APPENDIX.

No. I.—See Vol. I., p. 60.

I find in the Record Office a very curious letter, dated Llanothyng,[610] the 8th of April, and addressed to Linwell Chapman. There is placed in the same bundle in which I discovered it a fairly transcribed copy. As the contents are remarkable, I shall give a full description of them, and supply a few extracts.

The letter purports to come from more persons than one, and it commences by expressing their joy on account of suffering for Christ’s sake, their spirits being borne up by the fury of the adversary, by the patience dispensed to the godly, and the great spirit of prayer poured out, together with active faith in the most precious promises. They had sent messengers to their brethren, all over the nation, including three to South Wales, exhorting them to stand by the good old cause, once the most precious in the eyes of the saints. They mention “Dr. Owen, that precious servant of Christ,” as having had a sinecure in their neighbourhood, and as having sent them word “that he doubted not of good issue.” “We hope very speedily,” they proceed, “to give you a good account when that discontented part of the army we expect is come up, to countenance us until we can get together. We have laid out £10,000 in arms, and distributed most of them; we have raised such a jealousy here between the Cavaliers and Presbyterians as opens us a wider door than otherwise could be expected; and, indeed, were we considerable, the Presbyterians would close with us, upon any terms, rather than undergo an intolerable yoke under an implacable enemy.” The writers refer to an attempt upon “Charles Stewart,” which, they heard, “did not succeed in the way intended, but there was another way more successful.” They afterwards state,—“Mr. Kiffin, and Mr. Cockam, Mr. Hudson, Mr. M. the Committee-man, and Mr. Feake, write to us of securing the General and the Parliament about the 6th of May, to which they say all the congregations in London agree, except Mr. Caryles and Mr. Griffiths. Mr. Nie [Nye] doth great service in it, we hear. Mr. Brooks is very willing. Mr. Barker is, they say, indifferent. Indeed Sir Harry Vane is a man that seems to be born for such a time as this. He will come up, we hear, to head us; for we shall rise first, being furthest off.” After further explanation of their policy, they continue: “This we know, that we shall be (the Lord assisting us), a month hence, so considerable, coming towards London, that most of your Londoners must draw out, and then you have your opportunity. We hope you have received the arms, ammunitions, &c. V. A. L. was appointed to bring from C. to B., and then to D., where your carts were to meet him. What use you may make of the training day at London we leave to your discretion. Would we were rid of all the carnal and self-interested men on our side, and we doubt not but to do well. Mr. Thomas, the bearer hereof, will tell you how far we prevailed upon the Irish Brigade, and pray do you tell him how far you prevailed upon your London forces. The report of their being to be disbanded makes much for us here; what it doth there we know not. Col. Okey is very successful, and it’s believed his agitation may produce what may make both their ears tingle. Whether Mr. Powell, Mr. Mostyn, and Mr. Lloyd, be come up to you, we hear not. When they come, we doubt not they will put life in the cause. Mr. Jessey, with the brethren of Swan Alley, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Spilsbury, &c., are very zealous. And it’s good to be zealous in a good matter. Mr. Row, of Westminster, hath been very instrumental in a late design. The Lord strengthen the hands of such faithful souls. I pray, let us hear what the brethren of Gloucestershire intend to do. Mr. Helme, of Winchcombe, is diligent, spending himself and being spent among the neighbouring congregations if they be not already at London.” (The congregations referred to were either Independents or Baptists.) The writers further state that they heard a piece was “coming out on the character of the wretched villain Monk,” and an account of his plots. They advised that the first work should be to secure the militia and gentry, seize several of the Welsh castles, and be at Gloucester by the 12th of May, and tempt the General out. “Let the Quakers,” the letter goes on to say, “have the knottiest piece, for they are resolute in performing, though but rash in advising. It were to be wished the House had some bones to pick, that they might determine nothing until the 12th of May.” The writers then ask, whether the Long Parliament members, under whose authority they and their friends were acting, would sit at Shrewsbury as a place of rendezvous; that would be the safest place. They refer to Scotland, adding, “If it may be, it were well all places were at once disordered by a common alarm, while one place is chiefly aimed at. We expect Sir Arthur here suddenly, and then, when a convenient number of the old Parliament and army are met, we declare. The declaration is already agreed on.” ... “We are apt to believe that every honest man of all interests will acquiesce in it. Verily some Presbyterians, upon their late experience, are ready to hear and submit to the reason of it, when proposed to them. The press is free enough for it, there being no restraint upon that as yet.” The letter concludes with an exhortation to prosecute the design on the Tower, the House, and the head-quarters.

Besides this letter, there is another dated a few days earlier, addressed to Master Evan Thomas Taylor, relating to the same subject, but not containing any important information.

When I first lighted upon the letter of the 8th of April, 1660, with the actual outbreak under Lambert, in the same month, fresh in my mind, I was startled at the sight of these extraordinary statements, and began to think that they supplied new and important information respecting Republican movements going on at that confused period. A little reflection, however, sufficed to raise very considerable doubts as to whether much reliance could be placed upon several parts of the letter of the 8th, in which mere rumours are related, and accounts are given of what was going on at a distance. Further consideration made me suspicious as to the origin of the papers altogether. For the fabrication of letters said to be intercepted, and containing treasonable matter, was no uncommon device in those days, of which a signal instance is furnished in our notice of William Kiffin (Vol. I., p. 211). Besides, there are certain things about these professed communications from Wales, which the more I thought of them the more suspicious they appeared,—such as the statement respecting Dr. Owen, the expenditure of so large a sum as £10,000 by poor Welshmen in procuring arms, the reference made to Quakers as engaged in military movements, and the engagement of all the Congregational Churches in London, with two exceptions, in a plot to secure Monk and the Parliament. The more I considered these circumstances the more incredible they looked. Impressed with very strong doubts, I applied to my kind friend, the late Mr. John Bruce, whose judgment on the point I felt would be most valuable.

He gave the following opinion:—“I have looked at the letters dated 4th and 8th of the 2nd month of 1660, and the copy of the latter, which is endorsed in the handwriting of the Secretary, Sir Joseph Williamson. That they are all of the period assigned to them is, I think, pretty certain, but whether they are genuine or fabricated is a question not easily answered.

“It seems to me probable that the two letters were written by the same hand, the writing of the letter of the 4th being a feigned hand. That of the 4th was intended to contain that of the 8th, which is rather strange, and the oddity is increased by the circumstance, that in that of the 4th there is an allusion to that of the 8th as if it were already written:—‘Pray tell Mr. Chapman, which I forgot to write.’

“The letter of the 8th, purporting to be dated at ‘Llanothyng,’ a place I do not know; that of the 4th at ‘Llanvaire,’ I suppose in Monmouthshire. The former mentions ‘Dr. Owen, that precious servant of Christ,’ as having had a ‘sinecure here.’ If this be John Owen, it seems very like a blunder.

“Probably many other strangenesses might be discovered upon a close study of the letters, but that which in my mind makes most against the genuineness of the letter of the 8th, is the enormous improbability that any one would have sent a letter in such manner as this has been forwarded, which disclosed a plot to kill the King and other members of the Royal Family, and implicated in movements connected with it, not one or two persons only, but all the most conspicuous persons of the Republican party. The letter is in this respect so overdone as on that account alone to be a subject of very great suspicion. But, supposing it possible that a man could be found who was fool enough to write such a letter, I cannot believe that it would have been transmitted in the careless, half-open way in which these have been sent to Master Thomas in Quart-Pot Alley, Philpot Lane—if that be the address.

“My present impression is that these letters are not genuine, but if anything turns upon a point, or you are about to publish an opinion, I should like to reconsider the question.”

A little while afterwards, Mr. Bruce wrote the following:—“I have looked again at the letters said to have been intercepted, and am more and more convinced they are not genuine. Contents, handwriting—everything—is against them. They are not papers upon which any one ought to found an historical conclusion.

“Mr. Hardy came in just as I was putting up the bundle which contains these letters. I took them out and asked him what he thought of them. He shook his head, and pronounced them to be most suspicious-looking papers.”

After such an opinion, confirmatory of my own strong doubts, I could not think of using these documents in the text, but, as curiosities, I have transferred them to this Appendix.

No. II.—Vol. I., p. 244.

The following important Memorandum from W. J. Thoms, Esq., House of Lords, on the MS. Prayer Book attached to the Act of Uniformity, 1662, occurs in the Appendix to the Minutes of Evidence taken before the Royal Commission on Ritual:—

“In the course of a conversation with the Dean of Westminster on Tuesday week (30th July), after calling my attention to a pamphlet of Mr. Hull on the subject of the supposed loss of the Book of Common Prayer attached to the Act of Uniformity, the Dean expressed a wish to see the tower (formerly a portion of the Abbey) in which the original Acts of Parliament were till lately kept, the rooms in the Victoria Tower where the Acts are now deposited, and the Act of Uniformity itself. I promised to make the necessary arrangements for his doing so, on the following Thursday (1st August).

“My attention having been called by the Dean to the Prayer Book before alluded to, when settling with the person who arranges the Acts in the Victoria Tower to be in the way at the time the Dean had appointed to come, I spoke to him about the book; and he then told me, that when the Acts were removed, he had found, among other books, MS. Journals, &c., a Manuscript Prayer Book, which he had handed over to the Chief Clerk, Mr. Smith. I at once felt satisfied that that was the book respecting which there seems to have been so much mistaken anxiety; but the accidental absence of Mr. Smith prevented my then examining the book; and until I had seen it, and positively ascertained the fact, I thought it better, in case I should prove mistaken, not to mention to the Dean that the book was in Mr. Smith’s custody.

