Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/186

 148 Readings in European History And be it further enacted, that if any person or persons, of what estate, degree, or condition soever, that now have or hereafter shall have in his, her, or their custody, any books or writings of the sorts aforesaid, or any images of stone, timber, alabaster, or earth, graven, carved, or painted, which heretofore have been taken out of any church or chapel, or yet stand in any church or chapel, and do not before the last day of June next ensuing deface and destroy, or cause to be defaced and destroyed, the same images, and deliver all and every the same books to the mayor, bailiff, constable, or church wardens of the town where such books then shall be, to be by them delivered over openly within three months to the archbishop, bishop, or chancellor, to the intent the said archbishop, bishop, or chancellor cause them immediately either to be openly burned or otherwise defaced and destroyed, shall for every such book or books willingly retained in his, her, or their hands or custody within the realm, or elsewhere within any of the king's dominions, after the last day of June (and be therefore lawfully convict) for- feit and lose to the king, our sovereign lord, for the first offense twenty shillings, and for the second offense shall forfeit and lose (being therefore lawfully convict) four pounds, and for the third offense shall suffer imprisonment at the king's will. 1 1 Extracts from the diary of the bishop of Worcester give a vivid idea of the changes during the first years of Edward VI : 1547. Candlemas Day : No candles hallowed or borne Ash Wednes- day. No ashes. 154S. March 25, Palm Sunday : No palms or cross borne in procession. Easter Eve : No fire, but the paschal taper and the font. Easter Day : The pyx, with the sacrament, taken out of the sepulcher, they singing "Christ is Risen " without procession. Good Friday: No creeping to the cross. October 20 : The cup and the body of Christ was taken away from the altars. 1549. Good Friday : No sepulcher, or service of sepulcher. Easter Eve: No paschal taper, or fire, or incense, or font. On April 23: Mass, matins, evensong, and all other service in English. All mass books, graduals, pies, portasses, and legends brought to the bishop and burned. (From Bishop Blandford's diary, quoted in Traill, Social England, Vol. Ill, 180 sa.)