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diff --git a/41804-8.txt b/41804-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5a29610..0000000 --- a/41804-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6157 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Legend of Reading Abbey, by Charles -MacFarlane - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - - - - -Title: A Legend of Reading Abbey - - -Author: Charles MacFarlane - - - -Release Date: January 8, 2013 [eBook #41804] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LEGEND OF READING ABBEY*** - - -E-text prepared by sp1nd, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made -available by Internet Archive (http://archive.org) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - http://archive.org/details/legendofreadinga00macf - - - - - -A LEGEND OF READING ABBEY. - -by - -CHARLES MACFARLANE - -The Author of 'The Camp of Refuge.' - - - - - - - -London: -Charles Knight & Co., Ludgate Street. -1845. - - - - -A LEGEND OF READING ABBEY. - - - - -I. - - -It was in the year of Grace eleven hundred and thirty-seven (when the -grace of God appeared to be entirely departing from the sinful and -unhappy land of England), and Stephen of Blois, nephew of the deceased -King Henry Beauclerc, sat upon the throne, lawfully and honestly, as -some men said, but most unlawfully, according to others. And the woe I -have to relate arose from this divergency of opinion, but still more -from the change-ableness of men's minds, which led our bishops, lords, -and optimates to side now with one party and now with the other, and now -change sides again, to the great perplexing of the understanding of -honest and simple men, to the undoing of their fortunes, and well nigh -to the utter ruin of this realm, which that learned clerk and right -politic King Henricus Primus had left in so flourishing and peaceful a -condition. - -Our great religious house of Reading (may the hand of sacrilege and the -flames of war never more reach it!), founded and endowed by the -Beauclerc, had then been newly raised on that smiling, favoured spot of -earth which lies on the bank of the Kennet, hard by the juncture of that -clear and swift stream with our glorious river Thamesis; and in sooth -our noble house was not wholly finished and furnished at this time; for -albeit the first church, together with most of its chapels and shrines, -was in a manner completed, and our great hall was roofed in, and floored -and lined with oak, the lord abbat's apartment, and the lodging of the -prior, and the dormitory for the brethren, and the granary and the -stables for my lord abbat's horses, were yet unfinished; and, except on -Sundays and the feast days of Mother Church, these parts of the abbey -were filled by artisans and well-skilled workmen who had been collected -from Windsor, Wallingford, Oxenford, Newbury, nay even from the right -royal city of Winchester, which abounded with well-skilled masons and -builders, and the capital city of London, where all the arts be most -cultivated. Moreover, sundry artists we had from beyond the seas, as -masons and hewers of stone, who had been sent unto us from Caen in -Normandie by the defunct king, and some right skilful carvers in wood -and in stone, who had been brought out of Italie by Father Michael -Angelo Torpietro, a member of our house, who had quitted the glorious -monastery of Mons Casinium, which had been raised and occupied by the -founder of our order, the blessed Benedict himself, when he was in the -flesh, in order to live among us and instruct us in humane letters and -in all the rules and ordinances of our order, wherein we Anglo and -Anglo-Norman monks, in verity, needed some instruction. And this Father -Torpietro of happy memory had also been enabled by the liberality of -our first lord abbat to bring from the city of Pisa in Italie a right -good limner, who painted such saints and Virgins upon gilded panels as -had not before been seen in England, and who was now painting the chapel -of our Ladie with rare and inappreciable art, as men who have eyes and -understanding may see at this day. All the learned and periti do affirm -that for limning and gilding our chapel of the Ladie doth excel whatever -is seen in the churches of Westminster and Winchester in the south, or -in the churches of York and Durham in the north, or in the churches of -Wells and Exeter in the west, or in Ely and Lincoln in the east. [I -speak not of the miracles performed by our relics: they are known to the -world, and be at least as great as those performed by our Ladie of -Walsingham.] Albeit our walls of stone and flint were not all finished -in the inner part, our house was girded and guarded by ramparts of royal -charters and papal bulls. Two charters had we from our founder, and one -from King Stephen, confirmatory of those two. And great were the -immunities and privileges contained in these charters. No scutage had we -to pay; no stallage, no tolls, no tribute; no customs in fair or market, -no tithing penny or two-penny, no amercements or fines or forfeitures of -any kind! Our mills were free, and our fisheries and our woods and -parks. No officer of the king was to exercise any right in the woods and -chases of the lord abbat, albeit they were within the limits of the -forests royal; but the lord abbat and the monks and their servitors were -to hold and for ever enjoy the same powers and liberties in their woods -and chases as the king had in his. Hence was the House of Reading ever -well stocked with the succulent meat of the buck. Too long were it to -tell all that our founder Henricus did for us. At the beginning of his -reign, he abolished the ancient power of abbats to make knights; yet, in -order to distinguish our house, he did, by a particular clause in our -charter of foundation, give unto the lord abbat of Reading and to his -successors for ever, authority to make knights, whether clerks or -laymen, provided only that the ceremony should be performed by the abbat -in his clerical habit and capacity, and not as a layman, and that he -should be careful to advance none but men of manly age and discreet -judgment. Of all the royal and mitred abbeys in the land ours was -chiefest after Glastonbury and St. Albans; and assuredly we have some -honours and privileges which those two more ancient houses have not. I, -who have taken up the pen in mine old age to record upon enduring -parchment some of the passages I witnessed in my youth and ripe manhood, -would not out of any unseemly vanity perpetuate my name and condition; I -would lie, unnamed, among the humblest of this brotherhood who have -lived or will live without praise, and have died or will die without -blame; but as the world in after-time may wish to know who it was that -told the story I have now in hand, and what were my opportunities of -knowing the truth, it may be incumbent on me to say so much as -this:--John Fitz-John of Sunning was my secular name and my designation -in the world of pomps and vanities; my mother was of the Saxon, my -father of the Norman race; my mother (I say a requiem for her daily) -descended from a great Saxon earl, or, as some do say, prince; and my -father's grandfather, who fought at the battle of Hastings, was -cup-bearer to William the Conqueror, in sort that if I could be puffed -up with mundane greatness I have the wherewithal: my name in religion is -Felix, of the order of St. Benedict and of the Abbey of Reading; and as -a servant of the servants of the Lord, I have filled without discredit, -in the course of many years, the several high offices of sub-sacrist and -sacrist, refectorarius, cellarer, chamberlain, and sub-prior; and mayhap -when I shall be gone hence some among this community will say that there -have been worse officials than Father Felix. - -In the year eleven hundred and thirty-seven I was but a youthful novice, -still longing after the flesh-pots of Egypt, and mourning for the loss -of the worldly liberty I had enjoyed or abused in my mother's house at -Sunning, which was a goodly house near the bank of Thamesis, on a wooded -hill hard by the wooden old Saxon bridge of Sunning. But I was old -enough to comprehend most of the passing events; and being much favoured -and indulged by the lord abbat and several of the brotherhood, I heard -and saw more than the other novices, and was more frequently employed -upon embassages beyond the precincts of the abbey lands. It was a common -saying in the house that Felix the Sunningite, though but little given -to his books within doors, was the best of boys for out-door work. By -the favour of our Ladie, the love of in-door studies came upon me -afterwards at that time when I was first assailed by podagra, and since -that time have I not read all the forty and odd books that be in our -library, and have I not made books with mine own hand, faithfully -transcribing the Confessions of St. Augustin, and the whole of the Life -of St. Benedict, and missals not a few? But not to me the praise and -glory, _sed nomini tuo_! - -As I was born in the house at Sunning (may the sun ever shine upon that -happy village, and upon the little church wherein rests the mortal part -of my mother) on the eve of St. John the Evangelist, in the year of our -Redemption eleven hundred and twenty, being the twentieth year of the -Beauclerc's reign, I was, on the feast of St. Edbert, Bishop and -Confessor, in the year eleven hundred and thirty-seven, close upon the -eighteenth year of mine age. - -St. Edbert's festival, falling in the flowering month of May, is one -which my heart hath always much affected. The house had kept it right -merrily; and notwithstanding the unfinished state of portions of the -abbey, I do opine that our ceremonies in church and choir were that day -very magnificent, and fit to be a pattern to some other houses. All -labours were suspended; for he is a niggard of the worst sort that -begrudgeth even his serfs and bondmen rest at such a tide; and eager as -was our lord abbat Edward for the completion of our stately edifice, and -_speciliater_ for the finishing of our dormitory, he would not allow a -man to chip a stone, or