ward seem to have had, or, perhaps, to have been obeyed as having had, a more definite purpose than generally, "to enforce the duty of preaching," as has been supposed. (1) The so-called Excerpts of Egbert, Archbishop of York (A.D. 732 -766), require priests on holidays and Sundays to preach the gospel to the people. (2) The Canons of Ælfric are more precise. They require the mass-priest on Sundays and Mass-days to tell to the people the sense of the gospel in English (pæs godspelles angyt on Englisc þam folce), and concerning the Pater-noster and the creed also, the oftenest that he can :(3) and, as a matter of fact, the oldest sermons and homilies that have come down to us are almost invariably on the gospel of the day. The same may be noticed in the sermons of the next few centuries, which have been edited by Dr Morris and others; and at a later date Wyclif in his sermons observed the same rule. In the thirteenth century Ormin wrote the Ormulum, which, as explained by himself in the dedication, is first a paraphrase of the gospels, and then an exposition of their meaning for the use of those who were bound to preach it to the people : "Icc hafe sammnedd o piss boc pa Goddspelless neh alle, patt sinndenn o pe messeboc Inn all be zer att messe. Annd a33 affterr þe Goddspell stannt patt tatt te Goddspell menepp, patt mann birrp spellenn to pe folle And he then goes on to explain, "Whi icc till Ennglissh hafe wennd Goddspelless hallzhe lare" (Ded. 113-14). But his reasons, though well worth reading, are too long to insert here. In the next century we have the author of the Metrical Homilies, edited by Mr Small, written for "lered and laued bathe," though in one of them he inserts the Latin poem on the "Signa ante judicium," which, as pointed out by the editor (Introduction, p. vi.), a rubric directs the preacher to omit, "quando legit Anglicum coram laycis." He thus explains his purpose : The faur godspellers us shawes (1) Maskell, A. E. L., p. 49. (2) "III. Ut omnibus festis et diebus dominicis unusquisque sacerdos evangelium Christi prædicet populo."-Excerptiones Ecgberti; Thorpe, Ancient Laws, II, 98. "Closer examination shows the Excerptiones Egberti not to be Egbert's at all."—Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, III, 403. (3) Thorpe, Ancient Laws, II, 350-1. Al faur a(1) talle thay telle, Er leszouns red bathe mar and lesse, Yef God wil gif me grace tharto, That thai mai her and hald in hert Thinge that thaim til God mai ert. (4) English Metrical Homilies (Small), p. 4—5. These and similar collections were mainly intended for the assistance of preachers,(5) but in the latter part of the fourteenth and in the fifteenth centuries arose the practice, necessarily confined to the educated classes, of following the epistles and gospels in an English translation; and we find sometimes the four gospels, and sometimes the whole of the New Testament with tables for (5) This was the professed object of the Festyvale, as set forth by Myre in the "Prologus," except that it was drawn from the Golden Legend instead of Holy Writ. "Myn owne symple understandinge feleth well how it fareth by other that ben (*) in the same degre, and hauen charge of soules and holden to teche theyr paryshens of all the pryncypal feestes that come in the yere. "But for many excuse them for defaut of bokes and also by symplenes of connynge. Therefore in helpe of suche clerkes this treatyse is drawen out of (Legenda Aurea) that he that lust to studye therin, he shall fynde redy therin of all the pryncypall feestes of the yere of everyone a shorte sermon nedeful for them to teche, and for other to lerne."-W. de Worde, 1515, fol. 2. (*) "By myne owne febul letture y fele how Yt fareth by othur yt bene."-Caxton. finding the portions appointed to be read at mass. I give the rubric of the table from a MS. belonging to my friend Mr DaviesCooke of Owston, Yorkshire, and Gwysaney, which is interesting from its historical associations. It was part of the Llannerch library, which he inherited through the Davies of that place and of Gwysaney, Co. Flint, from Sir Edward Ffitton, to whom it was given by Henry, eighth Earl of Northumberland, who has received it from Lord Burghley, as appears by the unfortunate earl's (1) autograph.(2) "Ere bigynnep a rule pat tellip in whiche chapitris of pe bible(3) ye may finde pe lessones pistlis and gospelis pat ben red in þe chirche after pe usse of salisbury, marked wip lettris of pe a b c at pe begynnyng of pe chapitris, towardis pe myddil or ende after pe ordre as pe lettris stonde in the abc: first ben sett sundaies and ferials togidre, And aftre pat pe sanctorum. pe propre and comonn togidre of al þe zeer. And panne last pe commemoraciones þat is clepid þe tempral of al þe zeer. ffirst is writen a clause of the bigynnynge of pe pistle or gospel and a clause of the endinge þerof also. pe I Sunday romans xiii in aduent. Mt. xxi d we knowen ende lord iesu crist. a whanne iesus end in hige pingis.” After the invention of printing the epistles and gospels were printed either separately, (4) or as an addition to the primer.(5) No alteration was made in the manner of celebrating mass in the reign of Henry VIII, but by the injunctions issued immediately on the accession of Edward VI, it was directed, “21. Also, (1) Henry Percy, eighth Earl of Northumberland, having been committed to the Tower as a favourer of Mary Queen of Scots, "was found dead in his bed, shot by a pistol, 21st June, 1583, as alleged, by his own hand.” (2) Inscription in MS. : "This booke was given me by The Lorde Burghley highe Treasurer of Englande the fourtenth of Januarie anno dni 1574. Northūberlad. And after gyven by the same hari Erelle northumbarland to St. Edwarde ffitton of Gawsworth his Cosyn, ff[rancis] ffitton." This MS. is small (5 × 3) but beautifully written in the fifteenth century. There are two quartos in the British Museum, MS. Harl. 1712, 9 × 7; and MS. Harl. 1029, 9 × 7. In Maskell, Mon. Rit. I, p. lv, two similar MSS. are mentioned in the King's Library. (3) One of the MSS. quoted by Mr Maskell here reads "bible new lawe," or New Testament. (4) Title. "Here be gynneth the Pytles and Gospels, of every Sonday and holy daye of the yere."