer," meaning "Amen." The +result was that the child was otherwise christened, and after the +ceremony was over my father, placing a Bible in the godfather's +hands, requested him to find the "Scriptur" name, as he called it, +when, having turned over the leaves for some time, he drew his +attention to <i>wicked Haman</i>. The child's escape, therefore, +was most fortunate. Old Russell has now slept with his fathers for +many years, and the few stories which I have related about him do +not by any means exhaust the list of his oddities. Many of the +parishioners to this day, no doubt, will call to mind the quaint +way in which, if he thought any <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-264"></a>[pg 264]</span> one was misbehaving himself in +church, he would rise slowly from his seat with such majesty as his +diminutive stature could command, and shading his spectacles with +his hand, gaze sternly in the offending quarter; how on a certain +Communion Sunday he forgot the wine to be used in the sacred +office, and when my father directed his attention to the omission, +after sundry dives under the altar-cloth he at last produced a +common rush basket, and from it a black bottle; how on another +Sunday, being desirous to free the church from smoke which had +escaped from a refractory stove, he deliberately mounted upon the +altar and remained standing there while he opened a small lattice +in the east window. All these circumstances will, no doubt, be +recalled by some one or other in the parish. But, gentle reader, be +not overharsh in passing judgment upon him. I verily believe that +he had no more desire to be irreverent than you or I have. The +fault lay rather in the religious coldness and carelessness of +those days than in him. He was liked and respected by every one as +a harmless, inoffensive, good-hearted old fellow, and I cannot +better close this brief account of some of his peculiarities than +by saying--as I do with all my heart--Peace to his ashes!</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Mr. Legge's baptismal story reminds me of a friend who was +christening the child of a gipsy, when the name given was "Neptin." +This puzzled him sorely, but suddenly recollecting that he had +baptized another gipsy child "Britannia," without any hesitation he +at once named the infant "Neptune." Mr. Eagles was once puzzled +when the sponsor gave the name "Acts." "'Acts!' said I. 'What do +you mean?' Thinks I to myself, I will <i>ax</i> the clerk to spell +it. He did: <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-265"></a>[pg +265]</span> A-C-T-S. So Acts was the babe, and will be while in +this life, and will be doubly, trebly so registered if ever he +marries or dies. Afterwards, in the vestry, I asked the good woman +what made her choose such a name. Her answer <i>verbatim</i>: 'Why, +sir, we be religious people; we've got your on 'em already, and +they be caal'd Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and so my husband +thought we'd compliment the apostles a bit.'"</p> +<p>Mr. Legge adds the following stories:</p> +<p>My first curacy was in Norfolk in the year 1858, a period when +the old style of parish clerk had not disappeared. On one occasion +I was asked by a friend in a neighbouring parish to take a funeral +service for him. On arriving at the church I was received by a very +eccentric clerk. It seemed as if his legs were hung upon wires, and +before the service began he danced about the church in a most +peculiar and laughable manner, and in addition to this he had a +hideous squint, one eye looking north and the other south. The +service proceeded with due decorum until we arrived at the grave, +when those who were preparing to lower the coffin in it discovered +that it had not been dug large enough to receive it. This of course +created a very awkward pause while it was made larger, and the +chief mourner utilised it by gently remonstrating with the clerk +for his carelessness. In reply he gave a solemn shake of his head, +cast one eye into the grave and the other at the chief mourner, and +merely remarked, "Putty (pretty) nigh though," meaning that the +offence after all was not so very great, as he had almost +accomplished his task. Obliged to keep my countenance, I had, as +may be imagined, some difficulty.</p> +<p>A very amusing incident once took place when I had <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-266"></a>[pg 266]</span> a couple before me +to be married. All went well until I asked the question, "Who +giveth this woman to be married to this man?" when an individual +stepped forward, and snatching the ring out of the bride-groom's +hand, began placing it on a finger of the bride. As all was +confusion I signed to the old clerk to put matters straight. +Attired in a brown coat and leather gaiters, with spectacles on his +nose, and a large Prayer Book in his hands, he came shuffling +forward from the background, exclaiming out loud, "Bless me, bless +me! never knew such a thing happen afore in all my life!" The +service was completed without any further interruption, but again I +had a sore difficulty in keeping my countenance.</p> +<p>Many years ago ecclesiastical matters in Norfolk were in a very +slack state--rectors and vicars lived away from their parishes, +subscribing amongst them to pay the salary of a curate to undertake +the church services. As his duties were consequently manifold some +parishes were without his presence on Sunday for a month and +sometimes longer. The parish clerk would stand outside the church +and watch for the coming parson, and if he saw him in the distance +would immediately begin to toll the bell; if not, the parish was +without a service on that day.</p> +<p>It happened on one of these monthly occasions that on the +arrival of the parson at the church he was met by the clerk at the +door, who, pulling his forelock, addressed him as follows: "Sir, do +yew mind a prachin in the readin' desk to-day?" "Yes," was the +reply; "the pulpit is the proper place." "Well, sir, you see we +fare to have an old guse a-sittin' in the pulpit. She'll be arf her +eggs to-morrow; 'twould be a shame to take her arf to-day."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-267"></a>[pg 267]</span> +<p>The pulpit was considered as convenient a place as any for the +"old guse" to hatch her young in.</p> +<p>Canon Venables contributes the following:</p> +<p>The first parish clerk I can in the least degree remember was +certainly entitled to be regarded as a "character," albeit not in +all moral respects what would be called a moral character. Shrewd, +clever, and better informed than the inhabitants of his little +village of some eighty folk, he was not "looked up to," but was +regarded with suspicion, and, in short, was not popular, while +treated with a certain amount of deference, being a man of some +knowledge and ability. The clergyman was a man of excellent +character, learned, a fluent <i>ex-tempore</i> preacher, and one +who liked the services to be nicely conducted. He came over every +Sunday and ministered two services. In those days the only organ +was a good long pitch-pipe constructed principally of wood and, I +imagine, about twelve inches in length. But upon the parish clerk +devolved the onerous (and it may be added in this case sonorous) +duty of starting the hymn and the singing. In those days few could +read, and the method was adopted (and I know successfully adopted a +few years later) of announcing two lines of the verse to be sung, +and sometimes the whole verse. But Mr. W.M. was unpopular, and +people did not always manifest a willingness to sing with him.</p> +<p>At last a crisis came. The hymn and psalm were announced. The +pitch-pipe rightly adjusted gave the proper keynote, and the clerk +essayed to sing. But from some cause matters were not harmonious +and none attempted to help the clerk.</p> +<p>With a scowl not worthy of a saint, the offended official turned +round upon the congregation and closed <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-268"></a>[pg 268]</span> all further +attempts at psalm-singing by stating clearly and distinctly, "I +shan't sing if nobody don't foller." This man was deposed ere long, +and deservedly, if village suspicions were truthful.</p> +<p>After which, I think, he usually came just inside the church +once every Sunday, but never to get further than to take a seat +close to the door. He died at a great age. Two or three of his +successors were worthy men. One of them would carefully recite the +Psalms for the coming Sunday within church or elsewhere during the +week, and he read with proper feeling and good sense.</p> +<p>Another of the same little parish, well up in his Bible, once +helped the very excellent clergyman at a baptism in a critical +moment. "Name this child." "Zulphur." This was not a correct name. +Another effort, "Sulphur." The clergyman was in difficulty. The +clerk was equal to the occasion, for the parson was well up in his +Bible too.</p> +<p>"Leah's handmaid," suggested the clerk. "Zilpah, I baptize +thee," said the priest, and all was well.</p> +<p>In that church the few farmers who met to levy a poor-rate and +do other parochial work insisted on doing so within the chancel +rails, using the holy table as the writing-desk, and the assigned +reason for so doing was that, being apt to quarrel and dispute over +parish matters, there would be no danger <i>at such a place</i> as +this of using profane language. All in the diocese of Oxford.</p> +<p>It was in the twenties that I must have seen old P.W. (the +parish clerk) and two other men in the desk singing to "Hanover," +with a certain apparent self-complacency in nice smock-frocks, "My +soul, praise the Lord, speak good of His Name," etc. The little +congregation <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-269"></a>[pg +269]</span> listened with seeming contentment, and it is worth +recording that the parson always preached in the surplice. I +suppose Pusey was a boy at that time, but the custom in this church +was not a novelty, whether right or wrong.</p> +<p>It was not the clerk's fault that the hour of service was +hastened by some seventy minutes one afternoon, so that one or two +invariably late worshippers were astounded to be driven backwards +from the church by the congregation returning from service. But so +it was. The really well-meaning kind-hearted parson was withal a +keen sportsman and a worthy gentleman, and with his "long dogs" and +man was on his horse and away for Illsley Downs race course to come +off next day, and his dogs (they won) must not be fatigued. Old +P.W., the clerk, reached a good age, an inoffensive man.</p> +<p>I was rather interested when residing in my parish in grand old +Yorkshire to observe two steady-looking and rather elderly men, +each aided by a strong walking-stick, coming to church with +praiseworthy regularity and reverence. I found, on making their +acquaintance, that they were brothers who had recently come into +the parish, natives of "the Peak," or of the locality near the +Peak, which was not many miles distant from my parish.</p> +<p>Since I heard from their lips the story which I am about to +relate, I have heard it told, <i>mutatis mutandis</i>, as happening +in sundry other parishes, until one rather doubts the genuineness +of the record at all. But as they recounted it it ran as follows, +and I am sure they believed what they told me.</p> +<p>Some malicious person or persons unknown entered the church, and +having seized the rather large typed <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-270"></a>[pg 270]</span> Prayer Book used by the clerk, who +was somewhat advanced in years, they observed that the words "the +righteous shall flourish like" were the last words at the bottom of +the page, whereupon they altered the next words on the top of the +following page, and which were "the palm tree," into "a green bay +horse"; and, the change being carefully made, the result on the +Sunday following was that the well-meaning clerk, studiously +uttering each word of his Prayer Book, found himself declaring very +erroneous doctrine. "Hulloa," cried he; "I must hearken back. +This'll never do." Now I cannot call to mind the name of the +parish. It was not Chapel-in-the-Frith. Was it +Mottram-in-Longdendale? I really cannot remember. But these two old +men asserted that thenceforward it became a saying, "I must hearken +back, like the clerk of--."</p> +<p>I recollect preaching one weekday night (and people would crowd +the churches on weekday evenings fifty years ago far more readily +than they do now) at some wild place in Lancashire or Yorkshire, I +think Lancashire. I was taken to see and stand upon a stepping +stone outside the church, and close against the south wall of the +sacred edifice, upon which almost every Sunday the clerk, as the +people were leaving church, ascended and in a loud voice announced +any matters concerning the parish which it appeared desirable to +proclaim. In this way any intended sales were made known, the loss +of sheep or cattle on the moors was announced, and almost anything +appertaining to the secular welfare of the parishioners was made +public. I do not state this to criticise it. It was in some degree +a recognition of the charity which ought to realise the sympathy in +each other's welfare which we ought all to display. It was in those +primitive times and localities <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-271"></a>[pg 271]</span> a specimen of the simplicity and +well-meant interest in the welfare of the neighbour as well as of +oneself, although perhaps the secular sometimes did much to +extinguish the spiritual.</p> +<br> +<a name="image34.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image34.jpg"><img src= +"images/image34.jpg" width="100%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Sunday Morning</b><br> +From a photograph by Messrs. W.A. Mansell and Co</p> +<br> +<p>Few people now realise what a business it was to light up a +church, say, eighty years ago. But the worthy old clerk, in a wig +bestowed on him by the pious and aged patron, is hastening to +illuminate his church with old-fashioned candles, in which he is +aided not a little by his faithful wife, who, like Abraham's wife, +regarded her husband as her lord and responded to the name of +Sarah. The good old man--and he was a good old man--was perhaps a +little bit "flustered and flurried," for the folk were gathering +within the sacred temple, and W.L. was anxious to complete his task +of lighting the loft, or gallery. "I say, Sally, hand us up a +little taste of candle," cried her lord, and Sarah obeyed, and the +illumination was soon complete.</p> +<p>But, really, few men "gave out" or announced a hymn with truer +and more touching and devout feeling than did that old clerk. I am +one of those who do not think that all the changes in the +ministration of Church services are, after experience had, +desirable. I think that in many instances the lay clerk ought to +have been instructed in the performance of his duties, to the +profit of all concerned. And I deem that this proceeding would have +been a far wiser proceeding than any substitution of the man or his +function. There is ancient authority for a clerk or clerks. It is +wise to secure work to be attended to in the functions of divine +service for as many laymen as possible, consistent with principle +and propriety. W.L. was an old man when I saw him, but I can hear +him now as with a pathos quite <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-272"></a>[pg 272]</span> touching and teaching, because done +so simply and naturally, he announced, singing:</p> +<blockquote>"Salvation, what a glorious theme,<br> + How suited to our need.<br> +The grace that rescues fallen man<br> + Is wonderful indeed."</blockquote> +<p>And though he pronounced the last word but one as if spelt +"woonderful," I venture to say that the "giving out" of that verse +by that aged clerk with his venerable wig and with a voice +trembling a little by age, but more by natural emotion, was +preferable to many modern modes of announcing a hymn.</p> +<p>It was common to say "Let us sing, to the praise and glory of +God." It is common to be shocked, nowadays, by such an invitation. +Are we as reverent now as then? Do we sing praises with +understanding better? I think it is not so.</p> +<p>I knew a very respectable man, W.K., a tailor by trade, a +well-conducted man, but who felt the importance of his office to an +extent that made him nervous, or (what is as bad) made him fancy he +was nervous. The church was capacious, and the population over two +thousand.</p> +<p>A large three-decker, though the pulpit was at a right angle +with the huge prayer-desk and the clerk's citadel below, well +stained and varnished, formed an important portion of the furniture +of the church, the whole structure, as we were reminded by large +letters above the chancel arch, having been "Adorn'd and beautified +1814," the names of the churchwardens being also recorded. This +clerk was observed frequently, during the service, to stoop down +within his little "pew" as if to imbibe something. He was inquired +of as to his strange proceeding, <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-273"></a>[pg 273]</span> when he frankly stated that he felt +the trials of his duties to be so great, that he always fortified +himself with a little bottle containing some gin and some water, to +which bottle he made frequent appeals during the often rather +lengthy services. He had to proclaim the notices of vestry meetings +of all kinds, as well as to give out the hymns; but what astonishes +me is that he baptized many infants at their homes instead of the +most excellent vicar, when circumstances made it difficult for the +really good vicar to attend.</p> +<p>I saw him, one first Sunday in Lent, stand up on the edge of his +square box or pew, and conduct a rather long consultation with the +vicar, a very spiritually minded, excellent man, upon which we were +put through the whole Commination Service which, though appointed +for Ash Wednesday, was wholly neglected until it lengthened out the +Sunday morning of the first <i>in</i> but not <i>of</i> Lent, and +having nothing to do with the forty days of Lent.</p> +<p>The well-conducted man lived to a good age, and after his death +a rather costly stained glass window was erected to his memory +under the active influence of a new vicar. When privately engaged +in church he wore his usual silk hat, though not approving of any +one so behaving.</p> +<p>I recollect, in a large church in a large town, the clerk, +arrayed (properly, I think) in a suitable black gown, giving out +the hymn, in a tone to be regretted, but where the obvious remedy +was not to dethrone the clerk, but rather to have just suggested +the propriety of reading the entire verse, as well as of avoiding a +tone lugubrious on the occasion.</p> +<p>It was Easter Day, and the hymn quite appropriate, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-274"></a>[pg 274]</span> but not so +<i>rendered</i> as the clerk heavily and drearily announced:</p> +<blockquote>"The Lord is risen indeed,<br> + And are the tidings true?"</blockquote> +<p>as if there might exist a doubt about this glorious fact.</p> +<p>Pity that he did not enter into the spirit of the verse and +add:</p> +<blockquote>"Yes! we beheld the Saviour bleed,<br> + And saw Him rising too."