them cowpable generally to God and putte hem in Hys mercy, askyng lowly penaunce for her synnnes and absolution of here confessor in the name of holy church."

The instructions, given by the Canons of the English Church, as to the method to be followed by priests in hearing confessions, are simple and to the point. They are to remember that they are doctors for the cure of spiritual evils, and to be ever ready "to pour oil and wine" into the wounds of their penitents. They are to bear in mind the proverb, that "what may cure the eye need not cure the heel," and are to apply the proper remedy fitting to each disease. They are to be patient, and "to hear what any one may have to say, bearing with them in the spirit of mildness, and not exasperating them by word or look." They are "not to let their eyes wander hither and thither, but keep them cast downwards, not looking into the face of the penitent," unless it be to gauge the sincerity of his sorrow, which is often reflected most of all in the countenance." Women are to be confessed in the open church, and outside the (lenten) veil, not so as to be heard by others but to be seen by them."

The place where confessions might be heard was settled in the Constitutions of Archbishop Walter Reynold, in 1322.

"Let the priest," it is said, "choose for himself a common place for hearing confessions, where he may be seen generally by all in the church; and do not let him hear any one, and especially any woman, in a private place, except in great necessity and because of some infirmity of the penitent."

Myrc, in his Instructions, says that in Confession the priest is to

"Teche hym to knele downe on hys kne,
Pore other ryche, whether he be,
Then over thyn yen pulle thyn hod,

And here hys schryfte wyth mylde mod."

The place usually chosen by the priest to hear the confessions of his people was apparently at the opening of the chancel, or at a bench end near that part of the nave. In some of the churchwardens' accounts there is mention of a special seat or bench, called the "shryving stool," "the shriving pew," " the shriving place;" whilst at St. Mary the Great, Cambridge, there appears to have been a special erection for Lent time, as there is an entry of expense for "six irons pertaining to the shryving stole for lenton," which suggests that these iron rods were to support some sort of a screen round about the place of confession. Perhaps, however, it may have been for an extra confessor, since, as already related, in one place it is said that the parish paid for three extra priests "to shreve " in Holy Week.

THE HOLY EUCHARIST.-All adults of every parish were bound to receive the Holy Communion at least once a year under pain of being considered outside the benefits and privileges of Holy Church and of being refused Christian burial, if they were to die without having made their peace. Besides the Easter precept, all were strongly urged to approach the Holy Eucharist more frequently, and especially at Christmas and Easter, and, as has been already pointed out, there is some evidence to show that, in point of fact, lay people did communicate more frequently, and especially on the Sundays of Lent.

At Easter and other times of general Communion the

laity, after their reception of the Sacrament, were given a drink of wine and water from a chalice. The clergy were, however, directed to explain carefully to the people that this was not part of the Sacrament. They were to impress upon them the fact that they really received the Body and Blood of our Lord under the one form of bread, and that this cup of wine and water was given merely to enable them to swallow the host more securely and easily after their fast.

EXTREME UNCTION.

"This Sacrament," says the Synod of Exeter, "is to be considered as health giving to both body and soul . . . wherefore it is not the least of the Sacraments, and parish priests, when required, should show themselves ever ready to visit the sick, and to administer it to such as ask, without asking or expecting any payment or reward. "We further order that, avoiding all negligence, parish priests shall be watchful and careful in the care committed to them, and that without reasonable cause they never sleep out of their parishes. And further that in case they do ever so, they procure some fitting substitute, who knows how to do everything which the cure of souls requires."

If by the fault, negligence, or absence of his priest any one, old or young, shall die without Baptism, Confession, Holy Communion, or Extreme Unction, the priest convicted of this is to be forthwith suspended from the exercise of his ecclesiastical functions, and this suspension is not to be relaxed until he has done fitting penance "for so grave a crime."

VISITATION OF THE SICK.-The subject of Extreme Unction, "the Sacrament of the sick," to be given in danger of death through sickness, raises the question of the visitation

of the sick in a mediæval parish. The order that all parish priests should visit the sick of their district every Sunday has already been noticed. It was, moreover, a positive law of the Church, that every priest should go at once on being called to a sick person, no matter what time of the day or night the summons might come. Priests were ordered also to impress upon all doctors the need of urging sick people and their friends to send immediately for the priest in all cases of serious illnesses. Priests, however, were not to wait to be called, but directly they heard that any of their people were unwell they were warned to go at once to them.

A chance story, used to enliven a fifteenth-century sermon, illustrates the readiness of priests to go to the sick whenever they were summoned.

"I read," says the preacher, "in Devonshire, besides Axbridge dwelt a holy vicar, and had in his parish a sick woman that lay all at the death, half a myle from him in a town. The which woman at midnight sent after this vicar to come and give her her rites. Then this vicar with all haste that he might he rose and rode to the church and took God's body in a box of ivory," etc.

Archbishop Peckham legislated for the mode of carrying the Blessed Sacrament to the sick, or rather he codified and made obligatory the usual practice. The parish priest was to be vested in surplice and stole, and accompanied by another priest, or at least by a clerk. He was to carry the Blessed Sacrament in both hands before his breast, covered by a veil, and was to be preceded by a server carrying a light in a lantern, and ringing a hand bell, to give notice to the people that "the King of Glory under