th) of St. Erkenwald were red-letter days when, before the peal was
sounded, the bells were rung two and two. On the eve of St. Nicholas
(December 5th), patron saint of children, the choristers elected
their boy bishop and his clerks. On St. John the Evangelist's Day
(December 27th) at evensong the newly elected boy bishop in pontifical
vestments, with his boy clerks in copes, walked in procession, and
after censing the altar of the Blessed Trinity returned and occupied
dignitaries' stalls, and any evicted dignitary had to take the boy's
place as thurifer or acolyte, the boy bishop giving the benediction.
The next day (Holy Innocents) this youth preached and took the earlier
part of the mass. These choir lads were trained to act mysteries and,
later on, stage plays.[20]

[Illustration: THE SHRINE AND ALTAR OF ST. ERKENWALD BEHIND THE
HIGH ALTAR.
_After Hollar._]

Each new Lord Mayor, accompanied by the Council, went in procession to
St. Thomas Acon, and from thence to the cathedral. He paid his
devotions at the tomb of Bishop William the Norman, in the nave, in
gratitude for privileges obtained from the Conqueror, and then at the
tomb of his predecessor, the Portreeve Gilbert Becket, father of
Thomas, in a little chapel in the churchyard. On Whitsunday and the
following Tuesday were great processions in which the Corporation
joined, as they did on seven other festivals. At Whitsuntide,
according to a sixteenth century account, a huge suspended censer was
swung along the nave, and the descent of the Holy Spirit illustrated
by the letting loose of a white pigeon. Those who are curious about
the shrines, and particularly of St. Erkenwald's, the scene of so many
reputed miracles of healing, and of the relics, which included a vase
believed to contain some hair, milk, and a garment of the Virgin, are
referred to Dugdale and other like works. Passing over _Te Deums_ for
victories like Agincourt and Obsequies for the dead--this latter a
source of income to the officers--we will close this chapter with the
wedding of Arthur, Prince of Wales, a lad of fifteen, to Catherine of
Aragon, in November, 1501. The next spring Arthur died, and the king
effected the betrothal of the widow of eighteen to his younger son
Henry, aged eleven. Seven years later Henry VII. died, and lay in
state at the cathedral.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Tacitus, "Annals," xiv. 33.

[2] Bishop Browne ("The Christian Church in these Islands before the