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and regulating the "knylls of the grete and seconde
belles."
Other orders were passed in the same year, directing the
sale of the " smaller payre of organes," defining the duties
of the sextons, and laying down a scale of charges for
interments. An entry on the last-named subject is transcribed
here:—
The xiiijth daye of Aprill, Ao dm. 1611.
Memorandn that it ys ordered by Consent in ye Vestrie ye daye and
yeare Above written by us whose names hereunder are subscribed
that all persons (of what condicon soever they bee) that
shall wthi" twoe yeares next After ye date hereof bee buried in
this pishchurcheyarde of St. Margaretts in Westminster shall
bee buried in suche pte of the same onely as hath beene lately
taken in dedicated e' consecrated to yc holie use And that for
every corpse there buried in a Coffyn there shalbee payed for
the Grave fouer shillings, and that for Every Corpse there
buried wthout a Coffyn there shalbee payed for the grave twelve
pence. And itt ys also ordered y' everye Grave shalbe made
sixe foote deepe in ye grounde And yf anie grave shalbe made
in the same grounde of lesse deepth then Aswell ye sexton as
yc grave maker shall loose their ffee el dutie for that grave or
funerall And that the graves shalbee made in a Streighte lyne
asneere as inaye bee Conveniently one by the side of A nother.
Towards the end of Charles I.'s reign the admission of
the Minister was subject to the voice of the Vestry:—
At a Vesfery holden 28th August 1617 it is ordered that Mr. John
Binns, Minister, shall oficiate the Cure of this parrish, he having
produced Certifict from sum of the Assembly of Divines to be a
man of Able pts and unblameable life and conversacon.
This entry is the more remarkable owing to the officiating
Ministers having been " intruded" by Parliament
between 104L and 1646. From the next entry something
may be gleaned of the circumstances of the clergy of the
period :—
The 13th daye of Aprill 1019.
That the Churchwardens doe give unto John Binns, Minister (who
lately officiated in this parish), ffortie shillings towards the
bearinge of his charges in his Travell to Yorkeshire, whereby
this parish may be freed from any further charge in relieving him.
Although the appointment of the succeeding three
Ministers appears, from the silence of the Minutes, to have