</blockquote> +<p>Within about ten miles nearer to Windsor Castle the clerk of a +church in which not a few nobility usually worshipped, was +altogether at fault in his "H's," as he exhorted the people to +sing, "The Heaster Im with the Allelujer, <i>h</i>et the +<i>h</i>end of <i>h</i>every line." Other clerks may have done the +same. He did it, I know well.</p> +<p>Throughout the whole of my very imperfect ministry I have sought +to practise catechising in church every Sunday afternoon, and very +strongly desire to urge the practice of it in every church every +Sunday.</p> +<p>It is one of the most difficult parts of the glorious ministry +since the time of St. Luke that can engage the attention of the +ordained ministers of Christ's Church. It needs to be done well. It +ought not to be a very nice, simple sermonette. This, though very +beautiful, is not catechising. Perhaps, if at once followed by +questions upon the sermonette, it might thus become very useful. +But a catechesis in which the catechist simply tells a simple story +or gives an amusing anecdote, or when questioning, so puts his +inquiries that "yes" and "no" are the listless replies that are +drawn forth from the lads and girls, is not interesting or +profitable. Whenever I have the opportunity I go to an afternoon +catechetical service. Some failed by being <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-275"></a>[pg 275]</span> made into the time +of a small preachment; some because in a few minutes the catechist +easily asked questions and then answered them himself. Others were +really magnificent, securing the attention and drawing forth +answers admirably. Was it the great bishop Samuel Wilberforce who +said, "A boy may preach, but it takes a man to catechise"?</p> +<p>I cannot boast of being a good catechist; but I know that +catechising costs me more mental exhaustion (alas! with sad +depression under a sense of trial of temper and failure) than any +sermon. But I will say to any clergyman, <i>My dear brother, +catechise; try, persevere, keep on. It will not be in vain. But +secure an answer</i>. If need be, become a cross-examining advocate +for Christ, and don't give up until you have made the catechumens, +by dint of a variety of ways of putting the question, give the +answer you desired. You have made them think and call memory into +play, and made them feel that they "knew it all the time," if only +they had reflected. And you have given them a "power of good."</p> +<p>But what has all this to do with a clerk? Well, I want to tell +what made me <i>try</i> to be a good catechist, and what makes me, +over eighty-three years of age, <i>still wish</i> to become such, +though the incident must have happened some seventy years ago, for +I recollect that on the very Sunday we crossed the Greta my father +whispered to me as we were on the bridge that it was the poet +Southey who was close to us, as he as well as our little family and +a goodly congregation were returning from Crosthwaite Church in the +afternoon. For "oncers" were unknown in those times, neither by +poets and historians like Southey, nor by travellers such as we +were. We had attended morning service. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-276"></a>[pg 276]</span> A stranger +officiated. His name was <i>Bush</i>, and this is important. A +family "riddle" impressed the name upon me. "Why were we all like +Moses to-day?" "We had heard the word out of a Bush," was the +reply. But at the afternoon service I was deeply impressed. The +Rev. M. Bush having read the lessons, came out of the prayer-desk, +and to my amazement and great interest catechised the children and +others.</p> +<p>I thought to myself that the practice was excellent, and felt +that if ever I became a clergyman (of which honour there was very +small probability), I would obey the Prayer Book and catechise. +Since then I have catechised ten, twenty, fifty young people, and +not infrequently five hundred to one thousand, and rarely two to +three thousand on a Sunday afternoon, often, however, much +exhausted (having to preach in the evening) and dreadfully cast +down at my own failure in not catechising better.</p> +<p>Decades rolled on. A lovely effigy of Southey occupied his place +in Crosthwaite Church, and I found myself again amidst the +enchanting views of and about Derwentwater. The morning was wet, +but I resolved to go as soon as it cleared up in order to find "th' +ould clerk," and inquire of him touching the catechising of perhaps +forty years ago. I was told that he had resigned, that he lived +still at no very great distance. I think he was succeeded by his +son as clerk. After some trouble I found my aged friend, and told +him that very many years ago I was at the church when Southey, the +poet, was there, and I wanted to know if the catechising was +continued. "There never has been any catechising here," said the +worthy old sacristan. "Forgive me, I heard it myself." "I tell thee +there never was no catechising here. I lived <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-277"></a>[pg 277]</span> here all these +years, and was clerk for nearly all the time." "I cannot help +that," I said; "I am sure there was catechising in your church on a +Sunday when I, a boy, was here." The old Churchman became testy, +and my pertinacity made him irate, as he thundered out that "never +had there been catechising in that church in all his day." I rose +to leave him, telling him that I was very disappointed, but that I +was <i>confident</i> that I did not invent this story, and, I +added, the name of the parson was Bush. "<i>Bush, Bush, Bush!</i> +Well, there was a clergyman of that name come here four Sundays, +many a year ago, when the vicar was from home; and now I come to +think of it, he did catechise on the Sunday afternoon. But he is +the only man that ever did so here. There's been no catechising in +this church, except then." We parted good friends after what I felt +to be a most singular interview, far more interesting, I fear, to +me than to any who may read this unadorned tale, and especially the +many folks who probably but for this I should never have +catechised.</p> +<p>But I hope the old clerk of Crosthwaite's declaration will not +long be true of any church of the Anglican Communion, "There's been +no catechising here." My success as a preacher, or catechist, or +parish priest has not been great, but this does not greatly +surprise me, while sorrowing that so it has been. But I think it +likely that the incident at Crosthwaite Church was a chief cause of +my trying to be a catechist, and I conclude by saying to any one in +holy orders, or preparing to receive them. Make catechising an +important effort in your ministry.</p> +<p>It was a small parish. The vicar was a learned man, and an +authority as an antiquary, and a man of high <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-278"></a>[pg 278]</span> character. On a +certain Sunday morning I was detailed to perform all the "duties" +of Morning Prayer. Doubtless I was too energetic in my efforts at +preaching, for my "action" proved, almost to an alarming extent, +that the huge pulpit cushion had not been "dusted" for a lengthy +period. But it was at the very commencement of divine service that +the clerk demonstrated his originality in the proper discharge of +his duties. "I stands up in yonder corner to ring the bells, and as +soon as you be ready you gives me a kind of nod like, and then I +leaves off ringing and comes to my place as clerk." Nothing could +work better, and the clerk of B----- d and I parted at the close of +divine service on very amicable terms.</p> +<p>Mr. F.S. Gill, aged 86, has many recollections of old clerks and +their ways. In a parish in Nottinghamshire there was an old clerk +who was nearly blind. There were two services on Sunday in summer, +and only morning service in winter. The clerk knew the morning +Psalms quite well by heart, but not so the evening Psalms. On one +occasion when his verse should have been read, he was unable to +recollect it. After a pause the clergyman began to read it, when +the clerk, who occupied the box below that of the vicar, looked up, +saying, "Nay, nay, master, I've got it now."</p> +<p>Another time, when an absent-minded curate omitted the +ante-Communion service and appeared in his black gown in the +pulpit, the clerk was indignant, and went up to remonstrate. +Knocking at the pulpit door and no notice being taken of him, he +proceeded to pull the black gown, and made the curate come down, +change his robes, and complete the service in the orthodox +fashion.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-279"></a>[pg 279]</span> +<p>In another Notts church, during service, there was an encounter +between two clerks. The regular clerk having been taken ill was +unequal to his duties for some weeks, and appointed a man to carry +them out for him. On the restoration to health of the real clerk he +came into church to resume his duties, but found the man he had +appointed occupying the box--the so-called desk. Whereupon they had +a scuffle in the aisle.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The Rev. William Selwyn recollects the following incidents in +the parish of F-----, near Cambridge:</p> +<p>Here up to the end of the sixties and well into the seventies a +most quaint service was in fashion. The morning service began with +a metrical Psalm--Tate and Brady--led by the clerk (of these more +hereafter). This being ended, the vicar commenced the service +always with the sentence "O Lord, correct me"--never any other. +Then all things went on in the regular course till the end of the +Litany, when the clerk would be heard stamping down the church and +ascending the gallery in order to be ready for the second metrical +Psalm. That ended, the vicar would commence with the ante-Communion +service from the <i>reading-desk</i>. This went on in due course +till the end of the Nicene Creed, when without sermon, prayers, or +blessing, the morning service came to an abrupt termination. The +afternoon service was identical, save that it ended with a sermon +and the blessing.</p> +<p>But the chief peculiarity was the clerk and the singing. The +metrical Psalm chosen was invariably one for the day of the month +whatever it might be. The clerk would give it out, "Let's sing to +the praise and glory of God," and then would read the first two +lines. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-280"></a>[pg 280]</span> +The usual village band--fiddle, trombone, etc. etc.--would +accompany him, which thing done, the next two lines would follow, +and so on. Usually the number of verses was four, but sometimes the +clerk would go on to six, or even seven. Once, I remember, this led +to a somewhat ludicrous result. It was the seventh day of the +month, consequently the thirty-fifth was the metrical Psalm to be +sung. I think my late revered relative, Canon Selwyn, learnt then +with astonishment, as I did myself, of the existence of the +following lines within the folds of the Prayer Book:</p> +<blockquote>"And when through dark and slippery ways<br> + They strive His rage to shun,<br> +His vengeful ministers of wrath<br> + Shall goad them as they run."</blockquote> +<p>It is hard to think that such a service could have been possible +within seven miles of a University town, and I need hardly say it +was very trying to the younger ones.</p> +<p>In the afternoon the band migrated to the dissenting chapel. On +one occasion the band failed to appear, and the clerk was left +alone. However, he made the best of it, with scant support from the +congregation, so turning to them at the end, said in a loud voice, +"Thank you for your help!"</p> +<br> +<p>THE PARISH OF BROMFIELD, SALOP.</p> +<p>From these ludicrous scenes it is refreshing to turn to a +service which, though primitive, was conducted with the utmost +reverence and decency. When I was instituted in 1866 all the +singing was conducted, and most reverently conducted, under the +auspices of the clerk. He was a handsome man, with a flowing beard, +magnificent bass voice, and a wooden leg. With two <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-281"></a>[pg 281]</span> or three sons, +daughters, and others in the village he carried on the choir, and +though there were only hymns, nothing could be better. Of its kind +I have seldom heard anything better. They had to yield to the +inexorable march of time, but I parted from them with regret. +Though we now have a surpliced choir of men and boys, with a +trained organist and choirmaster, I always look back to my good old +friend with his daughters and their companions, who were the +leaders of the singing in the early days of my incumbency.</p> +<br> +<a name="image35.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image35.jpg"><img src= +"images/image35.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>The Parish Clerk Of Quedgeley</b></p> +<br> +<p>The Rev. Canon Hemmans tell his reminiscences of Thomas Evison, +parish clerk of Wragby, Lincolnshire, who died in 1865, aged +eighty-two years. He speaks of him as "a dear old friend, for whom +I had a profound regard, and to whom I was grateful for much help +during my noviciate at my first and only curacy."</p> +<p>Thomas Evison was a shoemaker, and in his early years a great +pot-house orator. Settled on his well-known corner seat in the "Red +Lion," he would be seen each evening smoking his pipe and laying +down the law in the character of the village oracle. He must have +had some determination and force of character, as one evening he +laid down his pipe on the hob and said, "I'll smoke no more." He +also retired from his corner seat at the inn, but he was true to +his political opinions, and remained an ardent Radical to the last. +This action showed some courage, as almost all the parish belonged +to the squire, who was a strong Tory of the old school. Canon +Hemmans was curate of Wragby with the Rev. G.B. Yard from 1851 to +1860, succeeding the present Dean of St. Paul's. Mr. Yard was a +High Churchman, a personal friend of Manning, the Wilberforces, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-282"></a>[pg 282]</span> R. +Sibthorpe, and Keble, and when expounding then unaccustomed and +forgotten truths, he found the clerk a most intelligent and +attentive hearer. Evison used to attend the daily services, except +the Wednesday and Friday Litany, which service was too short for +him. During the vicar's absence Canon Hemmans, who was then a +deacon, found the clerk a most reliable adviser and instructor in +Lincolnshire customs and words and ways of thought. When he was +baptizing a child privately, the name Thirza was given to the +child, which he did not recognise as a Bible name. He consulted +Evison, who said, "Oh, yes, it is so; it's the name of Abel's +wife." On the next day Evison bought a book, Gesner's <i>Death of +Abel</i>, a translation of some Swedish or German work, in which +the tragedy of the early chapters of Genesis is woven into a story +with pious reflections. This is not an uncommon book, and the clerk +said these people believed it was as true as the Bible, because it +claimed to be about Bible characters.</p> +<p>Evison was a diligent reader of newspapers, which were much +fewer in his day, and studied diligently the sermons reported in +the local Press. He was much puzzled by the reference to "the leg +end" of the story of the raising of Lazarus in a sermon preached by +the Bishop of London, afterwards Archbishop Tait. A reference to +Bailey's Dictionary and the finding of the word <i>legend</i> made +matters clear. Of course he miscalled words. During the Russian War +he told Mr. Hemmans that we were not fighting for "territororial +possessions," and he always read "Moabites and Hungarians" in his +rendering of the sixth verse of the 83rd Psalm.</p> +<p>After the resignation of Mr. Yard in 1859 a Low <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-283"></a>[pg 283]</span> Churchman was +appointed, who restored the use of the black gown. Mr. Hemmans had +to preach in the evening of the first Sunday, and was undecided as +to whether he ought to continue to use the surplice. He consulted +Evison, whose brave advice was, "Stick to your colours."</p> +<p>The clerk stuck stoutly to his Radical principles, and one day +went to Lincoln to take part in a contested election. On the +following Sunday the vicar spoke of "the filthy stream of +politics." The old man was rather moved by this, and said +afterwards, "Well, I am not too old to learn." Though staunch to +his own principles, he was evidently considerate towards the +opinions of others. He used to keep a pony and gig, and his +foreman, one Solomon Bingham, was a local preacher. When there came +a rough Sunday morning the kind old clerk would say: "Well, +Solomon, where are you going to seminate your schism to-day? You +may have my trap." Canon Hemmans retains a very affectionate regard +for the memory of the old clerk.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Mrs. Ellen M. Burrows sends me a charming description of an +old-fashioned service, and some clerkly manners which are worth +recording.</p> +<p>From twenty-five to thirty years ago the small Bedfordshire +village of Tingrith had quaint customs and ceremonies which to-day +exist only in the memory of the few.</p> +<p>The lady of the manor was perhaps best described by a +neighbouring squire as a "potentate in petticoats."</p> +<p>Being sole owner of the village, she found employment for all +the men, enforced cleanliness on all the women, greatly encouraged +the industry of lace-making <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-284"></a>[pg 284]</span> and hat-sewing, paid for the +schooling of the children, and looked after the morals of everybody +generally.</p> +<p>Legend has it that one ancient schoolmaster whom this good lady +appointed was not overgood at spelling, and would allow a pupil to +laboriously spell out a word and wait for him to explain. If the +master could not do this he would pretend to be preoccupied, and +advise the pupil to "say 'wheelbarrow' and go on."</p> +<p>On a Sunday each and every cottager was expected at church. The +women sat on one side of the centre aisle and the men on the other, +the former attired in clean cotton gowns and the latter in their +Sunday smocks.</p> +<p>The three bells were clanged inharmoniously until a boy who was +stationed at a point of vantage told the ringer "she's a-comin'." +Then one bell only was rung to announce the near arrival of the +lady of the manor.</p> +<p>The rector would take his place at the desk, and the occupants +of the centre aisle would rise respectfully to their feet in +anticipation.</p> +<p>A white-haired butler and a younger footman--with many brass +buttons on their coat-tails--would fling wide the double doors and +stand one on either side until the old lady swept in; then one door +was closed and the other only left open for less-important +worshippers to enter. As she passed between the men and women to +the big pew joining the chancel screen, they all touched their +forelocks or dropped curtsies before resuming their seats. Before +this aristocratic personage began her devotions she would face +round and with the aid of a large monocle, which hung round her +neck on a broad black ribbon, would make a silent call over, and +for the tardy, or non-arrivals, there was a lecture in store. The +servants of her household had the whole of one side aisle allotted +to their use. