far objections to such proceedings were obviated by the giving of pensions to the members of the suppressed convents. The historical evidence of late years, afforded by the publication of MSS. belonging to this period, sufficiently displays the justice of the charges of crime of divers kinds put forth against the monks, and are unquestionably important in the consideration of a religious question.

With the surrender, according to Burnet, a confession was generally made, but very few of these are extant; which is probably to be accounted for by the anxiety that would be felt in queen Mary's time to destroy them. A long and full one has, however, been handed down to us, and printed in Weaver, and is preserved in the Augmentation Office. It is the confession made by the prior of St. Andrews, in Northampton.1

In a publication of the Camden Society, edited by Mr. Thos. Wright, of Letters relating to the Suppression of Monasteries, derived principally from the Cromwell Papers, formerly preserved in the Chapter House at Westminster, but now in the Cottonian Library in the British Museum (MS. Cotton, Cleopatra, E. iv), there are two letters: one from John, bishop of Lincoln, in reference to Newstead "juxta Stanford”—the small priory of Newstead, founded at the commencement of the reign of Henry III, by William de Albini; the other, from Dr. John London, one of the most active commissioners for the visitation of the monastic houses in the southern and south-western counties. He describes the "monkes and chanons" as "yonge lustie men, all ways fatt fedde, lyving in ydlenes and at rest", and "sore perplexide that now, being prestes, they may nott retorn and marye. Most partt of them be no thing lernyd, nor apte therto, and therby in moche warsse case. I have geven as well to sondrie of them, as to their masters, suche power counsell as I mygt do, and have advisede them that wher they be nother lernyd nor apte unto the same, to torne som of ther seremonyns of ydilnes unto som bodely exercise, and nott to sytt all day lurking in the cloister ydellye."

1 Burnet, vol. i, Part II, p. 236, Oxford edition, 1829, 8vo.

2 The charters of this priory are given in Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. vi, pp. 562-564; Caley, Ellis, and Bandinel's edition. It was granted, in the 31 Hen. VIII, to Richard Manours, and Richard Lynne was the last prior.

Dr. London received "a commission for the Charterhowse in Notingam shyer, callyd Bowvale, and for a howse of chanons callyd Newstede. Of Bowvale, sir Johan Hussey hathe the custodi, and sir Johan Beryn, of Newstede. We founde the prior of the Charterhowse in hys shortt gowen and velvytt cappe, redy befor our commyng, and the proctor of that howse, in lyke apparell, the next day following. I think it were harde to geve so manye agen into those howseys I have been att, as I have dispacchyd, ffor in every howse, as well of men as of women, they be in maner all gon that nyt, I have taken ther surrendre, and streightway in new apparell. Now I have done in all these howsys according to the kinges highness commissions, and shalbe at all owors redy, to the best of my litell power, to do suche farther service as may lye in me, according to my most bounden dewtie, by the helpe of almyştie Jhesus, who with increse of moche honour long preserve your gudde lordeshyppe. Oxon., xxvii Julii.

Your most bounden oratour and servant,

JOHAN. LONDON." In addition to the Newstead Priory of which we are now speaking, there were three other religious houses bearing the same name. Burnet, in his Collection of Records (vol. i, P. II, pp. 228,233) mentions Newstead in Lincolnshire, a Gilbertine priory, prior and five monks surrendered Oct. 2, 30 Hen. VIII; N. in Notts, Premonstratensian prior and eleven monks, ditto, July 21, 31 Hen. VIII. The Gilbertines were founded by St. Gilbert of Semperingham; and there were cloisters for both sexes in the houses of this order. The men followed the rule of St. Augustine; the women, the Cistercian regulation of St. Benedict. A Gilbertine priory, in fact, consisted of three classes, or monasteries for nuns, for canons, and for lay brethren. The original intention of Gilbert, the "man venerable, and to be mentioned with the highest honour", according to St. Ældred, was, that every house should have seven canons attached. to it, who were to be the directors of the nuns; and to these measures he is supposed to have been driven by refusal of help from the Cistercians. The canons of Gilbert were taken from among his scholars, who had been highly instructed at Paris. By an order of the second Lateran

1 From MS. Cotton, Cleop. E. iv, fol. 237.

Council all canons were obliged to take St. Augustine's rule; and from this time they were called Augustinian.

The Premonstratensians, or Premonstrants, as they are usually called, were canons according to the rule of St. Austin, as reformed by St. Norbert, afterwards archbishop of Magdeburg. They were founded in the early part of the twelfth century, at Premonstratum in Picardy. Their habit consisted of a white cassock, and rochet over it, and were denominated White Canons. They first settled, in England, in Lincolnshire. Burnet also records St. Mary Newstead, Notts, (Augustinian nuns), which was now founded, and preserved from the dissolution of lesser monasteries by the king's letters patent, Jan. 2, 28 Hen. VIII. This is enrolled to be held in perpetuam eleemosynam.1

Upon sir John Byron's taking possession of Newstead Abbey, he converted a part of the offices into a dwellinghouse, and incorporated in the apartments a portion of the south aisle of the church. The abbey was originally decorated by various figures of saints, now wanting, and thus alluded to by lord Byron :

"Within a niche, nigh to its pinnacle,

Twelve saints had once stood sanctified in stone;

But these had fallen, not when the friars fell,

But in the war which struck Charles from his throne,

When each house was a fortalice—as tell

The annals of full many a line undone,

The gallant cavaliers, who fought in vain.

