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[62]."
[Footnote 62: _Social Life as told by Parish Registers_, by T.F.
Thiselton-Dyer, p. 57.]
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:
"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
_sub pena_ of a 1 d. to be paid to the churche."
In this case the curate doubtless entered the items in the register as
they were delivered to him.
At St. Margaret's, Lothbury, the clerk seems to have kept the register
himself. Amongst the ordinances made by "the hole consent of the
parrishiners" in 1571, appears the following:
"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.
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