before, sent by St. Bernard to Waverley in Surrey. After this, St. Bernard sent another band of monks into Yorkshire, and these were now settled at Rievaulx.

The wave of sanctity which led Robert de Molesme to Citeaux at the beginning of the century, seems to have spread till it reached York and the Abbey of St. Mary, then under the rule of St. Benedict. Here Richard the Sacrist and the brothers Ralph, Garmel, Gregory, Hamo, Thomas, and Waltheof, wearied of the relaxed rule of the house, and longed to live a severer and more penitent life. They had heard of the holiness of the Cistercian monks, and were zealous to imitate it. These seven men banded themselves together to observe certain stricter rules, and at first concealed their purpose from all, even from their Prior Richard. But soon they discovered that he too was striving after a better and more self-denying life, and they took counsel together. Soon their numbers increased to thirteen; among these was but one heart and soul longing after the poverty and holy simplicity of the Cistercian rule. This being reported to the Abbot Geoffrey and the other monks disturbed by these new practices, there began to be violent discussions between the Abbot and the Prior and his associates; these were harshly treated by their fellow-monks, who found in their conduct a reproach to their own softer ways; and on June 28, 1132, Prior Richard, who was in high esteem with the Archbishop of York, appealed to his protection, and a day was appointed for the visitation of the monastery by Turstin. But when the Archbishop appeared at the Abbey gates he was refused admittance, because of his large following. The Abbot told him that if he chose to enter alone he could do so, but there was no need of all this following of knights and armed men. At this, Turstin, who knew that the Abbot had summoned all his friends to support him within the Abbey, waxed indignant, and placed the Abbey church under an interdict. The monks scoffed, jeered at, and defied the Archbishop, and then, laying hold of Richard and his companions, they were about to drag them off to the prison cells of the monastery. But the Archbishop came to their rescue, and the thirteen brethren sorrowfully freed themselves for ever from their indolent and self-indulgent home.

Turstin maintained these monks in his house till Christmas, namely: Richard the Prior of St. Mary's York, and first Abbot of Fountains; Gervase, sub-prior, afterwards Abbot of South Park; Richard the Sacrist, second Abbot of Fountains; Walter the almoner, Abbot of Kirkstead; Robert the Precentor; Ralph a monk, Abbot of Lysa in Sweden; Alexander, Abbot of Kirkstall; Robert a monk of Whitby, afterwards the saintly Abbot of New

minster; Geoffrey the painter, and four others: in all, twelve priests and one sub-deacon.

Serlo, afterwards a monk at Fountains, was a layman when these events occurred in York, and he thus begins the dictation of his Chronicle of Fountains Abbey to Hugh of Kirkstall:

It is now the 69th year of my conversion. When I first came to Fountains to associate myself with the holy brotherhood, I was, as I remember, about beginning my 30th year; what occurred then I must needs know. When the monks left the monastery of York I myself

I had

was present.
known their names
and faces from my
boyhood. I was born
in their country, was
brought up amongst
them, and to several
of them I was related
by ties of blood. And
although I am, as thou
mayst see, far advanced
in years, I am very
grateful to my old age
that my memory re-
mains unimpaired, and
particularly retentive
of those things com-
mitted to it in early
years.' He goes on to
say that in the fifth
year of the establish-
ment of Fountains he
bade farewell to the
world and made his
profession; he had
previously seen
monk, Geoffrey of

the

South Transept Doorway.

Clairvaux, sent over by St. Bernard to instruct the brethren in the rules of Cistercian discipline. Serlo was then translated to Kirkstall, where he dictated the Chronicle to the monk Hugh. He tells us that Turstin resolved to give the thirteen refugees some land in the valley of the Skell, and that he took them with him when he went to keep Christmas at Ripon that year. Next day, December 26, 1132, the Archbishop and the thirteen monks set

out for the valley of the Skell-then a wilderness of rocks and trees. He placed them beside the river near the hill of Herleshow ; here they held a council beneath a spreading elm-tree and chose Richard the Prior as Abbot, and then the Archbishop departed, first giving them his solemn benediction.

