moment, and I inquired how she came to know about the Fasting before subject, and to feel so strongly about it. She replied that Communion. she well recollected the practice of her father and mother upon Sacrament Sunday,' when the Holy Communion was administered at mid-day: on that Sunday her parents never thought of taking any breakfast. I questioned her as to whether they did not take a cup of tea, or some light refreshment; she replied, warmly, that they would not have thought of such a thing. At the time of this conversation she was about seventy years of age: her recollection would reach well into the second decade of the nineteenth century.

A few years ago, the writer received the following letter from an unknown correspondent: "Many years ago, I was working in the parish of . . . Liverpool, under the late . . . I had charge of a girls' guild, a member of which was about to visit her grandmother in the country. The girl came to me in great trouble, to ask advice as to what she should do about her Communions, as in the village the Blessed Sacrament was only celebrated late once a month. My advice was, that she should wait and see how things would turn out, and leave the matter in God's hands. On her return, my first question was, How did you manage about your Communion? She replied, It was all right; on Sacrament Sunday there was no breakfast for any one: Grannie said, she had never heard of having breakfast before the Sacrament, and that her mother and her grandmother never had breakfast on Sacrament Sunday." This took place in the year 1870, carrying back the tradition of fasting reception of the Holy Communion five generations-into the last quarter of the eighteenth century.'

'A brother priest communicated the following incidents to the writer recently: "I mentioned to you two cases of old-fashioned people communicating fasting. The first was that of my own great-grandfather, who died about the year 1840. My father was brought up in his house, and has often told me that even when he received the Blessed

Fasting before Sacrament at mid-day, he never took any food previously. Communion. The second case I heard of was at W. . It was that of J. D., who died in 1879, aged seventy-seven years. His daughters, who are living here, tell me that even within a few weeks of his death, he communicated at the early Service, because from his boyhood he had made a habit of communicating fasting."

'A well-known priest communicated the following to the writer: "My mother, who died in the year 1874, and in the seventy-fifth year of her age, told me that in her early life she frequently walked to her parish church with an aged Wesleyan, who was a regular communicant. The old man often remarked to her that on Sacrament Sunday he always went to church without his breakfast, for he never would take any food before he received the Lord's Body."'-Staley, The Practical Religion, pp. 238–240.

* King George IV. 'was usually in the habit of receiving it [the Holy Communion] alone, and fasting, at ten o'clock.'-Life of Bp. Sumner, p. 78.

* I need not say that we old Tractarians communicated and communicate fasting, but we cannot lay the burden on the shoulders of the weak and sickly.'-Pusey, Spiritual Letters, p. 275.

Abstinence from Flesh on Fasting Days

A.D. 1548-62

Abstinence * In 1548, the second year of the reign of Edward from Flesh on VI., an Act of Parliament was passed (2 and 3 Edw. VI. Fasting Days. c. 19) ordering abstinence from flesh upon all such days

as had formerly been accounted fasting days. In this Act it was enjoined that, for the better subduing of the body to the soul, and the flesh to the spirit, as also for the preservation of the breed of cattle, the encouragement

of mariners, and increase of shipping, all manner of Abstinence persons should abstain from eating flesh upon the days from Flesh on there named; that is to say, all Fridays and Saturdays in Fasting Days. the year, the time of Lent, the Ember days, the eves or vigils of such saints as had been anciently used for fasts by the rules of the Church. (See Heylyn, Hist. of Reformation, vol. i. p. 144, ed. Eccles. Hist. Soc. 1849.) In 1552, the sixth year of the same reign, Parliament enacted (5 and 6 Edw. VI. c. 21), the bishops agreeing, that every even or day going before the feasts of the Nativity of our Lord, of Easter, of the Ascension of our Lord, of Pentecost, of the Purification and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, of All Saints, of all the said. feasts of the Apostles, (other than of St. John the Evangelist, and of St. Philip and Jacob) shall be fasted, and commanded to be kept and observed, and that none other even or day shall be commanded to be fasted." In explanation of the last clause it was added, that "the said Act, or anything therein contained, shall not extend to abrogate or take away the abstinence from flesh in Lent, or on Fridays and Saturdays, or any other (day) appointed to be kept for a fasting day." This statute, after being temporarily repealed by Queen Mary, was re-enacted in the reign of James I. (See Heylyn, Hist. of Reformation, vol. i. p. 267.) In Elizabeth's reign, similarly, proclamations ordering the observance of fish days were set forth, but for motives of worldly and civil policy. (See Hier. Anglic., Pt. I. pp. 248, 249; also Collier, Eccles. Hist., vol. vi. pt. ii. bk. vi. pp. 464, 575, ff.) 1

