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 RELIGIOUS HOUSES rection where the kings and queens stand in the abbey ' vanished.^^' In 1644 orders were issued for 'the disposal of the proceeds of church plate for proper preachers to be provided.'^^^ In 1645 Dean Williams's commendam expired, and Richard Steward, who was appointed his successor, was never installed, the collegiate church being hence- forth under the guidance of a special committee appointed by the House of Commons.^^* In 1648 the committee were commanded to take effectual care that there be preaching in the abbey church of Westminster ... on the Fast days, and that they take some effectual course to restrain walk- ing by any person or persons in the abbey, cloister, or churchyard during the time of sermon and divine service, and to restrain and punish the playing of children or others in any part of the said places in any time of the Lord's Day to the profanation thereof. "« The parliamentary party valued the abbey as a place of worship — though 'monuments of superstition and idolatry ' were so ruthlessly removed there seems to be no evidence of the building itself ever having been desecrated ^" as so many other cathedrals were — but for the ancient immunities of the precinct and liberty of Westminster they had scant respect. The sheriff of Middlesex soon held undisputed sway within the bailiwick, hitherto immune from all foreign interference, and many months after the Restoration the dean and chapter still complained that though they have an undoubted right by charter to the bailiwick of Westminster, during the late distrac- tions the sheriffs much abused their liberty, and the present sheriff daily arrests the bodies of the inhabi- tants, though requested not to do so by. . . the high steward of the city."' The old order was only restored at West- minster gradually after the return of Charles II. John Earle, the first dean of the Restoration, was one of the wisest and most popular men of his day, and pursuing the policy of conciliation which was at first adopted towards the leading Nonconformist divines, he admitted Richard Baxter ^^' to preach in the abbey. At the beginning of July, 1 660, Samuel Pepys came to Westminster in the afternoon and heard ' a good sermon by a stranger, but no Common Prayer yet,' and in the following October the service '" Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, App. ii, 132-3. '"Ibid, iv, App. 188. "^ Ordinance of the Lords and Commons, 2 Dec. 1645. The dean and prebends, except Osbaldeston, are said to have deserted their charge. "* Com. Joum. v, 519. '" Cf however, Stanley, Memorials, 436, for a dese- cration reported in Royalist circles in July, 1643. "' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1 66 1-2, p. 494. »-°' Diet. Nat. Biog. • still fell so far short of his ideal as to call forth a somewhat scathing comment. After dinner to the Abbey, where I heard them read the church service, but very ridiculously. A poor cold sermon of Dr. Lamb's, one of the prebends, in his habitt, came afterwards and so all ended.'"' But gradual as the changes were they did not fail to provoke hostility ; two malcontents, John and Elizabeth Dicks, were reported to have said, after attending service at the abbey towards the close of the year 1 66 1, that to see the people bow to the altar made their hair stand on end, for it was mere mountebank play.^'^ Dolben, the succeeding dean, was a man of considerable energy and good sense. The act by which he signalized his installation — namely his persuasion of his canons to make the abbey an equal sharer in all dividends — provided the fabric fiind for many years to come. He was the first dean who on being promoted to the see of Rochester was allowed to retain his deanery in commendam, in order to augment the scanty revenues of his see, a practice which was con- tinued thenceforward until the time of Dean Vincent.^^^ A difficulty arose about this time with regard to the lodgings of the canons. The twelve prebendaries were all bound to residence, but had only eleven houses among them, so that it sometimes happened that a 'senior and useful prebendary ' was without lodging. The canons appealed to the king on the subject, and it was decided that they were to revert to what they described as their ancient custom, of per- mitting the seniors to have choice of lodging, on any removal, so that none but a junior might want a house.^'^ Dolben's successor, Thomas Spratt, originally known as a wit and satirist, probably received promotion in recognition of his bold support of high church doctrines and the divine right of kings. It was possibly in view of the latter conviction that he assented to the publication in the abbey of the Declaration of Indulgence on the famous occasion when only four clergymen throughout London could be found to read it. The earl of Clarendon, writing to Princess Mary of Orange, said that Spratt ' ordered one of the petty canons to read it, but went out of town himself over night,' and added ' he's a poor- spirited man.' ^'* This, however, seems a some- what unfair epithet, and William Legge, first earl of Derby, who was a boy in Westminster School '™ Diary. '" Cal. S.P. Dom. 1661-2, p. 188. '=' Diet. Nat. Biog. ''' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1667-8, p. 77, and ibid. Add. 1660-70, p. 728. Le Neve {Fasti, iii, 359, note 72) remarks that since the Restoration the prebendaries have not had any stall assigned, but have moved up in order of seniority. "* MSS. of Duke of Buccleuch (Hist. MSS. Com. Rep.), ii (i), 32. 453