ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY The fall of Somerset gave rise in the City to rumours that the old religion was to be restored, but the Council hastened to correct this mistake."^ The clergy were ordered to surrender all the old Church books still remaining, that the use of the Prayer Book might be enforced.™ A proclamation was issued in London forbidding ' tipplers ' to keep open doors on Sunday in service- time.'^ Early in February 1549-50 Bishop Bonner was brought from the Marshalsea, where he had met with very rough treatment,'^ and his case was reconsidered by the Council. Cranmer's previous sentence was confirmed, and Bonner was once again relegated to prison. He was succeeded in the see of London by Ridley, Bishop of Rochester,'* greatly to the joy of Hooper, who had been preaching and lecturing in London for a year past in favour of the reformed doctrines, and hoped to find a supporter in the new bishop." One of the first public acts of Ridley after his installation was to receive the Holy Communion at St. Paul's, 19 April 1550 : on that occasion he ordered the ' light of the altar ' to be extinguished before he came into the quire. '° On 5 May Bishop Ridley began his first visitation." His Injunctions amounted to little more than an enforcement of the royal Injunctions of 1549. He urged the use of the Communion table in place of the altar, and gave very definite instructions as to placing it ' so that the ministers with the communicants may have their place separated from the rest of the people ; ' '* and made searching inquiries with regard to preaching and the use of the Book of Common Prayer.'^ A proclamation for the observance of the Sabbath in London was issued on 4 May 1550,*° and another later in the year,*^ both devised with a view to promoting the attendance of the laity at Mattins and Evensong. In 1553 the performance of plays and interludes before 3 p.m. on Sundays and feast-days was forbidden.^^ Under Ridley's auspices the sermon began to take a very prominent place in the religious life of the City. Preachers were plentiful in London, and in such men as Hooper and Coverdale the bishop found able supporters of the reformed doctrines.'* St. Barnabas' Day was kept as a holy day. During the following night the high altar in St. Paul's was pulled down, a veil was hung across at the foot of the altar steps, and a Communion table placed before it.'^ Corpus Christi was not kept, and as in the previous year the people were divided as to the observance of the festivals of the Blessed Virgin.'* Owing to the renewed persecutions in the Netherlands large numbers of Protestant refugees came over to England in 1550, and on 24 July the king «' Acts ofP.C. n, 332, 336. '» S.P. Dom. Edw. VI, ix, 57. " Corp. Rec. Repert. xii (i), 231. " Monum. Franc. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 226. " Jets ofP.C. ii, 380, 385-6 ; Sharpe, Lond. and the Kingdom, i, 440 ; Wriothesley, Chron. ii, 33. '* Lond. Epis. Reg. Bonner, fol. 275-7. " Orig. Letters (Parker See), 75, 79, 185, 635, &c. " Monum. Franc. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 227. " Wriothesley, Chron. ii, 38. " Works o/Bp. Ridlef (Parker Soc), 319, 324 ; see Lond. Epis. Reg. Ridley, fol. iijb, 288. " Visitation Articles of the Bp. of London, B.M. ; Lond. Epis. Reg. Ridley, fol. 304^. The see of West- minster was now united with that of London, Thirlby, Bishop of Westminster, being translated to Norwich ; Orig. Letters (Parker Soc), 185 ; Lond. Epis. Reg. Bonner, fol. 363/5, 365^.
- ° Corp. Rec. Letter Bk. R. fol. 69. *' Monum. Franc. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 229.
«' Corp. Rec. Letter Bk. R. fol. 246. " Orig. Letters (Parker Soc), 485. '* Wriothesley, Chron. ii, 40, 41 ; Acts ofP.C. iii, 89. ^ Monum. Franc.-{Koi Ser.), ii, 228 ; Stow, Annals. " Ibid- 29s
