see of Rouen, and, according to Ordericus Vitalis, the papacy itself, “indubitatum tenens quod simul ire non possent monachi ocium et Archipræsulis negocium," when he was solicited by Ermenfrid the Legate, on his return from England, to accept the Archbishopric of Canterbury. His appointment was any thing but regular, according to what was subsequently pronounced canonical; but he was certainly acceptable to the court of Rome. It is recorded that the Pope (Alexander) rose to receive him, on his going to Rome for his pall, in compliment to his pre-eminent abilities; a pre-eminence to which the succeeding Pontiff, even the imperious Hildebrand, was compelled to bow; when, after pretending to have received from the Virgin herself the revelation, that, “nihil de sacrificio Christi cogitandum, nihil esse tenendum, nisi quod tenerent authenticæ scripturæ, contra quas Berengarius nihil habebat," he finally pronounced for the opposite opinion of Lanfranc, and confirmed the decision of the council of Vercelli, in that of Rome, in the year 1079. Indeed, since William had resolved to remodel the Church, it was fortunate that the cultivation of Lanfranc had rendered the Duchy of Normandy a seed plot from which, at any rate, a regularly educated clergy were at hand to transplant into the vacant sees and monasteries of his newly acquired kingdom, and that the patriarchal chair was destined not only to one of the greatest characters of his age, but, in truth, to one of the most amiable.

The contest relative to the primacy had broken out, and been to all appearance decided by William, before the Prelates embarked for Rome; but, it should seem, the irritation which had not subsided in the breast of Thomas, Archbishop of York, was aggravated by the distinction which was there shewn to Lanfranc; and, in an unfortunate hour, he and Remigius, Bishop of Lincoln, who had accompanied them, revived the discussion in the presence of the Pontiff. Alexander deferred the points in dispute to the King and Parliament, by whom it was subsequently decided that the province of Canterbury extended to the Humber, and that of York to the furthest limits of Scotland, and that the Archbishops of York were subject to those of Canterbury; but, as if to chastise the complainants, he alleged the irregularity of their appointments at the mere pleasure of the King, and, demanding his pastoral staff from each of them, restored them only at the solicitation of Lanfranc.

Added to his estimation at Rome, his influence over William was almost unbounded. The Conqueror had early assigned the county of Kent to his uterine brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, who seems, in the lawless state to which the country was reduced, to have grasped at every thing within his reach; an example which other Norman adventurers had not been slow to imitate. Lanfranc, and equally Ernest,

"Hoc magistro primitus Normanni literatoriam artem perscrutați sunt, et de scholâ Beccensi eloquentes in divinis et secularibus sophistæ processe runt. Nam antea sub tempore sex Ducum Neustria vis ullus Normannorum liberalibus studiis adhæsit; nec. Doctor invenicbatur, donec provisor onnium Deus Normannicis oris Lanfrancum appulit." Ordericus Vitalis.

Bishop of Rochester, and Scolland, Abbot of St. Augustine's, found their houses impoverished and their lands invaded: nor was Odo contented that his spoil should be wrested from him. The Primate, however, appealed to the King, who appointed the Bishop of Coutances * to preside at a solemn hearing of the cause before the whole county, as well natives as Normans, and, establishing the claims of his church, recovered no less than twenty-five manors from his powerful adversaries.' Such, indeed, was the respect of William for the Primate, that he confided the government of the kingdom to his hands whenever he was called over to Normandy: a confidence which was by no means misplaced; for though, after he had gained his point with the Archbishop of York, he is said to have ruled others by a nod, his character is unimpeached with the abuse of power. He seems to have been, at all times, easy of access, and forward to redress the wrongs or to relieve the wants of all who appealed to him. There is something in the tone with which Ingulphus speaks of him that demands respect. "Pater meus, et semper mihi dulcissimus patronus, Dominus meus Archiepiscopus Dorob. Lanfrancus, qui post obitum Domini mei Regis solus mihi relictus est, et in omnibus meis necessitatibus amicus infatigabilis, Iet adjutor in tribulationibus indefessus.". Indeed that historian, who was led to appeal to him against the wrongs which his abbey of Croyland suffered from the violence of Ivo Tailboys, bears testimony both to his courtesy and his attention to business. Lanfranc appointed him to meet him in London, and recommended him to select one strong proof of the rights of his abbey, rather than to injure his cause by a multiplicity of evidences. Ingulphus consequently attended at the time appointed, with a chirograph of Earl Algar†, in Saxon, much defaced; which, having previously examined it with the aid of his council, the Primate laid before the King, and procured his warrant to the sheriff of Lincolnshire to investigate the claim. Nor do his kind offices appear to have been denied to the unfortunate English. His interposition in favour of Wulstan, who was deservedly one of the most popular of the Anglo-Saxon prelates, developes him, indeed, in the character of a miracle-monger, which, with every fair allowance for the darkness of the