“Mr. Smith, who came to me in the Library a few minutes after the Dean had left, at once said the Prayer Book was in his custody, showed it to me, and I communicated the fact on the same evening to the Dean.

“William J. Thoms.

“Library, House of Lords, “8th August, 1867.”

“An inspection of this MS. Prayer Book has proved to the Commissioners that the ‘Order for Morning and Evening Prayer daily to be said and used throughout the year,’ is identical in all respects with that which is ordinarily prefixed to the Book of Common Prayer.”

It would be beyond my purpose to attempt a description of these books—indeed no full and correct idea of their appearance and contents could be supplied except by a fac-simile reprint of them, which I hope will be some day published—but in the meanwhile I will present the reader with a transcript of the list of alterations inserted at the beginning of the MS. volume. This copy was carefully compared with the original by Mr. Thoms and myself.

With the MS. volume now in the Library of the House of Lords, there is also a copy of the Prayer Book, printed by Robert Barker, in 1636, containing alterations of the text made with a pen in a very neat hand, believed to be that of Sancroft. I have been permitted to inspect these volumes on three occasions; and there are two instances of alterations made in the printed copy, and in the MS. book, so curious, and indeed important, that I will transfer them to these pages.

The first relates to a passage at the end of the service for the public baptism of infants. In the printed book it stands thus:—

“It is certain by God’s Word, children persons w^ch are that children being baptized, dying before they committ actuall sinne are have all things necessary for their salvation, and be undoubtedly saved.”

The MS. book presents the same sentence thus:—

“It is certain by God’s Word, that children which are baptized, dyeing before they commit actuall sin, are undoubtedly saved.”

The second instance relates to the last rubric prefixed to the Communion service. In the printed book it stands thus:—

“Most convenient place in the upper end of y^e chancel (or of y^e body of y^e church where there is no chancel.” “The table at the communion time having a fair white linnen cloth upon it shall stand in the body of the church or in the chancell body of the church or in the chancell where morning prayer and evening where morning prayer and evening prayer are appointed to be said. prayer be appointed to be said. And the priest standing [611]at at the north part side side of the table, shall say the Lord’s Prayer with the the collect following” [MS., y^e people kneeling.]

In the MS. book it appears thus:—

“The table at the Communion time having a fair white linen cloth upon it, shall stand in the body[612] of the church, or or convenient place in the upper end of the chancel where Morning and Evening Prayer are appointed to be said. or of the body of the church where there is no chancel.

And the priest standing at[613] the north side part of the table, shall say the Lord’s Prayer with the Collect followeing, the people kneeling.”

LIST OF ALTERATIONS PREFIXED.

OLD. NEW.

Litany.

Bishops, Pastors, & Ministers. Bishops, Priests, & Deacons.

Collect.

The 3d Sunday in Advent A larger & more proper inserted.

For Christmas-day.

this day. as at this time [as also in y^e preface at y^e Communion].

For Easter Tuesday is put For Low Easter.

For Whitsunday.

upon this day. as at this time.

y^e Epistle. For y^e Epistle [as often as it is not taken out of an Epistle].

Communion.

Overnight or else in y^e morning before y^e beginning of morning prayer, or immediately after.--Rubrick. at least some time y^e day before.

in y^e body of y^e Church or in y^e Chancel. in y^e most convenient place in y^e upper end of y^e Chancel, or of y^e body of y^e Church where there is no Chancel.

north side. north part.

Bishops Pastor & Curates. Bishops and Curates.

The 1st & 2d Exhortations are altered and fitted for timely notice & preparation to y^e Communion.

In y^e 3rd Exhortations this Clause [If any of you be a blasphemer of God, an hinderer, &c.] is left out.

These words [before this Congregation] omitted.

Before y^e Confession for these words [either by one of them or else by y^e Minister.] by one of y^e Ministers.

In y^e 2d prayer after Receiving for [in thy mysticall body] in y^e mysticall body of thy Son.

In y^e last Rubrick but one these words [And y^e Parish shall be discharged of such sums of money or other dutyes w^ch hitherto they have payed for y^e same by order of their houses. omitted as needlesse now.

Baptisme.

didst sanctify y^e flood Jordan & all other waters. in y^e River Jordan didst sanctify water.

dost thou forsake? Ans. I forsake. doest thou in y^e name of this this Child renounce? Ans. I renounce.

Private Baptisme.

This Demand [whether thinke you y^e Childe to be lawfully & perfectly baptized] omitted.

Confirmation.

In y^e Rubrick for these words [untill such time as he can say y^e Catechisme & be confirmed] these set before y^e Catechisme until such time as he be confirmed, or be ready and desirous to be confirmed.

Catechisme.

y^e King and his Ministers. y^e King and all that are put in authority under him.

Water, wherein y^e person baptized is dipped, or sprinkled in it, In y^e name, &c. Water, wherein y^e person is baptized, in y^e name, &c.

Yea they doe performe them both by their sureties, who promise and vow them both in their names. Because they promise them both by their sureties, which promise.

Matrimony.

Thes words [In Paradise] omitted.

depart. do part.

Children’s Children unto y^e 3d & 4th generation. Children, Christianly & virtuously brought up.

loving & amiable to her husband as Rachel--wise as Rebecca--faithfull & obedient as Sara. amiable, faithfull & obedient to her husband.

The new married persons, the same day of their marriage, must receive y^e Communion. It is convenient y^t y^e new married persons should receive y^e Communion at y^e time of y^r marriage or at y^e first opportunity after y^e marriage.

Visitation of y^e Sick.

In y^e Psalme y^e 5 last verses omitted

Buriall.

Y^e Lesson read before they goe to y^e grave.

eyes. eares.

of resurrection. of y^e resurrection.

this our brother. omitted.

them that be elected. y^e faithfull.

Churching.

For Psalme 121 116 or 127.

w^ch hast delivered. wee give thee hearty thanks for that thou hast vouchsafed to deliver.

in her vocation. omitted.

NOTE y^t All y^e Epistles & Gospels & most of y^e Sentences of Scripture are put in y^e last Translation of y^e Bible.

These are all y^e materiall alterations--y^e rest are onely verball, or y^e changeing of some Rubricks for y^e better performing of y^e service or y^e new moulding some of y^e Collects.

ADDITIONS.

OLD. NEW.

deliver us from evil, for thine is y^e Kingdome, y^e power & y^e glory for ever and ever [here and in some other places].

Praise y^e the Lord. Ans. The Lord’s name be praised.

Litany.

privy conspiracy & rebellion.

heresy & schisme

To y^e Prayer in time of Dearth another prayer added.

In y^t of Plague.

Almighty God, w^ch in thy wrath didst send a plague upon thine owne people in y^e wildernesse, for their obstinate rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and also

didst then accept of an atonement and

Two Prayers for y^e Ember-weekes.

A Thanksgiving for restoring publique peace.

A Prayer for y^e Parliament.

Collects.

A Collect for y^e 6 Sunday after the Epiphany

Epistle 1 S. John, 3. 1.

Gospel S. Matt. 24. 23.

A Collect for Easter Eve.

An Antheme on Easter day, I Cor. 5. 7.

Communion.

In y^e 3d Rubrick added Provided y^t every Minister so repelling any as is specified, in this or in y^e next preceding Paragraph of this Rubrick shall be obliged to give an account of y^e same to y^e Ordinary within 14 days after at y^e furthest, & y^e Ordinary shall proceede against y^e offending person according to y^e Canon.

the Lord thy God who brought thee out of y^e land of Egypt, out of y^e house of bondage.

In y^e prayer for whole state of Christs Church--

to accept our almes and oblations.

adversity. And wee also blesse thy holy name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith & fear, beseeching thee to give us grace so to follow their good examples that w^th them wee may be partakers of thy heavenly Kingdome.

draw neere in full assurance of faith.

At y^e prayer of consecration Marginall notes, directing y^e Action of y^e Priest.

Baptisme.

A fourth demand added here & in private Baptisme Wilt thou then obediently keepe Gods holy Will & Commandments, & walke in y^e same all y^e dayes of thy life? Ans. I will.

In y^e prayer after y^e demands after these words [y^e supplications of thy Congregation] added Sanctify this Water to y^e mysticall washing away of sin.

A marginall note added Here shall y^e Priest make a crosse upon y^e childes forehead.

At y^e end of y^e Rubrick is added this Declaration It is certaine by Gods word that persons w^ch are baptized, dying before they committ actuall sin, are undoubtedly saved.

An Office for baptizing such as are of riper yeeres. added.

Confirmation.

Then shall y^e Bishop say, Doe you here in y^e presence of G^d & of this Congregation &c. And every one shall audibly answer, I doe.

After y^e words of Confirmation added Y^e L^d be w^th you. Ans. And w^th thy spirit.

Y^e Lords Prayer.

After y^e Collect Another prayer added.

Visitation of y^e Sick.

for ever. Ans. Spare us good Lord.

Y^e 2d prayer enlarged.

A Commendatory Prayer.

A Prayer for a Sick Child.

A Prayer when there appears small hope of recovery.

A Commendatory at y^e point of death.

A Prayer for persons troubled in minde.

Buriall.

After they are come into y^e Church, shall be read one or both these Psalms, 30, 90.

Everlasting Glory through Jesus Christ our Lord.

At the End Y^e Grace of our L^d Jesus Christ &c.

Commination.

In y^e last prayer after [look upon us] in y^e merits & mediation of thy blessed Son Jesus Christ our L^d. Amen.

Then shall y^e Minister alone say, Y^e Lord blesse us, & keepe us, y^e L^d lift up y^e light of his countenance upon us & give us peace, now and for ever more. Amen.

No. III.—Vol. I., p. 180.

Points in which the Prayer Book, according to Cardwell’s Conferences, was modified in 1662, in compliance with the recommendation of the Puritans.

