should decide it to have been the book of obits, observed in that family. It is scarcely probable that the reading of the martyrology would have formed a part of the services and devotions of a private household.

P. clxx. l. 20. In the year 1535, the archbishop of York writes to the king: "Opon good Fridaye last past, I charged the treasorer of Yorke, that he sholde leave out the colett pro papa, lykewies I charged the deacon that songe the hymne Exultet angelica in the halowinge of the paschall, that he sholde leave ouzt mention therein made de papa." Ellis. Orig. Letters. 3rd Series. 2. 329.

With respect to the ridiculous citation of archbishop Becket, I must correct an error in the note. (85.) The date which I have ascribed there to a diary, occurs in an official letter from a public officer, Penison, to the prime minister, Cromwell. As to the fact however, I would remark further, that archbishop Parker, a contemporary, appears to have believed it. De ant. ecc. p. 209.

In the year 1555, there was published an order by cardinal Pole, that all these rased names should be restored. "Id etiam curent, ut sacrorum canonum instituta in omnibus observentur, et nomen divi Thomæ martyris, necnon sanctissimi domini nostri papæ ex libris dispunctum, in illis restituatur, et pro eo secundum morem ecclesiæ, ut ante schisma fiebat, oretur.' Wilkins. tom. 4. p. 139.

P. clxxviij. note. Besides authors, whose prejudices, some might say, led them to condemn the wholesale confiscation by Henry viij th of sacred property, other writers speak no less plainly. Selden condemns it, in his history of tithes, p. 471, 486. (edit. 1618.) White Kennett also, in his history of Impropriations,

p. 186. 438. and to name no more; in his parochial antiquities, vol. 2. p. 64. and p. 51.

P. clxxxj. note. 97.

Richard Layton writes thus to Cromwell, in a letter in which he invites him to his house. "Simeon was never so glade to se Chryst his master, as I shalbe to se your Lordeshipe in this your owne house, and all that ever shalbe in hit for my lyffe." Original letters. series. 3. vol. 3. p. 71.

I am not an advocate for the restoration in this country of the old monastic system, and, I confess, regard with some suspicion and dislike the arguments which have, lately, been produced in favour of it. Nor do I wish to varnish over the abuses which prevailed in it, at the beginning of the sixteenth century. But, if we would desire to arrive at a just judgment, as to the state and morals of the monks and nuns of England at that time,—neither listening too much to exaggerated statements of vice and profligacy upon the one hand; nor to flattering descriptions of faultless excellence and purity upon the other;-we must not forget to enquire, as accurately as possible, into the personal character of those witnesses, upon whose evidence mainly, an unqualified condemnation has been pronounced against them.

P. cevj. 7. 25. Fonts were ordered to be kept locked: thus; by a constitution of archbishop Edmund, A. D. 1236. "Fontes sub serura clausi teneantur." Concil. tom. 1. p. 636. In the province of York also, among the necessary furniture of churches, there was ordered in the same century, "fons sacer cum serura." Ibid. p. 698. cf. tom. 2. p. 280. In some churches, the remains of the ancient fastenings may still be seen.

There is an abuse, too generally prevalent in mo

dern times, upon which I must make a brief remark : namely, that clergymen should suffer a common and small bason to supply the place of a font. It is a fact scarcely credible (remembering the doctrine of the church of England in this matter, and the rubrics of her office of public baptism), that in many churches, of large and populous parishes, there actually is not a font. I cannot conceive a reason, why any person can permit so scandalous an indecency: and it is much to be wished, that the ordinaries both had the power, and would exercise it, of enforcing obedience to the rules of the church in this respect. I would quote one or two directions regarding it, since the reformation. From the "Booke of certaine Canons," in 1571. "They shall see, that in euery churche there be a holy founte, not a basen, wherein Baptisme may be ministred, and it be kept comely and cleane." Edit. J. Daye. 4to. Again, the visitation articles of Bancroft, bishop of London, in 1601: "x. Whether doth your parson—baptize in your parish church or chappel, any infants, not in the fonte, according to the ancient custom, but in a bason?"

