sustentation by the saids kirk richts, that ye ordinaries every man within his awin diocesie take order, that the persons and uplifters of ye uther deutys perteining to the kirk, contributs to yar sustentation {353} effeirindlie.” Wilkins, Concilia Magnæ Britanniæ, tom. iv. p. 208. Upon this, the council came to the following curious resolution on the subject: That to “take away the murmurs of those who spoke against mortuaries,” when any person died, his goods, after paying his debts, should be divided into due portions (debitas partes), and if the _dead’s part_ (defuncti pars) [see Note X] did not exceed ten pounds Scots, the vicar should compound for his mortuary and uppermost cloth by taking forty shillings; if it was under ten pounds, and not below twenty shillings, that he should compound according to the above proportion, (pro rata quadraginta solidorum de decem libris;) but if it was under twenty shillings, that the vicar should make no demand. With respect to barons and burgesses, and all persons whose portion exceeded ten pounds, the old custom was to remain in force; and the ordinary remedy was to be used against those who should make wrong inventories; _i.e._ they should be subjected to excommunication and its penalties.――With respect to _pasch‑offerings_, and _small tithes_, the council decreed, that “for avoiding popular murmur, especially at the time of Easter,” the vicars should, a little before Lent, in the month of February, settle (or, make an agreement, rationem ineant) with their parishioners for their small tithes, both personal and mixed, and also for other offerings due to the church (aliis quoque oblationibus ecclesiæ debitis); and that there should be no exactions during Easter, although spontaneous oblations might still be received at that time. Can. Concil. 21. and 32: Wilkins, Concil. ut supra, p. 214, 216. It appears from this, how very cautious the clergy were in their plans of reform, and how eagerly they clung to the most illegal and invidious claims, at the very time when they were in the utmost danger of being deprived of all their usurped prerogatives and possessions. Lord Hailes’s words need explication, when he says that “the 32d canon [of this council] abolishes oblations at Easter.” Provincial Councils, p. 40. I need scarcely add, that all these exactions were abolished at the establishment of the Reformation. “The uppermost claith, corps‑present, clerk‑maile, the pasche‑offering, teind‑aile, and all {354} handlings upaland, can neither be required nor received of good conscience.” First Book of Discipline, p. 48. Printed Anno 1621. Dunlop’s Confessions, ii. 563. Note H, Footnote 47.