Cloth, this is to be seen on too many of our Communion Tables to be considered objectionable. I do not approve of crosses being ostentatiously introduced where they have never before been; but I should as soon object to the Cross on St. Paul's Cathedral as to its use on the Cloth used to cover the Communion Table, which is no innovation, but may have been seen on such Cloths, probably, at any time since the Reformation. Again, when the Canon directs that the Table should be covered with a fair Linen Cloth during the Administration of the Sacrament, it is not meant that the legs of such Table should be all concealed by the said Cloth, but that the top, upon which the Elements are placed, should be so covered.”—p. 12.

For such Tractarianism his Lordship is well rated by Mr. Tarleton :—

"Your Lordship admits the Sanctus' is not in order, but on account of its effect,' you should be sorry to have it discontinued.' I would humbly submit that these are no times to be introducing unauthorised novelties, because ANY individual may think the effect so good.' With regard to the removal of the Communion Table, or as you prefer to name it Allar,' from the wall, I was fully aware of the fact alluded to by your Lordship. I merely mentioned that circumstance to aid my describing the effect produced. You state that you do not approve of crosses being ostentatiously introduced where they have never before been.' You do not appear to have understood me with regard to this Romish emblem. It is a novelty introduced most injudiciously into our parish church at this particular time, and is very 'ostentatiously' displayed, and yet you do not advise its removal. You do not refer to the fabric of the white cloth. The mode of placing it on the table was slightly improved on Sunday last-it then did not reach the platform or step at the sides, and was brought rather lower in front, so that the deep fringe just touched the top of the cross, which is still ostentatiously exposed. On the whole, this cloth had the appearance, and irresistibly reminded one of an ordinary toilet cover. Your Lordship also omitted to express an opinion as to the intoning of the responses.”—pp. 14, 15.

A second demand elicits something further from the diocesan:

"I told you in my former letter that the only point among your charges against Mr. Yorke, with regard to which I should require him to make any change, was the practice of having the versicles after the LORD's Prayer in morning service sung instead of being said; this, though a very trifling matter, is not, I think, quite correct, as the congregation are at the time all kneeling. I have, therefore, requested that it may be discontinued, and that the organ should not play till the Doxology immediately before the Venite.'"

P. 16.

But as the Bishop refused to interfere further, Mr. Tarleton, against the wish of the Bishop and of Mr. Yorke, publishes the correspond

ence.

It would be insulting to our readers to do more than commend the above extracts to their entertainment. It would be indeed difficult to determine which of the three parties displays the greatest number of ritual blunders and ignorance. But there are some excellent admissions, made by his Lordship, which must be remembered.

216

ECCLESIOLOGICAL LATE CAMBRIDGE CAMDEN SOCIETY.

MEETINGS of the Committee were held on April 28, and May 21, 1851, and were attended by the Rev. Dr. Mill, V. P., Mr. Chambers, Mr. Dickinson, Mr. France, Sir John Harington, Rev. T. Helmore, Rev. G. H. Hodson, Mr. A. J. B. Hope, M.P., Mr. Luard, Rev. J. M. Neale, Mr. Strickland, Rev. B. Webb, and Mr. Wegg Prosser, M. P., and for musical purposes, the Rev. J. L. Crompton.

J. Leonard Fish, Esq. of Wantage, was elected an ordinary member. A sub-committee was nominated to examine, and draw up a report upon the Ecclesiological aspect of the Great Exhibition, to be read at the anniversary meeting; for which the time was fixed, and various arrangements made.

Sir Charles Anderson forwarded for inspection a sketch of part of the pavement of Thornton Abbey, composed of five incised crosses, laid contiguously, and marked with an octagonal plan, as if of a pier of that shape.

Mr. Gordon communicated an interesting account of an ancient embroidered cope, supposed to be of Hungarian work, now on sale at Stockholm.

Letters were read, among others, from the Rev. J. F. Bourne, Rev. Dr. Nicholson, Rev. D. Fraser, Rev. Bryan King, Mr. Giles, Mr. Withers, and Mr. Warrington; and some applications for pecuniary aid towards restorations were refused.

The Committee was consulted about a new church for S. Helena, proposed to be entrusted to Mr. Carpenter, and inspected the designs of a wooden church for Otago, by Mr. Hugall, for a school at Inkpen, and a parsonage at Treverbyn, by Mr. Street, &c.

