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"Does it matter how many lessons you have? Is having seven or eight going to cause the collapse of civilisation as we know it? No, of course not. \n  \nHowever, having nine lessons was far from an arbitrary decision. Whose idea it was neither Wiki nor the King's College site says, but Benson developed the service from an idea by George Henry Somerset Walpole and at a shrewd guess I would point the finger at him. We should remember that this was an era when there was a good deal of lively interest and research into the traditional English liturgies. This was the generation of the great liturgical scholars like Walter Howard Frere, Christopher Wordsworth, Tolhurst, Proctor, Maskell and others who engaged themselves heavily in editing and publishing the old liturgical texts from the Uses of Sarum, York, Hereford and the monastic liturgies - and incorporating elements of Sarum Use into the Anglican ceremonial. \n  \nTo anyone aware of this and with eyes to see, there is no possible doubt that Benson's service is loosely based on the service of Matins as it would have been performed on major feast days in the Sarum rite. That is why it has nine lessons, why they are read in ascending order of rank from chorister to bishop/dean and why each lesson is followed by a musical response (the carol taking the place of the Respond/Responsory). \n  \nWhether you think this matters is a purely personal decision, just as is incense and other liturgical ceremonial. Low and free church members probably won't care a fig, but those who like a bit of liturgical tradition may well value the sense of continuity. "
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