REPTON CHURCHWARDENS' ACCOUNTS. 35 



Communion, are given in full. In the next year, 5s. was collected 

 from Repton, and 2s. id. from Milton, for the same purpose. Holy 

 Communion, about this time, seems to have been only administered 

 three times in the year in Repton church ; on two of these occa- 

 sions the Bread and Wine were provided by the parish, but at the 

 Easter Communion, according to the usual custom, they were 

 provided by the Vicar or perpetual curate. The general custom, 

 so far as our experience of Derbyshire records goes, as to the 

 number of times for the celebration of the Eucharist, was far more 

 frequent than was the case at Repton. The confining it to the 

 barely legal three was most exceptional, and would only happen 

 where the minister was of a specially Puritanical turn. 



VI. This entry probably refers to the Market Cross, and not to 

 any churchyard cross. The ancient shaft of this cross was removed, 

 and a new one substituted in 1806. 



VII. The bells had most likely, at this date, been all rehung in 

 a new frame. For an account of Repton bells and their inscrip- 

 tions, see Churches of Derbyshire, vol. iii., and Reliquary, vol. xiii. 



VIII. There are various entries, made from time to time, relative 

 to the perambulating of the parish bounds during Rogation week. 

 On a separate leaf, inserted loosely in the book, but pertaining to 

 this year, are several entries recording the " Ledinge Corne to 

 tithe barne." 



The Constables' Accounts, which are interspersed with those 

 of the Churchwardens, next claim our attention. Anything tending 

 to throw light on the character and duties of an office which was 

 founded fourteen centuries ago, and which, under the varying 

 designation of Tythingman, Headborough, Provost, or Constable, 

 was the very centre of our local self-government, is possessed of 

 value, and throws a similar light on the secular history of the 

 parish, to that thrown on the religious history by Churchwardens' 

 Accounts. The constabulary arrangements of our ancestors were 

 based upon a very simple but sound view of human nature. That 

 view is, as Toulmin Smith has remarked, that those most immedi- 

 ately concerned in the taking care of their own safety, and in the 

 protection of their own property, are the most likely to take 

 vigorous and efficient means to secure these ends. The constantly 



