or do use any kind of laver with a removeable bason, or have taken down the old and usual font heretofore used in your parish."Bishop Bancroft's Visitation Articles.

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1603.] "According to a former constitution, too much neglected in many places, we appoint, That there shall be a font of stone in every church and chapel where Baptism is to be ministered; the same to be set up in the ancient usual places. In which ONLY font the minister shall baptize publickly."-Canon LXXXI.

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1628.] "Why is the altar [in Durham Cathedral] lifted up to the top of the sanctuary or chancel, and the font not admitted so much as to the bottom? It is not suffered to stand in the wonted place behind the quire door: why is one preferred as holier than the other, being Sacraments of equal dignity?"—Sermon by Peter Smart, p. 17.

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1631.] "Whether have you in your church or chapel a font of stone set up in the ancient usual place?"—Visitation Articles by W. Laud, Bishop of London.

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1637.] "Whether doth your minister baptize any children in any bason or other vessel than in the ordinary font, being placed in the church, or doth he put a basin in it ?”—Ibid.

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1638.] "Is there in your church a font for the Sacrament of Baptism, fixed unto the LORD's freehold and not moveable? Of what materials is it made? where is it placed? whether near unto a church door, to signify our entrance into God's Church by Baptism? is it covered, well and cleanly kept? at time of Baptism is it filled with water clean and clear? or is some basin, bowl, or bucket, filled with water, set therein ?"-Bishop Montague's Visitation Articles, Camb. Edit. p. 49.

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1662.] "And the priest coming to the font (which is then to be FILLED with pure water), and standing there, shall say."*—Rubrick in the Book of Common Prayer.

* Nothing is more strictly enjoined by the Canons and Rubricks of our Church than the use of a stone font, filled with water, for the Baptismal rite; and nothing

G

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1843.] "Have you a decent fixed stone font with a cover? Does it stand near to the chief door? Is it well and cleanly kept? Is there space enough about it for the sponsors to kneel? Is it large enough for the immersion of infants? Is it, and none other, used for Baptisms? Has it a drain for the water to run off?"—Articles of Inquiry by the Archdeacon of Bristol, 1843.

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Consecration of Fonts.

1565.] "When the service was done, the Queen's Majesty came down to the chapel, and went to her traverse, and stayed till the font was hallowed, by the Bishops of Canterbury [Parker], London [Grindal], Salisbury [Jewel], and Rochester [Gheast]."-Christening of the Child of Lady Cecile, &c. Leland's Collections, vol. II. p. 693.

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1590.] "As to their public Baptism: it must be done in their conjured hallowed font, with a special Gospel taken out of the 10th chapter after Mark, the water being well conjured and hallowed to the mystical washing away of sin."-A Brief Discourse of the False Church, p. 100, 4to. 1590.

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1627.] "That part of the old font called the basin, then made use of in this place [S. Nicholas, Lynn], (before the erecting of that now standing, granted and consecrated by Samuel Harsenet, D.D. and Bishop of Norwich, in the year 1627, and which resembles that at S. Margaret's.) I am apt to believe is the same which I observed to be upon the ground (with the pedestal some distance from it) among the rubbish and lumber in a certain place on the north side of the quire."-Mackerell's Account of King's Lynn, Norfolk, p. 92. Book of Fragments, p. 46.

is more generally neglected. In many churches (as at Cheshunt, Herts.) the font is disused, and a composition basin, set on a tomb by the altar, employed instead. In others, basins of all kinds of crockery-ware are placed in the bowl of the font, or on the cover. We are ashamed to add, that Cambridge itself can furnish instances of both these enormities. In S. Botolph's church, for example, within the last few months, the cover of the large and ancient font was to be usually seen leaning on its edge, and a four-legged stool, with a blue-and-white hand basin, containing a small quantity of liquid, occupied the "Laver of regeneration."-EDD.

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Circa 1642.] "In that cathedral [Canterbury] there hath been lately erected a superstitious font with three ascents to it, paled without with high gilded and painted iron bars, having under the cover of it a carved image of the HOLY GHOST in the form of a dove, and round about it are placed carved images of the twelve Apostles and four Evangelists, and of angels, and over it a carved image of CHRIST......and that font was consecrated by the Lord Bishop of Oxford, as is testified by a Proctor of the Archbishop's Ecclesiastical Court of Canterbury."-Cathedral News from Canterbury, &c., recorded and published by Richard Culmer, Minister of God's Word, p. 3, 4to. 1644.

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Temp. Charles I.] "The christening and consecrating of churches and chapels, the consecrating fonts, pulpits, tables, chalices, churchyards, and many other things, and putting holiness in them; yea, reconsecrating upon pretended pollution, as though every thing were unclean without their consecrating, and for want of this sundry churches have been interdicted and kept from use as polluted."-A Particular of the manifold evils, pressures, and grievances caused, practised, and occasioned by the Prelates and their dependants. The humble Petition of many of his Majesty's Subjects in and about the City of London and several Counties of the Kingdom. Nalson's Impartial Collection, &c. vol. 1. p. 165, folio, 1682,

Mitres, Pastoral Staffs, and Processional Crosses.

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Mitres, Pastoral Staffs, and Processional Crosses in use immediately after the Reformation.

1548.] "No mention is here [in the rubrick] made of that very ancient and beautiful part of the episcopal dress, the Mitre: but in the original frontispiece to Cranmer's Catechismus, set forth' about the same time as Edward's first Prayer-book, the Bishops are represented wearing their copes and mitres, and with their pastoral staffs

in their hands."-The Rubrick, its strict Observance recommended, p. 14, note, 12mo. 1839.

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1552, 6 Edw. VI.] "The Protestant Bishops had their crosses borne before them, and wore copes, till the 1st of November, 1552, 6 Edward vi.”—Illustrations of the Manners and Expenses of Ancient Times in England, p. 318.

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1554.] "The effigy [of Thomas Goodrich, Keeper of the Great Seal to Edward VI. and Bishop of Ely, in Ely Cathedral] which, with the exception of one small piece in the upper part, is quite perfect, represents the full episcopal robes. The alb, which is handsomely ornamented in the orfray, reaches to the feet, which are sandaled; above these is the tunic; between the latter and the dalmatic the fringed ends of the stole are visible; the maniple and chasible are both richly embellished. [A mitre adorns the head.] In the left hand is the pastoral staff adorned with the vexillum: in the right, the Bible and great seal.”—Illustrations of Monumental Brasses, No. 1. p. 14, Cambridge, 4to. 1840.

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Mitre and Pastoral Staff represented on the Effigy of Miles Magrath, Archbishop of Cashel.

1621.] "He died at Cashel in December 1622, in the hundredth year of his age......... In his lifetime he erected a monument for himself in the Cathedral of Cashel. It is placed on a high basis on the south side of the choir, between the Episcopal throne and the altar, on which is his effigies cut in stone in high relief; his mitre on his head, and his pastoral staff in his hand."-Ware's History of Ireland, vol. 1. p. 485, fol. 1764.

* See the accompanying lithograph, which represents King Edward and his Court, and is a copy of the "frontispiece" referred to in the text. Mitres were worn, and crosses, &c. carried, at the coronations of Edward vi. and Elizabeth. We also find mention made of pastoral staffs in King Edward's first Prayer-book and Ordinal, and in the accounts of the consecrations of several Bishops during his reign. See post, under "Ecclesiastical Vestments." There is an engraving of a pastoral staff preserved at Oxford, and said to have been Latimer's, in Wade's Walks in Oxford, vol. II. p. 241.-EDD.