50 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



mendicant brothers were: the Aug-iistines, or Austin friars, 

 the Franciscans, or Grey friars, the Dominicans, or Black 

 friars, and the Carmehtes, or White friars. These orders stood 

 in close relation to the life of their time, and are said to have 

 been strong factors in bringing about overthrow of the 

 Templars. Speed says : nearly every householder in England 

 for a long time paid a penny a quarter to each of these four 

 orders. In Chaucer's day they were evidently a fair butt for 

 shafts of satire and ridicule ; still though their popularity might 

 then be on the wane, the surviving nomenclature of their 

 possessions in London alone attests their immense influence in 

 medieval England. 



For centuries Latin held pre-eminence over other European 

 tongues, and was the language of religion, law, and learning. 

 Lord Bacon, in the days of Elizabeth wrote some works in 

 Latin and wished his English books to be translated into that 

 tongue, fearing as he said : " these modern languages will at 

 one time or another play the bankrupts with books, and since 

 I have lost much time with this age, I would be glad as God 

 shall give me leave to recover it with posterity." Montaigne 

 had like premonition over his famous essays. Two hundred 

 years after Chaucer's day he said : " I write my book for few 

 people, and for a few years. Had it been a matter of duration, 

 it would have been necessary to commit it to a more stable 

 language." Milton wrote Latin state papers for the Common- 

 wealth. Till less than two hundred years ago Latin was the 

 language of diplomacy, and it was not until 1825 that Latin 

 ceased to be the language of debate in the Legislature of Hun- 

 gary. There can therefore be no surprise at finding Latin the 

 chosen language of churchmen in the middle ages. The mon- 

 astic writer of that time found Latin to be the language of the 

 scriptures, hymns, missals and decretals of his Church, and the 

 medium of communication between ecclesiastics, and he in turn 

 committed to its sacred keeping whatever duty or pleasure 

 impelled him to write : legends of his saints, records of his 

 abbey, his chronicles of the world's history, so far as pilgrim- 

 ages, converse with his fellows, and the manuscripts of his 



