College, and King's College, Cambridge, in 1441, with the revenues of alien priories. Magdalen College, Oxford, founded by Bishop Wainfleet, of Winchester, 1459, arose from the ruins of the priories of Sele, in Sussex, and Selbourne, in Hampshire. The nunnery of St. Rhadegunde, in Cambridge, was suppressed in 1497 by John Alcock, the Bishop of Ely, to found Jesus College. Margaret, Countess of Richmond, founded, in 1505, Christ College, Cambridge, by the suppression of the abbey of suppres Creyke, in Norfolk; and in 1508, she turned the priory of St. John the Evangelist into St. John's College, and her executors carried on the design. Fisher, who was one, procured the dissolution of the nunneries at Heynham, in Kent, and Bromhalle, in Berks; and the hospital of Regulars, at Osprey, was suppressed, and its revenues settled upon St. John's.* In 1515, Brazen Nose College, Oxford, was founded by William Smith, Bishop of Lincoln, who, after purchasing the priory of Cold Norton, Oxfordshire, of the abbot and convent of Westminster, endowed this college with its lands. So that Wolsey, whatever else he might have done, must be acquitted of being the first innovator upon monastic privileges.

Circumstances were long tending towards such a necessity. Without indorsing the atrocious libels which were circulated and palined off on the people about the atrocities perpetrated in the monasteries, there can be no question that there was a great deal of irregularity, especially amongst the friars. The satirists of that period find an ample subject in the mendicant and preaching orders for their wit. Erasmus has left to posterity some of the most severe animadversions levelled at them, and he was no reformer. The Benedictines were lazy, rich, and careless; the friars were only too active. Wherever a man was thriving, the friar was about his house; when he was dying,

theyhovered about his bed, persuaded him to leave his ill-gotten money to the Church, and die in one of their "shirts," which would be a safe passport to bliss. They wandered all over the country, selling charms and relics to the people, and preaching to them about the marvels of the saints, their adventures and miracles. Each one drained the people of their pence for his house, and, not content with this, they were always active agents for papal extortion and intrigue. For a long time before any notion had been entertained of a doctrinal reform, there had existed a conviction in people's minds that the time had come when the world could exist without monkery; and we must make some allowance for the acts of Henry and his ministers, when we reflect upon this growing tendency to a new life. The world, as we have said, was in a transition state; the day of contemplation had gone, and the present busy life of of intellectual and physical activity was just manifesting its first symptoms. It is not improbable that Henry had some notion in his mind of such a change long before even he had thought of his divorce, at the very time when he was composing his theological thunderbolt against Luther.

One of his favourite chaplains was John Leland, a man who may be fairly called the father of English antiquities. He studied both at Oxford and Cambridge, and for his age was a great linguist, being familiar, according to Bishop Bale, with "sondrye languages, as Greke, Latyne, Frenche, Italian, Spanyshe, Brittyshe, Saxonyshe, Walshe, Englyshe, and Scottyshe." There is evidence, in an old proctor's book of Cambridge, that he paid his fees for the degree of B.A. in 1522, being then about sixteen years old. He was soon made king's chaplain, but the exact date of the appointment cannot be ascertained; it was, probably, a few years after the degree, as he then went to France to study at Paris under the celebrated Francis Sylvius, and was away some years. On his return he took orders, was made king's chaplain, then given the rectory of Popeling, in Calais, made library keeper to the king, and in 1533, by a commission under the Broad Seal, appointed king's antiquary, by which commission he was authorized to "search after England's antiquities, and peruse the libraries of all cathedrals, abbeys, priories, colleges, &c., and all places wherein records, writings, and secrets of antiquity were deposited." Whatever the motive of this appointment may be, its results were beneficial, for Leland went into every corner of the country, gathered together an immense store of extracts from, and complete transcriptions of, old documents, which really form the basis not only of our national antiquities, but our national history, for antiquities is the fostermother of history. It resulted also in a geographical triumph, for in his Itinerary," written after his return, tinerary, we have the first complete physical description of our country.

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But the facts we want to point out are these. The office of King's Autiquary was never heard of before the appointment of Leland, nor has it ever been maintained since; and it is a singular coincidence that just before the commencement of the dissolution of monasteries, Henry, who was a great lover of learning, as is proved by his continued patronage of this unfortunate scholar, should send him out to search these establishments.

