of the rate already made, of their making a new rate...and of the gathering thereof; and likewise how farr they have p[ro]ceeded in the repayer of the church the ixth of Aprill next:  and for the punish[men]t of him, the said Wm Garrett, for his contemptuous taking away of the rate, as is complayned of, it is respited untill this p[resent] order be p[er]formed; & he is now monished to appeare in the Consistorie the first court day [etc]...."[133] So, too, when Richard Fynsett of Clayton, Sussex, was “detected” to the official for not paying his rate for church repairs, November, 1595, he appeared and claimed that not only was his rating excessive, but that the assessment had not been according to custom, to wit, made by the majority of the parishioners.  He was summoned by the judge to prove his allegation at the next court day, and to pay his court and other fees.  He was probably unable to prove his point, for under the 9th December following the record simply states “Comparuit et solvit feoda debita."[134]

The wardens of Swalecliffe, Kent, complain to the archdeacon of Canterbury in 1565 that their church is near utter decay, but the parish is so poor that they cannot repair it unless an assessment be made on the lands within the parish, for the making of which assessment they ask for an authorization.[135] Two years later they appear and say in court that their church still lacks windows, “and the parish is not able to mend the same, without it may please you that the rest of the cess that was made may be levied, which we cannot get unless we have your aid."[136]

In the same way the wardens of St. Alban’s “implored the aid of the judge,” because they wished divers persons who refused to pay their rates “co[m]pelled therunto by aucthoritye of this court,” otherwise the unpaid workmen on their ruinous church would leave, and the half-finished structure sustain damage by winter weather.[137] The act-books teem with such presentments as the following:  one Holaway refuses to give to the poor-box, “and is found able by the parish."[138] Thomas Arter will give but a half-penny to the poor.  Arter appears and “saithe that he is not of the wealthe that men takithe him to be.”  The judge commands him to pay a half-penny every week, and dismisses him.[139] “John Wilson haithe not paide his clerke wages by the report of the clerke."[140] “Here follow the names of such, as being able, refuse notwithstanding to pay to the poor man’s box [eight names follow]";[141] or “The presentment made by the churchwardens and sidemen...of all such as are behind for a cess made for the Church and refuse to pay [five names]."[142] John Baldwin presented for that “the fame and report goeth” that he keeps back L10, a legacy given seven years previously for church repairs and the poor-box, “and the Church and the poor have wanted the same, having no benefit thereof, as we know."[143] One Consant received a cow belonging to the parish “and hath not made an account to the