the archbishop under three classes. When only a slight fault had been committed, the offender was to have the ordinary diet of the convent, but he was not to be permitted to eat it, till three hours after the customary times of refreshment; and while his brethren were in the refectory, he was to remain in the church by himself. If the crime was of a deeper dye, the guilty brother was to be committed to the special custody of another monk, who was always to attend him to and from his place of confinement; and the prior was to give the particular directions relating to his provision, and the hour of his receiving it. But a profligate and contumacious criminal was to be seized by violence, and cast into the pri son appropriated for atrocious criminals, and brought, if possible, by the harshest discipline, to a sense and public acknowledgement of his transgressions. In neither of these modes of treating the disorderly members of this monastic fraternity do there seem to be sufficient grounds for believ ing that Mr. Gostling has been equally fortunate in this conjecture, as in most others dispersed through his book. And I am, besides, apt to think there is one of Lanfranc's Constitutions, which will lead to a discovery of the chief, if not the only, purpose for which the oven in this apartment was erected.

From the time that the attempt was made to form the preposterous tenet of the reality of the corporal presence of Christ in the eucharist into an article of faith, various were the disputes which arose concerning the kind and the form of the bread which was to be used in this sacred institution. Some would have it leavened, and others contended it should be unleavened. One party asserted it ought to be taken from a round loaf, and their opponents warmly maintained it ought to consist of only a small wafer; and whether this wafer was to be plain, or to have the figure of a crucifix, or of the holy lamb, stamped upon it, was a subject of earnest debate. This strange notion likewise introduced a series of rites, which were to be practised as well before as after the consecrating of this sacramental bread.

Archbishop Lanfranc was a zealous advocate for this absurd doctrine. Prepossessed, therefore, with the idea of the profound reverence and adoration which was to be offered to a piece of bread, when deified by the priest, he judged it requisite, from a specious regard to decency, to appoint, among his decrees, several superstitious ceremonies, which were to be observed in preparing it for this divine use. Spelman and Wilkins are the only ecclesiastical writers who have mentioned this curious and whimsical process, I have

As

inclosed an abstract of it, which may, perhaps, afford amusement to some of your readers.

"In all the religious houses, the preparing of the hosts was a branch of the sacrist's duty; and it was an express injunction of the archbishop to this officer in the priory of Christchurch, to shew the greatest attention in having them made in the clearest and purest manner.-The corn was to be selected with the utmost care, and grain by grain, if practicable. When thus sorted, it was to be put into a new fine bag, provided for this purpose only, and carried to the mill by a trusty servant. The servant was to see some other grain pass through the hopper, before that designed for the holy bread was put into it, that, in grinding, it might not be polluted, by being mixed with any foreign substance. When the meal was brought back to the sacrist, he was to prepare a place and a vessel, in circuitu cortina, for the boulting of it; and this work was to be done by himself, in his albe, and with his head veiled. On the day of making the hosts, the sacrist, and his brethren who were to assist him, were to wash their hands and faces, put on their albes, and veil their heads, that monk only excepted, whose business was to hold the iron plate, and attend to it, and he was to wear gloves. During the process of making and baking the bread, the monks were to repeat the common psalms of the hours, and the canonical hours, or, if they pleased, any other suitable psalms, out of the regular course. But, when not engaged in this religious exercise, the strictest silence was to be observed, with an indulgence only to the person who held the iron plate, to give some brief directions to the servant who attended, to supply the fire with fuel, that was to be perfectly dry, and provided several days before*."

There can be little doubt but this work was done in some room within the church, or in one adjoining to it; and my opinion with respect to the former use of the oven now

*Wilkins, Concil. Vol. I. p. 349.-As I must own I do not clearly comprehend the meaning of the expression in circuitu cortina, where the meal was ordered to be boulted, I have not aimed at a translation of it. But I submit to those who are more skilled than I am in the disposition of the offices formerly belonging to our monastic buildings, whether some light may not be thrown upon this obscure term, by comparing it with Gervase's account of the repair of that part of the church near Anselm's chapel, since he seems to me to make use of a similar word. Of the reasons assigned by him why that part of the choir by the altar was narrower than that near the great tower, one was, "quod duæ turres Sancti Anselmi videlicet et Sancti Andre e,in utroque latere ecclesiæ antiquitus ad CIRCINUM positæ, &e. X. Script. Col. 1303.

under our review will, I imagine, be readily concluded. I will, however, offer one reason for my believing I am not mistaken in my supposition that it was built for the baking of the sacramental wafers; which is, my having observed a chimney, with an oven to it, in a room communicating with Merton's chapel, in the north-east cross of Rochester cathedral, near which was undoubtedly the apartment and different offices of the sacrist of that priory.

