very large revenues,
likewise independent; and over these bishops is one great dignitary,
who presides in lofty state over the whole system. This officer is
called the Archbishop of Canterbury. There is one other archbishop,
called the Archbishop of York; but his realm is much more limited and
less important. The Archbishop of Canterbury is styled the Lord
Primate of all England. His rank is above that of all the peers of the
realm. He crowns the kings. He has two magnificent palaces, one at
Canterbury and one at London, and has very large revenues, also, to
enable him to maintain a style of living in accordance with his rank.
He has the superintendence of all the affairs of the Church for the
whole realm, except a small portion pertaining to the archbishopric of
York. His palace in London is on the bank of the Thames, opposite
Westminster. It is called Lambeth Palace.

[Illustration: LAMBETH PALACE.]

The city of Canterbury, which is the chief seat of his dominion, is
southeast of London, not very far from the sea. The Cathedral is
there, which is the archbishop's church. It is more than five hundred
feet in length, and the tower is nearly two hundred and fifty feet
high. The magnificence of the architecture and the decorations of the
building correspond with its size. There is a large company of
clergymen and other officers attached to the service of the Cathedral.
They are more than a hundred in number. The palace of the archbishop
is near.

The Church was thus, in the days of Charles, a complete realm of
itself, with its own property, its own laws, its own legislature, and
courts, and judges, its own capital, and its own monarch. It was
entirely independent of the mass of the people in all these respects,
as all these things were wholly controlled by the bishops and clergy,
and the clergy were generally appointed by the noblemen, and the
bishops by the king. This made the system almost entirely independent
of the community at large; and as there was organized under it a vast
amount of wealth, and influence, and power, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, who presided over the whole, was as great in authority as
he was in rank and honor. Now Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury.

King Charles had made him so. He had observed that Laud, who had been
advanced to some high stations in the Church by his father, King
James, was desirous to enlarge and strengthen the powers and
prerogatives of the Church, just as he himself was