The Episcopal Ornaments are the same for Confirmation, Ordination. Consecration of Churches and Burial Grounds : perhaps the Rubric at the end of the First Prayer Book, in directing a Surplice or Albe, and a Cope or Vestment," may have intended the use of the Albe and Vestment when the whole Communion Service was used.

In any consideration of the Ornaments to be used in Divine Service, it is not only unavoidable but important to consider such points as [1] their material, [2] their colour, [3] their form, particularly in reference to such of them as, by reason of long disuse, are but little known. The fact that those Ornaments which have been retained in use among us do exhibit mostly their ancient material, colour, and form, except as altered, for the better or the worse, by any subsequent fashions, may fairly be taken to indicate what would have been the case with those Ornaments which have fallen into disuse: and this view is strongly confirmed by the very general preservation of these ancient characteristics in the Royal, Noble, Civic, Legislative, Judicial, Military, and Naval Ornaments which (unlike so many of the Ecclesiastical) have never ceased to be employed among us. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that, in the very extensive modern restorations which have been accomplished, the permanent Decorations of Churches, the Altar-plate, and Altar-coverings have decidedly followed, for the most part, the ancient patterns and models which were familiar at the period selected as the Standard in the Rubric on Ornaments.

The English Church, while presenting in her Ornaments the same ordinary features which were common to the rest of Christendom, always had her own special usages, and those, too, somewhat diversified in details by several local varieties; as, indeed, was and is also the case in Kingdoms or Dioceses connected with other Branches of the Catholic Church. Though most has perished, enough remains in England of actual ancient specimens (besides the more abundant illustrations in old Illuminations) of Windows, Carvings, Monuments, Brasses, Seals, and the like, to furnish authoritative guidance, especially in regard to the Form of ancient Ornaments.

Moreover, in the Inventories of Church Goods, the descriptions of Material and Colour are so numerous and detailed as to supply what is, to a great extent, unavoidably lacking in these respects in the illustrations just named, owing either to the nature of them, e.g. Carvings which rarely exhibit Colours, or to errors which may be due, for instance, to the glass-painter or the illuminator who, perhaps, was at times less careful to give the actual colour of a Vestment in an Ecclesiastical Function than to furnish a picture in accordance with his own taste. The following Tables contain a summarized analysis of such contents of five Inventories as relate to the Vestments of the Ministers and the Choir, and also to the various Hangings or Articles employed in furnishing and decorating the Altars and Chancels they are all of the date of 1552 and 1553, and so they exhibit accurately Ornaments which

were preserved in the Churches at the very period to which the Rubric on Ornaments directs attention, when prescribing the general Rule as to the things which "shall be retained, and be in use" now in the Church of England. Three of these Inventories, viz. Holy Trinity Cathedral, Winchester, 1552; St. Martin, Outwich, London, 1552-53; and Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berks, 1553, have been used already to illustrate other points: the two additional ones now cited are St. Paul's Cathedral, 1552, and St. Nicolas, Cole Abbey, London, 1552.

A cursory inspection of these Lists of Ornaments shews at once that, as respects Material, the choice, while amply varied, ran very much upon the richer fabrics, whether of Home or Foreign Manufacture; Cloth of Gold, and Satin of Bruges, being the more costly, were, as might be expected, the most rare; but Velvet, Satin, Silk, Bawdkyn, and the like, were not uncommonly used; though such inferior stuffs as Taffeta, Chamlett, and Fustian often occur. The nature or quality of what was to be employed seems not to have been prescribed; indeed, had there been a desire to do so (which is very improbable) the varying pecuniary abilities of Parishes would have made it needful to avoid any rule on the subject, except requiring them to provide according to their means the essential (and if they could any supplementary) things appertaining to the Services of the Church.

