ing or supposing himself so to be, did sing Mass in the mean time, and before he was absolved?

In Visitatione Monialium ad Præmissa addantur hæc. 75. Item; Whether this Monastery hath good and sufficient Enclosure, and whether the Doors and Windows be diligently kept shut, so that no Man can have any entry into the same, or any part thereof, at inconvenient times?

Propter quod necessarium erit Visitatori cireumire Monasterium, ac videre et rimare dispositionem ædificiorum, et an sint aliqua loca pervia per qua secrete intrari possit ; et una secum habeat Abbatissam cum duabus aut tribus senioribus Monialibus, a quibus tum interroget, an ostia Monasterii singulis quibusque noctibus sub clavibus clausa teneantur, et quæ earum Monialium senio confectarum, vel an Abbas ipsa clavium custodiam tempore nocturno habeant et teneant: nam non est tutum clavium custodiam Junioribus committere.

76. Item; Whether Strangers, both Men and Women, useth commonly to have communication with the Sisters of this House, without license of the Abbess or Prioress, specially in secret places, and in the absence of their Sisters?

77. Item; Whether any Sister of this House were professed for any manner of compulsion of her Friends and Kinsfolks, or by the Abbess or Prioress?

78. Item; Whether any of the Sisters of this House useth to go forth any whither out of the Precinct (thereof, without special license of their Abbess or Prioress?

79. Item; Whether any Sister doth use her Habit continually out of her Cell?

80. Item; Wherein every one of you occupieth her self, beside the time of Divine Service?

81. Item; Whether any Sister of this House hath any familiarity with Religion Men, Secular Priests, or LayMen, being not near of kin unto them?

82. Item; Whether any Sister of this House hath been taken and found with any such accustomably so communing, and could not shew any reasonable cause why they so did?

83. Item; Whether any of you doth use to write any Letters of Love, or lascivious fashion to any Person, or receive any such, or have any privy Messengers coming and resorting unto you, or any of you, with Token or Gifts, from any manner secular Person or other?

84. Item; Whether any of you doth use to speak with

any manner of Person, by night or by day, by Grates or back Windows, or other privy Places within this Monastry, without license of your Head?

85. Item; Whether the Confessor of this House be a discreet Man, of good learning, vertue, and honest behaviour, of good name and fame, and whether he hath been always so taken ?

86. Item; How oftimes in the year the Sisters of this House useth to be Confessed and Communicate?

Restat pro Ecclesiis Collegiatis, Hospitalibus, Ecclesiis Cathedralibus, Parrochialibus, Ecclesiis, Episcopo, et Archiepiscopo, pro ordine Jerosolomitarum?

Exhibeant omnia scripta, munimenta, Inventaria, Scedulas quascunque, unde aliquin cognitionis eorum reformationi Monasteriorum, sive domorum utilitati, necessaria explicari, aut quoquo modo colligi possit.

II.

General Injunctions to be given on the King's Highness' behalf, in all Monasteries and other Houses, of whatsoever Order or Religion they be.

(Cott. Libr. Cleop. E. 4).

FIRST; That the Abbot, Prior, or President, and all other Brethren of the Place that is visited, shall faithfully, truly, and heartily, keep and observe, and cause, teach, and procure to be kept and observed of oath, as much as in them may lie, all and singular Contents, as well in the other of the King's Highness' Succession, given heretofore by them, as in a certain Profession lately sealed with the Common Seal, and subscribed and signed with their own hands: Also that they shall observe and fulfil, by all the means that they best may, the Statutes of this Realm, made, or to be made, for the suppression and taking away of the usurped and pretensed Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome within this Realm: and for the assertion and confirmation of the Authority, Jurisdiction and Prerogative of our most noble Sovereign Lord the King, and his Successors; and that they shall diligently instruct their Juniors and Youngers, and all other committed to their Cure, That the King's Power is by the Laws of God most

excellent of all under God in Earth; and that we ought to obey him afore all other Powers, by God's Prescript; and that the Bishop of Rome's Jurisdiction or Authority heretofore usurped, by no means is founded or established by Holy Scripture: but that the same, partly by the craft and deceit of the same Bishop of Rome, and by his evil and ambitious Canons and Decretals; and partly by the toleration and permission of Princes, by little and little hath grown up; and therefore now, of most right and equity, is taken away and clean expelled out of this Realm.

Also, that the Abbot, Prior, or President and Brethren, may be declared, by the King's Supream Power and Authority Ecclesiastical, to be absolved and loosed from all manner Obedience, Oath, and Profession by them heretofore perchance promised, or made, to the said Bishop of Rome, or to any other in his stead, or occupying his Authority; or to any other Forreign Prince, or Person: And nevertheless let it be enjoined to them, that they shall not promise or give such Oath or Profession to any such Forreign Potentate hereafter. And if the Statutes of the said Order Religious, or Place, seem to bind them to Obedience, or Subjection, or any other Recognizance of Superiority to the said Bishop of Rome, or to any other Forreign Power, Potentate, Person, or Place, by any ways; such Statutes, by the King's Graces Visitors, be utterly annihilate, broken, and declared void and of none effect; and that they be in no case bounden or obligate to the same, and such Statutes to be forthwith utterly put forth and abolished out of the Books or Muniments of that Religion, Order, or Place, by the President and his Brethren.

