Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/52

36 LAUNCESTON. the ever-lighted Temple, the ornate Chapel of the Devotee and of the Mynstrellc, the Clerk's Chamber, the Butter's Crypt, the Sacristan's Storehouse, have disappeared like "the baseless fabric of a vision." A solitary arch at the White Hart Hotel of Dunhcved, and half a dozen scattered stones, are pointed at with hesitating finger as having once belonged to the grand old Priory ; and an occasional ex- cavation has turned up a sculptured " Polyphant," as in 1833, when, under the present Gas Court, some beautifully- cut pieces of window tracery were found about fourteen feet below the present surface of the ground : but this is all. While the Priory existed it was well known for its hospitality to the traveller, and its benevolent attentions to the poor. At a time when there was no legal provision for the wants of the hungry, and the sick, and the friendless, these Monastic Institutions were fountains of charity and mercy. As Sanctuaries, too, they were sometimes bul- warks for the weak against the strong. They had, how- ever, become fetters upon industry, and seminaries of superstition, and few perhaps will now regret that they have ceased from the land. £>L Leonard J&oapttaL Leonard was born in France, and became Bishop of Limosin. He died in the year 500. It is said that he obtained from King Clodoveus permission to set free all the prisoners whom he might visit ; thereupon he sought out persons who were imprisoned for religion or other good cause, and set them at liberty. The monks afterwards im- proved the story : they said that the chains of every prisoner who invoked the saint would fall off. Of course many links of chain were thenceforth produced from per- sons miraculously released. Thus St. Leonard became the