The lands of the four privileged orders which were thus exempted from paying tithes, are exempted up to the present day, because at the dissolution of the monasteries, the 31 Henry VIII. c. xiii., provided that all lands held by the monasteries, and exempted from tithes, should also be exempted when vested in the Crown, and the same Act extended the exemption to all those who should become possessors of such Crown property. There is also 2 Edward VI. c. xiii. This explains the fact that some of the present holders of monastic property pay no tithes; some do; and others are tithe-owners. CHAPTER XV. _MONASTERIES._ In giving a history of tithes, it is absolutely necessary to give a brief account of the monasteries and monastic property in England. Immediately after Augustine came to England, the age of building monasteries commenced. Before his arrival there were about twenty-one monastic establishments in the island not of the Benedictine order. The first British monastery, properly so-called, was established at Glastonbury, by St. Patrick, about _A.D._ 433. Previous to his arrival there was a sort of hermitage there, but when he came he formed the hermits into a society, framed monastic rules for their guidance, and made himself their abbot. A monastery was a place where people of both sexes lived alone, secluded from the common employment of the world for sacred duties and devotion. Monk, A.-S. _munuc_, through the Latin _monachus_, Greek μοναχός = solitary. Nun, Latin _nonna_. The British monks and nuns married until the Benedictine rule was rigidly enforced by King Edgar and Archbishop Dunstan in the tenth century. The religious houses may be classified thus—cathedral churches, abbeys, and priories. There were four chief officers in the abbeys and priories—(1) the chamberlain, who provided the monks’ clothing; (2) the cellarer catered for them; (3) the treasurer or bursar collected their rents and other revenue, and paid all their expenses; and (4) the sacrista or sexton took charge of the buildings and church, and all the utensils, books, pictures, etc., in them.