B I S 



544 



B I S 



Bishoji. pramwiire, under which term arc implied, outlawry, 

 v ~~ rf or exclusion from the king's protection ; a forfeiture 

 to the crown of lands and tenements, goods and chat- 

 tels ; and imprisonment during his majesty's pleasure. 

 After the interval of twelve days just alluded to, the 

 king presents, by his letters patent, to the vacant see. 

 The election, or presentation, is next intimated to the 

 archbishop of the province, who is required to pro- 

 ceed without delay in confirming the bishop elect. 

 Should he decline, he likewise incurs a prannunire. 

 The mandate, requiring confirmation, bears the autho- 

 rity of the great seal. As soon as it is received by 

 the archbishop, it is transmitted to an officer called 

 his ricar-general. The ceremony of confirmation then 

 takes place. Those, who have any objections to the 

 new bishop, are solemnly invited to appear and sub- 

 stantiate them, and are denounced, as contumacious, 

 if they refuse to do so. The oaths of allegiance and 

 supremacy, together with that of canonical obedience, 

 and that against simony, are next administered. A 

 minute of the proceedings is then read by the vicar- 

 general, after which the bishop is installed or consti- 

 tuted the ecclesiastical superior of his diocese, being 

 fully invested with episcopal authority ; though, ac- 

 cording to some lawyers, he cannot lay claim to the 

 temporalities of his benefice, unless he shall have been 

 consecrated by the archbishop. The ceremony of 

 consecration differs in some respects from that of con- 

 firmation. It must be performed, as we have just 

 intimated, by the archbishop ; or, in particular cases, 

 by three bishops, lawfully commissioned for that pur- 

 pose. The essential parts of this ceremony, accord- 

 ing to Burnet, (xxxix. Art. p. 564.) are prayer and 

 the imposition of hands ; but to these are added, in- 

 vestiture with the episcopal robes, together with 

 the use of a certain form of words adapted to the oc- 

 casion. 



By the law and ordinances of England, all bishops, 

 with the exception of one, the bishop of Sodor and 

 Man, are lords of Parliament, though not peers of the 

 realm. In the reign of William the Conqueror, the 

 spiritual tenure of franc almoign was converted into 

 the feudal tenure by barony ; and the bishops, now 

 constituted barons, became of course members of the 

 great council, or parliament, of the nation. In con- 

 sequence of this change, when, upon one occasion, 

 the bishops declined sitting and voting in the House 

 of Lords, the king availed himself of his right implied 

 in the feudal tenure, and commanded their attendance. 

 The ecclesiastical barons are likewise members of the 

 Upper House by writ or summons of the crown ; a 

 circumstance which, according to Lord Coke, is equi- 

 valent in this respect to a barony. But, exclusive of 

 that circumstance, and exclusive, too, of the right 

 connected with their baronies, the spiritual lords hold 

 their seats by patent or creation ; so that they are 

 lords of Parliament in three ways, as barons, by writ, 

 and by patent. Hence all the deeds of the Upper 

 House run to the name of " The Lords spiritual and 

 temporal," and hence the bishops have the precedence 

 of all barons whatever. Sir William Blackstone is of 

 opinion, that, in the absence of the temporal peers, a 

 vote of the bishops alone would be considered as a 

 vote of the House ; though it was decided by the 

 judges, (Tth Hen. VIII.) that the king might hold 



a parliament without any spiritual lords. But the 

 bishops, while they are acknowledged as lords of 

 Parliament, are not regarded as peers of the realm. 

 (Staunford, I'. C. 153.) They do not sit in the court 

 of the Lord High Steward ; and though they may 

 stay and sit in cases of trial for capital offences be- 

 fore a full parliament, yet they must retire before the 

 vote of guilty or not guilty takes place. The exclu- 

 sion of the bishops in both of these instances arose 

 from this, that, by the canons of the church, they 

 could not be judges in matters of life and death. For 

 some such reason, too, or from the want of nobility 

 in blood, a bishop cannot be tried in the court of the 

 high steward. As ecclesiastical functionaries, the 

 prelates have the rights of dedication, confirmation, 

 and ordination, as well as those of suspension, deposi- 

 tion, deprivation, and excommunication ; they collate 

 to benefices, and direct institution and induction in 

 cases of presentation by other patrons ; they take- 

 care of the probate of wills, and grant administra- 

 tions ; and they certify to the judges in affairs of 

 lawful and unlawful marriages and births. In Eng- 

 land there are twenty-four bishops, exclusive of thc- 

 bishop of Sodor and Man. Among themselves, the 

 bishops of London, Durham, and Winchester, have 

 the precedency of the others in the order in which we 

 have mentioned them. The rest follow, with some 

 official exceptions, according to the date of their con- 

 secration. A bishop has the style of My Lord, and 

 is addressed Right Reverend Father in God. See 

 Stillingfleet's Works, vol. i. p. 37 f. and vol. ii. p. 390. 

 King's Constitute of the Vrimit. Church, ch. i. &c. 

 Prettyman's E/eni. ofClir. Theol. vol. ii. p. 376, et 

 sea. Campbell's Ecclesiast. Hist. vol. i. p. 84, et seq. 

 Mosheim, vol. i. p. 104, cl seq. Brown On Church 

 Government, p. 281, et seq. Altare Damascenum, 

 passim, (h) 



BISHOP Auckland. See Auckland. 



BISHOPS Storti-'okd, a market town of Eng- 

 land, in Hertfordshire, situated on a rising ground 

 upon the river Stort, in the midst of a fertile corn 

 country. The town consists of four principal streets, 

 intersecting each other at right angles, in the direc- 

 tion of the four cardinal points. The church, dedi- 

 cated to St Michael, is a handsome Gothic building, 

 situated on an eminence. The free school is an ele- 

 gant square building opposite the church, and stands 

 upon arches, beneath which is a place for shops. On 

 an artificial mound between this town and the village 

 of Hockerel, are the remains of an ancient castle, 

 built in the time of William the Conqueror, though 

 others suppose that it was erected previous to the 

 Norman invasion. A considerable trade is carried on 

 in brown malt, which is sold to the brewers in Lon- 

 don, to which it is conveyed by a navigable canal 

 which joins the river Lea. Number of houses 421. 

 Population in 1801, 2304, of which 453 were return- 

 ed as employed in trade and manufactures. See Sal- 

 mon's History of Hertfordshire, (v) 



BISMUTH. See Chemistry and Okyctogno- 

 .sv. 



BISNAGUR, or Bijinagur, and sometimes writ- 

 ten BbEJANUGGUR, is situated on the southern bank 

 of the Toombuddra river, in the country of Mysore, 

 and was formerly the capital of a powerful kingdom 

 1 



