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ORIGIN OF FOUNTAINS ABBEY. 1 29
magnificence of its latter house was in strange contrast
with the austere asceticism of those who first
sought retirement and soHtude on the banks of the
Skell.
St. Mary's Abbey, whose ruins form one of the
most interesting features of York, was found by
Thurstan in no very satisfactory state. Its discipline
was more than lax. The rule of the great and saintly
man by which they professed to be governed was a
dead letter. The great majority of the inmates were
turbulent, quarrelsome, and insubordinate. Yet there
were some amongst them who yearned for a better
state of things and ardently sought reformation. The
usual fate of reformers was theirs. They were met
by hatred, opposition, and contumely. Counsel was
sought from the Archbishop, and he appointed a
day for the visitation of the monastery. He went in
state, attended by the Dean and the chief dignitaries
of the Minster. Little was the respect shewn to the
prelate's person, scant the reverence to his sacred
office. Entrance was denied him. Hoots and yells
drowned his remonstrances. His menace of putting
the monastery under an interdict was received with
derision, and so wild became the tumult that the
populace began to gather in great number. Thurstan
deemed it wiser to withdraw before further violence
ensued. Thirteen monks— the reforming party
whose earnest piety had long been scandalised by the
self-indulgent, careless lives of the majority of their
brethren, contrived with some difficulty to make their
exit from St. Mary's and accompany the Archbishop
in his retreat. He gave them an asylum for a time,
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