the advowson of the Church; smaller amounts in Westby, Waynfleet, Horkstow, Wymondham, Low Toynton, Tupholme, the advowson of Waynfleet benefice; 2 tofts in Horsington, to provide candles for the altar, and a pension from Alford; while the Prioress also received as lesser perquisites, obits, mortuaries, Easter offerings, “shot for wax,” “Lincoln farthings,” “Assize of bread and beer,” and various “fines and amerciaments.” (Oliver’s “Religious Houses,” pp. 65, 6.) As to the particular ecclesiastical order to which this Priory belonged, authorities differ. In Thomas Coxe’s “Lincolnshire” (already referred to), it is called a Gilbertine Institution; Stukeley (in his “Itinerarium Curiosum,” vol. i., p. 88), calls it Benedictine; while Dugdale, in his “Monasticon,” vol. i., No. 486, places it among the Benedictines, and in vol. ii., No. 809, gives it as Gilbertine; while Noble and others call it Cistercian. The Cistercians, however, were only a stricter sect of the Benedictines. The early training of Gilbert had been mainly Cistercian, and we shall therefore probably be right in saying that Stixwould Priory was at first a Gilbertine, and afterwards changed to a Benedictine establishment of the strictest order. As to the strictness of the regulations, we gather full evidence from the accounts given by Dr. Oliver, in his “Religious Houses on the Witham,” from which we here make a few quotations. We may premise that, although the sisterhood consisted nominally of a Prioress and Nuns, there was a resident male “Master of the Nuns” (Court Rolls, 6 Richard I.); and, at times, at least, according to Leland (“Collect.,” i., p. 92), there were also “Brothers” (fratres), as at the Sempringham House, which Gilbert founded. The time of the nuns was chiefly spent in works of charity, reading legends of the Saints, solitary meditation and prayer (a perfunctory repetition of devotions, which must too often have been deadening, rather than invigorating, to spiritual life), and needlework, such as the embroidery of altar cloths, &c. {196a} They were not even allowed to converse with each other, except on permission from the Prioress; they could only converse with friends from outside through a grating “of the length of a finger, and barely a thumb’s breadth,” and with a veil over it, in the presence of two “discreet sisters”; and all letters were inspected by the Prioress. The Convent was so shut in by walls, as “scarcely (it was said) to leave an entrance for birds,” and, during divine service, the door of the choir, where they sat, was closed, so that they could not see, or be seen by, strangers. The diet was of the plainest, and if a nun was disobedient, it was reduced to bread and water. They were not allowed to go beyond the Priory walls except to visit the sick, or attend funerals; and even in the Priory garden, usually a resort for monastic recreation, but an indulgence only granted to these sisters on Sundays and festivals,