A HISTORY OF SURREY 



Little Bookham, Fetcham, Letherhead, Betchworth, Ashsted, Headley, 

 Newdigate. 



The third classis included Guildford, Artington (that is St. Nicholas' 

 Guildford), Stoke, Merrow, East Clandon, West Clandon, East Horsley, 

 West Horsley, Ockham, Send and Ripley, Woking, Pirford, Horsell, 

 Wisley, Byfleet, Egham, Thorpe, Chertsey, Bisley, Chobham, Wor- 

 plesdon. 



The fourth classis included Kingston, Cobham, Stoke d'Abernon, 

 Esher, Walton on Thames, Weybridge, East Moulsey, West Moulsey, 

 Thames Ditton, Long Ditton, Epsom, Maiden, Chessington, Ewell, 

 Petersham, Richmond, Mortlake, Barnes, Putney, Wimbledon, Merton. 



The fifth classis included Croydon, Wandsworth, Battersea, Clapham, 

 Camberwell, Streatham, Tooting, Addington, Beddington, Carshalton, 

 Chaldon, Coulsdon, Sandersted, Woodmansterne, Bansted, Mitcham, War- 

 lingham, Titsey, Farley, Chelsham, Warlingham, Tatsfield, Caterham, 

 Cheam, Sutton, Morden. 



The sixth classis included Reigate, Lingfield, Home, Crowhurst, 

 Godstone, Tandridge, Oxted, Blechingley, Limpsfield, Horley, Buckland, 

 Gatton, Charlwood, Leigh, Nutfield, Merstham, Chipsted cum Kings- 

 wood, Walton on the Hill, Burstow. 



The limits of the old deaneries are of course not respected. But 

 a naturally growing organization would probably have followed the 

 boundaries of the old Hundreds, which are here we may say ostenta- 

 tiously disregarded with no gain in convenience. It looks much as if a 

 desire to be singular had prompted the grouping of Cranleigh, Wonersh, 

 Newdigate and Hedley in one classis, of Guildford and Egham in another, 

 of Wandsworth, Battersea, Titsey and Tatsfield in a third. 



The one certainly existing classis, the sixth or Reigate division, is 

 also one in which geographical convenience is better considered than in 

 most of the others. It includes the greater part of Reigate and Tand- 

 ridge Hundreds. The evidence for its existence is the dedication of a 

 pamphlet on Presbytery, by William Ley, ' Minister of the Word at 

 Charlwood, Surrey, to the right worshipful and reverend gentlemen and 

 ministers of the classis at Reigate.' ' 



Among the lay elders originally nominated were a few of the leading 

 men of the county, such as Sir Ambrose Browne, Mr. George Evelyn, 

 Sir Richard Onslow, Mr. Nicholas Stoughton, Mr. Arthur Onslow, Mr! 

 Henry Weston, Sir John Dingley, Mr. Drake, Sir John Evelyn, Sir 

 Poynings More, Sir William Brereton. These men were not all really 

 Presbyterian, one at least was a man of doubtful character, and it is not 

 wonderfiil that the system did not flourish under such direction. 



The very essence of Presbyterianism as it had been developed in 

 Scotland, and as the Scots and their allies wished to reproduce it in Eng- 

 land, was the supremacy of the ecclesiastical power. This was precisely 

 what most English people disliked. They did not want to exchange 



1 Shaw, ii. +35. The treatise is intended to stir up the newly appointed clasiis to do their 

 duties. 



36 



