transformed into canons regular, subjecting them to the rule of St. Augustine; while to the nuns he granted that of St. Benedict, with such alterations in both, as were required by the peculiar circumstances of his institute. Without such alterations, he could not govern his fourfold flock; for the canons were accompanied by the lay brothers, the nuns by the lay sisters. Over each double house he placed a prior and prioress, all subject to the master, or general, or abbot of the order. Under each, and scattered throughout the rural districts, were granges, where so many of the lay brothers or friars were located as were sufficient to the cultivation of the glebe; over each was a superior, grangearius, whose duty it was both to superintend the agricultural labours, and to enforce the observance of the canonical hours. But these rural places were generally near to some priory; they were continually subject to the inquisitions of official visitors, or scrutators; the procurator, or even the prior himself, might, at any moment, call upon them to investigate the state of the house, to hear complaints, and remove abuses. To prevent excess in drinking, no beer was allowed to be brewed in any of these sub-convents; it was brought from the neighbouring priory, or, if the priory were too remote, for some were necessarily placed in distant sequestered situations, it might be procured from the nearest village or town. These granges, with their friars, or lay brothers, and their petty superiors, were attached to the conventual establishments of the nuns no less than to that of the canons. None of the friars, however near they might be located to the convents of nuns, were allowed to enter the precincts: the canons were equally excluded, except to administer the rites of religion; and then two aged priests were always chosen. Sometimes, when it was advisable for the prioress to confer with her own procurator, or the prior of the brethren, concerning the temporal wants or affairs of her convent, and the administration of such affairs was always vested in the superiors of the con -- tiguous monastery, - the conference was allowed; yet on such occasions, both were accompanied by aged and discreet attendants. The church indeed, was common to both males and females; but even there they were inaccessible, and, indeed, imperceptible to each other. And, lest failings of nature might, after all precautions, lead into sin*, severe punishment was inflicted on the female culprit,—that of utter seclusion in a solitary cell, far removed from intercourse with the community, and doomed, during the rest of her life, to fast on bread and water: never again could she see human face, nor hear human voices, except at confession, or in dangerous sickness; her loaf and pitcher were daily placed at a grate. The male accomplice of her guilt might either be punished in a similar way, or expelled, at the pleasure of the chapter convoked for the occasion. Between the lay sisters and the nuns, the lay brothers and the canons, great distinction was made: not only did the drudgery of life fall exclusively on the former, but they were not allowed any intercourse with the latter, except in the offices of religion, or other special occasions. St. Gilbert had the satisfaction of founding thirteen of these great establishments, and of numbering 2200 souls among the four classes we have enumerated. To the last he observed unusual austerity; yet he reached the extraordinary age of 106 years. His behaviour, in regard to Thomas à Becket, does him great honour. He had entertained that churchman during the flight from Northampton; and he was accused to the royal judges of sending considerable sums of money to the exile. As the violent monarch had made this a capital offence; as he prosecuted, with the most vindictive rigour, all who showed even commiseration for the primate, Gilbert, and all the superiors of his house, were summoned to answer the charge before the royal tribunals. It was not the wish of the judges to enforce the recent ordinance against The sketch of St. Ailred will show that bolts and bars are not always effectual. a man of his sanctity; and, without calling witnesses as to the fact, they offered to receive his oath of compurgation, and dismiss him. But though he might have conscientiously taken the oath, he would not; it would look, he observed, as if there were some degree of guilt in assisting a prelate who was suffering for religion. The judges, not venturing to condemn him, laid the affair, by writing, before the king, who was then in Normandy; but Henry sent orders that the process should be suspended until he himself could take cognisance of it. They dismissed him with honour, and he heard no more of the accusation.* The preceding saints, not even excepting Thomas à Becket, do not appear to have been much distinguished for their literary acquirements. At this period, indeed, though ecclesiastical literature was immeasurably more widely diffused than in the Saxon times, English churchmen could not, in scholastic subtlety, bear comparison with those of France or Italy. No country, perhaps, can boast of more chroniclers; and the MSS. on dogmatic theology and ascetic virtues, now mouldering in the dust of our public and collegiate libraries, prove that our theologians, such as they were, were much more The literary character of the age is drawn in a few words by Giraldus Cambrensis. Among so many classes of men, where are the divine poets? where the noble vindicators of morals? where the critical masters of the Latin tongue? Who, in the present times, displays literary eloquence, whether in poetry or in history? who, I repeat, in this age, either builds a system of ethics, or consigns illustrious deeds to immortality? Literary fame, once at the pinnacle of honour, seems now, owing to the depravity of the times, fast hastening to ruin, and rapidly descending to the numerous. 