It is not now believed that the effigy in Salisbury
Cathedral--"the child so great in clothes"--which led to the
publication, in 1646, of Gregorie's famous treatise, is that of a
Boy-Bishop, who died during his term of office and was buried with
episcopal honours. There are similar small effigies of knights and
courtiers. Nor, again, does it seem correct to state that the
Boy-Bishop might present to any prebend that became vacant between St.
Nicholas' and Holy Innocents' day. This usage, if it existed at all, was
apparently confined to the Church of Cambray.
On the other hand, the Eton Ad Montem ceremony has the look of genuine
descent from the older festival, with which it has numerous features in
common. The Boy-Bishop custom, it will be remembered, was observed at
the College.
Finally, reference may be made to the coinage of tokens, some of them
grotesque, which bore the inscription MONETA EPI INNOCENTIUM,
or the like, together with representations of the slaughter of the
innocents, the bishop in the act of giving his blessing, and similar
scenes. Opinions differ as to the purpose for which these tokens, which
date from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, were struck, but it is
extremely probable that they were designed to commemorate the Boy-Bishop
solemnity. Barnabe Googe's _Popish Kingdom_ tells of
"St. Nicholas money made to give to maidens secretlie,"
and in the imperfect state of human society this may have been, at
times, their incongruous destiny.
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