CONCLUSION
The passing of the parish clerk causes many reflections. For a thousand
years he has held an important position in our churches. We have seen
him robed in his ancient dignity, a zealous and honoured official,
without whose aid the services of the Church could scarcely have been
carried on. In post-Reformation times he continued his career without
losing his rank or status, his dignity or usefulness. We have seen him
the life and mainstay of the village music, the instructor of young
clerics, the upholder of ancient customs and old-established usages. We
have regretted the decay in his education, his irreverence and
absurdities, and have amused ourselves with the stories of his quaint
ways and strange eccentricities. His unseemly conduct was the fault of
the dullness, deadness, and irreverence of the age in which he lived,
rather than of his own personal defects. In spite of all that can be
said against him, he was often a very faithful, loyal, pious, and
worthy man.
His place knows him no more in many churches. We have a black-gowned
verger in our towns; a humble temple-sweeper in our villages. The only
civil right which he retains is that the prospectors of new railways are
obliged to deposit their plans and maps with him, and well do I
remember the indignation of my own parish clerk when the plans of a
proposed railway, addressed to "the Parish Clerk," were delivered by the
postman to the clerk of the Parish Council. It was a wrong that could
scarcely be righted.
I would venture to suggest, in conclusion, that it might be worth while
for the authorities of the Church to consider the possibility of a
revival of the office. It would be a great advantage to the Church to
restore the parish clerk to his former important position, and to
endeavour to obtain more learned and able men for the discharge of the
duties. The office might be made again a sphere of training for those
who wish to take Holy Orders, wherein a young man might be thoroughly
educated in the duties of the clerical profession. It would be an
immense assistance to an incumbent to have an active and educated layman
associated with him in the work of the parish, in teaching, in reading
and serving in church, and in visiting the sick. Like the clerk of old,
he would be studying and preparing for ordination, and there could be no
better school for training than actual parish work under the supervision
of an earnest and wise rector.
The Church has witnessed vast changes and improvements during the last
fifty years. The poor clerk has been left to look after himself. The
revival of the office and an improvement in the position and education
of the holders of it would, I fully believe, be of an immense advantage
to the Church and a most valuable assistance to the clergy.
INDEX
Absolon, Chaucer's portrait of, 26
David, clerk of Great Yarmouth, 185
"Acts," a Christian name, 264
Addison, on clerks, 64
Advent, a carol for, 168
"Ales," clerk's, 42
Allington, Kent, 230
Alnwick, Turner, clerk of, 232
"Amen" epitaph, 97
_Ancient Mysteries_, 137
Andrews, W., _Curious Epitaphs_, 100
_Curiosities of the Church_, 188
Antiquity of clerk's office, 16, etc.
Apostles, complimenting the, 265
Appointment, the right of, 246
_Aquæbajalus_, 27
Arms of the Company of Clerks, 111
_Art of Politicks_, 184
Art, the clerk in, 195, etc.
Ashford, Isaac, the story of, 68
Aston, Yorks, 5
Astronomical clerks, 209, 258
Atchley, Dr. Cuthbert, 49
Atkinson, Rev. Canon, 302, 303
Atkins, Thomas of Chillenden, 236
Augustine of Canterbury, St., 16, 35
Avington, female clerk at, 202
Badger, H.W., of Mallow, 319
Baker, Anthony, deacon-clerk, 329
Bakewell, the Roe family of, 93
Barkham, 143, 312, 331
