[Illustration: THE CLERK ACCOMPANYING THE PRIEST WHEN VISITING THE SICK]

[Illustration: THE CLERK ATTENDING THE PRIEST, WHO IS ADMINISTERING THE
LAST SACRAMENT]

Occupied with these numerous duties, engaged in a service which
delighted him, his time could never have hung heavy on his hands.
Faithful in his dutiful services to his rector, beloved by the
parishioners, a welcome guest in cot and hall, and serving God with all
his heart, according to his lights, he could doubtless exclaim with
David, _Laetus sorte mea_.



CHAPTER IV

THE DUTIES OF READING AND SINGING

The clerk's highest privilege in pre-Reformation times was to take his
part in the great services of the church. His functions were very
important, and required considerable learning and skill. When the songs
of praise echoed through the vaulted aisles of the great church, his
voice was heard loud and clear leading the choirmen and chanting the
opening words of the Psalm. As early as the time of St. Gregory this
duty was required of him. In giving directions to St. Augustine of
Canterbury the Pope ordered that clerks should be diligent in singing
the Psalms. In the ninth century Pope Leo IV directed that the clerks
should read the Psalms in divine service, and in 878 Archbishop Hincmar
of Rheims issued some articles of inquiry to his Rural Deans, asking,
among other questions, "Whether the presbyter has a clerk who can keep