put one flint upon another, or hew or shape wood -upon St. Edbert's day; and he was almost angered at the Italian limner -for finishing part of a glory which he had begun in our Ladie's chapel. -It was a memorable day, and, _inter alia_, for this: it was the first -night that the good lord abbat slept within the walls of the abbey; for -hitherto, on account of the cold and dampness of the new walls, he had -betaken himself for his nightly rest either to a house close by in the -town of Reading, or to the house of a God-fearing relation, who dwelt on -the other side of Thamesis at Caversham. - -After the completorium and supper (we had both meat and wine of the best -at that coena), the weather being warm, and the evening altogether -beautiful, the abbat and reverend fathers, as well as the younger -members of the house, gathered together in my lord abbat's garden at the -back of the abbey, and sat there for a season on the green bank of the -Kennet, looking at the bright river as it glided by, and at the young -moon and twinkling stars that were reflected in the water, or -discoursing with one another upon sundry cheerful topics. Good cheer had -made me cheerful, and it remembers me that I made little coronals and -chains of the violets that grew by the river bank, and of the -bright-eyed daisies that covered all the sward, and threw them upon the -gliding and ever-changing surface of the Kennet, and said, as I had done -in my still happier childhood, "Get ye down to Sunning bridge, and stop -not at this bank or on that, but go ye right down to Sunning, and tell -my mother that I am happy with my shaven crown." - -The lord abbat, looking back upon the tall tower of our church, and the -broad massive walls of our Aula Magna, said-- - -"In veritate, this is a goodly and substantial house, and one fitted to -beautify holiness." - -"In truth is it," said that good and learned Italian father who had -brought the limner from Pisa. - -"Torpietro," said the abbat, "this soil grows no marble; we have not -hereabout the nitent blocks of Carrara, or the soberer marble of Lucca; -we have neither granite nor freestone; but rounded chalk-hills have we, -and flints love the chalk-pit, and the pits of Caversham are -inexhaustible; and with our mortar, rubble, and flints, we have built -walls three fathoms thick, and have made an abbey which will stand -longer than your Italian temples, built of stone and marble; for time, -that corrodes and consumes other substances, makes our cement the harder -and stronger. Somewhat rough are they on the outside, like the character -of our nation; but they are compact and sound within, and not to be -moved or shaken--no, scarcely by an earthquake." - -"'Tis a substantial pile," quoth Torpietro. "Balestra, nor catapult, nor -manginall, nor the mightiest battering-ram, will ever breach these -walls; and therefore is the house safe against any attack of war, and -therefore will it stand, entire as it now is, when a thousand years are -gone." - -"Nay," said the abbat, "name not war: a sacred place like this is not to -be assaulted; and our good and brave King Stephen is now firmly and -rightfully seated, and we shall have no intestine trouble. We have no -fig-trees, or I would quote to thee, Brother Torpietro, that passage -which saith.... Felix, my son, leave off throwing flowers in the stream; -run unto the gate, and see what is toward, for there be some who smite -upon the gate with unwonted violence, and it is now past the curfew." - -When the abbat first spoke to me, I heard a mighty rapping, which I had -not heard before, or had not heeded, being lost in a reverie as I -watched my coronals on their voyage towards Sunning bridge; but when his -lordship spake to me, I hurried across the narrow garden, and into the -house, and up to the outer gate, where I found Humphrey, the old -janitor, and none but he. Humphrey had opened the wicket, and had closed -it again, before I came to the gate. "Felix, thou good boy of Sunning," -said he unto me, "thou art as nimble as the buck of the forest, and art -ever willing to make thy young limbs save the limbs of an old man, so -prithee take this corbel, and bear it to my lord abbat's presence -forthwith, and bear it gently and with speed, for those who left it said -there was delicate stuff within, which must not be shaken, but which -must be opened by the lord abbat right soon. So take it, good Felix, for -there is no lay-brother at hand, and the weight is nought." - -I took up the corbel gently under my left arm, and began to stride with -it to the abbat, down at the Kennet banks. I was presently there, for -albeit the corbel was of some size, the weight thereof was indeed as -nothing. - -"So, so," said my lord abbat, as he espied me and my burthen, "What have -we here?" - -"Doubtless," said the then refectorarius, "some little donation from the -faithful. Venison is not as yet; but lamb is in high perfection at this -season." - -"Nay," quoth the coquinarius, "from the shape of the wicker, I think it -is rather some sizeable pike, sent down by our friends and brothers at -Pangbourne." - -"Bethinks me rather," said the lord abbat, waving his right hand over -the corbel (the jewels and bright gold of his finger-rings glittering in -the young moon as he did it), "bethinks me rather that it is a collation -of simnels from our chaste sisters the nuns of Wargrave, who ever and -anon do give a sign of life and love to us the Benedictines of Reading -Abbey. But open, Felix! cut the withies, and undo the basket-lid, and -let us see with our own eyes." - -As my curiosity was now at the least as great as that of any of my -superiors in age and dignity, I cut the slight bindings, and undid the -corbel; and then there lay, uncovered and revealed to sight--the most -beautiful babe mine eyes ever beheld withal! - -"Benedicamus!" said the lord abbat, gazing and crossing himself. - -"Miserere! The Lord have mercy upon us! But what thing have we here?" -quoth the prior. - -"'Tis a marvellous pretty infant," said the limner from Pisa, "and would -do to paint for one of the cherubim in the chapel of our Ladie." - -"A marvellously pretty devil," said our then sub-prior, a sourish man, -and somewhat overmuch given to suspicious and evil thoughts of his -brothers and neighbours: "What have we celibatarians and Benedictines to -do with little babies? I smell mischief here--mischief and irregularity. -Felix, what knowest thou of this corbel? I hope thou knowest not all too -much! But know all or know nothing, why, oh boy, didst bring this -arcanum into this reverend company?" - -"Father," said I, "'twas Humphrey bade me bring it, and for all the rest -I know nothing;" and this being perfectly true, yet did I hold down my -head, for that I felt the blood all glowing in my face, not knowing how -or why it should be so. - -"Bid the janitor to our presence," said the lord abbat. - -Humphrey, who had nothing doubted that the basket contained some -creature comforts, such as the faithful not unfrequently sent to our -house, soon appeared, and was not a little amazed to see the amazement -of the monks, and the high displeasure of the abbat; for as age had -somewhat dimmed his sight, and as the last gleams of twilight were now -dying away, the good janitor did not perceive the sleeping babe. - -"Humphrey," said the abbat, "what is this thou hast sent us? Tell me, in -the name of the saints, who gave thee this basket?" - -As the abbat spoke the infant awoke from its slumber, and began to cry -out, and lay its arms about, as if feeling for its nurse; and hereat our -old janitor's wonderment being manifoldly increased, he started back, -and crossed himself, and said, "Jesu Maria! Jesu Maria!" - -"Say what thou hast to say," cried our sacrist; "my lord abbat would -know who left this corbel at the gate, and why thou didst take it in?" - -"But," said the old janitor, making that reverence to his superiors -which he was bounden to do, "may I ask what it is that the corbel -holds?" - -"A babe," said the prior. - -"And of the feminine gender--to make the matter worse," said the teacher -of the Novices. - -"'Tis witchcraft," said Humphrey--"'tis nought but witchcraft! What -Christian man, or woman either, could ever think of sending a babe to -the monks of Reading!" - -"But who sent the basket?" said the abbat. - -"That know I not," said old Humphrey, still crossing himself. - -"Then who left it with thee?" asked the sacrist. - -"Two serfs that I have seen at this house aforetime," said -Humphrey--"two honest-visaged churls, who were out of breath when they -came to the wicket, and who went away to the westward so soon as they -had put the basket in my hands, and told me to handle it gently, and -carry it to my lord abbat forthwith." - -"And said they nothing more?" quoth the prior. - -"Yea, they did say there was delicate stuff within." - -"And what stuff didst thou think it was?" said the coquinarius. - -"Verily something to eat or drink." - -"Thou art stolid," said the sour sub-prior; "thou art stolid, oh -Humphrey, to take a corbel from strange men. Wouldst know the serfs -again?" - -"I should know them again if I could but see them again. Seen them I -have aforetime. Whose men they be I know not; but I thought I had seen -them before bring gifts and offerings to our house; and it is not in my -office to open anything that is shut, except the convent-door; and ill -would it have beseemed me to have been prying into a basket left for my -lord abbat." - -"But said the churls nothing else?" asked the abbat. "Bethink thee, oh -Humphrey! said the churls nought else?" - -"Methinks that when I asked them whose men they were, and who had sent -this present, one of them did make reply that my lord abbat would know -right well." - -Here all our eyes were bent upon the good abbat, who, to tell the truth, -did look somewhat conturbated. But when the head of our house had -recovered from this sudden emotion, he said to the janitor, "Were those -the very words the man did speak?" - -"The matter of the words was that," said Humphrey; "yet I do think the -slaves subjoined that if your lordship knew not who sent the gift, your -lordship would