Minerals and Mines. 23 



prised to find that in one district the ore is levelled with the top 

 of the dish by the hand, in the other district by a small piece 

 of wood.^ But this diversity of custom, much of it at first 

 sight trivial and insignificant, bears a far larger importance 

 when we trace it back to the days when neighbouring tribes 

 met rarely ; and then not for the purpose of interchanging 

 ideas, but with arms in their hands for a trial of strength. 



To the times of ecclesiastical sway over the minerals, we 

 date back a curious superstition on a par with that we have 

 noticed as prevalent among the miners anent whistling. The 

 people ignorantly imagined that the ore was a living organism ; 

 and the clergy probably shared this superstition, for we decline 

 to accuse them of dishonestly trading on it. At any rate, they 

 extracted therefrom no little profit to their own pockets. Tithe 

 was only legal on such products of the earth as renewed them- 

 selves annually, and this definition was considered by the clergy 

 to include the lead ore in the vein — a delusion which remained 

 universal up to a very late date. In 1608, Richard Carrier, clerk 

 in holy orders, of Wirksworth, had to make a complaint about 

 the withholding of tithe by the lead-miners. By this time the 

 tithe-owners could show a very strong prescriptive right to this 

 due ; and Richard Carrier, omitting all mention about the sup- 

 posed growth and renewal of ore in the vein, based his claim 

 on immemorial custom. Not so the lead-miners, who at first 

 disregarded all subpcenas to appear, and afterwards petitioned 

 the Privy Council to stay the suit in the Exchequer Court, 

 and bring it, as well as that of certain lay impropriators, before 

 the Council, in order that they might put in a defence based 

 upon the illegality of tithe demands on products of the earth 

 which could not grow. Foiled here, they continued the 

 struggle by means of every artifice in their power. The tithe 

 proprietors petitioned the king, and the king referred the 

 dispute to the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord High 

 Treasurer, who confirmed the verdict of the Courts. For a 

 time the miners seem to have submitted, and then the struggle 

 burst forth again. They introduced a bill into Parliament, 

 which was rejected, and then promoted new suits for the 

 • L(^ad and Lead-Mining in Derhysliire, A. H. Stokes. 



