Hode, and many persons admitted to conversion there, Abbot Roger besought the Lady Gundrea to mention to the Lord Roger de Mowbray, her son, that the situation of Hode was too confined for building an abbey there, and that he should provide another and a more convenient site for his monks, whose numbers and possessions daily increased. Certain veteran soldiers discharged from the court and family of the said Lord Roger had been converted to them, and had brought with them no little temporal wealth, and by their assistance a grange had been built at Wilden. Among these soldiers there were two of great name and prudence, Landric de Agys, and Henry de Wasprey, and a third also, not inferior in prudence, Henry Bugge, who had charge of the works at the abbey, and as time went on they obtained many benefits for their house. For as soon as they entered this our new abode, it was reported throughout the province that we had lately received the support of many noble and well-born men, and thus the devotion of all who heard it was inclined towards us.

"But the Lady Gundrea hearing and entertaining the petition of Abbot Roger, and giving diligent heed to the sudden and unexpected conversion of the soldiers, began to show them more abundant grace and favour. Wherefore she requested Lord Roger her son, to permit her to bestow upon the monks out of her own dowry the vill of Byland on the Moor. To this supplication of his mother's the said Roger devoutly and graciously acceded in the year of our Lord 1143, about the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and he himself gave to the said monks the said vill and all its appurtenances.

"This donation being perfected, Abbot Roger and his monks, in obedience to the admonition and precept of Roger de Mowbray, removed from Hode to a certain place in the neighbourhood of Byland, upon the stream called the Rye, and there they built for themselves a small cell where their tiled building is now erected, not far from the abbey, which that noble person, Walter d'Espec, Lord of Helmsley, a short time, that is, thirteen years before, had piously built, and which is now called Rievaulx. And so Abbot Roger and his monks remained upon the Rye five years. The intention and purpose of Roger de Mowbray had been that the abbey should, if possible, he built on the south bank of the river Rye, in order that we might receive in all respects the same advantages and easements from the water which the monks of Rievaulx enjoy

f

on the north bank. But the situation o the place rendered this impossible; the two houses were too near each other to allow of it, for at every hour of the day and night the one convent could hear the bells of the other, and this was unseemly and could not in any way long be borne."

The history now turns aside to detail several minor events which took place, and some territorial changes and additions to the property of the convent. These are not sufficiently important to merit our attention, excepting only one passage, which I will translate, as giving us an interesting example of the care which the Religious Houses evinced for the "spiritual wants" (as our phrase now runs) of those who became dependent upon them in their character of proprietors of the soil. If churches were chiefly built, as we may gratefully acknowledge, by the piety of the great thanes and lay nobility of our land, this instance will prove that, where opportunity offered, ecclesiastics were not less forward in this good work; and their personal co-operation in it, and minute care for little matters relating to the ornament of God's house, adds much life and reality to the narrative.

"Afterwards Abbot Roger, considering within himself the divers perils and the fatigue which his parishioners underwent, in coming from Scalton to the mother church of Byland, as well for the purpose of hearing the divine office, as in order to partake of the sacraments of the Church, went to the Lord Henry Murdac, Archbishop of York, formerly Abbot of Fountains, in the first year of his pontificate, that is to say in 1146, to make his humble supplication and request. This was that he would grant leave to him and his convent to build a chapel in the vill of Scalton, which is within the limits of the parish church of Byland; grounding his petition principally upon the aforesaid perils, and for the benefit of the heirs and tenants of his pious benefactor, Lord Hugh Malbys. In this chapel, the men of the said vill of Scalton were only to hear the divine office, and to receive the sacraments of the church, perpetual reservation being made to the mother church of Byland of the right of sepulture of the parishioners in Scalton, which right is to this day carefully observed. Having obtained a licence, the said Abbot R. and his monks diligently and devoutly erected at their own expense a chapel in the middle of the vill of Scalton. The

chapel being built and finished, and as befits the house of God decently furnished with books, vestments, a font, and other necessary ornaments, Abbot Roger gave commandment to Landric de Agys, his cellarer, that with all haste and reverence he should cause to be conveyed in a wain,

the lesser bell of the said mother church of Byland, to her said daughter of Scalton. This Landric duly performed, and everything, as has been said, being duly and honorably provided, the said Abbot Roger conferred the chapel on a certain clerk called Richard. And he, on the presentation of Abbot Roger, was canonically instituted by the said Lord Archbishop Henry, and he had and kept charge of it for 54 years, without any interruption either of years or times, namely, for eight years in the reign of King Stephen, and throughout the whole reign of King Henry, son of the Empress Matilda, and through out the whole reign of King Richard, son of the said King Henry; and the said Kings, Henry and Richard, have by their charters confirmed Byland with its appurtenances."

