A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



the whole archdeaconry, it was found that the rectorial tithes of Frisb.y on 

 Wreak and Wymeswold were worth 100 in each case, while the vicars 

 received only 13 and 16 respectively; at Melton Mowbray the rectory 

 was worth 200, and the vicar had 40 only ; at Stonesby and Lockington 

 the vicars had 10 and 8 each, while the rectory was worth ^8o. 22S The 

 Committee tried to right these wrongs by the simple method of sequestering 

 the rectories of ' delinquents ' as well as the estates of all cathedral chapters; 

 but this arrangement could only continue until the Restoration. 22 * In the 

 town of Leicester matters were especially difficult to settle. Throughout 

 the Civil War the town had been in a state of spiritual and temporal 

 unrest ; in 1 649 there was a ' very foul riot ' at the time when one 

 Dr. Harding came to preach a probation sermon to qualify himself for the 

 vicarage of Knighton, and ' great insolency ' was shown towards the preacher 

 himself. 225 The Council of State reprimanded the local committee a little 

 later for allowing too many public disputations, which led to breaches of 

 the peace. 226 The popular town lecturer, John Angel, refused in 1651 to 

 take the Engagement, and had to resign his post. 227 There were continual 

 changes at St. Martin's and St. Mary's, until in 1656 the mayor and inhabi- 

 tants complained that they were as sheep without a shepherd, all their 

 churches being at the time vacant, and no minister of the word among 

 them except William Simes the lecturer, who had succeeded Angel. Five 

 churches they had, but the revenues of all put together did not amount to 

 jTioo a. year. They pleaded the danger they were in, from ignorance and 

 profaneness, if this famine of the word should long continue. 228 In answer 

 to their petition augmentations were ordered for the support of ' three able 

 and fitting ministers,' 2!9 and these were soon after appointed. 230 



It is refreshing to turn away from these pictures of desolation and dis- 

 comfort to the memory of one young life spent in unselfish devotion to what 

 seemed a failing cause. The marriage of Sir Henry Shirley to the daughter 

 of the earl of Essex broke the long connexion of one old and honoured 



*" Nichols, Leic. i, pp. xcvi-xcviii. These cases are only given as specimens. The return states that 

 as many as eighty churches or chapels in the county have not a competent maintenance ; either through 

 impropriations, or through the ' covetousness of them that are pluralitan and non-resident ' ; these last 

 being twenty-four in number. The date 1650 given above is quoted from Nichols, but it should be 

 noticed here that the original MS. from which he takes the returns Carte MS. 77, fol. 1 1 2-8, Bodl. Lib. 

 is undated. The document is, however, of a quite similar nature to the parliamentary surveys of livings in 

 the Record Office and Lambeth Library, dated 1650, amongst which Leicestershire is not included. The 

 epithets applied to the clergy ' weak,' ' scandalous/ ' corrupt in doctrine,' or ' sufficient ' show the same 

 point of view as the parliamentary surveys. 



224 Augmentations varying from 10 to 50 were granted to the incumbents of Ashby de la Zouch, 

 Humberstone, Market Harborough, Prestwold, Belgrave, Breedon, Buckmmster, Houghton on the Hill, 

 Theddingworth, Twycross, Hungerton, Foston, Castle Donington, Loddington, Orton on the Hill, Great 

 Wigston, Great Bowden, Hinckley, and the Leicester churches between 1642 and 1658. Lambeth MSS. 

 Aug. of Livings, vols. 994, 995 ; and also S.P. Dom. Interr. F I and F 2. 



* S.P. Dom. Interr.; 1 1 June, 1649. * Ibid. 5 Nov. 1649. 



"' Nichols, Leic. i, 501. 



m S.P. Dom. Interr. vol. cxxviii, 79. **> Ibid. 



OT At any rate to St. Martin's and St. Margaret's, each with 50 a year. Lambeth MS. Aug. 

 of Livings, vol. 968, pp. 59, 67; 994, p. 83. There seems to have been no permanent incumbent of 

 St. Mary's from 1653 to 1660 to judge from the frequent entries in the Churchwardens' Accounts : ' Paid 

 to Mr. Batte for the administration of the sacrament,' ' Paid to the Scotch minister for preaching two several 

 Sabbaths,' &c., but the accounts were kept and repairs apparently done with pathetic faithfulness. Trans. 

 Leic. Arch. Sac. vi, 229-53. The five churches of which the mayor spoke were presumably St. Margaret's, 

 St. Martin's, St. Mary's, St. Nicholas', and All Saints. St. Leonard's was in danger of ruin about 1630, and 

 apparently nothing was done to save it. Nichols, Leic. i, 470. 



384 