It was a forlorn outlook for the poor hermits. In the depth of winter, far from any habitation, their sole shelter seven yewtrees-some of which still remain-they could only depend on chance means of subsistence. After a while they began to build a hut round the trunk of the elm-tree, which at one time was not only their shelter but their food. As soon as the winter had passed they sent some of the brothers to St. Bernard at Clairvaux to ask for help and guidance in their work. St. Bernard sent them the monk Geoffrey, who helped them to frame their code of rules, and urged them to lose no time in building themselves a suitable home. But their money was soon spent; seven clerks and ten laymen had joined them, but these had brought no funds to the common stock; they were still dependent on the bounty of the Archbishop, and far away from any inhabited place, and they began to suffer great privations. Just at this time, too, a famine spread over England, and the monks soon had to live chiefly on herbs and salted elm-leaves-the best food was reserved for the workmen who were finishing the building of their house.

One day a traveller knocked at the gate and asked for bread. 'I have none to give you,' said the porter. But the traveller, who seemed both hungry and weary, begged for a loaf of bread in the name of the Blessed Saviour.

At this the porter went to the Abbot and told his perplexity. 'How much bread is there in the house?' said the good Richard.

6 There are but two loaves and a half, reverend father, and those are wanted for the carpenters when they leave work.' 'Give the poor man one loaf,' said the abbot: one and a half for the workers; as for us, God will pleasure.'

there will be provide at his

And lo, soon after he had spoken there came to the gate two men, and these drew a cart full of the finest bread sent by Eustace Fitz Hugh of Knaresborough, who had heard of the sore straits of the brethren. Still no lasting help came, and Abbot Richard determined to go over the sea to Clairvaux, and ask St. Bernard to give him and his monks work and shelter in some of the granges appertaining to his monastery. But it so chanced that even while the abbot was still on the sea, Hugh, Dean of York, fell sick, and feeling his end approaching, he ordered himself to be taken to

Fountains Abbey, carrying with him a large store of books, money, and valuables; so it came to pass that when the Abbot returned from France he and his monks resolved to remain in Skelldale. Soon after this Serlo and Tosti, canons of York, retired here with all their wealth and greatly enriched the abbey; in 1135, when King Stephen came to York, the monks obtained from him the confirmation of all their possessions, exemption from all taxes and rentages and from all land service to superior lords.

Within three years of their arrival beside the Skell, the monks had become possessed of lands and of wealth.

Serlo is, however, much more anxious to tell the life of the brethren and the way in which they sent out colonies of monks to found other houses, than to describe the building of Fountains Abbey. In 1146, when Murdac, the third Abbot of Fountains, was chosen Archbishop of York, the abbey was set on fire. This injury was soon repaired, and it is supposed that until the end of the century building went on in the monastery.

Having refreshed our memories with our book while we rested, we went on past the magnificent ruins in search of the traditional yew-trees. As the path mounted from the hollow in which the abbey stands, we saw a part of the old wall that once surrounded the eighty acres of abbey close. Besides the close there was a park of two hundred acres, more than half of which was covered by woods and fish-ponds. Only two yew-trees are left standing on a green knoll above the mill; they are supposed to have been seven in number, as the popular name for them was 'The Seven Sisters.' Near the mill we crossed a quaint bridge and passed by a still remaining fragment of the gate-house. Next we came to Fountains Hall; a most picturesque old house, with statues and balcony and projecting windows, its grey gables now opal in the sunshine. The steps leading to its charming entrance gate, and also the low garden walls, were literally clothed with the delicate leaves and gold starlike blossoms of yellow cordalis, but it lessened our interest in the beautiful old place when we learned that it was built by Stephen Proctor in the seventeenth century with stone taken from the walls of the abbey.' Over the entrance are the crests of Sir Stephen Proctor and Honor his wife, and between them the legend,

RIEN TROVANT GAINERAY TOUT.

Outside the abbey are the ruins of the hospitium and infirmary. From this side the building is massive and grand, less picturesque than at its south-eastern end, though the ruined narthex or Galilee makes a picture of the western entrance. We saw

several gravestones beneath this portico as we passed through it to enter the church.

The immense nave and its aisles are most impressive, though we wished the ivy had not been cleared away; ivy seems as necessary to crumbling stone-work as a cap does to an old woman's face it softens, and hides the marks of Time's fingers. There has

not been a triforium in the nave, the pointed arches spring from columns twenty-three feet high; above is a series of small splayed round-headed windows. There is a large west window with a gallery below it-and outside this is the niche where St. Mary of Fountains formerly stood. The nave is supposed to have been finished in the time of the fourth Abbot, Richard Fastolph of Clairvaux,