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recently a fine brass on his tomb in Hemel Hempstead Church, representing him in the vestments of the priesthood, ^[1] it is now in the chapel at Ashridge.

We have it on the testimony of Harpsfield that the Bonhommes of Ashridge were in very deed what their name implies——boni homines ^[2] : nevertheless there are some serious flaws in their record, as preserved in the episcopal registers and elsewhere. It has been already noticed that certain of the first chaplains of the house, according to the chronicles of Dun- stable, se habebant minus bene.^[3] At the elec- tion of Ralf of Aston in 1368, there was some dispute and opposition, and a commission was ordered to inquire into the matter ; the rector was specially enjoined to reside, which looks as if his predecessor had been at fault in this respect. It is natural to suppose that the revision of the statutes at the new foun- dation in 1376 brought about a renewal of religious fervour, and a fresh desire for the careful observance of the rule.^[4] It was the rule of St. Augustine to which the brethren of Ashridge were professed, with the addition of a few customs proper to their house. They were placed under the government of a rector, instead of an abbot or prior, and he was to be supported by a corrector. As the brethren were all priests, their time was to be given mainly to the divine office, to prayer and to study ; a granger superintended the tem- poral property of the house outside the limits of the cloister, and a cellarer had charge of all domestic affairs within the college. The life of the brethren was to be strict and regular, but not what would have been considered then very austere, either in respect of fasting, vigil or enclosure. They rose indeed, as all religious were bound to do, for the midnight office ; but it was the Use of Sarum they ob- served^[5]—— the ordinary office of secular priests——and they might retire again to rest till prime if they desired.^[6] They had ordi- narily two meals in the day, and were not altogether forbidden the use of linen for their undergarments. Only a few women were ever allowed to enter the cloister——the foun- der's wife, the queen, the mothers and sisters of the brethren——but with these they might speak, so it were briefly, and in the presence of a companion. Their profession, like that of Augustinians generally, took the form of a promise of obedience made to the rector per- sonally : the novice knelt and placed his hands between the rector's hands, saying : ' I promise obedience to God, to Blessed Mary, to thee, N., Rector of Ashridge, ac- cording to the rule of Blessed Augustine and the institutions of the Boni homines of this place ;—— and that I will be obedient to thee and to thy successors unto my life's end.'

It was a simple and a moderate rule, and we may hope that for the most part the brethren continued faithful to its observance, and so earned the character which Harpsfield gives them. Towards the end of the fifteenth cen- tury, however, they seemed to have shared in the general laxity that marked so many reli- gious houses, as well as the life of the clergy of that period. Bishop Smith visited the house and laid certain injunctions upon the breth- ren, but the record of these is not preserved.^[7] At the visitation of Bishop Atwater in 1519 it was observed that silence was not well kept, nor were the bells regularly rung. Complaint was made that the rector and corrector sometimes used bitter and opprobrious words in the exercise of discipline ; they were enjoined to use more self-restraint in this respect. The bishop also ordered that the younger brethren should be more diligent in study, and should not give themselves to idle- ness, to sport or to drinking : all were to sleep in the dormitory according to rule, and the accounts were to be more carefully kept.^[8] It seems that the last rector, Thomas Water- house, and perhaps his predecessors, took some pains to secure the observance of these injunctions, and to improve the discipline of the house. The last visitation report, that of Bishop Longland in 1530, is very instructive as showing the natural results of such efforts of reform, and also the free- dom of speech which was allowed on such occasions, so that anything like grave scandal would have been exceedingly difficult to hide.

More than one of the brethren complained that the granger was unfaithful in the exer- cise of his office, and sold poultry and other goods of the convent for his own profit. One or two brethren complained that the seniors

1. Todd, History of Ashridge, 25.
2. Ibid.
3. Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham, 64d.
4. Ibid. 274d. The statutes are printed also in full in Todd's History of Ashr idge, 2-13. They are the same as in the episcopal registers, except that they have the names of Edmund Earl of Cornwall and his family among the benefactors to be prayed for at the end of chapter.
5. They were also bound to recite the office of Our Lady.
6. The time between lauds and prime might of course be spent in prayer or study.
7. His visitation and injunctions are mentioned, but with no details, in the course of Bishop Atwater's injunctions.
8. Visitations of Bishop Atwater (Alnwick Tower, Lincoln).