_Spudeus:_ "But, I pray you, how
do they bestow that money which is got thereby?" [_i.e._, by
church-ales]. _Philopomus:_ "Oh well, I warrant you, if all be true
which they say; for they repaire their Churches and Chappels with it;
they buy bookes for service, Cuppes for the celebration of the
Sacrament, Surplesses for Sir John [_i.e._, the parson], and such
other necessaries. And they maintaine other extraordinarie charges in
their Parishes besides."
[248] Bath and Wells to Canterbury, Prynne, _supra, loc. cit_. In 1536
at Morebath, Devon, the parish agreed that the clerk should gather his
"hire meat" (_i.e._, so much corn of each one) at Easter, "& then ye
p[a]rysse schall helpe to drenke him a coste of ale yn ye churche
howse." J.E. Binney, _Morebath Acc'ts_ (1904), 86. When in 1651 at St.
Thomas', Salisbury, clerk-ales were abolished, "both the clerk and
sexton claimed compensation for the loss of income sustained." The
same was true of St. Edmunds' (in the same city) in 1697. Swayne, _St.
Edmund and St. Thomas Acc'ts_, introd., p. xvii.
[249] Stubbes, _Anatomie_, etc., 110. The above account of church-ales
has been derived partly from Stubbes and from a curious little
pamphlet, edited by Rev. Fredk. Brown in 1883, entitled _On some Star
Chamber Proceedings_, 34 _Eliz_.
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