pbesident's address. 225 



hyglines and hys conseyll schulde meane, to geve in eommaunde- 

 ment to the parsons and vycars off every parisse, that they 

 schulde make a booke and surely to be kept, and wher in to be 

 specyffyyd the namys of as many as bee weddyd, and the namys 

 of them that be buryyd, and of all those that be crystynyd. 

 Now ye maye perceyve the myndes of many, what ys to be don 

 to avoyde ther uncerteyn conjecturys, and to contynue and 

 stablysse ther hartes in trew naturell loff, accordynge ther dewties, 

 I referre to your wyssdom. Ther mystrust ys, that somme 

 charges, more than hath byn in tymys past, schall growe to 

 theym by this occasyon of regestrynge off thes thyngges ; wher 

 in yff hyt schall please the Kyngg's Majeste to put them yowte 

 off dowte in my poar mynde schall encresse moche harty loff. 

 And I besseche our Lord preserve you ever, to hys pleasser, 20th, 

 day of Apryll. Scrybelyd in hast." 



"To my Lorde Privy Sealeys Lordesshyp, be this gevyn." 



(Signed) P. EGGECOMB. 

 (Cromwell's Correspondence in Chapter House, Bundle E). 



The letter wholly in Sir Pier's handwriting. 



Irrespective of this open expression of discontent, a passive 

 resistance was offered to the acceptance of Cromwell's injunction. 

 The order was only very partially obeyed, and it had fco be 

 repeated from time to time for many years; e.g., in 1547, in 1557, 

 and again in 1559, in more stx-ingent terms. Probably this last 

 was more effective, for we find that a great many registers 

 commence about the date of the accession of Queen Elizabeth. 

 In Cornwall the registers of one parish commence as early as 

 1516. This was St. Michael Penkivell, and it may be accounted 

 for by supposing that the great family of Carminow, which 

 then dominated the parish, possessed some notes of baptisms, 

 marriages, or burials, which, when the new registers were 

 introduced, were transferred to them. Twelve other registers in 

 the County commence between 1538 and 1541 ; 32 others begin 

 between 1542 and 1560, of which 16 were introduced in the first 

 three years of Elizabeth's reign. Of the remaining forty years 

 of her reign an addition of 33 more was made ; but it must be 

 borne in mind that we are dealing with the existing registers 

 only. Some of them probably are imperfect. There may have 