- Colophon. "Imprinted at London by me Robert Redman dwelling at the signe of the George next of St Dunstons Church." (5) "The Prymer in Englysh and Latyn, after the Use of Sarum, set out at length with manye goodly prayers, &c., with the Epystels and Gospels on every Sonday and holye daye in the Yeare."-London. Thomas Petyt [1543]. In the time of high mass within every church, he that saith or singeth the same shall read or cause to be read the Epistle and Gospel of that inass in English and not in Latin, in the pulpit, or in such convenient place, as the people may hear the same." (1) For many years it has been very general among the Roman Catholics in this country to read the Epistle and Gospel in English, after they have been read in the Latin, at the principal mass on Sundays and holy-days, but this change has not prevailed at Rome or in other parts of Italy, or in other Roman Catholic countries. P. 16, B. 168. or els hit rede. See the blessing, or rather the prayer of the priest for the gospeller and his prayer for himself in the York Mass, ante, p. 96, l. 18-24. I add the directions for the reader from the Myroure, which are dictated by a not less devout spirit, and would be very serviceable both to themselves and to their hearers in the case of many readers in the present day. “ ན[ They also that rede in the Couente. ought so bysely to ouerse (2) theyr lesson before. & to vnderstonde yt; that they may poynte yt(3) as it ought to be poynted. & rede. yt sauourly & openly to the vnderstondinge of the here[r]s. And that may they not do; but yf they vnderstonde yt. & sauoure yt fyrste themselfe." (4) B. 169. swete is used of God, and especially in addressing our Lord, as in the Prymer rendering of the Ave verum, or Prayer at the elevation:"O dulcis, O pie, O Jesu, fili marie." "O swete, O holy, O Jesu sonne of Marye." Primer. 1555. "O most dere lorde and saviour, swete Jhesu, I beseche," &c. York Hora, fol. 140 b. B. 170. oure bale wold bete. Cf. Vernon, ante, p. 129, 1. 35. "Jesu, Jesu, my hony swete, And to pi blysse me brynge." B. 173. on a manere. Religious Pieces (Perry), p. 74, 1. 69-72. One contrasted with "anoper" in l. 174. one) into the southern "o.", but F. changes the northern "a" ( the midland scribe lets it stand, possibly because he understood it as the indefinite article, as "a" is used in line 19. See note B. 17, page 168. "Fader and sun and haligast, That anfald (5) God es ay stedfast; Worthi driht in trinite, A God, a might in persons iii." English Metrical Homilies (Small), p. 1. (1) Cardwell, Doc. Annals, I, 13. (2) Ouerse, look over. (3) "Mind your stops," as here glossed by Mr Blunt. (4) Myroure, E. E. T. S. (ed. Blunt), p. 67. (5) Anfald, simplex. Cf. manifald, multiplex. "God and man bothe in a persou." Registrum, Thoresby, fol. 295b. P. 16, B. 174. bos, where E. has the longer equivalent be-howus, the impersonal construction being preserved in both. Cf. the Thornton MS. (Religious Pieces, Perry, p. 8), "And pis sacrement bus haue thre thynges." The English of Archbishop Thoresby's catechism, from which this is taken, reads "behoues haue," and the Latin original "cuius tres sunt partes." C. 85-7. It is assumed that the reader may be able to read the Latin, and this variation from the earlier text is accounted for, as elsewhere remarked, by the fact that this MS. was written for a religious house. C. 88. Cf. the various reading of D. in the foot-note. I have glossed this in the margin as if it referred to the substitution of paternosters by those who knew no more, but perhaps the reference is to the reading from a book, instead of "cunning without book," as directed in B. 625, C. 370, p. 58. C. 89-90. In a monastery there would be lay-brethren and novices, and perhaps professed brethren, not in holy orders, who could neither read the services from a book, nor say them without book, and in their case the repetition (rehearsal) of paternosters, as at a later date, of ave-marias and paternosters, (1) was held to be equivalent. Thus from St Francis' Testament, "Our dyvyne seruice the clerkis saide as other clerkis, and the lay bretherne said ther pater noster."(2) We find a similar rule in respect to the laity who were members of gilds, as, for example, the Gild of St Katherine at Norwich: "At the Dirige, euery brother and sister that is letterede shul seyn, for the soule of the dede, placebo and dirige, in the place wher he shul comen togeder; and euery brother and sister that bene nought letterede, shul seyn for the soule of the dede, xx. sythes, the pater noster with Aue maria.”(3) Penance also was commuted for paternosters when the penitent could not fast and had neither money nor "letters." Thus in the Poenitential of Archbishop Egbert of York: "LXI. An dæges fæsten man mæg mid anum penize alysan: odde mid twam hund sealmum. . . . And 3if se man scalm-sang ne conne. ponue sinze (1) In the fifteenth century the following was the rule for the sisters of Syon:-" Of the servise of sustres unlettred.” “They than kan not rede schal say dayly in stede of matens fourty paternostres, with as many aues, and oo crede; and for eche euensonge as many : ..... for our lady masse fyftene paternostres, with as many aues, and oo crede."-Additions to the Rules, Aungier's Syon Monastery, Appendix, p. 364. (2) Monumenta Franciscana (Brewer), p. 54. (3) Ordinances of the Gild, as returned in obedience to the writ of Richard II in 1388.-Toulmin Smith, English Gilds, p. 20. See the very interesting introduction to her father's work by Miss Lucy Toulmin Smith, p. xxix. |