SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
puler this heading we notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for review in other forms.] Cerenwnies and Processions of the Cathedral Church of Sarum. Edited by Christopher Wordsworth, M.A. (Cambridge Univer- sity Press. 15s.)—Mr. Wordsworth has edited a manuscript volume dating from the fifteenth century in which are described the actual services that were performed in the Cathedral of Salisbury. Among its contents is the "Benedictio Aquae et Sails" on Sundays, a catalogue of the relics (" reliks " of nine of the Apostles, besides Paul and Barnabas, are enumerated), the order of processions for various Sundays and Saints' Days, the regulations for the "episcopus pnerorum " (this has been cut out of the volume, but is supplied from other sources), forms of admis- sion, excommunication, erc., order of Psalms to be recited, inven- tories of jewels, tie. It is a highly interesting volume, and helps one to realise what an elaborate thing the religious life of mediieval Christianity was. The inventory, drawn up in 1536, just before the "Great Robbery," is a very curious document. It makes one see what an enormous pro. portion of the personal property of the country was in ecclesiastical hands. How much of the soil of the country belonged to the churches and monasteries every one knows. When we study me dissval wills—always made, it must be re- membered, shortly before death—and see the proportion of the property that went to various religions purposes, we cease to wonder at the accumulation. There wereforty-fies chantries in the Cathedral, each with its endowment. And besides these there were such gifts as sums of money enough to buy candles for a hundred years. And every church in the country had its treasury. What would have been the result if there had been no disturbance of the system, and the accumulations had gone on, of course at an accelerated rate, to the present day ? Mr. Wordsworth has spent a vast omount of trouble on this volume, and deserves the thanks of all who study these matters. We see that the date of the murder of Bishop Ayscough, correctly given as "January 29th, 1460," on p. 312, is erroneously stated on pp. 25 and 342 as "June 29th, 1440." He was succeeded in 1450 by Richard Beauchamp.—An interesting and seasonable book on a particular item of ritual is The Coronation Service, with Introduction and Notes by the Rev. S. H. Pemberton (Skeffington and Son, 2s. net). Mr. Pemberton discusses the rationale of the office, and shows how its ceremonies are symbolical of principles, explaining, for example, the meaning of the unction and the vestments. (It is interesting to observe that in the Sarum Use the Communion was to be administered to the King and Queen in both kinds, though the practice was to refuse the cup to the , laity.) We have then an historical account of the service, and finally the service itself with continuous annotation. Among the contents of the volume is an account of the Coronation of Edward VI., written by Archbishop Creamer. (This refers to the ceremony in the Abbey—called here "Monastery "—the observances in the Hall are not included.) Two illustrations are given, reproduced from medireval manuscripts, and picturing Coronation scenes. It is noticeable that the second does not represent the chair that has been used continuously for the last seven centuries.
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