asteries, besides relieving the
sick and poor and teaching the boys and girls, threw open their doors
readily to any poor lad who desired to take the vows of the Order.

[Illustration: RUINS OF GATEWAY OF BERMONDSEY ABBEY.]

All this is a misconception: there were the same difficulties about
relieving the poor as there are with us at the present moment. That is
to say, indiscriminate charity then, as now, turned honest working men
into paupers. This the monks and friars understood very well. They were
therefore careful about their charities. Also in many Houses the school
was allowed to drop into disuse. And as regards the admission of poor
boys it was done only in cases where a boy showed himself quick and
studious. It has been the glory of the Church in all ages that she has
refused to recognise any barrier of birth: but she has also been careful
to preserve her distinctions for those who deserve them. Most of the
brethren in a rich Foundation were of gentle birth and good family. If a
poor boy asked to join a monastery he was lucky if he was allowed to
become one of its servants and to wear its livery. Then his livelihood
was assured. There is every reason to believe that the rule of the
brethren, strict for themselves, was light and easy for their servants.
You may find out for yourselves where the London monasteries were, by
the names of streets now standing on their sites. Thus, following the
line of the wall from the Tower north and west you find St. Katharine's
Dock where stood St. Katharine's Hospital: the Minories marks the House
of the Minorites or Sisters of St. Clare; Great St. Helens is on the
site of St. Helen's Nunnery: Spital Square stands where St. Mary's
Spital formerly received the sick: Blackfriars, Charter House and
Bartholomew's still keep their name: Austin Friars is the name of a
court and the Friars' Church still stands: Whitefriars is still the name
of a street: Grey Friars is Christ's Hospital: the Temple is now the
lawyer's home; part of the Church of the Knights Hospitallers is still
to be seen. Three great Houses, it is true, have left no trace or memory
behind. Eastminster or the Cistercian Abbey of St. Mary of Grace, which
stood north of St. Katharine's, and was a very great and stately place
indeed: the Priory of the Holy Trinity, which stood where is now Duke's
Place, north of the church of St. Catharine Cree: and St. Mary of
Bethlehem, which stood just outside Bishopsgate. The memory