under the presidency of the "Pater Universalis Ordinis"-the Abbot of Citeaux.

The uniformity which enables us, in passing from one Cistercian ruin to another, to predict with certainty what buildings we shall find or trace, and where, is one of the results of that body of statutes, the "Carta Caritatis," as it was called, which Stephen Harding, the Englishman, presented to his assembled abbots in 1119. And to this uniformity is attributed, with much probability, the remarkably rapid spread of the pointed arch after its first appearance in England. Two other peculiarities, the one a characteristic quality, the other a noticeable feature, of Cistercian architecture, owe their origin and significance to the founders of the order.

The first is their simplicity. All original Cistercian work is plain and good. A severe self-restraint everywhere forces the loving ardour of these wifeless and childless builders to flow in narrow channels. The zeal of the sacred house is eating them up, but they have to hold their eager hands from lofty tower and lavish decoration, and spend themselves upon the perfect utterance of lowly thoughts.

were

Robert, Alberic, Stephen, and Bernard monastic Puritans. Not only were their churches and the dresses and diet of their monks plain and

humble, but their very eucharistic vessels and priestly vestments were rigidly reformed. The typical Cistercian presbytery was without aisles, though the usual chapels east of the transepts were permitted and adopted. In the domestic arrangements the same simplicity prevailed. In place of the lordly dwelling of the Benedictine abbot, the Cistercian had probably but a single private room, and a bed in the common dorter of the monks.

The Benedictines, whose original garb had been simply the usual clothing of the peasants, had learnt to be curious in party-coloured silks, in which they paraded upon costly mules; but the "white monk,” rejecting all raiment not prescribed by St. Benedict, confined his wardrobe to the tunic, the scanty sleeveless scapular, and the pointed cowl. When he was "in choir" it is true he threw a cuculla, or large mantle, over his working dress, and when, in permitted boots and spurs he rode abroad, this garment would be black or gray. The second note of a Cistercian house to which we have referred the accommodation provided for the conversi or lay brethren -is so much more conspicuous at Fountains than at Rievaulx that its explanation will be best and most intelligibly given when the former is under discussion.

Rievaulx, founded in 1131, was the first Cistercian

house in Yorkshire, and its abbot was head of the order in England.

Walter l'Espec, the brave soldier and skilful leader, who fought in the Battle of the Standard, and founded the castle of Helmsley, was also the founder of three abbeys. These were Kirkham (on the Derwent), Wardon in Bedfordshire, and Rievaulx on the Rie.

"An old man and full of days, quick-witted, prudent in counsel, moderate in peace, circumspect in war, a true friend, and a loyal subject. His stature was passing tall, his limbs all of such size as not to exceed their just proportions, and yet to be well matched with his great height. His hair was still black, his beard long and flowing, his forehead wide and noble, his eyes large and bright, his face broad but well-featured, his voice like the sound of a trumpet, setting off his natural eloquence of speech with a certain majesty of sound."

Such is the portrait left to us by Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx, of Walter l'Espec, its founder. Such was the man who eventually became a monk in his own abbey.

St. Bernard himself, having left Citeaux to rule his monastery of Clairvaux, sent from thence a body. of monks to that Northumbrian land which has been well called "the true English home of the Cistercian order." To his friend, Archbishop Thurstan of York, he commended the mission, and by Thurstan's