us, that it is opposite to the cathedral, that it is called Il Battisterio, or St. John's Church, and that all the children of Christian parents in that city are baptized in it. A baptistery of this kind could not well have been wanted in Canterbury; because the right of administering baptism seems to have been annexed to all the parochial churches there, from the first establishment of them; and from the author's account of the font in St. Martin's church, there is a presumptive proof of its being more ancient than the cathedral itself. For these reasons, I am apt to imagine, that the building in question was never designed for a baptistery; and, indeed, had there been an edifice for this purpose within the precincts of the cathedral, one should hardly have expected to have found it near the centre of the offices belonging to the convent. But, as I have taken the liberty to object to the new name conferred on this little building, in order to afford others the like opportunity of making exceptions, I will hazard a guess at what may have been the true appellation of it; and, in my opinion, it was the ancient lavatory, i.e. the place where the members of the priory used to wash themselves. In the constitutions given to the monks of the Benedictine order, by Archbishop Lanfranc, this apartment is expressly named, and in a manner which will induce us to fix it not far from the dortor, or dormitory*; and it appears, by the inclosed extracts from Du Fresne's Gloss. Med. et Infim. Lat. that there was, in other monasteries, such a building, which adjoined to the chapter-room, as did also the scriptorium (i. e. the room in all great convents in which persons were constantly employed to transcribe books for the choir and the library†). The situation of this circular recess in Canterbury cathedral nearly answers to this description, it being a very inconsiderable distance from the old chapter-house, and contiguous to the old library, which was over the prior's chapel, and of which library the scriptorium was probably a part. It is observed by Mr. G. that this building consists of two rooms, one on the ground floor, and the other on a level with the gallery leading to the

* Cum appropinquaverit tempus hora tertiæ pulsetur a secretario madice signum minimum, quam “ skillam" vocant, et statim pergant in dormitorium, et calcient se diurnalibus, et cultellos accipiant; deinde ad lavatorium veniant, et prius lavent se, et postea pectinent, deinde ad ecclesiam veniant, &c. &c. Wilkins, Concil. Mag. Britan. v. i. 329.

✦ Lavatorium, ubi manus lavant monachi priusquam eant ad refectorium.— Pyrale, hypocaustum conventuale, estuve, in quo capitulum celebratur.→ Veniunt in pyrale, et inde in lavatorium, necnon et proximum pyrali scriptorium et has tres regularissimas præ omnibus quas unquam viderint, assere. bant esse officinas. Eckehardus, junior, de Casibus S, Galli, cap, 11,

church. Now, I apprehend the vault to have been the lavatory for the monks in general, and the upper room to have been raised at a different time, for the convenience of the prior, who, Mr. Somner tells us, had, through their private chapel, a passage from their lodgings to the church. Perhaps the prior might, in this apartment, discharge the duty incumbent on him, of washing the feet, and pouring water upon the hands, of some of his monastic brethren, on Maunday-Thursday. This practice was enjoined by Archbishop Lanfranc, in the Constitutions before cited, and the spot for the performing this ceremony was directed to be without the doors of the chapter-house, and before it. If, therefore, we suppose, what is likely to have been the case, that the prior had a door out of this gallery into the chapter-house, as well as into the church, the archbishop's expression will countenance the notion I have adopted, of this building's having been applied to that use*. However, whether it ought to be denominated the old baptistery or the old lavatory, or must still retain the name it has acquired by long usage, is an important point, which must be left to the decision of the reader. Should I be allowed to have drawn "the happier conclusion." I frankly acknowledge "to have been led to it by the hint given by my cheerful and communicative guide." For though, some years since, I frequently examined this elegant rotundo, I could never form any idea of the purposes for which it was erected; and, had not this more attentive perambulator apprized me, that formerly two pipes, or jets, for water, were fixed in it, I should still have returned the same unmeaning answer to every curious inquirer I had hitherto done, namely, that it was the model of a bell cast, and cast away, no body knew when or where.

With my hearty thanks to the merry rambler, for the great entertainment he has afforded me, and with my best wishes that he may enjoy more ease of body than I am concerned to hear he has done for a long time, I remain, His and your humble servant,

1774, Νου.

W. and D.

* Lotis omnium qui in capitulo sunt pedibus, sedeant foris ante capitulum prior et præditi servitores cum eo. Quorum pedes præcinctus tersorio abbas, flexis genibas, abluat, et tergat, et osculetur, subservientibus sibi fratribus ad hoc obsequium deputatis ―Post hæc redeat abbas in sedem, &c.—His expletis, exeat abbas, et prior et servitores eorum, et ante capitulum præbeat eis abbas aquam ad abluendas manus, &c. Wilkins, ut supra, p. 356, 337.

It should be remembered, that, in the monastery of Christ Church, the chief officer of the society had no higher title than that of prior, and therefore, in the construction of this passage, prior must always be substituted for abbot,

LXXX. Manner of punishing offending Monks, and Rules for preparing Bread for Hosts.

MR. URBAN,

YOU were so obliging as to admit into a late Magazine, some remarks which had occurred to me while I was accompanying Mr. Gostling in his walk about the precincts of Canterbury cathedral, and, when you have a page of your entertaining Miscellany not better engaged, I shall be obliged to you to insert these additional observations. My old acquaintance and I parted at the rotundo (which I suppose to have been the lavatory* of the convent,) situated near the north door of the church; and I will now, with my pen in my hand, such as it is, wait upon my intelligent guide to the south-east quarter of that magnificent fabric.

