of decoration is precisely that of our collegiate stalls of the fourteenth century, with the exception of the shield bearing the arms of the abbey, within the back. Mr. Rudge, the proprietor, has reason to conclude that it originally occupied the chapter-room; and though the carving is so peculiarly bold it is gratifying to add that it re

mains uninjured. After the dissolution, we learn that it became a fixture in the almonry, and in 1664 passed with the abbey site into the hands of Edward Rudge, esquire, citizen and alderman of London. Mr. Cookes the steward of the estate, to secure it from injury, removed it in the following century to his own residence, where it was afterward sold with the effects of Dr. Baylis his son

in-law. Mr. Beaufoy the purchaser removed it to Lambeth, and from him it passed to Mr. Biddle of Wycomb, from whom it came to Sir Thomas Baring, bart. who in 1835 restored it to the original family by presenting it to Edward Rudge, esq. by whom it is now preserved in the hall of his mansion.

Thus brief are the existing vestiges of our once wide-spreading monastery. So limited, that as far as respects the edifice we may well regard the yet standing Entrance-Arch, which we have just delineated, as the most important of the whole. And as we gaze once more upon that archway-while the soft light of morning breaks through its rounded contour, amid the foliage of the garden-we thank the hand that originally preserved to us this one memorial of the cloistered pile; and trust that in its present actual situation it will long remain-affected by no other agent than the gentle touch of Time.

CHAPTER IV.

BENEDICTINE USAGES-REGULATIONS OF THIS MONASTERYCONVENTUAL AND OTHER ANCIENT SEALS.

IN the preceding chapter we have traced the various divisions of that important structure which with its dependencies originally formed great portion of the town. There, after completing a circuit of the church and its cloistral communication with the residence of the community, we have passed from quadrangle to quadrangle, surrounded by monastic halls and corridors and chambers,-and now we naturally turn from those voiceless memorials of a bygone system, to some consideration of the devoted inmates whom those walls enclosed. To them their convent was the world, and every trivial incident within it was readily magnified into a memorable event. Various were doubtless the inducements that attracted candidates toward its seclusion. Some would be drawn hither by the prospect of leisure for study and meditation; some would be selected while youths, by the brethren, as evincing peculiar aptitude for the duties of the cloister; and others would repair hither when wearied with the world, and sated with the emptiness of its once anticipated, but wrongly sought after, gratifications.

In unison with the Benedictine rule-to which this monastery was subservient, and from the Regulations of which we shall chiefly deduce the ensuing observations-one who applied for admission, was not to be immediately received. After waiting at the gate for several days, he might then be admitted to the guest-chamber, whence he was removed to the apartment for novices, where he remained two months. The rule of the order was then read before

him, and was thrice repeated during the term of his novitiate, which included twelve months. He then publicly professed in the church of the monastery before God and his saints, invoking the witness of the latter by the relics he at the same time embraced. Having read his profession, written with his own hand, he through the medium of the abbot deposited it upon the altar; then kneeling exclaimed, "O stablish me according to thy word, and let me not be disappointed of my hope." While he continued prostrate upon the steps of the altar, the prayers of the brethren were offered on his behalf; his secular garments were then removed, and he was vested in the habit of the order. At the conclusion of the ceremony the abbot greeted him with the kiss of peace, and being then led round the choir he received the like from each of the brethren. On the third day after, he presented himself before the abbot or whoever then celebrated mass; when, after again receiving from him the kiss of peace, he partook of the communion. He was afterward exhorted by the abbot to continue as he had begun, and then joined the convent.120

Each member of the community was obligated by his vow to observe through life, poverty, chastity, and obedience. The distinctive garment of the Benedictines was a long black gown of serge, having a hood or cowl. Their beds, collectively placed in a dormitory, severally consisted of a mat, straw, and a pillow. Upon these they laid, clothed and girded, covered also by a blanket and a piece of serge-while the feeble glimmering of a sickly lamp played on the emaciated features of each slumbering inmate. The brethren -served during one week, by turns, in the kitchen and at the table. Their meals were only two, dinner and supper; consisting of pulse, bread, and herbs. These were taken in the refectory; each one eating his morsel apart in meditative silence, unbroken save by a solitary voice reading aloud from Scripture. Dinner was served at

120 The minuter details are here deduced from the chapter "De Professione Novitiorum," contained in a Manuscript originally belonging to this abbey, now in the Bodleian Library, numbered Barlow vii. fol. 61. In the remaining instances we are chiefly guided by the Douay edition of the Benedictine Rule; the Statutes of Reformation, A. D. 1249; the Statutes of pope Gregory IX. inserted by Stevens in his Appendix to Dugdale's Monasticon; and the remarks of Dr. Lingard, in the fourth chapter of his Antiquities of the Anglo-saxon Church.