shame, he thought, to alter matters. In consequence of this decision the college lands were preserved.

When Mary came to the throne, Parker, being a married man, was deprived of all his preferments, and quitted Cambridge. Some writers say he was persecuted from place to place, and hunted like a fox. It seems certain he supped with the Duke of Northumberland when that misguided nobleman arrived at Cambridge and proclaimed Lady Jane. But he was cautious, and kept as much as possible in the background. In a few days the dream was over, and Parker was regarded as, in some sort, a partisan of Lady Jane. On this occasion it is supposed he fled, and this circumstance may have given rise to the story of his having been persecuted.

The name of his excellent wife was Margaret Harleston, called by Bishop Ridley in his jocular moments, Parker's lady abbess.'

During Queen Mary's reign he lived as a private individual, with much ado to make both ends meet. In this interval he put the Psalter into English metre, and wrote a defence of clerical marriages.

Elizabeth had known something of Parker for a long time, and that something recommended itself to her judgment. Moreover, he was endeared to her as having been her mother's chaplain. He was one, she thought, who could walk warily, and tread the arduous via media between reformation and revolution.

The Protestant exiles were full of hope that the new Queen would give their party a triumph, for they supposed she would have to depend entirely on Protestants for the support of her throne. And it was true she had to conciliate all her Protestant subjects, in con-. sequence of the foolish rant of Paul IV., who dared to tell her, the Queen of England, she had no right to the throne. The exiles (who, being treated badly by the Lutheran party, were chiefly Calvinists) were allowed to return home, and were well treated, although Elizabeth herself was much opposed to Calvinism; while, at the same time, those who were attached to the ancient ceremonies were allowed liberty for their opinions, so long as they were willing to submit to the Royal Supremacy. Many of the Bishops refused that submission, and resigned their sees.

Parker was older than Elizabeth's two famous statesmen, Cecil and Bacon, but he had been their adviser at Cambridge. The former wished the Queen to summon Parker to her councils; and Bacon wrote and invited him to London. He was very unwilling to leave his quiet sphere of labour, but he was obliged to yield to her Majesty's commands, and he soon formed one of a committee who prepared ecclesiastical measures to be submitted to Parliament. The Commissioners endeavoured to retain as much of the ancient ritual as they could. They had also to decide the Queen's real position, to determine which Prayer-book was to be introduced into the Act of Uniformity, and to make some few alterations in it. When the Act of Supremacy had been passed, a Theological Conference took place in Westminster Hall, at which the major part of the Bishops showed themselves determined to oppose Elizabeth's government. They were therefore called before the Privy Council, and urged by the Queen herself to comply with the requirements of the Act.

Archbishop Heath replied, by begging the Queen to do as her

sister had done, and own the Pope; but Elizabeth firmly declared all were her enemies who owned any foreign authority in her realm.

The Bishops retired from the royal presence, and wrote a letter in terms agreeing with their former reasons, to which the Queen, aided by Parker, replied, and warned them to say no more lest worse came `of it.

It was now imperatively necessary to fill up the vacant bishoprics. The plague in the two last years had made great havoc in their ranks, and no less than ten sees were vacant. It was Elizabeth's intention to make Parker the Primate, but for some time his unwillingness seemed to place an effectual bar in her way. He was shy, retiring, and poor; he was far from enjoying good health. But, worst of all, he almost despaired of saving the Church of England; and he therefore told Bacon to look out some vigorous, sanguine champion, and to leave him where he was. The Government, in consequence, did offer the primacy to Dean Wotton, but he too refused it, and Parker was obliged, after all, to yield to his friend's wishes. He did not, however, accede, without writing a letter to the Queen, in which he bade her remember (in case she had to complain of his inefficiency) how he had never sought the important post in which she placed him.

Parker was elected, August 1, 1559, and preparations were made for his confirmation and consecration. An Act of Henry VIII. required the presence of four bishops to make a consecration legal. Three, however, were enough to make it canonical, according to the old law,' Tres faciunt collegium.' No one made objection to the confirmation of the Archbishop-elect, when challenged to do so before the Lords Commissioners in Bow Church, and Parker was therefore confirmed in due form, and it was then and there decreed he should be consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury, and afterwards enthroned by the Dean and Chapter.

The Bishops chosen for Parker's consecration were,

1. William Barlow, once Bishop of Bath and Wells, and now Bishop-elect of Chichester.

2. John Hodgkins, Suffragan Bishop of Bedford.

3. Miles Coverdale, late Bishop of Exeter.

4. John Scory, late Bishop of Rochester, and now Bishop-elect of Hereford.

It was on December 17, 1559, that Matthew Parker was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury, in the chapel of Lambeth Palace. The thing was done with dignity, in the presence of many, and (as was then usual) at a very early hour in the morning. There was Morning Prayer, a sermon by Bishop Scory on the text, "The elders that are among you I exhort, who am also an elder,' the Holy Communion, and the laying on of hands on Matthew Parker.

After the ceremony was over they proceeded to the hall, where the Earl of Nottingham (a relation of the Archbishop) says there was a good deal of company. This is mentioned to show the Romish story of Parker's consecration is a silly fabrication. One of the Archbishop's early duties was the consecration of bishops for the vacant sees, and the appointment of clergy to destitute parishes. There was a great scarcity of clergy, owing to the ravages of the plague, and Parker saw no harm in allowing sober and grave laymen to be

licensed to say the Litany and read a homily in churches for which no regularly ordained minister could be found.

