Her

The rest of the acts of the session were judicious and confirmatory. The giving of lands to grammar schools, poor folk, and highways, the rebuilding of churches,* the lending of money of which the interest might be spent in charitable in charitable uses, the confirmation of his see and of his London house to the long tried Tunstall of Durham, and the stoppage of unlawful enclosures, occupied the Houses, or passed through them. On the sixth of December the Queen appeared in the chamber, assented to the bills, and dismissed the senate. presence was the more welcome in that an understanding had been reached on the great question of the restitution of the monastic lands. The unswerving honesty of Mary saw no difficulty in rendering back the spoils of the late revolution; and she would fain have had it so. The new monastics, the lords and commons, had trembled in some measure lest a proposition to that effect should have been broached upon them under the favour of the Court. Where, they may have asked among themselves, were the beneficiaries to be found? Were the surviving pensioners, the monks and nuns who had doffed their habits and lapsed into the world on a miserable pittance from the wreck, to be hunted out of corners, and erected again into corporations? Were those of them who had accepted register was kept, entitled Vacatio sedis metropolitica Christi Cantuariensis post depositionem Thomæ Cranmer nuper Archiep. Cant primo de crimine læsæ majestatis aut. Parliamenti convicti, et deinde ob varias hereses aut. sed. apostolicæ depositi, degradati, seculari brachio traditi, et postremo in alma Universitate Oxon. igne consumpti sub annis Dom. 1553, 4, 5, &c. (Specimen, p. 127.) It is evident indeed from Cranmer's letter to Mary that he considered himself no longer archbishop. Burnet's assertion would, if it were true, "be a matter of great moment, and make a considerable change in the history of our church,” as Wharton says. It seems to have given rise to some mistakes. It may be the reason perhaps why Wilkins, in his Concilia, goes on dating documents “Archiep. Cant. Tho. Cranmer," instead of Sede vacante.

* There is an Act for rebuilding of St. Helen's, Stangate, in the dilapidated city of York.

promotions in the Church to be expected to resume their religious profession? The same question might be raised of the chantry lands and their late stipendiary priests: and the like difficulty would be found there. A prescriptive right, now stretching back over the space of twenty years, or of nearly twenty years in some cases, and at the very least of not less than three or two years, might be pleaded in behalf of the present detainers. And it was not to be forgotten, but rather held constantly in consideration, that alterations cannot be made, and time allowed to elapse, without new duties arising, new claims, new obligations, which could not be renounced without dishonesty and disaster. These sentiments prevailed: and the Parliament that repealed so many of the acts of its predecessors, showed them reverence and respect as it regarded the dissolution of the religious houses and of the chantries.

The Convocation of Canterbury, which met on the seventh of October in conjunction with this Parliament, was one of the most memorable in the history of the Church of England. The Latin Mass of the Holy Ghost was sung by Bonner at the high altar of St. Paul's.* The Latin sermon was preached by John Harpsfield, Bonner's chaplain. The prolocutor was chosen in Weston, the new Dean of Westminster, who was presented to the prelates by Dean Pie of Chichester with a gratulatory oration: a gratulatory oration was delivered at the same time by the Archdeacon of London, Winsley: and received the reply of Bonner. As these prelections were

* Item, the 7 day of October began the Convocation in Paul's: and there had Mass of the Holy Ghost. And there the Bishop of London sang the Mass in his pontificalibus: and that was the first mass that was sung at the high altar after it was set up again, and had a goodly sermon ad clerum in the quire. Grey Friars' Chron. 85. This was for the first time since Ridley had demolished the high altar, which seems to have been reserved for this occasion. At other altars in the building there had been masses already.

all printed together soon afterwards by the Queen's printer, they were evidently to be taken as an indication of the position and designs of the prevalent party. Harpsfield, in bidding prayers before his sermon, was extravagant in the Queen's praises, comparing her with Judith, with Esther, with Deborah, with Mary the sister of Martha; and even bidding her sing the song of Mary the Blessed among women. Of the princess Elizabeth he only made mention; and so, proceeding to the officers of the realm, commended Gardiner, his sufferings, labours, wit and learning; Tunstall, his piety, experience, and grey hairs; the virtues and excellence of Heath and Day. But of his patron Bonner, who had undergone as much as any in the late reign, he said nothing, probably by Bonner's desire. He inveighed severely against the preachers of Edward the Sixth: that they had butchered the flock; plunged innumerable souls into hell; framed new Sacraments, new faith, new manners; and interpreted the Scriptures not according to the consent of the fathers, but by their own dreams. He advised that the old ecclesiastical laws should be restored, not new ones made with study; and that they should not only be ratified by common consent, but put in practice in the manners and lives of the clergy. Pie, in his oration, said that a consultation was now to be taken in hand for the restoration of the Christian state: for which it was not enough to assert orthodox doctrine, unless the ancient discipline. were revived in efficacy and vigour. The speech of