Some conversation took place about the possibility of obtaining designs for timber churches from Dahl's work on the Wooden Churches of Norway and some subjects for the Instrumenta Ecclesiastica were approved.

The New York Ecclesiological Society applied, through their Secretary, for tracings of the Society's church-plate, they having established a manufactory, on true principles, at New York.

THE twelfth anniversary meeting on Thursday, May 22, was held at the Music Hall, in Store-street. The chair was taken at half-past one, by the Archdeacon of Bristol, president of the Society, and the meeting was most numerously attended, many ladies also being present. We noticed, among others, F. H. Dickinson, Esq., A. J. B. Hope, Esq., M. P., F. R. Wegg-Prosser, Esq., M.P., Sir John Harington, Bart., and Lady Harington; H. S. Le Strange, Esq., Rev. W. Scott, Rev. B. Webb, J. D. Chambers, Esq., Rev. T. Helmore, W. C. Luard, Esq., Rev. J. F. Russell, R. C. Carpenter, Esq., Rev. W. H. Walsh, Rev. W. U. Richards, Rev. Dr. Dean, Rev. J. Murray, Rev. J. L. Crompton, Rev. T. S. Evans, H. Parnell, Esq., H. Webb, Esq., J. F. France, Esq.,

G. E. Street, Esq., R. J. Withers, Esq., W. White, Esq., P. Boyce, Esq., Rev. S. S. Greatheed, &c. &c.

The annual report was then read by the Rev. B. Webb, the secretary. "THE Committee of the Ecclesiological Society, in meeting the members on this, the twelfth anniversary, have first to report that the society has lost, during the past year, one of its episcopal patrons, the Bishop of Nova Scotia, by death, and several members in consequence of a call for arrears of subscription, besides others, including some members of the committee, one a vice-president, from more painful reasons. The losses, however, have been more than supplied by the election of sixteen new members.

Mr. Bevan, who was elected treasurer immediately after the last anniversary meeting, was obliged, in the early part of the present year, to resign his office, on the grounds of the inconvenience of his residence in the country, and his expected prolonged absence abroad. The committee accepted, with regret, his resignation, and elected Mr. Luard, one of their number, to fill the vacant place. The new treasurer will be able to present to the meeting a very satisfactory financial statement.

This latter

"The committee have made a small grant of five pounds to the project of filling with stained glass one of the windows of the Lady Chapel, at Hereford, in memory of the late dean of that cathedral; and a grant of ten pounds to the very interesting restoration of the round church of S. John, Little Maplestead. grant was intended originally to be applied towards the expenses of the proposed coloured enrichments of the interior; but, at the request of the committee managing the restoration, who found unexpected difficulties in their task, it was agreed to devote it towards the completion of a screen. A complete set of the publications of the society has been presented to the Library of S. John's College, Auckland, New Zealand; and another, at the request of the managing committee of the proposed Institution, to the Free Library at Manchester.

"With respect to publications, the committee have first to report the regular appearance of the society's organ, the Ecclesiologist. A sub-committee, appointed for the purpose, made careful inquiry into the financial state of this publication, and reported that if the society made no profit by the magazine, its publisher incurred no loss. They were unable, however, to suggest any scheme, owing chiefly to the great number of non-paying members on the society's list (many of whom had compounded when the sum fixed for a single payment was very small), by which the long desired project of delivering the Ecclesiologist gratis to each member might be put into operation. Several numbers of the Instrumenta Ecclesiastica have appeared, and testimonies to the usefulness of the series have been received from members resident in the colonies. A third series of working drawings for ecclesiastical embroidery has been published by Miss Blencowe, under the superintendence of the committee. The various publications connected with the Hymnal Noted are mentioned here in their place; but will be referred to again when the proceedings

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of the society with respect to church music are reported. Finally, a tract on Funerals and Funeral Arrangements' has been compiled and published, collecting and harmonising the various essays and papers on those subjects heretofore scattered in various parts of our publications. "The Funeral Guild, the formation of which was contemplated and advertised in the Ecclesiologist, has not been as yet developed. Some names of persons willing to join in the scheme were received; but difficulties arose, and its promoters were satisfied for the present with having made satisfactory arrangements with a respectable undertaker, who engaged to provide suitable apparatus for funerals under the sanction of the committee. A sub-committee was appointed to investigate the best method for improving church bells, and it received most hearty offers of assistance in their inquiries from Messrs. Mears, the eminent bell-founders, and members of this society. Some information was collected by the sub-committee, but they have been unable to make a report.

