[554] The Journal of the House of Commons, i. 54: “The Bill for the Order of Service and Ministers in the Church” (Feb. 15th); The Book of Common Prayer and Ministration of Sacraments (Feb. 16th).
[555] Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, 1558-80, p. 45: “a book passed by the Commons”; cf. above, p. 392; cf. also Bishop Scot’s speech on the reading of the Bill which was emasculated by the Lords, in Strype’s Annals, I. ii. 408.
[556] Dr. Gee rejects the idea that Guest’s letter had anything to do with the Book passed by the Commons and rejected by the Lords; cf. his Elizabethan Prayer-Book and Ornaments, pp. 32 ff.; and for a criticism of Dr. Gee, Tomlinson, The Elizabethan Prayer-Book and Ornaments; a Review, p. 12. Guest’s letter is printed by Dr. Gee in his Elizabethan Prayer-Book, etc. p. 152, and more accurately by Mr. Tomlinson in his tract, Why was the First Prayer-Book of Edward VI. rejected?
[557] “Il Schifanoya” reports the wrath of the Commons: They “grew angry, and would consent to nothing, but are in very great controversy” (Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, 1558-80, p. 52); cf. p. 392.
[558] Journal of the House of Commons, i. 57.
[559] Professor Maitland (English Historical Review, July 1903, p. 527 n.) and Father J. H. Pollen (Dublin Review, January 1903) think that this proclamation of the 22nd of March was never issued; but “Il Schifanoya” can hardly refer to any other.
[560] “On Easter Day, Her Majesty appeared in the chapel, where Mass was sung in English, according to the use of her brother, King Edward, and the communion was received in both ‘kinds,’ kneeling, facendoli il sacerdote la credenza del corpo et sangue prima; nor did he wear anything but the mere surplice (la semplice cotta), having divested himself of the vestments (li paramenti) in which he had sung Mass; and thus Her Majesty was followed by many Lords both of the Council and others. Since that day things have returned to their former state, though unless the Almighty stretch forth His arm a relapse is expected. These accursed preachers, who have come from Germany, do not fail to preach in their own fashion, both in public and in private, in such wise that they persuaded certain rogues to forcibly enter the church of St. Mary-le-Bow, in the middle of Cheapside, and force the shrine of the most Holy Sacrament, breaking the tabernacle, and throwing the most precious consecrated body of Jesus Christ to the ground. They also destroyed the altar and the images, with the pall (palio) and church linen (tovalie), breaking everything into a thousand pieces. This happened this very night, which is the third after Easter.... Many persons have taken the communion in the usual manner, and things continue as usual in the churches” (Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, 1558-80, p. 57).
[561] The speeches of Abbot Feckenham and Bishop Scot, reprinted in Gee’s Elizabethan Prayer-Book, etc. pp. 228 ff., represent the arguments used in the Lords. Scot’s speech was delivered on the third reading of the Act of Uniformity, quite a month after the Westminster conference, and Feckenham’s may have been made at the same time; still they show the arguments of the Romanists.
[562] Calendar of Letters and State Papers relating to English Affairs, preserved principally in the Archives of Simancas, 1558-67, pp. 45, 46-48; Zurich Letters, i. 13ff.; Strype’s Annals, etc. I. i. 128-40, I. ii. 466; Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, 1558-80, pp. 64, 65.
[563] “King Edward’s reformation satisfieth the godly”: Bullinger to Utenhovius (Zurich Letters, 2nd series, p. 17 n.; Strype, Annals, I. i. 259).