For those who knew not to resign or reign." (Don Juan, st. 60.)

A figure of the Virgin and Child, however, still remain :

"But in a higher niche, alone, but crown'd,

The virgin mother of the God-born child,
With her son in her blessed arms, look'd round,

Spared by some chance when all beside was spoil'd;
She made the earth below seem holy ground.
This may be superstition, weak or wild,

But even the faintest relics of a shrine

Of any worship wake some thoughts divine." (61.)

Although the church was allowed to go to decay, there fortunately yet remains the noble and majestic front, with

1 Burnet, i, P. II, p. 224. There exists in Newstead in Yorkshire a grange belonging to Joreval Abbey-Cistercian. (See Dugdale v, 567-78.)

its lofty pinnacles and rich carvings; and this has been, though very inefficiently, pourtrayed in the edition of Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, edited by Caley, Ellis, and Bandinel, vol. vi.1

To quote from lord Byron again ;

"The mansion's self was vast and venerable,
With more of the monastic than has been
Elsewhere preserved: the cloisters still were stable,
The cells too, and refectory, I ween.
An exquisite small chapel had been able,

Still unimpair'd, to decorate the scene:

The rest had been reform'd, replaced, or sunk,

And spoke more of the baron than the monk." (66.)

The late Mr. Rickman-a high authority-considered the remains of the church at Newstead Abbey as preeminently requiring notice, and as affording a specimen of the transition to what, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, has been called the Decorated English style. In a paper on the ecclesiastical architecture of France (Archeologia, vol. xxv, p. 171), he alludes to this church as being so elegant as to deserve the closest examination and study, by which its character may be properly known and appreciated. The ruins of St. Mary's Abbey, at York, offer another example of equal interest and beauty.

Family differences, particularly during the time of the fifth lord Byron, of eccentric and unsocial manners, suffered, and even aided, the dilapidations of time. The castellated stables and offices are, however, yet to be seen; and the interior, since the time of the present possessor, has been well maintained. At the sale of the eccentric lord's effects, in 1776-7, a brazen eagle, which a century ago had been found in the lake, together with three candelabra, were purchased by the rev. sir John Kaye, a prebendary of Southwell; and these were, upon the death of sir John, presented by his widow to the collegiate church. The chapter sent the eagle to a watchmaker in Nottingham to be cleaned, who detected in it some concealed manuscripts, one of which has been reported to have been a full pardon, from Henry V, of every possible crime. (See Moore's Life of

1 Buck engraved the western view of Newstead Abbey in 1726; and the priory was engraved by Walker and Angus, after a drawing by Paul Sandby.

Byron, vol. i, p. 4, note.) This is, however, an error; the document alluded to being simply a pardon, purchased by the monastery—as one impeached in the previous reign— to furnish Henry V with money to carry on his wars. There is no accurate account of the documents that were contained in the brazen relic: some were lost, others destroyed; some are in colonel Wildman's possession, and they are grants and charters.

The great hall is a fine specimen of antique style. It was the refectory, and the drawing-room the dormitory, being then lighted by small windows, high up, between the spandrils of the roof, looking into the cloisters; the cloisters at that time being probably arched over with stone groins, etc.; but these were cut away by the Byrons, and the present galleries formed over them, to give more convenient access to the chambers.

In the cloister-court stands the old fountain. The Byrons had placed it in a court they made in front, which does not now exist. Thus:

"Amidst the court a Gothic fountain play'd

Symmetrical, but deck'd with carvings quaint,—

Strange faces, like to men in masquerade,

And here perhaps a monster, there a saint:

The spring gush'd through grim mouths of granite made,

And sparkled into basins, where it spent

Its little torrent in a thousand bubbles,

Like man's vain glory, and his vainer troubles." (65.)

The cloisters present a most venerable appearance, and resemble those of Magdalen College, Oxford. These were of the ancient abbey; and there are still tenants to be found beneath the pavement, but there are no sepulchral slabs.

The old chapel is a handsome specimen of Gothic style and spring of arches, and, in fact, is the old vaulted chapterhouse.

On the family of the Byrons, it is not my intention to enlarge. It is sufficient for my present purpose to notice that it is to be traced from Ralph de Burun, mentioned in Domesday as living in the latter part of the reign of William the Conqueror, possessed of considerable lands in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The chief mansion of the successors of Ralph de Byron, is stated by Thoroton, the

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