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322 YORK.
Sundays of the year, very much in the form of that
which is now in force. Each vicar choral under the
age of forty years, and each of the deacons, was
enjoined to commit to memory every week a chapter
of St. Paul's Epistles, in Latin, " after the translation
of Erasmus." A similar task was imposed upon the
choristers, who were each to learn a chapter of the
Gospels and Acts, in English, every week, or at the
least every fortnight ; and they were to be examined
as to their proficiency, every Sunday, or at any rate
at the fortnight's end, by the master of the choristers.
The examination of the vicars choral the Archbishop
reserved to himself or to some competent person
appointed by him. Even those above forty years
old were not permitted altogether to escape, for they
were to read their weekly chapter with such an
amount of care as to be able to give a fair account
of it when called upon. Devout preparation for
weekly, or even more frequent communion was
urgently pressed upon all the members of the
Church, of whatever degree. Every vicar choral
was to have an English Testament of his own.
Those of them who were celibates and lived together
in common were to read daily a chapter therein after
dinner and supper, and the like practice was enjoined
upon those who were married and lived in their own
houses, so that the wives and servants of such might
have the advantage of listening to the daily reading
of the Word of God.
No ornate singing was to be allowed at any of the
services of the Church, at which nothing but plain
song was to be used, so as " that which shalbe songe