368 
A N T I CLU I T I E S. 
and lliirts, " abfque femoralibus et camifiis He enjoins that 
thcfe culprits ihall be punifhed by fevere falling, efpecially if 
they fhall be found to be faulty a third time ; and threatens the 
prior and fub-prior with fufpenfion if they do not correft this 
enormity. 
In Item nth the good bifliop is very wroth with fome of the 
canons, whom he finds to be profeffed hunters and fportfmen, 
keeping hounds, and publicly attending hunting-matches. Thefe 
purfuits, he fays, occafion much diffipation, danger to the foul 
and body, and frequent expenfe ; he, therefore, wifliing to extir- 
pate this vice wholly from the convent, " radicibus cxtirpare" does 
abfolutcly enjoin the canons never intentionally to be prefcnt at 
any public noify tumultuous huntings ; or to keep any hounds, by 
themfelves or by others, openly or by ftcalth, within the convent, 
or without "^. 
In Item 12th he forbids the canons in ofrice to make their bufi- 
nefs a plea for not attending the fervice of the choir ; fince by thefe 
means either divine worlhip is neglected or their brother-canons 
are over-burdened. 
By Item 1 4th we are informed that the original number of canons 
at the Priory of Selborne fourteen ; but that at this vifitatlon they 
were found to be let down to eleven. The vifitor therefore ftrongly 
' The rule alluded to in Itejit loth, of not fleeping naked, was enjoined the Knights 
'Templars, who alfo were fubjeft to the rules of St. AuguJIine. 
See Gurtleri HiJI. Templar tor um. 
^ Confiderlng the ftrong propenfity in human nature towards the pleafures of the 
chafe, it is not to be wondered that the canons of Selborne ftiould languifli after hunting, 
when, from their fituation fo near the precinfts of Wolmer-forefi, the king's hounds muft 
have been often in hearing, and fometimes in light from their windows.-— If the bilhop 
was fo offended at thefe fporting canons, what would he have faid to our modern fox- 
hunting divines ? 
and 