It is probable that Leland did not start upon this expedition till 1536, for there is extant a royal dispensation bearing that date, giving him liberty to appoint a curate at Popeling, in order that he might devote himself to his research. In this research he spent six years, and on his return the king, on 3rd April, 1542, presented him to the rich rectory of Hasely, in Oxfordshire, then in the diocese of Lincoln, and the year after he was given a prebend of King's College, now Christ Church, Oxford, and then the prebend of East and West Knowle, near Salisbury.

It is probable at this time, when nearly all the monasteries had fallen into the hands of the king, that he must have applied to His Majesty to be allowed once more to go out on an

expedition to save some of the valuable works which were being so wantonly sacrificed, for in his New Year's Gift, which was a treatise presented to the king in 1546, one year before Henry's death, Leland speaks of "youre most gracious commission in the XXXV yeare of prosperouse reygne, to the entente that monumentes of auncent wryters myghte be brought out of deadly darknesse to lyvely lyght." This would be in the year 1544, and certainly cannot be the same expedition for which the royal dispensation was issued in 1536, but it has led to great confusion, especially amongst the encyclopædists, who, with reckless disregard to chronology, unite in saying that Leland was appointed to search the monasteries in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Henry VIII. (1544), and that he spent six years in collecting materials; but by this time all the monasteries were cleared and disposed of, and Henry died in 1547, so that he could not have been living when Leland returned, which is impossible, because we have it in Leland's own writings that at the return from the expedition he was given the two rich prebends. There must, then, have been two expeditions, the one in 1536, whilst the smaller monasteries were being visited, and the other in 1544, to rescue what could be found in their libraries, which were then being cleared out. But the idea of sending Leland to them was mooted in 1533, when he was made King's Antiquary, so that it appears probable that Henry contemplated such a measure even then.

The first step taken openly was in 1535, when it was moved in the council to suppress the monasteries, and debated with much warmth, Cranmer and Cromwell looking upon it as a great step towards reforming the Church, but the bishops of Winchester, Lincoln, and others, and the Duke of Norfolk, opposed it. Henry, therefore, resolved, as Cromwell had previously advised him, upon doing it himself gradually. He then ordered a general visitation, to ascertain their internal condition, how their rules were kept, and not omitting to gather information as to the extent and title of their possessions, their resources, &c. It was a wise step. How many institutions even in the present day could stand a sudden and searching investigation by hired inspectors, to whom a certain bias had already been given? Henry knew very well that many discoveries would be made of moral dereliction, of lax discipline, even of crime, which, when publicly announced, would pave the way for the final measures he had in view. To this end a general visitation was appointed, and we may here mention, for clearness' sake, that the whole work was carried on in this way. First, there was a general visitation and report issued; then there was a suppression of the smaller monasteries, and afterwards a suppression of the larger.

Cromwell, who was now rising into favour, was appointed VisitorGeneral, and chose as sub-visitors, amongst others, the following, who appear more prominently in the work: - Richard Layton, Thomas Leigh, William Petre, doctors of law; John Loudon, Dean of Wallingford; Roland Lee, who had been one of the king's chaplains, and performed the marriage ceremony between Henry and Anne Boleyn, and Thomas Beydell. The visitation did not commence until the autumn of 1535, and its work was to release all religious persons under the age of twenty-four years and confine the rest to the monastery, the abbot giving those who departed a priest's gown and 40s. of money. A passage from a paper written by the Abbot of Wardon, containing his reasons for resigning, will illustrate this point. He says-"Furste immediatele after the kinges graces visitacion was executed by his commissioners, Master Doctor Leigh and Master Jo. ap Reece mi saide bretherne

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toke occasion agenst me therat and said amongst them that I was the cause whi that thei were enclosidd within ther monasteri."*

The visitors received instructions in eighty-six articles, the principal of which were that they were to collect the monks in their chapter-house, and everyone should be compelled to give in his obedience to Henry, and Anne, his wife; to confess the pope had no authority in the country, to

call him bishop only; to find out how many preachers there were, and to examine their sermons, and if not orthodox to burn them; to admonish the preachers to commend to God and the people the king as supreme head of the Church. After thus caring for their spiritual welfare they were to make them produce all their gold and silver plate and other movable goods, and give up a true inventory of them. The subsequent steps taken by the visitors will prove also that they must have had private instructions to induce the monks in some way to resign and deliver up their monasteries to the king, in hope of a pension, for we find that urged upon them always, and mostly with good result.

