[Footnote 945: This Act has generally been
considered a failure, but recent research does not
confirm this view (see Joshua Williams, _Principles
of the Law of Real Property_, 18th ed., 1896).]

[Footnote 946: _L. and P._, x., 246.]

The way for this great revolution had been carefully prepared during
the previous autumn and winter. In virtue of his new and effective
supremacy, Henry had ordered a general visitation of the monasteries
throughout the greater part of the kingdom; and the reports of these
visitors were made the basis of parliamentary action. On the face of
them they represent a condition of human depravity which has rarely
been equalled;[947] and the extent to which those reports are worthy
of credit will always remain a point of contention. The visitors
themselves were men of doubtful character; indeed, respectable men
could hardly have been persuaded to do the work. Their methods were
certainly harsh; the object of their mission was to get up a case for
the Crown, and they probably used every means in their power to induce
the monks and the nuns to incriminate themselves. Perhaps, too, an
entirely false impression may be created by the fact that in most
cases only the guilty are mentioned; the innocent are often passed
over in silence, and the proportion between the two is not recorded.
Some of the terms employed in the reports are also open to dispute; it
is possible that in many instances the stigma of unchastity (p. 338)
attached to a nun merely meant that she had been unchaste before
entering religion,[948] and it is known that nunneries were considered
the proper resort for ladies who had not been careful enough of their
honour.

[Footnote 947: See the documents in _L. and P._,
vols. ix., x. The most elaborate criticism of the
Dissolution is contained in Gasquet's _Henry VIII.
and the Monasteries_, 2 vols., 4th ed. 1893; some
additional details and an excellent monastic map
will be found in Gairdner's _Church History_,
1902.]

[Footnote 948: "Religion" of course in the middle
ages and sixteenth century was a term almost
exclusively applied to the monastic system, and the
most ludicrous mistakes ar