As I have stated above, before King Edgar’s reign the monasteries were convents of secular married clergy, whose children kept up a monopoly of all the valuable appointments in the establishments. The result was certainly most pernicious to church and people. The clergy grew more and more indolent and illiterate, and their thoughts were entirely absorbed in the worldly affairs of their families, to the neglect of their spiritual duties. Although the monks had many faults, yet the English nation owes them a large debt of gratitude. They were better educated than the secular clergy; were more refined, and were therefore better able to raise the standard of civilization in the country. That is what the married clergy could not then have done. The monasteries were the only schools where the children of the kings, nobility and gentry could be educated. King Edward the Confessor received his early training in the monastery of Ely. Their schools formed models for our most ancient universities. The monasteries were like so many burning torches in the midst of darkness and ignorance, and were the only sources which could then supply men intellectually capable of occupying episcopal positions. Some of the noblest benefactors to the Church were bishops taken from the cloisters. THE NORMAN CONQUEST. At the time of the Conquest, there were in England about 130 monasteries and cathedral churches, possessing about one-twelfth of the land. There were then nineteen bishoprics in England and Wales exclusive of the Isle of Man. Most of the Saxon bishops and abbots were replaced by Normans. The change was good. Some writers censure the Norman rulers for the change. But a better educated and more refined class of men had taken their places. A careful study of their lives and acts, as recorded in the “Monasticon,” will corroborate my statement.