A HISTORY OF RUTLAND There were, however, other intiuences at work by this time in the county." There is evidence that Jeremy Taylor, during his brief sojourn at Uppingham, did his utmost to revive among his parishioners a real devotion to the liturgy and rites of the Church of England. He came into residence in March 1638 ;^^ and one of his first works was to stir his people, under order from the bishop, to provide the due stipend for an organist ' for the promoting of the decency of God's worship.'** He had all the ornaments of the church renewed or replaced," and then solemnly blessed by the bishop in Peterborough Cathedral, in May 1639. They were evidently of better and more costly material than was common at that time in parish churches : the altar cloth was of green silk damask, the cushions of velvet, the chalices and patens of silver gilt. But it is worthy of notice that there is nothing in his inventory that could offend the most sober of English churchmen." If he had a crucifix on the altar of his private study, where he received those who came to him for spiritual direction,*^ there was nothing in his church that savoured of what the Puri- tans called ' innovation.' His practice as to the services of the church may be fairly inferred from the ideal he set before the clergy of his Irish diocese in later days : ' every minister is obliged publicly or privately to read the common prayers every day in the week, at morning and evening ; and in great towns and populous places conveniently inhabited it must be read in churches, that the daily sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving may never cease.'" Uppingham would certainly have been reckoned as a populous place in those days, so that we may believe that the morning and evening offices were regularly read in the church while Taylor remained at his post. His neighbour. Lord Hatton, was his staunch friend and supporter at that time ; and there is no doubt that there were some of the clergy round about who were quite as strong churchmen as himself. It has been already noted that the vicar of Ketton was one of those who tried to induce his parishioners " Some of the leaders of the Laudian revival were entertained at Burley House in this county while it was the residence of the Duke of Buckingham : Bishop Andrewes preached here twice before King James, in 1614 and 1 61 6, on the anniversary of the conspiracy of the Gowries (Andrewes, H'crks [Anglo-Catholic Library], v). This conspiracy was so nearly a success that James kept an annual day of thanksgiving to com- memorate his escape, on 5 Aug. It must have been during the earlier of these two visits that he left a horse- shoe as toll upon the door of Oakham Castle (Wright, Hist, of Rut. 104). " Bonncy, Lije of Jeremy Taylor, i 2. " A letter dated 29 March 1638 from the Bishop of Peterborough reminds the parishioners that they had already provided themselves with an organ, but had not set aside any funds to pay an organist. He considers that £,^ 7i year would suffice for this purpose. The letter is among the parish records at Uppingham, and a copy of it was made by the courtesy of the rector for the purposes of this article. " The inventory, which is also in the Uppingh.im parish records, is dated 10 May 1639, and headed : 'These things dedicated for the church of Uppingham by the right reverend father in God the Lord Bishop of Peterborough in the cathedral church.' This sounds as if everything on the list was new ; but it is scarcely possible that so much could have been done in so short a time. Probably some of the ornaments were only renovated. " The list is very similar to those which exist in the churchwardens' books of other parishes ; but it may be worth while to give it at length, as it is the only one of this period which exists in Rutland, so far as is known to the present writer. It runs as follows : ' One chalice with a cover silver and gilt. Two Patins silver and gilt. Two pewter fl.iggons. One Diaper napkin for a corporall. One Bible. One Booke of Common Prayer. One Alter Cloth of greene silke Damaske. Two Alter Cloths of Diaper. One long Cushion of crimson velvit lin'd with Crimson serge, with four greate tassils of Crimson Sllke. One short cushion of the same. One tippet of tafFety sarcenit. One Surplice. Two Blacke hoods of searge lin'd with t.ifFety sarcenit.' This inventory is printed in Bonney's Life of Jeremy Taylor, but is here given from a recently made copy.
- Autobiography of Henry h'ewcome (Chetham Soc), ii, 3 12. Henry Newcome heard this from a fellow-
student of his at St. John's College, whose mother was one of Dr. Taylor's penitents, and afterwards joined the Roman Church. " From a charge to the clergj- of the diocese of Down and Connor.
