the Reformation, which found eight Cathedrals out of eighteen in the hands of monks. We thus see how completely the early history of our Cathedrals is interwoven with that of the monastic institutions of England.

Besides these twenty or twenty-two Cathedrals, there were a large number of mitred abbeys, hardly inferior in importance and wealth. Previous to the time of Edward III the number of abbots and priors summoned to Parliament was constantly varying. In the forty-ninth year of Henry III sixty-four abbots and thirty-six priors were summoned; one year, in the time of Edward I, seventy-five were summoned; a few years later, in the time of Edward II, only fifteen. At last Edward III limited the number to twenty-six, who all held of the king in capite per baroniam, having an entire barony, to which thirteen knights' fees at least did belong. One of these twenty-six, the Prior of St. John's in Jerusalem, took precedence as "the first and chief baron in England:" he was generally of noble extraction and an accomplished soldier. There were several very large and wealthy Abbeys not included in the twenty-six: amongst others was the Abbey of St. Werbergh, now the Cathedral of this diocese. The heads of the mitred Abbeys gradually obtained exemption from Episcopal control. They possessed a large number of impropriate parishes, the services of which were ministered by their vicars; and they had the oversight of many minor cells and houses.

From these facts we may learn the very great political power assigned to those dedicated to the services of the Church. The power of the people and the trading classes was then unknown: the popular element in the body politic rested with the Church. Her offices and places of importance were elective, though sometimes controlled by the strong arm of might. The plebeian could place himself on an equality with the nobles solely by means of taking holy orders. * Fuller's Church History, vol. II, p. 182.

Through the Abbey schools men could rise from the humblest to the highest positions in society. The monks of St. Albans could point to Nicholas Breakspear, when he was seated, a very proud prelate, on the Papal throne, and speak of the time when they admitted him a serving lad into their house.* "The language of the Church was directly op"posed to that of the Castle; and it was openly proclaimed "that all Christian men are brothers, whether high or low, "noble or ignoble, lord or slave.

The wealthy is not better The slave might as boldly We are all alike before

"God, unless any one excel another in good works.' How "elevating to the character, how consolatory to the heart, must "such language have been to those whom the feudal lord

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regarded as less valuable than his war-horse and as little "better than his chattels ! Although the time had not arrived "when the foot, in touching the English soil, became the foot

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of a free man, yet provision was made in the monasteries for "the emancipation of slaves. No feudal lord could refuse free"dom to his slave, if the slave was desirous of receiving even the inferior orders of the Church, provided the sum required "for the purchase of his freedom was forthcoming; and from "the treasury of the Monastery the money might be drawn by "any one who proved himself worthy of freedom and was "willing to submit to the restraints of religion and morality.Ӡ

It is impossible to look at the history of the Monasteries. of England without chiefly regarding them in the light of social and moral institutions. Still, if we only looked at them in that point of view, we should be wrong; many of them were the scenes of much religious life. Can any one who has visited the Convent of St. Bernard, or those at Mount Sinai or Mount Carmel, doubt that their inmates are actuated by the highest motives in the work they have

* Hook's Lives of the Archbishops, vol. ii, p. 21. + Ibid, p. 19.

undertaken, and that they are sustained amid the dangers and seclusion of their daily life by the richest consolations of our Christian faith? If we make this admission, how can we help having the same belief of those who, during the long years of ignorance and war and rapine of the Middle Ages, maintained the light (dim and flickering it may have been) of our revealed religion, and who, by so doing, have conferred a ceaseless obligation on every sect within the British Isles. We are indebted to a monk of Cluny for one of the most beautiful hymns we possess :—

"Urbs Syon aurea, Patria lactea, sive decora;"

which has been so admirably rendered by Dr. Neale― "Jerusalem, the golden!

With milk and honey blest,
Beneath thy contemplation

Sink heart and voice opprest;

I know not, oh! I know not
What social joys are there;
What radiancy of glory,

What light beyond compare!"

