Abbot Gasquet, in his “English Monastic Life,” says:--“Day after day for centuries, the Cloister was the centre of the activity of the religious establishment. The quadrangle was the place where the monks lived and studied and wrote. In the three sides--the Northern, the Eastern, and Western walls--were transacted the chief business of the house, other than what was merely external. Here the older monks laboured at the tasks appointed them by obedience, or discussed questions relating to ecclesiastical learning or regular observance; or at permitted times joined in recreative conversation. Here, too, in the parts set aside for the purpose, the younger members toiled at their studies under the eye of their teacher, learnt the monastic observance from the lips of the Novice Master, or practised the chants and melodies of the Divine Office with the Cantor or his assistant. How the work was done in the winter time, even supposing that the great windows looking out on to the Cloister Garth were glazed or closed with wooden shutters, must ever remain a mystery.” The _Refectory_, also called the Fratry, or Frater House, was the dining hall of the establishment. It was always placed, with the kitchens, &c., as far as possible from the Church, so that the smell of the cooking should not penetrate the sacred structure. As a rule, the walls of the Refectory were wainscotted, and the floor was covered with hay or rushes. The monks sat in a single row on each side, with their backs to the wall. The Superior sat at a high table at the Eastern end, and a pulpit was erected at the western side or southern end of the hall. From it, one of the novices read aloud part of the Scriptures in Latin during meal times. In Cistercian monasteries the Refectory was placed at right angles to the Southern Cloister, but in those of the Cluniacs and Benedictines its length ran east and west along this Cloister. The kitchen, buttery, and other offices connected with the cooking and storing of food, were naturally placed near to the refractory. The _Chapter House_ was situated on the eastern side of the Cloisters, being built near the Church. It was always a room of noble proportions and design, and here the Abbot and monks met daily to transact the solemn business of the Order. The latter sat along by the wall and the former in the east. In a vestry or sacristy near it were kept, beside other things, the books of the house. The _Parlour_ was a room in which the monks did what talking was necessary, when strict silence had to be observed in the cloisters, and here sometimes they interviewed visitors. It was generally situated near the Chapter House. The _Common Room_, also called the _Calefactory_ or _Warming House_, was a room to which the monks resorted in winter to warm themselves at the common fire, and it was also used at times for the purposes of recreation.