178 BUCKLAND ABBEY. 



boldly advanced into the desert, three day's journey to 

 the eastward of the Nile. Resting awhile in a lonely 

 spot, shaded by palm trees near a fountain-side, he 

 finally took up his abode on Mount Colzim, on the 

 coast of the Arabian Gulph ; where an ancient monas- 

 tery still preserves the name and memory of the saint. 

 This venerable patriarch of Monachism, having attained 

 the age of one hundred and five years, beheld the nu- 

 merous progeny, which had been formed by his prac- 

 tice and his instructions. To the south of Alexandria, 

 the mountain and adjacent desert of Nitria, were 

 peopled by five thousand anachorets ; and the traveller 

 may still investigate the ruins of fifty monasteries, 

 which were planted in that barren soil by the disciples 

 of Antony. He was on terms of friendship with 

 Athanasius, whose tenets he approved of. So high was 

 the fame of his sanctity that the Emperor Constantine 

 sent him an invitation, which he respectfully declined. 

 The swarm of monks that arose from the Nile, over- 

 spread and darkened the face of the Christian world. 



The Pilgrims, who visited Jerusalem, eagerly copied, 

 in the most distant climates of the earth, the faithful 

 model of monastic eminence, Antony's disciples spread 

 themselves beyond the tropic, over the Christian empire 

 of Ethiopia. The monastry of Banchor, in Flintshire, 

 which contained above two thousand brethren, dis- 

 persed a numerous colony among the barbarians of 

 Ireland ; and lona, one of the Hebrides, which was 

 planted by the Irish monks, diffused over the northern 

 regions a doubtful ray of science and superstition. 



The monastic profession of the ancients was an act 

 of voluntary devotion. After a sufficient trial, the fi- 

 delity of the novice was secured by a solemn and per- 

 petual vow ; and his irrevocable engagement was ratified 

 by the laws of the church and state. The actions of 

 a monk, his words, and even his thoughts, were deter- 

 mined by an inflexible rule, or a capricious superior : 

 the slightest offences were corrected by disgrace or con- 

 finement, extraordinary fasts or bloody flagellation ; 

 and disobedience, murmur or delay, were ranked in the 



