B I S 



B I S 



<:hofen on St. Nicliolai day, becaufe St. Nicholas was the 

 patron faint of children ; he having, when an infant, (hewn 

 fiich fingiilur piety, as the legend fays, that vvlicn he was 

 vX his mother's brcall, he would not fuck, on Wednefdays 

 and Fridays, that he might obferve the fafts of the 

 cliurch. 



The ceremonies attending the invelliture of the ep'ifcopus 

 piierorum, are prefcribed by the ftatutes of the churcli of 

 ,'^iiruin, which contain a title cle epifcopo chonJJarum ; and 

 alfo bv the proctflional. From thele it appears, that he 

 was to bear the name and (late of a bifhcp, hab't'.d, witli a 

 crofi^r or paltoral ftaff in his hand, and a mitre on his head. 

 His fellows, the reft of the children of the choir, were to 

 taice upon them the flyle and office of prebendaries, and 

 yield to the bifliop canonical obrdience ; and farther, the 

 fame fervice as the very biihop himfelt, with his de?.n and 

 preljendaries, had they been to officiate, were to have 

 jierformed, the very fame, mafs exccpt;'d, was done by the 

 chorilters and his canons upon the eve and the holiday. 

 The ufe of Sarum required alfo, that upon the eve of Inno- 

 cent's day, the chorillcr bifhop, with his fellows, Ihould go 

 in folemn proceihon tn the altar of the Holy Trinity, in 

 copes, and with burning tapers in their hands ; and that 

 during the proctflion, three of the boys fhould fmg certain 

 hymns mentioned in the rubric. The proceffion was made 

 through the great door at the weft end of the church, in 

 fuch order, that the dean and canons went foremoft, the 

 chaplain next, and the bifhop, with his little prebend;\ries, 

 lall ; agreeably to that rule in the ordering of all proceffions, 

 which affigns the rearward ftation to the moft honourable. 

 In the choir was a feat or throne for the bifhop ; and as to 

 the reft of the children, they were difpofed on each fide of 

 the choir, upon the uttermoll afcent. And fo careful was 

 the church to prevent any diforder which the rude curiofity 

 of the multitude might occafion in the celebration of this 

 fingular ceremony, that their ftatutes forbid all perfons what- 

 foever, under pain of the greater excommunication, to inter- 

 rupt or prefs upon the children, either in the procefilon or 

 during any part of the fervice direftcd by the rubric ; or 

 any way to hinder or interrupt them in the execution or 

 performance of what it concerned them to do. Farther it 

 appears, that this infant-bifliop did, '.o a certain limit, re- 

 ceive to his own ufe, rents, capons, viad other emoluments 

 of the church. Ip cafe the httle bifhop died within the 

 month, his exequies were folemnized with great pomp ; and 

 he was interred, like other bifnops, witli all his ornaments. 

 The memory of this cuftom is preferved, not only in the ri- 

 tual books of the cathedral church of Salifbury, but by a 

 monument in the fame church, with the fcpulchral effigies 

 of a chorifter bifhop, fuppofed to have died in the exercife 

 of his pontifical office, and to have been interred with the 

 folemcities above noted. 



From what period we are to date the progrefs of tliis ri- 

 diculous ceremony, it is not eafy to difcover, but it feems 

 more than piobable that it originated with the ancient 

 Mysteries. In the wardrobe accompt of Edward I. pub- 

 iiihed by the fociety of antiquaries, we find a boy-bifliop, 

 DiC. 7, V290, faying vefpers before the king, in liis chapel 

 at Heton near Newcaftle upon Tyne, for which he, and 

 the boys wlio fung with him, received 40s. 



This eilablifliment, but with a far greater degree of buf- 

 foonery, was common in the collegiate churches of France. 

