ad
passed away, had sunk into a mere beggar. The monks had become mere
landowners. Most of the religious houses were anxious only to enlarge
their revenues and to diminish the number of those who shared them.

In the general carelessness which prevailed as to the spiritual objects
of their trust, in the wasteful management of their estates, in the
indolence and self-indulgence which for the most part characterized
them, the monastic establishments simply exhibited the faults of all
corporate bodies that have outlived the work which they were created to
perform. They were no more unpopular, however, than such corporate
bodies generally are. The Lollard cry for their suppression had died
away. In the north, where some of the greatest abbeys were situated, the
monks were on good terms with the country gentry, and their houses
served as schools for their children; nor is there any sign of a
different feeling elsewhere.

But they had drawn on themselves at once the hatred of the New Learning
and of the monarchy. In the early days of the revival of letters, popes
and bishops had joined with princes and scholars in welcoming the
diffusion of culture and the hopes of religious reform. But, though an
abbot or a prior here or there might be found among the supporters of
the movement, the monastic orders as a whole repelled it with unswerving
obstinacy. The quarrel only became more bitter as years went on. The
keen sarcasms of Erasmus, the insolent buffoonery of Hutten, were
lavished on the "lovers of darkness" and of the cloister.

In England Colet and More echoed with greater reserve the scorn and
invective of their friends. The monarchy had other causes for its hate.
In Cromwell's system there was no room for either the virtues or the
vices of monasticism, for its indolence and superstition, or for its
independence of the throne. The bold stand which the monastic orders had
made against benevolences had never been forgiven, while the revenues of
their foundations offered spoil vast enough to fill the royal treasury
and secure a host of friends for the new reforms. Two royal
commissioners, therefore, were despatched on a general visitation of the
religious houses, and their reports formed a "Black Book" which was laid
before parliament in 1536.

It was acknowledged that about a third of the houses, including the bulk
of the larger abbeys, were fairly and decently conducted. The rest were
charged with drunkenness, with simony