a candidate to become a cleric there was not much difficulty, if he showed sufficient diligence and good-will, and the various minor Orders were also bestowed without any serious question as to the likelihood of failure, etc., in the ecclesiastical career. With the subdiaconate, however, this was in no sense the case, and no one was allowed to be ordained without what was called a “title,” that is, he was required to show that he had been nominated to a benefice sufficient for his proper maintenance, or had been given a responsible guarantee of adequate support for one in sacred Orders. In the case of sons of well-to-do parents the bishop might accept the possession of sufficient property as guarantee under the title of “patrimony.” Moreover, the Episcopal Registers show for what large numbers of clergy the religious houses became surety for a fitting maintenance in the event of failure of health or withdrawal of ecclesiastical resources. A certificate of Orders received was to be furnished by the bishop’s official, the fee for each of which was settled in the English Church by Archbishop Stratford at 6_d._ The entry into the clerical state, with its duties and privileges, was outwardly manifested by the tonsure and _corona_. The former, as the gloss upon the Constitution of Cardinal Otho declares, was the shaving of a circle on the crown of the cleric as a sign of the laying aside all desire for temporal advantages and avaricious thoughts. “And,” says the author, “in the proper tonsure of clerics, I believe, is included the shaving of beards, which, contrary to the law, many modern clerks grow with great care.” The _corona_, although apparently in time it became synonymous with the “tonsure,” in its original English meaning certainly signified the close crop of the hair, on the upper part of the head, as “a sign that clerics sought only the Kingdom of God.” One curious instance of a bishop giving the tonsure in a parish church may be mentioned. In 1336, Bishop Grandisson, of Exeter, went to St. Buryan to terminate a serious quarrel between the inhabitants and himself, in which they had practically rejected his jurisdiction. He was attended by many of the gentry and the clergy, one of whom translated the bishop’s address into Cornish, for those who only understood that language. The parish then renewed their obedience “in English, French, and Cornish,” and the bishop absolved them from the penalties of their disobedience. After which, says the record, “he gave the first tonsure, or sign of the clerical character, to many who were natives of that parish.” [Illustration: SACRAMENT OF ORDINATION]