The clergymen were required to keep a register of all who were so touched, in order that they might not again go to the king and receive the bounty which accompanied the touch. Hence we read in the register of Hambleden, Bucks:-- "1685. May 17, Mary Wallington had a certificate to goe before the King for a disease called the King's Evil." The treating of bishops and clergy is often noticed in the accounts. Sometimes a sugar-loaf was presented, as at St. James', Bristol:-- "1629. Paid for a sugar loaf for the Lord Bishop 15's 10'd" Sometimes items relate to their refreshment:-- "1593. Pd for a galland of beer given to the Beishopp of Hereford iiii'd" "1617. Pd for a quart of wine and sugar bestowed upon two preachers x'd" The status of students at the Universities was not so high in former days as at present, and poor scholars used to beg their way to Oxford and Cambridge, and receive the assistance of the charitable. Hence we read in the Leverton accounts:-- "1562. Gave to a pore scholar at Oxford. 2s. 0d." With this record of "a pore scholar" we must leave our study of the contents of the parish chest, which afford such valuable and accurate information about village and town life of ancient times. [6] 812 registers begin in 1538, 40 of which contain entries prior to that date. 1,822 registers date from 1538 to 1558, and 2,448 from 1558 to 1603. [7] In the Whitchurch books we find: "1671. Paide for a coate and wastcoate for good wife Clarke 13s., also for linen and shoes; to the Chiurgeons for looking at Ezechiell Huller's legg L3." And such-like entries. CHAPTER XVIII STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL PAINTINGS Destruction of old windows--Wilfrid's glass-window makers--Glass, stained and painted--Changes in style--Work of foreign artists--Inlaid tiles--Ironwork on doors and screens--Norman hinges--Mediaeval plumbing work--Mural decoration, frescoes, and wall-painting--Cause of their destruction--St. Christopher--Consecration crosses--Norman art--Favourite subjects--Yew trees in churchyards--Lich-gates--The churchyard--Curious epitaphs. No branch of archaeology is more interesting than the study of our stained-glass windows, which illustrate so clearly the faith, history, and customs of our ancestors. We have again to thank the fanatics of the Reformation and Cromwellian periods for the shameful destruction of so many beautiful windows. How great has been the loss to art and history caused by their reckless demolition! And in addition to this miserable violence our windows have suffered greatly from the ignorant indifference of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which allowed priceless examples of old glass to be removed and replaced by the hideous specimens of the modern glass-painters.