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Thus; after a long Interval, the Honour of the Feaftwas teftored, which had this effed, toward the End ofKing famct I- Reign, and that of his Son and Succeffor,Kin^ Charles I. that it begat a Re-union of the Feaft andpi a ce, whereby the Caftle of Wind for, famous for thetnJUtution of this moft Noble Order, retrieved its ancientHonour, of having its Solemnities celebrated there.
Of Prorogation of the Grand Feaft.
5 8. Having thus noted, that from the beginning ofKing Henry Vlllth’s Reign, till of late Years, the GrandFeaft was feldom obferved upon the precife Day ofSt. George ; and that the occafion how both Day andFeait came to be celebrated apart, took its rife from theindulgence of the Statutes in point of Prorogation 'Tisneceflary farther to obferve, that this Prorogation is of twoforts, either Abfolute, as being enjoined by the Statutes jor’elfe Arbitrary, at the Sovereign’s Pieafure, upon inter-vening Reafons. .
In the firft of tbefe the Founder’s Statutes enjoin, thatif the Feaft of St. George (hall happen within fifteen Daysnext after Eafter Day, it / hall he prorogued to the SundayTirtnigbt, or fifteen Days after Eafter Day. Add the reafoninhere given, T hat every of the Knights-Companions mighthove opportunity of coming thereto, without being conftrainedteride upon any of thofe three Holy Days preceedit.g EafterDay. The fame Rule for Prorogation, where there is atconcurrence of thefe two Feafts, is likewife enjoin’d bythe Statutes of King Henry V. and King Henry VIlf.
And when the Grand Feaft, in this cale of Eafter, hasbeen kept before the expiration of the faid fifteen Days,the Knights-Companions then abfent, to avoid the Penaltyfor their dot appearing, have made Excufe ; that the an-cient Statutes of the Order were violated in keeping theFeaft within fifteen Days after Eafter, as was ahedgedwhen Sir John Denham, Lord Treafurer, as Prefidenr,held the Feaft of St. George at Wmdfor, 24 April, 8Henry Vll.
Anciently, where the He gift er mentions the Grand Feaftto be held at Windfor, beyond the Day of St. George, ’tisobfervable upon Calculation, that Eafter Day, in thofe
times,