pretation ; but the solution of the problem does not properly come within the scope of a work like this.[1]
There are but scanty accounts of the changes made in the outward appearance and in the services of the Church at the beginning of Eliza- beth's reign ; it is, however, generally acknowledged that these were gradual, and that the vestments and other ornaments recovered during the reign of Mary were not laid aside at once. It is probable that except in remote parts of the country the altars were removed and tables substituted very soon : the Churchwardens' Account Book at Wing, where the Roman interest was strong, notes that the altars in that church were kept up beyond the appointed time, but that is only till 1561. [2] The rood had to be removed with the images in 1559[3]; but the rood loft did not come down till 1562.[4] The reading pew and desk, an outward and visible sign that mattins had supplanted mass as the chief Sunday service, appeared in 1571 [5] ; but not till 1582 were the walls completely whitewashed and painted with texts after the approved fashion.[6] Other churches would carry out the same changes more or less rapidly, according to the particular views of incumbents and patrons. Towards the end of the reign great unsightly pews, often placed in such position that the rarely used chancel was quite invisible from the body of the church, began to be erected everywhere. [7]
There is a report of the archdeaconry in 15845[8] which gives an idea of the state of the churches at this time, and serves as a connecting link between the early part of this century and the next. Out of twenty-nine churches, in which some default or other is noticed, seven had the chancels in bad repair and four the walls or windows. In seven churches the rector was non-resident : in one of these no curate what- ever was sent to supply his place, so that there were no services ; in two others there were only occasional services. At Weston Turville and Quainton there was no distribution of alms to the poor. At Drayton Parslow the rector was a ' common quarreller at the law ' and a fre-
- ↑ It is only fair to mention that there are signs even in the history of this county of some confusion or distortion of the moral sense among English Roman Catholics at this time, whether due to the priests or no : e.g. Lady Hungerford writes to her sister the Duchess of Feria in 1602 asking her to receive a certain Mr. Butler, a ' reconciled Catholic,' who had (on great occasion, as he thought) committed a crime for which he was constrained to leave his country. S. P. Dom. Eliz. cclxxxiv. 26.
- ↑ On f. 64 a payment of &d. is entered ' To the sumner to keep us from Lincoln for slackness of our altars.' Immediately after a table appears amongst the items bought.
- ↑ On f. 61 after ' a Book for ministering of the Sacrament in English ' comes ' Taking down of the rood,' both in 1559.
- ↑ On f . 65 (i 562) are items ' Taking down of our wod loft,' and ' Taking away the rubble of our altars and laying down the stone of the altar again.' 6 Ibid. f. 74.
- ↑ Ibid.f.74.
- ↑ Ibid. f. 85d. It is a great pity that so few of these Churchwardens' Boob are preserved. They contain much interesting indirect evidence as to the ritual and services of the time. At Wing for instance from 1559 onwards there is no account of the mending of any vestment but the surplice ; and the frequent mention of the ' Midsomer communion ' as well as those of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, makes it probable that there were only four celebrations in the year. There is evidence that the church was regularly repaired, and alms paid to the poor on All Souls' Day, through most of the reign of Elizabeth.
- ↑ There is a plan of Chetwode Church ' temp. Elizabeth ' printed from Browne Willis's MSS. in Records of Bucks, iii. 214, where three large pews stand between the altar and the choir.
- ↑ B Among the episcopal records in the Alnwick Tower at Lincoln.
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