CHURCH OF ST. JUST-IN-PENWITH. 181 



retain, livings during the Commonwealth., was a man of education 

 and wit. In the tithe book he has written a certificate in Latin 

 and in English, of publication of banns of the latter of which 

 the following is a copy : — 



The Bands of Marriage twixt these two 



Being pubhshed three Sundays past, 



You may (so as you use to do 



When nothing hinders) bind them fast 



With hnks to last till life does end ; 



So writes in haste your loving friend, A.M." 



From papers preserved by Drake's widow, he completed a 

 paper of customs, which he believed to be older than the book, 

 and which he expresses a wish that his successors may possess, in 

 order to " keep peace in the parish." I wish I could read you 

 the whole of these " Articles of our Laudable Costom tyme oute 

 of mynde," but time forbids. We find that it cost 6d. to be 

 married, with an extra penny for the clerk, while for a funeral the 

 vicar got only 5d., and the clerk nothing. We notice in passing 

 that these fees gradually increased. From a Terrier, signed 

 by the Vicar, James Millett, which belongs apparently to the year 

 1727, we learn "Marriages antiently one shilling, for many years 

 last pas'd two shillings and sixpence * * '^ Burials one shilling " — 

 in fact, a general rise in the charge for luxuries. The most 

 interesting entries are of Tythe honye which was " to be brought 

 upon the Vaunte stone in the church," and the Tythe leeks and 

 unnyons which were to be deposited in the same place. Tythe 

 hemp, flax, and wool were to be left in the porch, and I should 

 have thought that the leeks and onions might as well have been 

 left there too, for their odour is not that of sanctity, whilst, if the 

 honey was left there over service, it must have driven the small 

 boys into ecstasy to watch the flies as they settled on it. One 

 source of amusement was, however, denied to these young people, 

 for it is expressly provided that the tythe pigs and geese were to 

 be tied securely, and that the vicar should be warned to remove 

 them. What the Vann or Vaunte stone was, I do not know. 

 Mr. W. C. Borlase suggested that it was the base of the font ; but 

 there is a difiiculty in this explanation inasmuch as the book tells 

 us that it was situate in the choir. It seems to me far more prob- 

 able that it is the same as the old French Van, from the Latin 

 vannus. a measure. 



