30 The Eminent Jjadies qf Wiltshire History. 



we must come to this conclusion : that these Lady Abbesses, 

 being- Mistresses of the fsoilj and having the control over the young 

 female mind, were largely responsible for giving the right tone to 

 the female character, and consequently for the result and effect upon 

 English society, which depends so much upon that character. We 

 have, fairly preserved, if not quite complete, lists of the names of 

 the influential and important ladies who ruled these establishments, 

 but whether their names had come down to us or not, speaking of 

 them in a general way and as an order or class, I hold that it was 

 one of real eminence, and well deserving not only the notice but the 

 emphatic commendation of history. 



Of one only among Ihem, a few words. The Earldom of 

 Salisbury (i.e., not of the present city, but the older Salisbury, Old 

 Sarum) was a title held by two or three families in succession ; the 

 first being that of Devereux, in the reign of King Stephen. There 

 had been two Earls, when the title fell to an only daughter, Ela. 

 She married William Longespee, who in her right became Earl. 

 Upon his death she reigned alone in her castle of Old Sarum ; and 

 in fact ruled the county, for she filled the office of High Sheriff for 

 seven or eight years. At last, being weary of feudal dignity and 

 its burdens, she retired to one of the monasteries she had built, and 

 became Abbess of Lacock, where she died, as it is said, at nearly 

 100 years of age. Of Wilton and Ambresbury monasteries no part 

 even of the building remains; but Lacock Abbey still stands a 

 witness to the memory and good deeds of this eminent lady of 

 Wiltshire history. 



So much of the land, so many of the parishes, having belonged 

 to these ladies, we are no doubt indebted to them for some of our 

 parish Churches ; those, for instance, that stand on the estates for- 

 merly theirs. That spirit is by no means yet extinct. We have in 

 our own day ladies still living who at their own sole cost have built 

 or re-built Churches; and it is but just and fair to the ladies in 

 general to say that in all good works of that kind they are almost 

 always found to take the greatest interest and an active part. 



Under the head of Religious Foundations we must include Alms- 

 houses, places of refuge for the worn out and feeble. In the village 



