If the feast was of sufficient rank for the hebdomadarian to be vested in a cope, he then occupied the stall next to the abbot; if not, he remained in his own place, and, when the tolling of the bell ceased and gave notice of the conclusion of the interval, he at once intoned the _Deus in adjutorium_ for the beginning of Lauds. It was his place to give out the first antiphon, the second being taken by the abbot, or by the first religious in choir. The rest of the antiphons were given out as at Matins, by one on each side in turn. The Chapter--called the “Little Chapter”--was supposed to be known by heart, and no book or light was allowed to be used in saying it. The hebdomadarian gave out the antiphon of the _Benedictus_, and if he were vested in cope he would have to incense the altar or altars during the singing of that canticle. For this purpose two thurifers, and acolytes bearing candles, came from the sacristy before the antiphon was begun, and the thurifers, after the incense had been blessed by the abbot, accompanied the hebdomadarian to the High Altar, returning whence they had come after the ceremony had been performed. On Sundays, at the conclusion of Lauds, the hebdomadarian gave the blessing to the outgoing and incoming weekly servers. Directly the Office was over the community retired once more to the dormitory and to bed. The juniors led the way with a lighted lantern, as when they had come down to Matins. The prior, however, waited in his stall until he had seen that all had passed out of the church except the sacrist, who had to remain behind to see that the lights were safely put out, and that the _Collectarium_, or book of Collects, and other choir books were carefully replaced in the aumbry. Then he too retired again to his bed in the room near the church. It would have been probably some time about half-past one or two in the morning before the monks found themselves once more in bed for their second period of repose. 3. PRIME AND THE EARLY MASS It is somewhat difficult to say exactly at what time the Hour of Prime was generally said in a mediæval monastery. It is possible, however, to assume that it was not earlier than six or later than seven o’clock in the morning. One Consuetudinary, that of St. Mary’s, York, says that the bell was to ring for that Hour at seven, “unless for some reason the time was changed; but that Prime must never be said before daybreak.”