Friday, 29 March, 1650. "An Act for the more frequent preaching of the Gospel, and better maintenance of the Ministers in the City of Bristol," was this day read the third time and passed. The Substance of the Act for propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the City of Bristoll-p. 377.

That there being eighteen parish Churches besides the Cathed rall, within the City and County of Bristoll, which is a number more then sufficient, And the meanes for the subsistance of those few Ministers now Officiating, depends on the voluntary contribution of the people, The Parliament of England having resolved by all wayes to promote the preaching of the Gospel, and taking the premises into consideration, Doe Enact and Ordaine,

That it shall be lawfull to and for the Mayor and Sheriffes of the City of Bristoll for the time being, Richard Aldworth, Richard Vickris, Will. Can, Luke Hodges, Henry Gibbs, Joseph Jackson, Hugh Brown, Aldermen ; Edw. Tyson, Robt. Aldworth, John Hagget, James Powel, George Hart, Josias Clutterbuck, Will. Grigge, George Lane, Robt. Haynes, Jer. Holwey, Robert Vickris, Dennis Halliser, George Bishop, Thomas Harris, Citizens and Burgesses of the same City; or any five or more of them, to unite and consolidate the said parishes into fewer number.

And the same to certifie under the Hands and Seales of five or more of them into the Chancery, and after such certificate had and made of such union and consolidations, the same shall be a good and sufficient union in Law, to all intents and purposes, to continue for ever.

Provided, that after such Unions and Consolidations the true and rightfull Patrons shall make their presentations by turns, the aforesaid persons, or any five or more of them, appointing which Patron shall make the first presentation unto the Church or Churches unto which the other is united.

And that the said Mayor, Aldermen, Sheriffes, and the rest of the persons aforenamed, or any five or more of them, calling to their assistance three able and well affected Inhabitants of each parish, shall have hereby power to Taxe, Rate, and Assesse a certaine summe upon the Rents or the yearely Values of all Houses, Shops, Warehouses, Cellars, Stables, and all other lands and Tenements whatsoever, within the said City and Liberties thereof.

The said Taxe not to exceed One Shilling Sixpence per annum in the pound, as the said Houses, Shops, Warehouses, Cellars, Stables, and all other Tenements, are, may, or shall be worth to be yearly let and leased, and so for every ten shillings nine pence per

annum.

And where any person or persons shall be known to imploy a great Stock in Trade, the said Commissioners, or any five or more of them, calling to their assistance three able and sufficient Inhabitants of that Ward or Parish, in which the person or persons to be

rated dwelleth, shal, and may, and are hereby authorized to assesse such person or persons for his or their stock imployed as aforesaid, for every Hundred pounds, Five shilling.

Which said Taxe shall bee paid by the Landlord or Tenant, or by both, as the aforesaid persons shall think meet. And if any Inhabitant, Citizen, Landlord, Tenant, or Occupier of any of the said premises, shall refuse to pay the aforesaid Taxe and Rate when quarterly it shall be demanded,

That then it shall be lawful either for such Collector or Collectors as shall be appointed by the persons above named, under five hands or seales to receive the same, to distraine and the distresse to sell, retaining the value of the said Rate and charge of distresse, and returning the overplus to the owner.

Or otherwise in default of payment within six days after demand of the said Rate and Tax, each of them shal forfeit the double value of the said Rate, to be sued for and recovered in an action of debt in the Sheriffe's Court within the said City: Who by Authority of this present Parliament, are inabled, and have power given them, to have jurisdiction conusance, and to hold plea in this matter, and cause the said action to bee commenced and sued by and in the name of the Treasurer, as shall bee nominated and appointed by the Mayor and the rest of the persons afore named.

And the said Mayor, Aldermen, Sheriffes, and the rest of the persons above mentioned, or any five or more of them, are hereby authorized from time to time, by their warrants directed to the said Treasurer, to order the payment and issuing out of all the said summes of mony so Rated, Collected, and Recovered, to all those Ministers which are or shall be placed in the aforesaid City, and approved of by the Parliament, or such as the Parliament shall appoint, in such proportions, manner, and forme, as they in their discretions shall thinke fit.

1795.-JOHN GEREE, M.A., MINISTER OF TEWKESBURY 16211645.-In Reports of Cases in the Courts of Star Chamber and High Commission, 1631-32, edited by Samuel Rawson Gardiner, LL.D., for the Camden Society (London 1886), mention is made of the abovenamed clergyman in the following terms, p. 244::"Articles were now putt in against one Geering, Minister at Teuxbury, who was required to take his oath to answere, and he did soe:

"The [Arch] Bishop of Canterbury asked what the cause was against him, and what he was, and it was answered by the Bishop of London, that this was the man upon whose preaching one at Teuxbury threwe himselfe into a well and drowned himself. The Bishop of London reproved him also for wearing such a band, being soe curiously sett and too big."

