ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY but no longer an indispensable part of preparation for Communion.^' The ' Order ' also provided for Communion in both kinds by the laity ; some parishes bought in that year a new cup, larger than their old chalice or of a different shape ; St. Mary Magdalen Milk Street sold two chalices to pay for it. The appearance of this book, which supplemented but did not supersede the old Latin missal, was probably interpreted in London as giving further sanction to the use of English in divine service. The churchwardens' accounts for 1548 show that while almost all the parishes bought five or six copies of the Psalter in English, some of them also paid for English versions of whole services, including the mass, mattins, and evensong. They thus corroborate the statement of the chronicler that ' Paul's quire with divers other parishes sang all the service in English, both mattins, mass, and evensong; and kept no mass, without some received the Communion with the priest.'"" In September the aldermen decided that the Mass of the Holy Ghost before the election of the mayor on Michaelmas Day should be solemnly sung in English, the Communion being administered to two or three of the priests.^ It was during this year that a great change was made in the routine of services in London churches by the discontinuance of the special daily or weekly masses — the ' Morrow Mass,' 'Our Lady Mass,' and 'Jesus Mass.' ^^ The most important of these, the ' Morrow Mass,' which was said very early in the morning, had made it possible for every man, however busy, to be present on any day at divine service. Up till 1538 'great multitude of people ' were accustomed to avail themselves of this privilege ; ^' it is not known whether it had since begun to be neglected. But the question whether this change in the religious life of London took place gradually between 1538 and 1548 or suddenly in 1547—8 does not affect its significance : it marks the ending of the period during which attendance on weekdays at divine service was customary. The task of the Commissioners appointed early in i 548 to carry out the Act for the dissolution of chantries was one of great difficulty ; for in London the endowments of the chantries and obits and lights were usually a charge upon property left to the rector and churchwardens of a parish or to a City company.^* The companies solved the problem by paying to the king until 1550 annual sums equivalent to those with which they had formerly main- tained the chantries, &c., and then compounding all future payments for a lump sum of jTi 8,744 i u. 2^.^° The Corporation bought from the king the Guildhall Chapel and its lands,*^ and vainly endeavoured to save from confiscation the property of the gild of parish clerks, which, after a long contest, failed to make good its claim to be regarded as a ' mystery.' It refused, however, to be dissolved ; and in April 1553 the aldermen agreed to a new set of ordinances for it." The dissolution of the chantries considerably " There is an entry in the Jccts. of Si. Michael Cornhill ioi 1548 (ed. Overall, 69), about taking down the ' shriving pew,' but it seems to be exceptional. "* Wriothesley, Chron. ii, 2 ; cf. Monum. Franc, ii, 2 1 6, and Stow, Annals. ^' Rec. Corp. Repert. xi, fol. ^Jlb. '" Par. Rec. ^ Fide supra, p. 272. "' Sharpe, Cal. of Wills, passim. " Sharpe, Lond. and the Kingdom, i, 424, and, in addition to the references there given, Corp. Rec. Repert. xii (l), fol. 2i;3 ; (2), fol. 485 ; Stow, Annals. '^ Corp. Rec. Letter Bks. Q, fol. 244 ; R, fol. I ^h, 6^i. -'Corp. Rec. Repert. xii (l), fol. 49^, 163 ; xiii, fol. ji, 41^, 56 ; Christie, Par. Clerks, 91, 113. For particulars respecting some of the colleges and fraternities now dissolved, see ' Religious Houses.' 291
