In regard, then, to the general notion of a parish, and as to how the parochial system was extended and developed in England, Mr. Reichel’s general summary at the end of his tract is important and interesting. It began, he concludes, in Saxon times, and assumed its complete form in the Councils of London and Westminster in the twelfth century. In the centuries which followed, and with which we are concerned, the administration of tithes was frequently entrusted to the actual incumbent, and in some cases to religious houses or collegiate establishments. But in any case the duty of the administrator was understood and acknowledged, and, it must be supposed, acted upon. The mistaken notion as to this has arisen probably from a neglect to bear in mind what happened at the period of the Reformation. “At and since the Reformation,” says our author, “custom has persistently regarded such administrations as endowments of the parson, clerical or lay, not as gifts to the poor, of which he is only the administrator. Monastic parsons were then simply deprived of them by law, and the administrations they held were granted as property to laymen, whilst, to meet the wishes of a married clergy, parochial incumbents were released from all claims at law for charitable purposes.” It is important to bear in mind that a properly organised “parish” was a corporation, and acted as a “corporation,” and as such no lords of the manor or political personages had any sort of power or authority over it. They might be, and, in fact, of course always were, members of the corporation--parishioners--and their positions entitled them to respect and gave, no doubt, authority to their suggestions. But the records of the old parishes that have come down to our time clearly prove that “Squire-rule” over parson and people in mediæval parochial life did not exist. Sometimes, no doubt, the “great men” of a place tried to have their own way, but they were quickly shown that the “corporation” of the parish was under the protection of a power greater than any they possessed--the power of the Church; and, as a matter of fact, this was so well recognised that it is difficult enough to find individual instances of any great landlords who were willing to try conclusions with the paramount Spiritual authority. To “Holy Mother Church” all were the same, and within God’s House the tenant, the villain, and the serf stood side by side with the overlord and master. In fact, at times, as when a feast fell upon a day when work had to be done by custom for the lord of the manor, the law of the Church forbade these servile works, and the master had perforce to acquiesce. In other words, the parish, so far as it was organised, had been the creation of the Church, and was free.