Volume II Part 42 (1/2)

The abbot was ”to keep an honest and hospitable table;” and an almoner was to be appointed in each house, to collect the broken meats, and to distribute them among the deserving poor.

[Sidenote: Valiant, mighty, and idle beggars no longer to be supported.]

Special care was to be taken in this last article, and ”_by no means should such alms be given to valiant, mighty, and idle beggars and vagabonds, such as commonly use to resort to such places; which rather as drove beasts and mychers should be driven away and compelled to labour, than in their idleness and lewdness be cherished and maintained, to the great hindrance and damage of the commonweal_.”

All other alms and distributions, either prescribed by the statutes of the foundations, or established by the customs of the abbeys, were to be made and given as largely as at any past time.

The abbots were to make no waste of the woods or lands. They were to keep their accounts with an annual audit, faithfully and truly.

No fairs nor markets were any more to be held within the precincts.[513]

Every monk was to have a separate bed, and not to have any child or boy lying with him, or otherwise haunting unto him.

The ”brethren” were to occupy themselves in daily reading or other honest and laudable exercises. Especially there was to be every day one general lesson in Holy Scripture, at which every member of the house was bound to be present.

[Sidenote: Some portion of the rule which the monks have professed shall every day be read to them.]

Finally, that they might all understand the meaning of their position in the world, and the intention, which they had so miserably forgotten, of the foundations to which they belonged, the abbot, prior, or president, was every day to explain in English some of the portion of the rule which they had professed; ”applying the same always to the doctrine of Christ.” The language of the injunctions is either Cromwell's or the king's; and the pa.s.sage upon this subject is exceedingly beautiful.

”The abbot 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 shew them the places from whence they be derived: and that their ceremonies and other observances be none other things than as the first letters or principles, and certain introductions to true Christianity: and that true religion is not contained in apparel, manner of going, shaven heads, and such other marks; nor in silence, fasting, uprising in the night, singing, and such other kind of ceremonies; but in cleanness of mind, pureness of living, Christ's faith not feigned, and brotherly charity, and true honouring of G.o.d in spirit and verity: and that those abovesaid things were inst.i.tuted and begun, that they being first exercised in these, in process of time might ascend to those as by certain steps--that is to say, to the chief point and end of religion. And therefore, let them be exhorted that they do not continually stick and surcease in such ceremonies and observances, as though they had perfectly fulfilled the chief and outmost of the whole of true religion; but that when they have once pa.s.sed such things, they should endeavour themselves after higher things, and convert their minds from such external matters to more inward and deeper considerations, as the law of G.o.d and Christian religion doth teach and shew: and that they a.s.sure not themselves of any reward or commodity by reason of such ceremonies and observances, except they refer all such to Christ, and for his sake observe them.”[514]

Certainly, no government which intended to make the irregularities of an inst.i.tution an excuse for destroying it, ever laboured more a.s.siduously to defeat its own objects. Those who most warmly disapprove of the treatment of the monasteries have so far no reason to complain; and except in the one point of the papal supremacy, under which, be it remembered, the religious orders had luxuriated in corruption, Becket or Hildebrand would scarcely have done less or more than what had as yet been attempted by Henry.

[Sidenote: 1536. Parliament meets for its last session.]

[Sidenote: February. Preliminary measures.]

[Sidenote: The commissioners present their report.]

But the time had now arrived when the results of the investigation were to be submitted to the nation. The parliament--the same old parliament of 1529, which had commenced the struggle with the bishops--was now meeting for its last session, to deal with this its greatest and concluding difficulty. It a.s.sembled on the 4th of February, and the preliminaries of the great question being not yet completed, the Houses were first occupied with simplifying justice and abolis.h.i.+ng the obsolete privileges of the Northern palatinates.[515] Other minor matters were also disposed of. Certain questionable people, who were taking advantage of the confusion of the times to ”withhold tythes,” were animadverted upon.[516] The treason law was further extended to comprehend the forging of the king's sign-manual, signet, and privy seal, ”divers light and evil-disposed persons having of late had the courage to commit such offences.” The scale of fees at the courts of law was fixed by statute;[517] and felons having protection of sanctuary were no longer to be permitted to leave the precincts, and return at their pleasure.

When they went abroad, they were to wear badges, declaring who and what they were; and they were to be within bounds after sunset. In these and similar regulations the early weeks of the session were consumed. At length the visitors had finished their work, and the famous _Black Book_ of the monasteries was laid on the table of the House of Commons.

This book, I have said, unhappily no longer exists. Persons however who read it have left on record emphatic descriptions of its contents; and the preamble of the act of parliament of which it formed the foundation, dwells upon its character with much distinctness. I cannot discuss the insoluble question whether the stories which it contained were true.

History is ill occupied with discussing probabilities on _a priori_ grounds, when the scale of likelihood is graduated by antecedent prejudice. It is enough that the report was drawn up by men who had the means of knowing the truth, and who were apparently under no temptation to misrepresent what they had seen; that the description coincides with the authentic letters of the visitors; and that the account was generally accepted as true by the English parliament.

[Sidenote: Two thirds of the monks are living in habits which may not be described.]

It appeared, then, on this authority, that two-thirds of the monks in England were living in habits which may not be described. The facts were related in great detail. The confessions of parties implicated were produced, signed by their own hands.[518] The vows were not observed.

The lands were wasted, sold, and mortgaged. The foundations were incomplete. The houses were falling to waste; within and without, the monastic system was in ruins. In the smaller abbeys especially, where, from the limitation of numbers, the members were able to connive securely at each other's misdemeanours, they were saturated with profligacy, with Simony, with drunkenness.[519] The case against the monasteries was complete; and there is no occasion either to be surprised or peculiarly horrified at the discovery. The demoralization which was exposed was nothing less and nothing more than the condition into which men of average nature compelled to celibacy, and living as the exponents of a system which they disbelieved, were certain to fall.

[Sidenote: A great debate in the House.]

There were exceptions. In the great monasteries, or in many of them, there was decency and honourable management; but when all the establishments, large and small, had been examined, a third only could claim to be exempted from the darkest schedule. This was the burden of the report which was submitted to the legislature. So long as the extent of the evil was unknown, it could be tolerated; when it had been exposed to the world, honour and justice alike required a stronger remedy than an archiepiscopal remonstrance. A ”great debate” followed.[520] The journals of the session are lost, and we cannot replace the various arguments; but there was not a member of either House who was not connected, either by personal interest, or by sacred a.s.sociations, with one or other of the religious houses; there was not one whose own experience could not test in some degree the accuracy of the _Black Book_; and there was no disposition to trifle with inst.i.tutions which were the cherished dependencies of the great English families.

[Sidenote: March. Difficulty of arriving at a resolution.]

[Sidenote: Conflicting interests. The representatives of the founders.]

[Sidenote: Divided opinion of the Reformers.]