It seemed needful also that the position of the Church of England should be distinctly stated by some able scholar, so that not only England herself, but the Church at large, should know (as the Queen

wrote to the Emperor) 'there was no new faith propagated in England; no religion set up but that which was commanded by our Saviour, practised by the Primitive Church, and unanimously approved by the Fathers of the best antiquity.'

When looking round for a learned scribe who should write such a treatise, Parker's eye fell on John Jewel, who had preached three very remarkable sermons at Paul's Cross, in which he had ably maintained

the primitive and scriptural character of the reformed English Church. We are come as near as we can,' said he, 'to the Church of the Apostles-not Luther, not Calvin, but the Primitive Church.'

Jewel had become tinged with Calvinism during his absence from England, and was one of those who, at one time, would have given up all vestments for the sake of peace; but under Parker's influence he had reconsidered this decision, when he saw the advantage of conforming to the decent ceremonies retained by the reformed Church of England. In time, Jewel became Bishop of Salisbury, and the author of that famous book, An Apology for the Church of England, of which versions in various languages appeared almost as soon as it was published.

One of the best-known pages in the Prayer-book, namely, the Table of Kindred and Affinity, wherein whosoever are related are forbidden in Scripture and our laws to marry together,' is the work of Archbishop Parker. We have little idea now of the scandalous marriages which used to take place in those days. If you wished to marry any one, however remotely connected, your only safe course, to avoid law-suits about the legitimacy of your children, was to buy a dispensation at Rome. This was all very well if you were rich, and until it was a thing forbidden; but what if you were poor, or had the pains of præmunire before your eyes? You probably did what was right in your own sight-at least most people did; and the consequence was, as we learn from a statute of Henry VIII.'s time, men married their stepmothers and their sons' daughters, their wives' daughters, and their fathers' or mothers' sisters, &c. These were frightful immoralities, which Parker felt must come to an end at once. The table was therefore drawn up, and an admonition to persons about to marry was published, a copy of which was ordered for every church.

Another subject which arrested Parker's attention was the Kalendar. In the Prayer-book of 1549 only the red-letter days appeared, i. e. days for which there are special collects, &c. It is to Parker we owe the restoration of those names which link our Kalendar with the past. They are the names of men and women who present to us examples of noble conduct under trying circumstances, and they are a rebuke to those who think there were no holy men between the Apostolic age and the days of Luther and Calvin.

The

To assist the lay-helpers, and give a variety to their readings, Parker wished to provide some fresh homilies. This was resisted by the Earl of Leicester, a strong partisan of the Puritans. Homilies were not acceptable to that party. That book deferred too much to the old fathers. The Homilies made too little of Luther and Calvin, and too much of the great clerks and godly preachers' of ancient days.

A new version of the Scriptures also occupied the attention of the diligent Primate. The most popular version of the Bible now was one called the Geneva Bible, a small quarto volume in Roman type, divided into chapters and verses, and filled up with maps and other conveniences. The Queen and Archbishop were pleased with this Bible, and sanctioned its circulation, but Parker soon found reason to regard it with disfavour, on account of the mischievous nature of its

notes; and he did not rest until he had given the Church a new version, called the Bishops' Bible, from so many of the translators being bishops. The Primate himself translated Genesis and Exodus in the Old Testament, and St. Matthew's and St. Mark's Gospels, and • most of St. Paul's Epistles, in the New. Here, too, the Earl of Leicester was an adversary, and hindered the Queen's acceptance of the sacred volume; but the Bishops' Bible made its way, spite of all objectors, and became the Bible of the day and the basis of our present noble authorised version.

Another of Archbishop Parker's labours was the revision of the Articles, in which he was assisted by Convocation. The Articles were not intended to be a confession of faith, binding on every member of the Church, but a statement on certain moot points of practice and principle. Some of them are directed against Romanists, others are levelled at extreme Protestants.

An attempt was made in Convocation to convert the Articles into a confession of faith, obligatory upon all; but Parker pointed out that they were intended to control or tether preachers, and they were accepted without cavil by the Bishops. As, however, they placed restraints on those who did not wish to be restrained, the Lower House was far from unanimous, and it was three years ere the Articles were ratified. The Bishops, by signing readily, showed they felt something must be done to restrain the license of preachers. The latter, by signing slowly, showed their reluctance to be tied down. It was in 1571 the Articles were signed by both houses, and every preacher was henceforth to subscribe before he received a license to preach. By some, the year 1571 is called 'the woful year of subscription.'

A great want of uniformity existed in the ceremonies and observances of the Church, and unceasing was the strife between the opposing parties. A Bishop of Durham pleaded for freedom from all restraint, and a Dean of Christ Church was ousted from his place for refusing to comply with discipline; while at Cambridge, all the Johnians, during the Master's absence, attended a festival service in the College Chapel without surplice or hood. In consequence of such irregularities as these, certain ordinances called Advertisements appeared, obliging the clergy to adopt a uniform dress when they walked abroad, as well as prescribing a vestment for religious service, both which were obnoxious to the Puritan party. In course of time the extreme members on either side fell off from the Church, and formed on the one side a Romanist, on the other side a Dissenting body. Between these two Parker firmly steered his course, often impeded, even by the Queen, who seemed to take a capricious delight in showing him she meant to queen it over all her servants. After a fit of obstinacy, in which she was very unkind, she would change her behaviour, and smile graciously on her faithful old servant, or whisper some state secret in his ear to the chagrin of her other courtiers.

Mrs. Parker died nearly four years before her husband. He speaks of her as 'My most beloved and virtuous wife, who died right christianly.' For two or three years the Archbishop felt most keenly the dreariness of separation, and took but little pleasure or interest in his work. The news that the Queen was coming to visit him at