"Tour Lordship's humble and faithful servant, "Myles Coverdale.

"To the right honourable and my very singular especial good Lord, the lord privy seal, this he presented. Ad manus".

The "young Mr.Wynchcombe" here mentioned was a son or grandson of "Jack of Newbury." John Winchcombe, the eldest son of the great clothier, received from Henry VIII, a grant of the manor and rectory of Bucklebury, being part of the possessions of the dissolved abbey of Reading, and appears to have been very zealous at this time in promoting the principles of the Reformation.b.

The importance of the following series of Inventories will best be understood by taking into consideration the chief acts of the legislature, upon the subject to which the Inventories relate. It will be found convenient to class the several items under the two heads under which they appear in our Prayer Book, viz. (1.) Ornaments of the Church, and (2.) Ornaments of the Ministers thereof.

b Foxe gives the name of "H. John Winchcombe," as one of the Commissioners at the trial of Julius Palmer and other martyrs in Newbury Church, July, 1556; but it is not clear whether it was the John Winchcombe, the grantee of the Bucklebury estates, or a Henry Winchcombe, who died in 1562, as appears by an epitaph given by Ashmole, on a brass formerly in Newbury Church.

The first includes the adjuncts to the performance of the services of the Church, whether sacred vessels, woven textures, or other furniture for use or for convenience, or solely for adornment; or indeed any of the many goods and chattels which may be said to belong to a church.

The Ornaments of the Ministers include the Vestments, and all which may be said to belong to them; more especially the chasuble and the cope, the albe, and the surplice.

In respect of these, it will be seen that the following Inventories shew that at the date when they were taken, viz., between August 1st and 6th, 1552, many of the churches were very rich, others comparatively poor. But however this may be, they prove that many more "ornaments," in the wide acceptation of the word, were then, if not actually in use, certainly in the possession of the churches than there are now.

It will be well to recapitulate some few of the circumstances attending the change of law as to "Ornaments," as well as to point out the special interest and bearing which they have upon the explanation of the rubrick on that subject which we still retain in our Book of Common Prayer.

In the Prayer-Book of 1549, that is the first Prayer.Book printed after the independence of the Anglican Church was declared, there is no rubrick directly referring to the "Ornaments of the Church" as a whole; and while none of the Ornaments previously in use are by any rubrick forbidden, incidentally some few of the previous Ornaments of the Church, and amongst them the more important, may be said to be directly enjoined.

The moat important of all, the altar, was directly enjoined, both in foot and by name. It is mentioned seven times in the course of the rubricks in the book of 1549; we have it also mentioned twice under the name of God's Board, and twice under the name of the Lord's Table.

Next, as to other Ornaments connected with the ministration of "The Supper of the Lord, and the Holy Communion, commonly called the Mass." First, it will be observed, the chalice is mentioned four times; in one case with the alternative of some convenient cup: the paten and the corporas are mentioned once; and for the alms the people were to offer unto the poor men's boxc.

We find, of course, due reference to the font;the pulpit is only mentioned, however, in connection with the Comminution Service; and the bell to be rung to call people together, occurs only in the same rubrick.

The place of this is determined by Archbishop Grammer's Visitation Articles, issued about the same time, one of which runs to this effect: "Item. Whether they have provided, and have a strong chest for the poor men's box, and set, and fastened the same near to their high attar".

This list, as must be admitted, is very defective, and it would be, obviously, as unwise to argue, on the one hand, that all other ornaments were retained, because not by name forbidden, as it would be that all others were forbidden, because not by name retained.

The fact is, it was not the intention of the Act of Parliament to deal with the Ornaments of the Church in detail, although Parliament enacted the New Service-Book. Certain Injunctions were issued at the same time by King Edward VI., or rather in the young king's name, and these dealt more fully with certain classes of these Ornaments, as will appear by even a cursory examination.

The nature and authority of these Injunctions is best expressed in the preamble:-

"The King's most royal majesty, by the advice of his most dear uncle, the Duke of Somerset, etc, .... intending the advancement of the true honour of Almighty God, the suppression of idolatry and superstition, .... doth minister unto his loving subjects these godly injunctions hereafter following:

"Whereof part were given unto them heretofore by the authority of his most dear-beloved father, King Henry VIII., of most famous memory, and part are now ministered by and given by his Majesty. All which injunctions his highness willeth and commandeth his said loving subjects, by his supreme authority, obediently to receive and truly to observe and keep, every man in their offices, degrees, or state, as they will avoid bis displeasure, and the pain in the same injunctions hereafter expressed".