animals of all kinds-from Avenelstan down as far as Yunton (Sunton), and the old ditch aforesaid; going up to Avenelstan outside the ditch-and for taking husbote and haybote without other stuff (apparamentum).

And the said Thomas and their burgesses and their heirs and assigns shall have their (?) shielings (scalingae), as they are entitled by the brief of Richard de Luscy, and as hitherto they have used, and husbote and haybote.

And that this grant, remission, and acquittance be firmly kept, the said Richard has set his seal, and the said Burgesses have set their common seal to the present indenture mutually and expressly.

These witnesses-Sir John de Huddlestone ;* Sir Thomas de Culwen; Sir Alan de Pennington; Sir Robert de Haverington; Knights-Hugh de Morisceby; John de Ffleming; and others.

ART. XXXIV.-Extracts from the Parish Register of St. Bees, with comments upon the same. By William Jackson, Esq., Fleatham House, St. Bees.

Read at St. Bees, Aug. 30, 1872.

VHEN, in the month of September, 1538, Henry VIII.,

through his minister, Cromwell, issued an injunction "that every parson, vicar, or curate, should keep a book or "register, wherein he should write the day and year of every "wedding, christening, or burial made within his parish, and "also insert the name of every person wedded, christened, or "buried," he was very dimly, if at all, conscious of the great democratic movement that was impelling him in this special, as generally in all the leading political changes of his reign. He fondly thought that he was steering the ship, whereas a mighty current was invisibly sweeping her quite beyond the power of all monarchs, even of the astute Tudor dynasty, to control. It seems singular that this injunction should have proved so offensive to those attached to the old order of things; for, although very imperfectly kept, we know that the great

Lord Anneys of Millom.

monasteries

monasteries did keep occasionally, but without any regular system, rude registers: nay, we are not without indications that here and there some parish priests recorded the great leading events of births, deaths, and marriages amongst their flocks, confined probably, and needs must, to the more important members of their little communities, for no lengthened period had elapsed since a great majority of the people were without any names more distinct than those which still survive in the most retired rural districts, such as "Tom-o-Bills, "Jack-o-Dicks." The great ecclesiastical power that had done so much for humanity, for which we must ever feel grateful, especially in leading the way to the abolition of serfdom, was now bitterly opposed to all measures of change, which it had become evident must necessarily lead to the demolition of there special privileges; and thus it was that they availed themselves of the issue of this order to misrepresent its purport to the ignorant, stating that its object was to afford a basis for heavy taxation, a statement which had a considerable effect in stimulating the great rising called the "Pilgrimage of Grace." As is natural to suppose, this injunction of Cromwells was imperfectly obeyed, and a fresh one was issued during the brief reign of Edward VI. Something also was attempted to be done by Cardinal Pole, during the reign of Queen Mary, but the antagonistic feelings of the rural clergy would seem to have been too strong, for generally, even in the most perfect registers, we find a blank of longer or shorter duration during this reign; and it was not till after various attempts to compel regularity, that it can be said to have been fairly established by the patent issued under the Great Seal, on the 25th October, 1597. But it is not the irregularity with which these important records were commenced that we have, perhaps, chiefly to deplore; the disposition to observe the thoughtful rules promulgated for their preservation has proved so detrimental, that in comparatively few parishes can a register be found perfect from the commencement even of the seventeenth century.

The registers of Cumberland show traces of the unsettled state of the county, during the sixteenth century, for out of the total number of 138, only 24 were commenced during that period, and but two, the one before us, and that of Lazonby, owe their immediate origin to Cromwell's edict. Westmorland presents us with 68 registers, 21 of which date back into the sixteenth century, and three of themKirkby Lonsdale,

Kirkby Lonsdale, Morland, and Lowther-to the year 1538. By way of comparison with these exposed portions of the kingdom, I may state that Cornwall, at the other extremity, during the seventeenth and earlier centuries one of the most flourishing of our counties, exhibits 206 registers, no less than 86 of which date previous to A.D. 1600, and seventeen before the year 1540. I have named five parishes whose registers commence in the year 1538, in the counties whose history it is our business to elucidate, those of St. Bees, Lazonby, Kirkby Lonsdale, Morland, and Lowther; and it is well worthy of remark that our own, Kirkby Lonsdale, and Morland, through Wetheral, were appropriated to the great Abbey of St. Mary's at York, of which both St. Bees and Wetheral were priories. On examining carefully the register before us, it is evident that the entries, from the earliest, which tells us that " Mill"esimo quingentissimo trigessimo, octavo anno, decimo nono "die Januarii, Johannes Davy et Elicia Towerson nupti "fuerunt," down to "Anno millesimo sexcentissimo uno die "viginti Augusti, Robertus filius Edwardi Hodgson de Sancto "Beghoe baptizatus fuit," are all in one handwriting. And here let me parenthetically remark that down to the year 1653 the entries are all in Latin, but that as a rule I shall give them in English. The long space of time between these entries, during which the intermediate ones all occur in one handwriting, might seem to add another to, and so confirm, the numerous statements made as to the great age attained by the clergy in those days; but the correct explanation no doubt is, that a copy of the original was made during the incumbency of the curate at the latter date. That it is a careful copy is evidenced by the character of the handwriting, which is uniform and legible throughout, whereas much of the later period is slovenly and difficult to decipher. Perhaps the most interesting paragraph in the whole register is the opening one, which, so far as I know, is unique, and bears internal evidence of its authenticity.

"Anno Domini millesimo quingentissimo trigessimo octavo ; "Inchoatum est hoc Registrum ecclesiæ Divæ Beghæ ad "inscribendum et notificandum nomina eorum qui post hanc "baptizabuntur nubentur et sepelientur in parochia prædictæ "ecclesiæ secundum mandatum Domini Regis Henrici Octavi, "anno trigessimo regni sui."

The entries during the whole of this century are continuous and apparently without omission, except during the reign of