§ 69. The plan of the Carthusian cloister, however, owing to the solitary life prescribed by the rule, was unique. The monastery at Mount Grace consisted of two courts, the northern or cloister-court being surrounded on three sides by a series of separate cells, each with its own garden. On the south side were the chapter-house and the cells occupied by the sacrist and prior; while the frater occupied the south-west angle of the court. The church stood at the back of the chapter-house and part of the south range, next the outer court. The chapter-house was, in fact, a northern annexe to the church, parallel and almost exactly equal in dimensions to the presbytery. Some years after the foundation of the priory, owing to an increase in endowments and the number of monks, a second cloister was formed south of the church by enclosing a long rectangular space in the north-east part of the outer court: later still, the north-west angle of the same court was divided by partition walls into one or more courts covering the west front of the church and the west wall of the new cloister. The outer court, thus curtailed, contained as usual the storehouses of the convent, the building on the west side, through which the monastery was entered, being probably devoted to the use of guests. CHAPTER V THE INFIRMARY AND THE OUTER COURT § 70. Of the extra-claustral buildings of a monastery, the most important was the infirmary (_domus infirmaria_, _infirmitorium_). This was not merely used for the accommodation of the sick, but was the dwelling-place of those who were too infirm to take part in the regular routine of the cloister, known in most orders as _stagiarii_ or _stationarii_, and of the _sempectae_ who, in the Cistercian order, had been professed for fifty years. It was also generally used by the _minuti_ or religious who were undergoing their periodical bleeding (_minutio_) for the sake of their health. Each of the Augustinian canons of Barnwell was allowed to be bled once every seven weeks, if he so desired: he might even be bled once a month, if his health demanded it, but in this latter case he was not allowed to take his furlough in the infirmary. The leave allowed at Barnwell lasted three days, and canons were permitted during such periods to talk to each other and take walks within a limited area[13]. Thus there were usually a few _minuti_ on leave, whose absence made little difference to the number of those in quire; and in the larger houses it is clear that opportunities of bleeding took place once a week. In the Cistercian and Carthusian orders the rules were stricter: the monks were bled in batches appointed by the prior at fixed seasons in the year—four seasons in Cistercian, five in Carthusian monasteries. According to the statutes, Cistercian _minuti_ were obliged to take their meals in the frater, but this rule appears to have been gradually relaxed, and monks probably went into the infirmary, as in other orders, and were allowed