 (See Dom. Marlot. Hiftoire de la Metropole dc Rheims, 

 torn. ii. p. 769.) A part of the ceremony in the church of 

 Noyon was, that the children of the choir fhould celebiate 

 the vvhjle fervice on St. Innocent's day. (Brillon. Diftion- 

 aire des Arrets, artic. Noyon. ed. 1727.) In a curious book, 



called Voyages Liturgiquts de France (Par. 8to. 1718, 

 p. 33.) is this accop.nt of the fame praftice in the church of 

 Vieune in Dauphiny. " Le jour de Niiel apres VCpres, le 

 jour dc S. Etienne, et le jour de St. Jean I'Evangelifte, oa 

 faifoit des procefiions folennelles pour Ics diacres, Its pretres, 

 et les enfans de Chaeur, comme autrefois a Rouen. 11 y 

 avoit auffi le lendem.ain a la mefle folennite pour cux. Les 

 enfans dc Chseur y avoient leur Petit Eveqt-'E, qui faifoit 

 tout I'office, excepte a la meffe. And in the ftatutes of 

 the archiepifcopal cathedral of Tulles, given in the year 

 1497, it is faid, that during the celebration of the fcftival 

 of the boy-bifliop, " Mora/ilics were prefented, and ftiews 

 of miracks, with farces and other fports, but compatible 

 with decoru;n. After dinner they exhibited, without their 

 mafl<s, but in proper drcftes, fuch farces as they, were maf- 

 ters of, in different parts of the city." In England too it 

 appears, that the boy-bifhop, with his companions, went 

 about to different parts of the town ; at leaft vifited the other 

 religious lioufes. (See the Computus Rolls of Winchefter 

 College, A. 1461.). And Strype records (Ecclef. Menio- 

 rials, iii. 310. ch. xxxix. and p. 387. ch. i.), that when 

 this, among other ancient ceremonies, was reftorcd by queen 

 Mary, in 1556, "on St. Nicolas's even, faint Nicolas, that 

 is, a boy habited like a biftiop in pr.vtijicalibus, went abroad 

 in moft parts of London, finging after the old fafhion, and 

 was received with many ignorant but well difpofed people 

 into their houfes, and had as much good cheer as ever was 

 wont to be had before." 



In the ftatutes of Eton college, given in 1-^41, the f*//C 

 copus puerorum is ordered to perform divine fervice on St. 

 Nicholas's day ; and in thofe of Winchefter college, 1380, 

 puer'h that is, the boy-bilhop, and his fellows, are permitted 

 on Innocent's day to execute all the facred offices in the 

 chapel, according to the ufe of the church of Sarum. A 

 fimilar claufe to tliat at Eton occurs in the ftatutes of King's 

 college, Cambridge ; and Mr. Warton obferves, in his hif- 

 tory of Poetry, that the anniverfary cuftom at Eton of 

 going ad mordem originated from the ancient and popular 

 prattice here defcribed. 



In a fn;all college, for only one provoft, five fel.'ows, and 

 fix chorifters, founded by archbifhop Rotheram in 1481, in 

 the obfcure village of Rotheram, in Yorklhire, this piece 

 of mummery was not omitted. The founder leaves by will, 

 among other bequefts to the colle;^c, " a myter for the 

 barne-biffop of cloth of gold, with two knopps of filver, 

 gilt and enamelled." Hearne';, Liber Niger Scacc. Append. 

 674. 686. 



From the paffage already quoted frcm the Voyages Li- 

 turgiquts de France, it appears that, at leaft in one church, 

 the mafs was not allowed to bt celebrated by the boy-bifhop ; 

 and it is alfo exprefdy prohibited in the ufe of Sarum : but 

 other and more frequent inftances occur where tile buffoon- 

 ery was carried even to this height. In a fragment of the 

 cellarers Compulus of Hyde abbey near Winchefter, A. D. 

 '397' ^"c '^''■^'^ a charge " pro cpulisyiufW celebrantjs in 

 fefto Sancti Nicolai ;" ard fo late even as the reign of 

 Htni-y VIII. we find the fame ceremony at St. Paul's. 



It is furprifing that Dean Coiet, a fiiend to the purilv of 

 religion, and who had the good Icnfe and reiblution to cen- 

 fure the fuperftitions arid fopperies of popery in his public 

 fermons, fhould countenance tliis idle farce of the boy-bifhop 

 in the ftatutes of his fchool at St. Paul's, which he founded 

 with a view of eltablif.iirg the education of youth on a more 

 rational and liberal plan than had yet been known, in the 

 year 1512. He cxprefsly orders, that his fcholars " (hall 

 every Childermafs (that is Innocent's) day, come to Panli's 

 churche, and hear the chUile-hiJhop' s (of St. Paul's cathedral) ' 



fermon. 



