Page:The Church of England, its catholicity and continuity.djvu/92

 Wolsey had suggested to him. But is seems that only six new Sees were provided, Oxford, Gloucester, Bristol, Peterborough, and Chester, and Westminster Abbey was joined to the See of London.

It was a shameful piece of business, the wholesale destruction of the Monasteries. It so increased the ranks of beggars that it gave birth to our poor laws under Elizabeth. It helped to create the evil of lay rectors in the Church, and this in time gave birth to the evil of pluralities. This destruction filled England with discontent, and helped to sow seeds of dissent, and prepared the troubles which came to a head under Charles I. Besides this, the loss of books to England was most lamentable. Valuable documents which gave the history of past ages, and rich editions of ancient learning, were ruthlessly thrown away. The Monasteries, please remember, were especially rich in books, and they were in the olden times the homes of learning. In the Monasteries were kept "the records of our convocations, the Acts of Parliament, as well as the hereditary documents of private families." Hore says: "If these things were not destroyed they were sold as waste paper. Some books were used to scour candlesticks, some to rub boots, some sold to grocers or soap boilers, and some sent over sea to bookbinders, not in small quantities, but at times in whole ships full, to the wondering of foreign nations. A single merchant purchased at forty shillings apiece two noble libraries, to be used as Grey papers." Many writers of that time also lamented the loss. Bale, in speaking to King Edward on this subject, said: "I judge this to be true, and utter it with