soon know right well. But as the churl was walking away -while he was speaking, I cannot say that these were his _ipsissima -verba_." - -"Janitor," quoth the abbat, "knowest thou what festival of mother church -it is we have celebrated this day?" - -"The feast of the blessed Saint Edbert," responded Humphrey, with a -genuflexion and an _ora pro nobis_. - -"Then from this day forward," quoth the lord abbat, "take not and admit -not within these gates any donation or thing whatsoever from men that -thou knowest not, and that run from our door instead of tarrying to -refresh themselves in the hospitium." - -"That last unwonted and unnatural fact," quoth the cellarer, "ought to -have warned thee, oh Humphrey, that there was mischief in the corbel." - -"But," replied the janitor, "it was past the time of even' prayer, nay, -after supper-time; and they did place the basket in my hands, and vanish -away all in a minute, and I could not throw the corbel after them, nor -could I leave it outside the gate. But mischief did I suspect none." - -Humphrey being dismissed, the elders of our house debated what had best -be done with the child, which had not ceased crying all this while, and -which moved my heart to pity, for it was a beautiful babe to look upon, -and it seemed right hungry, and witchcraft could there be none about it; -for our sub-prior, who had adventured to take it up in his arms, had -espied a little golden cross round its neck, and an Agnus Dei sewed to -its clothes. The lord abbat, whose heart was always kind to man, woman, -and child, nay, even unto the beasts in the stable and field, and the -hounds of the chase, said that albeit it had been cast into a wrong -place, it was assuredly a sweet innocent and most Christian-looking -child, and that as the hour was waxing very late, it would be well to -keep it in the house until the morrow morn. But the sub-prior bade his -lordship bethink himself of the sex of the child, and of the rigid rule -of our order, which, in its strictest interpretation, would seem to -imply that nothing of the sex feminine should ever abide by night within -our cloisters. "In spite of its cross and agnus," subjoined the sour -suspicious man, "I must opine that this piping baby hath been sent -hither by some secret enemy, in order to bring down discredit and -aspersions upon our community." - -"But what, in the name of the Virgin, wouldst have us do with the little -innocent?" said the abbat. - -"Peradventure," quoth the sub-prior, "it were not badly done to set the -brat afloat in its basket down the Kennet into Thamesis. It may ground -among the rushes, and be found by the country people, or it may----" - -"Brother," said the abbat, "thy heart is waxing as hard as the flint of -our walls! I would not do that thing, or see it done, to escape all the -calumnies which all the evil tongues of England could heap upon me." - -"No, assuredly, nor would I," said the sub-prior; "for upon -after-thought it doth appear that the babe perchance might drown. Still, -my lord abbat, it is not well that it should stay where it is, or that -the townfolk of Reading should know that it hath been brought to our -door; for they have too many bad stories already, and some of them do -remember the wicked marrying priests of the days of the Red King." - -"True, oh sub-prior," quoth the lord abbat; "true and well-bethought. We -must not, therefore, send the child into Reading town; but I will have -it conveyed unto my good nephew at Caversham, and his wife will have -care of it until we shall learn whose babe it is, and why so -mysteriously sent hither. There is gentle blood in those veins; this is -no churl's child. I never saw a more beautiful babe, and in my time I -have baptized many an earl's daughter, ay, and more than one little -princess. It must be a strange tale that which shall explain how the -mother could ever part with such an infant. But it grows dark; so, -Philip, take up the basket, and bear it straightway and with all care -and gentleness to Caversham; and Felix, do thou go with Philip, and -salute my kinsman in my name, and relate unto him the strange and -marvellous manner in which the basket hath been brought into our house, -and tell him I will see him in the morning after service." - -Philip was an honest lay-brother of the house, and between him and me -there had always been much friendship; for on my first coming to the -abbey, to be trained to religion and learning, he had procured many -little indulgences for me, and had ofttimes taken me behind him on his -horse when he rode towards Sunning to look after a farm which my lord -abbat had near to that place. He was a mirthful man, and so fond of -talk, that when he had not me riding behind him he usually discoursed -all the way with his horse. Now he took up the corbel with as much -gentleness as a lady's nurse, and we began to go on our way, the dear -child still piping and bewailing. The sub-prior followed us to the gate -to give Humphrey the needful order to open, for at that hour the janitor -would not have allowed egress to any lay-brother or novice. "Beshrew -me," said old Humphrey as the sub-prior withdrew, "but this foundling -hath brought trouble upon me and sharp words; yet let me see its face, -good Philip, for I hear 'tis a Christian child, and a lovely ..." - -Hereupon we took the basket into Humphrey's cell by the gate, where a -light was burning; and the janitor having peered in its face, vowed, as -others had done, that he had not seen so fair a babe. "'Tis nine months -old, at the very least," said he; "and ye may tell by its shrill piping -that 'tis a strong and healthy child. Mayhap it cries for hunger;" and -at this timeous thought the old janitor brought forth a little milk and -honey and gave it to the babe, who partook thereof, and then smiled and -dropped fast asleep. - -We took the shortest path across the King's Mead to Caversham bridge. As -we walked along Philip ceased not from talking about the child and the -unprecedented way in which it had been left at the abbey. Being a man -much given to speculation and the putting of this thing and that -together, he made sundry surmises which I will not repeat, for they -touched the good lord abbat, and the next morning proved that though -very ingenious they had no foundation in truth. When we came to the long -wooden bridge, we found, as we had expected, that part of it was raised, -and that the old man that levied the toll for the baron was fast asleep. -But our shouting soon roused the toll-man, and he soon challenged us and -lowered the draw-bridge, though not without sundry expressions of -astonishment that two monks should be abroad at so late an hour. When we -told him whither we were going, he bade us make haste, for the lights -were disappearing in the mansion, and the family would soon be buried in -sleep. He then lowered the draw-bridge at the other end, and we went on -towards the hill side with hasty steps, the only light visible in the -mansion being one that shone brightly through the casement of the -southern turret. - -"Ralpho, the toll-man," said I, "must have been more than half asleep, -or assuredly he would have asked what we were carrying in the basket at -this time o'night." - -"May the babe have an extra blessing," quoth Philip, "for that it sleeps -on and did not wake on the bridge! A pretty tale would gossip Ralpho -have had to tell about us Benedictines if the babe had set up its piping -on the bridge!" - -The castellum or baronial mansion stood on the top of Caversham hill at -the point where that hill is steepest; the village lay at its feet, and -the church then stood midway between the castle and the village. We -were soon at the edge of the dry moat; but the draw-bridge was up, and -we had to shout and blow the cow-horn for some time before we could make -ourselves heard by any one within; and when the warder awoke and looked -forth he was in no good humour. But as we made ourselves known, and told -him that we came from the lord abbat upon an occasion that brooked no -delay, he altered his tone; and after telling us that though bedward, he -believed his lord and ladie were not yet in bed, as he could see a light -in their bower above, he lowered the draw-bridge and unbarred the -wicket. That which Ralpho had omitted to do on the bridge, the warder -did under the gateway of the castle; for, pointing to the basket, he -said, "What have we here, brother Philip? Cates and sweetmeats for my -lord and ladie? Ay, Reading Abbey is famed for its confections!" - -He had scarcely said the words when a noise came from the basket which -made him start back and cross himself; for the dear child began to pipe -and scream, and much more loudly methought that I had heard it do -before. We, however, stayed not to talk with the astonished warder; for -a waiting-woman had come down from the southern turret to inquire what -was toward, and we followed this good woman, who was still more -astonished than the warder, to the chamber where the lord and ladie -were. Sir Alain de Bohun was a bountiful lord, ever kind of heart and -gentle in speech; and the Ladie Alfgiva, his wife, descended from the -Saxon thanes who had once owned and held all the country from Caversham -to Maple-Durham, was the gentlest, truest ladie, and at this season one -of the fairest that lived anywhere in Berkshire or Oxfordshire. Before -hearing the short tale we had to tell, Sir Alain vowed that the little -stranger was welcome, and that so sweet a foundling should never want -home or nurture while he had a roof-tree to sit under; and the ladie -took the child in her arms, and kissed it, and pacified it; and before I -had gotten half through my narration, and the message from my lord -abbat, the babe went to sleep on the ladie's bosom. Our limner from Pisa -ought to have seen that sight; for the Madonna and Child he did -afterwards paint for the chapel of our Ladie was not so beautiful and -tender a picture as that presented to mine eye by the wife of Sir Alain -de Bohun and our little foundling. Much marvelled the gentle ladie at -the tale; but her other feelings were stronger than her curiosity and -astonishment; and she