parture, and left the monastery never to return
thither; but he knew not how soon he should be removed to a Higher Mount.
In thus leaving the place and the Brothers he overcame his natural man
and fulfilled the law of charity, following, in his death, the example of
Christ. Therefore he entered into the Monastery of Mary, Mother of
Christ, which is in the Wood, and within a few days he there made an end
of his life, and was buried by the Brothers of the House aforesaid. Our
Brother Egbert hath told me that long ago Gerard Groote had said to our
brother: "Wolfard, thou shalt know two conversions," for in the days of
Master Gerard, Wolfard had begun to be well disposed to the religious
life, but afterward he was turned away to the world: yet after many
years, by the grace of God, it came about that he was again pricked to
the heart, and, leaving his pastoral charge, he changed his worldly life,
and was among the first of the Brothers to take the religious habit, and
he thus ended his life with a happy death struggle.

CHAPTER XII.

_How Brother William Forniken was chosen to be the second Prior in the
House of Mount St. Agnes_.

In the year of the Lord 1408, on the Vigil of Ascension Day, Brother
William Vorniken, from the Monastery at Windesem, was chosen to be Prior
of Mount St. Agnes. He was the second Prior of our House, which he ruled
for seventeen years, being a lover of poverty and discipline. After that
he was taken away from us he was promoted to the Superior House at
Windesem, and became Father General of all our Order. He it was who
looked to the roofing of the church, the making of new stalls in the
choir, and the provision of fair vestments to be worn by priests and
servers on festivals. Also he enlarged the borders of the monastery, and
surrounded the whole with a wall of stone; he built a new dwelling for
the husbandmen and placed a byre for cattle near the gate, likewise in
the year of his departure he began to make a mill and to build a brewery.
In several places he planted trees of divers kinds, of which some were
fruit trees; and he made smooth the slopes of the mountain, which for the
most part still remained steep, and this he did by carrying away the
sandy soil.

He ordered the altars to be beautified with pictures, and good store of
books to be written for the choir and the library. Yet in the midst of
all these things poverty and simplicity were dear to him, and with his
own hand h