oks as _clericus de hoc opido_,
and in the churchwardens' accounts for 1564 there is an entry, "Item to
Hunt the clerke paid for lights 2 s. 8 d." He was succeeded by his son,
John Hunt (1564-84). Robert Langdon flourished as clerk from 1584 to
1625, when spiritual matters were at a low ebb in the parish. The vicar
was excommunicated in 1589. His successor quickly resigned, and the next
vicar was soon involved in feuds with some of his puritanically inclined
parishioners. The quarrel was increased by the unworthy conduct of
Robert Smyth, a preacher and lecturer who was appointed and paid by the
corporation, and cared little for vicar or bishop. He was an extreme
Puritan, and had a considerable following in the parish. His refusal to
wear a surplice, though ordered to do so by the bishop, brought the
dispute to a head. He was inhibited, but his followers retorted by
accusing the vicar of being a companion of tipplers and fooling away his
time with pipe and tabor, and finally bringing an accusation against
him, on account of which the poor man was cited before the High
Commission Court. The charge came to nothing, and Smyth for a time
conformed and wore his surplice. Then some of the Puritan faction
refused to accept the vicar's ministrations, and two of them were tried
at the assizes and sent to gaol. "If they would rather go to gaol than
church," said the town clerk, "much good may it do them. I am not of
their mind." Passive resisters were not encouraged in those days. But
the relations between vicar and lecturer continued strained, and the
former bethought him of his faithful clerk, Robert Langdon, as a helper
in the ministry. He applied to the bishop to raise him to the diaconate,
and this was done, Langdon being ordained deacon on 21 September, 1606,
by William Cotton, Bishop of Exeter. The record of this notable event,
the ordination of a parish clerk, thus appears in the ordination
register of the diocese:

"In festo Matthaei Apostoli Dominus Episcopus in ecclesia
parochiali de Silfertone xxi mo die Septembris 1606 ordines
sacros celebrando ordinavit, sequuntur Diaconi tunc et
ibidinem ordinati videlicet Robertus Langdon de Barnestapli."

[Footnote 95: _Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the
Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art_, 1904, xxxvi. pp. 390-414.]

Langdon remained parish clerk and deacon nineteen years, and the
register contained the record of his burial, "Robert