Page:Highways and Byways in Lincolnshire.djvu/341



"For skowringe and furbishinge the eagle or 'brazen lectorie' 2/6 by the yeare. Sixpence for 'evry marriadge,' fourpence 'for the passinge bell ringeinge for every inhabitant &c that are deceased."

And "Item the privilege of makeinge the graves for the deceased before any other yf he will take the paines and canne doe yt."

Evidently the clerks were old men and not always capable of wielding the spade and pick; and now comes an entry which lets one into the secret of why the registers were often so ill-kept. Instead of the entries being made by the parson at the time, the clerk put them down "from time to time," and they were copied from his notes once a year. Under this system, of course, there were both mistakes and omissions, often for many months and even years together.

This is the entry:—

"Itm for the Register keepinge from tyme to tyme of all Christnings Marriadges and burialles from Ladyday to Ladyday until they be ingrossed: two shillings and sixpence a year."

Possibly "from tyme to tyme" may mean on each occasion, but it sounds precarious.

His fixed salary, besides fees, was, in 1773, thirty shillings and two strikes (—4 bushels) of corn out of the two quarters (—sixteen bushels) which was given from the glebe every Easter to the poor by the parson.

The Sexton's wages at the same date were given thus:—

as Sexton                        2. 10.  0. for dogs wipping                  0. 7.  6. Dressing church round             0. 2.  0. For oyle                          0. 2.  4. For ringing the bell at 8 and 4   1. 0.  0.                                 -                                 04.  01.  10.

The "Parish Clerk" in Lincolnshire was, as a rule, a rougher-looking individual than he appears in Gainsborough's splendid picture in the National Gallery, but he was generally an original character, both in word and deed. I heard of one in Ireland