The day after the re-assembling of Parliament, in the month of November, the Houses of Convocation resumed their deliberations. To facilitate the despatch of business in reference to the Prayer Book, the Convocation of the province of York agreed to unite with the Convocation of the province of Canterbury, by means of proxies, binding themselves to submit to the decisions thus obtained.[279] So earnest was the Northern Archbishop, that he wrote to the Prolocutor of his Lower House to send up proxies by the next post, and told the Registrar of his diocese, "if we have not all from you by the end of next week we are lost."[280] Several clergymen came from the North to town, to act on behalf of their brethren. The two provinces thus co-operating, the business of revising the Prayer Book rapidly proceeded. Upon the 10th of October, the King had written to the Archbishop of Canterbury, directing His Grace, with the other Bishops and clergy, to discharge that duty;[281] and, probably, before Convocation met in November, the Bishops had begun to prepare for the task, although there were differences of opinion amongst them; for, whilst some pressed for alterations such as might "silence scruples and satisfy claims," others were for adopting the Prayer Book as it stood. [Sidenote: 1661.] Before describing the alterations which were now made, it is proper to give, at least, a slight sketch of the history of the volume. The Middle Ages had no Act of Uniformity. There were several rituals, called _Uses_, of York, Hereford, Exeter, Lincoln, and other dioceses. These Uses, which did not materially differ from each other, gave place after the eleventh century, especially in the South of England, to that of Sarum; Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, having about the year 1085, bestowed great pains upon the revision of the ecclesiastical offices in his Church. The Missal and Breviary contained in Osmund's revision of the English mediæval formularies, constitute the basis and, indeed, the substance of the Book of Common Prayer.[282] The first reformed Liturgy for the use of the Protestant Church in England was set forth under Edward VI., in the year 1549. A second, which showed a further advance on the side of the Reformation, appeared in 1552. A primer, or book of private prayer, containing the catechism, with collects and other forms of secret devotions, was published in 1553. Elizabeth's Book of Common Prayer belongs to the year 1559; and afterwards, at different times, came particular forms of devotion, prepared for particular seasons and circumstances. The Prayer Book of 1559 underwent some alterations at the commencement of the reign of James I., after the Hampton Court Conference, but they were very slight, and were simply called _Explanations_. The Book prepared in the reign of Elizabeth, thus altered, was that which the Convocation of 1661-2 had to revise. [Sidenote: CONVOCATION.]