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ascertained it seems certain, that the Uses of Lincoln and Bangor were not so general as those of York and Hereford.

94

But we must not suppose that this extended influence was obtained all at once, or even in less than a long lapse of time, by the liturgy and ritual of the Church of Salisbury nor, again, must we forget that those who testify to its greatest renown lived some three or four hundred years after its original settlement under the direction of Bishop Osmund. During that period many severe struggles, of which all memory has been lost, may have occurred; and many difficulties and jealousies which opposed its progress may have been gradually but slowly overcome. In less however than two hundred years after Osmund's death, we have a proof how high the character of the Sarum Use already was, in the constitutions of one of his successors; who in the year 1256 declares, that "like the sun in the heavens, the Church of Salisbury is conspicuous above all other churches of the world, diffusing its light every where, and supplying their defects."95

There are two important cases upon which a few remarks will not, I trust, be out of place. And first of the cathedral of S. Paul in London, the chief city of the kingdom. Collier tells us, that in the year 1414, and therefore we may conclude not till then, an order was made by Bishop Clifford "with the assent of the chapter, that from the first of December following, Divine Ser

94 One reason why in later years, writers have perhaps too much exalted the Salisbury, to the disparagement of the other English Uses, has probably been because the Service Books of that Church are, with few exceptions, the only ones which are extant. None exist

Missal in my possession, and the Pontifical belonging to the Dean and Chapter of that Cathedral, claim to be of Bangor; and but ten or twelve copies altogether are known of the books of Hereford and York.

95 Wilkins. Concilia. tom. i. p.

of Lincoln; only two MSS. viz. the 715.

vice should be performed in his Cathedral, secundum usum Sarum: and that the old form and rubric called S. Paul's should be laid aside."96 With this is quite agreeable the manner of expression in two inventories of the church, printed in Dugdale's history of S. Paul's: in the one made A. D. 1298, books are simply spoken of "de usu S. Pauli:" but in the other, in 1486, we have "Vetus Missale," "Aliud vetus Missale secundum usum S. Pauli:" and "Unum Ordinale secundum primariam ordinationem et antiquam ecclesiæ S. Pauli." But we have the best evidence that in the cathedral of S. Paul the Use of Sarum was not admitted without also the retaining of some of its own old peculiar ceremonies: I mean, that of the author of the Defensorium Directorii, who says, speaking on a certain point: "Probatur ista assertio esse vera per venerabiles viros ac patres canonicos ecclesiæ sancti Pauli Londonensis, qui totum officium divinum in cantando et legendo observant secundum usum Sarum ecclesiæ. Sed de cærimoniis vel observationibus ejusdem nihil curantes: sed custodiunt antiquas observantias in ecclesia sancti Pauli a primordio illic usitatas." 98

26 Ecclesiastical Hist. vol. i. p. 649. And Dugdale. S. Paul's. p.

22.

97 P. 233. 284.

98 Monumenta Ritualia. vol. ii. p. 346. The practice of the Cathedral of S. Paul was, as we may suppose, of considerable authority: and the "Defensorium" appeals in another place to it, upon a disputed point: (P. 342,) where the decision of the "Venerabiles Cardinales Ecclesiæ sancti Pauli" is given. As Du Cange tells us, there were in many Cathedrals and Monaste

But

ries appointed some chief among
the priests, "quibus ex concessione
summorum Pontificum licitum erat,
ut soli ad præcipuum altare, quod
cardinale vocabant, unde Cardi-
nales dicti, solemnem Missam cele-
brarent." Verb. Presbyter.
I think in the present instance re-
ference is made to "the Cardinals
of the Choir," who were officers of
S. Paul's cathedral, chosen from
the minor canons by the Dean and
Chapter, to have the direction of
the choir. See some ancient sta-
tutes, printed in Dugdale. Hist. of
S. Paul's. Appendix. p. 241.

In the library of the British Museum is preserved a manuscript, which is called in the catalogue, "Missale in usum D. Pauli:"99 from which we might have hoped to obtain much information upon this point. And we doubtless should, had it been a copy of the old Use of that church: but it is later than 1414, and the rubrics throughout speak of, and are according to, the Use of Sarum: nor do there seem to be any variations of the slightest importance, with one exception. Indeed, the only authority why it has been so called, "of S. Paul's" appears to have been a tradition, and possibly a correct one, that it formerly belonged to that Cathedral. I say correct, because although like most copies of the missal in that age it has numerous directions which refer to parish churches, and not to cathedrals, it has also some rubrics which could relate only to a large establishment of priests and ministers. Nor can there be any doubt but that it was the property of some great church in London : which is clear from the rubric upon the feast of S. Mark, directing the procession upon that day to go to some church in the city or in the suburbs, and return after the celebration of mass to their own church. But the exception which I spoke of is very remarkable: viz. the Canon of this manuscript contains the prayer "Agimus tibi Deo Patri gratias:" which is the only example I have met with, except in the Hereford missal. The prayers which precede it are however not according to the Hereford, but to the Salisbury Use.

