ther title of the Hora. The contents and the arrangement are exactly similar. It may have been used in other churches to signify the Manual, which at first sight or hearing of the name one would be inclined to suppose: but whether this be so or not, there is no example of it in the English manuals. I know but two editions of the Horæ, entitled Enchiridion of 1530, by Hardouyn; and by Kerver, 12mo. 1528."

CHAPTER X.

AM very far from asserting that the above list of the old Service Books and Rituals of the Church of England is complete but I trust that at least all those of usual occurrence have been noticed, and those only omitted whose titles and contents either cannot admit of doubt, or which there is no reason to believe were used by the English Church. It must moreover be remembered, that in the old times there were almost as many books as there were parts of the Offices and Service: and not only the collects and verses and graduals, &c. were divided and subdivided into separate volumes, but the Offices of great festivals and certain portions of the year were also arranged for the purposes of greater solemnity, or to be ready at hand, as I have before remarked, and the reader cannot but have observed.

Such then they were, and at least so many in num

77 Both these are in my possession.

ber: and of each not only must there have been almost countless copies in manuscript in the year 1530, but there had been many large editions of several of them printed.78 Yet now, in about three hundred years, we may say of them that, as a class, they have all but totally disappeared. Examples of any one, Missal or Breviary or Manual it matters not, are of extraordinary rarity of some none are extant: and by far the greater part of those which we do possess are mutilated and imperfect.

It is not to be denied that service books are, more perhaps than any others, subject to destruction: at least, if we judge from the care taken of them commonly nowa-days. They are suffered to lie about in damp places: they are left among old boards or boxes in vestries, and become the gradual prey of rats and vermin: when too far gone to be of use, they are thrown away, or help to light the stove and the gas-lamps of the church. Modern Common Prayer Books are printed moreover upon a most vile paper; and the wonder really may rather be, how with any amount of care, they can withstand at all the thumbing of parish-clerks. But of these causes two at least were wanting in earlier ages; care was taken of the books, and the material was enduring.

In proof of how great the care was which was taken anciently of the Church Service Books, I shall quote two statutes drawn up by the founder of the college

78 The Exeter MS. inventory of 1506, proves how early the printed editions were adopted in churches. Belonging to the chapel of the Holy Cross was "j.

missale de papiro artis impressorie." And to the Chapel of S. Edmund in the same cathedral "j. missale impressorie artis in pergameno."

of S. Mary Ottery. "30. Inhibemus etiam districte sub pœna excommunicationis, ne quis præsumat aut, ut quandoque vidimus in ecclesiis ruralibus, de foliis librorum ex quacunque eorum parte aliquid abscindere vel superscribere ad librorum deformitatem aut mutilationem, nec etiam sub colore correctionis aliquid in litera vel nomine immutare, nisi forte aliquis peritus et sciolus ad hoc assignatus novos libros corrigat ad exemplar aliquod originale, quod juxta judicium seniorum exemplar fidelius reputatur. Omnes etiam ecclesiæ ministri sæpius moneantur libros ecclesiæ honeste vertere, tenere, et servare." "34. Item ut honestius libri custodiantur, statuimus et mandamus quod clerici tenendo libros, quantum possunt, manicas superpellicei inter librum et manum interponant et folia vertendo non cum digitis sputo tinctis, ut sutores, nec plicando quasi per aures caperent, sed cum digitis incipiendo in superiori parte descendendo vertant, et stringendo libros aperiant non firmacula subito evellendo."79

79 Oliver. Monasticon. Exon. p. 270. The same statutes contain a further order, which I cannot resist extracting. "31. Item statuimus quod antiphonaria omnia et gradualia et psalteria ita semper sint correcta quod non discordent in aliquo, et quod ita dividantur quod una medietas eorum ponatur a dextera chori et alia medietas a sinistra. Ita quod semper ad minus sint tria antiphonaria et tot psalteria cum tot gradualibus ex uno latere, et tot ex alio latere, et liber unus ad gradum semper chori vel in medio, alius coram rectoribus ad

missam; et inhibemus ne aliquis ex quacunque causa asportet vel amoveat vel transmutet tales libros de locis suis quibus specialiter assignabuntur, ac etiam ascribentur, quia ex hoc posset officium impediri; verum volumus quod armarioli fortes fiant in stallis secundariorum per quatuor partes chori ad reponendum tales libros, et quod claves tradantur clericis ecclesiæ qui eos quotidie extrahant et reponant. 32. Item, quotiens aliquis novus liber portatur in chorum, nullus canonicus nec alius utatur eo, quousque corrigatur."