"However, the question of church music has been more success. fully followed up by your committee. Soon after the last anniversary it was resolved to add to the committee, for musical purposes, the Rev. J. L. Crompton, W. Dyce, Esq. R.A., and Sir John E. Harington, Bart.; of whom the latter was soon afterwards elected on to the general committee. The Rev. T. Helmore consented to act as secretary, with respect to this part of the society's labours. The committee have undertaken to attempt to supply a desideratum long felt, with respect to public worship, by commencing the publication of a Hymnal Noted. The principle of the work is to choose ancient hymns, chiefly from the old English office books, and to translate them, as faithfully as possible, into the same metres as the original, so that they can be sung to the ancient melodies. The series appears simultaneously in three forms: first, the words alone, in a cheap shape, for congregational use; second, the words, noted throughout to the various melodies employed; and third, harmonised accompaniments to the melodies for the organ, or for part singing, together with the original Latin words. It has been resolved on the present occasion to afford the members the opportunity of hearing the proper effect of some of these ancient and beautiful melodies, by inviting Mr. Helmore to illustrate a paper on Hymnology, with various examples sung by a competent choir. And this is the reason why our meeting to-day is held in the present place, in order that his illustrations may have the advantage of an organ accompaniment. These ancient melodies differ in so many respects from modern music, and their proper effect is so peculiar and traditional, that it was thought the best way of preparing for their introduction, to show, by example, what ought to be aimed at in the manner of their performance. It may be added, that Mr. Spencer, whose services to the cause of church music are well known, has consented to preside on the organ on this occasion.

The committee do not propose to brevity, to the difficulties that have, embarrassed all who have attempted to principles of Ecclesiological propriety.

refer, but with the greatest during the last few months, carry out into practice the They have done their best,

through the struggle, in the pages of the Ecclesiologist, to defend the right, and to encourage those who were in various ways sufffering persecution for their steady adherence to the express laws of the Church. It is a matter for great congratulation that, upon the whole, so firm a stand has been made against the enemies of the decency and dignity of Divine worship, and that already the forced and ignorant clamour of the adversaries is subsiding; and it is to be hoped that the firmness of our attitude and the honesty of our principles may appeal favourably, in the long run, to all unprejudiced religious minds. The termination of the unhappy controversy at S. Barnabas, Pimlico-a church which was this time last year considered so hopeful a sign of ecclesiological progress-was viewed with great pain by the committee; and the following resolution was adopted unanimously, at a special meeting :

"Resolved-That the Committee of the Ecclesiological Society beg to express their cordial sympathy with the Rev. W. J. E. Bennett, under the trials which he is suffering from his zeal to restore the Ritualism of the English Church.

"The Committee cannot but refer with great satisfaction to the circumstance that the congregation of S. Barnabas, especially the poor, manifested the strongest attachment to the ritual privileges that had been extended to them. And in the midst of all present sources of anxiety, it is a great consolation and an advantage to the Church of England, that they have produced a defence of that system of church arrangement and decoration, and of that method of performing divine service which we have always advocated, from a Bishop of the English Church, the Bishop of Exeter, in his noble Pastoral lately published, both on the highest ground of its symbolising the sacramental system of the Church, and for reasons of charity to the Christian poor. Committee cannot refrain from quoting the following passages.

The

"Where the congregation consists mainly of the poorest orders, there we commonly observe a great love of a majestic and even elaborate service. The ornaments of their church-the storied glass - the painted, and, it may be, gilded walls-the table of the LORD elevated above the rest, and decked with sober yet costly furniture-the pealing organ-the chanted psalms--the surpliced choristers-the solemnity of the whole ritual-gladdens while it elevates their minds; they recognise in it their own high privilege as Christians, and rejoice to find themselves equal participants with their richest neighbours in the homage thus paid to the common LORD and FATHER of all. In truth, when we consider the little which the poor man has to delight his heart and touch his imagination in his own squalid home, we ought to rejoice that he can find enjoyment in the House of Prayer, his Father's House. For this reason, few occurrences have affected me more than the lamentations of the poor worshippers in one of the districts of the metropolis, when they saw, or thought they saw, at the dictation of a riotous and lawless mob of strangers, the approaching surrender of the ritual which they loved, and which was their weekly-to many among them the daily-solace of that poverty to which the providence of GOD had consigned them.'