Page:VCH Leicestershire 1.djvu/463

 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY cheerfully undertaken ; the altars were moved back to their rightful place within the rails, 868 the royal arms were blazoned afresh upon the chancel arch, 264 the fonts were restored ; 2 " the Prayer Book of the new version came into use, and a real effort was made to secure the daily recitation of mattins and evensong according to its rubrics. Some other reforms appear to have been harder to carry out. It is not easy to discover how far the custom of reading the ante-Communion office from the desk instead of from the altar had prevailed before the Great Rebellion ; but an effort was now made to set the matter right. At Ashby-de-la-Zouch, so long a stronghold of Puritanism, the vicar, who was instituted in 1693, agreed 266 that on Sundays and holy days he would read the ' Communion Service ' 2 " before and after his sermon at the altar ; and that whenever there were prayers or preachings in the church, even though there was no Communion, he would wear his surplice in the pulpit. At Osgathorpe and at Markfield similar promises were long pre- served among the parish records ; they were made at this period (between 1679 and 1699) on the understanding that such was indeed the use intended by the Book of Common Prayer, ' until some Act of Parliament abolish the same.' It is evident that the Geneva gown was making a great effort to assert its right to the pulpit, and how wonderfully successful it was at last our grandfathers could testify. Writing at the end of the eighteenth century Nichols quotes the letter of the vicar of Ashby to his patron as a ' curiosity,' and the words of the writer : ' Your Lordship's 268 propositions are so fair and commendable that I cannot but approve them, and wish they were everywhere observed ... as the best churches. . . enjoin ' serve to show that even in the early days of the Restoration these customs were rare and unusual. The number of bequests and gifts to the Church at this time form one of the most pleasing features of the Restoration period. A popular and not altogether inconvenient exaggeration of the doctrine of justification by faith had checked for nearly a century the stream of charitable benefaction which had once flowed so freely in England. Alderman Robert Heyrick, who tu In Nichols's time only one altar stood out in the middle of the chancel, of which more hereafter. still be seen in some of our country churches. On this subject Humphrey Michel, rector of Blaston, 1625- 1722, tells a delightful story in his diary. During the Commonwealth Maurice Boheme, parson of Hallaton (ejected in 1662), ordered a slater to wash out the king's arms, which were evidently accompanied by a well- known text of scripture. The slater asked, ' Sir, must I wash out " Fear God," too r ' ' Yes, yes, by all means,' said the parson ; ' " Fear God " puts the people in mind of " Honour the King " a notorious rogue.' Trans. Assoc. Arch. Soc. v. Maurice Boheme afterwards went back to Germany. 164 Probably they had not travelled far, and were easily recoverable ; at any rate there are plenty of ancient fonts still in the churches of Leicestershire. See Churchwardens' Accts. of St. Martin's ; Nichols, Lew. , 581. St. Martin, St. Anne, and St. James, London ; and that bodies should always be brought into the church before burial ; Nichols, Leic. iii, 619. 147 This does not necessarily mean the whole service, but only what is sometimes called the English missa ticca, or ante-Communion office, concluding with the Prayer for the Church Militant, which had been a lawful use since the issue of the First Prayer Book of Edward VI. The similar promises made at Osgathorpe and Markfield (ibid, iii, 920 ; iv, 800) make this quite clear : ' I will read the Communion Service in the chancel at the Communion table as well when there is no Communion,' or ' no Sacrament as when there is.' The name 'Second Service ' is sometimes used in the same sense, as in connexion with the plans of Mr. Han bury at Church Langton ; Hill, Hist, of Langton, 119. It would not be necessary to call attention to this point unless such terms as these had been often misunderstood by historians usually careful and accurate. 168 The patron of these three churches was Theophilus, earl of Huntingdon (d. 1701), and the under- taking in each case was evidently made by his desire. 389
 * M The cost of this ornament, as shown by churchwardens' accounts, valued from 6 to 10. It may
 * M He also promised that churchings should be performed at the Communion table, as at the churches of