I would add here, a rubric, in an early pontifical (imperfect, and apparently English), preserved in the library of the university of Cambridge. (Ll. 2. 10.) After the third dipping; "Et tertio dicens, et Spiritus Sancti, Amen. tunc projiciens eum in fontem discedat: dans locum hominibus eum elevandi de fonte, dicens orationem hanc: Deus omnipotens, etc."

P. ccix. l. 17. Upon this whole subject, the student should consult a work, in which there is much curious learning, by Cangiamila, "Embryologia sacra, sive de officio sacerdotum, medicorum, et aliorum circa æternam parvulorum in utero existentium salutem." Pa

normi. 1758. folio. And Benedict. xiv. opera. tom. 12. p. 247. etc. tom. 11. p. 42. Compare, Ellis. Orig. letters. series. 3. vol. 2. p. 226.

P. ccxi. l. 10. "Si quis baptizat pro temeritate, non ordinatus, abjiciendus est extra ecclesiam, et nunquam ordinetur." Theodori, liber pænit. cap. 38. 4. I have already made some remarks in other parts of this work, upon the prohibition even to deacons to baptize, except in cases of necessity. There is a remarkable case however, recorded in Matthew Paris: the baptism of prince Edward, eldest son of Henry III. "Carleolensis episcopus infantem catechizavit, legatus eundem baptizavit, licet non esset sacerdos; archiepiscopus autem Cantuariensis ipsum confirmavit." Hist. p. 413. The historian expresses his own astonishment at this circumstance.

P. ccxiv. l. 28. " in baptisterio." "i. e. loco in ecclesia, ubi fit baptismus. Non enim debes intelligere quod ista lavatio fiat in fonte baptismali, nec de aqua fontis, sed debet fieri in loco ubi scituatur fons, viz. juxta ipsam fontem." Lyndwood. Lib. 1. tit. 6. Sacerdotis. On the other hand, there is a constitution, in the preceding century, of the diocese of Worcester :

qui confirmati fuerint, post triduum portentur ad ecclesiam, in fonte baptismatis abluendi." Concil. tom. 1. p. 667.

P. ccxxi. l. 17. The following is the form of certificate appointed in the Sarum Manuals. "Forma literæ testimonialis bannorum proclamatorum pro matrimonio contrahendo. Universis præsentes literas inspecturis, curatus ecclesiæ parochialis de N. diœcesiscurato de N. ejusdem diœcesis salutem in Domino. Notum facimus quod Richardus N. parochianus noster non est in registris nostris aliqua excommunicationis

sententia innodatus. Nec scimus in eo aliquod impedimentum canonicum propter quod ecclesiastica sacramenta sibi debeant denegari, seu etiam retardari. Insuper tria banna per tres dies dominicos, sive festivos solennes, ad solemnizationem matrimonii futuri de ipso cum Margareta N. in ecclesia nostra prædicta, palam et publice proclamavimus seu proclamari fecimus: quibus nullus se opposuit seu contradixit. Rogamus igitur discretionem vestram, quatenus dictum N. parochianum nostrum cum Margareta N. parochiana vestra per verba de præsenti, in ecclesia vestra, vel matrimonialiter copuletis: nisi quod ex parte vestra sit aliquod aliud impedimentum quod obsistat. Et hæc omnibus quorum interest aut interesse poterit in futurum tenore præsentium certificamus. Datum sub sigillo ecclesiæ nostræ præfatæ. Anno, N. die, N. mensis, N.”

Edit. 1543. 4to. fol. clxvij.

P. ccxxiv. l. 12. The synod of Exeter, in 1287, specifies the penalty upon neglect. "Quodsi quenquam juvenem vel senem culpa, negligentia, vel absentia sui sacerdotis (quod absit) absque baptismo, confessione, dominici corporis perceptione, ac extrema unctione præveniri morte contigerit; sacerdos super hoc convictus, a celebratione divinorum protinus suspendatur; cujus suspensio minime relaxetur, donec tam grande crimen pœnitentia condigna meruerit expiari." Concil. tom. 2. p. 135.

P. ccxxviij. l. 2. The old histories and chronicles are full of proofs of the popular belief, as regarded the necessity of the viaticum. For example, see Matthew Paris, pp. 6. 156. 183. 306. 503. But still it was not believed, or taught, that mere reception of the holy Eucharist, upon a death-bed, was alone sufficient to secure salvation. Arnold, in the curious miscellany