Not only was such the care taken of them, but the service books were almost always, if manuscript, upon vellum; and in later years, if printed and on paper, then the material was strong and stout enough to last a reasonable time. Again when the ritual and liturgy of the Church was altered, it was a sudden change the old books were not to be used until worn out and then to be supplied by the new Offices; but on a certain day named they were to be given up entirely and for ever. Now it is not to be supposed but that two-thirds at least of those then in use were perfect and sound and of the remaining third there could not have been a large proportion whose time of service would happen to have nearly expired, and which might be properly, not thrown upon a dunghill but, reverently destroyed.80

Once more consider the amazing number of the

So Alberti says: when sacred Vestments and Ornaments of the Church are worn out, they are to be burned, and their ashes to be disposed "in ecclesiæ loco ubi incedentium pedibus calcari nequeunt." De sacris utensilibus. p. 176. See also, Cap. xi. 51-57. p. 174.

"The question is frequently secration of Churches, p. 84, Note, asked, what should be done with Church Vestments, &c. which have become useless from age or injury? The Canon Law tells us : "Altaris palla, cathedra, candelabrum, et velum, si fuerint vetustate consumpta, incendio dentur; quia non licet ea, quæ in sacrario fuerint, male tractari; sed incendio universa tradantur. Cineres quoque eorum in baptisterium inferantur, ubi nullus transitum habeat; aut in pariete, aut in fossis pavimentorum jactentur, ne introeuntium pedibus inquinentur. (Corpus Juris Can. Vol. 1. p. 460.)" Harington: on con

And, once more, Lyndwood: "Pallæ altaris, et ea, quæ in sacrario sunt vetustate corrupta, incendi debent. Et ratio est, quia talia male tractari non debent, nec ad usus prophanos converti.” Lib. 1. Tit. 6. Cum sacri. Verb. Concremandum.

81

books. Not only every one of the ten thousand parishes of England was fully furnished, but in single parishes there were often more churches than one, and in single churches there were chantries and chapels, also supplied. Add to these, the monasteries and cathedrals with their hundreds (it may be said) of service books; 82 the private chapels of the nobility; the copies in the possession of the laity: and will it be beyond the mark to assert that at the date above-mentioned there were not less than two hundred and fifty thousand volumes in actual use, besides those which might have been laid up and treasured in the archives? 83

81 The parish church of S. John the Baptist, Glastonbury, in the year 1421, had in use "iij missals, iij graduals, j psalter, iij antiphonals, j legend, ij collections, j processional." Collections I conclude were the same as the "colet-boke" mentioned before. Warner. Hist. of Glast. Appendix. xcix.

82 Take for example, the sum of some of the Church-books

which belonged to Ramsay Abbey, from the inventory before cited. (Cotton Rolls. xi. 16.) There are entered at the end, Breviaries, "lxx." Psalters, "centum." Hymnals, "iiij." Graduals, "xxxij.” Processionals, "xxix."

83 In speaking just above of ten thousand parishes in England, and in calculating the number of Service Books at 250,000, I must surely be within the actual number. Sir Robert Atkyns in his Glou

cestershire speaks of "45,000 churches, and 55,000 chapels which existed before the Reformation." But as there may be doubt as to whether he includes Abbey Churches, let us hear some contemporary authorities. The anonymous author of the famous libel, "A supplicacyon for the beggers," says, "Here if it please there are your grace to marke

withyn youre realme of Englond, lii. thousand parisshe churches." I quote from a copy of the original edition of 1524. It is true that Sir Thomas More in his answer, called "the supplycacyon of soules," denies the fact, saying "it is a playne lye to beginne with." Works. p. 293. But we must not forget that the author of the libel makes his statement the foundation of an extraordinary calculation of the amount of money paid by the householders of Eng