By the Rev. W. C. Plenderleath. 313 



having succeeded Alexis the Great in the Empire of Trebizond. 



This is however I fear a somewhat wide digression from my im- 

 mediate subject. 



In the reign following that of Henry VIII. another attempt was 

 made to secure the keeping of a register by associating the parish- 

 ioners generally in its guardianship/ the direction of Edward the 

 Sixth's injunction in 1547 being to the " parson, vicar, or curate, and 

 parishioners.'' This was confirmed by Act of Parliament in the 

 first year o£ Elizabeth, the only alteration then made being in the 

 disposal of the fine of 3*. 4</. which was attached to neglect of the 

 duty of registration. This had been allotted by Cromwell's in- 

 junctions to the repairs of the church. Those of Edward VI. how- 

 ever transferred it to the poor box, and the Act of Queen Elizabeth 

 divided it between the two. 



In 1562 an attempt was made to consolidate the system of re- 

 gistration by the establishment of diocesan registries under Par- 

 liamentary authoi'ity, but the energetic opposition of the clergy 

 caused the scheme to be abandoned. Nor did a proposal of Lord 

 Burghley's, in 1590, for a general office to embrace the virhole king- 

 dom, fare better, and at the earnest entreaty of Archbishop Whitgift, 

 this was also withdrawn. The clergymen, having had their attention 

 thus called to the subject, did for themselves in 1597 what they 

 would not allow Parliament to do for them, and by a canon which 

 passed both Houses of the Convocations of Canterbury, copies of 

 the parochial registers of each parish were ordered to be sent to the 

 diocesan registry within one month after Easter in each year. 



This brings us down to the date of the present book of canons 

 (1603), when we find it ordered by canon Ixx. that " In every parish 

 Church and Chapel within this realm, shall be provided one parchment 

 book at the charge of the parish, wherein shall be written the day 

 and year of every christening, wedding, and burial which has been 

 in that parish since the time that the law was first made in that 

 behalf, so far as the ancient books thereof can be procured." This 

 book is to be kept in a coffer with three locks and keys, and entries 

 to be made only on Sunday by the clergyman in presence of the two 

 churchwardens. Not a few of these coffers are still in existence. 



