The pupils were also taught what might be called fancy cookery, such as the making of sweetmeats. Writing, drawing, needlework of all kinds, and music, both vocal and instrumental, entered into the curriculum. “In the convents the female portion of the population found their only teachers, the rich as well as the poor, and the destruction of the religious houses by Henry was the absolute extinction of any systematic education for women during a long period. Thus at Winchester Convent, the list of the ladies being educated within the walls at the time of the suppression shows that these Benedictine nuns were training the children of the first families in the country. Carrow, in Norfolk, for centuries gave instruction to the daughters of the neighbouring gentry, and as early as A.D. 1273 a papal prohibition was obtained from Pope Gregory X., restraining the nobility from crowding this monastery with more sisters than its income would support.”[27] Of Mynchin Buckland we read-- “It was, doubtless, also a noted seminary for the daughters of the great neighbouring families. The Berkeleys, Erleghs, Montacutes, Wrothams, Bouchers, and others, were ever at home at Buckland, and learned from the good sisters all the mental accomplishments which they in after-life possessed. Reading, writing, some knowledge of arithmetic, the art of embroidery, music, and French, ‘after the scole of Stratford atte Bowe,’ were the recognized course of study, while the preparation of perfumes, balsams, simples, and confectionery was among the more ordinary departments of the education afforded.” When the suppression took place, the laity, who enjoyed great benefits from the presence of the religious houses, made ineffectual protests against their dissolution. The famous convent of Godstow, in Oxfordshire, was particularly regretted, as it was one-- “where there was great strictness of life, and to which were most of the young gentlewomen of the county sent to be bred, so that the gentry of the county desired the king would spare the house.” The abbess herself wrote a long letter to Thomas Cromwell, complaining of the treatment to which she was subjected. Some portions of it may be read with interest:--