Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/233

 NOTICES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS. 199 windows are also mentioned (p. 69). The following translation of it is rather more close than the editor's. " Out of church window hold no conversation with any man, but respect it for the holy sacrament that you see'' through it ; and take your woman sometimes to the house window ; the other men and women to the parlour window to speak when necessary, nor ought ye but at these two windows." A word signifying " to converse " seems wanting in the last member of the sentence. The use of the church window shows tlie contiguity of their houses to the church, and, as has been mentioned, such was the usual situation of anchorholds. Accordingly, we read that the cell of Ulfric, of TIaselborough, was " ecclcsia) contigua : " ^ Isold Hetton was placed " in loco ad hoc ordinate juxta ecclesiam paro- chialem " of Whalley; which was probably a permanent anchorhold, for the neighbouring abbey undertook to supply her with necessaries, and others had preceded her, some of whom, like her, misconducted themselves and made their escape : *' Luc}- de Newchirche's abode was near, if not attached, to the chapel of St. Brendan, Bristol:" and in an undated will of probably the thirteenth century, is a gift " Dominse Lucia; reclusse in cimiterio S. Eadmundi " ^ ; she therefore seems to have had her cell in the church- yard ; and the " anker in the wall beside Bisliopsgate, London," must have been close to the church, for he was to pray in twenty masses for the testator's soul, and such masses were not likely to be celebrated in his cell. These facts will, we think, have suggested to many of our readers a use for those " low side windows " commanding a view of an altar, which were once called by the ecclesiologists lychnoscopes, and about which there have been many conjectures. As these recluses were required to make frequent confession, it is most probable they confessed at the same openings or windows through which they received the eucharist, and this may account for those internal arrangements sometimes found at such windows, that have led some to conclude they had been used for confession. The various heights of the windows externally from the ground present no difficulty, because the floors of such anchorholds, which we may assume were in most cases wooden structures, would have been adapted to them. Erected for a temporary purpose, buildings of this kind are not likely to be found, nor even traces of them. Thei*e was reinaining in Hasted's time a shed or hovel, called the " Rector's house,'' built against the north side of Bicknor Church, Kent, with a room projecting nearly across the aisle, and under the same roof. This some have supposed to have been an anchorhouse, but it may have been a priest's lodging, as its name rather indicated. We have been informed that it no longer exists. The first and last parts of the Rule apply more especially to these ladies. The former prescribes their daily devotions, which wore numerous. In the intervals, which, if many, must have been short, they were to read and work (p. 45). The last part regulates their external acts. They were not to make purses to gain friends, or " blodbendes " of silk, but to make and mend church vestments and poor people's clothes (p. 421). There are injunctions as to dress ; rings, brooches, ornamented girdles, and gloves are disallowed (pp. 419, 421). We learn, moreover, some- thing of the habits of other anchoresses. Thus, though these ladies had ^ According to some MSS. reccM'e instead ** Weever, cxlix. of see. 9 Barrett's Bristol, 60. ' M. Paris, anno ll.i4. ' Mad Form. Angl. p. 4'2.3. VOL. XI. D D