After this account, we shall be better prepared to afford ready credence to the next passage of the history which I will translate. From this passage it appears, that Robert de Mowbray was desirous of granting to the convent the right of patronage or advowson of several churches, with the view of their ultimately obtaining the appropriation of them to their own use. It may be worth while just to point out what would have been the difference between these two acts. With the former we are all familiar-it would merely have transferred the right of nominating the incumbents of these benefices to the monks, leaving the right of receiving the tithes and profits

annexed thereto untouched. The latter on the contrary would have affected the right to these revenues, and vested them in the convent, imposing on them however the obligation of performing either personally or by deputy the spiritual duties of the benefice. We shall see, however, that Abbot Roger was too disinterested to accept this grant; he had observed the evils which frequently ensued from appropriations, and therefore, at the risk of offending their patron, he withheld himself from accepting his bounty. Such an instance as this ought to make us cautious how we believe the sweeping invectives against religious houses, in which our writers indulge

when treating of appropriations. That they finally led to the great impoverishment of the Church, and that this injury, by the dissolution of the monasteries, and the transfer of so many impropriated tithes into lay hands, has become well nigh irremediable, we are now painfully experiencing; there is scarcely one populous town the condition of which does not bring it home to us. But this termination, resulting from events which could not be foreseen, does not justify an indiscriminate censure of the motives of those with whom the misfortune originated.

"But Roger de Mowbray, seeing that many had come together to serve God, and that the spot where the monks abode in the vicinity of Byland, could not, as has been said above, be made convenient for the construction of an abbey, and that the vicinity of Rievaulx made it altogether unfitting; on his return from the East country, added to his gift an extension of their bounds, and in the year 1147 gave them for the site of their abbey two carucates of waste land, according to the measurement of Hugh Malbys his steward, lying in the vicinity of Cuckwald, beneath the hill of Blackhow. Moreover, Lord Thomas de Colevyle quit-claimed and gave to God and the monks all the land which is between the pool of their mill and Thorpe. He gave also all Bersclyve and Bertoft, and the appurtenances of the vill of Cuckwald, lying to the north towards Whitaker, to do therewith whatsoever they would for ever.

"The said Roger Mowbray likewise granted to Abbot Roger and the monks the right of patronage of the churches of Thirsk, Hovingham, and Kirkly Moorside, together with many other possessions. But the said Abbot Roger, being a man

of scrupulous conscience for the care of souls, refused to accept these gifts, protesting and declaring that they were already amply and sufficiently endowed. This refusal much displeased Lord Roger de Mowbray; for his intention had been, that the Abbot and monks, having obtained the right of patronage of these churches, might in process of time more easily have obtained their appropriation to their own use. And it was said that on the occasion of this refusal, the right of patronage of the said churches was given, at the instance and petition of the said Sampson de Albany, Roger Mowbray's cousin, to the aforesaid canons of Hode, who are now called of Newburgh, among whom the said Sampson devoted himself to God, and took on him the habit of a canon regular. He obtained also from the Arch

bishop of York, and the Bishop of Lincoln, that the said canons of Hode should have peaceful possession, during the life of Sampson himself, of all the churches which the said Sampson held before his entrance into religion.

"Now when the aforesaid monks had sojourned, as has been said, four years with their abbot Gerold, at Hode, and five years afterwards with abbot Roger, upon the Rye, in the vicinity of Byland, they began diligently to clear the ground,* on the western side, within and near to Middleburgh, and to build below the moor in the said region of Cukwald, and they straightway removed into the said territory of Cukwald, where they diligently erected and built a small stone church, a cloister, and other houses and offices, as is still plainly to be seen in the same place, and from that time they abode there in holy religion during thirty years. During which time many nobles, as well from those regions as from Westmoreland, devoutly offered large donations in frank almoigne to the said abbot Roger, and his monks, as will appear below."

MR. URBAN,

WE generally attribute ferocity of manners to barbaric nations, and the possession of the stern and severer virtues to people in the rude and early stages of social combination: we suppose, as they become civilised, that they also grow refined in manners, and are more susceptible of the tender emotions and softer influences which grow up under the protection of mild laws and improved education. Now, as each strong and powerful passion is manifested in some way that distinguishes it from others; so the feeling, and whatever else may be allied

* Assartare. The special meaning of this word is to clear forest land, to root up trees. I may add here that the care of the monks, in the opposite direction of preserving timber trees was no less beneficial. It is recorded, in commendation of Alexander, the first abbot of Kirkstall, that, for the sake of his successors, he was so careful of the extensive woods which God's favor had bestowed upon him, that he never cut any wood for building materials from thence, but obtained it all from a distance.