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-285"></a>[pg +285]</span> farmers had the other. There were two "strangers' +pews," two "christening pews," and the rest were for the children. +When a hymn was given out the schoolmaster would vigorously apply a +tuning-fork to his knee, and having thus got the key would start +the tune, which was taken up lustily by the children round him. +This was all the singing they had in the service. The clerk said +all the amens except when he was asleep. The rector was never known +to preach more than ten minutes at a time, and this was always so +simple an exposition of the Scripture that the most illiterate +could understand.</p> +<p>But no pen can pay tribute enough to the sweet earnestness of +those little sermons, or, having heard them, ever go away +unimpressed.</p> +<p>At the end of the service no one of the congregation moved until +the lady of the manor sailed out of the great square pew. Then the +men and women rose as before and bowed and bobbed as she passed +down the aisle. The two menservants again flung wide the double +doors and stood stiffly on either side as she passed out; then +sedately walked home behind her at a respectful distance.</p> +<p>On each Good Friday the male community of the villagers were +given a holiday from their work, and a shilling was the reward for +every man who made his appearance at the eleven o'clock service; +needless to say, it was well attended.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Another church (Newport Pagnell, Bucks) in an adjoining +county--probably some years previous to this date--was lighted by +tallow candles stuck in tin sconces on the walls, and twice during +the service the clerk went round with a pair of long-handled +snuffers <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-286"></a>[pg +286]</span> to "smitch," as he called it, the wicks of these +evil-smelling lights.</p> +<p>For his own better accommodation he had a candle all to himself +stuck in a bottle, which he lighted when about to sing a hymn, and +with candle in one hand and book in the other, and both held at +arm's length, he would bellow most lustily and with reason, for he +was supposed to lead the singing. This finished he would blow out +his candle with most audible vigour, and every one in his +neighbourhood would have their handkerchiefs ready to drop their +noses into.</p> +<p>This same clerk also took up his stand by the chancel steps with +a black rod in his hand, and with tremendous importance marched in +front of the rector down the aisle to the vestry under the belfry, +and waited outside while the clergyman changed his surplice for a +black cassock, then escorted him again to the pulpit stairs.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The Rev. E.H.L. Reeve, rector of Stondon Massey, Essex, +contributes the following excellent stories of old-time +services.</p> +<p>The Rev. Thomas Wallace was rector of Listen, in Essex, from +1783, the date of his father's death, onward. The following story +is well authenticated in the annals of the family, and must belong +to the latter part of the eighteenth century or the commencement of +the nineteenth century.</p> +<p>It was, of course, a well-established custom in those old times +for the church clerk to give out the number of the hymn to be sung, +which he did with much unction and long preamble. The moments thus +employed would be turned to account in the afternoon by the +officiating clergyman, who would take the opportunity <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-287"></a>[pg 287]</span> of retiring to the +vestry to exchange his surplice for his academic gown wherein to +preach.</p> +<p>On one occasion Mr. Wallace left his sermon, through +inadvertence, at home; and, finding himself in the vestry, +considered, perhaps, that the chance of escape was too good to be +lost. At any rate, he let himself out into the churchyard, and +returned no more! He may possibly have been unable to find a +discourse, but these are details with which we are not concerned. +The clerk and congregation with becoming loyalty lengthened out the +already dreary hymn by sundry additions and doxologies to give +their pastor time to don his robes, and it was long ere they +perceived the true cause of his delay. They were somewhat nettled, +as one may suppose, at being thus befooled, and here lies the gist +of our story. Next Sunday the clerk did not give out the second +hymn at the usual time, but waited in solemn silence till Mr. +Wallace had returned in his black gown from the vestry and ascended +the pulpit stairs. Then, and not till then, he closed the pulpit +door with a slam; and, <i>keeping his back against it</i>, called +out significantly, and with a tone of exultation in his voice, +"We've got him, my boys; <i>now</i> let us sing to the praise and +glory of God," etc.</p> +<p>William Wren held the office of church clerk at Stondon Massey +in Essex for thirty-six years, from 1853 to 1889. He was a rough, +uneducated man, but with a certain amount of native talent which +raised him above the level of the majority of his class. I can see +him now in his place Sunday after Sunday, rigged out in a suit of +my father's cast-off clerical garments--a kind of "set-off" to him +at the lower end of the church. In his earlier days Wren had played +a flute in the village instrumental choir, and to the last he might +be <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-288"></a>[pg 288]</span> +heard whiling away spare moments on a Sunday in the church (for he +brought his dinner early in the morning and bivouacked there all +day!) recalling to himself the departed glories of ancient time. He +turned the handle of the barrel organ in the west gallery from the +time of its purchase in 1850 to that of its disappearance in 1873, +but I do not think that he ever appreciated this rude substitution +of mechanical art for cornet, dulcimer, and pipe.</p> +<p>He led the hymns and read the Psalms, and repeated the responses +with much fervour; perpetuating (long after it had ceased to be +correct) the idea that he alone could be relied upon. Should the +preacher inadvertently close his discourse with the sacred name +either as part of a text or otherwise, a fervent "Amun" was certain +to resound through the building, either because long custom had led +him to regard the appendage as indispensable to it, or because like +an old soldier suddenly roused to "attention," he awoke from a +stolen slumber to jerk himself into the mental attitude most +familiar to him. This last supposition, however, is a libel upon +his fair character. I cannot believe that Wren ever slept on duty. +He kept near to him a long hazel stick, wherewith to overawe any of +the younger members of the congregation who were inclined either to +speak or titter. On Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent, when the school +attended morning service, and, in the absence of older people, +occupied the principal seats instead of their Sunday places in the +gallery, Wren's rod was frequently called into active play, and I +have heard the stick resound on the luckless head of many an +offending culprit.</p> +<p>Let me give one closing story of him on one of those weekday +mornings.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-289"></a>[pg 289]</span> +<p>It was St. John the Evangelist's Day, and a few of us met at +church for matins. It was thought well to introduce a hymn for the +festival (our hymn book in those days was Mercer's Church Psalter +and Hymn Book) and Wren was to take charge, as usual, of the +barrel-organ. My father gave out hymn 292 at the appointed place, +but only silence followed. Again "292," and then came a voice from +the west gallery, "The 283rd!" My father did not take the hint, and +again, rather unfortunately, hazarded "Hymn 292." This was too much +for our organist, who called in still louder tones, "'Tis the 283rd +I tell you!" Fortunately, we were a small company, but matters +would have been the same, I dare say, on a Sunday.</p> +<p>In the vestry subsequently Wren explained to my father, "You +know there are <i>two Johns</i>; the 292nd hymn belongs to John the +<i>Baptist's</i> Day; <i>this</i> is John the +<i>Evangelist's</i>."</p> +<p>The confusion once over my father was much amused with the +incident, and frequently entertained friends with it afterwards, +when I am bound to say it did not lose its richness of detail. +"Don't I keep a-telling on you?" was the fully developed question, +as I last remember hearing the story told. The above, however, I +can vouch for as strictly correct, being one of the select party +privileged to witness the occurrence.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Mr. Frederick W. Hackwood, the historian of Wednesbury, has +kindly sent the following description of the famous clerks of that +place:</p> +<p>The office of parish clerk in Wednesbury has been held by at +least two remarkable characters. "Old George Court," as he was +called--and by some who are still alive--held the post in +succession to his grandfather <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-290"></a>[pg 290]</span> for a great number of years. His +grandfather was George Watkins, in his time one of the principal +tradesmen in the town. His hospitable house was the place of +entertainment for a long succession of curates-in-charge and other +officiating ministers for all the long years that the vicar (Rev. +A. Bunn Haden) was a non-resident pluralist. But the position +created by this state of things was remarkable. Watkins and the +small coterie who acted with him became the absolute and dominant +authority in all parochial matters. One curate complained of him +and his nominee wardens (in 1806) that "these men had been so long +in office, and had become so cruel and oppressive," that some of +the parishioners resolved at last to dismiss them. The little +oligarchy, however, was too strong to be ousted at any vestry that +ever was called. As to the elected officials, the same curate +records in a pamphlet which he published in his indignation, that +"on Christmas Day, during divine service, the churchwardens entered +the workhouse with constables and bailiffs, and a multitude of men +equally pious with themselves, and turned the governor and his wife +into the snow-covered streets." Another measure of iniquity laid to +their charge was their "cruelty to Mr. Foster," the master of the +charity school held in the old Market Cross, "a man of amiable +disposition, and a teacher of considerable merit." These aggressive +wardens grazed the churchyard for profit, looked coldly upon a +proposal to put up Tables of Benefactions in the church, and +altogether acted in a manner so high-handed as to call forth this +historic protest. Although the fabric of the church was in so +ruinous a condition that the rain streamed through the roof upon +the head of our clerical pamphleteer as he was preaching, all these +complaints <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-291"></a>[pg +291]</span> were to no purpose. When the absentee vicar was +appealed to he declared his helplessness, and one sentence in his +reply is significant; it was thus: "It is as much as my life is +worth to come among them!" Allowance must be made for party +rancour. It is probable that Watkins was but the official +figure-head of this dominant party, and he is said to have been a +man of real piety; and after holding the office of parish clerk for +sixty years, he at last died in the vestry of the church he loved +so much.</p> +<p>As a certified clerk George Court held the office as long as his +grandfather before him. He was a man of the bluff and hearty sort, +thoroughly typical of old Wednesbury, of Dutch build, yet +commanding presence, in language more forcible than polite, and not +restrained in the use of his strong language even by the presence +of an austere and iron-willed vicar. The tales told of him are +numerous enough, but are scarcely of the kind that look well in +cold print. Although fond of the good things of this world himself, +he could occasionally be very severe on the high feeding and deep +drinking proclivities of "You--singers and ringers"! He was never +known to fail in scolding any funeral procession that had kept him +waiting at the church gates too long, and that in language as loud +as it was vigorous. He, like his predecessor, was the autocrat of +the parish.</p> +<p>The last of the long line of parish clerks who occupied the +bottom desk of the fine old Jacobean three-decker was Thomas +Parkes. He died in 1884. The peculiar resonant nasal twang with +which he sang out the "Amens" gave rise to a sharp newspaper +correspondence in the <i>Wednesbury Observer</i> of 1857. Another +controversy provoked by him was at the opening <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-292"></a>[pg 292]</span> of the cemetery in +1868, when as vestry clerk he claimed a fee of 9 d. on every +interment. The resistance of the Nonconformists led to an amicable +compromise.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Mr. Wise, of Weekley, the author of several works on Kettering +and the neighbourhood, tells me of an extraordinary incident which +happened in a Sussex parish church when he was a boy about seventy +years ago. The clerk was a decayed farmer who had a fine voice, but +who was noted for his intemperate habits. He went up as usual to +the singers' gallery just before the sermon and gave out the +metrical Psalm. The Psalm was sung, the sermon commenced, when +suddenly from the gallery rose the words of a popular song, given +by a splendid tenor voice:</p> +<blockquote>"Oh, give my back my Arab steed,<br> +My Prince defends his right,<br> +And I will ..."</blockquote> +<p>"Some one, please, remove that drunken man from the gallery," +the clergyman quietly said. It was afterwards found that some +mischievous persons had promised the clerk a gallon of ale if he +would sing a song during the sermon.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Miss Elton, of Bath, tells me of the clerk of Bierton, near +Aylesbury, of which her father had sole charge for a time at the +end of the forties. His predecessor had been a Mr. Stephens. The +place had been neglected, and church matters were at a low ebb. Mr. +Elton instituted a service on Saints' Days, which was quite an +innovation at that time, and the first of these was held on St. +Stephen's Day. The old clerk came into the vestry after the service +and said, "I be sorry, sir, to hear the unkid (= awful) tale of +poor <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-293"></a>[pg 293]</span> +Mussar (Mister) Stephens. He be come to a sad end surely." He had +evidently confounded the first martyr, St. Stephen, with the late +curate of the parish, having apparently never heard of the +former.</p> +<p>A new vicar had been appointed to a parish about eight miles +from Oxford, who had been for many years a Fellow of his college, +and in consequence knew little of village folk or parochial +matters. Dr. A. was much disturbed to find that so few of the +villagers attended church, and consulted the clerk on the subject, +who suggested that it might encourage the people to attend if Dr. +A. was to offer to give sixpence a Sunday to all who came to +church. The plan was tried and found to succeed; the congregations +improved rapidly, and the church was well filled, to Dr. A.'s +satisfaction. But after a while the numbers fell off, and to Dr. +A.'s chagrin people left off attending church. He again called the +clerk into his counsels, and asked what could be the reason of the +falling off of the congregation, as he had always given sixpence +every Sunday, as he promised, to all who came to the service. +"Well, sir," said the clerk, "it is like this: they tells me as how +they finds they <i>can't do it for the money</i>."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The following reminiscences are supplied by the Rev. W. +Frederick Green, and are worthy of record:</p> +<p>I well remember the parish clerk of Woburn, in Bedfordshire, +more than sixty years ago. His name was Joe Brewer--a bald-headed, +short, stumpy man, who wore black knee-breeches, grey stockings, +and shoes. He was also the town crier. He always gave out the hymns +from the front of the west gallery. "Let us sing to the praise and +glory of God, hymn--" Once I heard him call out instead, "O yes! O +yes! O <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-294"></a>[pg 294]</span> +yes! This is to give notice," and then, recollecting he was in +church, with a loud "O crikey!" he began "Let us sing," etc.</p> +<p>Collections in church were made by him in a china soup plate +from each pew. Ours was a large square family pew. One Sunday my +brother put into the plate a new coin (I think a florin), which +Brewer had never seen before, and which he thought was a token or +medal, and thinking my brother was playing a trick upon him, said +in a loud voice, "Now, Master Charles, none of them larks +here."</p> +<p>I have also seen him at afternoon service (there was no evening +service in those days), when it unexpectedly came on too dark for +the clergyman to see his MS. in the pulpit, go to the altar--an +ordinary table with drawers--throw up the cloth, open a drawer, +take out two candles and a box of matches, go up the pulpit stairs, +fix them in the candlesticks, and light them.</p> +<p>During the winter months part of his duty was to tend the fire +during service in the Duke of Bedford's large curtained, carpeted +pew in the chancel.</p> +<p>When I was a boy I was staying in Northamptonshire, and went one +Sunday morning into a village church for service (I think it was +Fotheringhay). There was a three-decker, and the clerk from his +desk led the singing of the congregation, which he faced. There was +no musical instrument of any kind. The hymn, which of course was +from Tate and Brady, was the metrical version of Psalm xlii. The +clerk gave out the Psalm, then read the first line to the +congregation, then sang it solo, and then the congregation sang it +altogether; and so on line after line for the whole eleven +verses.</p> +<p>More attention must have been paid in those days to <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-295"></a>[pg 295]</span> the requirement of +the ninety-first Canon, that the clerk should be known, if may be, +"for his competent skill in singing."</p> +<p>In 1873 I was curate-in-charge of an out-of-the-way Norfolk +village. On my first Sunday I had an early celebration at 8 a.m. I +arrived in church about 7.45, and to my amazement saw five old men +sitting round the stove in the nave with their hats on, smoking +their pipes. I expostulated with them quite gently, but they left +the church before service and never came again. I discovered +afterwards that they had been regular communicants, and that my +predecessor always distributed the offertory to the poor present +immediately after the service. When these men in the course of my +remonstrance found that I was not going to continue the custom, +they no longer cared to be communicants.</p> +<p>In 1870, in Norfolk, I went round with the rural dean visiting +the churches. At one church the only person to receive the rural +dean was the parish clerk, who was ready with the funeral pall to +put over the rural dean's horse whilst waiting outside the +church.</p> +<p>It was this same church which, in preparation for the rural +dean's visit, had been recently and completely whitewashed +throughout. Not only the walls and pillars, but also the pews, the +school forms, the pulpit, and also the altar itself, a very small +four-legged deal table without any covering. I suppose this was +done by the churchwardens to conceal the dilapidated condition of +everything; but they had omitted to remove the grass which was +growing in the crevices of the floor paving.