St. Benedict did not decide of what colour the habit should be; but it appears, from the inspection of ancient pictures, that the garment worn by the first Benedictines was white, and the scapular black—that the scapular then worn was not of the same shape as that used by the Order in the present day. It was more like the jerkins or jackets worn by sailors, except that it was not open in front, but only a little in the sides. That description of garment had been long in use before the common garment, worn by the peasantry and poor people, was introduced. This will be understood by referring to the woodcut.
A black woollen robe covers the whole body and feet; the hood is loose, obtuse, oval, and broad; the scapulary is plain, of the breadth of the abdomen; the girdle is broad, with a black cowl descending to the ancles. The inner tunics, in general, are black, and the shirt is narrow at the wrist; but in the house, the monk lays aside the hood, girds his scapulary, and wears a crested or twofold cap on his head. Owing to the sombre hue that prevailed in their habit, they were called Black Friars.[415]
The Nuns of this Order wear a black robe, with a scapular of the same colour and texture; and under this black robe they wear a tunic of wool that has not been dyed; others wear the tunic quite white. In the choir, or upon solemn occasions, they wear over all a black cowl, like that of the monks; but in the engravings of Benedictine Sisters, a black veil and white wimple are introduced.
Authorities quoted or referred to in the preceding articles:—History of Monmouth—Pembroke—Glamorgan—English Baronage—Monasticon—Memoir of Owen Glendower—Welsh Genealogical History—King’s Munimenta Antiq.—Carlisle and Lewis’ Wales—Roscoe’s South Wales—Illustrations of Magna Charta—Life of Charles I.—Mem. of Cromwell and the Parliament—Puritanism in Wales—the English Historians and Chroniclers—with most of the Authorities, local and national, already enumerated in the preceding sections of the work.
Chepstow.—The reference to the Appendix, in the note at the bottom of page 32, is explained in the account of Neath Abbey.
[In the course of this work, it has been our pleasing duty to refer to numerous authors, ancient and modern, on whose authority, in the various branches of Archæology, our observations have been frequently based; and now that we are closing another volume, it would be injustice to the memory of departed worth to pass over in comparative silence the author of “Tinterne Abbey and its Vicinity.” Mr. W. Hearde Thomas, by whose premature death the republic of letters has lost a zealous and valuable contributor, was many years a medical practitioner in the retired village of Tinterne-Parva; where, in the exercise of his profession among a widely-scattered population, he had daily opportunities of visiting those classic and time-hallowed remains with which the county of Monmouth is so greatly enriched, and thus collected materials for the local guide-book which associates his name so favourably with Tinterne Abbey and other historical sites, which have recently passed under our notice.
The merits of his little work—far above the ordinary hand-books of the day—were speedily noticed by the press in terms of approbation and encouragement. To the various objects which he undertook to illustrate, he brought the united tastes and acquirements of historian, antiquary, and poet—the result of much reading, close observation, and a delicate perception of those natural beauties which are so profusely scattered along the banks of the Wye. To these were added an early taste for Natural history,[416] which was assiduously and successfully cultivated during his residence at Tinterne. To him the embroidery of flowers, the “garniture of fields”—mountain, forest, and “minnowy brook,” were objects of never-failing interest and contemplation, the results of which he had purposed in due time to lay before the public.
For the prosecution of these studies, a visit to Canada, and personal examination of its natural history, had given him various facilities not to be acquired on this side of the Atlantic. But his constitution, naturally delicate, had slowly given way under the combined influence of mental and bodily fatigue; and when overtaken at last by the heaviest of domestic calamities—the death of his wife—such was the prostration of his health and spirits, that, as a last resource, he made preparation to emigrate to one of our colonies, where the effects of a genial climate were held out as the only means of re-establishing his health, and opening a wider and safer field for the exercise of professional talent and industry.