"Item if they bring a beere or poles with the corps the Clarke is to have them. "If any Corps goe out of the parish they are to pay double dutyes and to have leave. "If any Corps come out of another parish to be buryed here, they are to pay double dutyes besides breakinge the ground; which is xiij s. 4 d. in the church, and vi s. viii d. in the churchyard. "For marryage by licence double fees both to the Minister and Clarke[89]." [Footnote 89: _Sussex Archæological Collections_, 1873, vol. xxv. p. 154.] In addition to the fees to which the clerk is entitled by long-established custom, he receives wages, which he can recover by law if he be unjustly deprived of them. Churchwardens who in the old days neglected to levy a church rate in order to pay the expenses of the parish and the salary of the clerk, have been compelled by law to do so, in order to satisfy the clerk's claims. The wages which he received varied considerably. The churchwardens' accounts reveal the amounts paid the holders of the office at different periods. At St. Mary's, Reading, there are the items in 1557: "Imprimis the Rent of the Clerke's howse . . . . . . vi s. viii d." "Paid to Marshall (the clerk) for parcell of his wages that he was unpaide . . v s." In 1561 the clerk's wages were 40 s., in 1586 only 20 s. At St. Giles's, Reading, in 1520, he received 26 s. 8 d., as the following entry shows: "Paid to Harry Water Clerk for his wage for a yere ended at thannacon (the Annunciation) of Our Lady. xxvi s. viii." The clerk at St. Lawrence, Reading, received 20 s. for his services in 1547. Owing to the decrease in the value of money the wages gradually rose in town churches, but in the eighteenth century in many country places 10 s. was deemed sufficient. The sum of £10 is not an unusual wage at the present time for a village clerk.