The introduction of the word "appointed" here, seems to refer back to the ordinary or accustomed vestures; in other words, it is not wholly a new or complete rubrick of itself, repealing and condemning all else that was in use before, but implying that a continuation of the old vestures was, to a certain extent at least, enjoined.

There is a third rubrick which should not be omitted, though it does not practically affect the question at issue, viz., one occurring at the end of The Holy Communion:-

"And though there be none to communicate with the priest, yet those days (after the Litany ended), the priest shall put upon him a plain albe or surplice with a cope, and say all things at the altar appointed to be said at the celebration of the Lord's Supper, until after the offertory".

Passing on to the sixth year of Edward the Sixth's reign, which commenced Jan. 28, 1552, we find that a new Act of Uniformity was passed, and in so far as a revised Book of Common Prayer was attached to it, it repealed the former Act. This new Act finally passed both Houses of Parliament, April 14, 1552.

The new Prayer-Book, which so far as the Acts of the legislature were concerned was the only ruling authority, appears in no way directly to condemn the previous Ornaments of the Church. No rubrick can even be said indirectly to touch upon such Ornaments excepting one, and that is the first rubrick which was inserted in the new Book, and which contained the following line (as if with a view to the prevention of spoliation).

"And the chancels shall remain as they have done in times past".

So far, however, as the list of Ornaments mentioned in the first book of King Edward the Sixth is concerned, it is to be noted that the word Altar is in the second either omitted or changed into Table, and in one case to the Lord's Table. The words Chalice, Paten, and Corporas are also absent, because the one rubrick describing the manual acts of the priest in which the words alone occur, is wholly left out, and no directions put in its place. The pulpit and the bell are still only mentioned in the one rubrick before the Commination Service.

The same remark as to the arguments to be drawn from "omission," may well be made here upon this list, as was made upon the list in the first book.

When we come, however, to the "Ornaments of the Minister," we have one very definite rubrick taking the place of the two previous rubricks, quoted above. Both for the Holy Communion, as well as for other ministrations, the surplice was ordered to be used alone. This is what may be called the Ornaments Rubrick of 1552, and it forms, as will be seen, a marked contrast to the Ornaments Kubrick of 1662, by which the Church of England is now governed. The Rubrick of 1552 ran as follows :-

"And here is to be noted that the minister at the time of the Communion, and at all other times in his ministration, shall use neither albe, vestment or cope ... and being a priest or deacon, he shall have and wear a surplice only".

There is no mistaking the meaning of this ru-brick; its terms are very definite. As to the circumstances attending its introduction into the new Book of Common Prayer, which then received the assent of the legislature, and the influence of the foreigners, Peter Martyr and Martin Bucer, in the revision of that book, it would be out of place to speak here; suffice it to say, that the insertion was a concession (whether a wise one or not) to the Puritan party, which was then springing into existence. The Act of Parliament enjoining this Prayer-Book recites, that it has been perused and made fully perfect, "because there hath risen divers doubts, for the fashion and manner of the same, rather by the curiosity of the minister, and mis-takers, than of any other worthy cause." This "curiosity" is only to be explained by remembering that most of the Continental Reformers, and especially those whose head-quarters were at Geneva, were averse to all ornament, seeming to be anxious to make the services as far as possible subservient to the preaching; and they seem to have obtained great influence here, and a wide reception of their views.

Instigated, and also protected by those preachers, who condemned all ornament (except the Genevan gown) as idolatrous and superstitious; the patrons, the churchwardens, and sometimes the parishioners as a body, seem to have taken advantage of the change of feeling which had come about, to turn it to their own profit. Peculation, and in many cases downright robbery, seems to have been the order of the day with many of those who were brought, into contact with Church goods. The patrons took the lead, and following the Crown in the confiscation of monastic buildings, utilized portions of the fabrick; the churchwardens took the holy vessels, and the parishioners took the vestments; and in the state of anarchy which the new preaching had aroused, this went on without check. It was to meet this that the Crown issued the Commission of which the Inventories herein printed were the result. In this light only are they intelligible; and it will be seen by their text, especially when considered in connection with the sequel, that the Crown was evidently far more intent upon securing its own advantages, to be derived from any meditated plunder, than upon any enforcement of any new or particular ritual.

For the county of Berks, the Commissioners of May, 15S2, were William Parr, Marquis of Northampton, Sir Philip Hoby, of Bisham, Sir Maurice Berkeley, Sir Humfrey Foster, of Aldermaston, Thomas Weldon, M.P. for Windsor in the Parliament of 1558, John Norris, Gentleman Usher, and Thomas Denton, of Hillesden, Bucks, M.P. for Berks in the Parliament of 1547.