objectionable as such portions of the ancient Service Books were, they are not to be compared with the almost innumerable manuals of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, for the use of which in the communion of the Church of Rome, and their recommendation to the laity, universal as we know it is, I am at a loss to conceive even an excuse. An attempt has lately been made to introduce some such, again among ourselves: adaptations, and so called corrected editions, which cannot be looked upon without grave suspicion, and which we may hope have failed of success. Not by a stubborn resistance against what is really Catholic and good, nor by an easy reception of what is at best but doubtful, and has certainly been mischievous: not by an ignorant and indiscriminating hatred of the rites and worship of other branches of the Church of Christ, nor by a varnishing over of abuses which cannot be denied, and by a stealthy introduction of observances which we know have done injury, in fact, both to faith and practice, can we hope to restore once more the interrupted Unity of the Church, and ourselves to the inestimable blessings which must be the result. Upon such a plan we could not expect the approbation of our Divine Head, or the cooperation of His Holy Spirit.

But whilst I think, and undoubtingly think thus of such manuals and books of private devotion, I could not see any necessity for wearying the reader with continued rememberings of much, which we might have wished away, in the Offices and Liturgies, by which for a thousand years the Church of which I am myself a priest, guided the public worship of her people, and offered up her Services to God: I feel moreover that we ourselves have lost much that was most profitable,

and holy, and just, and true that whilst errors have been taken away from our modern Book, and, if men will have it so, too great tediousness and repetition removed, yet that all is not solid gain. I hope that in another work I have shewn, that in the most important of all our Offices, we still have every thing which is requisite for the due celebration of the Holy Eucharist: but it is one thing to be certain of this and to be content; it is another to pride ourselves upon our Common Prayer Book, as if it was perfection: as if the rest of the Catholic Church were to be pitied, because its members have not altered, to the extent of our example, the Daily Worship, and the Ritual, and the Liturgy of their Fathers.

Appendix to Dissertation upon the

Service Books.

Extracts from Inventories of Parish

Churches taken in the 13th Century,
in the Diocese of Salisbury.

HESE Inventories are contained in the very valuable volume, so often referred to in the foregoing dissertation, and to which I shall be again indebted. It is preserved among the muniments of the Bishops of Salisbury. Commonly it is called the "Registrum Sancti Osmundi" but it has no further claim to that title, than as having at the beginning a copy, the oldest I presume extant, of the famous consuetudinary drawn up by that Bishop. The remainder of the volume, amounting to four-fifths of the whole, is composed of various charters relating to the see of Salisbury, to the property of the Dean and Chapter, and to various privileges bestowed upon them following these, are the contemporary records of a Visitation held by the then Dean of Sarum, A. D. 1220; William de Wenda, who (says Le Neve) was elected in that year: after, a number of other documents succeed, chiefly legal, and having reference to transactions during the episcopate of Bishop Poore: an account of the election of Bishop Bingham, successor to Poore: of the removal of the church from Old to New Sarum: an inventory, (imperfect) of the ornaments of the Cathedral and other matters. I do not pretend to give more than the faintest sketch

of this most important book: but it certainly ought rather to be called the Register of Bishop Poore, than of Saint Osmund. The original manuscript is a small folio, upon vellum; of various hands, and dates; from about the year 1210 to 1240.

I

The following inventories of books, then belonging to many parish churches in the diocese of Salisbury, will be found peculiarly interesting, and illustrative of much that has been discussed in the Dissertation. omit all those items which do not refer to books: such as of the vestments, chalices, patens, &c. They are not connected with my present subject, and whilst I regret being obliged to pass them over, I leave them with the hope that some day they may be made public. I proceed now to these extracts.

"Inventarium factum apud Sunning per W. decanum Sar. Anno Domini. M°.CC.xx.

Unum Missale novum absque epistolis, sine musica, et sine gradali: et aliud vetus Missale, in quo leguntur epistolæ, plenum, sine musica: liganda. Breviarium vetus absque musica, sufficiens. Antiphonarium vetus, minus sufficiens, et aliud novum, cum psalterio in principio, sufficiens, de dono Vitalis vicarii, sed ligandum. Gradale vetus, cum Tropario. Et aliud novum. Duo Psalteria vetera. 1. Textus coopertus argento, continens evangelia anni. 1. Troparius per se. 1. Ordinale. Quidam novus liber, continens missas privatas. 1. Manuale parvum. 1. Vetus Psalterium, ex una parte rubeum, ex altera, album habens crucem osseam extra."

"Item est capella apud Rothescamp.-Isti sunt libri. Missale vetus, nullius pretii. Breviarium bonum cum Antiphonario, et Ymnarium et Collectarium cum notitia. Item unum Gradale parvum, vetus et nullius