This list of alterations has been given me by my kind friend, Dr. Swainson.

Page 314. Lord’s Prayer. The Doxology was added at the beginning of Morning and Evening Prayer, in the Post-Communion service, and in the Churching of women.

Page 315. Plain tune. Altered.

„ 316. Collect for Christmas Day. This day altered.

„ 316. „ „ Whit Sunday. „ „ altered.

„ 317. Very many of the Collects were altered.

„ 317. “Time assigned not sufficient.” Rubric altered.

„ 317. The next Rubric was altered too, though insufficiently.

Page 318. [The preface asked for was inserted in the written book which we saw in the Library of the House of Lords, and then erased.[614]]

Page 319, line 10. Exhortation altered; the words are read now on the Sunday before the administration, and not “at the Communion.”

Page 319, line 30. The confession is now appointed to be made “by one of the Ministers,” not by one of the people.

Page 320, line 11, &c. The words “this day” altered, “as at this time.”

Page 320, line 17, &c. This is interesting. My note from the MS. book is this. The words there ran, “that our sinful bodies and souls may be made clean by his body, and washed through his most precious blood.” This would have pleased the Puritan party. It was however altered back.

Page 321, line 1. Thus it was in accordance with the wishes of the same party that the marginal directions were added in the prayer of Consecration.

Page 322, line 15. The Rubric was added with alterations, not however affecting the point at issue.

Page 324, line 5. Expressions altered. (Query, sufficiently?)

„ 324, line 18. “Doest thou forsake?” The words were altered, but not as the Puritans desired.

Page 325, line 10. Unless by a lawful minister. (Altered accordingly.)

Page 325, line 13. [No part is reiterated.]

Page 327, line 1. Altered. Note the praise of that part of the catechism which concerns the doctrine of the Sacraments.

Page 327, line 20. [Rubrick was altered, whether satisfactorily, I question.]

Page 327, line 32. The words “are come to a competent age,” were added, and another rubric limiting the children to be presented, to those whom the Curate shall think fit.

Page 328, line 23. Altered slightly.

„ 329, line 30. Altered.

„ 330, line 31. Depart. Altered to “Do part.”

„ 331, line 13. Omitted.

„ 331, line 18. Altered.

„ 331, line 30. Altered.

„ 333, line 14. Altered. “Resurrection” into “the resurrection.”

Page 333, line 22. Altered.

Page „ , line 1–9. Altered.

Page „ , line 11. The Psalm 121 altered.

So much for details.

I will make a few more notes in the same direction:—

The prayer, “O God, whose nature and property,” altered as recommended in 1641. (Cardwell, page 277, line 10.)

Thanksgiving added. (Cardwell, page 309, line 30.)

New Translation used in Gospels and Epistles. (Cardwell, page 307, line 4, &c.)

“Portion of Scripture appointed for the Epistles.” (Cardwell, page 308, line 13.)

The first Rubric in the Burial Service, “Here it is to be noted, &c.,” would clearly gratify the Puritans.

The position of the woman at churching was altered. (Cardwell, page 334.)

No. IV.—Vol. I. chap. x.

The following is a copy of the Act of Uniformity taken from the Rolls by a clerk connected with the House of Lords. All the passages printed within brackets, with a broader margin or underlined, are amendments upon the Bill in its original form, and notified accordingly in the original.

14 C. 2, Chap 4.

An Act for the Uniformity of Publique Prayers and Administration of Sacraments other Rites Ceremonies and for establishing the form of making ordaining and consecrating Bishops Priests and Deacons in the Church of England.