Still Henry at this time was anxious that the idea should not spread, that he was going to dissolve the monasteries, for letters began to pour in from the abbots, who were thoroughly alarmed. The king replied by apprehending those who had circulated the report, and sending them to prison. The suspicion, however, continued, and to satisfy them a a a circular circular letter letter was sent round, to assure them that if they lived in due order, and acknowledged the king's supremacy, they should not be interfered with.† Meantime the visitation went on, and the first house surrendered was that of Langdon, in Kent, on 13th November, 1535,‡ where Dr. Layton declared, in his letter to Cromwell, he caught the abbot, William Sayer, in bed with his concubine; he knocked at the door of the sleeping apartment, but received no answer; he then proceeded to force it open with a poleaxe, but "his hore, alias his gentlewoman, bestyrred hir stumpis toward hir starting hoilles (holes), and then Barblett (the man who was put to watch) towke the tendre damoisel, and affter I had examined her, to Dover, then to the maire, to sett hir in some cage or prison for viii. dais, and brought the holy father abbot to Canterbury, there in Chrestechirche I will leve hym in prison." Others soon followed: the priory of Folkestone on November 15th, and the

† Strype's Mem., vol. i., pt. i., p. 321.

VOL. LXX. -NO. CCCCXVII.

+ Rymer, Fœd. xiv., 555.

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next day that of Dover, in February, 1536, that of Bilsington, in Kent, and Merton, in Yorkshire.

When the Parliament met in 1536, they passed the Act for the suppression of all monasteries whose revenues were under £200 per annum, and gave the king the estates. Of this number 376 were dissolved, by which Henry acquired a revenue of £32,000, and a capital in plate and goods of £100,000. The report which had been presented by the visitors was the pretext for this step. That a body of gentlemen, clergymen, and scholars could be found ready to do this very dirty work does not speak well for the state of things. That they were prejudiced in their business we shall show from their own letters; that they were venal we shall also show. Their report was filled with revelations of the most vile and obscene character; charges were made against the monks of crimes which degraded them below the level of beasts; and, according to them, monasteries, instead of being places of refuge for holy men, were dens of iniquity, for which no other term could be found than that of the city of Sodom. It is said that all copies of this report were destroyed in the reign of Mary; but Burnet says he saw an extract of part of it, concerning 144 houses, which contained the most revolting revelations. We shall be able to show from the letters of these visitors, which have been collected from the Cottonian and Harleian MSS., and published by the Camden Society, that they dwelt with great emphasis upon the horrible vices of the monks; but their evidence is much impaired when we find them catering for bribes for Cromwell, seizing on plate and valuables; in fact, acting like hired spoilers and licensed rogues. We cannot adopt their testimony as to the foul charges they made against the monks. That there was irregularity there can be no question whatever; that here and there a case of immorality occurred is equally certain; but to believe that they were sunk so low as to be worse than beasts of the field, we must have better evidence than that of hired spies, bailiffs, and depredators. The whole system was rotten to the core; but

we must make a vast distinction between the friars who wandered about over the country, went into people's houses with the greatest freedom, and were, therefore, thrown more into temptation, and those monks who remained within the walls of their monasteries, seldom venturing beyond them, and then only by special leave. Let us remember always, as a matter of justice, before we accept all that these visitors report, that they were men who were paid to do a certain work, well delineated for them; they were hired to break in upon the privacy of aged abbots, to lay violent hands, if necessary, upon their persons, to rifle their desks and drawers, to read their private letters, to peep into dormitories, to cross-question servants, to watch, pry, listen, and, in fact, to play the most contemptible part that could be allowed to men, for which tyrants generally employ bullies, felons, and rogues.

The dissolution of the smaller monasteries was only the first part of the programme. In 1536 an Act was passed (27 Henry VIII.) entitled "An Acte whereby Religious Houses of Monkes, Chanons, and Nonnes whiche may dyspend Manors, Landes, Tenemants, and Heredytaments above the clere yearly value of £200, are geven to the Kinges Highness, his heires and successours for ever."