Barnet, East, clerk of, 60
Barnstaple, clerks of, 61, 327
Barrel-organs, 5
Barton Turf, Norfolk, dog-whippers land at, 34
Beating the bounds at Ringmer, 34
Bede Roll of the Company, 113
Bede, Cuthbert, 91, 161, 201, 317, 327
Bells to warn travellers, 83
Belbroughton, 96
_Belts Life_, in the pulpit, 231
Belton, Suffolk, Noah Pole, clerk of, 311
Bennet, John, of Woodstock, 163
Beresford Hope on old services, 8, 170
Besant, Sir W., description of old clerk, 21
Bilby, Thomas, author of hymn, 154
Bills of Mortality, 123
Bingley, Hezekiah Briggs, of, 100
Bletchley, clerk of, 59
Bly, Sarah, sexton, 201
"Bobber," or sluggard-waker, 204
Bond family of Worcester, 318
Boniface, Archbishop, constitutions of, 30
Borne, Hooker's parish, 24
_Borough, The_, by G. Crabbe, 66
Bradford-on-Avon, 158, 194
Bramwells of Chapel-en-le-Frith, 319
Bristol, St. Nicholas, 28, 50
Broadway, the Tustins of, 318
Bromfield, Salop, 280
Bromham, the clerk of, 190
Bromsgrove, Rose family of, 318
Burrows, Mrs., recollections of, 283
Buxted, clerk of, 55
Caistor, Lincolnshire, 227
Calculating clerk, a, 211
Cambridgeshire curate, a, 15
Canes in churches, 190
Canterbury, Guild of Clerks at, 105
Carley, Thomas, of Grafton Underwood, 152
Carne, James, oldest living parish clerk, 319
Carshalton, register of, 141
Catechising, 228
Catechising in church by the clerk, 59, 274
Catwick, Thomas Dixon, of, 206
Celibacy of clerks, 18
Chanter, Rev. J.F., on clerks of Barnstaple, 327
Chapel-en-le-Frith, 319
Chapple, William, of Swymbridge, 174
Charman Dean, smuggling at, 84
Charters of Company of Clerks, 106, 109
Chaucer's portrait of frivolous clerk, 26
Cheshire clerk, an old, 225
Chess in a village, 242
Chester, plays at, 134
Sir Robert, spoliator of Clerks' Company, 108
Chillenden, Kent, 236
Choirs, old-time, 1, 3, 4, 198, 213
"Chosen people," 235
Church, description of an old, 1
Churching of women, 231
Churchwardens' Account books, 19
Clark, John, the register book of, 145
Clarke, John, 111
Clarkson, David, of Feckenham, 318
Claverley, Shropshire, 188
Clergy, defective readers, 58
Clerk's ale, 42
house, 33
_Clerks Book, The_, 52, 248
Clerks, too clerical, 79, etc.
Clerk's Latin, 242
Clerkenwell and clerks' plays, 130, etc.
Clerkship, stepping-stone to higher preferment, 32
Coaching days, 241
Collis family of clerks, 91
Collumpton, female clerk at, 202
Company of parish clerks, 104, etc.
Cornish parsons, 180
Cornish wreckers, 84
Coronation changes in the Prayer Book, 314
Council of Merida, 17
Toledo, 17
Court, George, of Wednesbury, 289
Coventry, Trinity Church, 28, 36, 50
Coventry, plays at, 134
Cowper's mortuary verses, 69
_The Sofa_, 71
_The Task_, 184
Crabbe's sketch of old clerics, 13
Crabbe's sketch of old clerks, 66
Crayford, Kent, "Amen" epitaph at, 97
Cromer, David Vial of, 92
Cropthorne, Worcestershire, 102
Crosthwaite and catechising, 277
Curious stories, 307, etc.
Dagenham and its clerk, 313
Dean, West, Sussex, 233
Decline of clerks, 61
Decorating the church, 193
Deputations, 217
Descent into Hell, 136
Dickenson, Thomas, licensed to officiate, 81
Dicker, Robert, of Crediton, 257
Diggs, David, 6, 58, 162
Dismissing a clerk, 247, 250
Dixon, Thomas, a curious character, 206
Dog, an archbishop's, 189
Dogs fighting in church, 85
Dog-whippers, 34, 188
Dogs lost, notices of, 176
Dogs in churches, 189
Duke's present of game, a, 177
Dunstable, 20
Dunstan, St., 16
Easter cakes, 41
Eastham, clerk of, 55
Ecclesfield, clerks at, 298
Eccleshall's cricketing clerk, 182
_Ecclesiastical Law_, by Sir R. Phillimore, 247
Edgar, King, canons of, 16
Elliott, Rev. E.K., recollections of, 83
Elmstead, 49
Elton, Miss, recollections of, 292
Epitaphs of clerks, 90, etc.
