The Suppression Of The Templars In England.

England the Templars were arrested , and without rcRist .-i . nce . . This last fact might indicate their consciousness of innocence . Aware , as they must have been , of the cruelties which had been practised against their brethren in France , these Knights , strong in their fortified proceptories , and with large bodies of servitors at their disposal , nowhere opposed an arrest which they perhaps held would lead to an enquiry likely to redound to their honour The

submissiveness of tbe Templars may , hoivever , have been due to a different cause . They were aivare that a storm of opprobinm had been excited against tho Order . They knew only too well that they were odious to tbe clergy . They were an exempt Order , and as such hated by the bishops , AVIIOSC jurisdiction they despised . By their chaplains they exercised spiritual functions within their own dominions , and did not require the services of the clergy .

They had nothing to fear from excommunications and spiritual discipline , and even an interdict did not touch them . Like the Cistercians , they had tho privilege of continuing their services in the midst of tbe papal prohibitions . It was alleged against them by the clergy that their Grand Master , though a layman , did not hesitate to give absolution . Thus the clergy , and especially the friarswho wore striving to obtain a monopoly in absolutionswere bitter

, , against them , and the friars at this time had tho control of the popular sentiment . A little later and tbe bare-footed brethren hacl lost a great portion of their influence ancl were become the favourite subjects of popular satire ; but now they were all-poAverful . The nobles could hardly be expected to defend an Order Avhich despised and outshone them . There is ,, therefore , more than one Avay of explaining the quiet submission of the Templars . It may haA'e

arisen either from the consciousness of innocence or from policy . It need not iu any case be regarded as the admission of guilt . ( To be continued . )

Literary And Antiquarian Gossip.

LITERARY AND ANTIQUARIAN GOSSIP .

TN the latest volume of bis " Collectanea Antiqua , " Mr . Roach Smith has - " - published some interesting anecdotes of bis late lamented friend ancl colleague , Thomas Wright , F . S . A . It is painful to find that the widow of one of the most industrious and talented workers in the field of antiquarian literature that England has ever produced—for such Thomas Wright assuredly was—is , in old age ancl severe physical suffering , left entirely at the world ' s

Avill . Something should certainl y be done to obtain tbe continuance of a portion at least of the pension pittance Avhich an appreciative nation awarded to Mr . Wri ght in his declining years , so that the little that is left of life to bis poor childless relict may be passed in comparative comfort . The Shrewsbury Chronicle , in a recent kindly allusion to Mrs . Wri ght ' s straitened circumstances , feelingly points out that she is , for all practical purposes , deprived of eyesight . Surelthis is which will commend itself to

y a ease the attention of our learned societies , and evoke their substantial sympathy . We fervently trust , too , that ere long a regular source of relief will be secured in the manner already alluded to . It will , indeed , be a blot 011 tbe fair fame of our country if , - ivhile lauding the name of a laborious litiemtei . r , we calmly stand by and see his indi gent ancl aged Avidoiv smarting under the pinch of poverty , and hold out no hel ping hand to the sufferer .