1. Abbey at Bruffels, established in the year 1598. 2. Abbey at Cambray, in 1623. 3. Abbey at Ghent, 1624. 4. Abbey at Paris, 1651. 5. Abbey at Pontoife, 1652. 6. Abbey at Dunkirk, 1662. 7. Abby at Ipres, a filiation from that of Ghent in 1665; given over to Irish nuns, part whereof went to Dublin in 1685 or 1686; the reft remained at Ipres till 1794. IV. Carthufian Monks. The monaftery of Shene, near Richmond, in Surrey, founded by king Henry V. in 1416; retired to Bruges in 1559; next to Louvain in 1578; then to Mechlen in 1591; and finally fettled at Nieuport in Flanders 1626, till their fuppreffion in 1783. 2. A college of Dominicans in Louvain, dependent on the convent of Bornhem. Women. of the members retired to Bruges, in Flanders; from whence they returned to London, in June, 1555, and remained in the Savoy till November, 1556, when poffeffion was given them of the Chartreufe of Shene, near Richmond in Surrey, and they were foon after formally reinstated therein by letters patent of cardinal Pole, bearing date December 31, 1556. After the acceffion of queen Flizabeth to the throne, these monks, by the interceffion of don Gomez di Figuerofa, duke of Feria, the Spanish ambaffador in England, were permitted to depart the kingdom in a body unmolefted, being in humbertwelve profeffed monks, and three converfe brothers. Their prior was den Maurice Chauncey, who wrote the hiftory of their emigration, printed at Mentz. They arrived in Flanders July 1, 1559, and retired to the Chartreafe at Bruges, where they remained till 1569, when they removed to a large houfe in St. Clare's Strect, in the fame city. The 19th of April, 1578, they were driven out of Bruges by the Geufian faction, and palling through Lille, Douay, Cambray, and St. Quintin's, they went to the Chartreufe near Noyon, where they flaid till the 5th of July following; from whence returning to the Low Countries by the way of Namur, they arrived at the Chartrenfe of Louvain the 17th of the fame month. Here they were received and lodged by order of don Juan of Aufiria till 1500 or 1591. Prior Chauncey died at Paris, July 12, 1581, in his return from Spain, where he had been to folicit fuccours for his com munity, and had obtained an annual penfion from Philip II. but which was never regularly paid, efpecially under his fucceffors. Chauncey was fucceeded as prior by don Walter Pytts, who feeing his community uneafy at Louvain, is faid by feveral hiftorians of the Low Countries to have removed it to Antwerp in the year 1590; but this does not appear from any certain records of the time. However that was, the next year, 1591, he bought a large houfe in the Bleek-freet at Mechlin, where the community refided till its removal to Nieuport in Flanders, in September, 1626, by virtue of a charter given by Philip IV. of Spain, bearing date Bruffels, June 20, 1626. The fame king made a grant to this house of about 250 acres of land in the neighbourhood of Nieuport, in lieu of the annual penfion given by Philip II. Here this community remained until its final fuppreffion by the emperor Jofeph II. in the year 1783, at which time it was reduced in number to three profefied monks and two lay-brothers. It is to be obferved, that this was the only English community of religious men that had never been difperfed or extinct fince the reign of queen Mary. In its library, which was confiderable and well chofen, there was a moft beautiful large folio Bible, written written on vellum in the 12th These religious women were of a feat of the duke of Northum berland, where they had been re-eltablished by queen Mary. In the year 1559 they obtain ed, by means of the Spanish ambasador, duke of Feria, a fafe conduct to leave the nation; and they retired first into Zealand: from thence they went to Antwerp, where they refided in 1571, and fome time after, Civil wars raging in the Low Countries, and elpecially at Antwerp, thefe nuns were obliged to feek fome other refuge, and fled into Normandy, and from thence they went to Lisbon,* where they had obtained a fettlement which fubfifts to the prefent time, and is now almoft the only The following curious particulars refpecting thefe nuns were communicated by the learned Mr. Corrêa de Serra, F. S. A. &c. in a letter to the fecretary, dated Pentonville, 10th of March, 1800" Sir, from the two Portuguese books, quoted in the end of this note, and which are in the library of chevalier d'Almeyda, our ambalador, I have been able to collect the following information: "On the fourth day of May, in the year 1594, arrived in the port of Lisbon fifteen English nuns of the order of St. Bridget, with a novice, accompanied by three fathers of the fame order. They were the only remaining part of the community of Mount Sion, near London, which, before the abolition of tha monaftery, confifted of fixty nuns and twenty-five friers, who after that difaftrous event had wandered through France and Flanders, in an unfettled ftate, and forced by the wars to change often their asylum. On their arrival at Lisbon, they were hofpitably received by the Francifcan nuns of the monaftery of our lady la Efperanca, and in that convent they lived, till Ifabel de Azevedo, a noble lady, made them a gift of fome houfes and grounds in the placé called Mocambo, where they built their church and monaftery. The then reigning fovereign Philip II. endowed them with a penfion of two mil res's per diem (11 thillings 1 penny halfpenny,) and twelve mayos of wheat yearly (36 English quarters,) paid from the revenue of the fens belonging to the crown at Santarem. This revenue they enjoy at prefent, and betides that, feveral legacies of boufes and lands. As far back as 1712, their revenge was valued at five thousand cruzados. The facraments are adminiftered to them by two fecular priests, one of whom is also the administrator of the temporal concerns of the community. "On the 17th of August, 1651, both church and monaftery were burnt to the ground, and