The Established Church of England has always adhered to Episcopacy. Under the sovereign as supreme head, the Church is governed by three archbishops and forty bishops, of Canterbury, York, and Wales. The Archbishop of Canterbury is styled the _Primate of all England_, and to him belongs the privilege of crowning the kings and queens of England. The province of Canterbury comprehends 30 bishoprics; in the province of the Archbishop of York, who is styled _Primate of England_, there are 12 bishoprics, the province comprising Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the other northern counties. Wales has now been formed into a separate archbishopric. An Act was passed in 1914 disestablishing and disendowing the Church in Wales and Monmouthshire. The Act, suspended during the European War, came into force on 31st March, 1920. Archbishops and bishops are appointed by the sovereign by what is called a_congé d'élire_ or leave to elect, naming the person to be chosen and sent to the Dean and Chapter. The National Assembly of the Church of England (Powers) Act of 1919 instituted a National Assembly in England consisting of the House of Bishops, a House of Clergy, and a House of Laymen, which has power to legislate in Church matters. The archbishops and bishops, to the number of 24, have seats in the House of Lords, and are styled Lords Spiritual. The following are the bishops' sees: London, Winchester, Bangor, Bath and Wells, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Chelmsford, Chichester, Coventry, Ely, Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford, Ipswich, Lichfield, Lincoln, Llandaff, Norwich, Oxford, Peterborough, Rochester, St. Albans, St. Asaph, St. David's, Salisbury, Southwark, Southwell, Truro, Worcester, Durham, Carlisle, Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Ripon, Sheffield, Wakefield, Sodor and Man. To every cathedral belong several prebendaries and a dean; these together, spoken of as 'the Dean and Chapter', form the council of the bishop. The bishops are aided in their work by 36 suffragan and assistant bishops in England and Wales. The ordinary clergy are the _priests_, whether curates, vicars, or rectors. A _parson_ is a priest in full possession of all the rights of a parish church; if the great tithes are _impropriated_, the priest is called a vicar; if not, a rector; a _curate_ (in popular speech) is one who exercises the spiritual office under a rector or vicar. The _deacons_ form the third order of ordained clergy. The doctrines of the Church are contained in the Thirty-nine Articles; the form of worship is directed by the _Book of Common Prayer_. The revenue of the Church from endowments is over £6,000,000 annually. The clergy number about 27,000.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wakeman, _Introduction to the History of the Church of England_; Newbolt and Stone, _Church of England_.