OF SELBORNE. 327 



(< something still not only contrary to regular rules but also 

 " repugnant to religion and good reputation." 



In the first article after the preamble " he commands them 

 " on their obedience, and on pain of the greater excommuni- 

 " cation, to see that the canonical hours by night and by day 

 " be sung in their choir, and the masses of the Blessed Mary, 

 "and other accustomed masses, be celebrated at the proper 

 " hours with devotion, and at moderate pauses; and that it be 

 " not allowed to any to absent themselves from the hours and 

 " masses, or to withdraw before they are finished." 



Item 2d. He enjoins them to observe that silence to which 

 they are so strictly bound by the rule of Saint Augustine at 

 stated times, and wholly to abstain from frivolous conversa- 

 tion. 



Item 4th. " Not to permit such frequent passing of secular 

 " people of both sexes through their convent, as if a tho- 

 " roughfare, from whence many disorders may and have 

 " arisen." 



Item 5th. " To take care that the doors of their church 

 " and Priory be so attended to that no suspected and dis- 

 (( orderly females, ' suspectse et aliae inhonestas,' pass through 

 " their choir and cloister in the dark ; " and to see that the 

 doors of their church between the nave and the choir, and the 

 gates of their cloister opening into the fields, be constantly 

 kept shut until their first choir-service is over in the morning, 

 at dinner time, and when they meet at their evening col- 

 lation. 1 ' 



Item 6th mentions that several of the canons are found to 

 be very ignorant and illiterate, and enjoins the prior to see 

 that they be better instructed by a proper master. 



Item 8th. The canons are here accused of refusing to 

 accept of their statutable clothing year by year, and of 

 demanding a certain specified sum of money, as if it were their 

 annual rent and due. This the bishop forbids, and orders that 

 the canons shall be clothed out of the revenue of the Priory, 

 and the old garments be laid by in a chamber, and given to 

 the poor, according to the rule of Saint Augustine. 



b A Collation was a meal or repast on a fast day in lieu of a supper, 



