l. 1 a; in Dugdale's
Monasticon, vol. ii. p. 257, which varies a little from the Exeter
transcript.

[330] Bec is the plural of boc, a book.

[331] See _Dr. Lingard's Hist. Anglo Sax. Church_, vol. i. p. 307,
who cannot deny this entirely; see also _Lappenberg Hist. Eng._ vol.
i. p. 202, who says that the mass was read partially in the Saxon
tongue. _Hallam_ in his _Supplemental Notes_, p. 408, has a good
note on the subject.

[332] Hist. Litt. de la France, ix. p. 142.

[333] Pet. Blesensis Opera, 4to. Mogunt. 1600. Ep. lxxxix.

[334] Ep. xxvi.

[335] Ep. lxvi.

[336] Ep. cxxvii.

[337] Ep. lvi. Yet we find that Charlemagne, in the year 795,
granted the monks of the monastery of St. Bertin, in the time of
Abbot Odlando, the privilege of hunting in his forests for the
purpose of procuring leather to bind their books. "Odlando Abbate
hujus loci abbas nonus, in omni bonitate suo praedecessori Hardrado
coaequalis anno primo sui regiminis impetravit a rege Carolo
privilegium venandi in silvis nostris et aliis ubicumque
constitutis, ad volumina librorum tegaenda, et manicas et zonas
habendas. Salvis forestis regiis, quod sic incipit. Carolus Dei
gratia Rex Francorum et Longobardorum ac patricius Romanorum, etc.,
data Septimo Kal. Aprilis, anno xxvi. regni nostri." Martene
Thasaurus Nov. Anecdotorum iii. 498. _Warton_ mentions a similar
instance of a grant to the monks of St. Sithin, _Dissert._ ii.
_prefixed to Hist. of Eng. Poetry_, but he quotes it with some sad
misrepresentations, and refers to _Mabillon De re Diplomatica_, 611.
Mr. Maitland, in his _Dark Ages_, has shown the absurdity of
Warton's inferences from the fact, and proved that it was to the
servants, or _eorum homines_, that Charlemagne granted this
uncanonical privilege, p. 216. But I find no such restriction in the
case I have quoted above. Probably, however, it was thought needless
to express what might be inferred, or to caution against a practice
so uncongenial with the christian duties of a monk.

[338] Ep. ci. p. 184. He afterwards quotes Livy, Tacitus, and many
others.

[339] Ep. xiv. He was fond of Quintus Curtius, and often read his
history with much pleasure. Ep. ci. p. 184.

[340] Ep. lxxvii. p. 81.

[341] Ep. xciv.

[342] Ep. xcii. and also lxxii. which is red