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Holy Island Priory. By Henry Clarke, M.D. 



I HAVE been induced to draw up the following sketch of the Priory 

 of Holy Island, from its being the most beautiful fragment of antiquity 

 in the district to which our researches are confined, as well as from its 

 presenting one of the most remarkable architectural remains of the 

 period to which it belongs in the kingdom. 



It need scarcely be mentioned, that, in the earlier periods of Chris- 

 tian history, the choice of so unattractive a site was in obedience to 

 the idea which indicated the remote and scarcely accessible island, and 

 the lone and unfrequented desert, as spots peculiarly fitted for that 

 contemplative life, and withdrawal from the world, in which the per- 

 fection of rehgion was supposed to consist. 



When the monastic system was introduced into the West, this was 

 its leading and characteristic feature, and the same spirit which had 

 selected the inhospitable island of lona, induced the monk who issued 

 thence for the conversion of Northumberland, to prefer the bleak sands 

 of Lindesfarne to the pleasant valleys of the adjacent continent. 



It woidd be needless also to dwell upon the advantages derived from 

 monastic establishments during the darker periods of history — their 

 preservation of literature and religion — the solace they afforded to the 

 wayfarer and the pilgrim — the asylum they furnished to the poor, the 

 sick, the impotent, and the aged — the influence which they exerted in 

 alleviating, where they could not prevent, the various evils incident to 

 a barbarous age — the peaceful arts which they cultivated, and especially 

 that which enabled them to raise those ai;gust and sumj)tuous edifices, 

 which still remain the grandest examples of architectural skiU, and 

 defy all approaches of the moderns to a parity of excellence. 



The exercise of these and kindred virtues ought to redeem the 

 monastic institution, when reviewed in a candid and equitable spirit, 

 from the unmeasured obloquy and censure which the license and 

 misrule of some of its branches in later times have drawn down upon 

 it. 



There is no doubt, however, that the very virtues, which originally 

 inspired awe and attracted esteem, tended, by a natural process, fre- 

 quently renewed, and always with similar results, to the gradual 

 corruption and final overthrow of the monastic system. 



Long before the Eeformation the elements of discontent had been 

 at work, and the clamour against the monasteries had been gradually 

 acquiring force and fixedness, when in the person of 



"the majestic lord 

 Who broke the bonds of Rome," 



was found a fitting instrument for the expression of the popular wiU. 

 In the year 1536, the lesser monasteries were doomed to destruction 



