WILL OF RALPH FITZHERRERT. 97 



more " ; while Berthelet, wlio printed the Book of Husbandry 

 again in 1534, and who knew the author well, tells us that he 

 (the author), when he wrote this book, " had exercised husbandry 

 with great experience forty years." 



Now, forty years from 1523, the date of the first edition of 

 these two books, brings us to 1483, the very date of the Will 

 now before us, in which the eldest son, John, appears as a 

 man of full age and discretion, and according to the above- 

 mentioned bequest probably engaged in farming, and who 

 certainly succeeded to his father's estates in less than three 

 months after. 



John's younger brother, Anthony, was born (as stated by 

 all authorities) in 1470, and would therefore be only thirteen 

 years old in 1483 ; and if he really wrote these two books, 

 the statements above quoted, made by the author himself and 

 by the printer, Berthelet, could not be true. 



Amongst the sisters of the testator Dr. Cox names " Isabella, 



wife of Babington" ("Derbyshire Churches," iii., 236.) 



From this Will it seems probable that Isabella's husband was 

 Anthony Babyngton, he being mentioned next after " Isabelle 

 Babyngton sorori mee." 



The phrase " in the name of my principal," which occurs 

 near the beginning of the Will, is thus explained in " Jacob's 

 Law Dictionary": "An Heir-Lome, the best Beast, best Bed, 

 Table, &c., which pass to the eldest Child, and are not subject 

 to Partition, are called Pri>icipah." But for this explanation of 

 the word, one would naturally have supposed this bequest to 

 be a Mortuary. 



The testator makes bequests to the fabrics of two Cathedral 

 Churches, six country Parish Churches, a Monastery, and a 

 Priory Church. "In antient Time almost every Person gave by 

 his Will more or less to the Fabrick of the Cathedral or Parish 

 Church where he lived; and Lands thus given were called 

 Fabrick Lands, being ad Fabricam reparandum " (" Jacob's Law 

 Dictionary.") 



Since Church rates have been abolished, and Churchwardens 



