"Thus, in the College of Arms, is still preserved the docquet of a grant of a Guidon to Hugh Vaughan, Esq., in 1491, which bears his crest, a man habited and holding a sword. This is placed in the Guidon longitudinally.

"Guidons are also mentioned by Du Cange (ad v.) as an Ecclesiastical fraternity, instituted by Charlemagne, to show strangers who visited Rome the sacred places of the city, a kind of Ciceroni; and also to take charge of their funerals, in case they died within its precincts. One of the gates of the Vatican, Porta Guidonea, has been supposed to be so named from the residence of this fraternity. Du Cange gives from Mabillon (Itin. Ital. 51.) a different reason, the force of which we do not comprehend, 'quod per eam peregrini Guidones seu vexilla gestantes intrarent.'

The Editor's Desk.

CHURCH NEWS OF THE MONTH.

THE last was a inemorable month-memorable for the meeting of the Church's Parliament-memorable for the funeral of that mighty man, whose death was the subject of an article in our October number. Taken all in all, it was one of the most touching and wonderful sights that could have been witnessed. As we passed through the hall at Chelsea with its solemn ornaments, its many lights, the soldiers with arms reversed, the mourning officers, the catafalque and all the attendants of so grand a ceremonial, we felt that there were only wanting the strains of solemn music, breaking in undertone upon the ear, to render the effect still more wonderful. To give any detail of the procession and of the funeral solemnities, would be only to repeat what all our readers have seen in the papers. We may, therefore, pass by with the remark, that if one thing above another struck us as we gazed upon the mighty crowd of people of all classes and ages, it was the marked and solemn manner in which they watched the sacred dead carried to its restingplace, and uncovered their heads as the body passed along. It was reverence to the departed, and not merely honour to greatness; and we trust the day will yet come when all will do reverence, whenever a body is carried to that its last home, the body which hath been inhabited of the HOLY GHOST. Though all our readers must have seen some account of that which cannot be adequately described, they may not all have seen the following beautiful and Christian verses, which appeared in the Times of Monday, and are dated, as will be seen, from Oriel College, Oxford.

THE DAY OF THE FUNERAL.

"No sounds of labour vexed the quiet air
From morn till eve. The people all stood still,
And earth won back a Sabbath. There were none
Who cared to buy and sell, and make a gain,
For one whole day. All felt as they had lost
A father, and were fain to keep within,
Silent, or speaking little. Such a day
An old man sees but once in all his time.

"The simplest peasant in the land that day
Knew somewhat of his country's grief. He heard
The knell of England's hero from the tower
Of the old church, and asked the cause and sighed.
The vet'ran who had bled on some far field

Fought o'er the battle for the thousandth time
With quaint addition; and the little child,
That stopped his sport to run and ask his sire
What it all meant, picked out the simple tale,
How he who drove the French from Waterloo,
And crushed the tyrant of the world, and made
His country great and glorious, he was dead!
All, from the simplest to the stateliest, knew
But one sad story: from the cotter's bairn
Up to the fair-haired lady on the throne,-
Who sat within and sorrowed for her friend.
And every tear she shed became her well,
And seemed more lovely in her people's eyes
Than all the starry wonders of her crown.

"But, as the waters of the Northern Sea
(When one strong wind blows steady from the pole)
Come hurrying to the shore, and far and wide
As eye can reach the creaming waves press on
Impatient; or, as trees that bow their tops
One way, when Alpine hollows bring one way
The blast whereat they quiver in the vale,—
So millions pressed to swell the general grief
One way;-for once all men seemed one way drawn.
Or if through evil hap, and unforeseen,

Some stayed behind, their hearts, at least, were there
The whole day through,-could think of nothing else,
Hear nothing else, see nothing!

In his cell

The student saw the pageant: spied from far

The long-drawn pomp which reached from west to east.
Slow moving in the silence; casque and plume,
And banner waving sad; the marvellous state
Of heralds, soldiers, nobles, foreign Powers,
With baton or with pennon; princes, peers,
Judges, and dignities of Church and State,
And warriors grown grey-headed;-every form
Which greatness can assume, or honour name,
Peaceful or warlike,-each and all were there;
Trooping in sable sorrow after him
Who slept serene upon his funeral car
In glorious rest!