The perusal of the foregoing extract from Lanfranc's Constitutions may, perhaps, recal to the minds of my. readers the late Lord Lyttelton's judicious stricture upon his character, for the unhappy use he made of his talents, in becoming a principal champion for the real presence, and establishing, by his authority, a doctrine unknown to the church of England*. Should they remember the passage to which I allude, they will, I am persuaded, be apt to suspect, that the very great reputation this prelate acquired in the Christian world, for his piety, learning, and parts, was unmerited, since they produced in himself, and prompted him to demand from those under his jurisdiction, such a bigotted observance of numberless insignificant ceremonies. How much more deserving of praise were the wise and religious reformers of our church, who, guided by scripture and reason, enjoined only this short and pertinent rubric concerning the same sacred ordinance-" And, to take away the superstition which any person hath, or might have, in the bread and wine, it shall suffice that it be such as is usually to be eaten at the table with other meats; but the best and purest wheat bread that conveniently may be gotten."

1775, April.

I am, &c.

W. and Dt.

LXXXI. Query respecting the Arms of our Archbishops, with an

MR. URBAN,

answer.

ONE of your constant readers will be much obliged to Mr. Row, or any of your antiquarian correspondents, who can inform him when the mitre, in the arms of our Archbishops, was first placed in a Ducal coronet, in which it now differs

* Lord Lyttelton's Life of Henry II. Vol. I.

[t The papers with this signature were written by the Rev. Samuel Denne, Vicar of Wilmington, and of Darent, in Kent. See Gent. Mag. Obituary. Aug. 1799, p. 722.] E..

from those of our Bishops; especially as it seems of modern introduction, since not only those on the tombs of the old prelates in Canterbury cathedral, but those of some since the Reformation, in the windows of that church, have it not. Yours, &c.

1775, July.

MR. URBAN,

Q.

IN answer to your correspondent's question concerning placing the Archbishop's mitre on a Ducal coronet, I can only say, that the best account of it which I have seen is in Mr. Pegge's assemblage of coins, fabricated by authority of the Archbishops of Canterbury, p. 7. It is there acknowledged to be a practice lately introduced, but seems to be done with much propriety, considering the rank his grace holds, which is above the dukes, except those of the blood: and at the same time it is very ornamental, as appears to the eye in the engraved inscription prefixed to the assemblage, &c. 1775, Oct. T.Row.

LXXXII. On the Culture of Vines in England.
MR. URBAN,

THE controversy about the culture of the vine in England hath been so largely discussed by two learned members of the Society of Antiquaries, that it may seem superfluous, if not impertinent, to add any more to it. But as doubts and conjectures often furnish means for the discovery of truth, I may be permitted to suggest such as have occurred to me in the perusal of Mr. Barrington's paper on this subject, just published in the third vol. of the Archæologia*, and submit myself to his candor, while I range myself on the side of his antagonist.

It appears to me that the word vinea is in no one instance used by our ancient writers, in any other than its classical and common signification. I shall examine the instances in which it is used by our monkish historians, who, though they too often mistake a bombast for a florid style, and give common relations, and trivial incidents, an air of pomp and rhapsody, are not apt to err in the use of obvious and well known terms. The question about the alteration of our

In answer to Mr. Pegge, on the same question in the same volume.

climate since the time of the Romans, of Bede, or of Edward III. is a petitio principii, against which, I apprehend, terms and names in general acceptation are not here allowed their proper weight.

When it is said that vinum, as ovos, is applied by classical writers to other species of wine besides that made from grapes, it is bearing too hard upon monkish writers, not to allow that in them it ever signifies grape wine. Vinum is certainly a word of as unconfined signification as uva; yet these no more exclude the idea of grapes and their wine from later writers, than monstrum, pons*, and vinitor, do those primary ones of a monster, a bridge, a vine-dresser. The instance of Pavo, adduced from Brompton, is not conclusive; since Giraldus, whom Brompton professes to follow, expressly adds sylvestres, which his transcriber omitted; and even had not this been the case, the same exception might have been taken to grues, which I suppose are now as scarce in Ireland as in England.

But with all due deference to Mr. B. I must take the liberty to affirm, that no instance in Du Cange amounts to a proof that vinea has more than the usual sense of a vineyard, I mean, applied to plantation; for we all know that certain machines were called by this name. Not to multiply quotations in my own cause, let us examine those brought by Mr. B. in defence of his. That of terra vineata, is not terra simply culta vel consita, but "vineis culta vel consita ;" as under the same article we have "unam peciam terræ vineata," and "unam peciam terræ arativæ et vineatæ," where vineata is distinguished from arativa: and Du Cange's design in adducing these passages, is to shew, that "terra vincata" was ager vineis consitus." He also brings vineatus for embroidered with vine leaves. "Vineare campum" is not merely to break it up, but vineis conserere. Vinearium†, and vineale, are strictly vineyards; and though vine and vinealia occur together in one instance,

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* Pons novi Templi Iondoniæ, per quem tum magnates quam alii fideles nostri ad Parliamentum et concilia nostra apud Westmonasterium, venientes de dicta civitate et suburbiis ejusdem per aquam ad dictum locum Westmonasterii, communiter transeunt, &c. are the words of the record, by which, probably, is meant some bridge over a creek or inlet of the Thames, crossing the lane leading down to the temple stairs, rather than the stairs or lane. Stowe cites the record without explaining what is meant by the bridge, as he translates it. Hist of Lond. p. 440. Ed. 1633.

+ Vinearium is explained, in Greek Glossaries and Codes, oivo@opos and inaμshes; so that admitting onepopos to be cyder bearing, we must translate aidas pomum.