THE COPE IN CATHEDRALS.
[To THU EDITOR Or THE " SPRCTATOR.")
Sza,—In your issue of this day's date you write of the Bishop of Manchester,—" It is notorious that he has never worn a cope in his own Cathedral. It is notorious that the law requires him to wear a cope in his own Cathedral, in the performance of cer- tain rites." If any such law exists, possibly it would affect me, no less than the Bishop of Manchester. Will you kindly inform
me to what law you allude, and where it is to be found F—I am, Sir, &c., [Oar correspondent ought to know the drift of the Ridsdale and Parches judgments. In the first place, they decided that there was no option as to vestments, that all vestments permitted by the Ornaments Rubric are enjoined. Next, the Ridsdale judgment ruled that the following is the legal meaning of the Ornaments Rubric :—" Provided always that such ornaments of the Church and of the ministers thereof shall be retained, and be in use, as were in this Church of England by authority of Parliament in the second year of King Edward VI., except that the surplice shall be used by the ministers of the Church at all times of their public ministrations ; and the alb, vest- ment, or tunicle shall not be used, nor shall a cope be used, except at the ministration of the Holy Communion in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches." Both judgments, moreover, maintain that "the Advertisements" must be read into the Rubric. Now, the Advertisements say that "in the administration of the Holy Communion in Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches, the celebrant shall wear a cope."—En. Spectator.]
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