the nuns of Efperanca afforded again for five years an afylum to the diftreffed English nuns. In the fame year, 1651, on the fecond of October, the first ftone was laid in the foundations of the new building, and in 1656 they returned to their prefent monaftery. The church was finished fome time atter, by the benefaction of Ruy Correa Lucas, and his wife, D. Milicia, who remained with the honours and profits of the advowson. Geografia Hiftorica of Lima, t. II. p. 150. Corografia Portuguesa of Carvatho, t. lií. p 515, and following. I have only one of nuns that remains on the continent of Europe. It is to be observed of this convent, as has just been said of the Carthufians, that it is the only English community of religious women which has never been separated or extinct fince the reign of queen Mary. All the other English convents, both of men and women, were begun anew much later, as will be seen presently. 3. Douay College. 5. This firft and principal establishment of English fecular clergy was begun in the year 1568, by Dr. Allen, afterwards cardinal and archbishop of Mechlin. The civil wars obliged it to retire to Rheims in 1578; but it returned again to Douay in 1593, where it conftantly flourished till its deftruction under the French revolution in 1793. The only fix income which this college enjoyed was a penfion from the fee of Rome of 2000 Roman crowns per annum, which was duly paid to the laft. This college was a member of the univerfity of Douay, and in it was taught claffical learning, as well as philofophy and divinity. It 6, has produced a great number of diftinguifhed men. 4 Roman College. This was originally founded at Rome by the Saxon king Ina, in the year 718, for an hofpital for English pilgrims; but by a bull of pope Gregory XIII. dated May 24, 1578, it was turned into a college for the education of English clergy. It had scarce been a year in the hands of the fecular clergy, when the direction of it was given to the Jefuits, in whofe hands it remained till the extinction of their fociety in 1775, But at all times those who were educated in it were obliged to remain in the state of fecular clergy. The revenues of this college, which still fubfifts at Rome, are about 1500/. fterling a year. College at Valladolid. This establishment was obtained by the folicitations of father Robert Parfons, the Jefuit, and was completed in May, 1589, for the education of feçular clergy, but under the direction of the Jefuits, as it remained till the expulfion of their fo ciety out of Spain. Since then it was put into the hands of the clergy from Douay-college.The yearly revenues obtained from the court of Spain by fa ther Parfons for this college, amounted in the year 1605 to 4000 crowns. 7. Colleges at Madrid and Seville. These were established for the education of fecular clergy, about the fame time, and by the fame means, as that of Valladolid; but being fmall, and their revenues very precarious, they never made any "I have omitted on purpofe feveral accounts this last author, p. 516 and 519, because they are credit to our clergy of miracles and prophecies related by useless to the history, and do little I am, fir, Moft refpectfully your's, Jof. Corrêa di Serra." con confiderable appearance, and at last fell to nothing. 8. St. Omer's College. This was established in the year 1594, by the zeal and industry of father Parfons, and it con tinued to be the principal establishment of the English Jefuits till their fuppreffion in France, on which occafion thofe who occupied it removed to Bruges, in Flanders, where they inftituted a greater and lesser college; the firft of which ceafed on the extinction of the fociety in 1773, and the other foon afterwards came to nothing under fome English Dominicans, who had been put into it by the government of the Low Countries. The great college at St. Omer's, in the year 1764, was put into the hands of the English clergy of Douay, in the quality of a royal college, and it remained so till it was annihilated by the alldevouring French revolution, in 1793. 9. Benedictine Nuns at Bruffels. This was the first new convent erected on the continent by religious perfons of the English nation. It took place in the year 1598, by the zeal and induftry of lady Mary Berkely, who was firft abbefs of it, and of lady Mary Percy, a Benedictine nun. Befides their res gular duties as religious, they were occupied in the education of young ladies. On the approach of the French to Bruffels, in June, 1794, thefe religious ladies fled out of the Low Countries. 10. English Seminary in Paris. This feminary was begun about 11. the year 1600, being intended not only for taking degrees in the university of Paris, but allo for maintaining a number of learned men, who were to be employed in writing books of controverfy, in oppofition to a like defign of Dr. Suttcliffe in founding Chelfea-college. But this establishment was several times interrupted, and the members difperfed, until the year 1667, when the foundation was confiderably augmented by a Mr. Carr, alias Pickney, a member of Douay-college. Yet it was not entirely completed till many years afterwards, when Dr. Betham was put at the head of it; and he, by the help of 'benefactions, bought a handfome house and garden in the Rue des Pofles, Fauxbourg St. Marceau, Calling it St. Gre -gory's Seminary, and obtaining the confirmation thereof from the French king by letters patent of the year 1701. This eftablishment, like all the reft within the fphere of the French revolution, was deftroyed in 1793. Poor Clares at Gravelines. This convent of religious women of the order of St. Francis, was erected in the year 1603, by the endeavours of the reverend John Gennings, a religious of the branch of the fame order called Recollects. Several colonies from thus mother-houfe fettled afterwards at different places. It fubfifted till 1793, when it anderwent the fate of all the other religious establisinments in France. 12. Bene |