Worship in Ireland, the first time he preached, before his Sermon, should openly, publicly and solemnly read the Common Prayers and Service in and by the said Book appointed to be read for that time of the day, and then and there publicly and openly declare his assent unto and approbation of the said Book, and to the Use of all the Prayers, Rites, and Ceremonies, Forms, and Orders therein contained and prescribed, according to the Form before appointed in the Act; and also should upon the first Lecture day of every month afterwards, so long as he continued Lecturer or Preacher there, at the place appointed for his Lecture or Sermon, before his Lecture or Sermon, openly, publicly, and solemnly read the Common Prayers and Service in and by the said Book appointed to be read for that time of the day at which the Lecture or Sermon was to be preached, and after such reading thereof, should openly and publicly, before the Congregation there assembled, declare his unfeigned assent and consent unto and approbation of the said Book, and to the Use of all the Prayers, Rites, and Ceremonies, Forms and Orders therein contained and prescribed, according to the Form aforesaid and further enacted that at all and every time and times when any Sermon or Lecture was to be preached, the Common Prayers and Service in and by the said Book appointed to be read for that time of the day, should be openly, publicly, and solemnly read by some Priest or Deacon in the Church, Chapel, or Place of Public Worship, where such Sermon or Lecture was to be preached, before such Sermon or Lecture were preached, and the Lecturer

then to preach should be present at the reading thereof: and that the Law and Statute of Ireland, which had been formerly made, and was then in force for the Uniformity of Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments in Ireland, should stand in full force and strength to all intents and purposes whatsoever, for the establishing and confirming of the said Book; and should be applied, practised, and put in ure for the punishing of all the offences contrary to such Law, with relation to the said Book and no other: and that a true printed copy of the said Book should, at the Cost and Charge of the Parishioners of every Parish Church and Chapelry, Cathedral Church, College, Collegiate Church and Hall, be attained and gotten before the feast of the Annunciation of the blessed Virgin Mary, 1665 and after reciting the Six and thirtieth Article of the Nine and thirty Articles agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces, and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London in the year 1562, it enacted, that all Subscriptions thereafter to be had or made unto such Articles by any Deacon, Priest, or Ecclesiastical Person, or other Person whatsoever, who by this Act, or any other Law then in Force, was required to subscribe them, should be construed, and be taken to extend, and should be applied for and touching the said Six and thirtieth Article, unto the Book containing the Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, in this Act mentioned, in such sort and manner as the same theretofore extended unto the Book set forth in the time of

Edward the Sixth, mentioned in the said Six and thirtieth Article.

The effect of the foregoing Act is, that the book which was annexed to it, viz., "The Book of Common Prayer and administration of the Sacraments and other rites and ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the Church of England, together with the Psalter and Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches; and the Form and Manner of making, ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons," is part of the statute law of the land, and any deviation from its text, either of addition or omission, unless expressly sanctioned by statute, is illegal.

It is an extraordinary fact, that no Prayer Book belonging to the "Church of Ireland" is recognized in the Irish Statute of Uniformity, and that the only Book of Common Prayer that is recognized, is that of the Church of England. It is true that in all the editions of the statutes it is stated to be the Book of Common Prayer "according to the use of the Church of Ireland;" but the Editor has recently examined the Manuscript Statute deposited in the Rolls Office, at Dublin, from which it appears that the printed Statutes of the Realm have given a false representation of that record.*

* It seems that in 1604, Elizabeth's Statute of Uniformity was so inaccurately printed, that the Lord Deputy and Council were ob liged to have the Statute exemplified under the Great Seal:-"Forasmuch as some material difference was found between the original Record and the printed copies of the Act of Uniformity, in order that

In the declaration of Assent and Consent, the book mentioned is "according to the use of the Church of England"; and the Declaration required from Schoolmasters is, that they shall conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England;-NOT Ireland, as the Queen's Printers make it

appear.

It is also a remarkable circumstance, that no allusion is made in the preamble or in the body of the Act to the Statutes of Uniformity of Edward VI. or Elizabeth.

The Manuscript Book of Common Prayer, to which reference is made by the Statute of Uniformity, was, before the union of Great Britain and Ireland, preserved in the Irish Parliament Office; it is now deposited in the Rolls Office, at Dublin. It is a folio volume, containing 283 leaves, and is bound in rough calf. The leaves measure 12 inches in height, and rather less than 7 inches in width. Two blank leaves precede the leaves of the Manuscript, and are of a different kind of paper, and have no hole at the lower inner corner of the leaf. inside of the cover the following words are

Upon the

written in

pencil :

have returned it to

"I received this Book from the Rolls Office on the 23a day of february in the year 1826, & the proper Officer the 3d day of July

1826

"W. DUBLIN "

none might plead ignorance of the original Record, they exemplified the Statute under the Great Seal, and published it: and added thereunto the King's injunction for its observance." 1 Mant, Hist. Church

Upon the first blank leaf the late Archbishop of Dublin has written in pencil

"This Book was (by order of the L Chancellor) entrusted to me for the purpose of collating with the printed Common Prayer Book for Ireland (a new edition being about to be printed by the Kings Printer under my inspection) I have added to it the pagings at the lower corner of each page, amounting to page 563-the first 99 in letters the rest in figures-I state this, that they may not be considered as part of the original Record.-& consequently as marking the original position of the parts of the Book-for it is to be noted that the present binding is recent-having been given to it by the Subcommissioners of Records in the year

"W. DUBLIN "*

The third leaf of the volume is of the same paper as that of other leaves of the Manuscript, but the lower inner corner of it is torn away. The first page of this leaf is blank, but on the second page of the leaf "The Order

*The Lord Chancellor committed a public breach of trust in lending this record out of the custody of the proper officer, and the Archbishop of Dublin violated the confidence that was reposed in him by the Lord Chancellor, in discreditably defacing and altering the record that had been intrusted to him for a special object, viz., that of "collation." Consequently, it is rather difficult to say, whether the Lord Chancellor of Ireland or the Archbishop of Dublin acted in the