soon withdrew to place the child with her own dear -children--a little boy some four or five years old, and a little girl -not many months older than the stranger. Sir Alain gave to the -lay-brother Philip a piece of money, and to me a beaker of wine, and so -dismissed us with a right courteous message to our abbat and his good -and right reverend uncle. - -The warder would have stayed us to explain how it was that monks went -about in the hours of night with a babe in a basket; but as he had a -sharp wit and a ribald tongue, we forbore to answer his questions, and -recommending him to the saints that keep watch by night, and telling him -it was too late for talk, we began to return rapidly by the way we had -come. As Ralpho let us across Caversham bridge he bemoaned the hardness -of his life, and complained that Sir Alain put him to much unnecessary -trouble in a time of peace and tranquillity, when the bridge might very -well be left open by night and by day without fear of the passage of -foes. Alack! before the next morning dawned Ralpho was made to know that -Sir Alain's caution was very needful. Scarcely had Philip and I gotten a -rood from the bridge-end when that honest lay-brother shouted "Fire! -Fire! a fire!" and looking to the west, the sky behind the town and -hills of Reading seemed all in a blaze. The young moon had set; but as -we came to the King's Mead our path was lighted by a glaring red light, -which seemed every instant to become stronger and redder. "Eheu!" said -Philip, who knew every township better than I then knew my Litany; -"Eheu! there is mischief afoot! The flames mount in the direction of -Tilehurst and Sulham and Charlton! More than one township is a-burning!" - -I looked down the river, and joyed to see that there was no sign of -conflagration at Sunning, and returned thanks therefore to my patron -saint. - -We were now running across the mead as fast as we could run; but before -we came to the abbey-gate the alarm-bell rung out from the tower, and a -loud shouting and crying came from the town of Reading, and the sounds -of another alarm-bell from Sir Alain's castellum at Caversham. - -"What can this mean?" said Philip. "The two serfs that brought the babe -to our house came from the westward, or did go back in that direction, -or so said old Humphrey. After twenty years and more of a happy peace, -is this land to be wasted again by factions and civil war?" - -Alas! Philip had said it! This night witnessed the beginning of those -troubles which carried woe into every part of England, and which ended -not until sixteen long years had passed over our heads, sending some of -our brotherhood with sorrow to the grave, and making others old men -before their time; for, to say nothing of our personal sufferings and -hazards, there was not one among us but had a brother or a sister and -friends near and dear to him tortured or butchered in these the worst -wars that were ever waged in England. - -When we returned into the abbey we found that the lord abbat had called -up his men-at-arms, and the three good knights who did military service -for the abbey in return for the lands they held; that one of these -knights and divers of the men-at-arms were mounting and about to go -forth; and that the better conditioned of the town people of Reading -were already bringing their goods and chattels to our house for -protection; for the walls of the town had been allowed to fall into ruin -during the long and happy peace which Henricus Primus had kept in the -land, and our burghers had almost wholly lost the art military. Some of -these men, who had been to the hills, said that the whole country was on -fire from Inglesfield to Tilehurst, and from Tilehurst to Purley, which -news destroyed the hope our good abbat had been entertaining that the -fire might be accidental and confined to the thatch-covered houses of -one village or township. And, in very deed, by this time the whole west -seemed to be burning, and the welkin to be overcast by smoke and flame, -and a reflected lurid and horrible light. The swift stream of the Kennet -looked as though its waters had been transmuted into red wine, and the -broad Thamesis shined like a path of fire. No eye closed for sleep in -the abbey that night; and it was not until a full hour after the -scarcely perceptible dawn of day that certain intelligence was brought -us as to the causes and parties which had thus begun to turn our -pleasant and fruitful land into a wilderness. - - - - -II. - - -We had sung matins in the choir, and had nearly finished chanting lauds, -when three knights of good fame, to wit, Sir Hugh de Basildon, Sir Hugh -Fitzhugh, of Purley, and Sir Walter de Courcy, from Inglesfield, arrived -at the abbey, and demanded speech of our superiors. So soon as the -service permitted, the lord abbat, the prior, and the other -obedientiarii of our house retired into the abbat's garden with these -worthy knights, who were in great haste, insomuch that they would -neither stay to partake of my lord's collation, which was now nigh upon -being ready, nor allow the saddles to be taken from their wearied -horses. They stayed but a short while in the garden, and then remounting -their steeds, they spurred away for Caversham, bidding the burghers of -Reading and a number of serfs, who had collected outside our gates, to -look after their bows and arrows, and to get such other weapons as they -could, and to stand upon their defence, as traitors to King Stephen were -abroad and might be soon upon them. These good people made loud -lamentation, for they were ill prepared and provided, and they could not -divine who these enemies and night burners could be. We, the humbler -members of the house, were alike ignorant; but after he had refreshed -his inward man, the good abbat came forth and addressed us all, and the -people without the gate, in this wise:-- - -"My brothers and children, and ye good men of Reading, who be also my -children, lift up your voices and say with me, God save King Stephen, -the rightful king of this realm, and down with the traitors who would -shake his throne!" - -Having all of us shouted as we were bidden to do, and with right good -will, for King Stephen at this time was much loved in the land, my lord -abbat continued his oration. - -"The case," said he, "stands thus. That ungodly restless woman, the -undutiful daughter of our late pious King Henry, whose body rests within -these walls--that presumptuous Matilda, once Empress, but now nought but -Countess of Anjou, hath sent over her bastard half-brother Robert, Earl -of Gloucester, to claim the throne of England as her right; as if the -martial nobility and bold people of this land could ever be governed by -a woman, and as if Stephen, our good king and the well-beloved nephew of -our late King Henry, who appointed him to be his successor, had not been -elected with the consent of the baronage, clergy, and people of England, -and confirmed in his lawful seat by our lord the Pope! Now this -traitorous Earl of Gloucester, after taking the oaths of fealty and -homage to King Stephen, and obtaining by the act possession of his great -estates in this realm, hath suddenly lifted up the mask and thrown down -the gauntlet, and sundry false barons like himself have followed his -pernicious example, and are now raging through the country, seizing upon -the king's towns and castles, treacherously surprising the castles of -honest lords and good knights, and burning the homes and destroying the -lives of all such as will not join them, or of all such as hold the -manors and lands these traitors desire to be possessed of. In the east -Hugh Bigod, steward of the late king's household, and the very man who -made oath before the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other great lords -of the realm, as well lay as ecclesiastic, that King Henry on his -death-bed did adopt and choose his nephew Stephen to be his successor, -because this Matilda, Countess of Anjou, had been an undutiful child -unto him, and had given him many and grievous offences, and was by her -sex disqualified for the succession; this Hugh Bigod, I say, hath in the -east seized Norwich Castle and hoisted thereupon the banner of this -Angevin Countess. In the west the Earl of Gloucester hath armed all his -vassals, and is calling upon all such friends as hope to better their -worldly fortunes by deluging the country with blood and wasting it with -fire. Some of these evil men have raised the banner of war in our quiet -neighbourhood, and have fallen with merciless fury upon some of our -noblest and best neighbours, taking them by foul treachery and -surprisal, and waging war upon women and children, and unarmed serfs, in -the absence of their lords. Yesterday a great band of these traitors -marched from the vicinage of Windsore, and, last night, after a foul -plunder and butchery of the people, the townships of Basildon, -Whitechurch, Purley, Tidmersh, Tilehurst, Sulham, Theal, and Speen were -given to the flames. Sir Ingelric, of Huntercombe, who hath ever been -held as a loyal and fearless knight, and whose noble mate could trace -her Saxon ancestry beyond the days of King Alfred, was not at his home, -but his fair young wife being forewarned of their coming, made fast the -gates and defended the manor-house for divers hours: but, woe is me! the -evil men set fire to the house, and--_combusta est_, it is burned, with -the gentle dame and all that were in it! The brave Sir Ingelric of -Huntercombe was not there, or mayhap----" - -"Ingelric of Huntercombe is here," cried that dark and sad-looking -knight, who had just arrived on a panting steed; "Ingelric of -Huntercombe is here, with a soul athirst for vengeance! But, my child! -My lord abbat, tell me of my babe!" - -The fearful conflagration, which had made us all think of the day of -judgment, had caused my lord abbat, as well as the rest of us, to forget -the little stranger that had come in the basket, not without bringing -some trouble to him and to some of us; but his lordship soon collected -his thoughts, and seeing how the matter stood, he clasped in his arms -the knight, who had dismounted from his