A HISTORY OF LONDON apparently with some measure of success, though in 1558 three persons suffered death in London for heresy. -'" Still, order seems to have prevailed on the whole ; sermons and processions took place without disturbance,"^ and the ancient ceremonies were used at the funerals of several important persons who died during this year.^*" Mary's reign, like that of her brother, closed in gloom, and her succes- sor was hailed enthusiastically with ringing of bells, feasting, bonfires, and the singing of the Te Deum in every church in London."" The Spanish ambassador, describing Queen Elizabeth's first visit to the City, wrote, ' There is great rejoicing amongst the common people and the young folks and those who were persecuted for heresy or treason ; but others are not so pleased, as I hear.'^^^ On the Sunday after the accession (20 November 1558) Dr. Bill, the queen's chaplain, preached ' the Gospel ' at Paul's Cross ; °^^ but on the following Sunday the Bishop of Chichester occupied the same pulpit, and with great vehemence refuted Dr. Bill's arguments, exclaiming, ' Believe not this new doctrine ; it is not the Gospel, but a new invention.' The queen, hearing of this, summoned the bishop to her presence, examined him, and committed him to prison."^* Queen Mary's funeral took place on 14 December ; the sermon was preached by the Bishop of Winchester.^ He was punished for the ' Catholic ' opinions which he expressed in this sermon by confinement to his house, but was released, after 'a good admonition,' on 19 January 1558-9."' The reformers who had fled to the Continent now began to flock back into England,"" and religious disputes waxed so fierce, especially in the City, that the queen on 27 December 1558 issued a proclamation silencing all preachers and ordering that, pending the revision of the Book of Common Prayer, no public prayer, rite, or ceremony should be used except the Lord's Prayer, Creed, Epistle, Gospel, Litany, and Ten Commandments."' She was roused to take this step partly by the conduct of some of the reformers from Germany, who on Christmas Day broke open the church of St. Augus- tine (which had been devoted to the use of the Italians in London, and of which the Italian consul refused to give them the key) and preached four sermons there during the day."" Meanwhile the queen herself heard mass, but objected to the elevation of the Host, and ordered certain portions of the service to be said in English in her chapel.^*" On i January 1558-9 the lord mayor published in the City a royal proclamation that in the parish churches as in the queen's chapel the Epistle and Gospel at mass were to be read in English, and that the English Litany was to be used."^ As the queen passed through the City on the day before her coronation (14 January 1558—9) ' a Bible in English richly covered was let down unto her by a silk lace from a child that represented "'Machyn, Diary, 169. "'Ibid. 164-6, 168. ""Ibid. 165-6, 1 7 1-2. ■" Ibid. 178. "' Cal. Span. S.P. 1558-67, p. 5. '"Machyn, Diary, 1 78 ; Zurich Letters (Parker Soc), i, 4. "* Ibid. '" Machyn, Diary, 183. ^^ Jets o/P.C.vli, 45 ; see Zurici Letters, i, 7. "'Ca/. Span. S.P. 1558-67, p. 12. '^ Jets ofP.C vii, 31 ; Corp. Rec. Journ. xvii, fol. lo63 ; Sharpe, Lond. and the Kingdom, i, 146 ; see Zurich Letters, i, 7. "' Cal. Span. S.P. 1558-67, pp. 16-17. ""Ibid. 17, 18. '" Wriothesley, Chron. ii, 142-3 ; Annals of Queen EHz. (Camd. Soc), 13.
