4. Officers of the Order.
5. Lord Hunsdon, Proctor to the Lord Cobham.
6. Earl of Bedford.
Ceremonies performed in the Choir.
§ 8. The Proceeding having entered the Choir, the Commissioners, &c. conduct the Proxy into the lower Stall, directly under that designed for his Principal, where the Register reads the Words of the Oath, while the Proxy, laying his Hand on the Book, repeats them after him, and Kisses the Book: And this Oath his Deputation impowers him to take, in the Name of his Principal; the Form of the Oath having no difference from the Oath taken Personally by an elect Knight.
The Oath being taken in this solemn manner, the Proctor is led up to the Stall of his Principal, where both the Knights, who conducted him into the Choir, first take the Mantle, and lay it on his Arm, next laying their Hands on him, in the Name of his Lord and Master, from whom he received his Deputation, set him down therein: And so the Ceremony of Installation being fully ended, the Service of the Church begins.
If the Installation be performed in the Morning, there is an Offering of Gold and Silver; at which time the Proxy in his turn comes from his Principal’s Stall, and stands before it, and when the Sovereign, or the Lieutenant for him, and for himself, or else the Commissioners, and the rest of the Knights-Companions present, have offered, then the Proxy (being joined to the Knight, sitting in the opposite Stall, if present at the Solemnity, and having two Officers of Arms before them,) proceeds to the High Altar, and there offers both Gold and Silver; and then returns, and takes his Stall as the rest do. In this manner the Earl of Warwick’s Proxy, joining with the Earl of Northumberland, installed at the same time, proceeded to the Offering, 5 Eliz. As likewise the Proctor to the Earl of Bedford, with the Lord Hunsdon, 6 Eliz.
The Ceremony of the Offering being finished, the Service of the Church goes on, which being over, the Proceeding returns in the same Order it came to the Chapter-House, except, that now the Proxy takes his Place according to the Dignity of his Stall. But in regard the Statutes expresly declare; That after the Proxy hath been admitted to his Principal’s Stall, he shall neither wear the Mantle, nor have any Voice in Chapter, nor enter there in the absence of him that sent him; so that it was the ancient Practice to take off the Mantle from his Arm at the Chapter-House Door, in his return from the Choir, and delivered to the Verger of the Chappel, though sometimes to the Sexton, at other times to Garter, also to the Black-Rod, who hath taken it from off the Proxies Arm, and carried it into the Chapter-House; this done, the Proxy retires privately out of the Proceeding to his Lodging.
It appears however, but by what indulgence is not mentioned, that though Garter took the Mantle from Sir Henry Sidney, 5 Eliz. at the Chapter-House Door, on the Evening he returned from Installation; yet the next Morning he rode in the Procession to the Chapel, the Celebration of the Feast of St. George continuing, with the Mantle on his right Arm; and having entered the Choir, took his Principal’s Stall, bearing likewise the Mantle in the grand Procession, at the Offering of Money, and during Divine Service, and from the Chappel to the Castle to Dinner: And the like in the Afternoon of the said Day, he rode on Horse-back in the Proceeding to the Chapter-House Door, but there the Mantle was taken from him, and laid within upon the Table, whilst he retired into the East-Isle of the Chappel, and at the rising of the Chapter, it was again delivered to him, whence he proceeded in his Principal’s Place to the second Vespers.
Next Morning, the Lieutenant, and Assistants, having ended the Chapter, the Mantle was again laid on his Arm, and in that manner he passed to his Principal’s Stall, and afterwards offered, as on the Feast Day. The Morning Service ended, the Lieutenant and Assistants returned to the Chapter-House Door, where they put off their Mantles, and at the same time the Sexton of the College receiv’d the Mantle from him.