</p> +<p>Mr. Moxon (deceased), formerly rector of Hethersett, in Norfolk, +told me that he had once preached for a friend in a Norfolk village +church with the woman <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-296"></a>[pg 296]</span> clerk holding an umbrella over his +head in the pulpit throughout the sermon, because of the +"dreep."</p> +<p>Miss E. Lloyd, of Woodburn, Crowborough, writes:</p> +<p>About the year 1833 a gentleman bought an estate in North +Yorkshire, seven miles from any town, and built a house there. The +parish was small, having a population of about a hundred souls, the +church old and tumbledown, reeking with damp; the rain came through +the roof; the seats were worm-eaten, and centipedes, with other +like vermin, roamed about them near the wall. The vicar was +non-resident, and an elderly curate-in-charge ministered to this +parish and another in the neighbourhood. The customs of the church +were much the same as those described by Canon Atkinson in his +<i>Forty Years in a Moorland Parish</i> as existing on his arrival +at Danby. There was no vestry. The surplice (washed twice a year) +was hung over the altar rails, within which the curate robed, his +hat or any parcel he happened to have in his hand being put down +for the time on the Holy Table. The men sat for the most part +together, the farmers and young men in the singing-loft, the +labourers below, and the women in front. The wife of the chief +yeoman farmer--an excellent and superior woman--still kept up the +habit of "making a reverence" to the altar before she entered her +pew. The surplice, which hung in the church all through the week, +was apt to get very damp. On one occasion, when a strange clergyman +staying at the Hall took the service, he declined to wear it, as it +was so wet.</p> +<p>"He wadn't pit it on," said the old clerk Christopher (commonly +called "Kitty") Hill. "I reckon he was afeard o' t' smittle" +(infection).</p> +<p>The same clergyman, when he went up to the altar <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-297"></a>[pg 297]</span> for the Communion +Service, knelt down, as his habit was, at the north end for private +prayer whilst the congregation were singing a metrical Psalm (Old +or New Version). On looking up he saw that Kitty Hill had followed +him within the rails and was kneeling at the opposite end of the +Holy Table staring at him with round eyes full of amazement at this +unusual act of devotion. Both the curate and the clerk spoke the +broadest Yorkshire. Psalm xxxii. 4 was thus rendered by Kitty: +"Ma-maasture is like t' doong i' summer." He was an old man and +quite bald, and used to sit in his desk with a blue-spotted +pocket-handkerchief spread over his head, occasionally drawing down +a corner of it for use, and then pulling it straight again. If the +squire happened to come late to church--a thing which did not often +happen--the curate would pause in his reading and apologise: "Good +morning, Mr. ----. I am sorry, sir, that I began the service. I +thought you were not coming this morning." One sentence of the +sermon preached on the death of King William IV long remained in +the memory of some of his young hearers: "Behold the King in all +his pomp and glory, soodenly toombled from his high elevation, and +mingled wi' the doost!"</p> +<p>In 1845 a new church was built on the old site, a new curate +came, Kitty Hill died, and was succeeded in his office by his +widow, who did all that she could do of the clerk's work, and +showed remarkable taste in decorating the church at Christmas. No +clerk was needed for the responses, as the congregation joined +heartily in the service, and there was a much better attendance +than there is now. She died in the early fifties.</p> +<p>Amongst other varied readings of the Psalms that <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-298"></a>[pg 298]</span> of an old parish +clerk at Hartlepool may be given. He had been a sailor, and used to +render Psalm civ. 26 as "There go the ships, and there is that +lieutenant whom Thou hast made to take his pastime therein."</p> +<p>The late Dr. Gatty, in his record of <i>A Life at One +Living</i>, mentions that at Ecclesfield, as in many other places, +the office of parish clerk was hereditary. The last holder of the +office, who used to sit in his desk clad in a black bombazine gown, +was a publican by trade, a decent, honest man, who during the +fifty-one years he was clerk was only twice absent from service. He +died in 1868, and the offices of clerk and sexton were then united +and held by one person.</p> +<p>The register books of Weybridge, Surrey, were kept for a great +part of the eighteenth century by the parish clerks, the son +succeeding his father in office for three or four generations.</p> +<p>Now probably the clerks are no more clerks but vergers; and as a +Yorkshireman remarked, "<i>Verging</i> is a very honourable +profession."</p> +<p>The portrait of John Gray, sometime clerk in Eton College +Chapel, taken in his gown as he stood in his desk, has been +engraved, and is well known to old Etonians.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Few people possess the gift of humour in the same degree as the +late Bishop Walsham How, and his stories of the race of parish +clerks and vergers must not be omitted, and are here published by +permission of his son, Mr. F.D. How, editor of <i>Lighter +Moments</i>.</p> +<p>When I was a deacon, and naturally shy, I was visiting my aunts +at Workington, where my grandfather had been rector, and was asked +to preach on Sunday evening in St. John's, a wretched modern +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-299"></a>[pg 299]</span> +church--a plain oblong with galleries, and a pulpit like a very +tall wineglass, with a very narrow little straight staircase +leading up to it, in the middle of the east part of the church. +When the hymn before the sermon was given out I went as usual to +the vestry to put on the black gown. Not knowing that the clergyman +generally stayed there till the end of the hymn, I emerged as soon +as I had vested myself and walked to the pulpit and ascended the +stairs. When nearly at the summit, to my horror I discovered a very +fat beadle in the pulpit lighting the candles. We could not +possibly pass on the stairs, and the eyes of the whole congregation +were upon me. It would be ignominious to retreat. So after a few +minutes' reflection I saw my way out of the difficulty, which I +overcame by a very simple mechanical contrivance. I entered the +pulpit, which exactly fitted the beadle and myself, and then face +to face we executed a rotary movement to the extent of a +semicircle, when the beadle finding himself next the door of the +pulpit was enabled to descend, and I remained master of the +situation.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>At Uffington, near Shrewsbury, during the incumbency of the Rev. +J. Hopkins, the choir and organist, having been dissatisfied with +some arrangement, determined not to take part in the service. So +when the clerk, according to the usual custom of those days, gave +out the hymn, there was a dead silence. This lasted a little while, +and then the clerk, unable to bear it, rose up and appealed to the +congregation, saying most imploringly, "Them as <i>can</i> sing +<i>do</i> ye sing: it's misery to be a this'n" (Shropshire for "in +this way").</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>At Wolstanton, in the Potteries, there was a somewhat fussy +verger called Oakes. On one occasion, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-300"></a>[pg 300]</span> just at the time +of the year when it was doubtful whether lights would be wanted or +no, and when they had not yet been lighted for evening service, a +stranger, who was a very smart young clergyman, was reading the +lessons and had some difficulty in seeing. He had on a pair of +delicate lavender kid gloves. The verger, perceiving his +difficulty, went to the vestry, got two candles, lighted them, and +walked to the lectern, before which he stood solemnly holding the +candles (without candlesticks) in his hands. This was sufficiently +trying to the congregation, but suddenly some one rattled the latch +of the west door, when Oakes, feeling that it was absolutely +necessary to go and see what was the matter, thrust the two candles +into the poor young clergyman's delicately gloved hands, and left +him!</p> +<p>At the church of Stratfieldsaye, where the Duke of Wellington +was a regular attendant, a stranger was preaching, and the verger +when he ended came up the stairs, opened the pulpit door a little +way, slammed it to, and then opened it wide for the preacher to go +out. He asked in the vestry why he had shut the door again while +opening it, and the verger said, "We always do that, sir, to wake +the duke."</p> +<p>A former young curate of Stoke being very anxious to do things +rubrically, insisted on the ring being put on the "fourth finger" +at a wedding he took. The woman resisted and said, "I would sooner +die than be married on my little finger." The curate said, "But the +rubric says so," whereupon the <i>deus ex machinâ</i> +appeared in the shape of the parish clerk, who stepped forward and +said, "In these cases, sir, the thoomb counts as a digit."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-301"></a>[pg 301]</span> +<p>A gentleman going to see a ritualistic church in London was +walking into the chancel when an official stepped forward and said, +"You mustn't go in there." "Why not?" said the gentleman. "I'm put +here to stop you," said the man. "Oh! I see," said the gentleman; +"you're what they call the <i>rude</i> screen, aren't you?"</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>A clergyman in the diocese of Wakefield told me that when first +he came to the parish he found things in a very neglected state, +and among other changes he introduced an early celebration of the +Holy Communion. An old clerk collected the offertory, and when he +brought it up to the clergyman he said, "There's eight on 'em, but +two 'asn't paid."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>A verger was showing a lady over a church when she asked him if +the vicar was a married man. "No, ma'am," he answered, "he's a +chalybeate."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>A verger showing a large church to a stranger, pointed out +another man and said, "That is the other verger." The gentleman +said, "I did not know there were two of you," and the verger +replied, "Oh, yes, sir, he werges up one side of the church and I +werges up the other."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>On my first visit to Almondbury to preach, the verger came to me +in the vestry and said, "A've put a platform in t' pulpit for ye; +you'll excuse me, but a little man looks as if he was in a toob." +(N.B. To prevent undue inferences I am five feet nine inches in +height.)</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>One of the speakers at the meeting of the Catholic Truth Society +at Bristol (Sept., 1895) told a story of a pious Catholic visiting +Westminster Abbey, and <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-302"></a>[pg 302]</span> kneeling in a quiet corner for +private devotion, when he was summoned in stentorian tones to come +and view the royal tombs and chapels. "But I have seen them," said +the stranger, "and I only wish to say my prayers." "Prayers is +over," said the verger. "Still, I suppose," said the stranger, +"there can be no objection to my saying my prayers quietly here?" +"No objection, sir!" said the irate verger. "Why, it would be an +insult to the Dean and Chapter."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The Rev. M.E. Jenkins writes his remembrances of several old +clerks.</p> +<p>There was dear old Robert Livesay, of Blackburn parish church, +whom every one knew, his large rubicund face beaming with good +nature and humour--a very kindly old soul. In 1870 I was appointed +to an old-world Dale's parish, which had one of the real old +Yorkshire clerks, Frank Hutchinson. He was lame and blind in one +eye, and well do I recall his sonorous and tremulous response, his +love for the Psalms (Tate and Brady's); he "reckoned nought o' +<i>Hymns Ancient and Modern</i>." I used generally to find him with +a long pipe in the vestry on my return from afternoon service. He +was a great authority on the ancient history of the parish, and was +formerly schoolmaster. He had brought up most respectably a large +family of sons and daughters on the smallest means, many of whom +still survive. I had a great respect for the old man, and so he had +for me. He was very great at leading that peculiarly dirge-like +wail at the huge Yorkshire funerals. I never could quite make out +any words, but as a singularly effective and musical cadence in a +minor key, it was no doubt a survival, as I once heard Canon +Atkinson say, the famous vicar of Danby, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-303"></a>[pg 303]</span> my immediate +neighbour on the moors. At last I attended Frank Hutchinson daily +in his prolonged decay, and received his solemn blessing and +commendation on my work; and he received at my hand a few hours +before his death his last communion, surrounded by all his children +and grandchildren, in his small bedroom, by the light of a single +candle. I can still see his thin face uplifted. It is thirty-five +years ago, and I can still hear the striking of his lucifer match +in the midst of the afternoon service, and see him holding up close +to his own eye the candle and the book, and can hear his tremulous +"Amen," quite independent of the choral one sung by a small choir +in the chancel. He was great in epitaphs. A favourite one, which he +would recite <i>ore rotunda</i>, was:</p> +<blockquote>"Let this record, what few vain marbles can,<br> +Here lies an honest man."</blockquote> +<p>Another, which, by the way, is in Egton churchyard, ran as +follows:</p> +<blockquote>"Life is but a winter's day;<br> +Some breakfast and away,<br> +Others to dinner stop and are full fed,<br> +The oldest man but sups and goes to bed."</blockquote> +<p>He was a genuine old Dalesman of a type passed away. His spirits +really never survived the abolition of the stringed instruments in +the western gallery with its galaxy of village musicians. "I hugged +bass fiddle for many a year," he once told me. Peace be to his +memory.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Canon Atkinson tells of his good and harmless but "feckless" +parish clerk and schoolmaster at Danby, whom, when about to take a +funeral, he discovered sitting in the sunny embrasure of the west +window, with his hat on, of course, and comfortably smoking his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-304"></a>[pg 304]</span> pipe. +The clerk was a brother of the old vicar of Danby, and they seem to +have been a curious and irreverent pair. The historian of Danby, in +his <i>Forty Years in a Moorland Parish</i>, fully describes his +first visit to the clerk's school, and the strange custom of weird +singing at funerals to which Mr. Jenkins alludes.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Another north-country clerk-schoolmaster was obliged to +relinquish his scholastic duties and make way for a certified +teacher. One day he heard the new master tell his pupils: "'A' is +an indefinite article. 'A' is one, and can only be applied to one +thing. You cannot say a cats or a dogs; but only a cat, a dog." The +clerk at once reported the matter to his rector. "Here's a pretty +fellow you've got to keep school! He says that you can only apply +the article 'a' to nouns of the singular number; and here have I +been singing 'A--men' all my life, and your reverence has never +once corrected me."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Communicated by Mrs. Williamson, Lydgate Vicarage:</p> +<p>The old parish clerk of Radcliffe was secretary of the races +committee, and would hurry out of church to attend these meetings. +Mr. Foxley, the rector, was told of this weakness of his clerk, so +one Wednesday evening, when the rector knew there was a meeting, he +got into the pulpit (a three-decker was then in the church), and +began his sermon. Half an hour went by, then the clerk began to be +restless. Another half-hour passed; the clerk looked up from his +seat under the pulpit, but still the rector went on preaching. It +was too late then for the race-course meeting. So when the sermon +was at length finished, the clerk got up and gave out "the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-305"></a>[pg 305]</span> +'undred and nineteenth Psalm from yend to yend. He's preached all +day, and we'll sing all neet" (night).</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>At Westhoughton Church, Lancashire, there was a clerk of the old +school, one Platt, who just before the sermon would stretch his +long arm and offer his snuff-box to his old friend Betty, and to +other cronies who happened to be in his immediate +neighbourhood.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The clerk at Stratfieldsaye, who was a character, once +astonished a strange clergyman who was taking the duty. The choir +sat in the gallery, and the numbers were few on that Sunday. "Mon I +'elp them chaps? they be terrible few," said the clerk. The +clergyman quite agreed that he should render them his valuable +assistance, and sit in the gallery. Presently a man came in late, +and was kneeling down to say his private prayer, when the clergyman +was horrified to see the clerk deliberately rise in the gallery and +throw a book at the man's head. When remonstrated with after +service the clerk replied carelessly, "Oh, it were only my way o' +telling him to sing up, as we were terrible short this +marning."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-306"></a>[pg 306]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> +<h3>CURIOUS STORIES</h3> +<br> +<p>The old clerk of Clapham, Bedford, Mr. Thomas Maddams, always +used to read his own version of Psalm xxxix. 12: "Like as it were a +moth fretting in a garment." Apparently his idea was of a moth +annoyed at being in a garment from which it could not escape.</p> +<p>A parish clerk (who prided himself upon being well read) +occupied his seat below the old "three-decker" pulpit, and whenever +a quotation or an extract from the classics was introduced into the +sermon he, in an undertone, muttered its source, much to the +annoyance of the preacher and amusement of the congregation. +Despite all protests in private, the thing continued, until one +day, the vicar's patience being exhausted, he leant over the pulpit +side and immediately exclaimed, "Drat you; shut up!" Immediately, +in the clerk's usual sententious tone, came the reply, "His own." +(William Haggard, <i>Liverpool Daily Post</i>.)</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>N.B. I have heard this story before, and in a different key:</p> +<p>The preacher was a young, bumptious fellow, fond of quoting the +classics, etc. One day a learned classic scholar attended his +service, and was heard to say, after each quotation, "That's +Horace," "That's Plato," <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-307"></a>[pg 307]</span> and such-like, until the preacher +was at his "wits' ends" how to quiet the man. At last, leaning over +the pulpit, he looked the man in the face, and is reported to have +said, "Who the devil are you?" "That's his own!" was the prompt +response.