ed--may not this have been a re-grant
by the King, which has been hinted at? The grant to Nicholas Hellyn and
others in 4 Edward VI. has all the appearance of being a gift from the
Crown to the purposes of the newly constituted Church of England.

The Decree then proceeds, as mentioned in the last chapter, to make
provision for the filling up of vacancies in the number of Feoffees
whenever the number may be reduced to three.

It will be noticed that the Inquisition and Decree, as given above, deal
only with the title to and the application of the income of certain
freehold lands at Bentley. The Deed of the 23rd September of the 6th
Year of James the 1st (1608), and the Memorandum of the 10th October of
the same year, however, appear to deal with what seems to be the
remainder of the endowment of the Curacy, and with the status of the
Priest or Curate. The Deed and the Memorandum set forth, in effect, the
same set of facts; and the former may be described as the Contract out of
Court between the parties interested, and the latter as being the
Official Record of the Contract entered upon the Rolls of the Manor. The
Deed is stated to be made between the Right Worshipful Sir John Levison,
Knight, of Lilleshall, in the County of Salop, and John Giffard, of
Chillington, in the County of Stafford, Esquire, on the one part, and Sir
Walter Levison, of Wolverhampton, Knight, Thomas Lane, of Bentley,
Esquire, Richard Wilkes, and Thomas Tomkis, of Willenhall, Gentlemen, and
William Brindley and William Podmore, of Willenhall, Yeomen, on behalf of
themselves and the rest of the Inhabitants of Willenhall, on the other
part; and after making reference to a "Commission awarded upon the
Statute of 43 Elizabeth concerning Lands given to Charitable Uses," it
proceeds to state that the lords consent, grant, and decree that the
Copyhold lands therein referred to shall be let in the manner and for the
purpose therein mentioned, and the effect of such consent, as before
pointed out, is recited in the Memorandum entered on the Court Rolls.

Coming to the Memorandum of 1608, it is evident a serious difficulty had
arisen with the Willenhall lands held under copyhold tenure, and which
were probably dealt with by the same Commission. For there was probably
but one Commission of Inquiry, though there may have been two separate
Decrees.

Lands held by Copyhold tenure are usually subject to fealty to the Lord
of the Manor, and this was doubtl