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As has been noticed, the old churchwardens gave no place in 
the church book to William Robinson’s bequest and its distribu- 
tion, yet occasionally indirect mention is made of it, when the 
weary and thirsty parish officials enter in the book—‘ Spent (so 
much) going about with Mr. Robinson’s money ;” or, “Spent at 
the George consulting about Mr. Robinson’s money.” As we 
shall see presently, the charges to the parish account for refresh- 
ments were tolerably numerous. 
REMINISCENCES FROM THE OLD CHURCHWARDENS’ BOOK. 
Tue old Churchwardens’ Book is in two folio volumes, ultimately 
bound in one. The first commences in 1655, and contains four 
quires of foolscap paper, and its three hundred and thirty-five 
pages cover a period of one hundred and ten years; the old men 
cannot therefore be censured for waste of paper and ink. The 
paper of this book is not only foolscap in size, but is actually so, 
since it bears the original water-mark of the fool’s cap and bells. 
As to the origin of the term, I have somewhere read, that the 
Parliament during the Commonwealth, in derision of royalty, 
adopted it instead of the crown. Dr. Brewer, however, who is an 
indisputable authority, says, “‘foolscap” is a corruption of the 
Italian folio capo, a term applied, he says, from very ancient times 
to that size of sheet. 
The entries in the old book are very meagre, and consist gener- 
ally of items of money received or paid; rarely indeed did the old 
men venture upon a remark or note not directly connected with 
pounds shillings and pence. A revolution or an earthquake might 
occur, but if it did not result in money expenditure, no notice was 
taken of it. 
Those who studied the subject of the Puritan Revolution 
during the recent Oxford Extension lectures, will remember that 
when the old book begins in 1655, the revolution had nearly 
expended itself. It began with an arbitrary king trying to govern 
and tax the people without the interference of Parliament, and now 
in 1655 the wheel of revolution had gone completely round, and 
Oliver Cromwell, after trying various experiments in the construc- 
