SCARFS WORN BY CLERGYMEN.
(Vol. vii., p. 143.)
The statement made in the Quarterly Review for June, 1851, p. 222., referred to in "N. & Q.," is very inadequate. The scarf now worn by many clergymen represents two ornaments very different, though now generally confounded, viz. the broad and the narrow scarf. I can well remember, in my boyhood, hearing mention made of the distinction between the broad and narrow scarf, then customarily observed by many; and this at a time when the res vestiaria, and matters connected with the ritual, had not become objects of public attention. The broad scarf was the distinction (of what standing I cannot pretend to say) used by chaplains of the king, and of privileged persons, by doctors in divinity, and by the capitular members of collegiate churches. It was worn with the surplice and gown; and, by doctors in divinity only, with the scarlet academical robe. The narrow scarf has been immemorially used by clergymen, whether priests or deacons, in many large towns, and by the clergy in some cathedrals, and not unfrequently by country clergymen. By custom, those who serve, or have served, the office of junior dean in Trinity College, Dublin, wear a scarf. In fact, it represents the stole, or that ornament (under whatever various names it was known) which, all through Christendom, had been a badge of the three orders of bishop, priest, and deacon. In the Church of England, however, none of those variations in its mode of arrangement, which elsewhere discriminates these three orders, have been retained. Is there any proof that it has not been used ever since the Reformation? And may not its very frequent disuse within memory
be attributable to that well-known slovenliness in ritual matters which was but too characteristic of the last century?
John Jebb.
Peterstow Rectory, Ross.