St Aldhelm, master of oratory, master of music and master of Greek, Latin, and Saxon letters, was buried in the precincts of Malmesbury. Fuller writes that, “the English monks were bookish themselves and much inclined to bound up monuments of learning.” This can be applied to Malmesbury more perhaps than any other monastic house. For 400 years the monks worked not only at translating the Greek and Latin Classics, compiling and writing theological books and books on law, but also in illuminating these books, and in binding them in gilded and jewelled covers. This huge library was destroyed to the last folio, while the manuscripts were used for such purposes as stopping the bungholes of barrels of special ale, and for lighting the bakery ovens. The splendid traditions as well as the location of Malmesbury might have led one to expect its inclusion among the abbeys destined after the Dissolution for preservation as cathedrals. Malmesbury was surrendered on December 15th, 1539, by Robert Frampton, who accepted a pension amounting in the money of our time to about £2000 a year. LACOCK (_Augustine Nuns_) 1232, Founded by Ella, widow of William Longespee, Earl of Salisbury, for nuns--1246, The foundress elected abbess--1539, Dissolved. Annual revenue, £168, 9s. 2d. The ruined walls of Lacock, or “waterlea,” stand in an open meadow on the banks of the river Avon, sheltered by many stately trees. Though the church was totally destroyed at the time of the Dissolution, many of the conventual parts remained unchanged, and are decidedly the best preserved of any nunnery in the kingdom. The cloisters were built in the reign of Henry IV.; the chapter-house and sacristy--both of two aisles divided by four pillars--are on the east side; the great hall on the north; and the ambulatory--above which is the dormitory--on the west. The remains of a former bathroom can be discerned near the sacristy. The historical and legendary associations of Lacock Abbey are of exceptional interest, and are fully dealt with in the Rev. Canon Bowles’ _History of Lacock_. The abbey was founded in 1232 by Ella, Countess of Salisbury, in pious remembrance of her husband William Longespee, brother of Richard Cœur de Lion. The Earl, who was in close attendance on King John, assisted in founding Salisbury Cathedral, and died by poisoning in 1226. A few years afterwards Ella, directed by visions, founded the monastery and became abbess of her own establishment. This office she retained until five years before her death, when she retired from monastic life. She was buried in the church, but though at the Dissolution the bones of the foundress and her family were scattered, her epitaph and stone were preserved with the cloisters and cells of the nuns. NETLEY (_Cistercian_)