horse, and said to him in his -kind fatherly voice, "Sir Ingelric, may the saints vouchsafe thee -strength to bear the woe that hath befallen thee; but thy child is -safe." - -"Let me see her," said the knight; "let me hold her in mine arms; her -mother shall I never see more! Her sweet body hath been consumed in the -fire that hath left me without a home! I can see my wife no more--no, -not even in death! But let me have sight of my child!" - -The abbat then explained in a few words where the child was, and in what -good and tender keeping; and while he was doing this, Humphrey, our old -janitor, looking steadfastly at a churl who had dismounted to hold Sir -Ingelric's horse, and at another serf, who remained mounted, he said -aloud, "These be the two knaves that gave me the basket!" and then -entering into short converse with the men, Humphrey brought out these -facts:--At the near approach of the danger, of which she had been -forewarned, their mistress had given her child to them, with charge to -hasten with it to Reading Abbey, and then to make all possible speed -back to Tilehurst, whither, as she had fondly hoped, her lord would be -returned before his enemies could do her harm, for Sir Ingelric had gone -to no greater distance than to Wallingford, and a messenger had been -despatched after him on the only fleet horse he had left in the stable, -and well did she know that the love her husband bore her would bring him -rapidly to her rescue. This was all we learned now, but we afterwards -learned that the messenger on the fleet horse had been intercepted and -slain; that the manor-house had been stormed and set on fire before the -two serfs who had brought the child to Reading could get back; and that, -at this sad sight, the said two bondmen, full of devotion for their -lord, had thrown themselves into the woods, and had gone a wearisome -journey on foot in search of him, and had met their master between night -and morning near North Stoke Ford, for the conflagration had been seen -at Wallingford, and had filled the heart of Sir Ingelric with awful -presentiments, albeit he and no other man could at first conceive the -cause and nature of the mischief which had so suddenly broken out in a -time of the most perfect tranquillity. When Sir Ingelric had understood -that which had befallen, he had well nigh died of sudden horror; but, -rousing himself to vengeance, he had collected a few honest men and some -horses, and had ridden with all speed to our abbey, being but too surely -confirmed on his way, by a few of his serfs who had escaped, of the fate -his fair young wife had met in the manor-house. Never did I see a face -fuller of woe than was that of Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe when our good -abbat, taking him by the hand, led him within the house, to give him -ghostly consolation, and to commune with him upon the measures which -ought to be adopted for the defence of the country. But I should tell -how that, before our lord abbat quitted the outer gate, he gave -commandment that the draw-bridge, which had not been raised for many a -day, should be hauled up, and that the serfs of our abbey lands should -be set to work to deepen the ditch, and to dig a new trench right down -to the Kennet. Albeit no enemy was visible, the townfolk of Reading and -all the simple hinds that had assembled were seized with a mighty -consternation when we began to take measures for heaving up the bridge -and closing our strong iron-bound gate. By order of the prior many of -the better sort were admitted into our outer court, with their wives and -children, as well as their property. Those who remained without wrung -their hands, but departed not, for they felt that the very shadow of our -holy walls would be a better protection unto them than any other they -could find; and certes we would have brought them within those walls in -case of extremity; for was not our house the asylum of the unhappy as -well as the _refugium peccatorum_? - -When Sir Ingelric had communed until the beginning of tierce with our -lord abbat, and had been somewhat restored by prayer and exhortation, -and by meat and wine, he came out and called for his horse. But the -abbat noted that the knight's horse needed rest, and so he ordered a -fresh steed to be brought from his own stable, together with his own -quiet grey palfrey, telling the brethren that he was minded to ride over -to Caversham with Sir Ingelric to deliberate with his well-beloved -nephew, who was too good a man of war to have omitted making some -preparations against the threatening storm. "You will put up a prayer or -twain for my safety," said the abbat to the prior, "and cause a -_Miserere, Domine_, to be sung in the church. And thou wilt hold thyself -ready, oh prior, to hurl an anathema at the head of the rebels, if they -should come near unto this godly house; and moreover thou wilt see to -such war-harness and weapons as we do possess, and station the -strongest-armed of our monks and lay-brothers, and the stoutest-hearted -of our serfs, with our men-at-arms, in the tower and turrets, with bows -and cross-bows; for it may chance that those who respect not the Lord's -anointed will have no respect for holy church that hath anointed him; -and when the children of Ishmael fall on, the children of Jacob may -defend themselves with the arms of the flesh." - -Now our prior was a man of a very martial and fearless temperament, and -one that well remembered how, in the times that were passed, bishops and -abbats had put chain armour over their rockets and albs, and had ridden -forth with lay-lords and men of war, and had ofttimes done battle for -the cause which they held to be the just one, or the cause of the -church. It is not for a humble servant of mother church like me to -decide whether such actions be altogether conformable to the councils of -the church and the canons therein propounded; but this I do know, that -the sword and battle-axe have wrought their effects upon stubborn and -impenitent minds when our spiritual arms had failed, ay, when the wicked -had laughed to scorn our interdicts and our very excommunications. But -not to press further this _casus conscientię_, I will only record that -our prior responded with a firm voice and willing heart to the warlike -portions of our lord abbat's instructions, and that he, with marvellous -alacrity, did arm the house and prepare to do battle. - -As the gate was unbarred and the draw-bridge again lowered to allow the -abbat and Sir Ingelric to go forth for Caversham, those of our knights -and men-at-arms who had ridden at an earlier hour to make -reconnaissance, came back with loose bridle to report that a great -battalia of the rebels was advancing upon the town of Reading by the -western road. - -"Then," quoth our abbat, "is there no time to lose;" and putting his -foot in the bright silver stirrup, he got into his saddle without the -least assistance, albeit he was a corpulent man, and had had podagra. -Two of our knights and half of our men-at-arms rode after the lord abbat -and Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe, but the rest tarried with us. - -"Remember," said the abbat, turning the head of his palfrey, and -addressing the townfolk and the serfs, "remember well that ye be all -true men unto King Stephen!" - -The poor people made a very feeble essay to shout "Long live King -Stephen!" and then prayed that we would admit them in at the -postern-gate if the rebels came nearer; which thing we did now promise -them to do. - -The lord abbat and his party, riding away at a hard gallop, were soon -seen crossing at Caversham bridge; and very soon after they had crossed, -a goodly band of armed men was seen to take post on the opposite bank of -the river, a little below the bridge. Except these armed men, not a man, -woman, or child could be discovered anywhere; for the shepherds and -cowherds had driven their flocks and herds to the other side of -Thamesis, and all the serfs and labouring people had fled either to our -abbey walls or unto Caversham Castle. Only yesterday morning our green -meadows and fruitful corn-fields had been full of life and joy and -thoughtless song, but now they were solitary, and as sad and still as -the grave. The wind, which blew freshly from the westward, still brought -with it hideous drifts of smoke, which dirtied the bright blue sky, and -a coarse pungent smell, which overcame the sweet odours that were -emitted by our flowering hedge-rows and by the myriads of flowers which -grew in the bright green meads and along the moist banks by the river -side. It was all a Tartarus now; but on that sunny, happy May morning of -yesterday it was like being in paradise to stand on our outer turret and -scent the breeze, and feast the eye on plain and hill, meadow, river, -and woodland, and to hear the lark singing in the clear sky over our -head, and the blackbird whistling in the brake at our feet. Not a bird -of all that choir was left now: the foul smoke and the pungent smell -had scared them all away, as Ętna and Vesuve are said to do when they -vomit their sulphureous fires. - -I was roused from some meditations of this sort by the scream of a -trumpet, and by a chorus of rude voices that shouted, "The Empress for -England! Down with the usurper Stephen! Long life to the Queen, and -death to all who gainsay it!" - -And presently after hearing these sounds I saw the head of a great -column wind round the castle-mound (whereon there was not now any castle -deserving of the name), and take the high road which runs from Reading -town to Caversham bridge. Saint John the Evangelist to my aid, but it -seemed a formidable host! And there were many men-at-arms in the midst, -and a company of well-mounted and fully appointed knights rode at the -head of it. But our prior, after waxing very red and wrathful at the -first sight, did say, upon better observance, that the mass of that host -were but rascaille people, serfs that had slipped their collars, knaves -that had no arms but staves and bludgeons, and that would not stand for -a moment against a charge of horse, nay, nor even against a good flight -of quarrels or