Also, that no Monk, or Brother of this Monastery, by any means go forth of the Precinct of the same.

Also, that Women, of what state or degree soever they be, be utterly excluded from entring into the Limits or Circuit of this Monastery, or place, unless they first obtain license of the King's Highness, or his Visitor.

Also, that there be no entring into this Monastery but one, and that by the great fore-gate of the same, which diligently shall be watched and kept by some Porter specially appointed for that purpose, and shall be shut and opened by the same both day and night, at convenient and accustomed hours; which Porter shall repel all manner Women from entrance into the said Monastery.

Also, that all and singular Brethren, and Monks of this Monastery, take their refections altogether in a place called the Misericorde, such days as they eat Flesh, and all other

days in their Refectory; and that at every Mess there sit four of them, not of duty demanding to them any certain, usual, or accustomed duty or portion of Meat as they were wont to do; but that they be content with such Victuals as is set before them, and there take their Refections soberly, without excess, with giving due thanks to God; and that at every such Refection, some Chapter of the New Testament, or Old, by some of the said Brethren, be read and recited to the other, keeping silence, and giving audience to the same.

Also, that the Abbot and President do daily prepare one Table for himself and his Guests thither resorting, and that not over-sumptuous, and full of delicate and strange Dishes, but honestly furnished with common Meats; At which Table, the said Abbot, or some Senior in his stead, shall sit to receive, and gently entertain the Strangers, the Guests.

Also, that none of the Brethren send any part of his Meat, or the leavings thereof to any Person, but that there be assigned an Almoner, which shall gather the Leavings, both of the Covent and Strangers Tables, after that the Servants of the House have had their convenient Refections, and distribute the same to poor People; amongst whom special consideration be had of such, before other, as be Kinsfolk to any of the said Brethren, if they be of like power and debility as other be; and also of those which endeavour themselves, with all their will and labour, to get their living with their hands, and yet cannot fully help themselves for their chargeable Houshold, and multitude of Children: yet let not them be so cherished, that they shall leave labour and fall to idleness; with consideration also specially to be had of them, which by weakness of their Limbs and Body be so impotent that they cannot labour; and by no means let such Alms be given to valiant, mighty, and idle Beggars and Vagabonds, as commonly use to resort about such places; which rather, as drove-Beasts and Mychers, should be driven away and compelled to labour, than in their idleness and lewdness, against the form of the King's Graces Statute in this behalf made, cherished and maintained, to the great hindrance and damage of the Common-Weal.

Also, that all other Almses or Destributions due, or accustomed to be made, by reason of the Foundation, Statutes, or customes of this place, be made and given, as largely and as liberally as ever they were at any time heretofore.

Also, that the Abbot, Prior, or President, shall find Wood and Fewel sufficient to make Fire in the Refectory, from Allhallow-even to Good-Friday.

Also, that all the Brethren of this House, except the Abbot, and such as be sick, or evil at ease, and those that have fulfilled their Jubilee, lie together in the Dormitory, every one by himself, in several Beds.

Also, that no Brother, or Monk, of this House, have any Child or Boy laying, or privily accompanying with him, or otherwise haunting unto him, other than to help him to Mass.

Also, that the Brethren of this House, when they be sick, or evil at ease, be seen unto, and be kept in the infirmary duly, as well for their sustenance of Meat and Drink, as for their good keeping.

Also, that the Abbot, or President, keep and find in some University, one or two of his Brothers, according to the Ability and Possessions of this House; which Brethren, after they be learned in good and holy Letters, when they return home, may instruct and teach their Brethren, and diligently preach the Word of God.

Also, that every day, by the space of one hour, a Lesson of Holy Scripture be kept in this Covent, to which all, under pain by this said President to be moderated, shall resort; which President shall have Authority to dispense with them, that they, with a low and treatable voice, say their long hours, which were wont to be sung.

Also, that the Brethren of this House, after Divine Service done, read or hear somewhat of Holy Scripture, or occupy themself in some such like honest and laudable

exercise.

Also, that all and every Brethren of this House shall observe the Rule, Statutes, and laudable Customs of this Religion, as far as they do agree with Holy Scripture and the Word of God. And that the Abbot, Prior, or President of this Monastery, every day shall expound to his Brethren, as plainly as may be, in English, a certain part of the Rule that they have professed, and apply the same always to the Doctrine of Christ, and not contrariwise; and he shall teach them, that the said Rule, and other their Principles of Religion (so far as they be laudable) be taken out of Holy Scripture; and he shall show them the places from whence they were derived; and that their Ceremonies, and other observances of Religion, be none other things than as the first Letters or Principles, and certain Introductions to true Christianity, or to observe an order in the Church. And that true Religion is not contained in Apparel, manner