It is the result of very painful and unquestionable experience; and it tends to confirm us in the conviction which we hinted in our previous article, and which needs now to be more boldly put forth, that if our Cathedrals are to be continued, in any condition but as a disgrace and an eye-sore to the English Church, they must be reorganized on the principle of a nearer return to the original intentions of founders. The blame of their present condition by no means attaches exclusively to existing Deans and Chapters. The law which attempted in a blundering manner to reform them, must at least bear a portion of the blame; while the Crown and the Bishops, who appoint to them, must also come in for their share. But after all, of course the blame does chiefly rest with the individuals, and with the Clergy generally. For, as it is argued fairly enough by a writer in the Dublin Review in a very severe article on English Bishops, how could the Crown and others find bad persons to appoint, if a proper sense of duty prevailed among the Clergy? Public opinion would then be too strong for them; but now too often a Government unfriendly to the Church, has only to go to Oxford or Cambridge in order to find amongst those enjoying places of the highest trust the ready instruments of their will. Thus of existing Bishops Drs. Whately and Hampden had both held the office of Bampton Lecturer before their preferment by the Government of the day; and the very same list of lecturers alone would at the present moment supply four or five others almost, if not quite, as unsound. The same would be the result if we go through the Select Preachers of the last few years, or the Board of Heads of Houses. And while this is so, we may not certainly be very severe even upon the worst Government appointments.

But putting things, as they now stand, at the best-supposing the Government and the Bishops agree to appoint universally respectable Parish Priests, such as are generally esteemed and popular in their respective neighbourhoods, we maintain that the condition of our Cathedrals would still be anything but satisfactory. There would then be usually four Canons, and as many Minor Canons, residing each three months at a time, together with a choir of three or four under-paid and discontented singing men of very moderate skill, and eight choristers. Now such an Establishment as this, we assert, is a mere mockery, a satire upon the charters under which our Cathedrals were founded, a disgrace to the Church and the age which tolerates such a state of things. There must be a return made to the original statutes. Let the Bishop in the first place be found in his proper Cathedral, and not at a baronial Castle, or a sylvan Palace. Let the Dean too give up his country residence, or his retired and comfortable benefice. Let the Residentiaries as well as the Precentor be compelled to be what their names imply they should be. Let all from the highest to the lowest at least be "modice docti in plano cantu." And then when they are

seen to do their own work conscientiously and lovingly, there will be no difficulty in inducing the inferior members of the foundation to do theirs. Let the Grammar School be revived, and the scholars taught to take their part in the service. Let exhibitioners be maintained at the University, who will delight to come back and take their place in the choir during the academical vacations; and there will be something to admire in our Cathedrals, something to elicit the benefactions of religious persons, who would wish to see GOD served not only out of the munificence of the past, but by the sacrifices of those who have inherited so much from their ancestors.

But into the general question we do not propose again to enter. The two pamphlets which are set at the head of this article, have been chosen solely as illustrations in detail of the claims which, as we stated in the former paper, do already exist upon the property of Cathedrals, and the neglect of which is drawing down so much odium on these bodies, and so much discredit on the Church. The Cathedral school, and the Cathedral choir, are only two of many objects committed to their care which have been shamefully disregarded. Let us see what the schoolmaster of Rochester, and the ex-organist of Exeter and Hereford have to say in respect of their respective provinces. And here it is scarcely necessary to observe, that we by no means intend to identify ourselves with either Mr. Whiston or Dr. Wesley. The latter is evidently a person of indifferent taste and temper, and possesses an overweening conceit of his own talents and those of his family. And Mr. Whiston appears scarcely to have treated the Bishop with sufficient respect— especially, if it be true, as we have heard, that he was under some obligation to his Lordship. But we, of course, have nothing to do with the motives of the writers, nor with the manner in which they may have conducted their respective cases. The only questions that the public are concerned with are these. Are the allegations which have been made, sustained? Is there a breach of trust proved? Do abuses really exist?

We will begin with Mr. Whiston, the substance of whose charge is that while the minor officers of the Cathedral are either kept to the fixed money charge of Henry VIII., or have salaries only very slightly augmented, the Canons unlawfully divide among themselves the whole surplus income of the Church, and particularly that they neglect to maintain (alere et sustentare) the boys of the Grammar School, and that they have no exhibitioners at the Universities, as the statutes of their Cathedral require that they should. The commencement of the pamphlet contains an historical sum

Eton and Westminster are according to the terms of their foundation, merely the Grammar Schools of two Collegiate Churches. The boys in the former, it appears, amongst other things are to be instructed "in plano cantu." (p. 74.) It is very much to be desired that a knowledge of "Plain Chant" were made an essential part of general school instruction.

mary of the obligations imposed upon Cathedral bodies in respect of education, which is well worth perusal. We give it at length.