long-bow arrows. - -"They will not win across the bridge," said the prior, "for the chains -be up, and pass the river they cannot, for the skiffs be all on the -other side, and there is no ford hereabout. But see, they halt! And now -they wheel round for the King's Mead! Will the caitiffs hitherward? Let -them come--our walls be of flint. By the founder of our house, it is -this way they come!" - -And in little more time than it takes to say the credo and -pater-noster, the rebels crossed a brook which runs into Thamesis, and -came midway into the King's Mead, with the head of their column pointing -straight for our main gate. But who be those that follow them on the -grey palfrey and dapple jennet? By Saint John and Saint James, the -patrons of our house, it is our good lord abbat, and it is that -right-hearted man the mass-priest of Caversham, and the latter hath a -white flag fastened to his saddle, and he upholds a golden banner -whereon is depicted the effigies of Him who died for our sins, and -taught that there was to be peace upon earth and good will among all -men! And see, the rebels halt, and our abbat and the mass-priest -fearlessly ride up to their leaders, and discourse with them. Word can -we hear not at this distance, but plainly do we discern, by the abbat's -gestures, and by the frequent up-lifting of the holy standard, that the -head of our house is earnestly recommending peace and repentance, the -truce of God for the present, and agreement and reconciliation -hereafter. Gentle are our lord abbat's actions, and no doubt his speech, -albeit the rebels have set their impious feet upon the lands of our -abbey; but rude and outrageous are the gestures of those mailed knights -that do confer with him.... And can their ungodly rage amount to -this?... Yea, verily, so it is! One of them rides his big war-horse -against the grey palfrey, and the lord abbat of Reading is jostled out -of his seat, and lies prostrate on the grass--may it be soft beneath -him! - -Judge ye of the choler of our prior, and of the grief and anger of all -of us that saw this shameful and sacrilegious sight. We shouted from -our tower and turrets, "_O turpissime!_" and the prior, standing upon -the loftiest battlement, stretched out his hands towards the traitors in -the King's Mead, even as Pope Leo did from the walls of Rome, when -Attila and his pagans came on for the assault of the holy city. But the -prior's first anathema was not said before our good abbat, assisted by -the mass-priest of Caversham, was on his feet, and to all seeming not -much the worse for his fall. He now spoke so loudly to the knights that -we could hear the sound of his voice and distinguish some of his words, -_specialiter_ when he conjured them to depart quietly thence, and avoid -the shedding of blood. It was plain that the savage crew would not -listen to him; and we saw him remount his palfrey, and turn his head -back towards the bridge. We much feared that the rebels would lay -violent hands upon him, and keep him as their prisoner; but, _nemo -repente_, this was but the beginning of the great wickedness; and albeit -impious factions did afterwards load the servants of the church with -chains, and throw even bishops into noisome dungeons, and keep them -there for ransom among toads and snakes, Jews and thieves, and other -unclean men, this present band did offer no let or hindrance to our lord -abbat or to the mass-priest, who went back at a good pace to Caversham -bridge. - -"And now," quoth our prior, with a brightening eye, "we shall surely see -some feat of war if Sir Alain be alive! The foul rebels have refused to -parley, and have atrociously wronged the would-be peace-maker. Ay, by -the bones of King Henry, 'tis as I thought! The trumpets sound! Sir -Alain's lances are on the bridge! May the saints give them the victory!" - -I, Felix the novice, being at the topmost part of all the abbey with -Philip, the lay brother, who had been teaching me how to use the long -bow, did now see a battalia rushing across the bridge, a mixed force of -horse and foot, and did further perceive a good company of cross-bowmen -descend the left bank of Thamesis as if their intent was to march below -our abbey to Sunning. The battalia which crossed the bridge divided -itself into two parts, of the which one marched hastily along the road -that leads right to the Castle-hill and town of Reading, while the other -and major part struck across the meadows for the King's Mead, never -halting or pausing until it was right in front of the rebels. With the -party in the mead were seen the pennon and cognizances of Sir Alain de -Bohun: it seemed but a small force compared with that which was opposed -to it, but of horse Sir Alain seemed to have rather more than the -adverse party. There was a short parley, the words of which we could not -hear, but it was very short, and then we heard right well, from the one -side the shout of "God for King Stephen!" and from the other "God for -the Empress-queen!" and when they had thus shouted for a space, they -joined battle. At first their superiority in number seemed to give the -rebels the advantage; and our prior was so transported at this, that he -clapped a coat of mail over his black gown, took a lance in his hand, -and called for his horse, and would fain have gone forth with our -knights and men-at-arms to charge the enemy in the rear. But, lo! the -cross-bows, of whom we had lost sight, appeared on the river in skiffs, -and in less than an Ave they landed on the right bank; and then they -formed in good order, and came on with quick steps to the right wing of -the foe, and shooting close and all together, smote it sorely with their -quarrels. And hereupon the rascaille people fell off from their leaders, -and ran in much disorder across the meadows. Now that part of Sir -Alain's battalion which had marched towards the Castle-hill set up a -triumphant shout, and drove the fugards back again, and moved upon the -other flank of the disordered rebel host. The serfs of the abbey-lands -and the townfolk and others who had been cowering under our walls and -even in our ditches, became full of heart at sight of the great success -of Sir Alain's cross-bows and the easy victory the good knight of -Caversham was now completing; and this encouraged the prior to -distribute bows and bills among them, and to throw open the abbey-gate -and form a third line or battalia round the discomfited foe. Divers of -our brotherhood did go forth with the prior, and even take a post in -advance upon the Falbury-hill; but I, Felix, having no commandment to -the contrary, stayed where I was, in a very safe place, whence I could -see all that chanced below. After making sundry desperate attempts to -stop the flight of their pedones and bring them to a head again, the -Empress's knights, not without holes in their chain jerkins, began to -fly themselves and to knock down and ride pitilessly over their own -people. They could go no other gait than close by our abbey and across -the Falbury; and when they came near unto our force on the hillock, a -stiffish flight of arrows and quarrels made them swerve and draw rein. -At this juncture, Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe, whose lance was red with -blood, and whose casque had been knocked from his head by some terrible -blow, and whose face was covered with blood in a manner fearful to look -upon, came thundering among the rebel knights calling upon his mortal -foe, that caitiff knight Sir Jocelyn de Brienne, to tarry and receive -his inevitable doom as a felon traitor, coward, and foul murtherer. At -these hard words Sir Jocelyn, who was aforetime a man of a very evil -reputation, wheeled round his horse, and with his lance in rest charged -Sir Ingelric, who was charging him. Sir Jocelyn, the prime leader of -this first rebellion, and main actor in the horrible deeds of the -over-night, was wounded and unhorsed, and lay on the hard ground of the -Falbury (not on a soft mead like that on which he made fall our lord -abbat) crying "Rescue! rescue! Help me or I perish!" - -Ay! there lay the proud strong man, struck down in his pride and -strength, looking towards our abbey-gate, and upon the hospital for -lepers, called the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen, which Aucherius, the -second abbat of our house, did build near to the great gate, and I ween -that Sir Jocelyn would have changed his present estate even for that of -a leper! and still he cried "Rescue! rescue! Will no true man stop and -save me?" But the knights and men-at-arms that had ridden with him could -not stay to lift him up or give him any aid, for that Sir Alain de Bohun -and his horsemen were now again close upon them, and therefore did they -spur their steeds and gallop madly past some of the townfolk our prior -had armed. Rings still in my ear the horrible voice with which the -fallen and disabled Sir Jocelyn cried "Quarter! quarter!" and called -upon his foe to show mercy, and name what ransom he would; and still my -blood runs cold as I recall the manner in which Sir Ingelric of -Huntercombe, dismounting, lifted up his enemy's coat of mail and drove -under it into Sir Jocelyn's heart his long thick dagger, screaming, -"Where was thy mercy last night! Die unconfessed!" And Sir Jocelyn -perished, and another knight and ten men-at-arms perished unshrieved -upon our abbey lands, yea, and close unto our church and sacristy. Many -that escaped were sorely wounded, and well upon two score of the -commoner sort were made prisoners, either in the King's Mead or in the -Falbury. Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe, mad with revenge, would have -butchered all these captives on the Falbury-hill as a sacrifice to the -manes of his beloved wife, but Sir Alain de Bohun stood between the -wretched serfs and this great fury, and when our good and merciful lord -abbat rode up on his grey palfrey, Sir Ingelric was somewhat pacified at -his discourse. By the foundation charter which the Beauclerc had given -us, it appertained to the lord abbat, and to none but him, to judge of -offences committed upon the lands of the abbey; yea, our lord abbat had -the privileges of the hundred courts, and all manner of pleas, with soc -and sac, infangtheof, and hamsockna; that is to say, he could try all -causes, impose forfeitures, judge bondmen and villeins, with their -children, goods and chattels, and try and punish any thief or -housebreaker, or other evil-doer taken within our jurisdiction. All -these rights and privileges were granted to the abbat of Reading Abbey -in their fullest extent, with judicial power in all cases of assault, -murder, breach of the peace, and the like; in short, in as full extent -as belonged to the royal authority. Lord Edward might have hanged every -one of those prisoners by the neck to the trees on the Falbury, and none -could have said him nay; or he could have chopped off their hands and -feet. But being of a merciful nature, he only made cut off the ears and -slit the noses of a few of the churls, and then dismissed them all, as -to keep them in prison would be troublesome and costly. And when this -last thing was done, all the victorious party came into our church, -where we the monks and novices did chant the _Te Deum laudamus_, after -which our abbat delivered a learned discourse upon the rights of King -Stephen, and put up a prayer for his preservation on the throne. - -Much bloodshedding and many horribly vindictive acts did the lord abbat -prevent on this unhappy day: nevertheless much blood was shed, and a new -score of vengeance was commenced. The kin and friends of Sir Jocelyn -could no more forgive and forget his death than Sir Ingelric of -Huntercombe could forgive the burning of his house and the murther of -his wife; every man that had fallen in the field left some behind him -who were sure to call for vengeance. - - - - -III. - - -Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe and the other knights whose houses had been -destroyed by the so sudden onset of their enemies, regained possession -of their lands; and, in other parts of the kingdom, Stephen, by force of -arms, or by treaty, recovered nearly all the castles which had been -taken from him. Merciful was the soul of King Stephen, even as that of -our lord abbat; for, although he lopped off the hands of some few of the -mean sort, he took not the life of one lord or knight, but, upon -submission made, did pardon them all their late rebellion. The empress's -illegitimate half-brother, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, fled beyond sea; -and when he was safe in Anjou, he sent his defiance to Stephen, wherein -he renounced his homage, and called the king usurper. But before he fled -out of England, Earl Robert had made a great league with many of our -barons, and had induced the Scottish king to engage to invade our land -with all the forces he could collect. King Stephen was again triumphant -over his many foes; he took castle after castle from the English barons, -and rarely began a siege which did not end prosperously. When the Scots, -and Gallowegians, and Highlanders, and men of the Isles, burst into -Northumberland and advanced into Yorkshire, Stephen was not there; but -the army that was collected for him by Thurstan, my lord archbishop of -York, and that was commanded for him in the field by Ranulph, my lord -bishop of Durham, and by William Peveril and Walter Espee of -Nottinghamshire, and Gilbert de Lacy and his brother Walter de Lacy of -Yorkshire, gained a glorious and most complete victory over the Scottish -barbarians at Northallerton in the great battle of the Standard, slaying -twelve thousand of them. The country, and the poor people of it, -suffered much during these sieges, and intestine wars, and foreign -invasions; but they came not near to Reading Abbey, and King Stephen was -everywhere successful, until, in an evil hour for him and for all of us, -he did violence to the church in order to satisfy the rapacity of his -ungodly men of war. For ye must know that King Stephen, in order to gain -the affections of the lay baronage, had given away so many lands and so -much money, that he had now nought left to give, and still those barons -cried "Give! give! or we will declare for the empress." "I see a flaw in -your title, therefore give me two more castles," said one great lord. "I -see two flaws, therefore give me four more castles that I may support -your right," said another great lord. "I fought for thee at -Northallerton, and therefore must have some domain for my guerdon," said -another. But castles, domains, all had been given away already; there -remained not of the crown lands enough to keep the king and his -household, and as for the treasury, it had long been empty. Seeing that -Stephen was like a spunge that had been squeezed, and that nothing was -to be gotten except by war and change of government, sundry of these -great lords withdrew to the strongest of their castles, and renewed -their correspondence with the Earl of Gloucester. In these great -straits, and while Stephen was holding his court in Oxenford, threatened -by foreign invasion, and not knowing how to distinguish his friends from -his foes, he was advised by the worst of his enemies to lay his hands -upon the property of churchmen. The most potent and wealthy churchman of -that day was old Roger, bishop of Sarum, who had been justiciary and -treasurer to Henry Beauclerc, and who had for a season filled the same -offices under Stephen; and next to the Bishop of Winchester, Stephen's -own brother, no man had done more than this Bishop Roger to bar the -claim of the empress, and secure the crown for the king. Moreover, this -great Bishop of Sarum had two episcopal nephews almost as great as -himself; the first of them being Alexander, bishop of Lincoln; the -second, Nigel, bishop of Ely. All three had been great builders of -castles, and men of a bold and martial humour. I find not in the canons -or in the fathers that bishops ought to make their houses places of -arms; but it is to be remembered King Stephen, to please the baronage, -had, at the commencement of his reign, given every baron permission to -fortify his old castle or castles, and to build new ones; nor is it to -be forgotten that in the midst of so many places of arms, the simple -unfortified manor-house of a bishop could never have been a safe abiding -place, or have afforded any protection to the serfs who cultivated the -soil, and the rest of my lord bishop's people. If Bishop Roger and his -nephews did build some castles for the defence of their manors and the -people upon them, and did expend much money in temporalities, they did -also raise splendid edifices to the glory of God. Witness the great -church at Sarum, which Bishop Roger rebuilt after it had been injured by -fire and by tempest--witness the beautiful works done at Lincoln by -Bishop Alexander, who nearly rebuilt the whole of that cathedral; and at -Ely, by Bishop Nigel. And these three great prelates did make noble use -of their wealth, in bringing over from foreign parts good builders and -artisans, and men of letters and doctrine, to improve and teach in their -several ways the people of this island; and if Bishop Nigel was somewhat -overmuch given to hunting and hawking, and spent much time, as well as -much money, upon his falcons and falconers, doubtlessly it was because -the climate of Ely is cold and damp, and requireth much exercise of the -body for the conservation of health, and because the circumjacent fen -country doth incredibly and most temptingly abound with wild-fowl proper -for the hawk to fly at. But to the propositus. King Stephen, being -minded to plunder these three great prelates, did summon them all three -to his court at Oxenford, where many ravenous lay lords and some foreign -lords had previously assembled. The two nephews, apprehending no -mischief, and being young men and active, went willingly enough; but it -was otherwise with the uncle, who was now a very old man. Bishop Roger -had lost his relish for courts, and seemingly had some presentiment; -for, as he started on his journey, he was heard to say, "By my Ladie St. -Mary, I know not wherefore, but my heart is heavy; but this I do know -for a surety, that I shall be of much the same service at court as a -fool in battle." At Oxenford the three bishops were received with a -great show of courtesy, as men who had done notable service to the king, -and as men whom the king delighted to honour; but they had not been long -in the town when a fierce quarrel arose about quarters and purveyance -between the retainers of Bishop Roger and the followers of that -outlandish man the Earl of Brittany. The aged prelate would have stilled -this tumult, but the Bretons, who had been purposely set on by those -about the king, would not desist, and swords being drawn on both sides, -the affray did not end until many men of the commoner sort were wounded, -and one knight was slain. And hereupon it was wickedly given out that -the bishops' people had begun the affray, and that the three bishops had -set them on to break the king's peace, and murther his guests within the -precincts of his royal court. Bishop Roger, the uncle, was seized in the -king's own hall, and Alexander, the bishop of Lincoln, at his lodgings -in the town; but Bishop Nigel, who had taken up his quarters in a house -outside the town, getting to horse, galloped across the country, and -threw himself into the castle of Devizes, the strongest of all his -uncle's strongholds. And it was thought that the Bishop of Ely would not -have been able to do this, and to distance his pursuers by leaping hedge -and ditch, if he had not providentially practised hunting and hawking in -his easy days. Bishop Roger, and his less fortunate nephew Alexander, -bishop of Lincoln, were confined in separate dungeons at Oxenford. They -were severally told that the king held them as traitors, and that the -price of their liberation would be surrender unto Stephen of all their -castles and manors, with whatsoever treasure they contained; and those -who delivered the message chuckled at it, seeing that they hoped to have -a share in the great spoil. At first Bishop Roger and Bishop Alexander -did manfully refuse to give up anything, but bishops in