Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/527

 n s. i. JUNE 25, mo.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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The Parish Registers of England. By J. C. Cox,

LL.D. (Methuen & Co.)

As every Englishman belongs to some parish, and many persons have their names entered in the parish registers twice, if not thrice, a history of these books, such as Dr. Cox has here produced, should be of interest to a large number of people. Dr. Cox has, of course, had predecessors in the same field J. S. Burn, R. E. Chester Waters, Mr. A. M. Burke, and others ; but his book can claim to be more methodical and accurate than any of those which have gone before it. He tells us that there are hardly a score of registers in existence of a date before 1538, when Thomas Cromwell first ordained that they should be kept in every parish, and that the earliest he has been able to find is that of Tipton, which goes back to 1513.

Many quaint customs and matters of interest emerge from these dusty volumes, which light up the bare records of names* and dates with a touch of human feeling and even humour ; and the tragic element is not wanting. Chap. ix. gives a vivid idea of the plagues which ravaged the country in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Deaths from influenza first make their appearance between 1743 and 1762, when it was very prevalent, but " happily not very mortal." We do not notice any reference to cases of person dying of " thought," meaning fretting or melan- cholia, though some entries of that kind occur in registers of some of the City churches, illustrating the Biblical use of the word. It is probably not generally known that burial in coffins was not fully adopted till so late as the eighteenth century ; it is not contemplated in the Burial Service of the Book of Common Prayer, and Wheatly in 1710 speaks of the body being committed to the grave stript of all but its grave-clothes.

Incidental allusions in the registers to events of historical importance, given in chap. x. afford " snapshot " views of how they impressed the contemporary clerk or clergyman, and sometimes give a local touch of actuality to great movements which makes them live before our eyes. Chap. xi. in a similar way collects references to uncommon phenomena oi nature, such as notable storms or frosts ; and chap. xii. is an " Olla Podrida " of odds and ends not easily brought under any of the previous heads. A curious survival of the old use of the " chrisom " at baptism is noted in some country churches, where the godmother is accus- tomed to place a new white handkerchief over the infants face immediately after the baptism (p. 60); while in other parishes the woman at her churching used to make an offering of a cambric handker- chief to the officiating clergyman. An amusing account is given of how the difficulty of marrying deaf-and-dumb persons was surmounted in old times. One armless woman had the marriage ring placed on the fourth toe of the left toot.

Dr. Cox is mistaken in thinking that " Sir " or " Syr " prefixed to a priest's name in early registers necessarily implies that he was one who had not graduated at a University (p. 250). " Sir," standing for Dan, Don, or Domimts, ("Ds" at Cambridge) is the title of a graduate ; Sir Smith or Sir Brown is still so used at Dublin, and Sira

Pritzner in Iceland. He follows a wrong lead from Mr. Waters in deriving the words registrant, registrarius, from an impossible Latin regerta r regerendarius (p. 8). Lerite, so printed from a 1683 register, is evidently a misreading of Levite* as the context suggests (p. 122) ; and 1617, given as the date of Cowley's burial in Westminster Abbey (p. 116), is an obvious error for 1667.

We should add that the book is one of the well-produced series of " Antiquary's Books," and has more than a dozen facsimiles and illustra- tions.

The Rector's Book, Clayworth, Notts. Tran- scribed and edited by Harry Gill and Everard L. Guilford. (Nottingham, H. B. Saxton.) CLAYWORTH is a parish in Nottinghamshire in the Hundred of Bassetlaw, but it appears in Domesday as in the Wapentake of Oswardebee- under the name of Clauorde. The compiler of the Rector's Book gives in 1688 the number of the- inhabitants as about four hundred, and we are- informed that such is about the number now.

William Sampson, the author of the book before us, compiled it much in the form of a diary, but it is far more discursive than such works of former days are generally found to be.. It begins in July, 1672, and ends with the acces- sion of Queen Anne. It is in a high degree frag- mentary, but will be found of great interest by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. Clay- worth lies near the river Idle, which creeps along on the north, and empties itself into the Trent^ When the Rector's Book was written, the whole of the parish must have been open country except small plots near the houses, but it is now, and we believe has long been, divided into enclosures. It may be well to note in passing that the Roman road which once connected Doncaster with Lin- coln runs through the little town.

Though the Rector's Book is mainly devoted to local events, it is not so entirely. London news is not always disregarded, nor is Lincoln- shire quite forgotten. Note is made of an Upton woman who produced five living children at a birth ; all died very soon, but four survived long enough to receive baptism. The state of the weather is frequently mentioned ; indeed, from his own point of view this is one of the most important matters in which Mr. Sampson took interest.

The rector evidently belonged to the class of English clergy which has not left survivors. In his day he was, we have no doubt, designated a- High Churchman, but the phrase then meant something very different from what it does now. The divine right of kings was probably an article of unhesitating belief with him, yet, if so it was, this opinion did not hinder him from accepting with evident pleasure the invasion by William III., and the banishment of James II.

An aged man who in 1679 dwelt at Retford, but had many years before lived at Clayworth, told the rector that when he was young a kind of tithe used to be exacted by the rector from the servants of the parish, which we have never- heard of elsewhere. It appears that when the- wages became due and were paid, a farthing out of every shilling was handed over to the clergy- man. In Mr. Sampson's time a like demand was made by him, but the money was not gathered in without difficulty. It is evident that at this period