ethren from
Clairvaux, who taught the good people of Lewes to sing "Jesu dulcis
memoria." Loth though we are to confess it, there can be little
doubt that the foreigners were a great advance in learning and
piety upon the monks before the Conquest; the first prior, Lanzo,
was conspicuous for his many virtues and sweet ascetic disposition.

There the bones of the founders were laid to rest beneath the
gorgeous fabric they had founded, and there they had hoped to await
the day of doom and righteous retribution. But alas! poor Normans!
in the sixteenth century old Harry pulled the grand church down
above their heads; in the nineteenth the navvies, making the
railroad, disinterred their bones. But they respected the dead, the
names William and Gundrada were upon the coffins which their
profane mattocks unearthed, and the reader may see them at
Southover Church.

In the freshness of a May morning Hubert and his new uncle, Sir
Nicholas Harengod, dismounted at the gate of the priory, having
left their train at the hostelry up in the town.

"Canst thou tell us whether the brother of Saint John, Roger erst
of Walderne, is tarrying within?"

"Certes he is, but just now he heareth the Chapter Mass--few
services or offices doth he miss, and like Saint James of old, his
knees are worn as hard as the knees of camels."

"We would fain see him--here is his son."

"By our lady, not to mention Saint Pancras, a well-favoured
stripling. And thou?"

"I am Sir Nicholas of Walderne," said he of that query, with some
importance, which was quite lost upon the janitor.

"Walderne! Some place in the woods may be. Well, get you,
worshipful sirs, to the hospitium, where we feed all hungry folk at
the hour of noon, and I will strive to find the good brother."

The splendid group of buildings, of which only a few
half-demolished walls remain, rose before them, on each side of the
great quadrangle which they now entered; the chapter house, where
the brethren met for counsel; the refectory, where they fed; the
dormitory, where they slept; the scriptory, where they copied those
beautiful manuscripts which antiquarians love to obtain; the
infirmary, where the sick were tended; and lastly, the hospitium or
guest house, where all travellers and pilgrims were welcome.

They entered the hospitium, where the noontide meal was about to be
served. It was plain but ample; solid joints, huge loaves, ale, and
even wine in moderation. Some twenty sat