cient authority: and the Benedictine institute has justly acquired too high a reputation, to be reduced to the necessity of pirating the eminent characters of other orders. I shall therefore, confine myself to our ancient writers. With the light which they afford, we may still pierce through the gloom of eleven intervening centuries; and discover among our ancestors three grand divisions of the monastic profession, in the disciples of 1, St Gregory, 2, St Columba, and 3, St Benedict.

1. Among the patrons of monachism, a distinguished place is due to Gregory the great, whose piety prompted him to exchange the dignity of Roman prefect for the cowl of a private monk, and whose merit drew him from the obscurity of his cell to seat him on the throne of St Peter. In Sicily his ample patrimony supported six separate families of monks: and the remainder of his fortune was devoted to the endowment of the great monastery of St Andrew's in Rome. After such important services,

like other genealogists, often fanciful, and sometimes extravagant, In the Saxon church he can discover nothing but Benedictine monks. The Italian missionaries were Benedictine monks; the Gallic missionaries were Benedictine monks; the Scottish missionaries were, or immediately became Benedictine monks. Each writer of eminence, and each prelate of distinguished sanctity, the religious of every convent, and the clergy of every cathedral, were all Benedictine monks. (Apost. Bened. p. 1-203.) The merit of patient reading and extensive erudition, Reyner might justly claim: but a natural partiality urged him to display the ancient honours of his order, and his judgment was the slave of his partiality. He was succeeded by Mabillon, an antiquary of equal learning, and superior discernment, who selected the principal arguments of Reyner, and endeavoured to strengthen them by the addition of several passages from ancient and unpublished manuscripts. See Mabil. præf. Sæc. 1, Bened. Vet. Analec. p. 499.

he might with propriety assume the office of legislating for those who owed their, bread to his liberality: and from the scattered hints of ancient writers we may safely collect, that the regulations which he imposed on his monks, were widely different from the statutes of most other religious orders (4). The time which they dedicated to manual labour, he commanded to be employed in study; and while they claimed the merit of conducting their lay disciples through the narrow path of monastic perfection, he aspired to the higher praise of forming men, who by their abilities might defend the doctrines, and by their zeal extend the conquests of the church (5). Of these the most eminent were honoured with his friendship, and enjoyed a distinguished place near his person. They attended him in his embassy to the capital of the east: they were admitted into his council at his elevation to the pontificate; and they supplied him with missionaries, when he meditated the conversion of the Saxons. Augustine was proud to copy the example of his father and instructor. To the clergy who officiated

(4) See Broughton, memorial, p. 251. But have not the Benedictine writers strenuously claimed this pontiff as a member of their institute? I shall only answer that I have patiently perused the dissertations of Reyner (Apost. p. 167,) and 'Mabillon (Anal. vet. p. 499): and am still compelled to think with Baronius, (An. 581, viii.) Broughton, (Mem. p. 244,) Smith, (Flores hist. p. 81,) Henschenius and Papebroche, (Act. San. tom. 2 Mart. p. 123,) Thomassin, (De vet. et nov. discip. l. iii. c. 24,) Basnage, (Annal. anno 581,) and Gibbon, (vol. iv. p. 457,) that their claim is unfounded. See also Sandini, Vit. Pontif. vol. i. p. 203.

(5) The institute of St Gregory seems to have been an attempt to unite, as much as possible, the clerical with the monastic profession. Bergier, Diction. Theol. art. communauté.

in his cathedral, he associated several of his former brethren, as his advisers and companions: and for the remainder he erected a spacious monastery, which, as far as circumstances would permit, was an exact copy of its prototype in Rome. Of the spiritual progeny of this establishment we have no accurate history. That the neighbouring convents received their first inhabitants. from Canterbury, and carefully observed the regulations of the parent monastery, is highly probable: whether at any later period, previously to the reform of St Dunstan, they abandoned their ancient rule, and adopted the Benedictine institute, is a subject of more doubtful, but unimportant controversy (6).

