By l{ri\ Chr. Wonhnvrth. 9 



as being Romans, xiii., 1 — 3, and I. St. Peter, ii., 13, 14, 17. Above 

 tliis are tbe ten couiniandnients. Tlie boards vvhicli remain bave 

 been set up at tbe east end of tbe nave again, but tbe altered arcb 

 precludes tbeir being in tbe original position. 



The following notes are offered to the reader, with reference to 

 tablets of the 



Ten Commandments, Royal Arms, e^c. 



The " advertisements " of Q. Elizabeth, 1564 (ii., 7), prescribe : — 



" That they shal decentlie cover with a carpet, silke, or other 

 decent coveringe, and with a fayre lynnen clothe (at the time of 

 the ministration) the communyon table, and to sette the Tenne 

 Commandements upon the easte vvalle over the said table." 



In an earlier " Letter about new lessons in the calendar " Q. 

 Elizabeth, 22 Jan., 1561, had ordered that "the tables of the com- 

 mandments may be comlye set, or hung up in the east end of the 

 chauncell, to be not only read for edification, but also to give some 

 comlye ornament and demonstration, that the same is a place of 

 religion and prayer." 



Following a Canon of 1571 (which directed that the "most 

 choice sentences of the Holy Scriptures " should adorn the walls of 

 churches in place of so-called Monuments of Superstition), the 

 82nd " Constitution Ecclesiastical " of 1603, in the first year of K. 

 James I., prescribed that, at the charge of the parish, " the Ten 

 Commandments be set upon the east-end of every Church and 

 Chapel where the people may best see and read the same, and 

 other chosen sentences written upon the Walls of the said Churches 

 and Chapels in places convenient." It was ruled in Liddclly. Beat 

 that the Commandments may be put up elsewhere than in the 

 chancel, which is rarely the best place for the majority of the 

 congregation to read from their places in the body of the Church 

 or in the aisles. 



Mr. J. H. Parker has noted, at Badgeworth Church, Gloucester- 

 shire, a table of the Commandments carved in oak, and dated 1595. 

 It appears that in St. Mary's, Reading, the " Queenes Armes " were 

 set up in 1596-7, and " goodman West the joyner," in 1604-5, was 



