Edward Bright succeeded to the living in 1615.  We may believe that he was selected as being a “lerned and religious pastor.”  He appears to have remained in possession until his death in 1659, though there is an entry of the baptism of a son of a certain Robert King in 1644, who is described as “minister.”  There must have been some exciting scenes in Pickering at this time, for in the year 1644, when many other churches suffered a similar fate, the registers record the breaking up of the font and the tearing to pieces of the church Prayer Book on the same day.  The entries are in very small pale writing at the back of one of the books and read:—­

  “Baptisterii Pickerensis Demolitio, Septemb. 25, 1644.”

And in another hand:—­

  “Liturgia ecclesie ibidem lacerata eodem die 1644.”

Edward Bright had several children whose names appear in the registers, and one of them, Joseph Bright, was on the 11th of July 1652 “elected and declared to be the parish clerk of Pickering.”  He was then twenty-five years old.  On the night of August the 26th, 1634, there was a fire in the town which burnt down two houses and caused great fear among the inhabitants.  Then among other entries on the back pages of register No. 2, 1615-53, appear recipes of this character:—­

“A [cure?] for the dropsie in ye winter.  Take a gallon of white wine and broome ashes to the quantitie [a few indecipherable words] sifted and drinke a pint thereof morning and [cause?] it [to?] be drunken also at meale times with ones meats and at other times when one is drie a little quantitie.  Matthew Mitso ... e.”

“For the same in Summer.  Take a pecke of sage and bake it in a riddon (?) pastie, and when it is baked to a hard crust breake there crust and all in it ... and ... unne it up all into a barrell of drinke, and drinke it in the Su[=m]er time especially in maye.”

“A remeadie for the stich.

“Take a j^d. of treacle a j^d of aqua-vite and a j^d of sal ... and apply them to the place.”

“A medicine for wormes.

“Take lavander c ... unset leekes an ox (’or bull’ inserted above) gall and cu[=m]in seed, fry these togither with . (?) . and lay them warme in a linnen clath to the childes belly.”

Some other remedies that belong to this period were discovered by Mr Blakeborough[1] in this neighbourhood.  I have taken them from the original seventeenth century writing:—­

[Footnote 1:  Calvert’s MS. book in the possession of Mr Richard Blakeborough. ]

“Take for to clear the eyes 1 ounce of dried batts bloode groude to powder & white hens bloode & dung sift & when they be well mixed & quite dry then blowe a little in the ill eye & yt shall soon be well.”

"For a pinne or ivebbe in ye eye.

“Take ye galle of an hare the gall of a mowerpate and of a wild cat and honey and hogs lard a like quantity mix all together and annoynt y^e eye w^th a feather dipped in yt and yt shalle be soon cured.”