The same principle is acted upon now in the Holy Eastern Church. A Priest of that Communion informs the writer that "there are no strict rules for the Material: when possible, silken and brocaded Vestments are to be preferred. Where the means are circumscribed, plain linen ones are worn, or of whatever Material, so long as it is clean, and made in the proper shape." With them doubtless it is, as the foregoing catalogue proves it to have been with us, that the instinct of natural piety, viz. the devotion of the best to God's service, is not relied upon in vain. Nor was the care and cost bestowed upon the Material limited to the foundation of the Vestments or Hangings; embroidery of all kinds was abundantly displayed in pattern or powdering, whether in Silk or Gold (not seldom in the muchvalued Gold of Venice), so that the Sacred Name, the Crucifix, the Cross, Crowns, Angels, Imagery, Eagles, Herons, Lions, Dolphins, Swans, the Sun and Moon, Stars, Wheat-sheaves, Grapes, Flowers, and the like, adorned the Fabrics of which the Vestures were made; or composed the rich Orphreys, which were rendered all the more beautiful and costly by Pearls and Precious Stones; as though the donors desired to attain in the adornments of the Sanctuary to somewhat of the fulness of meaning contained in the Psalmist's words, "The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework" [Ps. xlv. 13, 14].

[II] So, again, as to Colour: the Inventories now under examination shew it to have been chiefly of six kinds, viz. White, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Black; besides various combinations of all these. The proportions in which they existed are shewn in the following Table of Vestments which were in the five Churches at the date of the Inventories:—

It may be as well to remark here that all the Green Vestments in this list belonged to the two Cathedral Churches, except one Chasuble, Dalmatic, and Tunicle, which were in St. Martin, Outwich. Green occurs much less frequently than other colours: it was an Exeter colour, and is also found

in Lists of Vestments belonging to the Northern Province; but there seems very little to indicate with any certainty when it was used, though perhaps it served for ordinary week-days, especially in Trinity-tide.

So, again, with regard to Blue: while it appears to have been a much more usual colour, it is often very uncertain what kind of Blue is meant, whether Cerulean or some darker shade; frequently indeed the latter is indicated by the words "blodium" and "indicus," which mean a sort of hyacinthine and darker blue; but these must not be confounded with Purple, which is also found in the same or other Lists. The occasions, however, on which Blue or Purple was employed are somewhat conjectural, though there is more to guide: light Blue seems sometimes to have been used in Commemorations of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a somewhat darker shade is to be seen in Illuminations of about the Fifteenth Century, in Copes used at Funerals.

A similar variety is found, both as to material and colour, in the Coverings and Hangings used for the Altars and Chancels: the annexed list exhibits their Colours:

Besides the colours already enumerated, others are sometimes mentioned, such as Brown, Tawney, Murrey, Pink, and Cheyney-perhaps Chestnut; also combinations of colours, viz. Red and Green, Paly of White and Green, Red and White, Blue and White, Blue and Yellow, White and Red chequered. These different colours, or mixtures of colours, are to be found alike in Vestments of the Ministers, or of the Altars, no less than in the Hangings of the Churches.

