214 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
and stablysse ther hartes in trew naturell loff, accordynge ther dewties 
I referre to ywr wyssdom. Ther mystrust ys that somme charges, 
more than hast byn in tymys past, schall growe to theym by this 
occasyon off regesstrynge off thes thyngges ; wher in, yff itt schall 
please the Kyngge’s Majeste to put them yowte off dowte, in my 
poar mynde schall encresse moche harty loff. And I besseche our 
Lorde preserve you ever, to Hys pleasser, 20th daye off Apryll, 
1536. Scrybelyed in hast. “ P. EG@GECOMB. 
“To my Lorde Privy Seale ys goode Lordesshyp, be this gevyn.” * 
This reads very much as if Sir Piers himself was rather curious 
as to the proposals. The insurrection, however, delayed the enforce- 
ment of registration for a couple of years. 
Our registers will not afford any information of general interest ; 
but I may explain here, as I have often been asked to privately, 
two or three matters which are met with in every parish register. 
In the title-page to the third volume of the St. Andrew’s 
Register we find the following :— 
“ According to an Act of Parliament, Aug. 24, 1653. 
‘“‘ Here followeth the Register of Publication Marriages, Births, 
and Burials, of Andrew’s Parish, Plymouth, from the 29th of 
September, 1653. For the keeping of which book is appointed 
Henry Champlin, chosen by the parish, and approved by the Right 
Worshipful Richard Spurrell, Maior.” 
Appointments of this kind were made in every parish, in com- 
pliance with a direction of Parliament, by which registrars chosen 
by the parish, and approved of and sworn by a justice of the peace, 
should register births, marriages, and deaths ; and that all persons 
wishing to be married should, twenty-one days before, deliver a notice 
to the registrars, to be published three Lord’s-days then next follow- 
ing, at the close of the morning exercise, in the public meeting- 
place commonly called the church or chapel, or in the market-place 
on three market-days in three several weeks, and on the production 
of a certificate-the parties might go before a magistrate; and no 
other marriage was to be valid within the Commonwealth. We 
find at Plympton St. Maurice the first marriage under this new 
regulation took place in November, 1653, the contract being pub- 
lished in the market-place. In the Plympton St. Maurice register, 
against the entry of the appointment of the registrar, are written 
* State Papers, Bundle E; “ Parish Reg. Abstract,’ vol. i. xxvii. 
