_Register Bills_, transcripts of parochial registers, should be sent annually to the Bishop’s Registries, and may be found there. However, there is no law enforcing this, so the duty is regarded, more or less, as a voluntary one. Consequently the searcher will probably have to visit the various parishes or write to the vicars, and much may be discovered in this way. In 1538, a decree was issued by Henry VIII.’s minister, Cromwell, enacting that parish registers should be regularly kept. This order, if carried out as it was intended, would have filled with joy the heart of many a genealogist; but, alas, in early days especially, the rule was often more honoured in the breach than in the observance. Still, the pedigree-hunter should discover much valuable information at the parish registries. But besides the Probate, Diocesan, and Parochial Registers, if his object is to find out particulars about a country family, he might consult _Municipal Documents_, _County Records_, and should refer to the _Old Record Commission Reports_ of 1800 and 1837; these are compiled from the returns made by custodians of records throughout the country, and supply ample information in various miscellaneous matters. They have been already mentioned. _Marriage Licences_ are sometimes a fruitful field for discoveries. In the country these should be obtainable at the Episcopal Registries. If those required are not to be found there, they may probably be discovered at the Archdeacon’s Courts. Of course, the searcher in the counties cannot have access to such libraries as those in London and Dublin, unless, indeed, he happens to be near Oxford, where the _Bodleian Library_ is a storehouse of antiquarian information. _The University Library_, Cambridge, might also be of great value, but it is not easy to get access within its precincts. And, while in that neighbourhood, _Caius College Library_, Cambridge, should not be overlooked, as it might supply some desirable information. Sundry genealogical details might also be obtained from the _Officers of the Clerks of the Peace_, for counties, and from the _Officers of the Town Clerks_, for boroughs. CHAPTER IX THE WILL-SEARCHER IN ENGLAND We have previously seen that wills in Scotland have not the same evidential value as in other parts of Great Britain, that Irish wills can be practically all found in Dublin, and that in London, Somerset House is the depository where wills proved since 1858 have been kept, as well as those proved in the Court of Canterbury, these latter being not altogether restricted to testators who lived in that district. They date from 1383. There remain, however, the different wills proved in various parts of the country; where exactly shall the searcher look for these?