I. Recital of Act of Uniformity under Elizabeth.

Whereas in the first yeare of the late Queene Elizabeth there was one uniforme Order of Comon Service and Prayer and of the Administration of Sacraments rites and Ceremonies in the Church of England (agreeable to the word of God and usage of the primitive Church) compiled by the Reverend Bishopps and Clergy set forth in one Booke entituled the Booke of Comon prayer and Administration of Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies in the Church of England and enjoyned to be used by Act of Parliament holden in the said first yeare of the said late Queene entituled An Act for the Uniformity of Comon prayer and Service in the Church and Administration of the Sacraments very comfortable to all good people desirous to live in Christian conversation and most profitable to the Estate of this Realme upon the which the Mercy Favour and Blessing of Almighty God is in no wise so readily and plentifully poured as by Comon prayers due useing of the Sacraments and often preaching of the Gospell with Devotion of the Hearers And yet this notwithstanding a great number of people in divers parts of this Realm following their own sensualitie and liveing without knowledge and due feare of God do willfully and schismatically abstaine and refuse to come to theire Parish Churches and other publique places where Comon Prayer Administration of the Sacraments and preaching of the word of God is used upon the Sundayes and other dayes ordained and appointed to be kept and observed as Holy dayes. And whereas by the great and scandalous neglect of Ministers in using the said order or Liturgy so set forth and enjoined as aforesaid great mischeefs inconveniences during the times of the late unhappy troubles have arisen and grown and many people have been led into Factions and Schismes to the great decay and scandall of the Reformed Religion of the Church of England and to the hazard of many souls [For prevention whereof in time to Amendment. come for setling the Peace of the Church and for allaying the present distempers which the indisposition of the time hath contracted. The The King’s declaration 25th October 1660.King’s Majestie according to His Declaration of the five and twentieth of October One thousand six hundred and sixty granted Commission for Conference.His Comission under the Great Seale of England to severall Bishopps and other Divines to review the Booke of Comon prayer and to prepare such alterations and additions as they thought fitt to offer. And afterwards the Convocations of both the provinces of Convocation.Canterbury and Yorke being by His Majesty called and assembled and now sitting His Majestie hath beene pleased to authorize and require the presidents of the said Convocations and other the Bishopps and Clergy of the same to review the said Booke of Comon prayer and the booke of the forme and manner of the making and consecrating of Bishops Preists and Deacons. And that after mature consideration they should make such additions and alterations in the said Bookes respectively as to them should seem meet and convenient and should exhibit and present the same to His Majesty in writing for his further allowance or confirmation since which time upon full and mature deliberation they the said President Bishops and Clergy of both provinces have accordingly reviewed the said Bookes and have made some alterations which they thinke fitt to be inserted to the same and some additionall prayers to the said booke of Comon prayer to be used upon proper and emergent occasions. And have exhibited and presented the same unto His Majestie in writing in one Booke entituled the Booke of Comon Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other rites and Ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the Church of England togeather with the psalter or Psalmes of David pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches and (the) forme and manner of making ordaining and consecrating of Bishopps Preists and Deacons All which His Majesty haveing duly considered hath fully approved and allowed the same and recomended to this present Parliament that the said bookes of Comon prayer and of the forme of ordination and consecration of Bishops priests and Deacons with the alterations and additions which have beene soe made and psented to His Majesty by the said Convocations be the Booke which shall be appointed to be used by all that officiate in all Cathedrall and Collegiate Churches and Chappells and in all Chappells of Colledges and Halls in both the Universities and the Colledges of Eaton and Winchester and in all Parish Churches and Chappells within the Kingdome of England Dominion of Wales and Toune of Berwick upon Tweed and by all that make or consecrate Bishops Preists or Deacons in any of the said places under such sanctions and penalties as the Houses of parliament shall thinke fitt] II. Religion advanced by Uniform worship.Now in regard that nothing conduceth more to the setling of the Peace of this Nation (which is desired of all good men) nor to the honour of our Religion and the propagation thereof than an universall agreement in the publique worshipp of Almighty God and to the intent that every person within this Realme may certainely knowe the rule in which he is to comforme in publique worship and administration of Sacraments [and other rites and ceremonies of the Church of England and the manner how and by whom Bishops Preists and Deacons are and ought to be made ordained and consecrated]. Be it enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majestie by the advice and with the consent of the Lords [Spirituall and Temporall and of the] Comons in this present parliament assembled and by the authority of the same That all and singular Ministers in any Cathedrall Collegiate or Parish Church or Chappell or other place of publique worship within this Realme of England Dominion of Wales and Toun of Berwick upon Tweed shall be bound to say and use the morning prayer Evening prayer Celebracon and administracon of both the Sacraments and all other the publique and Comon prayer in such order and forme as is menconed in the [said] booke annexed and joyned in this present Act and intituled The Booke of Comon prayer and administration of the Sacraments and other rites and Ceremonies of the Church [according to the use of the Church] of England [togeather with the psalter or Psalmes of David pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches and (the) forme or manner of making ordaining and consecrating of Bishops Preists & Deacons] And that the Morning and Evening prayers therein contained shall upon every Lords day and upon all other [dayes and] occasions and att the times therein appointed be openly and solemnly read by all and every minister or Curate in every Church Chappell or other place of publique worshipp within this Realme of England and places aforesaid III. All ministers to declare assent to Book of Common Prayer.And to the end that uniformity in the publique worshipp of God (which is so much desired) may be speedily effected bee it farther Enacted by the authority aforesaid That every parson vicar or other Minister whatsoever who now hath and enjoyeth any Ecclesiasticall Benefice or promotion within this Realme of England or places aforesaid shall in the Church Chappell or place of publique worshipp belonging to his said benefice or promotion upon some Lords day before the Feast of Saint Bartholomew which shall be in the yeare of our Lord God One thousand six hundred sixty and two openly publiquely and solemnly read the morning and Evening prayer appointed to be read by and according to the said Booke of Comon prayer att the times thereby appointed and after such reading thereof shall openly and publiquely before the congregation there assembled declare his unfeigned assent & consent to the use of all things in the said booke contained and prescribed Amendment.[in these words and no other. I, A. B doe declare my unfaigned assent and IV. Form of Declaration.consent to all and everything contained and prescribed in and by the booke intituled The booke of Comon Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other rites and ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the Church of England togeather with the psalter or psalmes of David poynted as they are to be sung or said in Churches and the form or manner of making ordaining and consecrating of V. Penalty of refusing.Bishops Preists and Deacons] And that all and every such person who shall (without some lawfull impediment to be allowed and approved of by the Ordinary of the place) neglect or refuse to doe the same within the time aforesaid (or in case of such impediment) within one moneth after such impediment removed shall (ipso facto) be deprived of all his spirituall promotions And that from thenceforth it shall be lawfull to and for all patrons and donors of all and singuler the said Spiritual promotions or of any of them according to theire respective rights and titles to present or collate to the same as though the person or persons so offending or neglecting were dead. VI. Declaration to be made in all cases of promotion.And bee it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid that every person whoe shall hereafter be presented or collated or put into any Ecclesiastical Benefice or promotion within this Realme of England and places aforesaid shall in the Church Chappell or place of publiq worshipp belonging to his said benefice or promotion within two moneths next after that he shall be in the actuall possession of the said Ecclesiastical benefice or promotion upon some Lords day openly publiquely and solemnly read the morning and Evening prayers appointed to be read by and according to the said booke of Comon prayer att the times thereby appointed and after such reading thereof shall openly and publiquely before the Congregation there assembled declare his unfeigned assent and consent to the use of all things therein contained and prescribed [according to the forme before appointed] And that all and every such person who shall (without some lawful impediment to be allowed and approved by the ordinary of the place) neglect or refuse to doe the same within the time aforesaid (or in case of such impediment within one moneth after such impediment removed) shall [ipso facto] be deprived of all his said Ecclesiasticall Benefices and promotions And that from thenceforth it shall and may be lawfull to and for all patrons and Donors of all and singuler the said Ecclesiastical Benefices and promotions or any of them (according to theire respective rights and titles) to present or collate to the same as though the person or persons so offending or neglecting were dead VII. Amendment Incumbents to read the Common Prayer once a month.[And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid that in all places where the proper Incumbent of any parsonage or vicaridge or Benefice with Cure doth reside on his living and keepe a Curate the Incumbent himselfe in person (not haveing some lawful impediment to be allowed by the Ordinary of the place) shall once (at the least) in every moneth openly and publiquely read the Comon prayers and service in and by the said Booke prescribed and (if there be occasion) administer each of the sacraments and other rites of the Church in the parish Church or Chappell of or belonging to the same parsonage vicarage or benefice in such order manner and forme as in and by the said booke is appointed upon pain to forfeit the sum of five pounds to the use of the poore of the Parish for every offence upon conviction by confession or proofe of two credible witnesses upon Oath before two Justices of the peace of the County City or Toun Corporate where the offence shall be comitted (which Oath the said Justices are hereby impowered to administer) and in default of payment within ten dayes to be levied by distresse and sale of the goods and chattells of the offender by the warrant of the said Justices by the Church Wardens or Overseers of the poore of the said Parish rendring the surplusage to the party VIII. Deans and Canons, &c., shall subscribe declaration following.And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid that every Deane Canon and prebendary of every Cathedrall or Collegiate Church and all Masters and other Heads Fellowes Chaplaines and Tutors of or in any Colledge Hall House of Learning or Hospitall and every publique professor and Reader in either of the Universities and in every Colledge elsewhere and every parson viccar curate lecturer and every other person in Holy Orders and every Schoolmaster keeping any publique or private Schools and every person instructing or teaching any youth in any House or private family as a Tutor or Schoolmaster who upon the first day of May which shall be in the yeare of our Lord God One thousand six hundred sixty two or at any time thereafter shall be Incumbent or have possession of any Deanry Canonry Prebend Mastershipp Headshipp Fellowshipp Professors place or Readers place Parsonage vicarage or any other Ecclesiasticall Dignity or promotion or of any Curates place Lecture or School or shall instruct or teach any youth as Tutor or Schoolmaster shall before the Feast day of St. Bartholomew which shall be in the yeare of our Lord One thousand six hundred sixty two or at or before his or theire respective admission to the Incumbent or have possession aforesaid subscribe the Declaration or acknowledgement following scilicet.—I, A, B, do declare that it is not lawfull upon any pretence whatsoever to take Armes against the King and that I do abhorr that traiterous position of taking IX. The declaration of non-resistance and repudiating the Covenant.Armes by his Authority against his person or against those that are commissionated by him And that I will conforme to the Liturgy of the Church of England as it is now by Law established And I do declare that I do hold there lies no obligacon upon me or on any other person from the Oath comonly called the Solemne League and Covenant [to endeavour any change or alteration of Government either in Church or State] And that the same was in itselfe an unlawfull Oath and imposed upon the subjects of this Realme against the knowne lawes and liberties of this X. Penalty for not subscribing.Kingdome.—Which said Declaration and acknowledgment shall be subscribed by every of the said Masters and other Heads fellowes Chaplaines and Tutors of or in any Colledge Hall or House of Learning and by every publique professor and Reader in either of the Universities before the Vice-Chancellor of the respective Universities for the time being, or his Deputy And the said Declaration or acknowledgment shall he subscribed before the respective Archbishopp Bishopp or Ordinary of the Diocesse by every other person hereby enjoyned to subscribe the same upon pain that all and every of the persons aforesaid failing in such subscription shall loose and forfeit such respective Deanery Canonry Prebend Mastershipp headshipp fellowshipp Professors place Readers place parsonage viccarage Ecclesiasticall Dignity or promotion Curates place Lecture and School and shall be utterly disabled and (ipso facto) deprived of the same And that every such respective Deanry Canonry Prebend Mastership headship fellowship Professors place Readers place parsonage viccarage Ecclesiasticall Dignity or promotion Curates place lecture and schools shall be void as if such person so failing were naturally XI. Schoolmasters in private houses included.dead.—And if any Schoolmaster or other person instructing or teaching youth in any private House or family as a Tutor or Schoolmaster shall instruct or teach any youth as a Tutor or Schoolmaster before licence obtained from his respective Archbishop Bishop or Ordinary of the Diocesse according to the Lawes and Statutes of this Realme (for which he shall pay twelve pence onely) and before such subscription and acknowledgement made as aforesaid then every such Schoolmaster and other instructing and teaching as aforesaid shall for the first offence suffer three moneth imprisonment without baile or mainprize and for every second and other such offence shall suffer three months imprisonment without baile or mainprize and alsoe forfeit to his Majesty the sume of five pounds And after such subscription made every such Parson Viccar Curate and Lecturer shall procure a Certificate under the hand and seal of the respective Archbishop Bishop or Ordinary of the Diocese (whoe are hereby enjoyned and required upon demaund to make and deliver the same) and shall publickly and openly read the same togeather with the declaration or acknowledgement aforesaid upon some Lords day within three moneths then next following in his Parish Church where he is to officiate in the presence of the Congregation there assembled in the time of Divine Service upon pain that every person failing therein shall loose such Parsonage Viccarage or Benefice Curates place or Lecturers place respectively and shall be utterly disabled (ipso facto) deprived of the same And that the said Parsonage Viccarage or Benefice Curates place or Lecturers place shall be void as if he was naturally dead Provided alwaies that from and XII. Omissions in declaration after 25 March, 1682.after the twenty fifth day of March which shall be in the yeare of our Lord God one thousand six hundred eighty two there shall be omitted in the said Declaration or Acknowledg^t. so to be subscribed and read these words following scilicet.—And I do declare that I do hold there lies no obligacon on me or any other person from the Oath comonly called the Solemne League and Covenant to endeavour any change or alteration of Government either in Church or State and that the same was in itselfe an unlawfull Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realme against the knowne lawes and liberties of this Kingdome So as none of the persons aforesaid shall from thence forth be at all obliged to subscribe or read that part of the said declaration or acknowledgement XIII. Persons not episcopally ordained incapable of ecclesiastical referment.Provided alwaies and be it Enacted that from and after the feast of St. Bartholomew which shall be in the yeare of our Lord One thousand six hundred sixty and two no person who now is Incumbent and in possession of any Parsonage Vicarage or Benefice and who is not already in Holy Orders by Episcopall Ordination or shall not before the said feast day of St. Bartholomew be ordained Preist or Deacon according to the forme of Episcopall Ordination shall have hold or enjoye the said Parsonage Vicarage Benefice with Cure or other Ecclesiasticall Promotion within this Kingdome of England or the Dominion of Wales [or town of Berwick upon Tweed] but shall be utterly disabled and (ipso facto) deprived of the same And all his Ecclesiastical promotions shall be void as if he was naturally dead. And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid that no person whatsoever shall thenceforth XIV. And of administering sacraments.(be capable to bee admitted to any parsonage vicarage benefice or other Ecclesiastical Promotion or Dignity whatsoever nor shall) presume to consecrate and administer the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper before such time as he shall be ordained Preist according to the forme and manner in and by the said booke prescribed unlesse he have formerly beene made Preist by Episcopall Ordination upon pain to forfeit for every offence the sum of one hundred pounds one moyety thereof to the Kings Majesty the other moyety thereof to be equally divided betweene the poore of the parish where the offence shall be comitted and such person or persons as shall sue for the same by Action of debt bill plaint or information in any of His Majesties Courts of Record wherein no essoine protection or wager of law shall be allowed and to be disabled from taking or being admitted into the order of Preist by the space of one whole yeare then next following XV. Exception on behalf of foreigners.Provided that the penalties in this Act shall not extend to the forreiners or aliens of the forrein Reformed Churches allowed or to be allowed by the Kings Majestie his heires and successors in England XVI. Cases of voidance or deprivation.Provided alwaies that no title to conferre or present by lapse shall accrewe by any avoydance or deprivation (ipso facto) by vertue of this Statute but after six moneths after notice of such voidance or deprivation given by the Ordinary to the patron or such sentence of deprivation openly and publiquely read in the Parish Church of the Benefice Parsonage or Vicarage becomeing void or whereof the Incumbent shall be deprived by vertue of this Act. XVII. No other form of prayer to be publicly used.And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid that no form or order of Comon prayers administracon of Sacraments rites or Ceremonies shall be openly used in any Church Chappell or other publique place of or in any Colledge or Hall in either of the Universities the Colledges of Westminster Winchester or Eaton or any of them other than what is pscribed and appointed to be used in and by the said booke And that the present Governour or Head of every Colledge or Hall in the said Universities and of the said Colledges of Westminster Winchester and Eaton within one moneth after the feast of S^t. Bartholomew which shall be in the yeare of our Lord One thousand six hundred sixty and two And every Governour or Head of any of the said Colledges or Halls hereafter to be elected or appointed within one moneth next after his Election or Collation and admission into the same Government or Headship shall openly and publiquely in the Church Chappell or other publique place of the same College or Hall and in the psence of the fellowes and Sckolars of the same or the greater part of them then resident subscribe Subscription to Articles.unto the nine and thirty Articles of Religion mentioned in the Statute made in the thirteenth yeare of the Reigne of the late Queene Elizabeth And unto the said booke and declare his unfeigned assent and consent unto and approbation of the said Articles and of the same booke and to the use of all the prayers rites and ceremonies formes and orders in the said Booke prescribed and contained according to the form aforesaid And that all such Governours or Heads of the said Colledges and Halls or any of them as are or shall be in Holy Orders shall once (at least) in every quarter of the yeare (not having a lawfull impediment) openly and publiquely read the Morning prayer and service in and by the said booke appointed to be read in the Church Chappell or other publique place of the same Colledge or Hall upon pain to loose and be suspended of and from all (the) benefitts and profitts belonging to the same Government or headshipp by the space of six moneths by the Visitor or visitors of the same Colledge or hall And if any Governour or head of any Colledge or Hall suspended for not subscribing unto the said Articles and booke or for not reading of the Morning prayer and service as aforesaid shall not att or before the end of six moneths next after such suspension subscribe unto the said Articles and booke and declare his consent thereunto as aforesaid or read the Morning prayer and service as aforesaid then such Government or headshipp shall be (ipso facto) void. XVIII. Who may use the service in Latin.Provided alwaies that it shall and may be lawful to use the Morning and Evening prayer and all other prayers and service prescribed in and by the said booke in the Chappells or other publique places of the respective Colledges and Halls in both the Universities in the Colledges of Westminster Winchester and Eaton and in the Convocations of the Clergies of either province in Latine any thing in this Act contained to the contrary notwithstanding.]

