1920 REVIEWS OF BOOKS 271 injunction being that from the more hopeful lads recruits for the foundation may come. In the flourishing days of monasticism it would have seemed strange that such an abbey as Leicester should be reduced to filling its ranks from charity boys. To minister to its canons and their attendant clerks this great foundation had no fewer than fifty-two indoor and eighteen outdoor servants, of whom it was complained that many were a burden and an injury to the society. If at Leicester there is a superfluity of scandal, at Eynsham there is a conspiracy of silence. The abbot volunteers the information that one of his monks has run away with a nun of Godstow, but has been captured and is now doing penance in the monastery. He has nothing more to say ; all is well. This is repeated by all his fourteen monks, including the offender. When we remember that at a visitation every inmate was sworn to report all shortcomings of which he was aware, and that a natural instinct led monks and nuns to make the most of this opportunity, it can hardly be doubted that the curt omnia bene, repeated fifteen times, was prearranged to burke inquiry. There is the same unanimity at the small Austin house of Chacombe, near Banbury : in all other cases the sense of duty and the pleasure of talking led to revelations, trivial or serious. Bardney Abbey lay near Lincoln. It received, and needed, no fewer than three visitations. It was a sad example of a demoralized house under an unconscientious head. It had sixteen monks who freely accused each other of immorality, dicing, and drinking. As in other houses the early hour of rest was a temptation. They would not go to bed at eight, so they sat and drank, in defiance of rule, till late hours. A natural consequence was that they were not up in time for mattins, and they had the excuse that the mattins bell was not rung punctually. The monks, like those of other houses, often ate and drank in the village ; lay people and women had access to cloister and infirmary, and chattering with women during service time disturbed the worship. Such were the consequences of endowment without the sense of vocation in those who were involved for life in duties which neither internal nor external public opinion enforced. The technical side of these duties was no better fulfilled than the personal. Four professed monks had failed to proceed to priest's orders. Services for which endow- ments had been accepted were not fulfilled ; the guilt of perjury had been incurred by monks who neglected the saying of masses they had sworn to perform. This slackness was accompanied by mismanagement of the afEairs of the house. The debt was not serious ; it amounted to less than a year's income, but the buildings were falling into disrepair and irritating economies were being practised. Monks were set to shave one another and to wash dishes. There was also trouble about the supply of food, and so far had the idea of a common life disappeared that one suggestion made was that each should have an allowance and support liimself. This would be the easier because the house was not only broken up into three ' families '. but the inmates were taking their meals, one or two together, where they would in the buildings. There was dilapidation, and the obedientiaries were charged with embezzlement. As a remedy the bishop brought in a monk from Spalding as prior, who was to take full charge, the abbot being deprived of his functions though not deposed. A year later
