book shelves;-a Carthusian understands all this by the word "cell."

The Church at the London Charterhouse consisted of the sanctuary, a long choir, and a very short nave, called the Brothers' Choir. Between the two choirs was a rood screen with gates in the midst, while on either side, against the screen in all probability, there stood two altars. A lamp hung in the midst of this smaller choir, and was lighted whenever the lay brothers were present at the Office; there was another lamp in the Fathers' Choir beyond the screen, and a third always burning in the sanctuary before the Blessed Sacrament. To the east of the Church stood the Chapter House.' It was a large chapel, with an altar surmounted, at least in later times, by a great crucifix; and all along the wall on either side were seats for the community. The Refectory, marked "freytor" on the plan, appears to have opened into the Great Cloister. The Prior's cell was close by. Further to the south-west of the Charterhouse were the Little Cloister, Guest House, and lay brothers' quarters. These buildings are not clearly or correctly indicated on the plan, which was evidently drawn simply to show the conduit that conveyed water to various parts of the monastery. "Egypte, the fleyshe

1 See plan.

2

2 Chauncy's Historia aliquot Martyrum Anglorum, maxime octodecim Cartusianorum (ed. 1888), p. 82.

THE FLESH-POTS OF EGYPT.

25

Kychyn," was at the entrance gate, and can have had no door within the enclosure; for the flesh-pots of Egypt are unknown in Charterhouses, and absolutely forbidden to all professed Carthusians.

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CHAPTER III.

LIFE IN THE CLOISTER-THE LAY BROTHERS' LIFE-OBJECTIONS

TO THE CARTHUSIAN RULE.

SOME details of the daily life of the inmates of the London Charterhouse may be gathered from a general knowledge of the Rule which is observed in all the monasteries of the Carthusian Order.

The sons of St. Bruno are, and have always been, entirely devoted to what is called the contemplative life, as distinguished from that known as mixed or active, employing all their time in prayer, in study, and in manual labour, and never undertaking-except in obedience to the Apostolic See, or in some extraordinary emergency-any kind of exterior mission.

It must not, however, be supposed that a Carthusian's contemplation implies a lazy, useless, objectless squandering away of the precious moments our Creator has given us, in order that we may employ them to His honour and glory.

The Divine Office takes up a considerable part of a Carthusian's time, portioning out the various

"THE GREAT WATCH."

27

hours of the day. As-if such a comparison may be made the times for work or pleasure come in between, and are in a certain manner determined by the different meal-times, for persons living in the world; so in the monastery, holy Mass, private prayer, spiritual reading, study, and manual labour fill up the intervening moments between the various

divisions of the Office.

Many people are thinking of retiring to rest when the Carthusian monks begin their day's work, and in the Middle Ages, when late hours were unknown, it was the dead of night; for between ten and eleven o'clock in the evening the Sacristan rings the first bell for Matins. The religious called excitator, because it is his business to awaken his brethren, has already performed his duty, and every monk, on hearing the great bell, repairs to his pricDieu, where, after a short preparation, he recites the Matins and Lauds of Our Lady's Office, followed by some prayers for the restoration of the Holy Land to the Christians.

The daily recitation in privato of the Office of the Blessed Virgin dates from the time of St. Bruno. The prayers for the restoration of the Holy Land are not so ancient. They were ordered by the Council of Lateran (1215) to be recited during Mass; and when the obligation ceased, the Carthusians continued to say them in their cells; and they say them still.

After a little free time, the second bell rings, and, taking their lanterns to guide their footsteps through the sombre cloisters, the monks hurry to the Church for Matins and Lauds of the Canonical Office, separated sometimes by a portion of the Office of the Dead. Thus the Carthusians frequently have three Offices on the same day, the greater part of the longest being sung with notes, but without instrumental accompaniment. The fatigue of this nocturnal service is considerable, and the slower the singing proceeds the greater the tax upon both physical and mental power. At London the chanting, at least in the sixteenth century, was very slow;1 and before Lauds there was an interval, which has since been reduced to a few moments on certain days, and entirely abolished on others. They still sing rather slowly at the Grande Chartreuse, while in the other monasteries of the Order, the monks being less numerous, it is customary to chant a little faster.

2

During this night Office, and in the Refectory, the Carthusians read almost the whole Bible in the course of every year, besides many extracts from the writings of the Fathers of the Church. The Breviary, it may be worth while observing, differs considerably from the Roman, nor is it wholly like

1 Chauncy's Historia (ed. 1888), p. 69.

2 In a treatise on the Statutes of our Order attributed to Prior Batmanson we read thus: "Cantatis nocturnis breve facimus intervallum, in quo spatio qui voluerit remanere potest in choro stans vel sedens. . ." (Brit. Mus. MSS., Cotton, Nero A. III., fol 139).