A child might understand
That 'twas no national sorrow, but a grief

Wide as the world. A child might understand
That all mankind were sorrowing for one!
That banded nations had conspired to pay
This homage to the chief who drew his sword
At the command of Duty; kept it bright

Through perilous days; and, soon as Victory smiled,
Laid it, unsullied, in the lap of Peace,

"Such things, and more, the student spied: as dull
Of heart were he who, hearing through the day
The doleful clang from many a tower and spire,
(As if in every College one were dead!)

Could sit with slumbering fancy; hear no strains
Of melancholy music; see no shade

Cast (as by nodding plumes) across his book,
And hiding all the sense: yea, pour no prayer
Voiceless, yet hearty as ineloquent ;

Unconscious to himself of what he said :

"GOD, rest his gallant spirit! give him peace!
And crown his brows with amaranth,—and set
The saintly palm-branch in his strong right hand.
Amid the conquering armies of the skies
Give him high place for ever! let him walk
O'er meads of better asphodel; and be
Where dwell the single-hearted, and the wise,
The saviours of their country !-faithful men,
And loyal to their Prince, and true, and brave;
Men like himself, severely, simply good,

Who scorned to be ambitious,-scorned the snares
Of office, station, rank; but stood sublime

In natural greatness . . . . O Eternal King,-
O FATHER of all Spirits,-give him peace!'

"Oriel College, Nov. 18."

Passing from this to matters more strictly ecclesiastical, we have to record the solemn administration of Holy Confirmation in the Church of S. Thomas of Canterbury, Oxford, by the Lord Bishop of the diocese; which might have afforded a valuable lesson to every parish in England, so remarkably did it prove with what deep beauty and impressiveness that holy rite can be invested by a due appreciation of its sacramental character, and a reverential carrying out of the mind of the Church in every detail of the ceremonial.

We do not remember ever to have witnessed a ceremony more beautiful and touching in every respect than that which was produced by these means, and the effect was the more striking as it offered so great a contrast to the cold and slovenly manner in which this sacred rite is too often administered. One especial merit, however, there was in the confirmation at S. Thomas', which was certainly peculiar to that parish alone, and which we should be glad to see adopted as a universal custom; and this was the extremely quiet and parochial character of the solemnity, and the admirable arrangement of the service, which rendered the whole, from beginning to end, no longer than an ordinary Sunday service. Thus, in addition to many other advantages which we shall briefly point out, this mode of conducting the administration of the rite,

if generally followed up, would enable our bishops to spend every Sunday in a similar manner; and instead of the wholesale confirmation, to which we are unhappily too much accustomed, where the children of half-a-dozen parishes are collected together, and disposed of en masse, their numbers being far too great to admit of each one duly receiving the blessing, we should see, as on this occasion the young people of the one flock only brought by their parish Priest himself to the Bishop's feet, there to obtain, with all reverence and solemnity, the full share of attention and care which the Church wills they should severally receive; but a simple detail of the proceedings will best explain this.

The Confirmation was held, as we have said, for S. Thomas' parish alone, so that the candidates did not amount to more than eighty, and the usual very secular formality of tickets was entirely dispensed with, each child being simply presented by the parish Priest, who was of course perfectly acquainted with their fitness for receiving the sacred gift of the HOLY GHOST. The proceedings of the day commenced with the celebration of the Blessed Sacrament at eight o'clock in the morning, (there being always weekly communion in this well ordered Church;) and already here the exclusively parochial nature of the Confirmation had its effect, for there was not a single communicant, we believe, present who was not interested in some way in many, if not all, the candidates; and the fact that each one united their prayers for them with that Holy Sacrifice, is one which faith teaches to have been by no means unimportant for those who were to be admitted to the rite. At eleven o'clock the procession, consisting of the choir, clergy, and bishop, walked down the nave of this beautiful church, in which lately some very extensive improvements have been made by the sole care of the Vicar, and which he has made very nearly perfect in all its internal arrangements. The choir, all duly habited in surplices, came first, followed by two deacons, the present curates of the parish, next two priests, who last year held the same position, and consequently were not in any sense strange, and after them the Vicar and the Archdeacon. These remained standing lining the chancel and nave, through which the Bishop passed to his chair, placed without the rails of the altar, and then following him they took their places in order. The Morning Service, which was choral, then commenced, and terminated with the Litany. As the Communion Office had already been used in the morning, immediately after the conclusion of the Litany, the Archdeacon came forward to the chancel step, and read the exhortation for Confirmation. After which the Bishop proceeded at once to the pulpit to address the candidates. His Lordship took his text from the lesson of the day-"Be strong in the LORD, and in the power of His might"-and delivered a most admirable address-plain, solemn, impressive, and urged with