68 PAPERS, ETC. 



stuclents. Most tliat we now enjoy and value is theiv 

 precious and sacred bequest. The remains which we 

 possess of ancient learning, whether sacred or secular, the 

 consequent knowledge of our divine religion, the very bells 

 that still' call us to prayer, and the cliurches that usually 

 receive men who respond to the invitation, our llbraries, 

 our Colleges, our schools, our hospltals, all teil of those 

 old ages of fiiith and patlence, and make forgetfulness of 

 their graces an ingratitude and a sin. It is nothing to the 

 purpose that some of their enemies have taken delight in 

 exposing the rare instances where the cloister concealed 

 practices against which morality protests. It would indeed 

 be Strange, if, among the multitude of Religious Houses 

 which then covered the face of England, some few devia- 

 tions from rectitude were not to be discovered. As long 

 as human nature continues to be what it is, so long it 

 would be madness and foliy to expect any other result. 

 This, however, must by no means be allowed to prejudice 

 the case of the great majority of such establishments. The 

 evils that were found in a few of them — and the greatest 

 wonder is that the instances were not more numerous — 

 wei'e, and still are, prominently displayed, and execration 

 of them is sedulously courted ; while the immaculate condi- 

 tion of the general body, a fact admitted even by unscru- 

 pulous enemies who had an interest in proving them as 

 degraded as possible, is too often passed over, even by those 

 who ought to know better, as a matter of no importance 

 and unworthy of remark. Such persons are contenders 

 not for truth but for party. 



The external garb of the bountiful and gracious monastic 

 spirit was no dcubt magnificently represented in Taunton 

 Priory. For many generations the Augustine Canon was 

 celebrated as uniting in his single pcrson the accordant 