* Geoffroy de Montbray, Bishop of Coutances in Normandy, and not of Constance, as our historians, even down to Mr. Sharon Turner, erroneously call him, was in high favour with the Conqueror, by whose grant he held no less than two hundred and eighty manors in England. He signs himself, in 1072, "Unus de primatibus Anglorum," and, at the accession of Rufus, "regebat consulatum Northymbrorum;" in which earldom he was succeeded by his nephew Robert de Moubray. He does not seem to have concerned himself much with his episcopal functions after his settlement in England. Indeed he, and Odo, who only returned to his bishopric when chased from his earldom, exhibited a devotion to secular pursuits, greater even than that which the monks have reprobated in the Anglo-Saxon Hierarchy.

Algar was the father of Edwin and Morcar, and of Lucia, whom the Conqueror had given in marriage to Ivo with the estates of those powerful earls. It is by no means the only instance; but nothing less than the belief of its being a religious duty, which is enforced by the Romish Church, could fortify a man with patience to peruse all the legends of Romish miracles. Will it be

times, and the admission of pious frauds in the practice of his commii? nion, we can hardly reconcile to his reputation for wisdom and goodness; but it nevertheless evinces that his exertions were not confined to his own countrymen and his own party. Indeed, he has the repute of having interceded with the Conqueror for the life of Waltheof, the last of the Anglo-Saxon earls, déclaring that he had heard from him in confession the part which he had in the counsels of the insurgents, and that, if he were condemned on that account, he would be to be regarded as a martyr: and though he pronounced the deposition of Wlfketul for proclaiming Waltheof as such to the people, he subsequently became a petitioner to William in his favour *.

If Lanfranc appears in a character adverse to that of a peace-maker, it was manifestly forced upon him by his public duties. It was not without considerable tumult and opposition that he carried into execution the constitutions of the council of Winchester, passed, in observance of the directions of Hildebrand, against the married clergy. It is true they were not extended, in the first instance, to the parochial clergy or chaplains, who, being permitted to retain their wives, were only forbid den to contract marriages from thenceforward; but the inferior order in the monasteries, who did not enter into the master policy of their church, clung with natural pertinacity to the connexions they had formed, and resisted the enforcement of rules to which they were not previously pledged by vows, nor, still less, bound by the letter of Scrips ture. The spirit of the people was too much crushed by the Norman Conquest to afford many instances of that resistance which broke out in Normandy, where the Archbishop of Rouen was pelted out of the cathedral when he attempted to pronounce an excommunication against the wives of his clergy: but, among other manifestations of a refrac tory spirit, the monks of St. Augustine's actually attempted the life of their abbot, one of those ". quorum studio et rigore, Monachatus (qui jam aliquantulum tepuerat) revixit; et qui defecisse videbatur, ad pris tinum robur surrexit." Lanfranc had backed the authority of the Abbot with chains and scourges, but it was not until after his death that the citizens who had taken part with the monks suffered the punishment of having their eyes put out.

believed that, where that Church retains the power, such is the course of reading it dictates?

* Wlfketul was transferred, on his deposition from the abbacy of Croyland, to Glastonbury, then under the government of Thurston, the most violent of the churchmen imported from Normandy. Being afterwards allowed to return ́and reside at Peterborough, he was a frequent visitor at the abbey over which he had formerly presided, where he was received with every mark of respect; Ingulphus, his successor, conducting him to his former stall: "nec, ipso superstite, me plenum sponsum, sed semper paranymphum, vel procuratorem monasterii reputavi," says that historian.

STATE OF THE DIOCESES

ENGLAND AND WALES,

FROM OCTOBER TO DECEMBER INCLUSIVE.