ced for the administration of the holy
sacrament; that in some other places the altars had not yet been removed:
in the order whereof, as the injunctions express, save for an uniformity,
there seemed to be no matter of great moment, so that the sacrament was
duly and reverently ministered; and it was so ordered that no altar should
be taken down but by oversight of the curate and churchwardens, or one of
them, and that the holy table in every church should be decently made and
set in the place where the altar stood, and there commonly covered, and so
to stand, saving when the communion of the sacrament was to be
distributed; at which time the same was to be so placed within the chancel
in such manner that the minister might be the more conveniently heard of
the communicants in his prayer and ministration.

[Illustration: Ancient Communion Table, Sunningwell Church, Berkshire.]

Many of the old communion-tables set up in the reign of Elizabeth are yet
remaining in our churches, and are sustained by a stand or frame, the
bulging pillar-legs of which are often fantastically carved, with
arabesque scroll-work and other detail according to the taste of the age.
The communion-table in Sunningwell Church, Berkshire, probably set up
during the time Bishop Jewell was pastor of that church, is a rich and
interesting specimen. Communion-tables of the same era, designed in the
same general style, with carved bulging legs, are preserved in the
churches of Lapworth, Rowington, and Knowle, Warwickshire; in St. Thomas's
Church, Oxford; and in many other churches. Sometimes the bulging
pillar-legs are turned plain, and are not covered with carving: such occur
in Broadwas Church, Worcestershire; in the churches of St. Nicholas and
St. Helen, at Abingdon; and in the north aisle of Dorchester Church,
Oxfordshire. The table or slab of the communion-table in Knowle Church is
not fixed or fastened to the frame or stand on which it is placed, but
lies loose; and this is also the case with an old communion-table of the
sixteenth century, now disused, in Northleigh Church, Oxfordshire. In an
inventory of church goods, taken in 1646, occurs the following: "Item, one
_short table and frame_, commonly called the communion-table." On
examining the old communion-tables, the movability of the slab from the
frame-work is of such frequent occurrence as to corroborate the
supposition that some esoteric meaning was attached to its unfixed state,
which mea