AN ANCIENT CHOIR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 21, 19 October 1907, Page 5

AN ANCIENT CHOIR.

A Parliamentary White Paper recently-■is-sued' giving the particulars as to an inquiry instituted into the endowments of the Choristers' School, Salisbury, contains also some interesting matter as to the history.,of the endowment. So far as has been ascertained, the. first time'any mention is' made in the statutes of the Cathedral' Church of Saruni of the instruction of choristers-is-in a code of statutes drawn up in 1319 by Roger.de Mortiv'al, Bishop of Sarum, embodying certain former statutes, which were to remain in force, unless abrogated by the new codo. The new statutes were received by the Chapter on July 1, 1324, and inserted amongst their existing' statutes. They contain provisions for the material and educational wcll-T)ciiig of the choristers. The advowson of the Church of Preshuta, in Wiltshire, ■ was ; amongst the properties assigned, and a reference which the report makes to this fact is distinctly curious as an illustration of certain conditions of Church life at that time. ' The Act of Appropriation ( of the Church of Preshuto, which is dated' September 7, 1322, and is recorded among the archives of the Chapter, recites the reasons which influenced the bishops iir making the cn'dowment—viz.; "that the choristers, who, by! old and laudable custom, had to minister' at all hours to God, and His exalted Mother, wore insufficiently provided for, and had often to hog their bread, seeking it among the houses of the canons, who themselves had a miserably poor pitt'nnco far their own support.- This stato of things being a grave scandal,to the Church, Bishop Simon had endeavoured to remedy this evil, but bad been unable, fully to effect his pious intentions, and bis successor, Bishop Roger, therefore, had denreet)and, ordained to the provisions in the statute 1 of "1310."