and
deportment, as is shown by the peculiar enjoinment that they were not
to look fixedly on any man, or to romp or frolic with him; neither
were they to allow any man to see them unveiled, nor to embrace any
man, either an acquaintance or a stranger. The convivial nature of
some of the nuns is revealed by an order commanding them not to "use
the alehouse or the watercourses where strangers daily resort, or
bring in, receive, or take any layman, religious or secular, into
the chamber, or any secret place, day or night, or with them in such
private places to commune, eat, or drink, without license of your
prioress." The monastery which is described by Wriothesley as the most
virtuous religious house in England, Sion Monastery, was under an even
stricter rule. Conversation with secular persons was permitted only
by the license of the abbess from noon to vespers, and only then on
Sundays and the great feast days of the saints. Sion Monastery was
subjected to the further restriction that the nuns might not receive
their friends, but could converse with them by sitting at appointed
windows, in the presence of the abbess. If any sister desired to be
seen by "her parents or honest friends," she might, by the special
permission of the abbess, open the window occasionally during the
year; but if she had the self-denial to forego this privilege, a
greater reward was assured her in the hereafter.

Despite the criticism to which the monastic system of the Middle
Ages may justly be subjected, it would be great remissness to fail
in appreciation of the tremendous work of civilization which was
performed by its expositors. They were the centres of culture, as well
as of benevolence; in the convents, and also in the monasteries, there
could always be found a select library, which included works of the
classic authors, as well as books of religion. The nuns, as a class,
were well educated for their time. They could read Latin, and were
qualified to direct the education of the novices who came under their
training. Even in the ninth century, some of the continental convents
had such high repute as educational centres that children were sent
long distances to get the benefit of the opportunities they offered;
and in this respect England was no whit behind, for children were
sent from the continent to be educated in the schools established
by Theodorus and Hadrian. This fact is the more to the credit of the
English schools, as the tide ha