The late Queen Mary (S373), besides having repealed the legislation of
the two preceding reigns, in so far as it was opposed to her own
strong religious convictions (S370), had restored the Roman Catholic
Latin Prayer Book (S362). At Elizabeth's coronation a petition was
presented stating that it was the custom to release a certain number
of prisoners on such occasions. The petitioners, therefore, begged
her Majesty to set at liberty the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John, and also the apostle Paul, who had been for some time
shut up in a strange language. The English Book of Common Prayer
(S362), with some slight changes, was accordingly reinstated,
Parliament repealed the laws by which the late Queen Mary had
practically restored the Roman Catholic religion, and it authorized
the publication of a new and revised edition of the English Bible
(S357).