By the Rev. Canon W. H. Jones. 275 



of insubordination. They are bidden ever to remember that " in 

 nullo pares esse serl subjecfos Canonicis," and that, if they be " stiff- 

 necked/^ they will be treated like the brazen serpent, which, though 

 lifted up at first on high, was afterwards brought low and broken to 

 pieces. 



There were several customs of interest observed in the cathedral, 

 of which a short account may fitly be given. 



{a) At the end of prime-song each morning — that is, soon after 

 six o'clock — the canons, vicars, and other ministers of the Church, 

 went in procession to the Chapter House. All were seated according 

 to their rank, and in accordance with the directions of the consue- 

 tudinary, except the " pueri," who stood on the floor ranged on either 

 side of the pulpit. One boy, habited in a surplice {siiperpcUicio) , 

 whose duty it was for the week (and hence called ebdomadarius) read 

 from the pulpit the " martyrologie,'' and afterwards gave out the 

 obits. After the boy had gone through the list, the officiating 

 priest, standing behind the reader, said, " Animce eorum et animcB 

 omnium fidelium defunctorum, per Dei miser icordiam, requiescant in 

 pace." And then he added, " Preciosa in conspectu Domini," &c. 



Then followed another lection out of some pious writer. After 

 this, if any member of the cathedral body had been negligent of 

 duty, he asked forgiveness of the Dean and his brethren. All these 

 lections {eollaiiones) read in the Chapter House were arranged pre- 

 viously by the Chancellor, and, in the statutes o£ Lincoln, are said to 

 have proved most "effectual for the reformation of faith and morals.'" 



(b) Another custom, I should like to refer to, was that of dividing 

 the psalter among the holders of the various stalls, including, of 

 course, the bishop, so that the whole psalter might be daily recited, 

 as a common act of private devotion and with the thought and 

 memory of common obligation. It would seem that at one time, as 

 is the case to this day at St. PauFs and at Lincoln, the first words 

 of such portions as were allotted to each prebend, were placed over 

 its stall in the cathedral ; for there is mention in the Holt register 

 in the year 1551 of " Stallum quod dicitur Expectans" &c. — (the 

 opening words of Psalm 40) — the stall of Bitton. This recitation 

 of psalms was in ancient times regarded not only as a work of 



