afforded were in the habit of immuring themselves, as anchorites, or
in old English "Ankers," in little cells of stone, built usually
against the wall of a church. There is nothing new under the sun;
and similar anchorites might have been seen in Egypt, 500 years
before the time of St. Antony, immured in cells in the temples of
Isis or Serapis. It is only recently that antiquaries have
discovered how common this practice was in England, and how
frequently the traces of these cells are to be found about our
parish churches. They were so common in the Diocese of Lincoln in
the thirteenth century, that in 1233 the archdeacon is ordered to
inquire whether any Anchorites' cells had been built without the
Bishop's leave; and in many of our parish churches may be seen,
either on the north or the south side of the chancel, a narrow slit
in the wall, or one of the lights of a window prolonged downwards,
the prolongation, if not now walled up, being closed with a shutter.
Through these apertures the "incluse," or anker, watched the
celebration of mass, and partook of the Holy Communion. Similar
cells were to be found in Ireland, at least in the diocese of
Ossory; and doubtless in Scotland also. Ducange, in his Glossary,
on the word "inclusi," lays down rules for the size of the anker's
cell, which must be twelve feet square, with three windows, one
opening into the church, one for taking in his food, and one for
light; and the "Salisbury Manual" as well as the "Pontifical" of
Lacy, bishop of Exeter, in the first half of the fifteenth century,
contains a regular "service" for the walling in of an anchorite.
{330} There exists too a most singular and painful book, well known
to antiquaries, but to them alone, "The Ancren Riwle," addressed to
three young ladies who had immured themselves (seemingly about the
beginning of the thirteenth century) at Kingston Tarrant, in
Dorsetshire.