..." And,
they continue, "the vsinge of our sayde stocke is by the two wardens &
the rest of the eight men w[hi]ch for the same stande sworne, And it
is bestowed aboute her ma[jes]ties service, for buyenge of armor,
settinge forth of souldiers w[i]th powder & shott.... And likewise for
the relievinge & mainetayning of the poore...." They thereupon give
the names of the impotent and decrepit persons and orphan children
"wholly relieved" by the parish, ten in number, and add that there are
upwards of a hundred poor "w[h]ich are not able to liue of themselues,
but haue reliefe dayly one thinge or another of the seide
p[ar]ish."[207] The little parish of St. Michael's in Bedwardine,
Worcestershire,[208] possessed lands and tenements in various
parishes, and in 1599 invested L10 in buying two more tenements in
Worcester city.[209] Its wardens accounts, we are told by their
editor, disclose that there was never any lack of money for parish
purposes "in spite of a rather lavish expenditure at times in the
luxury of law[suits]."[210] Lapworth, Warwickshire, had many acres of
parish land.[211] The churchwardens of St. John's, Glastonbury,
Somerset, return in their accounts the rent of the parish lands in
1588 at L9 13s. 10d.,[212] and, as these accounts show, they
occasionally received important sums for fines on changes of tenants.
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