Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/368

 364 Schultz Mackenzie, 13 for which no authority is given, that "he entered into the Order of St. Benedict, and the Rules of that Society not pleasing him, he changed his Habit, and entered into the Order of St. Francis," and other statements equally unsup- ported, may be disregarded. The only indication that Barclay was at any time of the order of St. Benedict is that he speaks of himself in the title of his version of the Myrrour of Good Manners 1 * as " Monke of Ely"; that in the letter of Sir Nicholas Vaux to Wolsey 15 concerning the arrangements for the Field of the Cloth of Gold he is called "the Blacke Monke and Poete"; and Barclay's own reference in the prologue to the Eclogues to his "habite blacke. " In one of Bale's lists, quoted earlier, 16 Barclay is spoken of as first a Benedictine and later a Francis- can. But that Bale himself did not consider this statement of value is shown by his remark that the matter is "nulli certus. " In the last analysis, then, the question of Barclay's having been a member of the order of St. Benedict depends upon the fact that he is called by himself and others a monk, that he speaks of his black habit, and that he was at one time located at Ely where there was a Benedictine monastery. The term monk, however, was, and still is, so loosely used that it may have been applied to a friar, and in that capacity he may have been at Ely without being a member of the monastery there. Moreover, he may well have been one of the so-called "Black Franciscans." 17 There is no question of his having been a Franciscan since his contemporary Bullein 18 speaks specifically of "the five knots upon his girdle after Francis tricks." This testimony of Bullein is significant in another way. Perhaps the best argument that Barclay was a Benedictine is his con- nection with Ely Monastery. But it is at this place that he was known by Bullein, who tells us that he was a Franciscan. Although it was possible for a monk to become a friar, and no one can say for certain that Barclay did not, the probability 13 Lives and Characters of Eminent Scots Writers, 287. 14 Cf. Jamieson, op. cit., CV. 15 Letters and Papers, 3.1., 737. Op. cit., p. 117. 17 For much of this information I am indebted to Father Aldrich, of the Dominican Fathers of New Haven, Conn. 18 Jamieson, op. cit., XXIII.