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which it originally bore. From the Latin name, it should seem, was formed the word Letley, by affixing a very usual Saxon termination to the first syllable of the adjective which formed its appropriate epithet. It bears also, in ancient charters, the name of Edwardstow, or St. Edward's Place.*

Tanner states, that, in the year 1239, King Henry III. founded this abbey as a monastery for Cistercian monks; (whom he brought hither from the neighbouring abbey of Beaulieu,) and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary ;t endowing it with va

* In the title of the founder's charter, it is called Letley; but in the charter itself, "the church of St. Mary of Edwardstow,"-" Ecclesia Sanctæ Mariæ de loco Sancti Edwardi."

Tanner says that Henry recommended it to the patronage of St. Mary and St. Edward. "That it was dedicated to the former of these," observes Mr. Keate, "is sufficiently plain from the charter of King Henry; but that it was at any time consecrated to the latter, still remains to be proved. The words of the king's charter run thus," Confirmamus Deo et ecclesiæ

rious manors in the neighbourhood, and with the advowson of Schyre church.

The discipline of the Cistercian order was extremely severe; and these monks would have passed their lives in misery, had they strictly conformed to the injunc tions of their founder. They were to

Sanctæ Mariæ de loco Sancti Edwardi;" which implies no more than a grant to St. Mary's chapel at Edwardstow, or St. Edward's Place." "It is not improbable," continues he, "as Letley had been enriched by donations previous to that of its last founder, that some structure had been raised there before, by Ed. ward, or was consecrated to him, and that Henry only renewed the foundation, as he afterwards rebuilt Westminster abbey; which (as this might have been) was the work of the Confessor, his favourite saint." On the stones which now lie on the ground in the south transept of the church, which, a few years since, were part of its elegant 100f, are to be traced the supposed arms of Edward the Confessor: a cross flory, and four martlets.- -See Milner's History of Winchester, vol. ii, p. 106.

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*This was one Robert, abbot of Molesme; who, in the eleventh century, with rew from the Benedictines on account of their irregularities; and, with one and twenty more, founded this order in the solitudes of Ci

wear no shirts; to eat no flesh, except in sickness; to lie on straw beds, in tunics and cowls; to rise at midnight to prayers; to spend the day in labour, reading, and prayer; and, in all their exercises, to observe a continual silence. Their habit was a white robe resembling a cassock, with a black scapulary or short garment over the shoulders, a hood, and a woollen girdle.

It is not, however, to be imagined, that

teaux, five leagues from the city of Dijon, in Burgundy. D'Emilliane s History of Monastic Orders.

It is amusing to hear how the jolly monks of Clugny, whose discipline was very lax, deride the severity of the Cistercians :- "A new race of pharisees!" say they: "You are the saints; you are the rare men: you are the only monks in the world; you must have a new colour of your own (alluding to their garments)? you must be the white boys, when all the rest must pass for black sheep. And no colour," they add, "could have been worse chosen for such whining ceinpanions; since white is the colour of joy and feasting, and black of mourning and sadness.”- -Exord. Ordin. Cisterc. c. 5. in Biblioth. Cisterciens. Sigeb. Chron. ad A. D. 1098.- Stillingfleet's Answer to Cressy, p. 196.

all these sons of seclusion were very anxious to observe the regulations of their founder. Convents were frequently found to require expurgatory visits from their diocesan.* This can excite no surprise, when it is considered that the majority of these monastics, taking up their profession for the sake of a livelihood, soon grew weary of these tiresome observances; vain and unprofitable indeed, such as the Scriptures no where recommend, and such therefore as can never be acceptable to Him, who said to the proud religionists of his own time,-" In vain do ye worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."

Although Henry III. is said to have founded Netley abbey in 1259, his charter, confirming its possessions and reve nues, is dated so much later as the thirtyfith year of his reign, 1251. In 1242,

* Some curious proofs of this fact may be seen in White's Antiquities of Selborne.

three years after Tanner's date of the foundation, and nine before that of Henry's charter, Roger de Clare endowed it with certain territories; and as the advowson of Schyre church, mentioned in his grant, is repeated in that of Henry III, it seems not improbable that the king's charter was partly in confirmation of some grants made during the time that he was engaged in settling the foundation.*

Edmund, earl of Cornwall, and Robert Ver, are also in the list of benefactors to this abbey ; with Walter de Berg; who

* Roger de Clare's grant was ratified by John de Warrenna, earl of Surry, in 1252. The original grant from Roger de Clare, cost the abbey five hundred marks sterling; and the ratification by John de, Warrenna, twenty more. There seems to be some difficulty in this part of the history; since, from these circumstances, the grants appear rather under the terms of sale than donation.—Copies of the charters are given in Dugdale's Monasticon; and they have also been reprinted in Warner's Topographical Remarks on Hampshire, vol. ii, append. No. 14, 15.-A skilful antiquary might probably elucidate the affair.

+ Leland's Collect. i, 69.

Abbas de Netele tenet in Scargerthorp, Beking

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