"The Cathedrals of England are of two kinds, those of the old and those of the new foundation: of the latter, Canterbury,* the old archiepiscopal see, and Carlisle, Durham, Ely, Norwich, Rochester, Winchester, and Worcester, old episcopal sees, were A.D. 1541-2, refounded or rather reformed by Henry VIII., after the suppression of the abbots, priors, and monks, in whose hands these Cathedrals and their possessions had been, for monastic and other purposes, anciently vested. Besides these, he created in the place of former monasteries or abbeys, five other Cathedral Churches or Colleges, in connexion with the five new episcopal sees of Bristol,† Chester, Gloucester, Oxford and Peterborough. He further created the see of Westminster,‡ which, however, was afterwards abolished, its Cathedral Church being restored to an abbey by Edward VI.§ in 1550, and subsequently (A.D. 1560) converted to a deanry collegiate by Queen Elizabeth. The endowment of these new institutions was provided for out of the estates of the old religious houses, and their government and administration committed to secular priests, incorporated under the name of deans and chapters, and invested with the usual powers, capacities, and incidents of other corporations, lay and spiritual. The alleged reasons for the dissolution of the old monasteries, abbeys, and priories, were the well-known abuses¶ and violations of trust reported and believed of them and the purposes for which Henry VIII. founded in their places churches, cathedral and collegiate, were (inter alia) that 'youth might be liberally trained, old age fostered with things necessary for living, and that liberal largesses of alms to the poor in CHRIST, and reparations of roads and bridges, and other offices of piety teeming over from them, might thence flow abroad far and wide to all the neighbouring places, to the glory of Almighty GoD, and the common welfare and happiness of the subjects of the realm.'** In these comprehensive words, as it has been well said, 'what object of benefit to the church in (or ?) the neighbourhood might not be fairly included ?'

:

"The means and instruments for carrying out these purposes were, in the main, ecclesiastical or collegiate; and a general idea of the scope and nature of the cathedral establishments, as originally planned and settled by Henry VIII., may be formed from the first chapter of the old statutes of Canterbury, which is almost identical with the corresponding chapter of the statutes of all the other cathedrals of the new foundation. It is as follows:

* Bacon, Liber Regis, p. 3. Rymer's Fœdera, vol xiv. Burnet, part i. book iii. p. 423, Nare's ed. 31 H. VIII. c. 9.

+ Strype's Memorials, vol. i. part i. c. 46. a.d. 1539. Burnet, i. 3, p. 483; Collect. No. 23.

Rymer's Fœdera, vol. x.

§ Burnet, iii. 4, 307; 5 Edw. VI. c. 36. Strype's Memorials, vol. ii. part i. c. 25. Coke on Littleton, of Frank-Almoigne, lib. ii. c. 6. p. 133; and Strype's Parker, lib. ii. c. 3. p. 79.

¶ Burnet, i. 3, pp. 306 and 375. Strype's Memorials, c. xxxiv. i. part i.; A.D. 1536. 27 Henry VIII. c. 28.

** Preamble to the Charters of Foundation.

+ By Mr. Gladstone. Mirror of Parliament, June 30, 1840.

On the entire number of those who have their sustentation (qui sustentantur) in the cathedral and metropolitical church of Canterbury :'

"First of all we ordain and direct that there be for ever in our aforesaid church, one dean, twelve canons, six preachers, twelve minor canons, one deacon, one subdeacon, twelve lay-clerks, one master of the choristers, ten choristers, two teachers of the boys in grammar, one of whom is to be the head master, the other, second master, fifty boys to be instructed in grammar,† twelve poor men to be maintained at the costs and charges of the said church, two vergers, two subsacrists (i.e., sextons), four servants in the church to ring the bells, and arrange all the rest, two porters, who shall also be barber-tonsors, one caterer,‡ one butler, and one under-butler, one cook, and one under-cook, who, indeed, in the number prescribed, are to serve in our church every one of them in his own order, according to our statutes and ordinances.'

"In the Durham statutes, the corresponding chapter is as follows: "On the total number of those who have their sustentation (qui sustentantur) in the cathedral church of Durham :

"We direct and ordain that there be for ever in the said church, one dean, twelve prebendaries, twelve minor canons, one deacon, one sub-deacon, ten clerks, (who may be either priests or laymen,) one master of the choristers, ten choristers, two teachers of the boys in grammar, eighteen boys to be instructed in grammar, eight poor men to be maintained at the costs of the said church, two sub-sacrists, two vergers, two porters, one of whom shall also be barber-tonsor, one butler, one under-butler, one cook, and one under-cook.'

