THE NAG'S HEAD CONSECRATION.

WE extract the following account of the consecration of Matthew Parker, D.D.; on which the fable of the Nag's Head consecration was built by the Jesuits of that day; but which is now repudiated even by the papists themselves; from Dr. Peter Heylin's "History of the Reformation of the Church of England," printed in 1561.

Anno Reg. Eliz. 2, A.D. 1559, 1560.

"We must begin this year with the consecration of such bishops as were elected to succeed in the place of those which had been deprived, the first of which was that of the most reverend Dr. Matthew Parker, elected to the See of Canterbury on the first of August, but not consecrated till the 17th December following. That dignity had first been offered, as is said by some, to Dr. Nicolas Wotton, Dean of Canterbury and York, who, grown in years and still a wellwiller to the Pope, desired to be excused from undertaking of a charge so weighty. And some say it was offered unto Whitehead also, who had been chaplain to Anne Boleyn, the Queen's Mother; but he returned the like refusal, though on other grounds, as more inclined (by reason of his long abode in Calvin's churches) to the presbyterian than to the episcopal form of government; and it was happy, for the Church might have been betrayed by his disaffection, that he did refuse it. The chair being better filled by Parker, another of Queen Anne Boleyn's chaplains, but better principled, and of a far more solid judgement in affairs of moment.

But the main cause for keeping the episcopal sees in so long a vacancy must be found elsewhere" [than in the opinion of some, that the queen was so enamoured with the power and title of supreme governess, that she could not deny herself that contentment in the exercise of it, which the present interval afforded; for what are titles without power?] "An act had passed in the late parliament, which never had the confidence to appear in print; in the preamble of which it was declared: That by dissolution of religious houses in the time of the late king, her majesty's father, many impropriations, tithes and portions of tithes, had been invested in the Crown, which the queen, being a lady of a tender con

science, thought not fit to hold, nor could conveniently dismember from it without compensation, in regard of the present low condition in which she found the crown at her coming to it.' Thereupon it was enacted, that in the vacancy of any archbishoprick or bishoprick, it should be lawful for the queen to issue out a commission under the Great Seal, for taking a survey of all castles, lands, manors, tenements, and all other hereditaments to the said episcopal sees belonging or appertaining; and on the return of such surveys, to take into her hands any of the said castles, &c. as to her seemed good; giving to the said archbishops or bishops as much annual rent, to be raised upon impropriations, tithes and portions of tithes as the said castles, &c., did amount unto. The Church lands, certified according to the ancient rents, without consideration of the casualties and other perquisites of court which belonged unto them; the retribution made in pensions, tithes, and portions of tithes, extended at the utmost value, from which no other profit was to be expected than the rent itself. Which act not being to take effect till the end of that parliament, the interval betwixt the end of the parliament, the deprivation of the old bishops and the consecration of the new, was to be taken up in the execution of such surveys, and making such advantages of them, as most redounded to the profit of the queen and her courtiers. Upon which ground, as all the bishops sees were so long kept vacant before any of them were filled; so in the following times they were kept void one after another as occasion served, till the best flowers in the whole garden of the church had been culled out of it. There was another clause in said statutes, by which the patrimony of the church was as much dilapidated, sede plena, as it was pulled by this in times of vacancy; for by that clause, all bishops' were restrained from making any grants of their farms and manors for more than twenty-one years, or three lives at most, except it were unto the queen, her heirs and successors; (and, under that pretence, to any of her hungry courtiers) they might be granted in fee-farm, or for a lease of fourscore and nineteen years, as it pleased the parties. By which means Credinton was dismembered from the see of Exeter, the goodly manor of Sherborne from that of Salisbury; many manors alienated for ever from the rich sees of Winchester, Ely, and indeed, what not?

