was so much in earnest, we may be assured that he had nothing in view but to correct and reform what he found amiss; and was under no bias to blacken, or misrepresent as the commissioners of Thomas Lord Cromwell seem in part to have done at the time of the Reformation.* We may therefore with reason suppose that the bishop gives us an exact delineation of the morals and manners of the canons of Selborne at that juncture; and that what he found they had omitted he enjoins them; and for what they have done amiss, and contrary to their rules and statutes, he reproves them; and threatens them with punishment suitable to their irregularities.
The visitatio is of considerable length, and cannot be introduced into the body of this work; we shall therefore refer the reader to the Appendix, where he will find every particular, while we shall take some notice, and make some remarks on the most singular items as they occur.
In the preamble the visitor says—“Considering the charge lying upon us, that your blood may not be required at our hands, we came down to visit your priory, as our office required: and every time we repeated our visitation we found something still not only contrary to regular rules but also repugnant to religion and good reputation.”
In the first article after the preamble—“he commands them on their obedience, and on pain of the greater excommunication, to see that the canonical hours by night and by day be sung in their choir, and the masses of the Blessed Mary, and other accustomed masses, be celebrated at the proper hours with devotion, and at moderate pauses; and that it be not allowed to any to absent themselves from the hours and masses, or to withdraw before they are finished.”
Item 2nd. He enjoins them to observe that silence to which they are so strictly bound by the rule of Saint Augustine at stated times, and wholly to abstain from frivolous conversation.
Item 4th. “Not to permit such frequent passing of secular people of both sexes through their convent, as if a thoroughfare, from whence many disorders may and have arisen.”
* Letters of this sort from Dr. Layton to Thomas Lord Cromwell are still extant.
