PREFACE. Jam nec vetustis sculpta scientiis Humana quidquid composuit manus CASIMIRI LYRICORUM, Lib. 4. IN ingenuous minds, so strong is the impression · produced by the recollection of departed worth and excellence, that, by an easy association of ideas, they respect and venerate the very places where these memorable characters were born, where they lived, or where they gave particular proofs of talent or heroic virtue. No one can read the beginning of the third book de Oratore, without experiencing the tender enthusiasm which prompted Cicero to go and gaze at the spot where stood the immortal patriot and orator, Lucius Crassus, when he delivered his last and energetic oration-" Post Crassi interitum veniebamus in Curiam, ut vestigium illud ipsum, in quo ille postremum institisset, contueremur. O fallacem hominum spem fragilemque fortunam!!!" trust, therefore, that in a Christian country it will not be considered less laudable and innocent, if I invite the reader to shed the tear of sympathy over departed greatness, and to walk over the mouldering ruins of those venerable edifices, once the seats of literature and religious virtue, the repositories of art, the monuments of the piety and skill of our Catholic forefathers, the sanctuaries of hospitality, and the B I pride and ornament of this beautiful county. I trust that my researches will be useful; and if they shall excite others to enter into my labors, and to perfect these Historical Collections, I shall think myself abundantly rewarded. To the registers of the see of Exeter I am greatly indebted for the materials of this work. Those official records are of indisputable authority; and no one should undertake to write the ecclesiastical, or even the civil history of Devonshire or Cornwall, without having studied them thoroughly. To JOHN JONES, Esq. of Franklyn, I am proud to acknowledge my obligations for his valuable assistance; and the Right Honorable Lord CLIFFORD is entitled to my warmest thanks, for his constant encouragement, and for the unreserved use of the library at Ugbrooke. I shall proceed to throw together some few particulars respecting the authority of the Bishop of Exeter, over the Religious within his diocese, and respecting the state of monastic learning, and the manner of electing the Abbots and Superiors. Of the architecture of the religious houses I forbear to say any thing, as the remains are so trifling. It is singular, that not one of the numerous conventual churches" in Devon is now standing. 6. In the first place, the permission of the Diocesan was necessary, previous to the foundation of any monastic establishment. This is clear, from fol. 96-97 of Bishop Bronescombe's Register* concerning Buckland Abbey. The regular Clergy, generally speaking, (Friars Minors not even excepted) depended on the Diocesan for faculties to absolve penitents. The Bishops had also the power of visiting the religious houses, and they appear to have considered this as a duty of primary importance; in fact, the attention which they paid to this point, contributed, above all others, to support regular discipline, and to prevent licentiousness. And from a careful inspection of the registers, I think myself justified in asserting, that the abbey of Ford, and These registers begin with the death of Bishop Blondy, December 26, 1257. Bishop Bytton's, from the year 1292 to 1306, is unfortunately lost; but the acts of the other Bishops, until the change of religion, are for the most part in the highest state of preservation. especially the abbey of Tavistock, which attempted to throw obstacles in the way of episcopal visitations, were, both in a spiritual and a temporal point of view, the worst regulated communities in the diocese of Exeter. It appears also, from the registered acts of the Bishops, that corrodies could not be granted without the episcopal licence, and that, in several instances, the revenues were sequestered during long vacancies, or in consequence of the improvident administration of the acting Superiors: indeed, if the Diocesans had not occasionally interfered, to preserve the property of certain monasteries, the whole must have been squandered away by the prodigality or the carelessness of the persons who were charged with its administration. Some of the Abbots had private seals, and an Abbot of Tavistock is charged with the most crying injustice, in signing away the property of the community. In the registers above mentioned are several episcopal mandates, directed to different monasteries. In these, the Bishop points out the irregularities which had been discovered during the course of the visitation. They chiefly relate to breaches of regular discipline, or of the vows of poverty and obedience. Perpetual silence is strongly enforced in the dormitory, where a lamp was to be kept burn. ing the whole of the night, as enjoined in the 22d chapter of the rule of St. Benedict. In the cloisters, rigid silence was to be observed at certain hours, "certis horis," but not perpetually, as some writers have contended. I am happy to find, that the grosser immoralities (I mean against the virtue of chastity) were very far from being common; and if it be a proof of innocence, as even Bishop Burnet acknowledges, when the Monks received pensions at the dissolution of the religious houses, we may fairly conclude, that our Devonshire communities must have been eminently virtuous; since the * Vide fol. 160, vol. 1. Reg. Grandissoni A. D. 1348. N. B. Generally speaking, the common seal and all the public muniments and records of the monasteries, were kept under three different locks and keys. This seal could not be validly used without the consent of the majority and more respectable part of the community, "majore & saniore parte conventus." Crown granted an annuity to almost every individual member. As far as I can collect, the average fee payable to the Bishop, at the visitation, was 20s. Of the state of learning in our Devonshire monasteries, I regret to have found so few materials to enable me to form a satisfactory opinion. If Leland's Collectanea (where some account is given of the books that he found in the conventual libraries) were made the criterion, we should be inclined to think unfavourably of their application to literature. But the impartial observer would not be precipitate in deciding: he would recollect that Leland's plan was vastly too extensive, even for his industry and extraordinary ability-that it is but a rapid sketch* of what he saw and heard. Again, that Leland was no friend to the monasteries, and that he had an interest in their suppression. Besides, it is reasonable to suppose, that the religious themselves, seeing the storm ready to burst on them, and conscious that their houses were devoted to pillage and destruction, would secrete or remove their most valuable manuscripts and records. Again, we must take into our consideration the spirit of havoc and fanaticism that stalked abroad at the period of the Dissolution.+ We may also form some estimate of what literary treasures may have existed in our Devonshire monasteries, by what we know did actually exist in some other religious houses in other parts of England. In Peterborough Monastery the books amounted to two thousand; in Glastonbury Abbey the manuscripts were almost innumerable. I must not omit stating, that Ford Abbey, in this county, was in high repute for learning; that Tavistock could boast of its Compare his jejune account of the MSS in the library of St. Paul's Church, London, with the catalogue given by Dugdale. The Reformation gave a sudden check to the progress of literature. Wood, in page 265, lib. 1. Hist. et Antiqu. Universitatis Oxoniensis, describes the state of that University, in the year 1546, as truly deplorable. He says, that formerly there were three hundred halls, or more, in Oxford, but were then reduced to eight; and he adds, "Sane quidem literatorum studia tam penitus restinxit Cœnobiorum eversio, ut juvenes artes omnes ingenuas perdendas iri suspicati, ad munera civilia, vel etiam mechanica sese converterint." A printing press was erected in this abbey at a very early period. Ames, in p. 430-468 of his History of Printing, mentions Walton's |
