CHAPTER XXIII
CONCLUSION
The passing of the parish clerk causes many reflections. For a
thousand years he has held an important position in our churches.
We have seen him robed in his ancient dignity, a zealous and
honoured official, without whose aid the services of the Church
could scarcely have been carried on. In post-Reformation times he
continued his career without losing his rank or status, his dignity
or usefulness. We have seen him the life and mainstay of the
village music, the instructor of young clerics, the upholder of
ancient customs and old-established usages. We have regretted the
decay in his education, his irreverence and absurdities, and have
amused ourselves with the stories of his quaint ways and strange
eccentricities. His unseemly conduct was the fault of the dullness,
deadness, and irreverence of the age in which he lived, rather than
of his own personal defects. In spite of all that can be said
against him, he was often a very faithful, loyal, pious, and worthy
man.
His place knows him no more in many churches. We have a
black-gowned verger in our towns; a humble temple-sweeper in our
villages. The only civil right which he retains is that the
prospectors of new railways are obliged to deposit their plans and
maps
with him, and well do I remember the indignation of my own parish
clerk when the plans of a proposed railway, addressed to "the
Parish Clerk," were delivered by the postman to the clerk of the
Parish Council. It was a wrong that could scarcely be righted.
I would venture to suggest, in conclusion, that it might be
worth while for the authorities of the Church to consider the
possibility of a revival of the office. It would be a great
advantage to the Church to restore the parish clerk to his former
important position, and to endeavour to obtain more learned and
able men for the discharge of the duties. The office might be made
again a sphere of training for those who wish to take Holy Orders,
wherein a young man might be thoroughly educated in the duties of
the clerical profession. It would be an immense assistance to an
incumbent to have an active and educated layman associated with him
in the work of the parish, in teaching, in reading and serving in
church, and in visiting the sick. Like the clerk of old, he would
be studying and preparing for ordination, and there could be no
better school for training than actual parish work under the
supervision of an earnest and wise rector.
The Church has witnessed vast changes and improvements during
the last fifty years. The poor clerk has been left to look after
himself. The revival of the office and an improvement in the
position and education of the holders of it would, I fully believe,
be of an immense advantage to the Church and a most valuable
assistance to the clergy.
INDEX
Absolon, Chaucer's portrait of,
David, clerk of Great Yarmouth,
"Acts," a Christian name,
Addison, on clerks,
Advent, a carol for,
"Ales," clerk's,
Allington, Kent,
Alnwick, Turner, clerk of,
"Amen" epitaph,
Ancient Mysteries
,
Andrews, W.,
Curious Epitaphs
,
Curiosities of the Church
,
Antiquity of clerk's office,
, etc.
Apostles, complimenting the,
Appointment, the right of,
Aquæbajalus
,
Arms of the Company of Clerks,
Art of Politicks
,
Art, the clerk in,
, etc.
Ashford, Isaac, the story of,
Aston, Yorks,
Astronomical clerks,
,
Atchley, Dr. Cuthbert,
Atkinson, Rev. Canon,
,
Atkins, Thomas of Chillenden,
Augustine of Canterbury, St.,
,
Avington, female clerk at,
Badger, H.W., of Mallow,
Baker, Anthony, deacon-clerk,
Bakewell, the Roe family of,
Barkham,
,
,
Barnet, East, clerk of,
Barnstaple, clerks of,
,
Barrel-organs,
Barton Turf, Norfolk, dog-whippers land at,
Beating the bounds at Ringmer,
Bede Roll of the Company,
Bede, Cuthbert,
,
,
,
,
Bells to warn travellers,
Belbroughton,
Belts Life
, in the pulpit,
Belton, Suffolk, Noah Pole, clerk of,
Bennet, John, of Woodstock,
Beresford Hope on old services,
,
Besant, Sir W., description of old clerk,
Bilby, Thomas, author of hymn,
Bills of Mortality,
Bingley, Hezekiah Briggs, of,
Bletchley, clerk of,
Bly, Sarah, sexton,
"Bobber," or sluggard-waker,
Bond family of Worcester,
Boniface, Archbishop, constitutions of,
Borne, Hooker's parish,
Borough, The
, by G. Crabbe,
Bradford-on-Avon,
,
Bramwells of Chapel-en-le-Frith,
Bristol, St. Nicholas,
,
Broadway, the Tustins of,
Bromfield, Salop,
Bromham, the clerk of,
Bromsgrove, Rose family of,
Burrows, Mrs., recollections of,
Buxted, clerk of,
Caistor, Lincolnshire,
Calculating clerk, a,
Cambridgeshire curate, a,
Canes in churches,
Canterbury, Guild of Clerks at,
Carley, Thomas, of Grafton Underwood,
Carne, James, oldest living parish clerk,
Carshalton, register of,
Catechising,
Catechising in church by the clerk,
,
Catwick, Thomas Dixon, of,
Celibacy of clerks,
Chanter, Rev. J.F., on clerks of Barnstaple,
Chapel-en-le-Frith,
Chapple, William, of Swymbridge,
Charman Dean, smuggling at,
Charters of Company of Clerks,
,
Chaucer's portrait of frivolous clerk,
Cheshire clerk, an old,
Chess in a village,
Chester, plays at,
Sir Robert, spoliator of Clerks' Company,
Chillenden, Kent,
Choirs, old-time,
,
,
,
,
"Chosen people," 235
Church, description of an old,
Churching of women,
Churchwardens' Account books,
Clark, John, the register book of,
Clarke, John,
Clarkson, David, of Feckenham,
Claverley, Shropshire,
Clergy, defective readers,
Clerk's ale,
house,
Clerks Book, The
,
,
Clerks, too clerical,
, etc.
Clerk's Latin,
Clerkenwell and clerks' plays,
,
etc.
Clerkship, stepping-stone to higher preferment,
Coaching days,
Collis family of clerks,
Collumpton, female clerk at,
Company of parish clerks,
, etc.
Cornish parsons,
Cornish wreckers,
Coronation changes in the Prayer Book,
