The 2nd Book of Homilies (1562. See Art. xxxv). contains a Homily for Rogation Week in four parts--three of which appear to be designed for the three Rogation Days, and the fourth for The Perambulation of the Parish, or Beating of the Bounds--a custom which has survived into our own time. The parishioners walked along the outline of the parish, taking {156} care that at least one of them passed through any obstruction which was built, or erected, across the boundary. Thus, if a cottage were so built, a boy would be passed though the door and window of it. Trees at corners were marked with a hatchet: a note book was preserved as a guide for the next perambulation. From this useful and ancient ceremony, Rogation Days were called by the Anglo-Saxons Beddagas=Prayer-days, or Gang-dagas=perambulation-days. Boundary stones, dated May 4, 1837, are to be seen in the thickets of Buckland Woods, Devon, showing that Ascension Day was chosen in that year for the perambulation of Ashburton. More recently the perambulation of Exeter has been performed on Ascension Day. The steps by which the religious dedication of the year's work, at each centre of agricultural industry, passed into a municipal ceremony accompanied by social amenities, may be conjectured. It was still a religious service--partly in the church and partly in the fields, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and much later. Litanies, however, have ceased to be processions. They are not said walking, but kneeling. The Litany is to be said at some different place from the Morning Prayer: for, in the Commination it is ordered, that part shall be said by the Minister in the Reading Pew, or Pulpit, and the rest "in the place where they are accustomed to say the Litany." Since this recognises an accustomed place, the kneeling desk or fald-stool[4], placed "in front of the chancel door," or "in {157} the midst of the Church" (Injunctions of Edw. VI.), appears to be intended. For the order to kneel to say the Litany, we must refer back to the rubric at the head of the Collects in Morning Prayer, where the words, _all kneeling_, were added in 1662 (see p. 130). The place of the Faldstool may have been suggested by Joel ii. 17, _Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar_. Structure of the Litany. The Litany is a series of prayers addressed mainly to God the Son. It has two breaks, or interruptions, which consist of prayers addressed to God the Father. Thus there are five sections. Section i. from the beginning, to _O Christ, hear us_. Thirty petitions to Jesus under the title _Good Lord_, with invocation of Holy Trinity at the beginning, and urgent entreaty at the end. Section ii. from _Lord, have mercy upon us_, to _world without end_. Amen. Earnest appeal to the Father, with _Lesser Litany_ as preface to the Lord's Prayer. Section iii. _From our enemies_, to _O Lord Christ_. Eight Antiphonal prayers to Christ. {158}