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4 Englishmen. “By Wrttram Coszert.
?
+
~* ces containing worse grammar .than these contain’:
_ totally destitute of all “emulation”? The malignity
.. perceive, that he was, in one: sentence, furnishing
« thousand upon thousands of persons stripped in an in-
“ TRUTIVIS POWERFUL, -
AND WILL. PREVAIL.
VOL. I.
\ COBLSTT OW THE REFORDIATION.
Uistory of the Protestant “ Reformation,” in England and Ire-
* Jand; in a series of Letters, addressed to all sensible and just
(Continued from our last.)
‘LETTER IV.
2.130. 1 question whether monk ever wrote senten-
- but, as to the facts; these “very credible,” these
“certain,” these “unquestionable,” facts, are, almost
upon the face of them, a tissue of malignant lies.
What should there be factions” and quarrels about,
‘amongst men living so “idle” and wnambitious” a
life?., Wow much harder are the hearts of unmarried
- than those of married ecclesiastics we have seen above,
in the contrast between the charities of Catholic and
Protestant bishops.. It is quite “ credile,? that men,
. lost in “ supine idleness,” should practice frauds to
get moncy, which their very state prevented them
from either keeping or bequeathing, and who were
of this liar excceded his cunning, and made him not
strong presumptive proof against the truth of another
sentence. Yet, as his history has keen, and is much
read, and as it has deceived me aleag with so many
thousands of others, I shall, upon this subsect, ap-
peal to several authorities, all Protestants, mind, in
contyadiction to these his false and base assertions,
just remarking, by the way, that he himself never had
a family or a wife, and that he was a great, fat fel-
low, fed, in considerable part, out of public money,
without having meriigd it by any real! public ser-
vices, ,
: 181, In his History of England he refers, not less
than to hundred times, to Bisnor Tayxer, who was
Bishop of St. Asaphin the reign of Goorge the Se-
cond, Let us hear, then, what Brstor Tanner; let
us hear what this Protestant Bishop says of the char-
acter and effects of the monasteries which the savages
under Henry VIL. destroyed. Let us see how this
high authority of Hume agrees with him on this, one
of tho most interesting and important points in our
history, We are about to witness a greater act of
“plunder, a more daring contempt of law and justice
and humanity, than ever was, in any other case, wit-
nessed in the whole world.. We are going to see
stant, of all their’ property; torn from their dwell-
ings, and turned’ out’ into the wide world to beg or
Starve 5 and all this, too, in violation, not only of na-
tural justice, but of every law of the country, written
or unwritten. » Let us, then, see what was the charac-
ter of the persons thus treated, and what were the
eifects of the institutions to which they belonged. And
let us see this, not in the description given by an
avowed enemy, not only of the Catholic but of the
_ Christian religion; but, in that description which has
been given us by a Protestant Bishop, and in a book
written expressly to give “an account of all the ab-
NEW-YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1825.
land and Wales ;? bearing in mind, as we go along,
that Hume has in his History of England, referred
to this very work upwards of two hundred times, tak-
ing care, however, not to refer to a word of it rela-
ting to the important question now before us.
132. Bisnor Tanner, before entering on his labo-
rious account of the several. monastic institutions,
gives us, in pages 19, 20 and 21 of his preface, the
following gencral description ef the character and
pursuits of the monasteries, and of the effects of their
establishments. I beg you, my fricnds, to keep, as
you read Bissop Tanners’s description, the descrip-
tion of Hume constantly in your minds... Remember,
and look, now-and-then, back at his charges of “ sw-
pine idleness,” “ profound ignorance,’ want of all
“emulation and all manly and clegant knowledge 3”
and, above, all things remember his charge of selfish-
ness, his charge of “ frauds” to got money from th:
people. The Bishop speaks,’thus, upon the subject
133, “ Tn every great abbey there was a large room
« called the Scriptorium, where several writers made
“ it their whole business to transcribe books fur the
“ use of the library. They sometimes, indeed, wrote
“ the leiger books of the house, and the missals, and
“ other books used in divine service, but they were
“ generally upon other works, viz: the Fathers, Clas-
“ sies, Histories, &c. &c. Joun Wueriinsten, ab-
“bat of St. Alban’s, caused above cighty books ta be
“thus transcribed (there was then no printing) dar-
“ing his abbacy, Fifty-cight were transcribed by the
“ care of one Abbat at Glastonbury ; and so zealous
“ were the Monks in general for this work, that they
* often got lands given and churches appropriated for
“the carrying of iton. Inall the greater abbies,
“ there were also persons appointed to take notice of
“ the ‘principal occurrences of the kingdom, and at
“the end of evey year to digest them into annals.
