argaret's, Lothbury, the clerk seems to have kept the register
himself. Amongst the ordinances made by "the hole consent of the
parrishiners" in 1571, appears the following:

"Item the Clarcke shall kepe the register of cristeninge
weddinge and burynge perfectlye, and shall present the same
everie Sondaie to the churche wardens to be perused by them,
and shall have for his paines in this behaufe yearelye 0. 03.
4."

It is evident that in some cases in the sixteenth century the clerk kept
the register. But in far the larger number of parishes the records were
inserted by the vicar or rector, and in many books the records are made
in Latin. The "clerk's notes" from which the entries were made are still
preserved in some parishes.

In times of laxity and confusion wrought by the Civil War and Puritan
persecution, the clerk would doubtless be the only person capable of
keeping the registers. In my own parish the earliest book begins in the
year 1538, and is kept with great accuracy, the entries being written in
a neat scholarly hand. As time goes on the writing is still very good,
but it does not seem to be that of the rector, who signs his name at the
foot of the page. If it be that of the clerk, he is a very clerkly
clerk. The writing gradually gets worse, especially during the
Commonwealth period; but it is no careless scribble. The clerk evidently
took pains and fashioned his letters after the model of the old
court-hand. An entry appears which tells of the appointment of a Parish
Registrar, or "Register" as he was called. This is the announcement:

"Whereas Robt. Williams of the p ish of Barkham in the County
of Berks was elected and chosen by the Inhabitants of the
same P ish to be their p ish Register, he therefore ye sd Ro:
Wms was approved and sworne this sixteenth day of
Novemb.. 1653

Snd R. Bigg."

Judging from the similarity of the writing immediately above and below
this entry, I imagine that Robert Williams must have been the old clerk
who was so beloved by the inhabitants that in an era of change, when the
rector was banished from his parish, they elected him "Parish Register,"
and thus preserved in some measure the traditions of the place. The
children are now entered as "borne" and not baptised as formerly.

The writing gradually gets more illiterate and careless, until the
Restoration takes place. A little space is left, and then the entries