Rectory, Clyst St. George.
In a late Number of your miscellany, you say it is a general practice for
congregations in churches to _stand_ during the reading of the Lord's
Prayer, when it occurs in the order of Morning Lessons. In my experience, I
do not remember any such custom prevalent in this part of the country; but
may mention, as a curious and (as far as I know, or ever heard of) singular
example of kneeling at the reading of St Matt. vi. and St. Luke xi., that
at Formby, a retired village on the Lancashire coast, my first cure, the
people observed this usage. The children in the schools were instructed to
kneel whenever they read the section of these chapters which contains the
Lord's Prayer. And at the "Burial of the Dead," as soon as the minister
came to that portion of the ceremony where the use of the Lord's Prayer is
enjoined, all the assembled mourners (old and young, and however cold or
damp the day) would devoutly kneel down in the chapel yard, and remain in
this posture of reverence until the conclusion of the service. I observed
that their Roman Catholic neighbours, who often attended at funerals, when
they happened to be present, did the same. So that it seemed to be "a
tradition derived from their fathers," and handed down "from one generation
to another."