with a long cloth when in use.1 Some great churches also had an Epistle-lectern.

Something may be said for the Paschal Candlestick, which may be for economy of painted wood, and which should be not less than about 6 ft. high. It would be better to omit the grains of 'incense', which are generally shams and not incense at all, and are said to be due to the misreading of a phrase in the Exultet, incensi huius sacrificium, which really meant the sacrifice of this lighted candle'. Indeed, as we have no form for the blessing of the Paschal light, we have no right to stick on these 'grains'. We can at most only use the Paschal candle as an additional light set near the altar during Eastertide. It is certainly an ornament which has a symbolical value, and serves to mark out this season.2

A word may be given to the Tenebrae Herse, which was a triangle fitted with 24 spikes for candles.* It cannot of course be used unless the Bishop authorizes both it and the services to which it belongs.

There remain to be mentioned the funeral accessories, which are further treated in Chapter XVII.

1 See p. 64. The two wooden lecterns had three cloths for Lent in addition to three other cloths.'-Inv. High Wycombe, p. 5.

2 It was also one of the necessary ornaments to be provided by the parishioners, in the provinces both of Canterbury and York, and such canons, constitutions, ordinances, and synodals provincial' have the force of statute law, if they are not contrariant or repugnant to the laws, statutes, and customs of this Realm 'by the Act 25 Henry VIII, cap. 19.

Herse or Hearse is derived from the Latin word for a harrow; it is here used in the meaning of its first derivation-'a triangular framework for holding candles' (Chambers's Et. Dic.). Because of the candles the word came to be applied to the bier, which used to be stuck over with many candles at a great funeral.

The triangle may be of wood 3 in. broad and 1 in. thick, its base being 4 ft. long, and its sides 3 ft., the whole fixed on to a stand.

The Bier or Herse should not be more than about 2 ft. high. It should have handles, to avoid the necessity of shouldering the coffin in church. Those made by Mr. Vigers can be supplied with a frame to carry the pall, and also with a carriage so that the bier may be wheeled along the road in country parishes.

The Herse-Cloth or Pall.-There is still at the present day an unnecessary hankering after gloom at funerals. Ancient palls in old miniatures are often of bright colours, the following examples being typical :-Cloth of gold; black velvet, with a wide cross all through of silver tissue; red with a gold cross; black with a gold cross; blue with a red cross. They were often also powdered with the badges, and had the scutcheons of the deceased sewn about the border. Several gorgeous mediaeval hersecloths still remain, some of them in the possession of the London City Companies. At the funeral of George II a purple pall was used; the white embroidered pall used at Mr. Gladstone's funeral, and the white pall embroidered with the royal arms used at the funeral of Queen Victoria, will not be soon forgotten.

The Processional Cross and the Funeral Candlesticks. These may be all made of wood and painted the same colour, and that colour is not bound to be black, but should rather be chosen so as to harmonize with the herse-cloth; for instance, a blue or black hersecloth with a red cross would suggest the use of red candlesticks. The candlesticks may be about 4 ft. high. Seven candlesticks are perhaps the best number-three on each side and one at the east end of the bier-while

1 3 Eccleston Street, London, S.W.

* See p. 487, Plates 5, 29, 30, and their description on pp. xiv-xxi.

four might be regarded as a convenient minimum. Sometimes there were only two, one at either end, while in other cases many more were used,1 and some old pictures show a rack standing on either side of the hearse, into which the torches are dropped; the more elaborate use was to place the coffin within a frame which was covered with innumerable candles. Tapers in large numbers were also carried in the hands of those present at a funeral.3

A Handbell was always rung before the funeral procession, and still is so rung at University funerals in Oxford.

The chrisom, a white garment used at baptism, was ordered by the First Prayer Book. The churching-cloth, a white veil which the woman wore at her churching, was used long after that time, and is undoubtedly intended by the phrase 'decently apparelled', which was inserted at the last revision of the Prayer Book.*

1 See Pl. 5, 30. Mr. Atchley says 'the number of lights around the hearse were usually four or five'; six was an unusual number. Sometimes lights were put on the coffin itself. The candles do not seem to have been of a different wax from that ordinarily used, at least in the case of the five used at the funeral of the Earl of March, which were afterwards distributed to the churches near Wigmore Abbey 'for the use of the Holy Sacrament'.-Some Principles, p. 27.

e. g. the plate in Rock, Church of our Fathers, ii. p. 399.

This was done as late as at the funeral of George II.-Some Principles, p. 26.

Various bishops' charges show the meaning of this phrase. e.g. Bishop Cosin in the very year 1662 asks, 'When the women come to make their public thanksgiving to God, do they come decently veiled?'-Rit. Com. Report, iii. p. 603. Archbishop Laud, in 1637, asks whether they are apparelled with a fair white veil of linen cloth'.-Ibid., p. 575. It is significant of the legal force of ancient use that in the reign of James I (before the rubric was inserted) a woman 'prayed a prohibition' of an order made by the Chancellor of Norwich that the veil should be worn. The judges desired the opinion of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who convened divers

Other Ornaments once in use need not be mentioned here, as there is now no time of ministration' for them. For information about them the reader is referred to Mr. Micklethwaite's tract on the Ornaments of the Rubric

Surplices, albes, rochets, copes, chasubles, &c., as well as altar-linen, apparels, frontals, &c., are made by the St. Dunstan Society, which was founded in order to make ornaments and vestments in accordance with the standard of our Rubric, and under fair conditions. It is, I find, necessary to state that this Society is managed by a Committee, the members of which do not receive any money for their services. The price list can be obtained from the secretary, St. Dunstan Society, 102 Adelaide Road, London, N.W.

bishops to consult thereupon; and they certifying, that it was the ancient usage of the Church of England, for women who came to be churched, to come veiled, a prohibition was denied.'-Bishop Gibson, Codex Juris, p. 373. See also p. 482 of this Handbook.

CHAPTER IV

VESTRIES

If it is difficult to put up with the single vestry of an eighteenth-century church, it is still more inconvenient to find oneself in a parish church of earlier date where there is often no vestry at all. At the present day our architects are more liberal, and I shall in this chapter assume the existence of two or three vestries near the east end of the church, which are almost indispensable when there is a surpliced choir, and very convenient when there is not. These will be the Priests' Vestry or Sacristy, the Choir Vestry, and the Churchwardens' Vestry. In addition to these, a room where large articles can be stored will be found most useful.

When cupboards and chests are put in the church itself it must be remembered that in the hands of an artist these may be beautiful articles of furniture,— ornaments, not disfigurements to the church. It is far better to provide in this way for the vestments than to curtain off a transept or chapel for the purpose when

1 The practice in the average parish church of the Middle Ages was to keep the vestments in chests and in aumbries about the church. They were put on the altar before service, and the priest vested at the altar. Even at Durham, where there was a 'revestry', every altar had its lockers or ambers', each altar having two or three, wherein were kept not only the chalices and silver cruets', but also 'two or three suits of vestments and other ornaments, belonging to the said Altar'.-Rites of Durham, pp. 2, 28, 37, 82.