That the old Use of S. Paul's was held in high estimation, we have a proof in an order relating to Barking monastery, in Essex, about 1390. "Nota quod diversis temporibus intra conventum nonnullæ emanarunt altercationes igitur nos cupientes dictas altercationes et

99 Harleian MS. 2787. Imperfect.

1 See below: "Canon Missæ," p. 121.

discordias radícitus extirpari præsenti extirpamus edicto secundum antiquas consuetudines istius domus approbatas, quod conventus prædictus tres modos diversos habeat sui servitii dicendi; primo horas suas dicat secundum regulam Sancti Benedicti; Psalterium suum secundum cursum Curiæ Romanæ; Missam vero secundum usum ecclesiæ Sancti Pauli Londoniarum.” 2

The other case to which I alluded, is of Exeter. In the year 1339 Bishop Grandisson drew up a body of statutes for his new and most munificent foundation of the collegiate church of S. Mary, at Ottery. These enter into minute particulars of the services to be performed by the members of the college; and two or three chapters, whilst they prove that the Sarum was then the received Use of the diocese, no less shew a sort of jealousy still existing, and an earnest desire upon the part of the Bishop to establish an "Exeter Use." Thus in the 7th he speaks of the Divine Office on certain occasions being performed “secundum ordinale et consuetudinarium quæ eis fecimus et extraximus ex Exoniæ et Sarum usibus."3 Again in the 10th that all the members should attend chapter, "saltem in sabbato, ut Exoniæ fit." In the 36th we have the two Uses identified: "Item volumus quod in majoribus festis―sicut Sarum et sicut Exon." and, once more, in the 77th the Bishop speaks out very plainly. "Item statuimus quod ubicumque ordinale vel consuetudinarium vel statuta nostra non sufficiant forte in multis faciendis per totum annum,

2 Dugdale. Monasticon Anglic. vol. i. p. 437. Note k. Upon the distinction between the Use "Romanæ ecclesiæ," and " Romanæ curiæ," see Azevedo, De Div. Off. Exercit. ix. p.33. "Officium Curiæ contractum erat, et mutationibus obnoxium ob varias et continuas occupationes Summi Pontifi

cis, et Cardinalium, aliorumque Prælatorum, qui ei in sacello diu, noctuque interesse solebant."

3 This Ordinal is still extant; and preserved in the Exchequer Chamber of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter. See some account of it in the Monumenta Ritualia. vol. i. p. xliij.

quod tunc recurratur ad ordinale et consuetudinarium Sarum. Ita tamen quod semper omnia per nos disposita firmiter observentur. Nolumus tamen quod allegent vel dicant unquam se usum tenere Sarum, sed magis Exoniæ, vel, ut verius dicant, usum per nos eis traditum proprium et specialem.' But the extent to which the Bishop's

994

wishes were carried in this matter, must remain doubtful : at least however we find about one hundred years after, in 1436, an order made by the founder of "Godeshous," a charitable institution for the poor in the same city of Exeter, that the chaplain should say his office "secundum usum Sarum."5

I would add before I pass on, that we have proof of the acceptance of the Use of Sarum in the county of Suffolk, from the fact that one of the Ordinals of that Church preserved in the library of the British Museum, was one of the service-books of the parish-church of Rysbey. And again, the Sarum breviary itself refers to the Use of the Church of Lichfield, upon S. Cedde's day. (March 2nd.) We must not however conclude that in other respects the Use of Lichfield varied from the Sarum but that this particular exception was allowed as a peculiarity retained by that Church, upon the festival of its patron.

According then to these various Uses of Sarum, York, Bangor, Hereford, and Lincoln,' (various yet harmoni

4 Oliver. Monasticon Exon. p. 268. et seqq.

5 Monasticon Exon. p. 404.
6 See Monumenta Ritualia. vol.

i. p. xlvij. Note 83.

7 So Asseman reckons five Uses, upon the authority doubtless of the

Preface to the Common Prayer
Book. Codex Liturgic. tom. iv.
pars. iii. 36.
And the author of
the "Ordinarye of a Christen

man," speaks of them in a general
way:
"That on the holy sondaye
and other grete feestes and solemp-
nytees gyuen by comaundemente,
after dyuersyte of the countre and
of the dyoces, euery man ought to
here masse entyerly yf he haue no
lettyng nor excusacyon reasonable
by the whiche he may be excused."
Sign. L. iiij. b. Edit. Wynkyn de
Worde.

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