‘gild of St. Mary in the church of the Friars Minors[742],’ which no doubt supported one or more friars to say mass in one of the ten chapels. Of manual labour there is little evidence; the only kind mentioned is the transcription of manuscripts of which we have already spoken. We may here say a few words on two other points. Firstly, from what classes of society were the Franciscans mainly drawn? In the thirteenth century a very large number of men of position, of high birth, were attracted to the Order; but that this was unusual may be gathered from the rejoicings which took place over converts who were ‘_valentes in saeculo_[743].’ There is every reason to suppose that the Grey Friars, as well as the other students at the University, were mainly recruited from the sons of tradesmen, artisans, and villeins[744]. Friar Brackley, D.D. was the son of a Norwich dyer[745]; and the towns probably supplied the greater proportion of the Oxford Franciscans[746]. Secondly, what led men to take the vows of the Minorites? Excluding again the thirteenth century (when the highest motives were predominant), and confining ourselves to the later times, we must admit that, apart from those who entered the Order as boys, either from choice or at the instigation or compulsion of relatives[747]--the leading motive was a superstitious belief in the externals of religion, in the efficacy of ‘the washing of cups and pots.’ How strong this feeling was may be seen from the fact that Latimer was at one time in danger of yielding to it. ‘I have thought,’ he wrote to Sir Edward Baynton, ‘that if I had been a friar in a cowl, I could not have been damned, nor afraid of death; and in my sickness I have been tempted to become a friar[748].’ CHAPTER VIII. THE DISSOLUTION. Attitude of the Grey Friars towards the Reformation in its intellectual, religious, and political aspects.--The Divorce.--Visitation of Oxford in 1535.--Suppression of the friaries in 1538.--Condition of the Grey Friary.--Expulsion of the friars; their subsequent history; Simon Ludford.--Houses and site of the Grey Friars.--Dr. London tries to secure the land for the town.--The place leased to Frewers and Pye; bought by Richard Andrews and Howe; resold to Richard Gunter.--Subsequent history of the property.--Total destruction of the buildings.