Cljatnei 

 anli 



in Dorset 



By the Rev. Canon J. M. J. FLETCHER, M.A. and R.D. 



TT is perhaps scarcely to be wondered at that 

 many of the earliest repositories of books 

 were connected with religious establish- 

 ments ; partly because the priests were 

 the educated class, but also because the 

 temple and its precincts seemed to offer 

 greater security for their safe custody 

 than would be the case with the majority 

 of secular buildings. 



In Christian times, Community life naturally led to the 

 gathering together of books ; and, almost from the first, 

 strict rules were promulgated for their use and preservation. 

 St. Benedict, who lived from about the year 480 until 543, 

 may be regarded as the father of Western Monasticism. He 

 was especially instrumental in encouraging the study of 

 books ; and the great Benedictine Order, which he founded 

 in 529, and to which many of our English Monastic Com- 

 munities belonged, or from which they were derived, enforced 

 the habit of reading, and, as a consequence, led to the 



