What may have been the value of this pound of frankincense I do not know, but whatever it may have been, it is certain that the Incumbents of Bridgnorth receive from the present owners of St. James’s, in their liberal support of the religious institutions of the town, something far more valuable than this former impost upon their property. We now enter on the era of Elizabeth. There is perhaps no period in the history of our country to which Englishmen are accustomed to look back with more satisfaction. Whatever may have been her faults and foibles as a woman, she was undoubtedly a great Queen, and swayed the sceptre of this realm with such a steady and vigorous hand, as made her revered by her subjects, and dreaded by her enemies. She contributed more perhaps than any sovereign that preceded her, to raise the character of our country, and place it high in the scale of European nations. Besides, she was under God, the great means of strengthening the cause of the reformed faith, and resisting the colossal power of the Church of Rome. It would have been very gratifying to find any record which would have connected the history of our town with the public events which took place in the reign of this great princess; but I have not been able to find any, none at least but what are of a very trivial nature. I find, for instance, that in the singular proclamation which she issued, for the purpose of compelling every one in her realm to wear _woollen caps_, except the nobility, she mentions Bridgnorth, as a place where the company of cappers used to flourish;[43] which seems to indicate that the people now enjoyed a considerable share of quietness, and were acquiring wealth by their trade and industry. Again I find that when her great favorite, the Earl of Leicester, visited Shrewsbury, and where preparations were made to receive him with an honour, little short of that which would have been offered to the Queen herself, one of the three who were appointed to address him on the occasion, was a Bridgnorth youth, Richard Hoord, son of John Hoord, of Hoord Park; no slight distinction, considering the almost royal dignity which was attached to the person of the Earl of Leicester. But it is only in circumstances of this nature, and not in matters of weightier import, that I can find any reference to Bridgnorth in this reign. I ought not however to be disappointed at this, for one who had far better opportunity for making researches of this kind, than I have, and far greater aptitude for the task, has stated that “from the 27th year of Henry VIII till the year 1629, he could discover no historical notice of the Town or Castle of Bridgnorth.”[44] [43] Appendix F. [44] The late Mr. Hardwick.