XIX. Amendment Lecturers.

And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid [that no person shall be or be received as a Lecturer or permitted suffered or allowed to preach as a Lecturer or to preach or read any Sermon or Lecture in any Church Chappell or other place of publique worshipp within this Realme of England or the Dominion of Wales and Towne of Berwick upon Tweed unless he be first approved and thereunto licensed by the Archbishopp of the province or Bishopp of the Diocesse or (in case the See be void) by the Guardian of the Spiritualities under his Seale and shall in the psence of the same Archbishop or Bishop or Guardian read the nine and thirty Articles of Religion mentioned in the Statute of the thirteenth yeare of the late Queene Elizabeth with declaration of his unfeigned assent to the same And] that every person and persons whoe nowe is or hereafter shall bee (licensed) assigned (or) appointed or received as a Lecturer to preach upon any day of the weeke in any Church Chappell or place of publique worship within this Realme of England or places aforesaid the first time he preacheth (before his Sermon) shall openly publiquely and solemnly read the Comon prayers and service in and by the said booke appointed to be read for that time of the day and then and there publiquely and openly declare his assent unto and approbation of the said booke and to the use of all the prayers rites and ceremonies formes and orders therein contained and prescribed according to the forme before appointed in this Act Amendment.And alsoe shall upon the first lecture day [of every moneth afterwards so long as he continues lecturer or preacher there at the place appointed for his said lecture or sermon before his said Lecture or Sermon openly publiquely and solemnly read the Common prayers and service in and by the said booke appointed to be read for that time of the day at which the said lecture or sermon is to be preached and after such reading thereof shall openly and publiquely before the Congregation there assembled declare his unfeigned assent and consent unto and approbation of the said booke and to the use of all the prayers rites and ceremonies forms and orders therein contained and prescribed according to the forme aforesaid] and that all and every such person and persons who shall neglect or refuse to do the same shall from thenceforth be disabled to preach the said or any other lecture or sermon in the said or any other Church Chappell or place of publique worshipp untill such time as he (and they) shall openly publiquely and solemnly read the (Common) prayers (and service appointed) by the said booke and conform in all points to the things therein appointed and prescribed (according to the purport true intent and meaning of this Act) XX. Amendment. In Cathedral or Collegiate Churches.[Provided alwaies that if the said Sermon or Lecture be to be preached or read in any Cathedrall or Collegiate Church or Chappell it shall be sufficient for the said Lecturer openly at the time aforesaid to declare his assent and consent to all things contained in the said booke according to the form aforesaid] XXI. Penalty for preaching by persons disabled.And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid That if any person who is by this Act disabled to preach any Lecture or Sermon shall during the time that he shall continue and remaine so disabled preach any Sermon or Lecture that then for every such offence the person and persons so offending shall suffer three monthes imprisonment in the Comon Goal without baile or mainprize and that any two Justices of the Peace of any County of this Kingdome and places aforesaid and the Maior or other Cheife Magistrate of any City or Town Corporate within the same upon Certificate from the Ordinary of the place made to him or them of the offence committed (shall and are hereby required) to committ the person or persons so offending to the Gaol of the same County City or Town Corporate accordingly [Provided alwaies and be it further XXII. Amendment. Common Prayer to be read before every lecture.Enacted by the authority aforesaid that at all and every time and times when any Sermon or Lecture is to be preached the Comon Prayers and Service in and by the said Booke appointed to be read for that time of the day shall be openly publiquely and solemnely read by some Preist or Deacon in the Church Chappell or place of publique Worship where the said Sermon or Lecture is to be preached before such Sermon or Lecture be preached and that the Lecturer then to preach shall be present at the reading thereof XXIII. Proviso touching Universities.Provided neverthelesse that this Act shall not extend to the University-Churches in the Universities of this Realme or either of them when or at such times as any Sermon or Lecture is preached or read in the same Churches or any of them for or as the publique University-Sermon or Lecture but that the same Sermons and Lectures may be preached or read in such sort and manner as the same have been heretofore preached or read this Act or anything herein conteyned to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.] XXIV. Former laws for uniformity confirmed.And bee it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid That the severall good Lawes and Statutes of this Realme which have been formerly made and are now in force for the uniformity of Prayer and administration of the Sacraments within this Realme of England and places aforesaid shall stand in full force and strength to all intents and purposes whatsoever for the establishing and confirming of the [said booke entitled the] booke of Comon Prayer and administration of the Sacraments [and other rites and ceremonies of the Church according to y^e use of y^e Church of England together with the Psalter or Psalmes of David pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches and the forme or manner of making ordeyning and consecrating of Bishops Preists and Deacons] herein before menconed to bee joyned and annexed to this Act And shall be applyed practised and put in use for the punishing of all offences contrary to the said Lawes with relation to the Booke aforesaid and no other Provided alwayes XXV. Prayers for the King, &c.And bee it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid That in all those Prayers Letanyes and Collects which doe any way relate to the King Queene or Royal Progeny the names be altered and changed from time to time and fitted to the present occasion according to the direccon of lawfull authority. XXVI. Copies of Prayer Book to be provided in all parishes &c.Provided also and be it Enacted by the authority aforesaid that a true printed Copy of the said Booke entituled the Booke of Comon Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other rites and ceremonyes of the Church according to the use of the Church of England togeather with the Psalter or Psalmes of David pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches and the forme [and manner] of making ordeyning and consecrating of Bishops Preists and Deacons shall at the costs and charges of the parishioners of every parish church and chappelry cathedrall church colledge and hall be attained and gotten before the Feast day of Saint Bartholomew in the yeare of our Lord one thousand Sixe hundred sixty and two upon paine of forfeiture of three pounds by the moneth for so long time as they shall thenafter be unprovided thereof by every Parish or Chappelry Cathedrall Church Colledge and Hall making default therein. XXVII. Translation of Common Prayer into Welsh.Provided alwayes and bee it Enacted by the authority aforesaid That the Bishops of Hereford St. David’s Asaph Bangor and Landaph and their successors shall take such order among themselves for the soules health of the flocks comitted to their charge within Wales That the Booke hereunto annexed be truly and exactly translated [into the British or Welsh Tongue and that the same so translated] and being by them or any three of them at the least viewed perused and allowed bee imprinted to such number at least so that one of the said Books so translated and imprinted may be had for every Cathedrall Collegiate and Parish Church and Chappell of Ease in the said respective Diocesses and places in Wales where the Welsh is comonly spoken or used before the first day of May one thousand six hundred sixty five And that from and after the imprinting and publishing of the said Booke so translated the whole Divine Service shall be used and said by the Ministers and Curates throughout all Wales within the said Diocesses where the Welsh Tongue is comonly used in the Brittish or Welsh Tongue in such manner and forme as is prescribed according to the Booke hereunto annexed to be used in the English Tongue differing nothing in any order or forme from the said English Booke For which Booke so translated and imprinted the Churchwardens of every of the said Parishes shall pay out of the parish money in their hands for the use of the respective Churches and be allowed the same on their account And that the said Bishops and their successors or any three of them at the least shall sett and appoynt the price for which the said Booke shall be sold And one other Booke of Comon Prayer in the English tongue shall be bought and had in every Church throughout Wales in which the Booke of Comon Prayer in which is to bee had by force of this Act before the first day of May one thousand six hundred sixty and fower and the same Booke to remaine in such convenient places within the said Churches that such as understand them may resort at all convenient tymes to read and peruse the same. And alsoe such as doe not understand the sayd language may by conferring both tongues together the sooner attaine to the knowledge of the English Tongue Any thing in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding And untill printed Copies of the said booke soe to bee translated may bee had and provided The forme of Comon Prayer established by Parlyament before the making of this Act shall be used as formerly in such parts of Wales where the English Tongue is not comonly understood XXVIII. “Sealed books” to be obtained and kept.And to the end that the true and perfect copies of this Act and the said booke hereunto annexed may be safely kept and perpetually preserved and for the avoyding of all disputes for the tyme to come Bee it therefore Enacted by the authority aforesaid that the respective Deanes and Chapters of every Cathedrall or Collegiate Church within England and Wales shall at their proper costs and charges before the Twentie fifth day of December one thousand six hundred sixty and two obtaine under the Greate Seale of England a true and perfect printed Copie of this Act and of the said booke annexed hereunto to bee by the said Deanes and Chapters and their successors kept and preserved in safety for ever and to bee allso produced and shewed forth in any Court of Record as often as they shall bee thereunto lawfully required and also there shall bee delivered true and perfect Copies of this Act and of the same booke into the respective Courts at Westminster and into the Tower of London to be kept and preserved for ever among the Records of the said Courts and the Records of the Tower to be alsoe produced and shewed forth in any Court as neede shall require which sayd books soe to be exemplyfied under the Great Seale of England shall be examined by such persons as the King’s Majestie shall appoint under the Great Seale of England for that purpose and shall bee compared with the originall booke hereunto annexed and shall have power to correct and amend in writing any error comitted by the Printer in the printing of the same booke or of any thing therein conteyned and shall certifie in writing under their hands and seales or the hands and seales of any three of them at the end of the same booke that they have examined and compared the same booke and finde it to bee a true and perfect copie which said bookes and every one of them so exemplyfied under the Greate Seale of England as aforesaid shall be deemed taken adjudged and expounded to bee good and available in the law to all intents and purposes whatsoever and shall be accounted as good Records as this booke it selfe hereunto annexed any law or custome to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding XXIX. Proviso for King’s Professor of Law at Oxford.Provided also that this Act or any thing therein conteyned shall not be prejudiciall or hurtfull unto the King’s Professor of the Law within the University of Oxford for or concerning the Prebend of Shipton within the Cathedrall Church of Sarum united and annexed unto the place of the same King’s Professor for the time being by the late King James of blessed memory Provided alwaies that whereas the sixe and thirtieth Article of the XXX. Proviso concerning Art. 36.nine and thirty Articles agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Cleargy in the Convocation holden at London in the yeare of our Lord One thousand five hundred sixty two for the avoyding of diversities of opinions and for establishing of consent touching true Religion is in these words following (vizt.) “That the Book of Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops and ordeyning of Preistes and Deacons lately set forth in the time of King Edward the Sixth and confirmed at the same time by Authority of Parliament doth conteyne althings necessary to such Consecration and ordeyning Neither hath it any thing that of it selfe is superstitious and ungodly: And therefore whosoever are consecrated or Ordered according to the Rites of that Booke since the second yeare of the aforenamed King Edward unto this time or hereafter shall be consecrated or ordered according to the same rites. Wee decree all such to be rightly orderly and lawfully consecrated and ordered.” XXXI. Subscription to extend to form of Consecrating Bishops, &c.It be Enacted And Be it therefore Enacted by the authority aforesaid That all subscriptions hereafter to be had or made unto the said Articles by any Deacon Preist or Ecclesiasticall person or other person whatsoever who by this Act or any other Law now in force is required to subscribe unto the said Articles shall be construed and taken to extend and shalbe applyed (for and touching the s^d sixe and thirtieth Article) unto the Booke conteyning the forme and manner of making ordeyning and consecrating of Bishops Preists and Deacons in this Act mentioned in such sort and manner as the same did heretofore extend unto the Booke set forth in the time of King Edward the Sixth mentioned in the said six and thirtieth Article anything in the s^d Article or in any Statute Act or Canon heretofore had or made to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding XXXII. Form to be used till Bartholomew’s Day, 1662.Provided also that the Booke of Comon Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other rites and ceremonyes of this Church of England together with the forme and manner of ordeyning and consecrating Bishops Preists and Deacons heretofore in use and respectively established by Act of Parliament in the first and eighth years of Queen Elizabeth shalbe still used and observed in the Church of England untill the Feast of Saint Bartholomew which shall be in the yeare of our Lord God one thousand six hundred sixty and two.