It is worth noticing that the more usual Ecclesiastical colours are those which may be especially accounted the Colours of England-Red, White, and Blue-being combined in the National Flag, and designating the Admirals of this Country's Fleets: possibly the close, though curious and apparently untraceable, relations which for several centuries subsisted between the Church and the Navy, in the Admiralty and Ecclesiastical Courts, may have tended to perpetuate this correspondence. It may also be mentioned, as probably indicating the effect which Ecclesiastical customs produced or helped to perpetuate, that Red, Violet, and Black are mentioned as colours worn on the Judicial Bench, according to the Term, in some Regulations made by the Judges in 1635. [Gent. Mag. Oct. 1768.] Green, also, appears to have been at one time a favourite colour with them. Moreover, the retention of Red, Purple, and Green-and especially the prevalence of Red-in the rich and decent, no less than (as was once too common) in the miserable and dirty coverings of handsome or unsightly Altar-tables in the churches, are in all likelihood the traditional use of these same colours which formerly were more commonly and more variously employed in the Services of the Church of England, and that, too, not without regard to some written or unwritten rule as to the Services and Seasons at which they should be used. That a desire has long existed, and increases, again to adopt a greater variety of colour in the Ornaments of the Church, and especially in the coverings of the Altar, is plain from what has been accomplished and is still doing: one object of this wished-for variety is the very useful one of distinguishing, and so teaching, by outward tokens, the changes of the Church Seasons and the occurrence of Ecclesiastical Holydays. For lack of any existing rule on this subject in the Church of England, the rule of the rest of the Western Church has not unnaturally been followed in many cases, especially as the ancient English rule or practice was either not at all known, or not easily to be collected, even by those who were aware that some leading points of it were to be found without much difficulty. As the need of some guide in this matter is becoming more general, it may not be without a really practical use to compare the old English rules with those of the Roman and the Eastern Churches: by doing this a somewhat uniform principle will probably be found, sufficient also to furnish a general rule for those who, while rightly wishing to be not out of harmony with the rest of Christendom, would with equal propriety prefer to follow any older practice of the Church of England which would afford a satisfactory direction in the absence of any definite rule authorized by living Ecclesiastical Authority.

The Roman rule is laid down with precision: the old English rule can be ascertained with a near

1 Dyer mentions that in Spain Philip II. brought naval matters before the Inquisition, and that Don Pedro, Arch

bishop of Toledo, was High Admiral of Castile "by a then not uncommon union of offices." [DYER'S Modern Europe, p. 189.]

approach to accuracy, from the ancient Service-books, St. Osmund's Register, and the Inventories of Church goods. The Eastern Church, as a learned Priest of it states, does not give "in her Ritual books" any such "minute rules with regard to the colours of the Vestments, as are to be found in the Western Ritual. The Church enjoins her ministers to care more for the simple purity and propriety of the vestments than for their richness. In those cases where means are at hand, she bids the ministers to wear richer vestments of any colour for the joyful seasons of the year, and Black or Red ones for the times of fasting and sorrow. Thus, in Passion Week, and Great Lent, at Burials, etc., Black or Purple Vestments are worn. It is customary to wear White Silk Vestments (if possible) at Epiphany and Easter." In this description of the general and unspecific character of the Eastern rule, there is a considerable correspondence with the features of the Sarum rule just noticed.

The following Table may be considered as furnishing a fairly trustworthy view of these three Rules:— COMPARATIVE TABLE OF COLOURS ACCORDING TO THE ENGLISH, ROMAN AND EASTERN USE.

COMPARATIVE TABLE OF COLOURS ACCORDING TO THE ENGLISH, ROMAN, AND EASTERN USE--continued.

III. Having thus given some description of the Material and Colour of the "Ornaments of the Ministers," their Form may be understood by means of the accompanying descriptions and illustrations. The symbolical meanings which are added to the former are taken from the "Book of Ceremonies" or "Rationale," drawn up under the direction of Archbishop Cranmer in the year 1542. The original manuscript of this "Rationale," occasionally corrected by Cranmer's own hand, is preserved in the British Museum [Cleop. E. 5, fol. 259 sqq.], and it may also be found in print in COLLIER'S

the Parisian colour, and it appears in Archbishop Chichele's Pontifical in the Library of Trin. Coll. Camb. Purple was used at Lincoln by the celebrant in solemn obsequies about 1350.

8 Some Gallican uses have Green for Bishops and Violet for Abbats.

9 At Exeter (where Bishop Grandisson in 1340 adopted the London, Canterbury, or Medieval Roman sequence) any colour ad libitum was admitted on All Saints, Feast of Relics, and Dedication of a Church.

10 But these are described as the days of Sixtus and Donatus.

11 Unfortunately a blank is left in the Wells Ordinal against St. Luke's Day.

12 The Wells rule (printed by Mr. H. E. Reynolds, 1881) gives for a Virgin not Martyr White and Red.