It is related of Archbishop Anselm, when Abbot of Bec, that the Monastery was often in want of provisions for the following day; and the poor officials of the house (cellerarii, camerarii et secretarii), when they came to him enquiring what was to be done, were received with these words (which might have been uttcred at the present day by Mr. Müller, the founder of the Orphan Houses near Bristol)—“ Trust in "the Lord He will make provision for us."*

Again, in the Crusades we have a marvellous proof of the religious zeal of the Middle Ages. Hosts of mailed warriors rescue the holy shrines;

and men-at-arms pouring forth to and amongst those armed multitudes were many who, like their great leaders, Godfrey de Bouillon and the sainted Louis IX, desired not earthly greed or glory so much as to fight manfully under Christ's banner in heathen lands.

* Hook's Lives of the Archbishops, vol. ii, p, 179.

And we have another proof, in the wonderful eagerness for building and endowing Churches and religious houses. The motives which led to the foundation of these monastic piles were various-if not always good, certainly not always bad. Did any noble feel remorse for the deeds of a vicious and unjust life-the endowment of an Abbey was considered a full atonement for all his misdeeds. Did any husband or wife, sorrowing for the loss of those dearest to them, wish to withdraw from the turmoil of worldly cares— the Abbey was ready to open its gates for them and the contents of their coffers. One beauteous pile owes its origin to the untimely death of an only son. Did any one seek to diminish the ignorance and savagery of the district around him-the erection of a monastic house was the means he employed. The names of the builders of many of our Cathedrals and principal Churches are lost or forgotten. They do not seem to have cared whether they were remembered or not; and there is much truth in the words of the illustrious President of this Society, Mr. W. E. Gladstone, that "it has "been observed, as a circumstance full of meaning, that no "man knows the names of the architects of our Cathedrals. They left no record of themselves upon the fabrics, as if they would have nothing there that could suggest any other "idea than the glory of that God to whom the edifices were "devoted for perpetual and solemn worship; nothing to

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mingle a meaner association with the profound sense of His 'presence; or as if in the joy of having built Him a house, "there was no want left unfulfilled, no room for the question "whether it is good for a man to live in posthumous renown.”* But the great power and wealth acquired by the Abbeys were the cause of their decay and ultimate downfall. "Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked." They speedily forgot the objects for which they were established, the vows * Quotation in Quarterly Review, No. clxix, p. 127.

by which they were bound.

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"Giraldus Cambrensis tells us

I that on his return from abroad he dined with the monks of

Canterbury (this was in the twelfth century). Having "eaten of their bread, he lifts up his heel against them and "maliciously exposes their bill of fare. It is a curious picture "of the times;-sixteen lordly dishes and upwards, besides a course of herbs-which latter, however, were not in much request; fish of divers kinds, roast and boiled, stewed and "fried; omelets, seasoned meats and sundry provocatives of "the palate, prepared by cunning cooks; wines in ample profusion, sicera, piment, claret, must, mede and moretum (mulberry), anything and everything but ale, the boast of "England and more especially of Kent. What would Paul "the Hermit have said to all this?' thinks the splenetic "Giraldus to himself; or St. Anthony? or St. Benedict, "the founder of the order ?'"*

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6

As might be expected, the mitred Abbeys presently found rivals in the establishment of the mendicant friars, who were forbidden by their vows to hold any property, wandering from parish to parish, from town to town-having authority from the Pope to preach wherever they chose, whether the curate was willing or not. Their sermons were often diatribes against the secular clergy, against their ignorance and sloth; or contrasted their own poverty with the lordly establishments, the goodly estates and lavish expenditure of the monks. The friars, by their original rules, did not profess to own any property, but they might erect buildings, and many magnificent churches bear witness to their presence in this island. They cultivated learning with success. All the four orders of friars (Franciscans, or Friars Minor; Dominicans, or Black Friars; Carmelites, or White Friars; and Augustins, or Grey Friars) had flourishing houses at both Oxford and Cambridge. They filled the professors' chairs in the universities; searched * Blunt's History of the Reformation, p. 34.