No. V.—Vol. I., p. 261.

Letters patent on parchment are attached to the sealed books. A copy of the letter is given in Stephens’ edition of the Prayer Book, published by the Ecclesiastical History Society.

After reciting the Act of Uniformity, it is said, “And whereas the printed copy of the Act of Parliament, and Book aforesaid hereunto annexed, hath been duly examined by the persons, whose names are thereunto subscribed, in pursuance of our Commission to them and others in that behalf directed. Now know ye, that, we according to the form and effect of the said Act of Parliament, and in accomplishment of the intent thereof, in this behalf, have inspected the said examined copy of the Act of Parliament and Book aforesaid, and have caused the same to be hereunto annexed, and to be exemplified under the Great Seal of England. In witness, &c.,——; signed Barker.” No copy of the Commission is supplied, nor the names of the Commissioners.

In the sealed books alterations are made by the pen of the Commissioners to bring them into accordance with the copy of the book attached to the Act. Most of these are quite unimportant. For example:—

1. In the titles of the services, “The” is prefixed to the word collect.

2. In the headings of the pages, “Trinity Sunday XXIII” is altered into “The XXIII Sunday after Trinity.”

“Whitsun Munday” into “Munday in Whitsun Week.”

It is important to notice, that the title “The Creed of St. Athanasius” was printed originally, in the sealed books, on the top of the page over the creed; it was then struck out by the Commissioners.

3. In the text of prayers:

In the sentences at beginning of morning prayer, it was printed, “Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities:” “all” was struck out. “Forgiveness” was altered into “Forgivenesses.”

In the clause of the Lord’s Prayer “Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory,” the first “and” is cancelled.

In the Absolution, “Wherefore let us beseech Him,” is changed into “Wherefore beseech we Him.”

In the sealed book at Chichester, Dr. Swainson pointed out to me in Psalm xc. verse 8, as used in the Burial Service, light corrected into sight; and in verse 12 so into O. Some of our modern Prayer Books retain the O, but have given up the sight.

4. In the Rubric, at the end of the Communion Service, the words, “for the whole state of Christ’s Church militant here on earth,” are inserted, by the Commissioners, in some sealed books, after an erasure of the original printed words.

Many of the alterations cannot be corrections of the printer’s errata. They evidently indicate changes of words made in the original copy after the printing of the books which were used as sealed copies.

In the Appendix to the first Report of the Royal Commission on Ritual will be found remarks upon the sealed copy at Ely.

It is strange that the printers of Prayer Books do not bring them into correspondence with the sealed books, which alone contain the legally correct formularies of the Church.

No. VI.—Vol. I., p. 282.

The number of the ejected is a vexed question. We possess at present unsatisfactory data; and I fear that we shall never obtain such a knowledge of facts as will enable us to reach a precise conclusion. The Ecclesiastical Registers of the country might seem to afford great hope of being sufficient to decide the controversy; but, to say nothing of the labour of searching them, unfortunately when the work has been begun, in some cases, from the imperfection of the records, it has yielded little or no fruit.

Some years ago I attempted searching the records of the See of London, in St. Paul’s Cathedral; but from the state of the records at that time the attempt proved unsuccessful.

The friendly kindness of the Dean of Chichester, and Canon Swainson, afforded me every facility for examining the Archives in the Cathedral. The latter assisted me in examining the Registers; to our disappointment they were found defective for 1662. But as this Work was passing through the press, Canon Swainson communicated to me some valuable information, which will be subjoined to this note. At present our conclusions must rest upon the lists of names which have been published by Calamy and Palmer; and upon such general statements as are furnished by writers who were living at the time when the ejectment took place.

Calamy, in his second volume, undertakes to give an “Account of the ministers who were ejected or silenced after the Restoration of King Charles II.” In his second, and two following volumes, he includes ministers, lecturers, masters and fellows of colleges, and schoolmasters. Palmer, in his Nonconformist Memorial, describes those whom he registers as “Ejected or silenced after the Restoration, particularly by the Act of Uniformity.” These important distinctions are often overlooked; and it is imagined that all the names collected together, are the names of clergymen who were removed from their livings on Bartholomew’s Day. Such an imagination is contradicted by facts. In agreement with the indication given on the title pages of our two principal authorities, we discover in these biographical sketches a number of incumbents who were displaced before the Uniformity Act was passed, most of them in consequence of Episcopalian clergymen having returned to claim their sequestered livings. Cases of this kind appear in the present History. Those ministers who thus lost their benefices clearly ought to be arranged in a class by themselves. Having set them aside, there remain others who, according to all accounts, did not forfeit their emoluments through the operation of the new Act. They consisted of such clergymen as, through Episcopal connivance, or from some other cause, continued to hold their benefices; they were comparatively few in number, and the benefices of most were of inconsiderable value. We are then to add another class, described as simple candidates for the ministry, who therefore possessed no livings from which they could be driven. Also we must separate the cases of persons who, though mentioned amongst the ejected, did not quit the Church until after St. Bartholomew’s Day; some of whom were not ministers in the Establishment at that time. The exceptional cases of the last three kinds, such as were connived at, such as were only candidates, and such as did not quit the Church until afterwards, so far as I can see, are altogether below fifty. I may have overlooked some.

