retard a full appreciation by our clerics of the thought and science of their own time: those, who looking out on the fields of Nonconformity, see little reason why many a separation should not be absorbed in a larger charity: those again who, in whatever attitude, desire to approach foreign Churches with something of mutual understanding who believe that to effect all these great ends set before our generation, there is needed no narrowing scheme but a manifoldly multiplied host of cultivated, politic, tolerant men, students and masters, pastors and missioners of every order; and that this training will require every possible gradation of knowledge and experience, modern and ethnic, Continental, Oriental, American, to be brought to bear on it-cannot but look to the cathedrals, so adequate, so ready for the emergency in particulars which it would be impossible to create, as the basis from which our new work must begin. Specially they look to their moral as well as their material outlines, to the type of society which they preserve to us-type of 'strength in co-operation, strength in due subordination of varying gifts, strength in religious fellowship.' For it is almost amazing to observe the clearness with which the lines of plans, grand beyond any recent conceptions, remain traced in the ground when roof and pillar are gone to build the neighbouring mansions. Retrenchment, diversion, and redistribution have done their work with axe and hammer, plane and file; but the dawning age gives signs of being an age of reconstruction. As in art, so in polity, we have, when the principles are lost, to study and reproduce before we can develop a style all our own. To be constructive has rarely been the function of civil powers, rarely of the highest ranks. Other classes create; and in creating new-create themselves. The English laity are less indifferent than ever to the standard assumed for clerical obligations, more impatient of perfunctoriness and incapacity. Abolition is, however, not so popular a specific of late, and in all departments of national life the balance of means to end is receiving truer adjustment.

In the following pages we propose to carry out a hint of Professor Westcott, and by a sketch of a cathedral of the old foundation to make, however unworthily, a pendant to his masterly picture of one of the new foundation.

We are sure he will rejoice with us that the outlines are in many respects different. A true intelligence will deprecate, in the process of reconstruction, nothing more than uniformity of structure under varying condi

tions.

It will be understood then, that, unless reference is made to others, the system here described is that of a single cathedral, the Church of Lincoln.' And first it will be necessary to say a few words on the document which supplies the materials of the past and to explain the present condition of that system.

The MS. copy now before us is a transcript made about a century ago from an older document which is still in existence. other copy is in the possession of the chapter. Extracts from it have been printed in Wilkins' Concilia,' and thence transferred to some parliamentary reports. But as a whole it.is unknown, and a most interest

It must have been almost unknown, one would think, in 1852, to the chapter of that date, when they informed the commission then sitting that the statutes relating to the duties of the dean and residentiary chapter having been established during the prevalence of the Roman Catholic religion in this kingdom, the duties detailed in the statutes relate to forms and proceedings during divine service in the cathedral in accordance with that form of worship. The statutes have not been remodelled at the time of, or since, the Reformation, and are not applicable to the performance of divine service according to the Reformed Church of England. In point of fact, directions as to divine service form a very small part of the whole, and even as to this part the only inapplicable directions are those rubrics (often from missal and breviary) incorporated in the statutes, for which other rubrics and services are legally substituted in the PrayerBook; services such as those of installations, regulations concerning the places of the dignitaries, the apportioned psalms whose daily reci tation is solemnly assigned to each member of

the body, and numerous smaller usages, even as to the cathedral services, are still carried on in conformity with the statutes, which the whole chapter swear to obey in all things legal, and which comprise a large body of enactments, still acted on as the valid constitution of the body. As to the Divinity Lecturer (whose office was also, in the answers of 1852, ignored), he is not only provided by the statutes, but the present holder of the office duly lectures.

It is singular that the then body should have taken a view so different from that taken by other cathedral bodies; e.g., Exeter, which states that the fundamental provisions of its "customary" have been acknowledged and acted upon.' The most ancient existing customs of the churches in question are no less detailed in one statute book than in the other.

It was stated also to the Cathedral Commission (1st Rep., 1854, p. 254) that 'the statutes (of Lincoln) embodied in the "Registrum Novum” do not appear to have been altered or modified except as to the time of residence, and except by the award or determination of Bishop Alnwick, anno Domini, 1440.'