"But to proceed unto the consecration of the new archbishop. The first thing to be done after the passing of the royal assent for ratifying of the election of the Dean and Chapter, was the confirming of it in the Court of the Arches, according to the usual form in that behalf; which being accordingly performed, the Vicar-general, the Dean of the Arches, the proctors and officers of the court, whose presence were required at this solemnity, were entertained at a dinner provided for them at the Nag's-Head Tavern in Cheapside; for which, though Parker paid the shot, yet shall the Church be called to an after-reckoning. Nothing remains to expedite the consecration but the royal mandate, which I find dated on the sixth of December, directed to Anthony Kitching, bishop of Landaff; William Barlow, late bishop of Bath and Wells, lord elect of Chichester, John Scory, late bishop of Chichester, lord elect of Hereford; Miles Coverdale, late bishop of Exeter, Jobn Hodgskins, suffragan of Bedford, John, suffragan of Thetford, and John Bale, bishop of Ossory, in the realm of Ireland, requiring them, or any of them at the least, to proceed unto the consecration of the Right Rev. Matthew Parker, lately elected to the metropolitical see of Canterbury. The first and the two last, either hindered by sickness or by some other lawful impediment, were not in a condition to attend the service; which, notwithstanding, was performed by the other four, on Sunday the 17th of that month, according to the ordinal of King Edward VI., then newly printed for that purpose; the ceremony performed in the chapel at Lambeth House, the east end whereof was hanged with rich tapestry, and the floor covered with red cloth; the morning service read by Pearson, the archbishop's chaplain.; the sermon preached by Dr. Scory, lord elect of Hereford, on those words of St. Peter: The elders which are among you I exhort, &c.' (1 Pet. v. 1.) The letters patent for proceeding to the consecration publicly read by Dr. Dale; the act of consecration legally performed by the imposition of the hands of the said four bishops, according to the ancient canons and King Edward's ordinal; and after all a plentiful dinner for the entertainment of the company which resorted thither, amongst whom, Charles Howard, eldest son of William, lord Effingham, created afterwards lord admiral and Earl of Nottingham, happened to be one, and after testified to the truth of all

these particulars, when the reality and form of this consecration was called in question by some captious sticklers for the Church of Rome.

PETTICOAT LANE ON SUNDAY.

Nearly one square mile, gutted through with lanes, averaging fifteen and twenty feet from wall to wall, is every day thronged all through by a filthy, besotted, avaricious mob; including entire hordes of professional thieves and wrestlers -men and women ready for any deed of infamy, and to commit it in open daylight-low and filthy Jews, with mouths full of obscenity, blasphemy, lying and nasal slang; add, to make up the bulk, thousands of unwashed idlers, reeking from their lairs, with a goodly sprinkling of real children of misery, seeking, by means of the last shilling. to get shoes for their blistered feet, or covering for their shirtless backs; and you have the scene which the high walls of a few leading thoroughfares shut in and hide from the respectable part of the populace, at the very moment when the church bells are ringing for morning service. There cannot be less than ten thousand persons there in the course of a Sunday morning; for the crowd swells and boils over at every outlet, and the extreme ripples reach as far as Artillery-lane, on one side, and to Aldgate pump on the other; and what with selling exchanging, and stealing, an immense amount of property must change hands in the course of every Sunday morning, Truth compels us to say, that though we heard many an awful oath, we did not see one single case of drunkenness—so much for the compulsory closing of the dark little grog shops that abound there. Nor did we notice anything approaching to a melee, though small scuffles were numerous enough. At every few yards stands one of the City police, overawing the mingled elements of discord, and by their firm bearing compelling order, such as it is. Indeed, we feel assured, that abandoned for a single hour by the police, Petticoat-lane and its odoriferous precincts would more than realise the most vivid imaginings of Pandemonium, and, indeed, it is already little else than a hell upon earth.

Notices of Books.

CHRISTIAN GELLERT, and other sketches; translated from the German. (Sampson Low, Son, and Co., 1858). In this volume we have presented to us, in an English dress, a few of the favourite tales of Berthold Auerbach. They are well written and well translated, and read in their English form with good effect. The first tale,-the last Christmas of the poet Christian Fear-God Gellert,-is exceedingly well told. It is a simple story, related in simple language; but it will not fail to please and interest those whose minds can be satisfied with something else than the maudlin sentimentality and the morbid twaddle of the fashionable novel. To us the simple sketch, such as this is, of a trait in a good aud pious man's character, is of much more worth than a whole book-full of the trash of which the world is so fond. The volume is well got-up. Beautifully printed on tinted paper and handsomely bound, it is essentially a book for the drawing-room. We wish the book success.

THE WEEKLY OFFERTORY (J. H. & J. Parker) Is a sermon by the Rev. W. R. Wroth, incumbent of St. Philip's, Clerkenwell, published by desire of his flock, to whom it is dedicated; the first sentence of which is most true. He says: "One of the greatest practical difficulties at the present day is that of obtaining funds sufficient, first for the support of the ministry; secondly for the expences of divine worship; and thirdly for the relief of the poor, the maintenance of schools and those other charitable institutions which tend to promote, in so great a degree, the well-being of the community." This is a most excellent sermon, and close to the point. Mr. Wroth shews, first the Scripture authority, next that of the prayer-book, and finally the duty and privilege of worshipping God by our substance. His appeal was well responded to by his small congregation; for "the offerings on the first Sunday amounted to rather more than £12.” This is a good beginning; and the example will doubtless be followed, so soon as the benefit arising from the weekly offertory appears. We strongly recommend this sermon to the perusal of the clergy and the laity; and that they may go anddo likewise," as the incumbent and congregation of St. Philip's, Clerkenwell, have so well and faithfully done.