66 * Anon. Vita S. Gilberti, p. 570. Alia Vita ejusdem, p. 572. (apud Bol. landistas, Acta Sanctorum, die Feb. iv.). Vita liberius ejusdem, p. 669.; necnon Institutiones Beati Gilberti, p. 699-789. (apud Dodsworth et Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, tom. ii.). Capgravíus, Nova Legenda Sanctorum, fol. clvi. Baronius, Annales Ecclesiastici, tom. xi. (sub annis). Alfordus, Annales Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ, tom. iv. (sub annis). very depths of degradation; so that students are not only neither entertained nor venerated, but are absolutely despised." Much of this, no doubt, is the ebul lition of a disappointed, and therefore angry mind; but it is not the less true that, since the death of Anselm, letters were declining. Restricting our labours, however, to the proper subject before us, ecclesiastical persons and literature,- -we revert to a few of the more celebrated in both. - St. Ailred, or, as he is often called, Ethelredus and 1100 Aluredus, the celebrated abbot of Rivaulx, was probably to born before the opening of the twelfth century, but 1166. where,-whether in England or Scotland, -is uncertain. He was certainly at the court of David king of Scotland, a high degree of whose favour he is said to have obtained; but, without being acquainted with the intermediate events, we next find him a monk professed in the Cistercian abbey of Rivaulx. His austerities-unhappily the virtue highest in estimation—were such that he was soon made prior of a community dependent on that of Rivaulx: he succeeded to that of the parent monastery, and, under his care, the community was at length increased to 180 monks, and fifty lay brethren. is little, however, in his life worth noticing, if we except the passage relating to the character of the people of Galloway, whose chieftain he endeavoured to humanise. Whether he was there before or after his profession at Rivaulx, we are not informed; but the passage is remarkable enough to be translated :— There "Proceeding into Galloway, Ailred found the ruler of that country at deadly hatred with his sons, the sons with the father; and the brothers with each other. For that region is fierce, wild, and savage; beastly are its inhabitants, and barbarous in every thing which it produces. Truth is not to be found there; wisdom has no resting-place; neither faith nor charity abide there. Chastity is violated as often as lust impels; nor is there any distinction between the modest woman and the whore: the women change their husbands every moon. Amongst the religious, indeed, some lead tolerable lives, but this is by the advice and example of others, seldom by their own efforts. They are naturally stupid; and as their appetites are brutish, they always indulge in the enjoyments of the flesh. Wherefore Ailred found the chiefs of the province at deadly feud, which the king and the bishop had vainly endeavoured to quell, and the soil was stained with blood. Ailred, however, not only pacified them, but prevailed on the father to assume the habit; and him who had deprived so many of life, he thus taught to become a partaker of life eternal. :: * The works of St. Ailred are in number considerable. The lives of St. Edward the Confessor, of St. David, king, and of St. Margaret the queen of Scotland; thirtythree homilies on the Burden of Babylon, in Isaiah ; three books on spiritual friendship; ten books on the nature, the quality, and the subtlety of the soul, and many epistles, are enumerated by his biographer: most of them have been published in the Bibliotheca Patrum; but many more might be enumerated, some of which have also been published, others remain in MS., not likely to be disturbed by any "Record Commission." His Historia de Bello Standardi, his Genealogia Regum Anglorum, and his Miraculum de Sanctimoniali de Watton, which have been published by Twysden, are the best known of his writings. The following extract is from his account of the Nun of Watton, characteristic, not only of his manner, but of the period. The transaction is evidently a real one:— an account "During the rule of bishop Henry-a prelate of holy memory in God's church. -a female child about four years of age was received, at his prayer, into the monastery. And as she grew up from infancy, she assumed the frowardness with the years of a maiden: no love for religion, no care for the order, no fear of God.+ Covered with the sacred veil, she yet exhibited in her conduct nothing worthy of her habit. Though she is reproved by words, she is not corrected ; though punished with stripes, she is not mended." "The dis *For the satisfaction of the Scotch, we particularise the passage.-Bollandistæ, Acta Sanctorum, Januarii, tom. i. p. 750. We omit some of the saint's less delicate expressions. |