The fame belonging to this noble foundation exceeded that of any other great building in England. An old writer tells us, “Kings and queens, not only of the west Saxons, but of other kingdoms; several archbishops and bishops; many dukes; and the nobility of both sexes thought themselves happy in increasing the revenues of this venerable house, to ensure themselves a place of burial therein.” The story of the burial of St Joseph of Arimathæa at Glastonbury, to us a mere shadowy legend, was accepted as a fact in the early English ages, and that it figured in the mind of these worthies as endowing Glastonbury with extraordinary sanctity, is beyond doubt. At the time of the Dissolution no corruption whatever was revealed at Glastonbury, nor any blame recorded against its management. It was still doing splendid work, having daily services and extending its educational influence for miles around. There was but scanty comfort for its inmates, who rested on a straw mattress and bolster on their narrow bedstead in a bare cell, and whose food, duties and discipline were marked by an austere simplicity. Nor were they idle, these monks of Glastonbury,--some taught in the abbey school, others toiled in the orchards, and the beauty of the stained glass, designed within the abbey walls, found fame far and wide. Richard Whiting was Abbot of Glastonbury when in 1539 Henry VIII. ordered inquiries to be made into the condition and property of the abbey. Although he recognised the monarch as supreme head of the church, he respected the Glastonbury traditions and met the “visitors” in a spirit of passive resistance. With the object of preserving them from desecration, the abbot had concealed some of the communion vessels, and for this offence the venerable man was tried, and condemned to death. His head, white with the touch of eighty years, was fixed upon the abbey gate, and the rest of his body quartered and sent to Bath, Wells, Bridgwater and Ilchester. The abbey building--one of the most perfect examples of architecture in the land--served as a stone quarry, much of the material being used to make a road over the fenland from Glastonbury to Wells. The revenue at the time of the Dissolution was over £3000, a big income in those days. BATH (_Benedictine_) The history of Bath Abbey is tersely and comprehensively put on a brass tablet on the lower part of the screen which admits to the south aisle of the chancel. It may serve in lieu of the ordinary table of notable events concerning the abbey, for it runs as follows:-- “In 775 the first Cathedral was built by King Offa. In 973 King Edgar was crowned therein. About 1010 the church was destroyed by Sweyne the Dane, And rebuilt by John de Villula, 1018-1122. In 1137 partly destroyed by fire, it was subsequently restored by Bishop Robert, 1136-1166.