What would be the total number of the persons who, although included in the general list of sufferers, did not surrender their incumbencies on St. Bartholomew’s Day, I am at a loss to determine. The information given in many cases is so incomplete, that it does not show when and how the persons mentioned were removed. In more than five hundred instances bare names occur, and in many more so little is added as to be next to nothing. Most of the persons named were probably in some way or other losers for conscience’ sake; but I am not aware of any means by which all those among them who left the Establishment before the 24th of August of 1662, can be separated from those who were ejected on that day.

If we refer to general statements, we find Baxter saying, in his Petition for Peace presented to the Bishops with the proposed reformation of the Liturgy, at the Savoy Conference, “Some hundreds of able, holy, faithful ministers, are of late cast out.”[615] He also speaks in the Rejoinder of “several hundreds.”[616] These statements were made in 1661, more than a year before the Uniformity Act came into operation. Taking the indefinite several hundreds at the lowest reasonable computation, and remembering, that during the intermediate year more Nonconformists would be “cast out,” we can scarcely reckon the ejected, before St. Bartholomew’s Day, 1662, at less than six hundred. Hook’s letter written in the month of March, 1663, alludes to the number of the ejected on St. Bartholomew’s Day as 1,600, and says “as many had been removed before.” This, no doubt, is an exaggeration; but it would seem to suggest, at least, that the number previously removed bore a large proportion to the number ultimately ejected. To the six hundred, or so, ejected before the Uniformity Act came into effect, let there be added two or three hundred more,—which would be a very large allowance for such exceptional cases as I have indicated, and for the great uncertainty respecting the five hundred bare names in the lists of “the ejected and silenced,”—and we thus reach a total of some eight or nine hundred, who may be admitted to have suffered more or less in consequence of the Restoration, but who must not be considered as undergoing ejectment on Bartholomew’s Day. The last and the longest list of sufferers, before and upon the 24th of August, 1662, put all together, is that furnished by Palmer, amounting to 2,231,—a list evidently prepared with much care. He mentions a MS. “Index eorum Theologorum Aliorumque No. 2,257, qui propter Legem Uniformitatis, Aug. 24, A. D. 1662, ab Ecclesia Anglicana secesserunt.” Calamy’s entire list reckons 2,190. Making the largest allowable deduction for those deprived before Bartholomew’s Day—that of nine hundred as just suggested—then the number of those who were deprived on that day would amount to about 1,200. I do not see how more than that number could have been then displaced. I am induced to believe there were scarcely so many.

But whilst the distinctions and abatements which I have just made are demanded with a view to some accurate conclusion, it is to be borne in mind that the whole body of Nonconformist ministers, including the ejected, the candidates for the ministry, and all who had been accustomed in any way to preach the Gospel, were silenced by the Act. They could no longer any of them preach in a place of public worship. Therefore if we include the silenced, I should think that Baxter is rather under than above the mark in saying, “When Bartholomew Day came, about one thousand eight hundred, or two thousand ministers were silenced and cast out.”—Life and Times, ii. 385. After all, no bare statistics, no enumeration of figures, can ever represent the amount of trial, sorrow, and loss inflicted upon conscientious men at that lamentable era in our ecclesiastical history.

Palmer, following Calamy, gives a large number of names of clergymen who “afterwards conformed.” It may be inferred that amongst these were not a few who passed through considerable conflict of mind before they did so.

What was the exact number of the clergy just after the Act of Uniformity I cannot ascertain. Chamberlayne says, in his Present State of England, ed. 1692, that there were 9,700 rectors and vicars, besides dignitaries and curates—p. 189. In another place, he says:—“The whole number of the clergy of England are in all, first, two archbishops, twenty-four bishops, twenty-six deans of cathedral and collegiate churches, 576 prebendaries, 9,653 rectors and vicars, and about so many more, with curates, and others in Holy Orders.”—Part ii., 19. But this estimate must be greatly in excess of the actual number.

The communication from Dr. Swainson is as follows:—

“Let me inform you that I have found a book in our muniment-room which to a certain extent supplies the place of the Episcopal Registers of Henry King, who was restored to his see with the Restoration. The Registers, you know, are reported as lost. This book is the book of subscriptions to the three articles of the 36th Canon, and the declaration against the Solemn League and Covenant. With the assistance of a friend I have analysed the former, and the enclosed paper contains the result. But I must notice that it gives no intimation as to the number of clergymen who returned to the livings from which they were banished during the Commonwealth, nor of the Presbyterians and others who were then ejected from their homes; it only gives the livings into which new incumbents were installed; and I think you will agree with me that the number is very small. At the same time my attention has been drawn to the large number of ordinations of deacons in the first two years after the book commences. My impression is that a Presbyterian or Independent minister in legal possession of a living might retain it by the Act of Uniformity, if he accepted deacon’s orders. Thus we should have in the first three years twenty-three more vacancies than in the last three of the period before us; and in the first three years one hundred and eight men ordained deacons, in the last three fourteen or fifteen. I infer that, of these one hundred and eight a large proportion conformed and retained their preferment. My friend notices a large ordination in 1673. Eighteen priests and sixteen deacons on Trinity Sunday; eight priests and eleven deacons in Advent.” The enclosed paper states, “The book of subscriptions commences on 2nd November, 1662, and the last subscription is dated on 22nd September, 1678, thus it includes a period of sixteen years. I have no reason to suppose that it is imperfect. On analysing it, the subscriptions describe, that the subscriber is about to be admitted (1) to some rectory, vicarage, or cure of souls; (2) to a prebend or dignity in the cathedral; (3) to ‘Presbyteratus ordinen;’ (4) to deacon’s orders. There are a few who are about to be licensed to preach, and about four in the sixteen years who come to qualify themselves to keep school. The number of vacancies in rectories, vicarages, and places with cure of souls thus indicated in the several years are:—

November 1, 1662 to October 31, 1663 19

„ „ 1664 26

„ „ 1665 14

„ „ 1666 16

„ „ 1667 18

„ „ 1668 20

„ „ 1669 12

„ „ 1670 10

„ „ 1671 20

„ „ 1672 13

„ „ 1673 16

„ „ 1674 16

„ „ 1675 9

„ „ 1676 8

„ „ 1677 15

„ „ 1678 13

making a total of 245 in 16 years, or an average of 15¼ per annum.

“The number of vacancies in the first three years is thus fifty-nine; in the last three, thirty-six. Taking the last figures as representing the number from ordinary causes, we have an overplus of twenty-three due to extraordinary causes, i.e., nonconformity, in the first three years. The number of men ordained deacons in the first three years was one hundred and seven; in the last three years, fifteen. Therefore the overplus of ninety-two ordained in the first three years was due to extraordinary causes; the question is what these causes were?

“N.B.—Eighty-three men were ordained priests during the same first three years. The number of benefices in the diocese of Chichester is now (1869) 330.”

No. VII.—Vol. I., p. 314.

Of the informer’s Note Book, preserved in the Record Office, I have an entire copy in my possession, made by the late Mr. Clarence Hopper, and from it I give the following extracts:—

“Brokes (Pastor)—Meets at Mr. Shaw’s, sailmaker, in Tower Wharf, sometimes at one Palmer’s Wise, [sic] and Holmes’s, who dwell all in the fields on the left hand, near Moorgate, where the quarters hang; where there is suspected some persons of note lie dormant, viz., Col. Danvers, Col. Gledman, Mr. Wollaston. The field is named ‘Phines-berry’ (Finsbury).”

“Caitnesse.—A Scotchman intimately acquainted with Lawrye the merchant (his old maid knows much of him). He dwells a little beyond Ratcliffe Church, hard by Gun Alley, next door to a shoemaker’s. Brother-in-law to Mr. Roe (formerly minister), a schoolmaster in Christchurch, within the Cloisters can tell of Caitnesse. Several of the Lord General’s old soldiers know Caitnesse; he knows Lieut.-Col. Desborough and Ellison.”

“Duckenfield.—They are 3 brothers all officers in the Army. Col. Jo Duckenfield, a stout fellow, now in Ireland, 1663, married an Exchange-woman, commanded the Foot at Winnington-bridge, 1659. Major Wm. Duckenfield in Ireland, 1663, married Franklin’s daughter, over against Salisbury House, an Exchange-man. Col. Rob. Duckenfield married Fleetwood’s sister, and hath an estate at Duckenfield Hall, in Cheshire, all 3 dangerous fellows.”

“Forbes.—Formerly in Gloucester, a Scottishman. Caitnes. Rawdon. His wife’s mother lives near Henley-upon-Thames, in Bucks. When in town, lodges behind Abchurch, going into Sherburne Lane from Cannon Street, upon the right hand, beyond the church; his landlord keeps a shop in Pope’s Head Alley. Enquire of Henley Coach, where it stands, for Mr. Forbes. His sister is an apothecary’s wife, over against Warwick House, in Holborn; and at Mr. Johnston’s, in Gr. Inne Lane, &c.”

“Thomas Goodwine (pastor).—Dwells in the fields, on the left hand near Moorgate, where the quarters stand, and meets often with Dr. Owen.”—(Vide O.)