His case is noticed thus at a later date, p. 269 :

"It was ordered that the cause against Mr Geering should be presented by the Kinges Advocate, because he was not satisfyed about the lawfulnesse of some of the ceremonies.

"He helde himselfe not bounde to answere, this was held noe answere, and therfore ordered to answere by such a day, or be declared pro confesso."

He

John Geree, born in Yorkshire, was a graduate of Oxford. took the degree of M.A. in 1621, and became minister of Tewkesbury; but being schismatically inclined, he refused to conform to certain ceremonies of the Church; whereupon he was silenced by his diocesan, Bishop Goodman. In 1641 he was restored by the committee of religion to his cure at Tewkesbury, where he continued until 1645, when he became "preacher of the word" at St. Alban's; and about two years afterwards, at St. Faith's, London; at which places he was much resorted to by those of the Presbyterian persuasion. He was a voluminous author. (Tewkesbury Yearly Register and Magazine, vol. ii., p. 429, where a list of his writings is given.) While resident at Tewkesbury, he published, by authority of the House of Commons, a sermon against Separate and Independent Churches, entitled Judah's Joy at the Oath, "laid out for England's Example in embracing the Parliamentary Covenant with readiness and rejoicing." This sermon he dedicated to Nathaniel Stephens, Esq., M.P. for Gloucestershire; and it is stated in the preface that above four hundred of his parishioners entered into the famous protestation or covenant for the defence of the Protestant religion, (which the House of Commans agreed to and individually signed in May, 1641,) the day after the discourse was delivered. Geree was author also of a tract entitled The Character of an Old English Puritan or Non-Conformist; from the tenor of which we may infer that he was one of those whom Sir Philip Warwick, in his Memoirs of the Reign of Charles the First, terms Church Puritans :- "Whilst the church puritan opposed the more canonical churchman, the knave puritan overthrew both." (Bennett's History of Tewkesbury, p. 185.) Geree died at his house in Ivy Lane, near Paternoster Row, in 1648, and was buried, it is supposed, in St. Faith's Church. The preacher of his funeral sermon stated that he had died poor, and a collection was accordingly made among his brethren for the benefit of his children. A notice of him will appear in the Dictionary of National Biography in due ABHBA.

course.

1796.-DIMENSIONS OF FIFTY-SIX LARGE CHURCHES IN ENGLAND. -(See No. 1760.) That the reader may be able at a glance to ascertain the relative sizes of our large ecclesiastical buildings, a list is inserted, in which Gloucester and Bristol Cathedrals, Tewkesbury Abbey, and St. Mary's Redcliffe, Bristol, are distinguished by an asterisk prefixed :

1797. SOME WORDS USED IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE.-The Rev. P. J. F. Gantillon, of Cheltenham, has written thus in Notes and Queries (6th S. vi. 186):

1. A boy belonging to a village near Tewkesbury lately spoke to me about a brees, spelling the word as I have written it, as a kind of gad-fly or dragon-fly. This is the brize of Shakspeare (T. and C., I. iii. 48) and Spenser (Vis. of World's Vanitie, ii.)

2. I notice in a sale catalogue before me (1) "A cart, with thripples." Halliwell quotes this as a Cheshire word. (2) Set of thiller's gears. (3) Two foddering cords. (4) Three night and day side singles. (5) A kipe. (6) A skeel.

I also lately saw on another auctioneer's notice the word resture, as describing a portion of a grass or hay crop. None of these words are given by Halliwell as Gloucestershire words. The lastnamed he does not give.

Since writing the above, an advertisement in the Cheltenham Looker-On, of all papers, gives notice that horses and other stock are "taken to tack," &c. Halliwell gives this as a Herefordshire word.

Another correspondent has noted in the same volume, p. 396:— Breese gadfly; thripples, additions to carts or waggons for harvest work; gears or gearing, harness for cart-horses; cingles or surcingles, bands to retain horse-clothing; kipe, a wicker basket for rough work; and tack, occasional pasturage, are all common in Shropshire.

1798.-GLOUCESTERSHIRE FIELD-NAMES.-In Notes and Queries (6th S. viii. 458) the Rev. F. W. Weaver has written as follows:— In the tithe map of Kempley, Gloucestershire, Pleck and Patch occur as names of fields :