Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/228

 iloticti of Srdjafological i3ul)Iicntioni. THE ANCREX RIWI.E ; A TREATISE ON THE RULES AND DUTIES OF MONASTIC LIFE. Editoil and translated frnm a Scmi-Saxnn MS. of the thirteenth century. By James Morton, H.I)., 'iear of llolbeacli. I'rebendary of Lincoln, and Cliaplain to the Right Hon. Earl Grey. Loudon : I'rinted for the Camden Society. 1853. We have not hitherto noticeil any of the hooks puhlished hv tlio Canulcn Society, thout,fh, during the existence of tliis Journal, several have appeared which are valuahle as contributions to history, or as illustrative of the language, manners, and social condition of our ancestors at various periods. This volume belongs to the latter class, and is evidently brought out as a choice and rare example of the language of this country in the transition from Anglo-Saxon to English. And such it really is ; but had it been no more, we should not have been induced to deviate from our course in regard to these publications. " The Ancren Riwle " of the thirteenth century could hardly fail to place in a broad light a class of devotees, of whom very little scema generally known, though such knowledge is by no means recondite. Even the editor does not ap])car to have had a definite notion of their peculiari- ties. Dim indications and vague traditions of tiicir abodes are occasionally found in the "Church notes" of our ecclcsiologists ; and therefore it is lioped a brief notice of these ascetics and this volume will not be without interest to our readers. Great credit is due to Mr. Morton for the pains that he has taken in editing this Rule in a philological point of view. Had he chiinced, in the com-se of his reading, to have come upon such bequests as " To the Anker in the Wall bt-.-ide 15i.shopsgate, London," in a will of the fifteenth century ;' to Friar lluinphrcy, the recluse (inclu-so) of I'ageham, to the rcclu.sc (inclusa;) of lloghton, to the recluse (incluste) of Stopeham, to the recluse (incluso)of lleringham, in the will of St. liichard, Bishop of Chichester;" and the several beipiests by his contemporary, Walter de Suffield, Bishop of Norwich, to "Ankers," and recluses in his diocese, and especiall} one to liis niece Ela in reclusorio at Massingham,'' not to mention the gifts by the Will of Ileiny II. to the recluses (inclusis) of Jerusalem, England, and Normandy, Mr. Morton would probably have boon put u[)on iiKjuiry, and wo nhould have had in this voliune, not only a more exact translation of the Rule, but al.so a preface giving an account of this singular class, or notes in elucidation of the most rcniarkablo passages, which ilUistrati? tlii-ir habits, ill rcipiire to be explained by them. 'I'lie words " Anenii, Anker, and Ancrc-H," are clearly to be referred to the term Anchorite. The anachoretio of iho East were numerous in the ' Ti-«t. VeluHin, :i.M;. ^ nioincliclda Norfolk, ii. ji. .'il7-JI, foi. ' .•jiUMM.'X Arclituol. (.'oil. i. p. 171. IMil.