In 1538 there were 21 suppressed; in 1539 there were 101; a list of which is given in Rymer.* There were, in 1539, 57 surrenders, 37 of which were abbeys or priories, and 20 nunneries, and by this visitation the king acquired revenues to the amount of £160,000, besides gold and silver, precious stones, furniture, and materials found in the monasteries. Henry then, at the instigation, it is said, of Gardiner, published a law called "The Six Articles," in order to convince the people that though he suppressed the monasteries, he had no intention of interfering with the religion of the country. This Act is also known by the title of "The Bloody Statutes;" for it sentenced to death by burning or hanging all who should deny the doctrine of Transubstantiation, who pleaded for the necessity of administering the sacrament to the people in both kinds, who urged that it was

lawful for priests to marry, or to break the vow of chastity, or that private masses were of no service, and auricular confession not necessary to salvation.

When the work of devastation was completed, there was naturally a great outcry in the country as to what was to be done with the immense wealth suddenly turned out of its channel towards the king's treasury. The hungry poor who depended upon the invariable charity of the monastery-that virtue which they preserved in the darkest period of their history-began to feel that they were suddenly cast adrift, and hunger raised its hoarse voice, and made itself heard in the palace. The king, to quiet the awakening apprehension on the part of the ecclesiastics, in December, 1540, turned the Abbey of Westminster into a bishop's see, with a deanery, twelve prebends, officers for the cathedral, and a choir, and Thomas_Thirlby was appointed bishop.* In 1541, August 4th, he made three bishoprics-Chester, out of the monastery of St. Werburgh, with a deanery and six prebends.† On 3rd September, Gloucester was made a bishopric, with a deanery and six prebends, out of the monastery of St. Peter's, and John Wakeman, who had been Abbot of Tewkesbury, was first bishop. Onthe 4th September, Peterborough Abbey was made a bishopric, with a deanery and six prebends, with John Chambers, the last abbot, as bishop.s The next year the abbey of Osney was made a bishopric, with a deanery and six prebends, and Robert King, the last abbot, became Bishop of Oxfordshire, the abbey church being his cathedral; the see was then removed to Oxford, Christ Church being the cathedral. On June 4th, 1542, the bishopric of Bristol was made, with a deanery and six prebends, out of the monastery of St. Augustine's, in that city. The priories at most cathedrals, such as

Canterbury, Winchester, Durham, Worcester, Carlisle, Rochester, and Ely were converted into deaneries and colleges of prebends; but this was very far short of what Cranmer had designed, or even of what the king had intended; for he had projected that in every cathedral there should be readers of divinity, Greek, and Hebrew, and a number of students maintained and instructed in theology, whom the bishop might ordain and settle in his diocese.** The original MS. of this project shows, in addition to what is mentioned by Burnet, that "olde servantes decayd to have lyfings, allmshouses for pour folke to be sustaynd in dayly almes to be mynystrate, mendyng of highwase, and exhybision for mynysters off the Chyrche."†† This peace offering cost the king, it is said, only seven or eight thousand pounds per annum, out of money drawn from the ruin of nearly seven hundred religious houses.‡‡

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An inspection of the sale list of goods, utensils, &c., will satisfy any one that His Majesty's emissaries were most zealous in his service. We give a few quotations :-§§

"Bordesley. Sales ther made the xxiii

day of September, anno regni regis Henrici VIII., 30 mo., at the survey ther.

"Fyrste sold to Raffe Sheldon, esquyer, and Mr. Markeham, the iron and glasse in the wyndowes of the north ile of the cloyster. Item receyvd, xxiis viid.

"Of the same, Mr. Grevyll, for a lytle table, and the pavyng stone ther, iiis iva. "Gray Friars of Stafford. -Sold to the viiis.

warden ii brasse potts,
"Sold to the Town of Stafford,
2 candlesticks,

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vs. iis.

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vid."

It is quite clear that the commissioners of the king did their work well, and cleared everything out of the monastery. Nothing escaped their vigilance; stained glass, iron

† Rymer, Fœd. i., 724. Rymer, Fœd. i., 748.

‡‡ Rapin, Hist., vol. i., p. 829.