182 



egisttt of Jibing in Milfe, in % liw 

 of tljc Contmontocaltlj 1645-1650). 



Edited by Canon W. H. Jones, M.A., F.S.A., 



Vicar of Bradford-on-Avon. 



jHE manuscript in the British Museum (Lansdowne MS., 

 459), from which the following extracts are given, is des- 

 cribed in the catalogue, as far as it concerns this paper, as follows : 

 " A register of all the Church Livings in the Counties of Dorset, 

 Derby, Gloucester, .... Wilts, &c, .... with an 

 account of their actual income, the names of the patron and in- 

 cumbents, and the particular character of many of the latter. It is 

 supposed to have been made about the year 1654, for the use the 

 Commissioners appointed in the Act of Parliament which was passed 

 for the ejecting of scandalous, ignorant, and insufficient ministers.''' 

 From the want of any episcopal registers of this date, the document, 

 which is now printed for the first time, is valuable as supplying a 

 missing link in the ecclesiastical history of our diocese. The period 

 of the Commonwealth was, as is well known, one of great religious 

 effervescence, and the proceedings of the council for the appointment 

 and approval of public preachers, and other offices connected with 

 the religious services and clergy, possibly resulted in this good at 

 least, that they gave an impetus to religious action. Though by 

 the proceedings of the various committees that were appointed some 

 injustice in particular cases may have been done — and of this there 

 can be no doubt — yet at the same time there can be no hesitation 

 in admitting that many abuses were swept away by the enquiries 

 which resulted in the compilation of this record. 



In any case it is valuable as supplying materials for the ecclesi- 

 astical history of our county at a period when other sources of in- 

 formation are not forthcoming. "W. H. Jones. 



Bradford-on-Avon, July, 1880. 