Epworth and John Wesley, 193
Ethelbert, King, 16
Evison, Thomas, of Wragsby, 281
Exeter, Synod of, 17
Faithfulness of clerks, 23
Fairfield, 80
Fasting Communion, a tradition, 237
Faversham, 28, 45, 50
Feckenham, 318
Feudal customs, 284
Fewson, Richard, a curious clerk, 208
Fielding's clerics, 11
Fighting in church, 49, 279
Finch, Betty, "bobber," 204
Flore, carol by the clerk of, 167
Ford family of King's Norton, 102, 318
Foster, Joshua, of Caistor, 227
Foston-le-Clay and Sydney Smith, 216
Fressingfield, clerk's house at, 34
Frith's Vicar of Wakefield, 199
Funerals, London clerks at, 116
Funerals, old time, 218, 222
Furness, Richard, clerk of Dore, 164
Gadara, swine of, 238
Gainsborough's portrait of Orpin, 195
Gargrave, York, 157
Gay's allusion to clerks, 72
George IV and Queen Caroline, 183
Ghost story, 313
Gill, Mrs., recollections of, 170, 278
"God speed 'em well," 215, 230
Goldsmith's _Vicar of Wakefield_, 12
Goose in the pulpit, 266
Grafton Underwood, 152
Gray, John, clerk at Eton College,
Green, Rev. W.F., recollections of, 293
Gregory IX, decretals of, 17
Gregory Smith, Rev. Canon, recollections of, 315
Grindal, Archbishop, injunctions of, 54, 80
Grosseteste, Bishop, 17
Guild of Clerks, 18, 104, etc.
Guinea-fowls, disturbing congregation, 261
Gunpowder Plot, 161
Haddon, West, 91
Halls of the Clerks' Company, 107, 110, etc.
"Harmun," a Christian name, 263
Hartlepool, clerk of, 59
Harvey, Christopher, 63
Haw of Halton Holgate, 236
Hawker, Rev. R.S., recollections of, 85, 313
Hayes, disgraceful scenes at, 187
Hebrew scholar, a, 323
Hemmans, Rev. Canon, recollections of, 281
Herbert, George, on responding, 68
Herbert, George, clerk of Eye, 93
Heredity of the clerk's office, 318
Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, 17
Hinton, William, a Wilts clerk, 239
Hobbes, William, clerk at Plymouth, 25
Hobby, a matrimonial, 315
Hogarth's _Sleeping Congregation_, 131
Holy loaf, 38, etc.
Holy water, 27
Hone's _Year Book_ and _Book of Days_, 87, 99
Hooker, the Judicious, 24
Hopkins, John, clerk at Salisbury, 162
Houses for clerks, 33
How, Bishop Walsham, recollections of, 298
Hust, Richard, portrait of, 111
Hutchinson, F., a Yorkshire clerk, 302
Hutton, William, verses by, 73
Huyk, John, of Hull, 35
Hymn in praise of William III, 160
Illuminated MSS., 197
Ingenious clerk, an, 259
Ingham, James, of Whalley, 236
Jachin, the story of, 66
Jenkins, Rev. M.E., recollections of, 302
Jenner's "Mount Sion," 185
Jerry and the "Northern Lights," 218
John of Althon, 32, 49
Johnson's definition and opinion of clerks, 66
Kennicott, Dr., a clerk's son, 326
Kent, John, clerk of St. Albans, 87
Kenwyn, dogs fighting in church, 85
Kilbrogan, Ireland, 159
King's Norton, the Fords of, 102, 318
Lainston, romance of parish register of, 151
Langdon, Robert, deacon-clerk, 329
Langhorne, Rev. W.H., recollections of, 231
Langport, Somerset, 41
Laracor, Meath, 180
Latin, a clerk's, 242
Lavant, East, Russell of, 260
Law and the clerk, the, 245, etc.
Lawton, Cheshire, 225
Leckhampton, 235
"Leg end, the," 282
Legg, Dr. J. Wickham, 52, 169, 248
Legge, Rev. A.G., recollections of, 259, 265
Lessons, right of reading, 53
Licence granted to clerk to officiate, 81
Liston, Essex, 286
Literature, the clerk in, 63, etc.
London, St. Peter-the-Less, 35
London, St. Stephen, Coleman Street, 46, 142
London, St. Michael, Cornhill, 50, 111
London, St. Margaret, Westminster, 53, 200
London, the clerks of, 115, etc.
