SSO On the ConsueUid'mary of S. Osmund. 



for some centuries now it has been that of " Potterne/' and previously 

 either that of "Major Pars Altaris" or " Horton/^ — in virtue of 

 which he had a special stall assigned to him, in which he sat in his 

 choir-habit when not actually taking part in any " office," and which 

 gave him the right of being present— a right 1 conceive existing to 

 this day— at all meetings of chapter. Special psalms, moreover, 

 were assigned to the bishop as Prebendary of Potterne, as to all the 

 other canons, which he was to recite daily, thus completely identify- 

 ing him with the cathedral. Indeed there is one instance, in a formal 

 document, in which this fact comes out in a striking way. For 

 when, in the year 1392, during the episcopate of John Waltham, a 

 composition was entered into as to his right and mode of visiting 

 the cathedral body — a claim which had long been resisted — it is 

 there directed that the bishop should each day enter the chapter " uf 

 canonicus," and then if any matter were brought before him needing 

 correction he should " ut episcopus " enjoin that it should be corrected. 

 There is, I confess, to my own mind something very pleasing in the 

 thought of the bishop, even when acting as a judge, not losing the 

 character of a canon— an elder brother assisted by brethren deciding 

 concerning some offending brethren. The same thought underlies 

 the very name of the bishop's court — called the " Consistory Court," 

 because his brother-priests sat there with him, " consilium episcopi 

 contra hsereses et schismata,^^ and advised with him in judging con- 

 cerning any matters that might be brought before him. No doubt 

 the fact that the office of a bishop has, since the Reformation, come to 

 be regarded as a distinct order — before that there was but one order, 

 whether for bishop or priest, though the former had his own special 

 functions and precedence, and the office of bishop was never one of 

 the seven orders — has tended to obscure the constitutional rule, and 

 to bring out into prominence the " fiovaq^^a" of the episcopate. 

 How far this change has been for the peace of the church is not 

 within the limits of enquiry for this paper, the simple object being 

 to explain the state of things in olden days. When, however, the 

 non-resident canons of Sarum as a body laid their recommendations 

 before the present Cathedral Commissioners, in reply to an invitation 

 to do so, they expressed their opinion that if the canons, either as 



