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ROVAL LETTER TO CHAPTER OF YORK. 379
occasions, and more than once "kept his Maunday"
there. The ancient ceremonials were duly observed.
Two bishops washed the feet of certain poor men in
one of the aisles of the minster, whose number corresponded
to the years of his majesty's age, and handed
to them the royal gifts of bread, fish, clothing, and
money. His majesty touched great numbers for the
Evil at the same time.
In the course of one of his visits to York, he
addressed a letter to the Dean and Chapter,^ strongly
animadverting upon their having allowed dwellinghouses
to be erected in the closest proximity to the
walls of the minster.
One, indeed, had been actually
built inside the church, in the transept, which he
ordered at once to be taken down. No enclosed
seat was to be permitted in the choir, except one on
the north ' side, beyond the stalls, for the lord
president's lady and her suite. " Other women of
quality " were to be accommodated with moveable
benches or chairs. His majesty also issued an order"
commanding the attendance of the lord mayor,
recorder, and aldermen of York, at the minster
service on Sundays and holy-days, and that they
should behave in accordance with the canons of the
Church. They were forbidden to bring the ensigns
of their authority within the walls of the minster, and
were to manifest their conformity by receiving Holy
Communion at certain solemn times every year.
The services of the minster seem to have been
kept up at this time with considerable care. The
' S. P. Dom. Charles I., ccxxxix. 56.
2 Ibid., ccclxiii. 9.