However, the Novum Registrum,' date

Michaelmas, A.D. 1440, is posterior to the Laudum' of Bishop Alnwick, which is dated 23 June, 1439, and was sealed at Nettleham, 29 June, 1439; so that the Laudum did not modify the statutes as contained in the

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ing document it is. The volume contains:— (1) The Novum Registrum,* or New Custom Book drawn up and formally passed, as we shall presently relate, as a complete body and summary of statutes for the cathedral in the year 1440. (2) The old Vicars' Statutes,' which are re-enacted. (3) The Laudum,' or Arbitration of Bishop Alnwick, and two or three Indentures. A little before the middle of the fifteenth century the divisions between the dean and the chapters of this cathedral had reached a complication which induced both sides to have recourse to the visitor's arbitration. The chapter and the dean of the day (Decanus modernus'), Macworth by name, Chancellor to the Prince of Wales, made unqualified submission or compromission' of their cause 'ex alto et basso, absolute et libere,' into the bishop's hands. William Alnwick, lately come to his throne, was an able, statesmanlike prelate. After twelve

'Novum Registrum.' The Novum Registrum' and the 'Laudum' both give ample evidence of very frequent modifications. The following Lauda are expressly mentioned, and partly accepted, partly overruled; viz., of Bp. Robert Grosted, 1235-1253, of Bp. Rd. Gravesend, 12581279, Bp. John Dalderby, 1299-1319, Bp. John Gynewell, 1351-1362, Bp. Hen. Beaufort, 13971404, Bp. Wm. Gray, 1420-1435, besides some important modifications called Articuli quos ipsemet Decanus in præsentia Dni Thesaurarii Angliæ inter se et capitulum concordatos fore fatebatur ac ibidem ratificavit et subscripsit.' The rule traceable through this interesting Register is the same which prevailed elsewhere. 'The statutes were enacted from time to time

pro re nata. They were framed in the form of injunctions from the bishop as visitor, requiring the more accurate observance of existing ordi nances, or of new statutes, either suggested by the chapter to the visitor, or framed by him at their request and with their concurrence, and finally accepted by the body. No instrument has ever been allowed to be of any force unless ratified by the bishop and chapter, and authenticated by the seals of both.'-Answer of Chapter of Exeter.

'Sta

* Registrum—(1) The volume into which precedents are entered (regesta) as they occur. tuta Arelat. MSS. Art. 95, De Regestro Comunis. Item statuimus. Quod Comune teneatur habere num librum de pergameno, in quo transcribantur omnia instrumenta ad Comune perti

nentia.'-Lit. Phil. vi. ann. 1339, tom. 6.

'Ordi

nat. reg. Franc.' p. 529,.Gardez les Registres, bons usaiges, et coustumes anciens.'-Ducange. (2) The customs themselves. The older book was calledConsuetudinarium,' at Exeter the 'Customary.'

A copy of the Old Custom Book was recently discovered in a dilapidated condition. The name given it in the New Statutes, Le Black Book,' indicates either a French notary, or is a strange sample of the mixed tongues. It occurs again in Le Galilee Court.' Compare forms frequent in Lincolnshire, such as Holton-le-Clay, Ashbyde-la-Launde, Carlton-le-Scroope, &c.

months he pronounced an elaborate Laudum,* or arbitration, on forty-two articles exhibited by the chapter and fourteen exhibited by the dean. This was only the last of many such trials, sumptuosæ quamplurimum,' which had been brought before various prelates, and been carried even to the Roman curia. On nearly all the articles the dean was shown to have been the aggressor and in the wrong. Nothing can exceed the delicacy with which he is treated. Precautions are taken against the repetition of disorders, and the past is condoned.

But then a new and still more important business was undertaken, and within another year completed. Bishop Alnwick reviewed the whole of the ancient statutes, which appear to have existed in four different documents, dating from the year 1000 a.d., and to have been derived from the statutes of Rouen Cathedral; of the various Lauda pronounced by at least six different bishops; of the numerous private agreements with the founders of not less than twenty chantries; and of the record of traditional custom by

which much both of the business and of the religious work of the cathedral was regulated; on this head Bishop Alnwick cited and examined numerous witnesses. There was much that was contradictory and obscure in this mass of material; nothing can be more creditable than the compact and distinct work which, divided into five books, was shortly presented to the chapter by the bishop, by them accepted, and then ratified and authenticated with the seals of both' as the sole embodiment of their law-and

which, together with the Laudum itself, is at the present day accepted upon oath by every canon or prebendary on his admission. The subjects of the five books of the New Register are as follows:

1. The primaria institutio of the Church of Lincoln, and the number and value of the dignities, canonries, and prebends.

2. On the ingressus (admission) of canons and prebendaries.

3. On their life (progressus).

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4. On their egressus, which may occur through resolution in death,' through cession, privation, or translation, and their rights on all of these occasions.

