MUCHELNET ABBEY. 101 



The second is a very noble letter, possibly relating to 

 the same Visitation, addressed by some Bishop of ßath 

 to bis brotber, the Abbat of Muchelney. It is preserved in 

 No. 431, f. 31, of the Harhian MSS. in the British Museum, 

 and has never been published. I have, accordingly, given 

 it entire, together with perhaps too literal a translation. 

 There is, unfortunately, no name of the writer, nor date ; so 

 that, although it niay be presumed to be of the fourteenth 

 or fifteenth Century, complete identification of it with any 

 particular bishop is as yet impossible. But it is a model 

 in its way of calm, temperate, and dignified expostula- 

 tion : — 



" L'ra domini Bathon' Ep'i directa domino Abbati de 

 Michelney, sue dioc', qui se nimis diu absentans a Monas- 

 terio suo, &c\ vt redeat & ib'm resideat, &c. 



" Amice carissime, Bonus pastor & pater Abbas ille 

 raerito designat' ex noi'e, cuj' opus m'itoriu' tanto no'i rea- 

 liter exhibit se conforme. Nee ad paterni seu pastoralis 

 honoris apicem illum credim" condignis meritis sublimatu', 

 qui, neglecto com'issi gregis regi'e, aut suor' in x'po filior' 

 diseiplina conniuentib' oculis pretermissa, curam suam 

 deserens & ad libitu' evagans aliunde latitat emin' in oc- 

 culto, vbi nee p'ris castigantis facies austera filios terreat in- 

 solentes, nee vocem pastoris absentis audire poterit grex 

 oberrans. Presertim cum in prelato p'uido non sit vox seu 

 doctrina viuacior q' efficax exemplum boni op'is suadens & 

 docens factibile. Du' t'n bene op'ando palam faciat suadibile 

 quod docet'. Presentis itaq' huius n'ri p'hemij misteriu', si 

 forsan vera sint que de vob' audiuim', v're negligencie 

 nimiru' in parte veraciter applicam'. Quidam e'm confra- 

 tru' v'ror' quor' vos dum seorsu' a monasterio v'ro in abditis 

 habitantes curam gcritis non curantes. Hij more v'ro honestis 

 finib' claustralib' non contenti, quin uerius v'ra sequentes 