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>In one of the village churches near Honiton, in 1864, the usual +duet between the parson and clerk had been the custom, when the +vicar appealed to the congregation to take their part. In a little +while they took courage, and did so. This annoyed the clerk, and he +could not make the responses, and made so many mistakes that the +vicar drew his attention to the matter. He replied, with much +irritation, "How can <i>I</i> do the service with a lot of men and +women a-buzzing and a-fizzing about me?"</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>A somewhat similar story is told of another church:</p> +<p>An old gentleman, now in his eightieth year, remembers attending +Romford Church when a youth, and says that at that time (1840) the +parish clerk was a person who greatly magnified his office. On one +occasion he checked the young man for audibly responding, on the +ground that he, the clerk, was the person to respond audibly, and +that other people were to respond inaudibly.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Communicated by Miss Emily J. Heaton, of Sitting-bourne:</p> +<p>My father lived and worked as the clergyman of a parish until he +was eighty-nine years of age. He remembered a clerk in a Yorkshire +parish in the time of one of the Georges. The clergyman said the +versicle, "O Lord, save the King," and the clerk made no reply. The +prayer was repeated, but still no <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-308"></a>[pg 308]</span> answer. He then touched the clerk, +who sat in the desk below, and who replied:</p> +<p>"A we'ant! He won't tak tax off 'bacca!"</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Communicated by Mr. Frederick Sherlock:</p> +<p>I remember as a lad attending a church which owned a magnificent +specimen of the parish clerk. He used to wear a dress-coat, and it +was his practice to follow the clergy from the vestry, and while +the vicar and curate were saying their private prayers in the +reading-desk in which they both sat together, the venerable clerk +with measured tread passed down the centre of the church affably +smiling and bowing right and left to such of the parishioners as +were in his favour. In due course he arrived in the singers' +gallery, where he had the place of honour under the organ: the good +old man was leading soloist, which we well knew when Jackson's +<i>Te Deum</i> was sung on the greater festivals, for there was +always a solemn pause before the venerable worthy quavered forth +his solo.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>It was a pew-rented church, and once a quarter strangers were +startled, when the vicar from his place in the reading-desk had +announced the various engagements of the week, to hear the clerk's +majestic voice from his place in the gallery add, "And <i>I</i> beg +to announce" (with a marked emphasis on the <i>I</i>) "that the +churchwardens will attend in the vestry on Monday, Tuesday, and +Wednesday next, at eight o'clock, for the purpose of receiving pew +rents and letting seats for the ensuing quarter."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>As touching parish clerks, it is of interest to recall that +William Maybrick was clerk of St. Peter's, Liverpool, from 1813-48. +He had two sons, William, who <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-309"></a>[pg 309]</span> became clerk, and Michael, who was +organist at St. Peter's for many years. William Maybrick, junior, +had also two sons, James, whose name was so much before the public +owing to the circumstances surrounding his death, and Michael, +better known as "Stephen Adams," the famous composer and +singer.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The following is a curious letter from a parish clerk to his +vicar after giving notice to quit the latter's service. He was +clerk of the parish of Maldon, Essex.</p> +<p>DEAR AND REV. SIR,</p> +<p>I avail myself of the opportunity of troubling your honour with +these lines, which I hope you will excuse, which is the very +sentiments of your humble servant's heart. Ignorantly, rashly, but +reluctantly, I gave you warning to leave your highly respected +office and most amiable duty, as being your servant, and clerk of +this your most well wished parish, and place of my succour and +support.</p> +<p>But, dear Sir, I well know it was no fault of yours nor from any +of my most worthy parishioners. It were because I thought I were +not sufficiently paid for the interments of the silent dead. But +will I be a Judas and leave the house of my God, the place where +His Honour dwelleth for a few pieces of money? No. Will I be a +Peter and deny myself of an office in His Sanctuary and cause me to +weep bitterly? No. Can I be so unreasonable as to deny, if I like +and am well, to ring that solemn bell that speaks the departure of +a soul? No. Can I leave digging the tombs of my neighbours and +acquaintances which have many a time made me shudder and think of +my mortality, when I have dug up the mortal remains of some perhaps +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-310"></a>[pg 310]</span> as I +well knew? No. And can I so abruptly forsake the service of my +beloved Church of which I have not failed to attend every Sunday +for these seven and a half years? No. Can I leave waiting upon you +a minister of that Being that sitteth between the Cherubim and +flieth upon the wings of the wind? No. Can I leave the place where +our most holy services nobly calls forth and says, "Those whom God +have joined together" (and being as I am a married man) "let no man +put asunder"? No. And can I leave that ordinance where you say then +and there "I baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son +and of the Holy Ghost," and he becomes regenerate and is grafted +into the body of Christ's Church? No. And can I think of leaving +off cleaning at Easter the House of God in which I take such +delight, in looking down her aisles and beholding her sanctuaries +and the table of the Lord? No. And can I forsake taking part in the +service of Thanksgiving of women after childbirth when mine own +wife has been delivered ten times? No. And can I leave off waiting +on the congregation of the Lord which you well know, Sir, is my +delight? No. And can I forsake the Table of the Lord at which I +have feasted I suppose some thirty times? No. And, dear Sir, can I +ever forsake you who have been so kind to me? No. And I well know +you will not entreat me to leave, neither to return from following +after you, for where you pray there will I pray, where you worship +there will I worship. Your Church shall be my Church, your people +shall be my people and your God my God. By the waters of Babylon am +I to sit down and weep and leave thee, O my Church! and hang my +harp upon the trees that grow therein? No. One thing have I desired +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-311"></a>[pg 311]</span> of the +Lord that I will require even that I may dwell in the House of the +Lord and to visit His temple. More to be desired of me, O my +Church, than gold, yea than fine gold, sweeter to me than honey and +the honeycomb.</p> +<p>Now, kind Sir, the very desire of my heart is still to wait upon +you. Please tell the Churchwardens all is reconciled, and if not, I +will get me away into the wilderness, and hide me in the desert, in +the cleft of the rock. But I hope still to be your Gehazi and when +I meet my Shunamite to say "All, all is well." And I will conclude +my blunders with my oft-repeated prayer, "Glory be to the Father +and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, +is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen."</p> +<p>P.S. Now, Sir, I shall go on with my fees the same as I found +them, and will make no more trouble about them, but I will not, I +cannot leave you, nor your delightful duties.</p> +<p>Your most obedient servant,</p> +<p>GEORGE G---- G.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p><i>The Rev. E. G----, Vicar of Maldon.</i></p> +<p>Communicated by the Rev. D. C. Moore:</p> +<p>In the parish of Belton, Suffolk, there died in 1837 a man named +Noah Pole. He had been clerk for sixty years. He wore a +smock-frock; gave out all notices--strayed horse, a found sheep, +etc. He was known by the nickname of "<i>Never, never</i> shall +be," for in this way he had for sixty years perverted the last part +of the "Gloria," "now and ever shall be."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>In the parish of Lowestoft, Suffolk, in the forties the parish +clerk's name was Newson (would-be wits called him "Nuisance"). He +was arrayed in a velvet-trimmed <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-312"></a>[pg 312]</span> robe and bore himself bravely. The +way in which he mouthed "Let us sing to the glory of God" was +wonderful. But the chief amusement he afforded was the habit of +hiding his face in his hands during each prayer, then towards the +ending his head would rise till it rested on his thumbs, and then +came out sonorously, "Awl-men."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>At St. Mary's, Southtown (near Great Yarmouth), in the late +thirties, etc., a man named Nolloth was clerk. He was celebrated +for the uncertainty of his "H's." For example: "Let us sing to the +praise and glory of God the Heighty-heighth ymn."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>At Gorleston (the mother church of St. Mary's, named above) a +tailor named Bristow was clerk. He was a very small man, and he had +a son he wished to succeed him. The clerk's desk was pretty wide +and they sat together. I can see them (sixty years after), one +leaning on his right arm, the other on his left; and when the time +came, the duet was <i>Ah</i>-men from the elder and A-men from the +younger, one in "tenor" the other "treble." We schoolboys used to +say "Big pig, little pig."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Nicholson, the clerk of St. Bees, if any student was called away +in term, invariably gave out Psalm cvii., fourth part, "They that +in ships with courage bold." In those days there were no trains and +no hymns.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>At Barkham there is an old clerk who succeeded his father half a +century ago.</p> +<p>During the rebuilding of the church his sire, whose name was +Elijah, once visited a neighbouring parish church, and arrived +rather late, just when the rector was giving out the text: "What +doest thou here, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-313"></a>[pg +313]</span> Elijah?" Elijah gave a respectful salute, and replied: +"Please, sur, Barkham Church is undergoing repair, so I be cumed +'ere!"</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Canon Rawnsley tells a pathetic little story of an old clerk who +begged him not to read the service so fast: "For you moòst +gie me toime, Mr. Rawnsley, you moòst i'deed. You +moòst gie me toime, for I've a graaceless wife an' two +godless soons to praày for."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Hawker tells a story of the parish clerk at Morwenstow whose +wife used to wash the parson's surplices. He came home one night +from a prolonged visit at the village inn, the "Bush," and finding +his wife's scolding not to his mind and depressing, he said, "Look +yere, my dear, if you doan't stop, I'll go straight back again." +She did not stop, so he left the house; but the wife donned one of +the surplices and, making a short cut, stood in front of her +approaching husband. He was terrified; but at last he remembered +his official position, and the thought gave him courage.</p> +<p>"Avide, Satan!" he said in a thick, slow voice.</p> +<p>The figure made no answer.</p> +<p>"Avide, Satan!" he shouted again. "Doan't 'e knaw I be clerk of +the parish, bass-viol player, and taicher of the singers?"</p> +<p>When the apparition failed to be impressed the clerk turned tail +and fled. The ghost returned by a short cut, and the clerk found +his wife calmly ironing the parson's surplice. He did not return to +the "Bush" that night.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The old parish clerk of Dagenham had a habit when stating the +names to be entered into the register of saying, <i>Plain</i> +Robert or John, etc., meaning that Robert, etc., was the only +Christian name. On one <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-314"></a>[pg 314]</span> occasion a strange clergyman +baptized a child there, and being unable to hear the name as given +by the parents, looked inquiringly at the clerk. "Plain Jane, sir," +he called out in a stentorian voice. "What a pity to label the +child thus," the clergyman rejoined; "she might grow up to be a +beautiful girl." "Jane <i>only</i>, I mean," explained the +clerk.</p> +<p>All clergymen know the difficulty of changing the names of the +sovereign and the Royal Family at the commencement of the reign of +a new monarch.</p> +<p>In a certain parish in the south of England (the name of which I +do not know, or have forgotten), at the time of the accession of +Her late Majesty Queen Victoria, the rector charged his clerk to +make the necessary alterations in the Book of Common Prayer +required by the sex of the new sovereign. The clerk made all the +needed alterations with the greatest care as regards both titles +and pronouns; but not only this, he carried on the changes +throughout the Psalter. Consequently, on the morning of the fourth +day of the month, for instance, the rector found Psalm xxi. +rendered thus: "The Queen shall rejoice in Thy strength, O Lord: +exceeding glad shall She be of Thy salvation," and so on throughout +the course of the Psalms and the whole of the Psalter. Also in the +prayer for the Church Militant, when prayer is made for all +Christian kings, princes, etc., the distracted vicar found the +words changed into "Queen, Princesses, etc." After all, the clerk +showed his thoroughness, but nothing short of a new Prayer Book +could satisfy the needs of the vicar <a name= +"FNanchor94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94">[94]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_94"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor94">[94]</a> From the information of Miss Marion +Stirling, who heard the story from Prebendary +Thornton.</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-315"></a>[pg 315]</span> +<p>Canon Gregory Smith tells the following story of a clerk in +Herefordshire, who flourished half a century ago:</p> +<p>In the west-end gallery of the old-fashioned little church were +musicians with fifes, etc. etc. Sometimes, if they started badly in +a hymn, the clerk would say to the congregation, "Beg pardon, +gents; we'll try again."</p> +<p>As I left home one day, the clerk ran after me. "But, sir, +who'll take the duty on St. Swithin's Day?"</p> +<p>Once or twice, being somnolent, on a hot afternoon he woke up +suddenly with a loud "Amen" in the middle of the sermon.</p> +<p>When I said good-bye to him, having resigned the benefice, he +said, very gravely, "God will give us another comforter."</p> +<p>An old country clerk in showing visitors round the churchyard +used to stop at a certain tombstone and say:</p> +<p>"This 'ere is the tomb of Thomas 'Ooper and 'is eleven +wives."</p> +<p>One day a lady remarked: "Eleven? Dear me, that's rather a lot, +isn't it?"</p> +<p>The old man looked at her gravely and replied: "Well, mum, yer +see it wus an' 'obby of 'is'n."</p> +<p>The Rev. W.D. Parish, in his <i>Dictionary of the Sussex +Dialect</i>, tells of a friend of his who had been remonstrating +with one of his parishioners for abusing the parish clerk beyond +the bounds of neighbourly expression, and who received the +following answer: "You be quite right, sir; you be quite right. I'd +no ought to have said what I did; but I döant mind telling +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-316"></a>[pg 316]</span> you to +your head what I've said so many times behind your back. We've got +a good shepherd, I says, an excellent shepherd, but he's got an +unaccountable bad dog."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Some seventy or eighty years ago at Thame Church, +Buckinghamshire, the old-fashioned clerk had a much-worn Prayer +Book, and the parson and he made a duet of the responses, the +congregation not considering it necessary or even proper to +interfere. When the clerk happened to come to a verse of the Psalms +with words missing he said "riven out" (pronounced oot), and the +parson finished the verse; this was taken quite as a matter of +course by the congregation.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>In a Lancashire church, when the rector was about to publish the +banns of marriage, the book was not in its usual place. However, he +began: "I publish the banns of marriage ... I publish ... the +banns"--when the clerk looked up from the lowest box of the +"three-decker," and said in a tone not <i>sotto voce</i>, "'Twixt +th' cushion and th' desk, sur."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Prayer Book words are sometimes a puzzle to illiterate clerks. +At the present time in a Berkshire church the clerk always speaks +of "Athanasian's Creed," and of "the Anthony-Communion hymn."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>His views of art are occasionally curious. An odd specimen of +his race was showing to some strangers a stained-glass window +recently erected in memory of a gentleman and lady who had just +died. It was a two-light window with figures of Moses and Aaron. +"There they be, sir, but they don't much feature the old couple," +said the clerk, who regarded them as likenesses of the +deceased.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-317"></a>[pg 317]</span> +<p>A clergyman on one occasion had some trouble with his dog. This +dog emulated the achievements of Newton's "Fido," and tore and +devoured some leaves of the parson's sermon. The parson was taking +the duty of a neighbour, and feared lest his mutilated discourse +would be too short for the edification of the congregation. So +after the service he consulted the clerk. "Was my sermon too long +to-day?" "No," replied the clerk. "Then was it too short?" "Nay, +you was jist about right." Much relieved, the parson then told the +clerk the story of the dog's misdemeanours, and of his fear lest +the sermon should prove too short. The old clerk scratched his head +and then exclaimed, with a very solemn face, "Ah! maister ----, our +parson be a grade sight too long to plaise us. Would you just give +him a pup?"</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>A writer in <i>Notes and Queries</i> tells a story of an +old-fashioned service, and with this we will conclude our +collection of curious tales.</p> +<p>A lady friend of the writer still living, and the daughter of a +clergyman, assured him that in a country parish, where the church +service was conducted in a very free-and-easy, go-as-you-please +sort of way, the clerk, looking up at the parson, asked, "What +shall we do next, zurr?"</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-318"></a>[pg 318]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> +<h3>LONGEVITY AND HEREDITY--THE DEACON-CLERKS OF BARNSTAPLE</h3> +<br> +<p>There are numerous instances of the hereditary nature of the +clerk's office, which has frequently been passed on from father to +son through several generations. I have already mentioned the +Osbornes of Belbroughton, Worcestershire, who were parish clerks +and tailors in the village from the time of Henry VIII, and the +Worralls of Wolverley in the same county, whose reign extended over +a century.