and
distributed "not by hundreds, but by thousands, and given into the hands
of the parliament men as they went daily to the House of Commons." The
title was, "The Arminian Nunnery; a description of the newly erected
Monastical Place, or the Arminian Nunnery at Little Gidding." The books
were also given to the Puritan soldiers when near Gidding to excite them
to offer violence to the family. But why should the title "Nuns of
Little Gidding" be still the name most often given to the Miss Colletts?
Few persons can realize that it is the name invented by their enemies,
earnestly repudiated by themselves, and entirely devoid of truth.

This may be proved in several ways. The house at Little Gidding
contained two _married_ families, the boys and girls all growing up
together. The girls were purposely trained in such domestic matters as
would fit them for _good wives_, and five of them did eventually marry.
The two eldest alone, having reached the ages of thirty and thirty-two,
resolved to remain unmarried, but in no way took vows. Nicholas Ferrar
himself was once taxed with having started a "nunnery," and replied that
the name of "nuns" was odious, and declared himself against such vows of
single life with great earnestness.

Again, a visitor to Little Gidding, describing the place and the family,
says, "I saluted the mother and daughter _not like nuns_, but as we
salute other women."

Probably when the phrase "Nuns of Little Gidding" is used at the present
time, it is used in no reproachful sense; but the name is misleading, and
should be avoided, if for no other reason, because it was invented by the
enemies of Mr. Ferrar's family and objected to by themselves.

The family, as a matter of fact, were by no means recluses; they went
about amongst their neighbours, and were "very well reported of by all
who knew them." They purposely selected a quiet part of the country to
live in, that they might not be interrupted in their manifold
employments; but they appear to have been always ready to receive
visitors, and to treat them with hospitality.

Ferrar's rules for his own life were certainly somewhat austere, and as
time went on he increased its rigour, more especially after his mother's
death; but he never enforced on others what he did himself, and every
hour of the day appears to have been spent usefully and happily.

It may be interesting to give here the opinions of some of his more
notable friends. Mention