was left to sustain a lamp; in other places in that county there are "divers lands to pay an extra priest, who has also a house;" "money is bequeathed to be distributed unto the poore yerly;" "arable land was given for a light;""medow land for a lamp;" a "stock of 5 sheep, valued at 2s. 8d. each, and one cow valued at 8s.; ""two stocks of money 10s. and 26s. 8d. in the tenure of Robert Braunesby, Edward Dawson," etc., and "20s. in the tenure of Richard Blank-the interest being 4d. on every noble," etc.

Then collections were made by the assent of the parish at various times and in different ways. Thus The Early History of the Town and Port of Hedon, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, shows the wardens of St. James' making collections in the town for church purposes three times a year. At the feast of St. Mary Magdalene they themselves collected both through the town and in the fair, like the wardens of St. Augustine's. On the feast of St. John, during Christmas week, boys were sent round with collecting bags, and each boy received 1d. for his pains. In the parish of St. Augustine's, in the same place, there were many receipts from these collections, such as: "collections in the city, 5s. ;" "in the church on the feast of the Circumcision, 10s. ; on St. Mary Magdalene's day, with relics in the city, 15s. ; "on all Sundays with the tabula, 8s." This last form of collecting seems to have been very popular at Hedon and elsewhere, and probably refers to the method of carrying round some holy picture to excite the devotion and generosity of the people. In the same way, and with the same end, in numberless places relics of the saints were taken about by the collectors for the reverence of the faithful.

5

At St. Dunstan's, Canterbury, the outdoor collections were made by members of the various brotherhoods, which, to the number of eight or nine, were attached to the church. In the same way the parish cross, which may be considered to be the corporation banner of the parishioners, was carried round the city or district to remind the people of their duty to assist in the corporate work and to stimulate their devotion.

The times for making regular collections naturally varied in different places. In the church of St. Helen's, Worcester, for instance, there seem to have been three yearly collections for general church purposes, namely: Lux fulgebit Sunday (Christmas), Paschaltide, and the "standing afore the church at the Fayre." These regular days did not, of course, interfere with other special collections in the same parish, as "for St. Katherine's light," "our Lady light," "the Clerke's money," "Peter's farthings," etc. At St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Salisbury, special collections were made for the fabric on every Good Friday and Easter day. On the latter day, in one year in this parish, £2 10s. 1d. were contributed to the "font taper," which would appear from other accounts to be the name for the penny given by each man, and the halfpenny given by each woman, who communicated on Easter day-a contribution which was prohibited by some bishops, as likely to be misunderstood. With this view, the payment was ordered to be transferred till the Sunday following the Easter Communion.

Collections for specific objects are, perhaps, the most common in all parochial accounts. In one, the holy water vat for the asperges and the thurible are said to have been

purchased by collections "made by boys of the parish." In another, that of St. Mary-at-Hill, such collections were very constant; money for "candlesilver" was regular, and for such objects as the new "Rood loft," etc., frequent. At St. Petrock's, Exeter, in 1427, there was an agreement made as to the candle money, which in those days was obviously a constant and a heavy expense in every parish. It was to this effect

"Ordinans made by the eight men for gatheryn to the waxe sylver kep to the lighte beforr the high-cross, whyche saye is, that every man and hys wyffe to the waxe shall paye yerely one peny, and every hired servant that taketh wages a hallfe peny, and every other persons at Ester, takyn no wage, a farthyng."

Sometimes the wardens placed a collecting-box in the church to receive general offerings towards parochial expenses. This seems to have led at times to difficulties with the parson, and at one time it was prohibited. Bishop Quevil, of Exeter, for example, says that the practice introduced into some parishes of putting a box, either into the church or outside, to gather alms, has led "to contentions between the rector and his parishioners." Some of the latter have further declared that "it was a better almsdeed to put money into the common box than to give it to the priest," and in this way the priests do not get their accustomed offerings. They do not, for instance, get from the laity their donations towards the candles on the Feast of the Purification and other feasts of the year, "according to laudable custom," but these gifts go into the hands of the wardens “for light before the great crucifix, etc." The bishop consequently

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orders that all such collecting-boxes be removed from the churches or cemeteries of his diocese at once.

Regular Sunday collections were made in certain places for the wants of the parish. The Hythe churchwardens, although depending mainly upon gifts and legacies for the

money necessary to satisfy their obligations, had public collections on twenty-six Sundays in the year. The people were apparently few, and the collections did not produce much; the total being only 34s. 4d. for the six months, and the individual collection varying from 6d. to Is. 6d. ; except on Easter Sunday, when the collectors seem to have gathered 10s. 6d. In 1498 the parochial needs at Leverton, in Lincolnshire, became so great that the two wardens, Christopher Pyckyll and Robert Tayler, made an

appeal at "ye gathering of the townschyp and in the kyrke," with the result that they collected the sum of £4 13s. 10d. for the building of the steeple.

One of the most regular sources of parochial receipt was the fee for burial in the church or churchyard. To judge from several entries in various accounts, the cost of opening a grave in the nave of the church was 6s. 8d., which belonged to the parish. Thus at St. Mary's, Cambridge, in 1515, in

the churchwardens' receipts there are two such items, one for the burial of Calo Fremeston, and the other for that of a "Mr. Wise." In London, as we might perhaps expect, the fee was greater; in fact, in the accounts of St. Maryat-Hill, in 1522-3, among the "Casuell Resceites " are entered those "for the buryall of John Colers in the chirche, 135.; for the buryall of William Holyngworthi's child, 2s.; for the buryall of a stranger in the great churchyard, 12d.; for the buryall of a priest in the pardon churchyard, 2s.; for the buryall of Robert Hikman in St. Ann's Chapel, 13s. 4d." This same year a regular table of "fees to be paid” to the parish for burials in the church, churchyard, or pardonchurchyard attached to the church of St. Mary's was drawn up. From this we learn that for every grave opened, in either of the two chapels of St. Stephen and St. Katherine, 13s. 4d. was to be paid: for every man, woman, and child buried "without the choir door of any of the said chapels . . . unto the west door of the aisle going south or north," IOS. was to be paid; and for any burial "from the cross aisle to the west end of the church," 6s. 8d. The price of the ground thus varied according to the position, and similarly the clerk's fee varied for breaking the ground: it was 3s. 8d. in the first case, 2s. 6d. in the second, and Is. 8d. in the third. These payments, of course, had nothing to do with the fee of the clergyman: this was fixed at 1d. as a minimum, but generally more was given according to the means of the family. The smallness of the fee may perhaps be explained by the English custom of "mortuaries," that is, the gift of the best or second best possession of the deceased to the church.