it has been calculated that at least a third part of the tithes of the richest benefices in England were appropriated either in part or wholly to religious and secular bodies, such as colleges, military orders, lay hospitals, guilds, convents; even deans, cantors, treasurers and chancellors of cathedral bodies were also largely endowed with rectorial tithes[310]. The practice of appropriation became a very serious abuse, for not all monasteries were conscientious in performing their duties to the parishes from which they derived such a large income, and ignorant and underpaid vicars often enough left their sheep encumbered in the mire, or swelled with their misery and discontent the democratic revolution known by the too narrow name of the Peasants' Revolt[311]. Moreover there is no doubt that sometimes the monks and nuns neglected even the obvious duty of putting in a vicar, and the hungry sheep looked up and were not fed. The _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ throws an interesting light on this subject. The nuns of Elstow Abbey held no less than eleven rectories, from which they derived L157. 6_s._ 8_d._, but they paid stipends to four vicars only, and the total of the four was L6. 6_s._ 8_d._[312] The nuns of Westwood received L12. 12_s._ 10_d._ from two rectories and paid to a deacon in one of them 11_s._ 4_d._[313] The Minoresses without Aldgate held four rectories; from that of Potton (Beds.) they received L16. 6_s._ 8_d._ and paid the vicar L2; from that of Kessingland, Suffolk, L9 and paid the vicar L2. 4_s._ 4_d._[314] Another very common practice which cannot have conduced to the welfare of the parishioners was that of farming out the proceeds of appropriated churches, just as manors were farmed out. The farmer paid the nuns a lump sum annually and took the proceeds of the tithes. The purpose of such an arrangement was convenience, since it saved the convent the trouble of collecting the revenues and tithes. It was open to objection from all points of view; for on the one hand the nuns might, and often did, make bad bargains, and on the other they were still less likely to care for the spiritual welfare of the unfortunate parishioners, whose souls were to all intents and purposes farmed out with their tithes; though the payment of a vicar was sometimes made by the nuns or stipulated for in the agreement with the farmer. The _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ gives the total spiritual revenue of the 84 nunneries holding spiritualities as L2705. 17_s._ 5_d._ and of this sum spiritualities to the value of L1075. 0_s._ 6_d._, belonging to 33 houses were entered as being at farm[315].