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pnlarged: that in Westminster being able to contayne but 60
persons, and that other in the Sohoe but 90 persons wch now serve
for St Martins St Clements St Paul Covent Garden and St Mary
Savoy ; Scarce large enough for one of the sayd parishes. That in
St Gyles will contain but 60 persons wch considering the multitude
of poore in that parish cannot be of any considerable use if the
sicknesse brake out amongst them. Now how these may be
enlarged or indeed continued as they are for the publique use of
the forementioned parishes the ordinary taxes and parochial duties
being so numerous the middling sort of persons soe much impoverished
by the late Calamity of the Plague so few or rather none
of the Nobility & gentry likely to continue here in case it should
please God that the Plague brake out againe is submitted to the
wisdome of the boarde whose ayde and assistance is wthall humility
and speed begged herein it being the most probable meaness of
hindering the Spreading of the Oontagiun amongst us.
The business of inmates & inhabitants in cellars has been very
often debated and adjudged upon by the Justices and although many
difficulties have appeared to them by reason of particular leases and
contracts between their respective householders and inmates for a
certain term of yeares yet to come and in regard that severall of
the said inmates most of which are poore necessitious persons and
if once removed would prove excessively chargable to the parishes
(which at this period are least able to bear it) the Justices have
made a progresse herein having convened before them all the
respective landlords wtbn the adjacent parishes and taken account
of each particular case to the end that in a short tyme they doubt
not but to give a good account hereof, very many being removed
already and are dayly removing.
Duties cf the Almost from the date of the legis]ative reVestry
Clerk. COgnition of the Vestry as bearing a prominent
part in the parochial administration, the office of Vestry
Clerk has been regarded as one of considerable importance
among the executive agents of the parish. As the duties
cast upon the Vestry gradually increased with advancing
time, the responsibility attaching to the position of Vestry
Clerk engaged the attention of Parliament. In 1850 an
O ©
Act was passed (13 & 14 Vic., cap. 57) commonly known as
the Vestry Clerks' Act, defining the duties to be performed
by this many-sided officer, subject to such additions as the
Poor Law Commissioners (now the Local Government
Board) may think tit to make. It is not proposed here to
recapitulate these duties, but rather to turn to the references