London, Guildhall chapel, 115
London, St. Margaret, Lothbury, 142
London, Lambeth parish, 147
London, Battersea, 147
London, St. Mary's, Islington, 154
London, St. Matthew's Chapel, Spring Gardens, 191
London, parishes, 129
Longevity of clerks, 318
Lowestoft, Suffolk, Newson of, 311
Lupson, E.J. of Great Yarmouth, 320
Lyndewoode, William, on married clerks, 18, 35, 49
Machyn's Diary, 117
Maldon, Essex, a curious letter, 309
Mangotsfield, Bamford, clerk of, 230
Marlow, Bucks, 319
Marriage Act of 1653, 81
Marriages by clerks, 81
Matthew Paris, 43
Maundy Thursday, 37
Maybrick, William, and his sons, 308
Mediæval clerk, 31, etc.
Milston, clerk at, 64
Milverton, Somerset, 41, 59
Moody, clerk at Redbourn, 172
More, Sir Thomas, 32, 109
Morebath, dispute at, 29
Mortality, Bills of, 123
Morwenstow and its ghost story, 313
Myre, John, instructions to parish priests, 45
_New Remarks of London_, 127
Newport Pagnell, Bucks, 285
Northampton, All Saints, 69
"Northern Lights," 217
Notices, the clerk giving out, 169, etc.
curious, 270
Oldswinford, the Orfords of, 318
Orchestra, village, 4, 213
Orpin, portrait by Gainsborough, 195
Osbornes of Belbroughton, 96
Overy, St. Mary, 80
Pageantry of clerks, 119
Pall used as horsecloth, 295
_The Parish Clerk_, a new comic song, 73
_Parish Clerk's Guide, The_, 46, 57
_Parish Clerk_, by Hewett, 6, 58, 162
_Parish Clerks, Some Account of_, by J. Christie, 107
_Parish Register, The_, by Crabbe, 67
Parish registers and the clerks, 140, etc.
_Parish Registers, History of_, 148
Parsons, old-time, 1, 10-15
Parson and Clerk, rocks so named, 86
Pattishall, clerk's register of, 145
Perquisites of clerks, 41
Pews, old-fashioned, 2
Pierce, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 43
Plague in London, 125
Playford, John, 56
Plays performed by clerks, 131, etc.
Pluralism, evil effects of, 14
Plymouth, St. Andrew, 25
Poet, the clerk as a, 154, etc.
Poor rates levied on the altar, 268
Pope, Alexander, _Memoir of P.P._, 75
Portraits in the hall of the Company, 112
Prideaux, Dr., 327
Priestly, Peter, clerk of Wakefield, 86
Printing press, the clerks', 125
Pup wanted, a, 317
Puritanism, effects of, 7
Radcliffe, Lancashire, 304
Radcliffe-on-Sour, 100
Railways, the advent of, 242
Raw, Frank, of Selby, epitaph of, 100
Rawsley, Miss, recollections of, 236
Rawsley, Canon, story told by, 313
Reading, duty of, 48, etc.
Reading, St. Giles, 19, 33, 45
Reading, St. Lawrence, 21, 39
Reading, St. Mary, 33, 39
_Rectores chori_, 36
Recollections of old clerks, 255, etc.
Redbourn, Herts, 172
Reeve, Rev. E.H.L., recollections of, 286
Reformation changes, 51
Rempstone, wages of clerk at, 248
"Responding inaudibly," 307
Revival of office of clerk, 334
Rex _v._ Erasmus Warren, 251
Richard I as _rector chori_, 32
Ringmer, 34
Rival clerks, 49, 211, 279
Rivington family, 127
Robinson, Daniel, of Flore, 167
Rochester and its parish register, 150
Rochester, Earl of, epigram by, 3
Roe family at Bakewell, 93
Romford, 307
Roper, William, of Clerks' Company, 109
Rose family of Bromsgrove, 318
Rugby, St. Andrew, 91
Russell, Rev. J., of Swymbridge, 174
Russell, clerk of East Lavant, 260
St. Albans, clerk of, 87
St. Columb Minor, Cornwall, 320
St. Nicholas, patron saint of clerks, 105
Salehurst, wages of clerk, 249
Salisbury, St. Edmund, clerk's house at, 34
Salisbury, John Hopkins of, 162
Saltwood, Kent, clerk's house at, 34
Sapiston and the Duke's hare, 177
Scarlett, Old, of Peterborough, 98
Schoolmaster, clerk as, 44
Scothorne, Blackburn's epitaph, 103
Selwyn, Rev. W., recollections of, 279
Sermon forgotten, 287
Sexton and clerk, 22, 64, 253
Shakespeare's allusion to clerks, 63
Shenley, Rogers of, 92
Sherlock, F., recollections of, 308
Shoes in church, 226
Sidbury, clerk of, 59
Singing, duty of, 48, etc.
