Excerpt from The English Black Monks of St. Benedict, Vol. 1 of 2: A Sketch of Their History From the Coming of St. Augustine to the Present Day

In these two volumes I venture to bring before the notice of English readers the history of the English benedictines, or "black monks, " as they were called in the olden times. To the student the names are well known of men who have devoted large and costly books to the past glories of the monks of this country. These works, however, are difficult of access, and from their very multiplicity of detail, require a mastery of the subject (to be gained only by long and patient study), before a just and general idea of the history as a whole can be obtained. Besides, such works as the Monasticon of Dugdale, and others of the school of antiquaries connected with his labours, professedly deal only with the black monks, among other orders, up to the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII. Their subsequent history, known but to a very few even of their descendants, has in course of time become obscured by a legendary growth which does not bear the test of research.

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