Many of the clergy and others find a difficulty in reading the earlier registers. Reference has already been made to Wright’s “Court-Hand Restored,” but the greatest help in deciphering them will be the recollection that most of the letters of the ordinary hand of Elizabeth and the Stuarts, which differ from those now in use, are the same as those of the present German written characters, _e.g._, the letters “h” and “r.” A few days’ steady practice in transcribing old writing, beginning with the letters and words that can easily be read, ought to be sufficient to master the stiffest hands in parochial records. In case there are any old Meeting Houses, or congregations of Independents, Presbyterians, Quakers, or other nonconformists in the parish, it will be well, with regard to these registers, to consult a Blue Book issued in 1841, called “Lists of Non-parochial Registers and Records in the custody of the Registrar-General,” wherein a county classification is observed; also a “Report on Non-parochial Registers,” issued in 1857, wherein are enumerated those registers of the sects that were still in private custody. CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS, giving particulars of rates, receipts, and payments for church purposes, are often highly interesting, and should be carefully preserved. Sometimes they are found entered in bound volumes, but more often tied up in bundles or tumbled in confusion in the parish chest. Still more often they are altogether missing. They can occasionally be recovered from the private dwellings of present or past churchwardens. The earliest with which we are acquainted, are those of All Saints’, Derby, which begin in 1465, but they rarely are found prior to the Restoration. The CONSTABLES ACCOUNTS, and the ACCOUNTS OF THE OVERSEERS OF THE POOR, will also sometimes be met with, beginning from a comparatively remote date, and will amply repay close attention. They throw a similar light on the secular history of a parish to that thrown on the religious history by the Churchwardens’ Accounts. The thorough overhauling of the parish chest, or other receptacles of parish papers, and the classification of their contents is strongly recommended, even where it seems to be most unpromising of results. There is no reason why even such apparently trivial things as the indentures of parish apprentices (which have the seals and signatures of Justices of the Peace), should not be preserved, neatly arranged, and docketted. Every scrap of paper of past generations, showing the inner working of parochial life, possesses some interest of its own; and future generations will thank us for their preservation. Moreover, a careful arrangement of parish papers often meets with more immediate reward. We have ourselves found missing portions of 16th century registers, highly interesting deeds as early as the 14th century, royal proclamations and special forms of prayer, _temp._ Elizabeth and James I., in parochial litter put aside as valueless.