</p> +<p>David Clarkson, the parish clerk of Feckenham, died in 1854, and +his ancestors occupied the same office for two centuries. King's +Norton had a famous race of clerks, of the name of Ford, who also +served for the same period. The Fords were a long-lived family, as +two of them held the office for 102 years. Cuthbert Bede mentions +also the following remarkable instances of heredity:</p> +<p>The Roses were parish clerks at Bromsgrove from "time out of +mind." The Bonds were parish clerks at St. Michael's, Worcester, +for a century. John Tustin had in 1856 been clerk of Broadway for +fifty-two years, his father and grandfather having previously held +the office. Charles Orford died at Oldswinford December 28th, 1855, +aged seventy-three years, having <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-319"></a>[pg 319]</span> been parish clerk from his youth, +and having succeeded his father in that capacity: he was succeeded +by his son Thomas Orford, who was again succeeded by his own son +William, one of the present vergers in this church, aged seventy +years. All these examples are taken from parishes in +Worcestershire. An extraordinary instance of longevity and heredity +occurs in the annals of the parish of Chapel-en-le-Frith, +Derbyshire. Peter Bramwell, clerk of the parish, died in 1854, +after having held the office for forty-three years. His father +Peter Bramwell was clerk for fifty years, his grandfather George +Bramwell for thirty-eight years, his great-great-grandfather George +Bramwell for forty years, and his great-great-great-grandfather +Peter Bramwell for fifty-two years. The total number of years +during which the parish was served by this family of clerks was +223, and by only five members of it, giving an average of +forty-four years and nine months for each--a wonderful record +truly!</p> +<p>Nor are these instances of the hereditary nature of the office, +and of the fact that the duties of the position seem to contribute +to the lengthened days of the holders of it, entirely passed away. +The riverside town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, furnishes an example +of this. Mr. H.W. Badger has occupied the position of parish clerk +for half a century, and a few months ago was presented by the +townspeople with an illuminated address, together with a purse of +fifty-five sovereigns, in recognition of his long term of service +and of the esteem in which he is held. He was appointed in 1855 in +succession to his father, Henry Badger, appointed in 1832, who +succeeded his grandfather, Wildsmith Badger, who became parish +clerk in 1789.</p> +<p>The oldest parish clerk living is James Carne, who <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-320"></a>[pg 320]</span> serves in the +parish of St. Columb Minor, Cornwall, and has held the office for +fifty-eight years. He is now in his hundred and first year, and +still is unremitting in attention to duty, and regularly attends +church. He followed in the wake of his father and grandfather, who +filled the same position for fifty-four years and fifty years +respectively.</p> +<p>Mr. Edward J. Lupson is the much-respected parish clerk of Great +Yarmouth, who is a great authority on the history of the important +church in which he officiates, and is the author of several books. +He has written an excellent guide to the church of St. Nicholas, +and a volume entitled <i>Cupid's Pupils</i>, compiled from the +personal "recollections of a parish clerk who assisted at ten +thousand four hundred marriages and gave away eleven hundred and +thirty brides"--a wonderful record, which, as the book was +published seven years ago, has now been largely exceeded. The book +is brightly written, and abounds in the records of amusing +instances of nervous and forgetful brides and bride-grooms, of +extraordinary blunders, of the failings of inexperienced clergy, +and is a full and complete guide to those who contemplate +matrimony. His guide to the church he loves so well is admirable. +It appears there is a clerks' book at Great Yarmouth, which +contains a number of interesting notes and memoranda. The clerks of +this church were men of importance and position in the town. In +1760 John Marsh, who succeeded Sampson Winn, was a town councillor. +He was succeeded in 1785 by Mr. Richard Pitt, the son of a former +mayor, and he and his wife and sixteen children were interred in +the north chancel aisle, where a mural monument records their +memories. The clerks at this period, until 1831, were appointed by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-321"></a>[pg 321]</span> the +corporation and paid by the borough. In 1800 Mr. Richard Miller +resigned his aldermanic gown to accept the office. Mr. David +Absolon (1811-31) was a member of the corporation before receiving +the appointment. Mr. John Seaman reigned from 1831 to 1841, and was +followed by Mr. James Burman, who was the last clerk who took part +in that curious duet with the vicar, to which we have often +referred. He was an accomplished campanologist and composed several +peals. In 1863 Mr. Lupson was appointed, who has so much honoured +his office and earned the respect of all who know him. The old +fashion of the clerk wearing gown and bands is continued at Great +Yarmouth.</p> +<br> +<a name="image36.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/image36.jpg"><img src= +"images/image36.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>James Carne, Parish Clerk Of St. Columb-Minor, Cornwall.<br> +The Oldest Living Clerk.</b></p> +<br> +<p>Mr. Lupson tells of his strange experiences when conducting +visitors round the church, and explaining to them the varied +objects of interest. What our clerks have to put up with may be +news to many. I will give it in his own words:</p> +<p>Although a congenial and profitable engagement, it was often +felt to be weary work, talking about the same things many times +each day week after week: and anything but easy to exhibit the +freshness and retain the vivacity that was desirable. Fortunately +the monotony of the recital found considerable relief from the +varied receptions it met with. Among the many thousand individuals, +of all grades and classes, from the highest to the lowest, thus +come in contact with, a diversified and wide range of characters +was inevitable. The vast majority happily consisted of persons with +whom it was pleasant to spend half an hour within the sacred walls, +so gratified were they with what they saw and heard: some proving +so enthusiastic, and showing such absorbing interest, that at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-322"></a>[pg 322]</span> every +convenient halting-place they would take a seat, and comfortably +adjust themselves as if preparing to hear an address from a +favourite preacher. Occasionally, however, we had to endure the +presence of persons who appeared to be suffering from disordered +livers, or had nettles in their boots, so restless and dissatisfied +were they. Scarcely anything pleased them. Undesirable individuals +would sometimes be discovered in the midst of otherwise pleasant +parties. Of such may be mentioned those who knew of much finer +churches they could really admire. Whenever we heard the +preface--"There's one thing strikes me in this church"--we were +prepared to hear a depreciatory remark of some kind. Some would +take pleasure in breaking the sequence of the story by anticipating +matters not then reached, and causing divers interruptions. Others +would annoy by preferring persistent speaking to listening. It was +trying work going round with, and explaining to, persons from whom +nothing but mono-syllables could be drawn, either through +nervousness, or from realising their exalted status to be miles +above the person who was supposing himself able to interest them. +Anything but desirable persons were they who, after going round the +church, returned with other friends, and then posed as men whose +knowledge of the building was equal, if not a shade superior, to +that of the guide. Some parties would waste the time, and try one's +patience by having amongst them laggards, to whom explanations +already given had to be repeated. But we must pass by others, and +proceed. The mind would sometimes find diversion by observing the +idiosyncrasies, and detecting the pretensions of individuals. +Gradually gaining acquaintance as we proceeded, we occasionally +discovered some were aping <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-323"></a>[pg 323]</span> gentility: some assuming positions +that knew them not, and some claiming talents they did not possess. +We will unmask a specimen of the latter class. A man, who was +unaccompanied by friends, wished to see the church he had heard so +much of. He seemed about thirty years of age; was a made-up +exquisite, looking very imposing, peering as he did through +gold-rimmed spectacles. His talents were of such an order he could +not think of hiding them. He had learned Hebrew, not from printed +books, as ordinary scholars are wont to do, but from MSS., and +found it so easy a matter, it "only took two hours," and it was +simply "out of curiosity" that he undertook it. Before mentally +placing this paragon among the classics, we showed him our MS. Roll +(exquisitely written, as many visitors are aware, in unpointed +Hebrew), and asked him to read a few words. This was indeed +pricking the bubble. Tell it not in Gath, but publish we will, the +discovery we instantly made. Our Hebrew scholar had forgotten that +Hebrew ran from right to left! and worse still, he even shook his +intellectual head, and gravely confessed that he "wasn't quite sure +but that the Roll was written in Greek."</p> +<p>Other sources of relief to the mind jaded with constant +repetition arose from the peculiar remarks that were made, and the +strange questions that were often asked.</p> +<p>The organ has been a source of wonderment to multitudes who had +never seen or heard of a divided organ. Wonderful stories had +reached the ears of some respecting it.</p> +<p>"Is this the organ that was wrecked?" "Is this the organ that +was dug out of the sea?" "Is this the organ that was taken out of +the Spanish galleon?" <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-324"></a>[pg 324]</span> "Wasn't this organ smuggled out of +some ship?" "Didn't it belong to Handel?" "Wasn't this organ made +for St. Peter's at Rome?" With confidence says one, "This organ +really belongs to the continent; it was confiscated in some war." +Whilst another as confidently asserts that "it was built in Holland +for one of the English cathedrals, and the vessel that conveyed it +was caught in a storm and wrecked upon Yarmouth beach; it was then +taken possession of by the inhabitants and erected in this church." +Others, wishing to show their intimate knowledge of this +instrument, have told their friends that the trumpet, which is a +solid piece of wood, held by the angel at the summit of the +northern organ-case, is only blown at the death of a royal person. +And a lady, instead of informing her friend that it was a <i>vox +humana</i> stop, called it a <i>vox populi</i>.</p> +<p>We were asked by one, "Did this organ break the windows? I was +told a festival service was going on, the organist blew the trumpet +stop, and broke the windows." Another inquiry was, "Who invented +the pedals of this organ? We were told that quite a youth believed +that pedals would improve it. He added them, and to the day of his +death, whenever he was within a few miles of Yarmouth, he would +come and hear them." In our hearing one man informed another that +"this organ has miles of piping running somewhere about the town +underground." The queries we have had to answer have been +exceedingly numerous. Looking at the enclosure containing the +console of the organ, a visitor wished to know whether the organist +sat inside there. Another asked whether it was the vestry. One who +saw great possibilities in such an organ inquired, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-325"></a>[pg 325]</span> "Can he play this +organ in any other place beside the key-board?" The pulpit being of +so unique a character has had a full share of attention, and no +lack of admirers. Gazing at it with eyes filled with wonderment, a +woman said to her daughter, "Maria, you're not to touch not even +the pews." Everything within sight of such a structure she held +sacred. Astonished at its internal capacity, another asked, "Do all +the clergy sit in it?" Not realising its true character and intent, +a lady wished to know, "By whom was this monument erected?" As we +had long since ascertained how impossible it was to please +everybody, we were not surprised to find dissatisfied critics +presenting themselves. One of this class said, "It looks like a +tomb, and smells like a coffin." Another, with sarcastic wit, said, +"Moses looks like some churchwarden who would have to be careful +how he ate his soup." We append a few more questions we have had to +answer:</p> +<p>"Was this church built by St. Nicholas?"</p> +<p>"Does this church stand in four parishes?"</p> +<p>"How many miles is it round the walls of this church?"</p> +<p>"How many does this hold? We were told it holds 12,000."</p> +<p>A clergyman asked, "Where are the bells? Are they in the +tower?"</p> +<p>"Haven't you a Bible 3000 years old?"</p> +<p>"Haven't you a Bible that turns over its own leaves?"</p> +<p>"Who had the missing leaves of this (Cranmer's) Bible?"</p> +<p>"Is this the Bible that was chained in Brentwood Church?"</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-326"></a>[pg 326]</span> +<p>A lady pointing to the font asked, "Is that the Communion +Table?"</p> +<p>An elderly lady at the brass lectern inquired, "Is this the +clerk's seat?"</p> +<p>A man standing looking over the Communion rails wished to know, +"What part of the church do you call this?"</p> +<p>"Was one of the giants buried in the churchyard?"</p> +<p>"Where is the gravestone where a man, his wife, and twenty-five +children were buried? I saw it when I was here some years ago, and +forget on which side of the church it is."</p> +<p>A young man gazing at the top of the lofty flagstaff just inside +the churchyard gates, asked, "Was that erected to the memory of a +shipwrecked crew?"</p> +<p>With such extraordinary exhibitions of blatant ignorance can a +worthy clerk regale himself, but they must be very trying at +times.</p> +<p>Mr. Lupson has also written <i>The Friendly Guide to the Parish +Church and other places of interest in the neighbourhood, The Rows +of Great Yarmouth; why so constructed</i>, and some devotional +works.</p> +<p>He is also the author of the following additional verse to the +National Anthem, sung on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of +Queen Victoria:</p> +<blockquote>"Long life our Queen has seen:<br> +Glorious her reign has been:<br> + Secure her throne!<br> +Her subjects' joy and pride,<br> +God's Word be still her guide:<br> +Long may she yet abide<br> + Empress and Queen!"</blockquote> +<p>The sons of parish clerks have sometimes attained to high +dignity in the Church. The clerk of Totnes, Devonshire, had a son +who was born in 1718, and <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-327"></a>[pg 327]</span> who became the distinguished author +and theologian, Dr. Kennicott. On one occasion he went to preach at +the church in his native village, where his father was still acting +as clerk. The old man insisted upon performing his accustomed +duties, placing the surplice or black gown on his son's shoulders, +and sitting below him in the clerk's lowly desk. The mother of the +scholar was so overcome with joy at hearing him preach, that she +fainted and was carried out of the church insensible. Cuthbert Bede +records that he was acquainted with two eminent clergymen who were +the sons of parish clerks. One of them was a learned professor of a +college and an author of repute, and the other was attended by his +father in the same manner as Dr. Kennicott was by his.</p> +<p>Sometimes our failures are the stepping-stones to success in +life. The celebrated Dr. Prideaux, Regius Professor of Divinity at +Oxford and Bishop of Worcester in 1641, was the son of poor parents +at Harford, near Totnes. He applied for the post of parish clerk at +Ugborough, but failed to obtain the appointment. He was much +disappointed, and in despair wandered to Oxford, where he became a +servitor at Exeter College, and ultimately attained to the position +of rector or head of his college. When he became bishop, he was +accustomed to say, "If I could have been clerk of Ugborough, I had +never been bishop of Worcester."</p> +<p>The history of the clerks of Barnstaple (1500-1900) has been +traced by the Rev. J.F. Chanter <a name="FNanchor95"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_95">[95]</a>, and the record is remarkable as showing +their important status, and how some were raised to the diaconate, +and in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-328"></a>[pg 328]</span> +difficult times rendered good service to the Church and the +incumbents. The first clerk of whom any trace can be found was +Thomas Hunt (1540-68). He appears in the register books as +<i>clericus de hoc opido</i>, and in the churchwardens' accounts +for 1564 there is an entry, "Item to Hunt the clerke paid for +lights 2 s. 8 d." He was succeeded by his son, John Hunt (1564-84). +Robert Langdon flourished as clerk from 1584 to 1625, when +spiritual matters were at a low ebb in the parish. The vicar was +excommunicated in 1589. His successor quickly resigned, and the +next vicar was soon involved in feuds with some of his +puritanically inclined parishioners. The quarrel was increased by +the unworthy conduct of Robert Smyth, a preacher and lecturer who +was appointed and paid by the corporation, and cared little for +vicar or bishop. He was an extreme Puritan, and had a considerable +following in the parish. His refusal to wear a surplice, though +ordered to do so by the bishop, brought the dispute to a head. He +was inhibited, but his followers retorted by accusing the vicar of +being a companion of tipplers and fooling away his time with pipe +and tabor, and finally bringing an accusation against him, on +account of which the poor man was cited before the High Commission +Court. The charge came to nothing, and Smyth for a time conformed +and wore his surplice. Then some of the Puritan faction refused to +accept the vicar's ministrations, and two of them were tried at the +assizes and sent to gaol. "If they would rather go to gaol than +church," said the town clerk, "much good may it do them. I am not +of their mind." Passive resisters were not encouraged in those +days. But the relations between vicar and lecturer continued +strained, and the former bethought him of his faithful <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-329"></a>[pg 329]</span> clerk, Robert +Langdon, as a helper in the ministry. He applied to the bishop to +raise him to the diaconate, and this was done, Langdon being +ordained deacon on 21 September, 1606, by William Cotton, Bishop of +Exeter. The record of this notable event, the ordination of a +parish clerk, thus appears in the ordination register of the +diocese:</p> +<blockquote>"In festo Matthæi Apostoli Dominus Episcopus in +ecclesia parochiali de Silfertone xxi mo die Septembris 1606 +ordines sacros celebrando ordinavit, sequuntur Diaconi tunc et +ibidinem ordinati videlicet Robertus Langdon de +Barnestapli."