The editor of the _Receipts and Expenses in Building Bodmin Church_, published by the _Camden Society_, says that “there is scarcely a parish in Cornwall that does not bear testimony to the energy displayed in church restoration” in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. He might have added that like activity is manifested at this time in almost every quarter of England; but certainly Bodmin furnishes us with an interesting example of the religious energy displayed by the inhabitants of a mediæval parish. For the year 1469-70 the wardens account for £196 7_s._ 4½_d._ collected and £194 3_s._ 6½_d._ spent--large sums considering the then value of money, and specially great when it is remembered that besides this there were the gifts of material, such as windows, trees, etc., and that the labour of the workmen was given without other reward than what came from their love of the work. From the preface of the editor of these accounts we glean some interesting particulars, all the more interesting as we have no reason to think that Bodmin was any exception. The accounts “exhibit a remarkable unanimity in the good work. Every one seems to have given according to his means and up to his means. Many who gave money gave labour also; many who could not give money laboured as best they might, and others gave what they could.” We have gifts of lambs, of a cow, and of a goose. One woman, in addition to her subscription, sold her crock for 20_d._; and all found its way into the common treasury. No age or sex seems to have kept aloof. We find an “hold woman” contributing 3_s._ 4½_d._, while the maidens in Fore Street and Bore Street gave subscriptions in addition to the sums received from the Guild of Virgins in the same streets. The vicar gave his year’s salary, and the “parish people” who lived out of the town “contributed 19_s._” After an examination of the accounts, the editor attributes the working up of the zeal of the people to the guilds, and he adds that “religious life permeated society in the Middle Ages, particularly in the fifteenth century, through the minor confraternities.” Of these societies it will be necessary to write at some length later, and here it will be sufficient to say that almost every inhabitant of Bodmin appears to have belonged to one or more of these societies. From the long list of voluntary subscriptions, it appears that all were eager to have a part in the work of building up their church--a church which should be a credit to Bodmin. All sorts and conditions of men and women are entered as contributors on the roll of parishioners, more than 460 in number. Servants appear as well as masters and mistresses, sons and daughters as well as their fathers and mothers.