bundle is opened, the Act of Uniformity is the inside, then the Act for selling wines, then the Act for the advancement of the linen manufactory, and the grant of subsidies last.

Upon the outside of the bundle the following indorsement is made upon the Act for the grant of subsidies.

And this corresponds with the bundle of statutes, which are all fastened together. When this indorsement was made the Editor cannot take upon himself to determine.

Fastened to this bundle of statutes a writ, of which the following is a copy, appears; and it will be perceived that the writ corresponds with the indorsement and with the contents of the bundle :

"Charles the second by the Grace of God King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland Defender of the Faythe &c. To our right trusty and right entirely beloved Cosen and Counseller James Duke of Ormond, Lord Steward of our Household and Lord Lieutenant of our Realm of Ireland and other our Chief Governer or Governers of our said

Realm for the tyme being, or which hereafter shall be Greeting. Whereas, we have lately received from you our said Lieutenant and other of our Councell of that realm certayne bills to be considered upon concerning matters necessary for our said Realme, and having had consideration thereof, Wee doo by these presents declare our Royal approbation of such and so many of them as are hereunto annexed and herein also particularly named that is to saye; An Act for the better ordering the selling of Wynes and Aqua Vitæ together with all sorts of strong waters by retaile: An Act for the advancement of the trade-of Lynnen Manufacture: An Act for the grant of eight entire subsidyes by the temporality: And An act for the Uniformitye of publick prayers and administration of Sacraments and other rites and ceremonies; and for establishing the forme of making ordaining and consecrating Bishops, Priests, and Deacons in the Church of Ireland with the amendments and alterations therein: And do return the same unto you under our great seale of England signifying also unto you by these presents, that our pleasure and commandment is, that the said Bills and matters therein contayned being affyled together with these presents, ye shall likewise cause to be considered and treated upon in our Parliament lately begunn and houlden and continued by divers prorogations Within our said Realm of Ireland. And to the same Bills and matters (being agreed and concluded upon in our said Parliament) to give and declare our Royall assent by vertue of these presents which shall also be your sufficient Warrant in that behalf. In witness Whereof wee have caused these our letters to be made patent Witnes our selfe at Salisbury

the nineteenth daye of August in the seventeenth year of our Reign.

"p ipm Regem ppria mañu signat'

"BARKER."

At the bottom of these statutes two ends of a piece

of strong tape appear.

The Manuscript Book has a hole at the left hand corner of each of the pages, exactly of the size which such a piece of tape as that which appears attached to the Transmiss, would make.

The outside of the Act for the grant of Subsidies is discolored in various parts, in consequence, apparently, of the bundle of statutes having been folded up in the manner of a parcel; and if the Manuscript Book be placed in the centre of the bundle, it will be found to have made a nest for itself, and evidently to have been placed in the centre of the statutes.

Mr. Nash, one of the officers in the Rolls Office, has recently informed the Editor that he remembers the Manuscript Book attached to the bundle of statutes by the tape which is now hanging to the latter; and also recollects the time when the tape was severed in order to have the Manuscript Book bound.

The following letters, which have been forwarded to the Editor, by the Bishop of Meath, the Rev. Dr. Elrington, and Mr. Hardiman, will afford the most important information as to the Manuscript under consideration.

"My dear Sir,

Ardbraccan House, April 20, 1849.

"I am very happy that you intend to print the manuscript of the Book of Common Prayer which you have seen in the Rolls Office, at Dublin. I have not the slightest doubt of its authenticity. Indeed it affords internal evidence of its having been taken from the English Exemplar at the time of our Convocation and Act of Uniformity. The Prayer for the Lord Lieutenant has the name of James (Butler) Duke of Ormond. Now, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant in the year 1660, and continued so until 1669, and our Act of Uniformity, to which the Book of Common Prayer was annexed, was passed in the year 1665.

"It is evidently a more correct copy of the English Exemplar than any of the English Sealed Books. Indeed, so exactly was it copied, that it had not the necessary corrections made to adapt it to Ireland. When the Prayer for the Lord Lieutenant was inserted amongst the five prayers in Morning Prayer' following the place of the Anthem, although the number was thus made six, yet the 'five' in the Rubric, exactly copied from the English book, was allowed to remain. But the exactness of the copy appears more fully and strongly from the Form of Consecration of Bishops.' In the second year of the reign of Elizabeth, by the Act chap. 4, the old method of appointing bishops by election was done away with in Ireland. Since which time bishops have been appointed by patent of the Crown. Therefore they were so appointed

before and at the time of our Convocation and Act of Uniformity, by which our Prayer Book was adopted. And every bishop and archbishop who sat in that Convocation was appointed by patent and not by election; and yet the rubrics and suffrages of that form all go upon the supposition that the bishops to be consecrated had been elected. In the rubrics after the Nicene Creed and sermon, 'The elected Bishop vested, &c.;' and in the next rubric the Oath of Supremacy shall be ministered to the Persons. elected. And in the Oath of Canonical Obedience, 'I, N.

chosen Bishop of,' &c.

"And in the suffrage in the Litany, "That it may please thee to bless this our Brother elected."'

"After the questions put by the Archbishop, and answers of the candidate in the next rubric, Then shall the Bishop elect put on the rest of his Episcopal habit,' &c.

"In the rubric for laying on of hands, 'Then the Archbishop and Bishops present shall lay their hands upon the head of the elected Bishop.'

"One more such proof appears in the omission of the 'Irish Rebellion' in the Kalendar on the 23rd of October. The Irish Act for keeping that day was passed in the 14 & 15 Charles II. And our Act of Uniformity to which the MS. was attached was not passed until the 17 & 18 Charles II., and yet that holiday is not inserted.

"Our Act of Uniformity, after having stated the wish of our Legislature to have the same form of worship as in England, says, 'And to the intent that we his Majesty's subjects of this his Kingdom of Ireland may in this Church of Ireland hold the same Conformity of Common Prayer