</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_95"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor95">[95]</a> <i>Transactions of the Devonshire +Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and +Art</i>, 1904, xxxvi. pp. 390-414.</blockquote> +<p>Langdon remained parish clerk and deacon nineteen years, and the +register contained the record of his burial, "Robert Langdon deacon +5th July 1625." He seems to have brought peace to the troubled mind +of his vicar, whose tombstone declares:</p> +<blockquote>"Many are the troubles of the Righteous<br> +But the Lord delivereth out of all."</blockquote> +<p>Langdon used to keep the registers, and he began to record in +them a series of notes on passing events which add greatly to the +interest of such volumes. Thus we find an account of a grievous +fire at Tiverton in 1595, a violent storm at Barnstaple in 1606, +and a great frost in the same year; another fire at Tiverton in +1612, and the scraps of Latin which appear show that he was a man +of some education.</p> +<p>Anthony Baker reigned from 1625 to 1646, who had also been +ordained deacon prior to his appointment to Barnstaple, and +belonged to an old yeoman family. He was popular with the people, +who presented him with a new gown. He saw the suspension of his +vicar by the Standing Committee, and probably died of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-330"></a>[pg 330]</span> plague +in 1646, when the town found itself without vicar, deacon, or +clerk. The plague was raging, people dying, and no one to minister +to them. No clergyman would come save the old vicar, Martyn Blake, +who was at length allowed by the Puritan rulers to return, to the +great joy of the inhabitants. He appointed Symon Sloby (1647-81), +but could not get him ordained deacon, as bishops and ordination +were abhorred and abolished by the Puritan rulers. Sloby was +appointed "Register of Barnestapell" during the Commonwealth +period. He saw his vicar ejected and carried off to Exeter by some +of the Parliamentary troopers and subsequently restored to the +living, and records with much joy and loyalty the restoration of +the monarchy. He served three successive vicars, records many items +of interest, including certain gifts to himself with a pious wish +for others to go and do likewise, and died in a good old age.</p> +<p>Richard Sleeper succeeded him in 1682, and reigned till 1698. He +conformed to the more modern style of clerk of an important parish, +a dignified official who attended the vicar and performed his +duties on Sunday, occupying the clerk's desk. Of his successors +history records little save their names. William Bawden, a weaver, +was clerk from 1708 to 1726, William Evans 1726 to 1741, John +Taylor 1741 to 1760, John Comer 1760 to 1786, John Shapcote 1786 to +1795, Joseph Kimpland 1795 to 1798, who was a member of an old +Barnstaple family and was succeeded by his son John (1798-1832), +John Thorne (1832-1859), John Hartnoll (1859-1883), and William +Youings 1883 to 1901.</p> +<p>This is a remarkable record, and it would be well if in all +parishes a list of clerks, with as much information as the +industrious inquirer can collect, could be so <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="Page-331"></a>[pg 331]</span> satisfactorily +drawn up and recorded, as Mr. Chanter has so successfully done for +Barnstaple. The quaint notes in the registers written by the clerk +give some sort of key to his character, and the recollections of +the oldest inhabitants might be set down who can tell us something +of the life and character of those who have lived in more modern +times. We sometimes record in our churches the names of the bishops +of the see, and of the incumbents of the parish; perhaps a list of +the humbler but no less faithful servants of the Church, the parish +clerks, might be added.</p> +<p>Often can we learn much from them of old-world manners, +superstitions, folk-lore, and the curious form of worship practised +in the days of our forefathers. My own clerk is a great authority +on the lore of ancient days, of bygone hard winters, of +weather-lore, of the Russian war time, and of the ways of the +itinerant choir and orchestra, of which he was the noted leader. +Strange and curious carols did he and his sons and friends sing for +us on Christmas Eve, the words and music of which have been handed +down from father to son for several generations, and have somewhat +suffered in their course. His grandson still performs for us the +Christmas Mumming Play. The clerk is seventy years of age, and +succeeded his father some forty years ago. Save for "bad legs," the +curse of the rustic, he is still hale and hearty, and in spite of +an organ and surpliced choir, his powerful voice still sounds with +a resonant "Amen." Never does he miss a Sunday service.</p> +<p>We owe much to our faithful clerks. Let us revere their +memories. They are a most interesting race, and your "Amen clerk" +is often more celebrated and better known than the rector, vicar, +patron or squire. The <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"Page-332"></a>[pg 332]</span> irreverence, of which we have given +many alarming instances, was the irreverence of the times in which +they lived, of the bad old days of pluralist rectors and itinerant +clerics, when the Church was asleep and preparing to die with what +dignity she could. We may not blame the humble servitor for the +faults and failings of his masters and for the carelessness and +depravity of his age. We cannot judge his homely ways by the higher +standard of ceremonial and worship to which we have become +accustomed. Charity shall hide from us his defects, while we +continue to admire the virtues, faithfulness and devotion to duty +of the old parish clerk, who retains a warm place in our hearts and +is tenderly and affectionately remembered by the elder generation +of English Churchpeople.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-333"></a>[pg 333]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> +<h3>CONCLUSION</h3> +<br> +<p>The passing of the parish clerk causes many reflections. For a +thousand years he has held an important position in our churches. +We have seen him robed in his ancient dignity, a zealous and +honoured official, without whose aid the services of the Church +could scarcely have been carried on. In post-Reformation times he +continued his career without losing his rank or status, his dignity +or usefulness. We have seen him the life and mainstay of the +village music, the instructor of young clerics, the upholder of +ancient customs and old-established usages. We have regretted the +decay in his education, his irreverence and absurdities, and have +amused ourselves with the stories of his quaint ways and strange +eccentricities. His unseemly conduct was the fault of the dullness, +deadness, and irreverence of the age in which he lived, rather than +of his own personal defects. In spite of all that can be said +against him, he was often a very faithful, loyal, pious, and worthy +man.</p> +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-334"></a>[pg 334]</span> 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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-335"></a>[pg 335]</span> +<h2><a name="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> +Absolon, Chaucer's portrait of, <a href="#Page-26">26</a><br> + David, clerk of Great Yarmouth, <a href= +"#Page-185">185</a><br> +"Acts," a Christian name, <a href="#Page-264">264</a><br> +Addison, on clerks, <a href="#Page-64">64</a><br> +Advent, a carol for, <a href="#Page-168">168</a><br> +"Ales," clerk's, <a href="#Page-42">42</a><br> +Allington, Kent, <a href="#Page-230">230</a><br> +Alnwick, Turner, clerk of, <a href="#Page-232">232</a><br> +"Amen" epitaph, <a href="#Page-97">97</a><br> +<i>Ancient Mysteries</i>, <a href="#Page-137">137</a><br> +Andrews, W., <i>Curious Epitaphs</i>, <a href= +"#Page-100">100</a><br> + <i>Curiosities of the Church</i>, <a href= +"#Page-188">188</a><br> +Antiquity of clerk's office, <a href="#Page-16">16</a>, etc.<br> +Apostles, complimenting the, <a href="#Page-265">265</a><br> +Appointment, the right of, <a href="#Page-246">246</a><br> +<i>Aquæbajalus</i>, <a href="#Page-27">27</a><br> +Arms of the Company of Clerks, <a href="#Page-111">111</a><br> +<i>Art of Politicks</i>, <a href="#Page-184">184</a><br> +Art, the clerk in, <a href="#Page-195">195</a>, etc.<br> +Ashford, Isaac, the story of, <a href="#Page-68">68</a><br> +Aston, Yorks, <a href="#Page-5">5</a><br> +Astronomical clerks, <a href="#Page-209">209</a>, <a href= +"#Page-258">258</a><br> +Atchley, Dr. Cuthbert, <a href="#Page-49">49</a><br> +Atkinson, Rev. Canon, <a href="#Page-302">302</a>, <a href= +"#Page-303">303</a><br> +Atkins, Thomas of Chillenden, <a href="#Page-236">236</a><br> +Augustine of Canterbury, St., <a href="#Page-16">16</a>, <a href= +"#Page-35">35</a><br> +Avington, female clerk at, <a href="#Page-202">202</a><br> +<br> +Badger, H.W., of Mallow, <a href="#Page-319">319</a><br> +Baker, Anthony, deacon-clerk, <a href="#Page-329">329</a><br> +Bakewell, the Roe family of, <a href="#Page-93">93</a><br> +Barkham, <a href="#Page-143">143</a>, <a href="#Page-312">312</a>, +<a href="#Page-331">331</a><br> +Barnet, East, clerk of, <a href="#Page-60">60</a><br> +Barnstaple, clerks of, <a href="#Page-61">61</a>, <a href= +"#Page-327">327</a><br> +Barrel-organs, <a href="#Page-5">5</a><br> +Barton Turf, Norfolk, dog-whippers land at, <a href= +"#Page-34">34</a><br> +Beating the bounds at Ringmer, <a href="#Page-34">34</a><br> +Bede Roll of the Company, <a href="#Page-113">113</a><br> +Bede, Cuthbert, <a href="#Page-91">91</a>, <a href= +"#Page-161">161</a>, <a href="#Page-201">201</a>, <a href= +"#Page-317">317</a>, <a href="#Page-327">327</a><br> +Bells to warn travellers, <a href="#Page-83">83</a><br> +Belbroughton, <a href="#Page-96">96</a><br> +<i>Belts Life</i>, in the pulpit, <a href="#Page-231">231</a><br> +Belton, Suffolk, Noah Pole, clerk of, <a href= +"#Page-311">311</a><br> +Bennet, John, of Woodstock, <a href="#Page-163">163</a><br> +Beresford Hope on old services, <a href="#Page-8">8</a>, <a href= +"#Page-170">170</a><br> +Besant, Sir W., description of old clerk, <a href= +"#Page-21">21</a><br> +Bilby, Thomas, author of hymn, <a href="#Page-154">154</a><br> +Bills of Mortality, <a href="#Page-123">123</a><br> +Bingley, Hezekiah Briggs, of, <a href="#Page-100">100</a><br> +Bletchley, clerk of, <a href="#Page-59">59</a><br> +Bly, Sarah, sexton, <a href="#Page-201">201</a><br> +"Bobber," or sluggard-waker, <a href="#Page-204">204</a><br> +Bond family of Worcester, <a href="#Page-318">318</a><br> +Boniface, Archbishop, constitutions of, <a href= +"#Page-30">30</a><br> +Borne, Hooker's parish, <a href="#Page-24">24</a><br> +<i>Borough, The</i>, by G. Crabbe, <a href="#Page-66">66</a><br> +Bradford-on-Avon, <a href="#Page-158">158</a>, <a href= +"#Page-194">194</a><br> +Bramwells of Chapel-en-le-Frith, <a href="#Page-319">319</a><br> +Bristol, St. Nicholas, <a href="#Page-28">28</a>, <a href= +"#Page-50">50</a><br> +Broadway, the Tustins of, <a href="#Page-318">318</a><br> +Bromfield, Salop, <a href="#Page-280">280</a><br> +Bromham, the clerk of, <a href="#Page-190">190</a><br> +Bromsgrove, Rose family of, <a href="#Page-318">318</a><br> +Burrows, Mrs., recollections of, <a href="#Page-283">283</a><br> +Buxted, clerk of, <a href="#Page-55">55</a><br> +<br> +Caistor, Lincolnshire, <a href="#Page-227">227</a><br> +Calculating clerk, a, <a href="#Page-211">211</a><br> +Cambridgeshire curate, a, <a href="#Page-15">15</a><br> +Canes in churches, <a href="#Page-190">190</a><br> +Canterbury, Guild of Clerks at, <a href="#Page-105">105</a><br> +Carley, Thomas, of Grafton Underwood, <a href= +"#Page-152">152</a><br> +Carne, James, oldest living parish clerk, <a href= +"#Page-319">319</a><br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-336"></a>[pg 336]</span> +Carshalton, register of, <a href="#Page-141">141</a><br> +Catechising, <a href="#Page-228">228</a><br> +Catechising in church by the clerk, <a href="#Page-59">59</a>, +<a href="#Page-274">274</a><br> +Catwick, Thomas Dixon, of, <a href="#Page-206">206</a><br> +Celibacy of clerks, <a href="#Page-18">18</a><br> +Chanter, Rev. J.F., on clerks of Barnstaple, <a href= +"#Page-327">327</a><br> +Chapel-en-le-Frith, <a href="#Page-319">319</a><br> +Chapple, William, of Swymbridge, <a href="#Page-174">174</a><br> +Charman Dean, smuggling at, <a href="#Page-84">84</a><br> +Charters of Company of Clerks, <a href="#Page-106">106</a>, +<a href="#Page-109">109</a><br> +Chaucer's portrait of frivolous clerk, <a href= +"#Page-26">26</a><br> +Cheshire clerk, an old, <a href="#Page-225">225</a><br> +Chess in a village, <a href="#Page-242">242</a><br> +Chester, plays at, <a href="#Page-134">134</a><br> + Sir Robert, spoliator of Clerks' Company, <a href= +"#Page-108">108</a><br> +Chillenden, Kent, <a href="#Page-236">236</a><br> +Choirs, old-time, <a href="#Page-1">1</a>, <a href="#Page-3">3</a>, +<a href="#Page-4">4</a>, <a href="#Page-198">198</a>, <a href= +"#Page-213">213</a><br> +"Chosen people," 235<br> +Church, description of an old, <a href="#Page-1">1</a><br> +Churching of women, <a href="#Page-231">231</a><br> +Churchwardens' Account books, <a href="#Page-19">19</a><br> +Clark, John, the register book of, <a href="#Page-145">145</a><br> +Clarke, John, <a href="#Page-111">111</a><br> +Clarkson, David, of Feckenham, <a href="#Page-318">318</a><br> +Claverley, Shropshire, <a href="#Page-188">188</a><br> +Clergy, defective readers, <a href="#Page-58">58</a><br> +Clerk's ale, <a href="#Page-42">42</a><br> + house, <a href="#Page-33">33</a><br> +<i>Clerks Book, The</i>, <a href="#Page-52">52</a>, <a href= +"#Page-248">248</a><br> +Clerks, too clerical, <a href="#Page-79">79</a>, etc.<br> +Clerk's Latin, <a href="#Page-242">242</a><br> +Clerkenwell and clerks' plays, <a href="#Page-130">130</a>, +etc.<br> +Clerkship, stepping-stone to higher preferment, <a href= +"#Page-32">32</a><br> +Coaching days, <a href="#Page-241">241</a><br> +Collis family of clerks, <a href="#Page-91">91</a><br> +Collumpton, female clerk at, <a href="#Page-202">202</a><br> +Company of parish clerks, <a href="#Page-104">104</a>, etc.<br> +Cornish parsons, <a href="#Page-180">180</a><br> +Cornish wreckers, <a href="#Page-84">84</a><br> +Coronation changes in the Prayer Book, <a href= +"#Page-314">314</a><br> +Council of Merida, <a href="#Page-17">17</a><br> + Toledo, <a href="#Page-17">17</a><br> +Court, George, of Wednesbury, <a href="#Page-289">289</a><br> +Coventry, Trinity Church, <a href="#Page-28">28</a>, <a href= +"#Page-36">36</a>, <a href="#Page-50">50</a><br> +Coventry, plays at, <a href="#Page-134">134</a><br> +Cowper's mortuary verses, <a href="#Page-69">69</a><br> + <i>The Sofa</i>, <a href="#Page-71">71</a><br> + <i>The Task</i>, <a href="#Page-184">184</a><br> +Crabbe's sketch of old clerics, <a href="#Page-13">13</a><br> +Crabbe's sketch of old clerks, <a href="#Page-66">66</a><br> +Crayford, Kent, "Amen" epitaph at, <a href="#Page-97">97</a><br> +Cromer, David Vial of, <a href="#Page-92">92</a><br> +Cropthorne, Worcestershire, <a href="#Page-102">102</a><br> +Crosthwaite and catechising, <a href="#Page-277">277</a><br> +Curious stories, <a href="#Page-307">307</a>, etc.<br> +<br> +Dagenham and its clerk, <a href="#Page-313">313</a><br> +Dean, West, Sussex, <a href="#Page-233">233</a><br> +Decline of clerks, <a href="#Page-61">61</a><br> +Decorating the church, <a href="#Page-193">193</a><br> +Deputations, <a href="#Page-217">217</a><br> +Descent into Hell, <a href="#Page-136">136</a><br> +Dickenson, Thomas, licensed to officiate, <a href= +"#Page-81">81</a><br> +Dicker, Robert, of Crediton, <a href="#Page-257">257</a><br> +Diggs, David, <a href="#Page-6">6</a>, <a href="#Page-58">58</a>, +<a href="#Page-162">162</a><br> +Dismissing a clerk, <a href="#Page-247">247</a>, <a href= +"#Page-250">250</a><br> +Dixon, Thomas, a curious character, <a href="#Page-206">206</a><br> +Dog, an archbishop's, <a href="#Page-189">189</a><br> +Dogs fighting in church, <a href="#Page-85">85</a><br> +Dog-whippers, <a href="#Page-34">34</a>, <a href= +"#Page-188">188</a><br> +Dogs lost, notices of, <a href="#Page-176">176</a><br> +Dogs in churches, <a href="#Page-189">189</a><br> +Duke's present of game, a, <a href="#Page-177">177</a><br> +Dunstable, <a href="#Page-20">20</a><br> +Dunstan, St., <a href="#Page-16">16</a><br> +<br> +Easter cakes, <a href="#Page-41">41</a><br> +Eastham, clerk of, <a href="#Page-55">55</a><br> +Ecclesfield, clerks at, <a href="#Page-298">298</a><br> +Eccleshall's cricketing clerk, <a href="#Page-182">182</a><br> +<i>Ecclesiastical Law</i>, by Sir R. Phillimore, <a href= +"#Page-247">247</a><br> +Edgar, King, canons of, <a href="#Page-16">16</a><br> +Elliott, Rev. E.K., recollections of, <a href="#Page-83">83</a><br> +Elmstead, <a href="#Page-49">49</a><br> +Elton, Miss, recollections of, <a href="#Page-292">292</a><br> +Epitaphs of clerks, <a href="#Page-90">90</a>, etc.<br> +Epworth and John Wesley, <a href="#Page-193">193</a><br> +Ethelbert, King, <a href="#Page-16">16</a><br> +Evison, Thomas, of Wragsby, <a href="#Page-281">281</a><br> +Exeter, Synod of, <a href="#Page-17">17</a><br> +<br> +Faithfulness of clerks, <a href="#Page-23">23</a><br> +Fairfield, <a href="#Page-80">80</a><br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-337"></a>[pg 337]</span> +Fasting Communion, a tradition, <a href="#Page-237">237</a><br> +Faversham, <a href="#Page-28">28</a>, <a href="#Page-45">45</a>, +<a href="#Page-50">50</a><br> +Feckenham, <a href="#Page-318">318</a><br> +Feudal customs, <a href="#Page-284">284</a><br> +Fewson, Richard, a curious clerk, <a href="#Page-208">208</a><br> +Fielding's clerics, <a href="#Page-11">11</a><br> +Fighting in church, <a href="#Page-49">49</a>, <a href= +"#Page-279">279</a><br> +Finch, Betty, "bobber," <a href="#Page-204">204</a><br> +Flore, carol by the clerk of, <a href="#Page-167">167</a><br> +Ford family of King's Norton, <a href="#Page-102">102</a>, <a href= +"#Page-318">318</a><br> +Foster, Joshua, of Caistor, <a href="#Page-227">227</a><br> +Foston-le-Clay and Sydney Smith, <a href="#Page-216">216</a><br> +Fressingfield, clerk's house at, <a href="#Page-34">34</a><br> +Frith's Vicar of Wakefield, <a href="#Page-199">199</a><br> +Funerals, London clerks at, <a href="#Page-116">116</a><br> +Funerals, old time, <a href="#Page-218">218</a>, <a href= +"#Page-222">222</a><br> +Furness, Richard, clerk of Dore, <a href="#Page-164">164</a><br> +<br> +Gadara, swine of, <a href="#Page-238">238</a><br> +Gainsborough's portrait of Orpin, <a href="#Page-195">195</a><br> +Gargrave, York, <a href="#Page-157">157</a><br> +Gay's allusion to clerks, <a href="#Page-72">72</a><br> +George IV and Queen Caroline, <a href="#Page-183">183</a><br> +Ghost story, <a href="#Page-313">313</a><br> +Gill, Mrs., recollections of, <a href="#Page-170">170</a>, <a href= +"#Page-278">278</a><br> +"God speed 'em well," <a href="#Page-215">215</a>, <a href= +"#Page-230">230</a><br> +Goldsmith's <i>Vicar of Wakefield</i>, <a href= +"#Page-12">12</a><br> +Goose in the pulpit, <a href="#Page-266">266</a><br> +Grafton Underwood, <a href="#Page-152">152</a><br> +Gray, John, clerk at Eton College,<br> +Green, Rev. W.F., recollections of, <a href="#Page-293">293</a><br> +Gregory IX, decretals of, <a href="#Page-17">17</a><br> +Gregory Smith, Rev. Canon, recollections of, <a href= +"#Page-315">315</a><br> +Grindal, Archbishop, injunctions of, <a href="#Page-54">54</a>, +<a href="#Page-80">80</a><br> +Grosseteste, Bishop, <a href="#Page-17">17</a><br> +Guild of Clerks, <a href="#Page-18">18</a>, <a href= +"#Page-104">104</a>, etc.