mitory, where they slept. A passage often separated the chapter-house
from this building.

On the south side of the cloister-court stood the refectory, a long
room in which the monks took their meals; and on the west was a range
of buildings the use of which differed in various monasteries, in some
for cellars and larders, in others for dormitories. Sometimes this
western building was the _domus conversorum_, or house of the lay
brethren. The abbot's lodging was a fine house, consisting of hall,
chambers, kitchen, buttery, and cellars, capable of entertaining a
large number of guests, and frequently stood on the east side of the
chapter-house quite separate from the other buildings. In small monastic
houses governed by a prior his residence often formed the western side
of the cloister-court. The farmery, or infirmary, where sick monks were
nursed during illness, was a separate building, having its own kitchen,
refectory, and chapel. The hospitium was also a separate building near
the outer gate of the abbey, and consisted of a hall, dormitories, and a
chapel, in which each night a goodly company of guests were entertained
and courteously welcomed by the hospitaller. A high wall surrounded the
abbey precincts, in which was the outer gate, consisting of a porter's
lodge, a prison, and a large room in which the manorial court was held,
or the abbot met the representatives of the townsfolk in order to direct
their affairs and choose their chief magistrate or settle their
differences.

The author of _Piers Ploughman_ gives a description of the appearance of
a monastery in the fourteenth century. As he approached the monastic
buildings he was so bewildered by their greatness and beauty that for a
long time he could distinguish nothing certainly but stately buildings
of stone, pillars carved and painted, and great windows well wrought. In
the centre quadrangle he notices the stone cross in the middle of grass
sward. He enters the minster, and describes the arches as carved and
gilded, the wide windows full of shields of arms and merchants' marks on
stained glass, the high tombs under canopies, with armed effigies in
alabaster, and lovely ladies lying by their sides in many gay garments.
He passes into the cloister, and sees it pillared and painted, and
covered with lead, and conduits of white metal pouring water into bronze
lavatories beautifully wrought. The chapter-house was like a great
church, carved and painted like a p