a vaulted and
arcaded passage, which is known as the cloister. This was usually
fitted into the warm and sheltered angle formed by the south side of
the nave and the south transept, though occasionally the cloister is
found on the north side of the nave. The most important building
opening out of the cloister is the chapter-house, frequently a lofty
and richly-ornamented room, often octagonal, and generally standing
south of the south transept. The usual arrangement of the monastic
buildings round and adjoining the cloister varied in details with the
requirements of the different monastic orders, and the circumstances
of each individual religious house, but, as in the case of churches,
the general principles of disposition were fixed early. They are
embodied in a manuscript plan, dating as far back as the ninth
century, and found at St. Gall in Switzerland, and never seem to have
been widely departed from. The monks' dormitory here occupies the
whole east side of the great cloister, there being no chapter-house.
It is usually met with as nearly in this position as the transept and
the chapter-house will permit. The refectory is on the south side of
the cloister, and has a connected kitchen. The west side of the
cloister in this instance was occupied by a great cellar. Frequently a
hospitum, or apartment for entertaining guests, stood here. The north
side of the cloister was formed by the church.

For the abbot a detached house was provided in the St. Gall plan to
stand on the north side of the church; and a second superior hospitum
for his guests. Eastward of the church are placed the infirmary with
its chapel, and an infirmarer's lodging. The infirmary was commonly
arranged with a nave and aisles, much like, a small parish church.
Other detached buildings gave a public school, a school for novices
with its chapel, and, more remotely placed, granaries, mills, a
bakehouse, and other offices. A garden and a cemetery formed part of
the scheme, which corresponds tolerably well with that of many
monastic buildings remaining in England, as _e.g._, those at
Fountains' Abbey, Furness Abbey, or Westminster Abbey, so far as they
can be traced.

Generally speaking the principal buildings in a monastery were long
and not very wide apartments, with windows on both sides. Frequently
they were vaulted, and they often had a row of columns down the
middle. Many are two stories high. Of the dependencies, the kitchen,
which was often