Keppoch song

224 SUPPLEMENT.
doing. The writer considers the destruc-
tion of the records of the parishes as trea-
son, in a two-fold point of view; as de-
frauding and depriving the crown of that
branch of evidence of forfeiture of the lands
of Keppoch, and of abstracting the exer-
cise of the rights and prerogatives of the
crown; and, secondly, as a violation of an
act of parliament made at an early period
of the Reformation, to check the growth of
popery, by which parents were required
to have their children baptised at their se-
veral parish churches, and their names to
be registered in books, and preserved in
all time coming, and the parent neglecting
or refusing to do so, was liable to a penalty,
in proportion to his rank and circumstan-
ces. The destruction of the registers also
highly criminates the ministers of the seve-
ral parishes, as the books must have been
in their custody, or kept under their direc-
tion. This charge against the ministers
becomes the more highly criminal, as it ap-
pears, that no registers have been allowed
to be kept in some of the parishes, but
since 1784, the year of restoration, when