rung to notify the assembling of the chapter, that the discipline Jum m was administered in the hall, in the presence of the assembled A. „. 1310. brethren, by the Master, who punished the delinquent on the bare back with a scourge made of leathern thongs, after which he himself absolved the offender from the guilt of a transgression against the rule of the order ; but if he had been guilty of immoral eonduet, he was sent to the priest for absolution. It appears also, that Brother James de Molay, before his elevation to the office of Grand Master, was visitor of the order in England, and had held chapters or assemblies of the brethren, at which he bad enforced certain rules and regulations ; that all the orders came from the Grand Master and ehief convent in the East to the Grand Preceptor of England, who caused them to be published at the different preceptories.* On the 1st of March, the king sent orders to the constable of the Tower, and to the sheriffs of Lincoln and of York, to obey the directions of the inquisitors, or of one bishop and of one inquisitor, with regard to the confinement of the Templars in separate cells, and he assigns William de Diene to assist the inquisitors in their arrangements. Similar orders were shortly afterwards sent to all the gaolers of the Templars in the Euglish dominions.-}- On the 3rd of March five fresh interrogatories were exhibited by the inquisitors, upon which thirty-one Templars were exa mined at the palace of the bishop of London, the chapel of St. Alphage, and the chapter-house of the Holy Trinity. They were chiefly concerning the reception and profession of the brethreu, the number that each examinant had seen received, their names, and as to whether the burials of the order were conducted in a clandestine manner. From the replies it appears that many * Acta amira Templarioa. Condì, Mag. Bri/., tom. li. p. 350, 351, 352. τ Acta. RymeTi, toni. ill. ad ann. 1310. p. 202, 203,