It is significant that Lingard entirely omits this important Convocation, which paid no deference to Rome. Mr. Froude descants on it in the following instructive terms. "Convocation was about to meet, and must undergo a preliminary purification. Unhappy Convocation! So lately the supreme legislative body in the country, it was now patched, clipped, mended, repaired, or altered, as the secular government put on its alternate hues” (vi. 77).

+ This was pointed at the Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum.

Winsley was a flowery commendation of the elected referendary: which Weston answered with an elaborate and not inelegant harangue, setting forth the great business on which they were gathered together, to behold the mournful countenance, to restore the shattered form of the Church; to bring back the faith, to renew religion. "For this," said he, " the Queen has taken the crown, by an unpremeditated chance, on the day that was wont to be appointed for the dedication of Churches: she has called together for this so many Athanasiuses from all parts of the kingdom, who may mend the Catholic faith in miserable manner rent and torn: so many imprisoned Chrysostoms among the bishops has she rescued from their bonds for this. Noble sufferers, it is your work to rebuild the walls that the heretics have beaten down, and to cement the joints that the schismatics have loosened in the unity of the Church. There is one thing on which we may congratulate ourselves. That blasphemous and erroneous book, which they call the Book of Common Prayer, never passed our Houses." * Bonner in replying for the prelates, for in the enforced absence of Cranmer he presided over the Upper House, extolled the zeal of the clergy, and committed them to the direction of their

* Harpsfield's Sermon, and the four Orations of Pie, Winsley, Weston and Bonner, were printed by Cawood in 1554. The volume is very scarce : but full abstracts and quotations are given by Strype, v. 60: and he has also published Weston's Oration in the original at length. (Originals, No. VIII. vol. vi. 182.) In my third volume I have given reasons for concluding that the Prayer Book was never submitted to Convocation in the reign of Edward: or rather I have exhibited the reasons both for and against that conclusion. (Vol. III. 5, 127, 130, 146, 147, 163.) The testimony of Weston seems decisive on the question. Quid quod libro blasphemiis conspersissimo, erroribus refertissimo, qui nomine religionis religionem tollit, sacramenta diminuens universum orbem condemnat, quem precatorium nuncuparunt, nunquam accesserit noster calculus. Qua de re quantopere vobis gratulandum esse arbitrar, haud facile dixero." It may however possibly be argued that this only refers to the second Book of Edward.

ardent referendary or prolocutor.* The Queen, whom they lauded so unstintingly, had however, it may be remarked, assumed the position of her father, and guarded her realm, by using in the writs that summoned this Convocation the title of Supreme Head of the Church of England which in the Parliamentary writs she is said to have omitted.†

The clergy met for business on the eighteenth of October; the Prolocutor signified the Queen's pleasure that they should debate of matters of religion, and frame laws or canons which she and the Parliament might afterwards ratify. He then produced the complicated volume, printed in the late reign, which contained the Short Catechism, or Catechism of Ponet, with the Fortytwo Articles of religion annexed, which had been set forth a few months previously under the alleged authority of the Synod of London. "It was put forth in your name," said he, "without your consent, as I have learned. It is a pestiferous and heretical book. So is the Book of Common Prayer very abominable: but I think we may best begin with the Articles of the Catechism concerning the Sacrament of the altar, to confirm the natural Presence of Christ therein, and also Transubstantiation." Therewith he appointed two days thence for the disputation to be held, all having licence from the Queen to speak their minds freely. Weston was the

* Joyce argues that because the archbishop was not president, this synod was invalid. Sacred Synods, 496. It seems a nice point. Cranmer's see was not vacant at the time of meeting, for he had not then been attainted; and the writ at any rate was issued to him. Archb. Parker says that the synod was convoked "prætextu quidem authoritatis Cantuariensis Arcbiepiscopi et ex Reginæ ad eum mandato," adding verum præsidebat ei sine mandato Bonerus." De Antiq. Brit. Eccl. 509. † So Selden, Titles of Honour: but see Collier.

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I have entered fully into the curious history of the Short Catechism, or Catechismus Brevis, and the Forty-two Articles, and the Synod of London. See Vol. III. 513-528 huj. op.