The printing of a few copies would not in any way affect the fees accruing to the clergy from researches, but rather tend to increase them, for at present much information is lost because its whereabouts is unknown. It is this question of search-fees which causes such a steady resistance on the part of the resident clergy to any such project. But in spite of this the work has been begun already, and some day will be a public affair, and not left to private enterprise. The registers of many parishes are printed, or have MS. transcripts all ready for the press; nor is the expense as great as might be imagined. A few copies unbound may be produced at a cost of from £3 to £10, and can easily be covered by subscription. It is not unusual, when applying by letter for extracts from an old register, to receive a reply of apology from the clergyman recommending a personal search on the part of the inquirer, as the information could not be sent owing to inability to read the unfamiliar old handwriting. This would be avoided if a typed or printed copy properly indexed were at hand for reference, while on any important matter, where an attested copy from the original was necessary, it could be obtained as heretofore, for legal work the original must be consulted, and a certificate obtained from the clergyman. The history of English parish registers commences from the Reformation year of 1536, copied from the Spanish idea. Whether any previous system had existed we are unable to say, for information on the subject is lacking. Here and there fragments of registers are known earlier than the above-quoted date, but these are the exception, not the rule. Deaths noted down by the chantry priests or monks are found on the margins of old monastic breviaries, when prayers for the souls of the departed had been desired. The subject is one of vast importance, for without proper registration it is impossible to decide the legality of a marriage or prove legitimacy of offspring, both necessary points of law where inheritance of landed property is concerned. The scheme of parochial registration, as devised by Henry VIII.’s shrewd minister Cromwell, was only copied from a like plan long in use abroad. The idea at first, being new to the English people, met with much opposition, being mistaken for a new species of taxation. Nevertheless, Parliament ordered it to be carried out under penalty of fines, and, being found a valuable institution, was submitted to, until custom fully established it. Thus our parish registers cannot be older than 1536. Though in a few instances earlier MSS. exist they are the exception, for the order did not become general till two years later, therefore 1538 may be reckoned as the year when registers may be said to have in reality begun in England.