the altar from idle, and ignorant, and immoral natives, to a learned, a pious, and a zealous foreign clergy. But, if so much good were effected, it was not unmixed. The king's chief motive in pushing the change with an unbecoming violence was, certainly, not the good of religion, though, to do him justice, he seldom conferred a benefice on an improper person,— but the less honourable policy to which we have adverted. And it is certain that he exercised too much influence over the legates he persuaded them to enter with more precipitation than justice into his views; to displace some ecclesiastics who were doubtless pure from the contagion of the times. There is reason to believe that, when dignitaries of unblemished lives were thus removed, it was because they were found deficient in the attainments required by their station; but we may doubt whether, at such a period, the plea was a sufficient one. In one case both Lanfranc and the king were compelled to desist from their purpose. St. Wulstan, bishop of Worcester, like all his countrymen, certainly possessed of little acquired learning, was yet the most virtuous prelate of his nation. When summoned before Lanfranc and a synod, held in Westminster Abbey, to deliver up his pastoral staff, he replied: — "Of a surety do I know, my lord archbishop, that I am not worthy of this dignity, nor equal to its duties: this I knew when the clergy elected, when the prelates compelled, when my master summoned me to it. By the authority of the apostolic see he laid the burden upon my shoulders with this staff he ordered me to receive the episcopal grade. You now require from me the pastoral staff, which you did not deliver, and to take from me the office which you did not confer. Acquainted with my own insufficiency, and obedient to the decree of this holy synod, I resign that staff and this office not unto you, but to him by whose authority I received them!" The venerable old man then drew near to the tomb of St. Edward, and exclaimed, Master, thou knowest how unwillingly I

assumed this charge when constrained by thee; for, though the choice of the brethren, the desire of the people, the consent of the prelates, and the favour of the nobles were with me, yet was it thy pleasure which more than all compelled me. Now have we a new king, a new primate, with new rights and statutes. Thee they accuse of error in having so commanded; me of presumption in having obeyed. Formerly, indeed, thou wast liable to err, because thou wast mortal; but now thou art with God, and cannot err! Not, therefore, to those who revoke what they have not bestowed, and who may deceive as well as be deceived, but to thee, who didst bestow it, and who art now raised far above either error or ignorance, I surrender my crosier! to thee alone do I resign the care of the flock which thou hast committed to my charge!" So saying, he laid his staff on the tomb of the confessor, and immediately took his place, as a simple monk, among his brethren. There needed not the legend that it was instantly so fast imbedded in the stone that it could not be moved: the appeal alone was sufficient to make the synod respect his character, and to decree that he should retain his bishopric. St. Wulstan appears to have been the only native prelate thus favoured: certainly, he was the only Englishman who, at William's death, held the episcopal dignity.*

1070 In every respect the administration of the English

to church by Lanfranc was beneficial to the nation. He 1089. forced the lawless Norman barons to release the church

plunder which they held in their grasp. Thus, when Odo, the bastard brother of William, had annexed to his own ample possessions five and twenty manors belonging to the church of Canterbury, the primate ap

*Eadmerus, Historia Novorum, p. 414. Wilhelmus Malmesburiensis, De Pontificibus, lib. iv. Wilkins, Concilia, tom i. p. 322. Milo Crispinus, Vita B. Lanfranci (apud Mabillon, Acta SS. Ord. S. Ben. tom. x.) Bollandistæ, Acta SS. tom. vi. Wilhelmus Malmesburiensis, Vita S. Wulstani (apud Wharton, Anglia Sacra, tom. ii. p. 244., necnon apud Mabillon, Acta SS. Ben. tom. x.). Parker De Antiquitate Ecclesiæ Britannicæ, p. 110. Tiraboschi, Storia della Letteratura Italiana, tom, iii. Southey, Book of the Church, vol. i,

pealed to the laws, and, after a public trial on Pennenden Heath, obtained their restoration. The joy of the tenantry on this occasion proves beyond all dispute the easy liberality of the church as a landlord, when contrasted with the rapacity of the lay proprietors. On all occasions he was ready to interfere in behalf of the oppressed natives; and he frequently obtained from the justice of the crown a revisal of obnoxious acts. It is honourable to William's memory that he paid so much attention to one who would never flatter him-nay, who would reprove him with the same freedom as any other man. Thus, when a minstrel, in the exercise of his art, one day, in Lanfranc's presence, ventured to use some adulatory expressions concerning the monarch, the primate called on the king not to allow such base servility; and the poet received stripes instead of a reward. At Canterbury the archbishop built two houses of entertainment for the poor, the sick, and the stranger: he rebuilt the cathedral with Norman stone; he founded many other cathedrals, and many monastries, and he repaired more. He transferred several episcopal sees from places which had now become of inferior importance to others which had risen into consideration,—a policy as enlightened as it was liberal, but seldom imitated.