<br> +Guinea-fowls, disturbing congregation, <a href= +"#Page-261">261</a><br> +Gunpowder Plot, <a href="#Page-161">161</a><br> +<br> +Haddon, West, <a href="#Page-91">91</a><br> +Halls of the Clerks' Company, <a href="#Page-107">107</a>, <a href= +"#Page-110">110</a>, etc.<br> +"Harmun," a Christian name, <a href="#Page-263">263</a><br> +Hartlepool, clerk of, <a href="#Page-59">59</a><br> +Harvey, Christopher, <a href="#Page-63">63</a><br> +Haw of Halton Holgate, <a href="#Page-236">236</a><br> +Hawker, Rev. R.S., recollections of, <a href="#Page-85">85</a>, +<a href="#Page-313">313</a><br> +Hayes, disgraceful scenes at, <a href="#Page-187">187</a><br> +Hebrew scholar, a <a href="#Page-323">323</a><br> +Hemmans, Rev. Canon, recollections of, <a href= +"#Page-281">281</a><br> +Herbert, George, on responding, <a href="#Page-68">68</a><br> +Herbert, George, clerk of Eye, <a href="#Page-93">93</a><br> +Heredity of the clerk's office, <a href="#Page-318">318</a><br> +Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, <a href="#Page-17">17</a><br> +Hinton, William, a Wilts clerk, <a href="#Page-239">239</a><br> +Hobbes, William, clerk at Plymouth, <a href="#Page-25">25</a><br> +Hobby, a matrimonial, <a href="#Page-315">315</a><br> +Hogarth's <i>Sleeping Congregation</i>, <a href= +"#Page-131">131</a><br> +Holy loaf, <a href="#Page-38">38</a>, etc.<br> +Holy water, <a href="#Page-27">27</a><br> +Hone's <i>Year Book</i> and <i>Book of Days</i>, <a href= +"#Page-87">87</a>, <a href="#Page-99">99</a><br> +Hooker, the Judicious, <a href="#Page-24">24</a><br> +Hopkins, John, clerk at Salisbury, <a href="#Page-162">162</a><br> +Houses for clerks, <a href="#Page-33">33</a><br> +How, Bishop Walsham, recollections of, <a href= +"#Page-298">298</a><br> +Hust, Richard, portrait of, <a href="#Page-111">111</a><br> +Hutchinson, F., a Yorkshire clerk, <a href="#Page-302">302</a><br> +Hutton, William, verses by, <a href="#Page-73">73</a><br> +Huyk, John, of Hull, <a href="#Page-35">35</a><br> +Hymn in praise of William III, <a href="#Page-160">160</a><br> +<br> +Illuminated MSS., <a href="#Page-197">197</a><br> +Ingenious clerk, an, <a href="#Page-259">259</a><br> +Ingham, James, of Whalley, <a href="#Page-236">236</a><br> +<br> +Jachin, the story of, <a href="#Page-66">66</a><br> +Jenkins, Rev. M.E., recollections of, <a href= +"#Page-302">302</a><br> +Jenner's "Mount Sion," <a href="#Page-185">185</a><br> +Jerry and the "Northern Lights," <a href="#Page-218">218</a><br> +John of Althon, <a href="#Page-32">32</a>, <a href= +"#Page-49">49</a><br> +Johnson's definition and opinion of clerks, <a href= +"#Page-66">66</a><br> +<br> +Kennicott, Dr., a clerk's son, <a href="#Page-326">326</a><br> +Kent, John, clerk of St. Albans, <a href="#Page-87">87</a><br> +Kenwyn, dogs fighting in church, <a href="#Page-85">85</a><br> +Kilbrogan, Ireland, <a href="#Page-159">159</a><br> +King's Norton, the Fords of, <a href="#Page-102">102</a>, <a href= +"#Page-318">318</a><br> +<br> +Lainston, romance of parish register of, <a href= +"#Page-151">151</a><br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-338"></a>[pg 338]</span> +Langdon, Robert, deacon-clerk, <a href="#Page-329">329</a><br> +Langhorne, Rev. W.H., recollections of, <a href= +"#Page-231">231</a><br> +Langport, Somerset, <a href="#Page-41">41</a><br> +Laracor, Meath, <a href="#Page-180">180</a><br> +Latin, a clerk's, <a href="#Page-242">242</a><br> +Lavant, East, Russell of, <a href="#Page-260">260</a><br> +Law and the clerk, the, <a href="#Page-245">245</a>, etc.<br> +Lawton, Cheshire, <a href="#Page-225">225</a><br> +Leckhampton, <a href="#Page-235">235</a><br> +"Leg end, the," <a href="#Page-282">282</a><br> +Legg, Dr. J. Wickham, <a href="#Page-52">52</a>, <a href= +"#Page-169">169</a>, <a href="#Page-248">248</a><br> +Legge, Rev. A.G., recollections of, <a href="#Page-259">259</a>, +<a href="#Page-265">265</a><br> +Lessons, right of reading, <a href="#Page-53">53</a><br> +Licence granted to clerk to officiate, <a href= +"#Page-81">81</a><br> +Liston, Essex, <a href="#Page-286">286</a><br> +Literature, the clerk in, <a href="#Page-63">63</a>, etc.<br> +London, St. Peter-the-Less, <a href="#Page-35">35</a><br> +London, St. Stephen, Coleman Street, <a href="#Page-46">46</a>, +<a href="#Page-142">142</a><br> +London, St. Michael, Cornhill, <a href="#Page-50">50</a>, <a href= +"#Page-111">111</a><br> +London, St. Margaret, Westminster, <a href="#Page-53">53</a>, +<a href="#Page-200">200</a><br> +London, the clerks of, <a href="#Page-115">115</a>, etc.<br> +London, Guildhall chapel, <a href="#Page-115">115</a><br> +London, St. Margaret, Lothbury, <a href="#Page-142">142</a><br> +London, Lambeth parish, <a href="#Page-147">147</a><br> +London, Battersea, <a href="#Page-147">147</a><br> +London, St. Mary's, Islington, <a href="#Page-154">154</a><br> +London, St. Matthew's Chapel, Spring Gardens, <a href= +"#Page-191">191</a><br> +London, parishes, <a href="#Page-129">129</a><br> +Longevity of clerks, <a href="#Page-318">318</a><br> +Lowestoft, Suffolk, Newson of, <a href="#Page-311">311</a><br> +Lupson, E.J. of Great Yarmouth, <a href="#Page-320">320</a><br> +Lyndewoode, William, on married clerks, <a href="#Page-18">18</a>, +<a href="#Page-35">35</a>, <a href="#Page-49">49</a><br> +<br> +Machyn's Diary, <a href="#Page-117">117</a><br> +Maldon, Essex, a curious letter, <a href="#Page-309">309</a><br> +Mangotsfield, Bamford, clerk of, <a href="#Page-230">230</a><br> +Marlow, Bucks, <a href="#Page-319">319</a><br> +Marriage Act of 1653, <a href="#Page-81">81</a><br> +Marriages by clerks, <a href="#Page-81">81</a><br> +Matthew Paris, <a href="#Page-43">43</a><br> +Maundy Thursday, <a href="#Page-37">37</a><br> +Maybrick, William, and his sons, <a href="#Page-308">308</a><br> +Mediæval clerk, <a href="#Page-31">31</a>, etc.<br> +Milston, clerk at, <a href="#Page-64">64</a><br> +Milverton, Somerset, <a href="#Page-41">41</a>, <a href= +"#Page-59">59</a><br> +Moody, clerk at Redbourn, <a href="#Page-172">172</a><br> +More, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page-32">32</a>, <a href= +"#Page-109">109</a><br> +Morebath, dispute at, <a href="#Page-29">29</a><br> +Mortality, Bills of, <a href="#Page-123">123</a><br> +Morwenstow and its ghost story, <a href="#Page-313">313</a><br> +Myre, John, instructions to parish priests, <a href= +"#Page-45">45</a><br> +<br> +<i>New Remarks of London</i>, <a href="#Page-127">127</a><br> +Newport Pagnell, Bucks, <a href="#Page-285">285</a><br> +Northampton, All Saints, <a href="#Page-69">69</a><br> +"Northern Lights," <a href="#Page-217">217</a><br> +Notices, the clerk giving out, <a href="#Page-169">169</a>, +etc.<br> + curious, <a href="#Page-270">270</a><br> +<br> +Oldswinford, the Orfords of, <a href="#Page-318">318</a><br> +Orchestra, village, <a href="#Page-4">4</a>, <a href= +"#Page-213">213</a><br> +Orpin, portrait by Gainsborough, <a href="#Page-195">195</a><br> +Osbornes of Belbroughton, <a href="#Page-96">96</a><br> +Overy, St. Mary, <a href="#Page-80">80</a><br> +<br> +Pageantry of clerks, <a href="#Page-119">119</a><br> +Pall used as horsecloth, <a href="#Page-295">295</a><br> +<i>The Parish Clerk</i>, a new comic song, <a href= +"#Page-73">73</a><br> +<i>Parish Clerk's Guide, The</i>, <a href="#Page-46">46</a>, +<a href="#Page-57">57</a><br> +<i>Parish Clerk</i>, by Hewett, <a href="#Page-6">6</a>, <a href= +"#Page-58">58</a>, <a href="#Page-162">162</a><br> +<i>Parish Clerks, Some Account of</i>, by J. Christie, <a href= +"#Page-107">107</a><br> +<i>Parish Register, The</i>, by Crabbe, <a href= +"#Page-67">67</a><br> +Parish registers and the clerks, <a href="#Page-140">140</a>, +etc.<br> +<i>Parish Registers, History of</i>, <a href= +"#Page-148">148</a><br> +Parsons, old-time, <a href="#Page-1">1</a>, <a href= +"#Page-10">10</a>-15<br> +Parson and Clerk, rocks so named, <a href="#Page-86">86</a><br> +Pattishall, clerk's register of, <a href="#Page-145">145</a><br> +Perquisites of clerks, <a href="#Page-41">41</a><br> +Pews, old-fashioned, <a href="#Page-2">2</a><br> +Pierce, Bishop of Bath and Wells, <a href="#Page-43">43</a><br> +Plague in London, <a href="#Page-125">125</a><br> +Playford, John, <a href="#Page-56">56</a><br> +Plays performed by clerks, <a href="#Page-131">131</a>, etc.<br> +Pluralism, evil effects of, <a href="#Page-14">14</a><br> +Plymouth, St. Andrew, <a href="#Page-25">25</a><br> +Poet, the clerk as a, <a href="#Page-154">154</a>, etc.<br> +Poor rates levied on the altar, <a href="#Page-268">268</a><br> +Pope, Alexander, <i>Memoir of P.P.</i>, <a href= +"#Page-75">75</a><br> +Portraits in the hall of the Company, <a href= +"#Page-112">112</a><br> +Prideaux, Dr., <a href="#Page-327">327</a><br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-339"></a>[pg 339]</span> +Priestly, Peter, clerk of Wakefield, <a href="#Page-86">86</a><br> +Printing press, the clerks', <a href="#Page-125">125</a><br> +Pup wanted, a, <a href="#Page-317">317</a><br> +Puritanism, effects of, <a href="#Page-7">7</a><br> +<br> +Radcliffe, Lancashire, <a href="#Page-304">304</a><br> +Radcliffe-on-Sour, <a href="#Page-100">100</a><br> +Railways, the advent of, <a href="#Page-242">242</a><br> +Raw, Frank, of Selby, epitaph of, <a href="#Page-100">100</a><br> +Rawsley, Miss, recollections of, <a href="#Page-236">236</a><br> +Rawsley, Canon, story told by, <a href="#Page-313">313</a><br> +Reading, duty of, <a href="#Page-48">48</a>, etc.<br> +Reading, St. Giles, <a href="#Page-19">19</a>, <a href= +"#Page-33">33</a>, <a href="#Page-45">45</a><br> +Reading, St. Lawrence, <a href="#Page-21">21</a>, <a href= +"#Page-39">39</a><br> +Reading, St. Mary, <a href="#Page-33">33</a>, <a href= +"#Page-39">39</a><br> +<i>Rectores chori</i>, <a href="#Page-36">36</a><br> +Recollections of old clerks, <a href="#Page-255">255</a>, etc.<br> +Redbourn, Herts, <a href="#Page-172">172</a><br> +Reeve, Rev. E.H.L., recollections of, <a href= +"#Page-286">286</a><br> +Reformation changes, <a href="#Page-51">51</a><br> +Rempstone, wages of clerk at, <a href="#Page-248">248</a><br> +"Responding inaudibly," <a href="#Page-307">307</a><br> +Revival of office of clerk, <a href="#Page-334">334</a><br> +Rex <i>v.</i> Erasmus Warren, <a href="#Page-251">251</a><br> +Richard I as <i>rector chori</i>, <a href="#Page-32">32</a><br> +Ringmer, <a href="#Page-34">34</a><br> +Rival clerks, <a href="#Page-49">49</a>, <a href= +"#Page-211">211</a>, <a href="#Page-279">279</a><br> +Rivington family, <a href="#Page-127">127</a><br> +Robinson, Daniel, of Flore, <a href="#Page-167">167</a><br> +Rochester and its parish register, <a href="#Page-150">150</a><br> +Rochester, Earl of, epigram by, <a href="#Page-3">3</a><br> +Roe family at Bakewell, <a href="#Page-93">93</a><br> +Romford, <a href="#Page-307">307</a><br> +Roper, William, of Clerks' Company, <a href="#Page-109">109</a><br> +Rose family of Bromsgrove, <a href="#Page-318">318</a><br> +Rugby, St. Andrew, <a href="#Page-91">91</a><br> +Russell, Rev. J., of Swymbridge, <a href="#Page-174">174</a><br> +Russell, clerk of East Lavant, <a href="#Page-260">260</a><br> +<br> +St. Albans, clerk of, <a href="#Page-87">87</a><br> +St. Columb Minor, Cornwall, <a href="#Page-320">320</a><br> +St. Nicholas, patron saint of clerks, <a href= +"#Page-105">105</a><br> +Salehurst, wages of clerk, <a href="#Page-249">249</a><br> +Salisbury, St. Edmund, clerk's house at, <a href= +"#Page-34">34</a><br> +Salisbury, John Hopkins of, <a href="#Page-162">162</a><br> +Saltwood, Kent, clerk's house at, <a href="#Page-34">34</a><br> +Sapiston and the Duke's hare, <a href="#Page-177">177</a><br> +Scarlett, Old, of Peterborough, <a href="#Page-98">98</a><br> +Schoolmaster, clerk as, <a href="#Page-44">44</a><br> +Scothorne, Blackburn's epitaph, <a href="#Page-103">103</a><br> +Selwyn, Rev. W., recollections of, <a href="#Page-279">279</a><br> +Sermon forgotten, <a href="#Page-287">287</a><br> +Sexton and clerk, <a href="#Page-22">22</a>, <a href= +"#Page-64">64</a>, <a href="#Page-253">253</a><br> +Shakespeare's allusion to clerks, <a href="#Page-63">63</a><br> +Shenley, Rogers of, <a href="#Page-92">92</a><br> +Sherlock, F., recollections of, <a href="#Page-308">308</a><br> +Shoes in church, <a href="#Page-226">226</a><br> +Sidbury, clerk of, <a href="#Page-59">59</a><br> +Singing, duty of, <a href="#Page-48">48</a>, etc.<br> +Singing, efforts to improve, <a href="#Page-121">121</a><br> +Skinners' Well, <a href="#Page-131">131</a><br> +<i>Sleeping Congregation</i>, by Hogarth, <a href= +"#Page-181">181</a><br> +Sleepy church and sleepy clerks, <a href="#Page-179">179</a>, +etc.<br> +Sluggard-waker, <a href="#Page-187">187</a><br> +Smuggling days and smuggling ways, <a href="#Page-79">79</a>, +<a href="#Page-83">83</a>, etc.<br> +Smoking in church, <a href="#Page-228">228</a>, <a href= +"#Page-295">295</a>, <a href="#Page-303">303</a><br> +Snell, Peter, of Crayford, <a href="#Page-97">97</a><br> +Soberton, Hants, smuggling at, <a href="#Page-84">84</a><br> +<i>Social Life as told by Parish Registers</i>, <a href= +"#Page-142">142</a>, <a href="#Page-148">148</a><br> +Solomon Daisy of <i>Barnaby Rudge</i>, <a href= +"#Page-72">72</a><br> +Song during the sermon, a, <a href="#Page-292">292</a><br> +<i>Spectator, The</i>, <a href="#Page-64">64</a>, <a href= +"#Page-65">65</a><br> +Spoliation of Clerks' Company, <a href="#Page-108">108</a><br> +Sporting parsons, <a href="#Page-171">171</a>, <a href= +"#Page-269">269</a><br> +Sporting clerks, <a href="#Page-211">211</a><br> +Squire's pew, the, <a href="#Page-2">2</a><br> +Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berks, <a href="#Page-40">40</a><br> +Staple-next-Wingham, <a href="#Page-101">101</a><br> +Sternhold and Hopkins's Psalter, <a href="#Page-3">3</a><br> +Stoke, <a href="#Page-300">300</a><br> +Story, Robert, poet, <a href="#Page-157">157</a><br> +Stoulton, epitaph at, <a href="#Page-103">103</a><br> +Stratfieldsaye, <a href="#Page-300">300</a>, <a href= +"#Page-305">305</a><br> +Surplices objected to, <a href="#Page-118">118</a><br> +Swanscombe, Kent, <a href="#Page-8">8</a><br> +Swift on old pews, <a href="#Page-2">2</a><br> +Swift and his clerk Roger, <a href="#Page-180">180</a><br> +Syntax, Dr., <a href="#Page-14">14</a><br> +<br> +Tait, Archbishop, on old services, <a href="#Page-8">8</a><br> +Teeth, story of "artful,", <a href="#Page-174">174</a><br> +Tennyson's allusion to clerks, <a href="#Page-72">72</a><br> +Tenterden, John Hopton of, <a href="#Page-80">80</a><br> +Thame, curious banns at, <a href="#Page-316">316</a><br> +Thirza, a Christian name, <a href="#Page-282">282</a><br> +Tingrith and its potentate, <a href="#Page-283">283</a><br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page-340"></a>[pg 340]</span> +Totnes, Devon, <a href="#Page-326">326</a><br> +Tourists' queries, <a href="#Page-321">321</a><br> +Town crier as clerk, <a href="#Page-293">293</a><br> +Tunbridge Wells, Jenner's "Mount Sion," <a href= +"#Page-185">185</a><br> +<br> +Uffington, Salop, <a href="#Page-299">299</a><br> +Upton, near Droitwich, <a href="#Page-179">179</a><br> +<br> +Venables, Rev. Canon, recollections of, <a href= +"#Page-267">267</a><br> +Verney, Lady, <i>Essays and Tales</i>, <a href= +"#Page-74">74</a><br> +Vickers, Rev. W.V., recollections of, <a href= +"#Page-255">255</a><br> +Visitation of the sick, <a href="#Page-46">46</a><br> +<br> +Wages of clerks, <a href="#Page-248">248</a><br> +Wakefield, <a href="#Page-87">87</a><br> +Walker, Rev. Robert, the "Wonderful," <a href="#Page-11">11</a><br> +Waltham, <a href="#Page-79">79</a><br> + Holy Cross, <a href="#Page-81">81</a><br> +Walton, Isaac, story of faithful clerk, <a href= +"#Page-24">24</a><br> +Warrington and its "bobber," <a href="#Page-204">204</a><br> +<i>Way to find Sunday without an Almanack, The</i>, <a href= +"#Page-73">73</a><br> +Webster's <i>Village Choir</i>, <a href="#Page-198">198</a><br> +Wednesbury, <a href="#Page-145">145</a>, <a href= +"#Page-191">191</a>, <a href="#Page-289">289</a><br> +Wesley and his clerk, <a href="#Page-193">193</a><br> +Westbere, <a href="#Page-79">79</a><br> +Westhoughton, <a href="#Page-305">305</a><br> +Westley, <a href="#Page-228">228</a><br> +Whalley, clerk at, <a href="#Page-236">236</a><br> +Wheatley, female clerk at, <a href="#Page-202">202</a><br> +Whitewashed church, a, <a href="#Page-295">295</a><br> +Whittingdon, Thomas Evans of, <a href="#Page-92">92</a><br> +"Wicked man, the," <a href="#Page-256">256</a><br> +Wilberforce, Bishop, on squire's pew, <a href="#Page-2">2</a><br> +Willoughton, Betty Wells of, <a href="#Page-203">203</a><br> +Wills containing bequests to clerks, <a href="#Page-31">31</a><br> +Wimborne Minster, <a href="#Page-55">55</a>, <a href= +"#Page-233">233</a><br> +Windermere, clerk of, <a href="#Page-230">230</a><br> +Wise, Mr., of Weekley, recollections of, <a href= +"#Page-292">292</a><br> +Witch as parish clerk, <a href="#Page-203">203</a><br> +Woburn, J. Brewer of, <a href="#Page-293">293</a><br> +Wolstanton, <a href="#Page-299">299</a><br> +Wolverley, Worcestershire, <a href="#Page-96">96</a><br> +Women as parish clerks, <a href="#Page-200">200</a>, etc.<br> + as sextons, <a href="#Page-254">254</a><br> +Woodmancote, old clerk at, <a href="#Page-233">233</a><br> +Woodstock, J. Bennet, clerk of, <a href="#Page-163">163</a><br> +Wootton, Paul, clerk at Bromham, <a href="#Page-190">190</a><br> +Worcester, St. Michael, clerk's house at, <a href= +"#Page-34">34</a><br> +Worcester, St. Michael, the Bond family of, <a href= +"#Page-318">318</a><br> +Wordsworth, on the "Wonderful Walker," <a href= +"#Page-11">11</a><br> +Workington and its beadle, <a href="#Page-299">299</a><br> +Worrall family of Wolverley, <a href="#Page-96">96</a><br> +Worthing, smuggling at, <a href="#Page-83">83</a><br> +Worth, John Alcorn of, <a href="#Page-101">101</a><br> +Wragby, clerk of, <a href="#Page-281">281</a><br> +Wren, William, of Stondon Massey, <a href="#Page-287">287</a><br> +<br> +Yarmouth, Great, the clerk of, <a href="#Page-320">320</a><br> +York, mystery plays at, <a href="#Page-133">133</a><br> +Yorkshire clerks, <a href="#Page-206">206</a>, etc., <a href= +"#Page-302">302</a><br> +Young, Rev. J.C., recollections of, <a href="#Page-239">239</a><br> +<br> +"Zulphur," a Christian name, <a href="#Page-258">258</a><br> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13363 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/13363-h/images/image01.jpg b/13363-h/images/image01.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..78cab20 --- /dev/null +++ b/13363-h/images/image01.jpg diff --git a/13363-h/images/image02.jpg b/13363-h/images/image02.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c9ae3ba --- /dev/null +++ b/13363-h/images/image02.jpg diff --git a/13363-h/images/image03.jpg b/13363-h/images/image03.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..558e1f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/13363-h/images/image03.jpg diff --git a/13363-h/images/image04.jpg b/13363-h/images/image04.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f0dc9ed --- /dev/null +++ b/13363-h/images/image04.jpg diff --git a/13363-h/images/image05.jpg b/13363-h/images/image05.jpg Binary 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