Ampla nemora, quæ favente Deo adquisierat, ita diligenter adquisivit posteris profutura, ut nil unquam ad edificandum inde sumeret, sed aliunde omnia comparavit." Monast. i. 856.

to it in gentleness of character, of compassion or pity for others, and sorrow for our own calamities, is supposed to be outwardly shown by tears," the natural channel of relief to the afflicted heart,

Sunt lacrymæ rerum, et mentem mortalia tangunt.

This outward manifestation of grief is, I should think, generally be

lieved to be indicative of a mind that has little strength or mastery over its feelings. It is seen in children, in females commonly, but so rarely in those of the other sex, that the poet (Wordsworth) mentions it as a very remarkable circumstance to see

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a man full grown Weep in the public road alone." And yet, in those days in which the heroic virtues were in fullest vigour, and active courage and passive endurance of pain were the twin paths of glory, tears often flowed from below the helmet's shade, and the bosom that throbbed with sympathy beneath its iron hauberk, was not ashamed to exhi

bit to others the effects of its emotion. The son of Anchises was among the bravest of the brave, and stood with the foremost in the fields of victory; yet the poet who selected him for his hero, has not been afraid of describing the overflowing tenderness of his nature, and how easily he was moved to tears "Demisit lacrimas ;" and similar expressions; as "lacrymis obortis," &c. were characteristic not only of the nature of Æneas, but of others of hisbrave companions in arms, and would seem to form a peculiar habit of mind susceptible of strong passions of opposite kinds, which no artificial refinement endeavoured to conceal. Thus the Indian savages, "the stoics of the woods," men of such iron frames and impassive nerves, that they can bear torture without shrinking, are described in the violent excitements of discourse to give way to repeated effusions of tears; which would seem to shew that tears ought to be considered as one of the natural outlets of strong passion of various kinds, and not as the proof of a weak and womanish disposition. We must, then, I think, account for such displays of feeling being so unusual as almost

to be unknown, in times of increased civilization, as in our own, which were common in olden days, from this cause; that any strong and violent exhibition of feeling is considered inconsistent with that gentleness, equanimity, and elegance of manners, that are now required in society. Of all marks of inward emotion, tears would be among the strongest, and would therefore be most subject to the ridicule of those who did not participate in the powerful causes from which they sprung. Good education may also be presumed so to strengthen the moral powers of the mind, as to give it greater command in the suppression of its feelings, and general mastery over itself in those great emergencies which shake terribly the frame of man." What, however, has led me particularly into these reflections at the present time, has arisen from accidentally having turned to the debates in Parliament during the time of James and Charles, and seen, with some degree of surprise (considering that the two centuries that have since passed, have made no remarkable change in our modes of thinking or acting,) how often senatorial eloquence was assisted, or at least accompanied, by tears, and how easily men of all parties and characters alike felt this "dew of nature" steal into their eyes. What would be thought in the present day if the Times or Morning Post informed us that "Here Sir Robert Peel was obliged to sit down for some minutes, while his sobs and tears showed how deeply he was moved?" "Here the Speaker was so affected by Mr. Wakley's statement as to cry audibly." "As Lord Palmerston continued addressing the House, large tears were seen by many members silently stealing down Sir Robert Inglis's cheeks," while "Lord John Russell threw himself back on the bench, and, covering his face with his handkerchief, gave way to a hearty cry." "Mr. Miloer Gibson roared like a child."-Now this, Mr. Urban, might read rather strangely at first, but is not without example in the reported debates of earlier times. In those for instance in the reign of Charles the First, on the Petition of Rights, we read, "Here the Speaker started up from the chair, and GENT. MAG. VOL. XIX.

"

"

