TAUNTON PRIORY. 101 



diabolical mode employed to obtain a shameless end tlian 

 that to which liis agents had resort. Sir Thomas More 

 was hardly laid in hls bloody grave Avhen the infamous 

 Cromwell proj^osed and carried into effect a so-called 

 Visitation of the Religious Houses. When the avowed 

 object was phmdei", when the visitors, who were perfectly 

 cognizant of their master's design, were sent for the very 

 purpose of bringing an evil report lipon the places which 

 they inspected, when their own advantage was in exact ratio 

 to the degree of criminaHty which they should succeed in 

 attaching to their victims, and when they were rewarded in 

 Proportion to the insolence of their language and the atro- 

 city of their behaviour, we need not wonder at the manner 

 in which they conducted themselves, or at the returns which 

 they made. The marvel is- not that many reports were 

 condemnatory bnt that any were of a difFerent complexion. 

 The official account of the Visitation of Taunton Priory is 

 not known to exist, but the date of it may be said to be at 

 length recovered. It was doubtless on the 7th of August, 

 1537, that the reprobate priest Dr. Layton, the ever-ready 

 cahimniator and false accuser, whose name 1 mention 

 for the purpose of affixing to him the infamy that he 

 deserves, made his appearance at the monastery. This, 

 the reader will recollect, is the date endorsed on the bull 

 of Pope Alexander VI. already referred to, which among 

 othcr documents passed under his inspection. His report 

 we know not ; though from such an inquisitor it could 

 hardly be expected to be favourable. 



In the previous year and during the course of these 

 last mentioned cnquiries came the dissolution of the 

 lesser monasteries. The King attempted to seduce 

 the minds of the more conscientious into at least tacit 

 acquiescence with his plana, by promising to create 



