Parish Churches were not fo numerous as afterwards. See Bp. Stilling. Eccl. Cafes, p. 145.

The Norman Bishops did by degrees let Archdeacons into a confiderable Share of that Bufinefs, which before was thought peculiar to themselves, and the Chore-cpifcopi, (which laft Officers are now univerfally laid afide;) and the Vifitation of every particular Church being a Business that requir'd much Time, and Tra velling, this was chiefly left to the Archdeacon.

The Bishops did indeed, long after this, per fonally vifit Monafteries, Collegiate, and other Churches within their Jurifdiction, that were capable of entertaining their Retinue, in which there was not lefs than Twenty or Thirty Horfes and Men, fo many the Canon allow'd every Bishop in his Vifitation; but as for the leffer, and more remote Parish Churches, they vifited them only (as they now do) by summoning their Incumbents, and other Clergy men, and credible Witneffes out of every Parih, to fome convenient Place, at a reasonable distance from their Home And of thefe credible Perfons enquiry was made upon Oath concerning the ftate of the Church, Parfonage-Houfe, &c. Lyndw. in cap. Statuimus, v. Viros fide dignos.

Anciently Bishops took more Time to make their Vifitations in, and when they vifited a Rural, Deanry, cited not above four Churches to one Place, in one Day, and in each Parish fix or eight, to answer to fuch Interrogatories as fhould be put to them, that the Bishop might have an exact understanding of his Diocefe. But now the Manners of the Clergy and Laity being fo much mended, fifty or fixty Churches

can

can be difpatch'd in one Day, fince most of the Churchwardens return Omnia bene.

And fo generous were the English Bishops in the Time of Athon* the Gloffator, in the 13th Century, that they demanded no Procurations from their Clergy, when they vifited them in this manner; tho' fome Lawyers, it should feem, were of Opinion that they were due. See Conft. Otbob. Naturalis, in Gloff.

There

* Joh. de Athon, the Gloffator, liv'd in the 14th Century; he was Prebendary of Lincoln, and Doctor of Laws, as himself says, in the Preface to bis Gloffe. Bale and Pits led Dr. Duck into the Error of his being that Magifter Atto, Clerk to Cardinal Otho, who (we find in Grofthead Epift. 74. in Fafcicnl. rer. expetend.Vol.2.) was commended to a Prebend in the Church of Lincoln, in the 13th Century, whofe Name they fay was Acton, and corruptly called Athon. But upon perufal of the Registry at Lincoln, I find that one Joh. de Athon was admitted Prebendary there, 1329. Regift. Burgherfh. and that he had a Commiffion to take an Accaunt of the Adminiftration of Hen.de Mammesfeld, late Dean there, 1347. And that he was Prebendary of Welton Rival in that Cathedral, and died about 1351. Regift. penes Decan. & Capit. Linc.

In his

Gloff. printed at Oxford, p.129. he calls Venerabilem patrem dominum Joh. de Stratford Do&torem fuum nuper Winton. Epifcopum, jam vero Cantuarienfem, (which John Stratford was Archdeacon of Lincoln, while he was Prebendary there) which shows the Gloffator liv'd not in the 13th, but in the 14th Century.

There was the lefs occafion for Bishops to vifit every fingle Church in Perfon, when the Archdeacons were obliged to do it once in three Years, and might vifit every Year, and oftner if there was a neceffity. Pro. L. T. 10. Gloff. in v. Vifitatione. A moft pious and excellent Difcipline; which if it had been kept up, Churches and Parfonage Houfes had been in much better Condition, than now they are in many places.

And there was no great danger of their being too frequent in their Vifits, fince all the Advan tage they receiv'd by it, was, that they them felves, with five, fix, or at moft feven Horfes and Men, were modeftly entertain'd by the Incumbent of the vifited Church: The Entertainment was called a Procuration: Or if the Incumbent thought fit, he gave 7s. and 6 d. in lieu of the Entertainment; viz. Is. 6d. to the Archdeacon himfelf; Is. to each of the other fix: And if the Archdeacon vifited more than one Church in the fame Day, he could receive no more than 75. 6d. of all the Incumbents, whofe Churches were that Day vifited. See the Conftitut. of Archbishop Stratford, Prov. L. 3. Tit. 22. Quamvis Lex.

Farther, There were feveral Canons made, that "no Procuration fhould be paid to the "Archdeacon, if he did not vifit in Perfon;

that if he fent his Official, nothing should be 66 given but an Entertainment, or a moderate "Compenfation for it," And Archbishop Langton, tho' he had an own Brother for his Archdeacon, yet made an excellent Conftitution for the keeping up this Perfonal Vifitation, ending thus: Let them (the Archdeacons) not prefume

to take a Fee for not Vifiting. L. 1. T. 22. c. ut fingula.

However, by degrees, in moft places, by general content, thefe Fees were paid, notwith ftanding this Confiitution; and inftead of a Vifitation, the Archdeacon by himself, or his Official, at two of his Chapters, held about Eafter and Michaelmas, made an Enquiry into the Circumftances of every Parish, and continues fo to do; and this Enquiry began at laft to be called a Vifitation, and thefe Fees, Pro

curations.

And as the Archdeacon held this Capitulum, or Chapter, and Vifitation, as it is now called, at the fame time; fo the Bishop held his Diocefan Synod, and vifited all at once: From whence 'tis, that Procurations are fometimes called Synodals. Thefe Synodals may now in fome places be due to the Archdeacon, by Compofition with the Bishop. Gudolph. cap. 9. fect. 8. For Bishops too have, for many Ages, received thefe Synodals or Procurations: but now thefe Affemblies are only to make Enquiry into the Neglects of Clergy and People; and it often happens, that both Bishop and Archdeacon hold thefe Aflemblies in the fame Year, and both have Procurations paid them: Of which fee Lyndw. in Gloff. ad L. 3. T. 22. ubi fupra, v. Vifitatione.

But it must be acknowledg'd, that thefe Payments are for the most part very moderate; and that a Perfonal Vifitation from the Archdeacon once in three Years, would be a greater Expence to the Clergy, if they were every one to entertain him and his Retinue a Day and a

Night, as of old, than is now paid to him i lieu of Procreations, in three Years time.

It is faid by fome, that Procurations are du to the Archdeacon yearly, tho' he do not Vilit becaufe by the 33 Hen. VIII. cap. 5. they feen to be made Penfions, where paid by Impropria tors: And from hence they infer, that they ar not now due, Ratione Vifitationis, but by Ad of Parliament. Godolph. cap. 9.

Sir Simon Degg labours hard to prove, tha Archdeacons have no Right to Procurations tha Year the Bishop Vifits. Parf. Counsel. L. 2. c.15 And yet if the Law allow that to be a Vifita tion, which is now commonly fo called; and if there be no Canon forbidding the Archdea con to vifit the fame Year, after the Bishop' Inhibition is relaxed, (and I declare I know o none) then why may not the Archdeacon Vifi the fame Year; and if Vifit, why not receive Procurations?

CHAP. XVIII.

of CHURCH-WARDENS.

T has been before obferv'd, that Bishops in their Vifitations fummon'd credible Perfons out of every Parish, to give an Account upon Oath of the Condition of their Church and Parish; but by degrees this Care was devolved on the Church-Wardens, which were ftanding Officers long before chofen in every Parish, thu defcr