gave it certain possessions in the county of Lincoln; which he held of the king in capite, by the service of presenting him a head piece lined with fine linen, and a pair of gilt spurs.*

The learned historian of Winchester thinks it evident, from traces which he has observed among Netley ruins, that Richard Fox, bishop of Winchester in the time of Henry VII, was one of its benefactors.+

ham, et Sutton in Com. Lincoln, quoddam manerium cum pertin. quod habet de dono Walteri de Burgo qui illud tenuit de domino rege in capite, per servitium reddendi domino regi unam capellam lineatam de sindone, et unum par calcarium deauratorium pro omni servitio.- Pla. de Libertat, et quo war. 9 E. I. Lincoln.- -Blount's Ancient Tenures, p. 64.

Godwin says that Peter de Rupibus, bishop of Winchester, was instrumental in the foundation of Netley abbey; yet it appears that he died in 1233, six years before the earliest date of the foundation. -Milner's Hist. Win. i. 243.

Mat. Paris,

The following is a list of those of its abbots whose names have been preserved.

who signed (by his proxy, the abbot de Graciis, in London) the instrument in favour of the divorce between Henry VIII, and Catherine his queen. This person probably continued to be abbot of Netley till the dissolution in 1538. At this period, the monastery consisted of himself and twelve monks; whose possessions amounted to £100: 1: 8 per annum, according to Dugdale; and to £160:2:95 according to Speed.‡

* Vide Willis's Addit. ad Calc. Tanner's Nots Mon. + Fiddes's Life of Wolsey, append. p. 158.

Warner's Top. Rem. i. 294.

Thus the history of Netley is very brief. None of its monks are known to have been either renowned for their literature, or canonized for their fruitless austerities.

"We shall form but a low idea," observes Mr. Warner, " of the erudition of this fraternity, at the time of the suppression, when we find that the only book their library could then boast, was Rhetorica Ciceronis.*

The summary way in which Henry VIII. dissolved the religious foundations so long established in the kingdom, has drawn upon him the universal hatred of Papists and sometimes the Protestant antiquary has been ready to join with them in execrating his memory, on account of the many impediments which that monarch's avaricious zeal has thrown in the way of his favourite study. Few will pretend to vindicate Henry's motives;

* Leland's Collect. i, 149. Warnes's Top. Rom. i, 225

many, who see little to be admired in his character, but who are accustomed to trace the wonderful movements of Divine Providence, will look upon him as an instrument of the highest benefit to this favoured country. His conduct will bring to the memory of some, that Assyrian monarch, who became the accomplisher of the purposes of God, while it was said of him, by One who knew his heart,— "Howbeit, he meaneth not so."

"Yet freedom hence her radiant banner waved, And love avenged a realm by priests enslaved ; From Catherine's wrongs a nation's bliss was spread,

And Luther's light from Henry's lawless bed.”

To those who have been inclined to regret the dissolution of monasteries, on account of the hospitality to strangers, and the liberality to the poor, which some of them exercised, Mr. Gilpin's very candid statement of the case is here offered.

He is speaking of Glastonbury abbey ; which possessed more ample revenues

than any other religious house in England. Its fraternity is said to have consisted of five hundred established monks, besides nearly as many retainers on the abbey. Above four hundred children were not only educated in it, but entirely maintained. Strangers from all parts of Europe were liberally received, classed according to their sex and nation, and might consider the hospitable roof, under which they lodged, as their own. Five hundred travellers, with their horses, have been lodged at once within its walls: while the poor, from every side of the country, waited the ringing of the alms bell; when they flocked in crowds, young and old, to the gate of the monastery; where they received, every morning, a plentiful provision for themselves and their families:--all this appears great and noble.

"On the other hand, when we consider five hundred persons bred up in indolence, and lost to the commonwealth;