[378] Of course, several of these would be ordained for other dioceses, but in the same way Winchester priests would be ordained by letters dimissory elsewhere, so that taking the whole of England we may assume a practical equalisation. In the diocese of London, as already stated (p. 175 _ante_), the proportion of non-beneficed to beneficed clergy ordained during 12 years, from 1362 to 1374, was nearly six to one. [379] Pope, _Essay on Man_, lines 107-8. [380] Mr. Thorold Rogers' supposition that the population in 1348 was only about 2,500,000 would, on the assumption that the two sexes were about equal in number, lead to the conclusion that one man in every 25 was a priest; a suggestion which seems to bear, on the face of it, its own refutation. [381] Amyot (_Archæologia_, xx, p. 531) notes that even soldiers appear to have been better paid than the clergy. A foot soldier had 3d. a day, or 7 marks a year; a horse soldier 10d. or 12d. a day. Chaucer's good parson, who was only "rich of holy thought and werk," might not be remarkable. [382] Ed. Twysden, col. 2699. [383] Mr. Baigent's MS. extracts from the Episcopal Registers. It is of interest to note that in normal times very few were ordained after their appointment as incumbents. Thus, to take the churches in the city of Winchester, besides this period and 1361, when again the mortality among the clergy was very great, only some 8 or 9 were so ordained between 1349 and 1361, as the following table will show:— +------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | 1346 | 1348 | 1349 | 1350 | 1351 | 1352 | 1354 | 1359 | 1361 | +------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | 1 | 1 | 19 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | +------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ +------+------+ | 1362 | 1363 | +------+------+ | 1 | 1 | +------+------+ [384] Harl. MS., 6965, fol. 145 (7 Id. Julii, 1349). [385] _Ibid._, fol. 146b. [386] B. Mus. Cole MS., 5824, fol. 23b. [387] For the real meaning to be attached to learning the _Pater noster_, etc., see my article on _Religious Instruction in England in the 14th and 15th Centuries_, in _Dublin Review_, Oct., 1893, p. 900. [388] Mr. Baigent's MS. collections. [389] From 1400 to 1418 the average was 17, from 1447 to 1467 only 18. [390] Reg. Trileck, fol. 180 _seqq._ [391] Reg. Trileck, fol. 163. [392] Archbishop Islip founded Canterbury College at Oxford to supply the failing ranks of the clergy and to increase the facilities of learning (Wilkins, iii., p. 52), and William of Wykeham likewise established his schools and colleges with the same object.