with difficulty and sometimes with danger. Even if there
were some who cared to read, and who would fain go in imagination to
other scenes and times, MSS. were difficult to come by, and costly
withal. Wholly different was it in the religious houses. In these,
women associated with their equals, with whom they could interchange
ideas, and the library was well furnished with MSS. of classical and
Christian writers. One of the first cares of St. Benedict, in the case
of every newly founded house, was the formation of the library. So
held in honour did this tradition become, and so assiduously was it
pursued, that the status of a monastery or a convent, as a centre of
learning, came to be estimated by its wealth in MSS. Besides the mass
of transcribing which such rivalry occasioned, there was illuminating
to be done, musical notation to be studied and prepared for the
services of the Church, chants and choir-singing to be practised, and
the needful time to be devoted to weaving and embroidery--a part of
every woman's education. Weaving had of necessity to be done in every
convent in order to provide the requisite clothing for its inmates,
and the large and often elaborate hangings used for covering the
walls. Embroidery, on the other hand, was no mere occupation, or even
a craft, but in truth a fine art. The few specimens still preserved
give some idea of the quality of the work, whilst old inventories
attest the quantity. Illuminated MSS. of the Gospels and the
Apocalypse were lent from royal treasuries, and their miniatures were
copied, with needle and silk, to adorn vestments and altar hangings.
Then at Gandersheim, as we have already said, the occasional visits of
princely travellers brought interest and diversion from the outside
world. It was in an atmosphere such as this that Roswitha passed her
days.

Of her work, the metrical legends seem her earliest effort. In these,
though they are mainly based on well-known themes, Roswitha shows much
originality in description. Whilst they need not detain us, passing
reference may be made to two of them--the Passion of St. Pelagius of
Cordova, and the Fall and Conversion of Theophilus--since their
subject matter is of value to us to-day. The one interests us because,
in relating that the story was told her by an eye-witness of the
martyrdom in A.D. 925 (_Acta SS._ Jun. V.), she shows that
communication existed between that great intellectual centre, Cordova,
and Germany, a fa