Singing, efforts to improve, 121
Skinners' Well, 131
_Sleeping Congregation_, by Hogarth 181
Sleepy church and sleepy clerks, 179, etc.
Sluggard-waker, 187
Smuggling days and smuggling ways, 79, 83, etc.
Smoking in church, 228, 295, 303
Snell, Peter, of Crayford, 97
Soberton, Hants, smuggling at, 84
_Social Life as told by Parish Registers_, 142, 148
Solomon Daisy of _Barnaby Rudge_, 72
Song during the sermon, a, 292
_Spectator, The_, 64, 65
Spoliation of Clerks' Company, 108
Sporting parsons, 171, 269
Sporting clerks, 211
Squire's pew, the, 2
Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berks, 40
Staple-next-Wingham, 101
Sternhold and Hopkins's Psalter, 3
Stoke, 300
Story, Robert, poet, 157
Stoulton, epitaph at, 103
Stratfieldsaye, 300, 305
Surplices objected to, 118
Swanscombe, Kent, 8
Swift on old pews, 2
Swift and his clerk Roger, 180
Syntax, Dr., 14
Tait, Archbishop, on old services, 8
Teeth, story of "artful," 174
Tennyson's allusion to clerks, 72
Tenterden, John Hopton of, 80
Thame, curious banns at, 316
Thirza, a Christian name, 282
Tingrith and its potentate, 283
Totnes, Devon, 326
Tourists' queries, 321
Town crier as clerk, 293
Tunbridge Wells, Jenner's "Mount Sion," 185
Uffington, Salop, 299
Upton, near Droitwich, 179
Venables, Rev. Canon, recollections of, 267
Verney, Lady, _Essays and Tales_, 74
Vickers, Rev. W.V., recollections of, 255
Visitation of the sick, 46
Wages of clerks, 248
Wakefield, 87
Walker, Rev. Robert, the "Wonderful," 11
Waltham, 79
Holy Cross, 81
Walton, Isaac, story of faithful clerk, 24
Warrington and its "bobber," 204
_Way to find Sunday without an Almanack, The_, 73
Webster's _Village Choir_, 198
Wednesbury, 145, 191, 289
Wesley and his clerk, 193
Westbere, 79
Westhoughton, 305
Westley, 228
Whalley, clerk at, 236
Wheatley, female clerk at, 202
Whitewashed church, a, 295
Whittingdon, Thomas Evans of, 92
"Wicked man, the," 256
Wilberforce, Bishop, on squire's pew, 2
Willoughton, Betty Wells of, 203
Wills containing bequests to clerks, 31
Wimborne Minster, 55, 233
Windermere, clerk of, 230
Wise, Mr., of Weekley, recollections of, 292
Witch as parish clerk, 203
Woburn, J. Brewer of, 293
Wolstanton, 299
Wolverley, Worcestershire, 96
Women as parish clerks, 200, etc.
as sextons, 254
Woodmancote, old clerk at, 233
Woodstock, J. Bennet, clerk of, 163
Wootton, Paul, clerk at Bromham, 190
Worcester, St. Michael, clerk's house at, 34
Worcester, St. Michael, the Bond family of, 318
Wordsworth, on the "Wonderful Walker," 11
Workington and its beadle, 299
Worrall family of Wolverley, 96
Worthing, smuggling at, 83
Worth, John Alcorn of, 101
Wragby, clerk of, 281
Wren, William, of Stondon Massey, 287
Yarmouth, Great, the clerk of, 320
York, mystery plays at, 133
Yorkshire clerks, 206, etc., 302
Young, Rev. J.C., recollections of, 239
"Zulphur," a Christian name, 258