5. On the perpetual chaplains of the

The interesting and often amusing detail into which a full discussion would lead us may be reserved for another occasion. For the present we must simply glean what we may out of the five books, illustrative of the true principles of 'Cathedral life and Cathedral work.' 'Gleaning' describes the operation, for the primaria institutio and the life and progressus of the canons are, as regards enunciation of principles, the tantalising parts of the work. The first is brief, a few historical memoranda; the second is almost purely technical and legal. In fact, the theory and principles of the life and work are assumed to be so clear and familiar as to require no expression. Yet in some respects the 'Laudum' and the New Register' are more valuable than a book of principles would have been. They take the system at full work. They show what was considered possible and practicable after above four centuries of experience; they give glimpses of what the great institution was doing, not what it was supposed that it ought to do; and, in plain language, they expose social corruptions (e. g., with regard to wills and inheritances, and not as to these alone), which under the then circumstances (pathetically called 'moderna ') must be regarded as once inevitable, but under our changed ones would be not only inexcusable, but impossible.

There was not in the minds of the old cathedral lawgivers the slightest idea that cathedral life and cathedral work began and ended with Cathedral service.' The service was an essential part of the life, but it was the smallest part of the work. Of it the Novum Registrum' says (MS. Part iii. p. 49), that on the part of the canon or prebendary, assiduitatem exigimus moderatam, non ut omnibus horis cogatur interesse. sed uni horæ (daily) vel missae majori unless he has leave of absence or is ill, or alias in negotiis ecclesiæ occupatus.'

The corps of the cathedral consisted of the prebendaries with their vicars and their su perior officers. They were fifty-two in number, each for one week in his turn taking the principal position in the cathedral services; in the rest of the year it is assumed that

instances, to admit of their residing in the close,* or if they do reside, of their attending more than one of the hours of service daily. If they undertake to reside for thirty-four weeks of the year, a house is to be provided for them, and they are to draw a dividend from certain funds. Their name is derived from their præbenda,f each having one or more estates stationed throughout the diocese; on each estate a house of residence with a familia,' usually a church, either served by themselves cum cura animarum,' or of which the patronage is in their hands, and a school under their direction. Each præbenda was a centre of civilisation to its district. The duties and powers of the præbendarius with respect to his prebend are defined and urged in this view. He is exhorted so to administer it that his people may appetant commorari' under his headship. It is systematically connected with the cathedral, and visited at regular intervals by the dean, chapter, and bishop; any abuses observed in the holder's administration are to be corrected by these authorities at his expense, and appeals lie against him or from him to the cathedral courts.

The prebendaries and officers formed the chapter. There was no line drawn between little chapter and grand chapter. There was only one body.§ Whatever portion of this met, according to rule, in the chapter-house, was a chapter.' They absolutely elected their dean, and nominally their bishop; for the rest, we find members of the body actively employed at the royal and papal courts, as well as in their more distinct functions of counsel and assistance to the bishop || who selected them, and in business which is

wiser and truer policy prevailed of appointing *Two hundred and fifty years before this, the only such as could reside.

:

It is interesting to notice the vicissitudes of names. The cathedral body were canonici (canons) originally but many were unendowed, living on their own means, or merely by their di vidends from the common fund (communa). The more dignified were canonici præbendati or præbendarii. If they resided they were canonici residentiarii, præbendati or not as the case might be. Since the prebends have been confiscated to non-cathedral purposes, the name of canons has been retained by the residentiaries who are alone endowed, and that of prebendaries designates the unendowed holders of stalls.

Rob. Grosseteste, Ep. lxxiv.

Quinquaginta et sex canonici cum capite suo (sc. bishop) corpus et capitulum constituunt : negotia ecclesiæ et secreta tractant. p. 35.

[In præbendis] viros sapientes et scientia præditos lateri suo sociare satagebat, quia absque virorum proborum adjutorio nec populo nec clero convenienter prodesse sufficeret. Horum consiliis fretus et comitatus auxiliis, &c. Vita S. Hugonis, Ep. Linc. 1200, iii. 8.