e., his fellow-choristers. But the
practice remained for the Boy-Bishop to be entertained on the Eve of St.
John the Evangelist either at the Deanery or at the house of the
Canon-in-residence. Should the Dean be the host, fifteen of the
Boy-Bishop's companions were included in the invitation. The Dean, too,
found a horse for the Boy-Bishop, and each of the Canons a horse for one
of his attendants, to enable them to go in procession--a show formally
abolished by proclamation on July 25, 1542, but, nevertheless, retained
for some years owing to the attachment of the citizens to the ancient
custom.
The question has been raised--Did the Boy-Bishop say mass? The
proclamation of Henry VIII. distinctly affirms that he did, but there is
reason to suspect the truth of the statement. In the York Missal,
published by the Surtees Society, there is a rubric directing the
Boy-Bishop to occupy the episcopal throne during mass--a proof that he
cannot have been the celebrant. But the Boy-Bishop, if he did not
officiate at the altar, unquestionably preached the sermon. The statutes
of Dean Colet for the government of his school enjoin that "all the
children shall every Childermas Day come to Paule's Churche, and heare
the chylde bishop sermon, and after be at hygh masse and each of them
offer 1_d._ to the chylde bysshop." Specimens of the sermons preached on
Holy Innocents' Day have come down to us from the reigns of Henry VIII.
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