apprehending Sir John Elliot intended to fall upon the Duke, said, with tears in his eyes, There is a command laid upon me to interrupt any that should go about to lay an aspersion on the Ministers of State." "Sir Robert Philips spoke, and mingled his words with weeping. "Sir Edward Coke, overcome with passion, seeing the desolation that was likely to ensue, was forced to sit down, when he began to speak, through the abundance of tears. "Yea, the Speaker in his speech could not refrain from weeping and shedding of tears; besides a great many, whose great griefs made them dumb and silent.” The House was now in open disorder-the Speaker weepingly implored them to let him go. When King Charles signed the warrant for the execution of Lord Stafford, "his reasons he did not express without tears." During the quarrell of the House of Commons and the army, Cromwell spoke with great vehemence, and with many tears," and the author of "Killing no Murder says, "he conquered most by prayers and tears." Again, "Cromwell shed tears in describing Charles's interview with his children at Caversham." Again, "when intelligence was received from the mutinous regiments, Cromwell wept bitterly." Once more, "Cromwell said to them, (Goodwin and others,) with many tears, that he would rather have taken a shepherd's staff, than the Protectorship.' Cromwell seemed to possess the tears of the crocodile, as well as his fangs. By following the course of the debates in Rushworth and the Parliamentary History, innumerable other examples might be found; but what I have given is sufficient to shew how deeply those men of inflexible wills and undaunted courage both to suffer and to do, must have been moved in the commencement of their great struggle; how dark and big with woe was this cloud that bung over the House, how deep was the source from which their sorrows overflowed, and how soon those waters of grief that rose in their eyes were exchanged for showers of blood that burst from their hearts.

But

I am not sure that this habit of assisting eloquence with weeping, was not brought into fashion by the fana2 M

tical preachers, whether Presbyterians, or of other sects, and then spread through other classes of society.

Yours, &c. J. M.

MR. URBAN, Stamford, Feb. 15. I SEND you a transcript of a remarkable letter of Oliver Cromwell, when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and engaged in the subjugation of Tipperary in the year 1649. The original is in the possession of Mrs. Tryon, of this place, and has been handed down to that lady from her great-grandmother, Mrs. Judith Smith, of Liddington, in Rutland, who was the eldest daughter of Sir Euseby Pelsant, alias Buswell, of Clipston, in Northamptonshire, and Cadesby, in Leicestershire, by his first wife, Margaret Twisden, of Wye, in Kent.

Its conclusion, in particular, may be pointed out as characteristic of the writer; and, perhaps, still more the postscript, with its decisive and peremptory termination.

"S",

you

"It hath pleased God to be verie gratious to us hitherto in the possessing of Cashell, Fethard, & Raghill Castle, w'hout any blood. Callan cost us at least 4. or 5. men, but we are poss'ed of it also, & of div'se other places of good importance. We are in the verie bowells of Tipp.ary, and hope will lye advantageously (by the blessing of God,) for further attempts. Many places take upp o2 men; wherefore I must needs be earnest wth to spare us what you can. If you can send two Companies more of yo* Regimt to Mayallo, do it; if not, one att the least, that so my Lord Broghill may spare us 2. or 3. of Coll. Ewers to meete him with the rest of his Regimt at Fermoy. Give Collonell Ewers what assistance you can in the businesse I have sent to him about. Salute all my Friends wth you. My service to Sr Will'm Fenton. Pray for us. I rest "Yo verie loving Friend, "O. CROMWELL.

Fethard, 9th of Feb. 1649. "Sr if you thinke that we draw you to low in men whilest we are in acc❜on, I p❜sume you are in no danger; however, I desire you would make this use of it, to ridd the Towne of Corke of suspitious & ill-affected prsons as

This Colonel Phaire is mentioned in Smith's History of Cork, and frequently in the historical records of his own time. In 1648 Lord Inchiquin imprisoned him and Sir William and Captain Fenton, who were afterwards exchanged for Lord Inchiquin's son, then a prisoner in the Tower of London.

In 1649 the Kentish regiment is mentioned as forming for Ireland, under Colonel Phaire, (Perfect Diurnal, April 16 to 23,) and shortly after it was ready to march for Ireland. (Perfect Occurrences, May 25 to June 1.)

In 1654 Col. Phaire, then Governor of Cork, together with Col. Saunders, Governor of Kinsale, declared for the Parliament against the army (see Ludlow); and in 1656 Henry Cromwell informed Thurloe, (see IV. 501,) that the meetings of the Quakers were attended by Col. Phaire, Major Wallis, and most of the chief officers; some soldiers and a cornet of his own troop having turned Quakers, which last had wrote to him in that style; and Major Hodder, then Governor of Kinsale, kept one of them to preach to the soldiers.

There is an anecdote of Cromwell having commended to him the bearer of a letter as a fit subject for the gallows, which Mr. Magner suspecting, gave it to a puritanical officer for delivery, which so surprised Col. Phaire, that he ventured to postpone the execution until he communicated with Cromwell, and thus Magner's trick was discovered.

Some exploit of Col. Phaire gained him the popular soubriquet of " Fieldfare," the name of a bird, and it has been supposed that this name originated from his preaching in the open air near the lough of Cork. It is

* "Mallo pasest" is in another handwriting, as if by an inferior officer.