The spot on which I intend to hazard another conjecture, is the recess formerly called St. Anselm's chapel, the lower floor of which is now converted into vestries for the minorcanons and lay-clerks. Over these vestries is a room, and a closet to it, that has a window with an iron gate, looking into the choir; and this closet Mr. Gostling, with probability, imagines to have been the place where the irregular monks were occasionally imprisoned (See the Walk, p. 151, 152.) In the adjoining apartment there are, it seems, a chininey and an oven, which I do not recollect ever to have noticed, though I must have been frequently in the room; and these conveniences, according to the surmise of the ingeni ous author, were built for the use of the culprits confined there. But, in this notion, I differ from him. For, as rigid fasting was the general established rule of the religious of the Benedictine order, it is no improbable supposition, that an offending brother, when in close custody, would be subjected to a still more severe state of abstinence, and, of course, could have little want of an oven. And there are likewise some passages in the Constitutions of Lanfranc, referred to in my last letter, which afford a very strong presumptive proof, that the scanty portion of food which was allowed was always ready dressedt. The culpable monks were ranged by

* Dr. Thomas has perfixed to his Survey of Worcester cathedral, an accurate ichnography of that building; by which it appears, that the lavatory of the old convent is still remaining, and that it is placed between the dormitory and the refectory.

+ Wilkins, Concil. Mag, Britan. Vol. I, p. 552, 333.

the archbishop under three classes. When only a slight fault had been committed, the offender was to have the ordinary diet of the convent, but he was not to be permitted to eat it till three hours after the customary times of refreshment; and while his brethren were in the refectory, he was to remain in the church by himself. If the crime was of a deeper dye, the guilty brother was to be committed to the special custody of another monk, who was always to attend him to and from his place of confinement; and the prior was to give the particular directions relating to his provision, and the hour of his receiving it. But a profligate and contumacious criminal was to be seized by violence, and cast into the prison appropriated for atrocious criminals, and brought, if possible, by the harshest discipline, to a sense and public acknowledgment of his transgressions. neither of these modes of treating the disorderly members of this monastic fraternity, do there seem to be sufficient grounds for believing that Mr. Gostling has been equally fortunate in this conjecture, as in most others dispersed through his book. And I am, besides, apt to think there is one of Lanfranc's Constitutions, which will lead to a discovery of the chief, if not the only, purpose for which the oven in this apartment was erected.

In

From the time that the attempt was made to form the preposterous tenet of the reality of the corporal presence of Christ in the eucharist into an article of faith, various were the disputes which arose concerning the kind and the form of the bread which was to be used in this sacred institution. Some would have it leavened, and others contended it should be unleavened. One party asserted it ought to be taken from a round loaf, and their opponents warmly maintained it ought to consist of only a small wafer; and whether this wafer was to be plain, or to have the figure of a crucifix, or of the holy lamb, stamped upon it, was a subject of earnest debate. This strange notion likewise introduced a series of rites, which were to be practised as well before as after the consecrating of this sacramental bread.

Archbishop Lanfranc was a zealous advocate for this absurd doctrine. Prepossessed, therefore, with the idea of the profound reverence and adoration which was to be offered to a piece of bread, when deified by the priest, he judged it requisite, from a specious regard to decency, to appoint, among his decrees, several superstitious ceremonies, which were to be observed in preparing it for this divine use. As Spelman and Wilkins are the only ecclesiastical writers who have mentioned this curious and whimsical process, I have

inclosed an abstract of it, which may, perhaps, afford amusement to some of your readers :

"In all the religious houses, the preparing of the hosts was a branch of the sacrist's duty; and it was an express injunc tion of the archbishop to this officer in the priory of Christchurch, to shew the greatest attention in having them made in the clearest and purest manner. The corn was to be selected with the utmost care, and grain by grain, if practicable. When thus sorted, it was to be put into a new fine bag, provided for this purpose only, and carried to the mill by a trusty servant. The servant was to see some other grain pass through the hopper, before that designed for the holy bread was put into it, that, in grinding, it might not be polluted, by being mixed with any foreign substance. When the meal was brought back to the sacrist, he was to prepare a place and a vessel, in circuita cortine, for the boulting of it; and this work was to be done by himself, in his albe, and with his head veiled. On the day of making the hosts, the sacrist, and his brethren who were to assist him, were to wash their hands and faces, put on their albes, and veil their heads, that monk only excepted, whose business was to hold the iron plate, and attend to it, and he was to wear gloves. During the process of making and baking the bread, the monks were to repeat the common psalms of the hours, and the canonical hours, or, if they pleased, any other suitable psalms, out of the regular course. But, when not engaged in this religious exercise, the strictest silence was to be observed, with an indulgence only to the person who held the iron plate, to give some brief directions to the servant who attended, to supply the fire with fuel, that was to be perfectly dry, and provided several days before.*"

There can be little doubt but this work was done in some room within the church, or in one adjoining to it; and my opinion with respect to the former use of the oven now

* Wilkins, Concil. Vol. I. p. 349.-As I must own I do not clearly com prehend the meaning of the expression in circuitu cortina, where the meal was ordered to be boulted, I have not aimed at a translation of it. But I submit to those who are more skilled than I am in the disposition of the offices formerly belonging to our monastic buildings, whether some light may not be thrown upon this obscure term, by comparing it with Gervase's account of the repair of that part of the church near Anselm's chapel, since he seems to me to make use of a similar word. Of the reasons assigned by him why that part of the choir by the altar was narrower than that near the great tower, one was, "quod duæ turres Sancti Anselmi videlicet et Sancti Andrea,in utroque latere ecclesiæ antiquitus ad CIRCINUM positæ, &c. X. Script. Col. 1303.