PREFACE 181 



the years 1623, 1624 and 1625 when Dr. Leonard Maw was rector, 

 and was sued in the ecclesiastical court by his executors, l with the 

 result that the Vicar General decreed that he should pay 6d. for 

 the tithe of apples in each of the years 1623 and 1624 and 2d. 

 for the tithe of apples in 1625, as well as 24/5J for the tithe of hay 

 in the same years. The schedule of tithable things which was 

 annexed to this decision serves to shew that the fruit-growing, 

 for which Cottenham is now famous, is a thing of long standing : 

 damsons and plums seem to have been produced as well as pears 

 and apples. 



An embittered dispute arose as soon as the puritans came into 

 power. Dr. Richard Manby, who had been presented to the living 

 by the Bishop, was a decided high churchman of the school of 

 Laud ; he soon became the subject of high handed proceedings, 

 as the parliamentary committee deprived him of his living in 1641 ; 

 and Mr. French, who had married Robina the daughter of Crom- 

 well, entered on the enjoyment of the preferment. The rector 

 retired to a living of which he was patron in Yorkshire, leaving 

 Mrs. Manby and the children to live with his sister Mrs. Cass ; 

 Mrs. Cass had a u little house in Cottenham which gave her a 

 right to the Common, but having no cattle to put upon it, the 

 Doctor bought some cows for her to keep a dairy, the better to 

 support herself and his own family ; * but the barbarous villains 

 presently drove the cows from the common to the market, 

 where they sold them and put the money into their own 

 pockets. " 3 



At the Restoration Dr. Manby still survived and re-entered on 

 the enjoyment of the emoluments of his benefice, but it was only 

 by legal process that he was able to eject Mr. Nye, an intruder 



1 A similar action was brought against Henry Graves. 



2 Mrs Cass was apparently treated as guilty of colouring Dr. Manby's cows 

 (article XXXIII), and the cows may have been sold to pay the fine. See also 

 article XXIX. 



3 J. Walker : Sufferings of the Clergy. 304. Compare also Brit. Mus. Add. Mss. 

 15670, f. 117, I49 b , i8o b , 230, 338. 