2. Eight and forty years after the arrival of Augustine on the coast of Kent, Oswald, king of Northumbria, requested a supply of missionaries from the Scottish monks.

(6) The rule of St Gregory was observed at Canterbury till the year 630, according to the testimony of Pope Honorius, (vestram dilectionem sectantem magistri et capitis sui St Gregorii regulam. Bed. 11, 18.) The privilege of chusing their own abbots, a claim which distinguished the Benedictines, is said to have been granted to the monks by Adeodatus, in 673, (Wilk. p. 43.) But this charter may be reasonably suspected, as the archbishop continued after that period to nominate the superiors of all the monasteries in the kingdom of Kent, (Ibid. p. 57.) At the distance of four hundred years, king Ethelred introduced Benedictine monks into the cathedral, and in the Saxon copy of the charter, which he gave on that occasion, is made to say that they were of the same description as the companions of St Augustine, (of dære byrne de rer Augustinus hider to brohte. Wilk. p. 282. Mores Comment. de Ælf. p. 88.) It is however observable, that in the latin, which, from the signatures, appears to have been the authentic copy, this passage is not to be found, (Wilk. p. 284. Mores, p.

Columba, of the royal race of the Neils in Ireland, by his preaching and miracles had converted the barbarous inhabitants of Caledonia; and the gratitude of his proselytes recompensed his labours with the donation of the isle of Icolmkille, one of the smallest of the Hebrides (7). His memory was long cherished with every testimony of veneration by the northern nations. The customs which his approbation had sanctified in their eyes, were, with pious obstinacy, perpetuated by his disciples: his monastery was selected for the sepulchres of the kings of Ireland, Scotland, and Norway (8); and the provincial bishops, though in their episcopal functions they preserved the superiority of their order, in other points submitted to the mandates of the abbot, as the legitimate successor of Columba: a singular institution, of which no other example is recorded in the ecclesiastical annals (9).

From this monastery came Aidan, the successful apos'tle of Northumbria. During the course of his labours the missionary kept his eyes fixed on his patron Columba; and after his example, requested permission to retire from the court, and fix his residence in some lonely island, where his devotions might not be interrupted by the follies and vices of men. His petition was granted. Lindisfarne, at a small distance from the Northumbrian

(7) Bed. 1. iii. c. 3. Chron. Sax. p. 21. An. 560.

(8) See Buchanan, (Rerum Scotic. l. i. p. 28.) A chart of the island is given in the title page of Pinkerton's Vit. antiq. Sanctorum in Scotia.

(9) Bed. l. iii. c. 4. That Columba acknowledged himself inferior to bishops, is evident from his life by Adomnan, (l. i. c. 45, ed: Pinkerton, p. 93.)

coast, was peopled with a colony of Scottish monks; and in their company the bishop spent the hours, which were not devoted to the exercise of the episcopal functions. His immediate successors were the zealous imitators of his conduct; and from the monastery of Aidan, the institute was rapidly diffused through the kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira, Mercia and East-Anglia.

The rule which was followed by these disciples of Columba, has not been transmitted to us by any latin writer : and the Irish copies which have been preserved, are written in a language, that has hitherto eluded the skill of the most patient antiquary (10). But Bede, in different parts of his works, has borne the most honourable testimony to their virtue. With a glowing pencil he displays their patience, their chastity, their frequent meditation on the sacred writings, and their indefatigable efforts to attain the summit of christian perfection. They chose for their habitation the most dreary situations: no motives but those of charity could draw them from their cells; and, if they appeared in public, their object was to reconcile enemies, to instruct the ignorant, to discourage vice, and to plead the cause of the unfortunate. The little property which they enjoyed was common to all. Poverty they esteemed as the surest guardian of virtue : and the benefactions of the opulent they respectfully declined, or instantly employed in relieving the necessities of the indigent. One only stain did he discover in their character, an immoderate esteem for their forefathers, which prompted them to prefer their own customs to the consent of all other christian churches: but this he pi

(10) Usher, Brit. eccl. antiq. p. 919.