For the reformation of the monks he drew up a code of institutions chiefly based on the rule of the Italians, and the collections of the French Benedict *, and still more, perhaps, on the observance of Corbey. The monastic order, thus improved, became a blessing to the nation. Not only were charity exercised, agriculture extended, religion and morality inculcated, the neighbourhood kept in peace, but, as schools were opened in every diocese, civilisation was rapidly and widely diffused throughout the country. To this noble object the native monks were wholly inadequate: it was the work of the Normans, and of other foreigners whom the Normans invited to aid them. Over the monasteries thus improved especial care was taken to

St. Benedict of Aniana, See a sketch of him in the first volume.

place learned and zealous superiors, who might impart the best impulse to the inferior functionaries. By William of Malmesbury many, whose names he mentions, are highly praised for their attainments, their piety, and their zeal. Not only did they give a new impulse to letters, they no less encouraged the progress of the elegant than of the useful arts- - of architecture, sculpture, painting, and music, no less than of agriculture. The only use which the Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastics, from the reign of Alfred to the Conquest, made of riches, was to employ them in gratifying the brute pleasures of our nature; while the Normans applied all their resources to the erection of great public edifices, to the support of schools, to the acquisition of books, to the endowment of hospitals—to every thing that could increase the comforts no less than the magnificence of life. Every cathedral and every monastery had a public school; and, where funds could not immediately be found for the erection or endowment of one, barns were selected for the purpose, where the teachers gratuitously attended. Of this fact we have a striking illustration in the conduct of Joffred, abbot of Croyland (the successor of Ingulf); who despatched colonies of his monks to his different manors, to preach and instruct wherever they could. Thus, on the manor of Cotenham, near Cambridge, four monks (of course Normans) from that establishment hired a public granary at Cambridge, and there invited all who chose to attend their lessons, not merely in religion, but in general literature and the sciences. In one year they had a considerable number of students; in two, neither the barn nor the largest church could contain those who flocked to them. To accommodate all, the four professors separated their labours, each taking his turn, at a different hour of the day, to receive a different class of learners. In the morning, one brother instructed his class in the Latin language and literature; at a later hour, another lectured on Aristotle, according to the interpretations of Porphyry and Averroes; a third on rhetoric, from

Cicero and Quintilian; while a fourth, on certain days, expounded the Scriptures from the comments of the fathers. This pleasing anecdote is very characteristic of the Normans: it shows at once their learning, their ardour, and their disinterestedness. Well does William of Malmesbury describe them as a people, when he says that "they are emulous of their equals: they strive to surpass their superiors. They are faithful to their masters; whom, however, they will abandon on the least offence. The most kind-hearted of men, they treat strangers with the same respect as themselves. They marry with their inferiors. Since their arrival in England, they may be said to have raised religion from the dead." In every thing the native Saxons were opposite to this high-minded people; but the example of the invaders at length roused them from the degradation of beasts, to something like the dignity of men. From the whole tenour of our ancient history, we cannot hesitate to avow that the greatest blessing which ever befel the country, was its entire subjugation by a foreign enemy. What else, indeed, could be expected where the monks were now as attached, as they had formerly been indifferent, to the noblest mental pursuits? The conqueror uniformly patronised them; and for his son Henry, he procured the best education of the age. This latter prince, who has been surnamed le Beau Clerc, or the Fine Scholar, well deserves that noble distinction. From the evidence of one who knew him intimately, we learn that neither wars nor state affairs could withdraw him from literary pursuits; that in them he made much of his glory to consist; that he not only patronised, but conversed with men of letters, however humble in circumstances; that his two queens-whether instigated by his example, or chosen because of their acquirements– were distinguished for the same taste. The new prelates and abbots were studious to emulate him: they multiplied MSS. by transcription to an amazing extent, which were not merely allowed to be consulted, but were lent, under certain necessary restrictions, to schools and