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disregarded in some of the later foundations. Strictness and 
austerity were, however, as they have always been, the character- 
istics of the Order of St. Bruno. Each member of the con- 
fraternity lived in a division of a three-roomed cottage, meeting 
his companions only in the chapel, or for the business of the 
house. They ate no meat. A loaf of bread was given to each 
brother every Sunday morning at the Refectory door, which was 
to last him during the week. An occasional mess of gruel was all 
that was allowed him in addition. His bedding was a horse-cloth, 
a pillow and a skin. His dress was horse-hair shirt covered 
outside with linen which was worn night and day, and the white 
eloak of the Order. A garden was attached to each building of 
three cells. Silence, solitude and prayer were enjoined by the 
rules of the Order, and the monks were forbidden to leave the 
grounds of the Priory. Such were the lives of the Brethren at 
all events in the earlier days of their establishment. Probably in 
later times they were somewhat relaxed. The regular number of 
Monks in a Charterhouse was 13, including the Prior. In 
addition, however, there were 13 lay brethren (conversi) who 
were engaged in farm labour. For these lay brethren there was 
a separate set of buildings called ‘‘domus inferior,” with a guest 
house and a church. In the case of Hinton the habitat of the 
eonversi was probably at a distance of about half a mile from the 
Priory, at a place called Frary or Friary.* King Henry III. 
granted to this Priory all the liberties and privileges previously 
granted to Witham, including immunity from taxation and forest 
* Friary is situated below the wood which bears its name and close 
to the banks of the river Frome, in a very secluded spot. All remains 
of conventual buildings have now disappeared, though I believe some 
existed at the beginning of the century. But the names “ Friary,” and 
“Old Church” remain and the site is well marked. Signs of the water 
wheel of the mill are to be traced in the basement of a ruined cottage 
on the river bank, and a depression in the garden above appear to 
mark the sight of the reservoir which supplied it. 