“Mrs. Homes, at the Red Lion, a grocer’s shop, in St. Laurence Lane, is the great patroness of the worst of people now in London, and Ewell in particular. (Mrs. Holond Com. his wife), and Mr. Sheldon, prisoner in the Tower, who married Holond’s daughter; Mrs. Homes, now or lately, paid and discharged the rent for the house, which Thomas Goodwin lies in, at Bone Hill, beyond the Artillery Ground, near Cherry Tree Alley. She has a great estate; and spends it among those that lie in wait to disturb the peace of the kingdom. She is a frequent visitor of the prisons, and encourages and confirms those that are in greatest opposition to the Government. Her chief servant is called Browne, who ’tis thought, was one of the Rump Parliament. Her cash-keeper confessed, that, in six weeks after her husband died, she gave away £800. ’Tis no wonder, for she gains, with her money, several from the Church daily and under pretence of charity, corrupts many poor and wanting people.”

“Jessey, meets often at one Thomas Goodwine’s, and Dr. Owen’s in the fields, near to Moorgate, where the quarters hang; (pastor). The said Jessey meets also at the Lady Hartups, at Newington, Harfordshire, dead 1663.”

“Harwood, Jo., a merchant at Mile-end Green, a factious dangerous Independent; and the common factor for all the merchants trading especially to New England; who uses constantly to cover and disguise, the ships, goods, and persons, of those of that opinion in their voyages and passages, so as the officers of the Customs, &c., at Gravesend, and other places, are, by his interest and money, corrupted to slip the oaths, which otherwise ought to be tendered to all persons going out, &c.”

“Knowles, an Anabaptist minister, a good scholar, and a leading man, now in Amsterdam, maintained by the churches; and one Thibalds (his elder), in Tower Street, corresponds with him, (to him Mr. Riggs was recommended by Thibalds.) Knowles dwells in Wapping.”

“Meade, Pastor of the Independent Church, meets twice a week with Greenhill at Ratcliffe, and Stepney.”

“Dr. Owen (Pastor), dwells in the fields, on the left hand near Moorgate, where the quarters hang, and meets often with Goodwine.”

“Robinson (Andrew), a Scotts Quaker, dangerous young fellow; carries letters between London and Edinburgh; comes frequently to Mr. Lawrye’s.”

“Sprig, a minister, and great creature of the late usurper’s. Mr. Johnson knows him intimately. Sprig is a great acquaintance of Sir Hen. Vane’s and Ludlow’s.”

No. VIII.—Vol. I., p. 319.

In connection with the narrative on this page, and others elsewhere of the same kind, I would request the reader to bear in mind what I have remarked on p. 102. of this volume.

After the printing of the anecdote respecting Mr. Ince, a very interesting little book, entitled The Church at Birdbush, has come under my notice, from which I extract the following passages in reference to the story I have related:—“This striking narrative has sometimes been repudiated as a fiction. The evidence for its credibility seems, however, to be stronger than the supposition of its falsehood. The fact that the individual on whose authority it rests, had spent much time and labour in collecting authentic accounts of the period to which it refers, and that before the year 1705, he had lived at Shaftesbury, where, from its proximity to the scene of its occurrence, this event would be the theme of general conversation, is a fair argument in proof of its validity. Assuming then, in the absence of proof to the contrary, that the principal points in this striking incident are true, there are connected circumstances which require that some additional remarks should be made. The date of the occurrence of this remarkable event has been a matter of conflicting statement. While the Nonconformist’s Memorial fixes it at ‘not long after the year 1662,’ a writer in the Evangelical Magazine for 1798, states it to have taken place ‘soon after the Toleration Act passed in 1689.’ Perhaps the precise year cannot be fixed, and yet, from an incidental remark in the life of the Rev. T. Rosewell, given in the Nonconformist’s Memorial, we may arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. His biographer says, ‘After leaving Lady Hungerford’s family, he was invited, in 1672, into that of Mr. Grove, at Ferne, where Mr. Ince lived, where he spent some months much to his comfort.’ By this it is evident that the event referred to happened before the year 1672. A second disputed point is, the apparent improbability of Mr. Ince being unknown at Ferne, after having been Rector of the adjoining parish for fourteen years or more. It should be remembered, that some few years, at least, elapsed between his ejectment at Donhead, and his being employed on the before-named estate. Time would of course leave its impressions on the form which would otherwise have been easily recognized. Besides, it is attested that he had hired himself to the ‘employment of tending sheep;’ and the shepherd’s dress, connected with the effects of prison usage, and of the other circumstances of trial to which he had been exposed, may all have combined to conceal his true profession as a minister of Christ, until the time fixed in the Infinite Mind arrived for its discovery. His ‘appearance’ was that which surprised Mr. Grove, when he contrasted it with his ‘language and manner.’ The last sentence of the statement obviously requires correction. The Meeting-house referred to, was not erected on the estate at Ferne, nor by Mr. Grove.”

No. IX.—Vol. I., p. 374.

I have adopted the common account of Cecil’s signing Edward VI.’s Instrument of Succession as a witness. It is endorsed by Mr. Froude.—(Hist., v. 509). But I ought to add, that Tytler, in his England under the Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary, discredits the story which rests on a statement made by Roger Alford, twenty years afterwards, who on Cecil’s authority, and at his request, was trying to make out a case in favour of his master. Cecil’s signature occurs in the midst of many names appended to the document, not at all in the way of witness; and Tytler thinks, that Cecil had determined to retain his place, whatever sacrifice it might cost him. It did cost him dear—“for he was driven by it to falsehood, to evasion, and to little subterfuges, from which every upright mind would have recoiled.”—(Vol. ii. 175.) In a defence of himself, written in his own hand, for the eye of Queen Mary, and which Tytler has printed (vol. ii. 192), he says nothing of having signed the instrument as a witness.

It appears further, from an examination by Tytler, of some of Cecil’s papers in the Record Office, that in the reign of Queen Mary he conformed to the established religion by attending mass.—(Vol. ii. 443.) Yet it is remarkable that although regarded kindly at court, he never held office under the Popish Sovereign; and is distinctly described as “a heretic” by the Count de Feria, writing in 1558.—(p. 499). Whatever his compliances at the time, there must have been enough in his conduct to indicate that he was an unwilling Conformist, and that he was in heart a Protestant. Still, in respect to religious profession in the earlier part of life, he is seen to disadvantage when compared with Clarendon.

No. X.—Vol. II., p. 88.

Lord Macaulay mentions in his History of England, a broadside which he had seen, and which is printed in Somers’ Tracts. The author, as he says, was a Roman Catholic, having access to good sources of information, and although no name but one is given at length, the initials are intelligible except in a single instance. The Duke of York is said to have been reminded of his duty to his brother by P. M. A. C. F., which mysterious letters puzzled his Lordship as they had done Sir Walter Scott, who edited Somers’ Collection. Plausible conjectures as to their meaning occurred at the same time to Macaulay and others, and though the conviction continued in his mind, that the true solution had not been suggested, he was inclined to read the initials thus: “Père Mansuete, a Cordelier Friar.” A Cordelier of that name was James’ Confessor.

After all, the shrewd conjecture was correct. The following paper, mentioned in my Preface, settles the question. It is substantially the same as the paper printed in Somers (Scott’s Edition, viii. 428), but the verbal differences are considerable, and the P. M. A. C. F. is identified as Père Mansuete, a Cordelier Friar, Confessor to the Duke.

I print the MS. at length, as it will be interesting for the historical student to compare it with the broad sheet reprinted by Somers:—

“On Munday 2^d of February Candlemas day the King rose early, said he had not slept well. About 7 a clock comeing from his private devotions out of his Closett, fell downe so that he was dead for foure hours in an Apoplecticke fitt: with losse of 16 ounces of blood and other applications came to his sences againe: Great hopes of his recovery till Thursday one a clocke. But at 5 the Doctors being come before the Councill declared he was in great danger. On Friday a quarter before 12 he departed. God have mercy upon his soule. P. M. a C. ffryar C to the Duke upon the Doctors first telling him of the State of the K. told him that now was the time to take care of his soule and that it was his duty to tell him so. The D. with this admonition went unto the King and told it, The K. answered O Brother how long have I wished but now help me: He said he would have Father Hudd:[617] who preserved him in the tree, and now hoped he would preserve his soule; H was sent for to bring all necessaries for a dying man: not having the B: S. by him, H mett one of the Q^s P,[618] told him the occasion, desiring his assistance to procure it and bring it to the back staires. The King having notice that Mr. Hudd: waited desired to be in private with his Brother. All the Bpps and Nobles goeing out, the D latching the dore, the L^de P. B. and F.[619] were goeing out also, the D told them they might stay, the Kg seeing Father cryed out: Almighty God what good planet governes me that all my life is wonders and miracles when I O Lord consider my infancy, my exile, my escape at Wor’ster my preservation in the tree by this good Father and now to have him againe to be the Preserver of my Soule, O’ Lord my wonderfull Restauration, the great danger of the late Conspiracy and last of all to be raised from death and to have my soule preserved by the assistance of this good Father whom I see that thou O Lord hast created for my good: the D and E^s,[620] withdrew into the Closett, they were private for some time, after which the D and E^s entred againe, the Father remaining comforting and praying with him, He said, if I am worthy of it, Pray lett me have it, the Father said he exspected it and offered to proceed with the extreeme unction, The King said, with all my heart: the D and the L^ds assisting at the time M^r. Hudd: being called to the doore received the B: S: he desired the Kg to compose himselfe to receive. the King would rise, he was perswaded to the Contrary, Let me meet my heavenly father in a better posture then lying thus, being overruled they pray, amongst other the Father repeated an Act of Contrition, the King desired him to repeate it againe, saying it word by word after him, Received with the greatest expressions of devotion imaginable: This being ended they proceeded in the Prayer de Recommendacöne animæ, that being done, the King desired a repetition of the Act of Contrition once more, Lord Good God when my Lips faile let my heart speake these words eternally.