"The monastic or collegiate characters of the bodies thus constituted, is indicated by the names and offices of the inferior ministers above specified, who were intended to form a part of the establishment of the Common Hall, in which most of the subordinate members, including the boys to be instructed in grammar, were to take their meals. There was also another point in which the cathedrals were meant to resemble and supply the place of the old religious houses, i.e., in the maintenance of a certain number of students at the universities. Thus in the general injunctions to be given (A.D. 1535) in the king's highness' behalf to all monasteries, it was ordained that the abbot or president of every religious house should keep and fynde' in some university one or two of his brothers, according to the ability and possessions of his house which brethren, after they were learned in good and holy letters, when they returned home, might instruct and teach their brethren, and diligently preach the Word of God.' So again it is recorded, that in the years 1536 and 1547¶ Henry VIII. commanded * Translated from the Latin copy in the British Museum, MS. Harl. 1197, art. 15, folio 319 b.

+ Duodecim pauperes de sumptibus dictæ Ecclesiæ alendi.

Duo unus Pincernæ, et unus subpincerna, duo unus cociquus, et unus subcoquus. Sic in MS.

MS. No. 688 in Lambeth Palace Library.

Burnet, i. 3, Record II.

¶ Burnet, i. b. 3, Record 7. Gutch's Oxford, vol. ii. p. 66; Wylkins' Concilia,

that every parson, vicar, clerk, or beneficed man, being able to dispend, in benefice or promotion in the church, £100 or more, should for every of the said £100 yearly, give a competent exhibition to maintain one scholar, or more in the grammar schools, or in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.'

"Accordingly, one result of the suppression of the old monasteries was, that many of the younger monks and friars dependent upon them for support, were obliged to leave the universities, the population of which was considerably thinned in consequence.* For this, however, some compensation was made, by imposing upon the new cathedrals the obligation of maintaining at the universities, out of their corporate funds, a certain number of students proportionate to their several possessions, and the number of the foundation scholars in their respective grammar schools. Indeed, the preamble of the Act 31 Henry VIII. c. 9, for founding the new cathedrals, preserved in Henry's own handwriting, recites that they were established To the intent that children might be brought up in learnyng, and clerks noryshed in the universities. Thus, by his regulation, the church or college of Canterbury was required to maintain (alere, i.e., to provide alimony for) twentyfour poor students, twelve at Oxford and twelve at Cambridge, the allowance originally granted for this purpose being estates of the value of £200 clere by the yere.' So Chester, Ely, Peterborough, and Rochester, were required to maintain each four students in the universities, and Worcester twelve, and Westminster twenty. regulation was also confirmed, or intended so to be, by the commissioners appointed (A.D. 1558) under an Act of Parliament,† to revise and amend the old cathedral statutes, with the especial object of adapting them to the reformed religion, and removing some of their alleged ambiguities. The principal commissioners so appointed were Archbishop Parker, the Bishops of Winchester and Lincoln, and Cox, Bishop of Ely, formerly tutor to Edward VI., and master of Eton school, who (A.D. 1572) with their colleagues ordained as follows: "We direct that out of the whole number of grammar boys having their sustentation in the cathedral church of

Scholars. Students. Where 50 there 10

40

24

8

there be always maintained

in the University of Cambridge, and the same number of in the University of Oxford."

This

tom. iv. p. 4; and also Cranmer's Registrum, fol. 47, a MS. in Lambeth Palace Library.

* Peacock's Statutes of the University of Cambridge, p. 33. Strype's Parker, A.D. 1544, lib. i. c. iv. In 1549, Thomas Lever, Master of S. John's, Cambridge, preaching at Paul's Cross, says, "where there were at Cambridge 200 students of divinity, they be near all clean gone home: and many young toward scholars and old fatherly doctors, not one of them left." In 1552, Bernard Gilpin, preaching to the Court, says, that "there was scarce left of every thousand an hundred." In 1553, Latymer "conjectured there were 10,000 students less than within 20 years before." A bad guess, perhaps. Strype's Memorials, vol. ii. part 2, pp. 371

and 447.

† 1 Elizabeth, c. 22. Strype's Parker, lib. iv. c. viii. p. 342.

Strype gives this date, but the commission was signed by Queen Elizabeth on June 4, 1562.-MS. in C.C.C.C.