“Tn these records they particularly preserved the
« memoirs of their founders and benefactors, the years
“and days of their births and deaths, their marriages,
* children and successors; so that recourse was some-
“ times had to them for proving persons ages and ge-
© nealogics; though it is to be feared that some of
“ those pedigrees were drawn up from tradition only ;
“ and that in most of their accounts they were favour-
“able to their friends, and severe upon their encmies,
“ The constitutions of the clergy in their national and
“ provincial synods, and (after tho Conquest) even
“ Acts of Parliament, were sent to the abbies to be
“ recorded ; which leads mo to mention the use and
“ advantage of these religious houses. For, FIRST,
“the choicest records and treasures in the kingdom
“were preserved in them, An exemplification of
“ the charter of liberties granted by King Henry I.
“ (Macna Cuarra) was sent to some abbey in every
“ county to be preserved. Charters and Inquisitions
“ relating to the county of Cornwall were deposited
“in the Priory of Bodmin; a great many rolls were
“lodged in the Abbey of Leicester aud Priory of
“TIL. King Edward 1, sent to the religious houses
bits, priories, and friaries, formerly existing in Enge
“ Kenilworth, till taken from thence by King Henry |.
NO.1S
“ in their leigers and chronicles, as the most authentic
“ records for proof of his right to that Crown. “Wher
“ his sovereignty was acknowledged in Scotland, he
“ sent letters to have it inserted in the chronicles of)
“the Abbey of Winchomb, and the Priory of Nor-
“ wich and probably of many other suchlike places.
“ And when he decided the controversy relating to
“ the crown of Scotland, between Robert Bruce and
« John Boliol, he wrote to the’ Dean and Chapter of
“ $t."Paul’s, London, requiring them to enter into
« their chronicles the exemplifications therewith sent
“ of that decision, Tho learned Mr. Senpex hath
“ his greatest evidences for the dominion of the nar-
“ row sease belonging to the King of Great Britain, from
“ Monastic records, The evidences and moncy of
“ private families were oftentimes sent to these houses
King’s money was sometimes lodged in them.—
“ SECONDLY, they were schools of learning and
education; for every convent had one person or
“ more appointed for this purpose 3 and all the neigh
“ bours, that desired it, might have their children
“daught grammer and church music without any era
“« pense to them. Tu the Nunneries also young women
* were taught to work and read English, and some-
times Latin also. So that not only the lower rani:
of peaple who could not pay for their learning, but
« most of the noblemen’s and gentlemen’s daughters
« were educated in those places —THIRDLY, all the
“ Monasteries were, in effect, great hospitals, And
“ were most of them obliged to relieve many poor
“ people every day. There were likewise houses of
“ entertainment for almost all travellers. Even the
“ nobility and gentry, when they were upon the road,
“ lodged at one religions house, and dined at another
“and seldom or never went to‘inns. In short their
“ hospitality was such, that in the Priory of Norwich,
“one thousand five hundered quarters of malt, and
“above ‘eight hundred quarters of wheat, and all
“ other things in proportion, were gencrally spemt
“every ycar—FOURTHLY, the nobility and gen-
“try provided not only for their old servants in.
“these houses by’ corrodies, but for their younger
“ ohildren, and impoverished friends, by making them
« first monks and nuns, and in time priors and priores-
* ses, abbats and abbesses.—FIF THLY, they were
« of considerable advantage to the Crown: 1. By the
« profits received from the death of one Abbat or
«Prior to the election, or rather confirmation ef
« another. 2. By great fines paid for the confirma-
* tion of their liberties. 3. By many corrodics granted
“to old servants of the crown, and pensions te the
“ King’s clerks and chaplains, till thdy get preferment.
« _SIXTHLY, they were likewise of considerable
“ advantage to the places where they had their sites
« and estates: 1. By causing great resort to them, and
« getting grants for fairs and markets for them, 2.
« By freeing then from the forest laws, 3. By letting
« their lands at easy rates—LASTLY, they were
¢ great ornaments to the country ; many of them were
“ to search fer his title to tha hingdow of Scotland,
* really noble buildings; and though not actually so
« to be preserved. The seals of Noblemen were de- °
posited there upon their deaths. : And even the .
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