Ecclesiae Ritibus, tom. iii. p.
262.

[17] See Catalogue of Hulne Abbey, Library MS. Harleian. No. 3897.

[18] Martene de Antiq. Eccle. Rit., tom. iii. p. 263.

[19] _Ibid._ Ingulphus tells us that the same rule was observed in
Croyland Abbey.--_Apud Gale_, p. 104.

[20] Marked b. iv. 26. Surtee Publications, vol. i. p. 121.

[21] Const. admiss. Abbat, et gubernatione Monast. Abendum Cottonian
M.S. Claudius, b. vi. p. 194.

[22] Philobiblon, 4to. _Oxon_, 1599, chap. xix.

[23] Martene de Ant. Eccl. Ribibus, tom. iii. p. 263. For an
inattention to this the Council of Soissons, in 1121, ordered some
transcripts of Abelard's works to be burnt, and severely reproved
the author for his unpardonable neglect.--_Histoire Litteraire de la
France_, tom. ix. p. 28.

[24] Catalogues of Monastic Libraries, pp. 16, 17.

[25] Const. Canon. Reg. ap. Martene, tom. iii. p. 263.

[26] _Ibid._

[27] _Ibid._, tom. iii. cap. xxxvi. pp. 269, 270.

[28] Martene, tom. iii. p. 331. For a list of some books applied to
their use, see MS. Cot. Galba, c. iv. fo. 128.

[29] Mabillon, Traite des Etudes Monastiques, 4to. _Paris_ 1691,
cap. vi. p. 34.

[30] Wilkin's Concil. tom. i. p. 332.

[31] Stat. pro Reform. ordin. Grandimont. ap. Martene cap. x.

[32] _Ibid._, tom. iv. pp. 289, 339.

[33] Const. Canon. Reg. ap. Martene, tom. iii. p. 263.

[34] _Ibid._, cap. xxi. p. 263.

[35] Stevenson's Supple. to Bentham's Hist. of the Church of Ely, p.
51.

[36] Thomas' Survey of the Church of Worcester, p. 45.

[37] Mabillon. Annal. tom. vi. pp. 651 and 652. Hist. Litt. de la
France, ix. p. 140.

[38] They managed the pecuniary matters of the fraternity. William
of Malmsbury was precentor as well as librarian to his monastery.

[39] Martene de Antiq. Eccl. Ritibus ii. p. 302.

CHAPTER III.

_Scriptoria and the Scribes.--Care in copying.--Bible reading
among the monks.--Booksellers in the middle ages.--Circulating
libraries.--Calligraphic art, etc._

As the monasteries were the schools of learning, so their occupants were
the preservers of literature, and, as Herault observes, had they not
taken the trouble to transcribe books, the ancients had been lost to us
for ever; to them, therefore, we owe much. But there are many, however,
who suppose that the monastic establishments were hotbeds of superstition
and fanaticism, from whence nothing of a u