It is again stated in the “Brief” that tithes are not endowments(!) and that they were given “without any specific conditions being attached to their payment.” Is it reasonable to think that tithes were given to the parish priest without a “_quid pro quo_”? Is not the “_quid pro quo_” implied in his office? The “Brief” further observes at p. 52: “It is an interesting work for all zealous people concerned in such matters to see, as a matter of public trust, that those who now possess such property[256] shall fulfil the conditions attached to its original grant or bequest.” I cannot defend for one moment the enrichment of the nobility and gentry of this country with Church spoliation. But I ask myself the question: “Do the Bishops of Chester, Gloucester and Bristol, Oxford and Peterborough and their respective chapters, ‘fulfil the conditions attached to the original grant or bequest of the property which they possess?’” We must not forget that the King who endowed them with monastic property, passed the Act commonly called “The Whip with its Six Strings,” and, further, that he died in the full belief of the doctrines of the Church of Rome, then the doctrines of the Church of England, of which he was the supreme head. CHAPTER XIII. _APPROPRIATION OF TITHES TO MONASTERIES._ From A.D. 1000 to A.D. 1215 is a remarkable period in the history of the English Church and English monasteries. The monasteries were built and richly endowed with lands, churches, and tithes. All these were conveyed by deeds of gifts to their perpetual use. The benefactions were given for the special purpose of prayers being perpetually said by the monks in their respective churches for the repose of the souls of the donors and their relatives. In some cases the monasteries received the tithes without any churches; but when they received churches with the cure of souls, then the monastic corporations became rectors by virtue of which they were in possession of all the tithes of each parish. For many centuries the benefactions were conveyed by lay owners, without any reference to the king or bishop, for they were considered as private property, which the owner may dispose of to whom he pleased. Subsequently it was necessary, before such grants could be given, to obtain the licence of the king and bishop in order to complete the scheme. After the Conquest, the Norman monks invented the system of having churches with their tithes appropriated to them. Previous to the Conquest there were no appropriation of churches, but patrons granted to monasteries, bishops or chapters the advowsons of the churches. As religious services had to be performed in the church appropriated, the monastic body had either to depute one of their own fraternity in Holy Orders to do the duty, or to appoint a deputy or vicar to act for them and to whom they gave most miserable stipends. This latter alternative became the general rule. But