Though motives of civil policy, such as the preservation of cattle and the encouragement of the fisheries, were a convenient mask assumed by parliament in dealing with the subject of fasting, it may be questioned whether the secret motive of such legislation is not more truly revealed in the following manifesto of Archbishop Whitgift, put forth in 1596 of Elizabeth's reign-" Amongst

1 As examples of the severity with which these laws were enforced, see the extracts quoted on page 109.-ED. 1904.

Abstinence

all our sins, whereby we have provoked God justly to from Flesh on plague us with this dearth and scarcity, it is to be thought Fasting Days. that none have been more forceable thereunto, than our

excess and riot in diet: " wherefore, by the queen's strict command, Whitgift directs "that such as be of better ability do in the fear of God use a greater moderation than heretofore, in their diet; but namely, that by none, of what degree soever, any flesh be dressed or eaten on such days, as by law stand already prohibited, other than such as by reason of infirmity be lawfully thereunto licensed and that not only on Fridays, and other days by law already appointed for fasting days, no suppers at all be provided and taken by any, either for themselves or household, but also that every one not letted by grievous weakness, do abstain from suppers altogether on each Wednesday at night." (Cardwell, Doc. Ann., vol. ii. pp. 37, 38.)

'According to the Homilies, put forth in 1562, and ordered to be read in churches, "Fasting, by Christ's assent, is a withholding of meat, drink, and all natural food from the body, for the determined time of fasting." (Of Fasting, pt. i.) And again, "restraint from some kinds of meats and drink, for certain times and days appointed (Ibid. pt. ii.), is enjoined. The Homily quoted "permits two meals on a fasting day.'-Staley, The Fasting Days, pp. 13-16. 2nd ed. Oxford, 1899.

1552

In the calendar prefixed to the New Testament_published in 1552, the following are marked as 'Fyshe Dayes' The Vigils of the Nativity, the Purification and the Annunciation of the B.V.M., the Nativity of St. John Baptist, St. Peter, St. James, St. Bartholomew, St. Matthew, St. Michael and All Angels, St. Luke, St. Thomas. -Editor, 1904.

1560-1

Fasting Days.

*The begynnyng of Lent there was on master Abstinence Adams dwellyng in Lytyll Estchepe, and ther was a from Flesh on proclamasyon mad that yff any bocher dyd kyll any flesse for (Lent, he should) pay xxl. at evere tyme so dohyng; and this man kylled iij oxen, and ther was a quest whent on hym, and they cast ym in the fyne to paye the money.'-Machyn's Diary, p. 249. Camden Soc.

1561-2

* The xxxj day of January was a proclamasyon and that Lent be fastyd, with grett charge, penalte, and sumes, and the next tyme be punyssed.'-Ibid. p. 276.

1563

*In the Year 1563, A Woman, that kept a Tavern at the sign of the Rose at St. Katharine's, beyond the Tower, for having Flesh in her House in Lent, and that both raw and roasted, was set on the Pillory, for disobeying the Command for keeping Lent. And four Women who partook thereof, were set in the Stocks all Night, till their Husbands came to fetch them Home.

This was in pursuance of a Proclamation by the Queen and Council, March 1st, 1559, that no Men, nor Keepers of Tables, should cause to be eaten any Flesh in Lent, nor other Time in the Year that was commanded to be so observed by the Church. Nor any Butchers to kill Flesh. But for Breach thereof to pay a great Fine; or else stand Six Hours on the Pillory, and suffer Imprisonment Ten Days.'-Stow's Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, ed. Strype, vol. i. bk. i. p. 257.1 Lond.

1720.

1 See Machyn's Diary, Camden Soc., pp. 226 and 304.-ED. 1904.