dungeons and in -chains are weak, and kings be sometimes very strong; and after they had -been menaced with torture and death, the two prelates put their names -and seals to an act of surrender and renunciation, and the castles which -Roger had built at Malmsbury and Sherborne, and that which he had -enlarged and strengthened at Sarum, and the magnificent castle which -Bishop Alexander had built at Newark, together with other places of -strength, were taken possession of by the king's people, in virtue of -the orders of the two bishops to their own people. But the alert, -hard-riding, and warlike Bishop of Ely would not give up the castle of -Devizes, into which he had thrown himself on his escape from Oxenford; -and, counting on the strength of his uncle's best fortress, and on the -affection the garrison and the people of the neighbouring country bore -to his family, Nigel did defy the power of King Stephen. Our unhappy -ill-advised king, whom I have so often seen, and with whom I have so -often spoken in this our house at Reading, had not the head to conceive, -nor the heart to execute, the foul trick which followed. No! it was all -the contriving and the doing of some of his ill-advisers, of the Earl of -Brittany, or Sir Alberic de Vere, or some other or others of those -children of perdition. Fasting is commendable at some seasons, but -starvation is horrible at all. If a man starve himself, he is guilty of -the worst and most unnatural species of suicide; and if a man starve -another, certes he is guilty of the cruellest of murthers. That which -impresses on my mind the belief that the aforesaid Sir Alberic de Vere -was deep in this guilt, are the facts of which I have had assurance; to -wit, that Sir Alberic never afterwards gave a feast in his own castle, -without seeing the apparitions of two ghastly, pale, starving bishops -take their stand opposite to him, and knit their brows, and wave their -right hands, as if they were pronouncing a curse each time his plate was -laid before him or his wine-cup filled; and that the said Sir Alberic -did die at the last of angina, which closed up his throat and allowed no -food to pass. Bethink ye whether the knight did not then think of Bishop -Roger and his episcopal nephew! But the procedure to force the Bishop of -Ely to give up the strong castle of Devizes was this:--Bishop Roger and -his nephew, the Bishop of Lincoln, were loaded in their dungeons with -more chains, and orders were given that they should be kept without food -until the castle was delivered up to King Stephen. When Bishop Nigel was -told of this intent he could not believe it, nor was it easy, even in -those wicked days, for any man to conceive the world wicked enough to -starve two prelates. "I will keep mine uncle's castle for him," said -Bishop Nigel, "for they dare not do the thing they speak of." But, -alack! his lordship was soon convinced to the contrary; for Bishop Roger -himself, already pale and emaciated, was carried to Devizes, and made to -state his own case in front of his own castle. And the old man implored -his nephew to surrender, and so save the life of his uncle and that of -his brother: and then Bishop Nigel gave up that great fortress, and -thereupon Bishop Roger and Bishop Alexander were allowed to have food, -after they had been three days and three nights in a fearful fast. -Before long all three of the bishops were set at liberty, but they had -been plundered of nearly all they possessed. The evil advisers of King -Stephen got most of the spoil. The robbery did not even a momentary good -to the king, and terrible was the penalty he was made to pay for it. The -whole body of the dignified clergy turned against him; and even his own -brother, Henry, bishop of Winchester, who was now the Pope's legatus for -all England, did join the other bishops in charging Stephen with -sacrilege. It was his own brother, the legatus, who summoned the king to -appear before a synod of bishops at Winchester; and what is brotherly -love when weighed in the balance with the duty of every churchman to the -church? King Stephen would not attend _personaliter_, but he sent unto -Winchester that Sir Alberic de Vere of whom I have spoken; and Sir -Alberic went into the hall of synod with a great company of armed -knights, and did there much misuse the prelates of the land, and did -refuse, in Stephen's name, to make restitution to Bishop Roger and his -two nephews of that of which they had been despoiled; and when he had -done these things, Sir Alberic made appeal to the pope and dissolved the -council, the wicked knights with him drawing their swords to enforce -obedience. The bishops separated for that present, but every one of them -saw that madness and much wickedness had prepared the downfall of King -Stephen. Bishop Roger died of old age, and grief and indignation, and of -the fatal effects of that dread fast; and while he was dying, the plate -and money which he had saved from the king's rapacity, which he had -devoted to the completion of his glorious church at Sarum, and which he -had layed for safety upon the high altar, were seized and carried off by -some who cared not for the guilt of sacrilege, and who were so blind -that they could not see in what such crimes must end. Forty thousand -marks, by our Ladie, was the value of that which was stolen from the -shadow of the Holy of Holies! - -Now some of the baronage and clergy did send messengers into Anjou to -invite the Empress Matilda into England, and to give her assurance good -that they would place her upon the throne of her late father. And the -ex-empress, being a woman of a high spirit, did presently come over with -her half-brother the Earl of Gloucester, and one hundred and forty -knights; and the two nephews of the late Bishop Roger and many of the -optimates did renounce their allegiance to King Stephen and join her -standard. Bishop Nigel, who would have continued to hold the castle of -Devizes if it had not been for that fearful fast, went into the Isle of -Ely, his own diocese, and there amidst the bogs and fens, and on the -very spot where Hereward the Lord of Brunn had withstood William the -Conqueror, he raised a great rampart and collected a great force against -Stephen. In other parts our bishops were seen mounted on war-horses, -clad in armour, and directing in the battle or the siege: and many and -bloody were the battles which were fought during two years, and until -King Stephen was surprised and defeated in the great battle of Lincoln, -and taken prisoner by the Earl of Gloucester, the half-brother of the -empress. Stephen was now thrown into a dungeon in Bristowe Castle, and -his brother the Bishop of Winchester and legatus acknowledged the right -and title of the empress, and led her in triumph to his cathedral church -at Winchester, and there blessed all who should be obedient to her, and -cursed all who should refuse to submit to her authority. And this being -done, Stephen's brother, the bishop and legate aforesaid, did convene an -assembly of churchmen to ratify her accession. At this synod the said -legate bore testimony against his brother, and said that God had -pronounced judgment against him; and the great churchmen, to whom it -chiefly belongs to elect kings and ordain them, did elect Matilda to -fill the place which Stephen's demerits had vacated. Yet some of the -clergy there were who did not think that they could be so easily -discharged of the oaths they had taken unto Stephen, or move so far in -this matter without a direct command from our lord the pope, and many -lords there were, as well of the laity as of the clergy, who did not -like Matilda the better for knowing more of her. But not one felt more -unhappy at these changes than our good lord abbat, who came back from -the last meeting of the clergy at Winchester well nigh broken-hearted; -for, albeit he lamented his errors, he had much affection for King -Stephen and great reverence to the obligations of an oath, and very -earnestly desired peace and happiness to the country. - -Also was he and all of us of the house at Reading and all devout and -considerate men in the land, much consternated by great signs in the -heavens: for on the twenty-first of the kalends of March in the year of -our redemption eleven hundred and forty, while we were sitting at -dinner, there was so great an eclipse of the sun that we could not see -to eat our meat, and were forced to light candles, and when lights were -brought in our appetites were gone because of our great fear; and when -we went out to gaze at the obscured sun and blackened heavens we did -plainly see divers stars twinkling near the sun. And these sad sights -were seen all over the land, making men believe, while they lasted, that -chaos was come again, and that this day was to be the day of judgment. -Abbat Edward did interpret these things as omens of our future woe. - -"I do foresee," said he, "that infinite woe will arise out of these our -distractions, and I can plainly see with only half of an eye that too -many of our magnates be looking to nothing but their own worldly -advantage. With this classis of men 'twill be down with Stephen and up -with Matilda to-day, and down with Matilda and up with Stephen -to-morrow; just as they hope to gain by the change. They will all find -in the end that they have miscalculated, but that will not heal the -wounds that will have been inflicted on the country through their -selfish unsteadiness, and lack of principle, and oath-breaking. The -ex-empress hath brought a pestilent set of hungry foreigners over with -her; and every one of them is looking for some great estate or bishopric -or abbey; others will follow, and they will have no bowels of compassion -for the people of this land. 'Tis true King Stephen hath done much amiss -or hath allowed evil things to be done in his name, but Matilda will do -worse, and will have less power than he to prevent the rapacity and -bloodthirstiness of others! Steel-clad barons and knights will not yield -obedience to the distaff. Even the church will be divided. St. John and -St. James to our aid! but my heart trembles for this house, and for the -poor townfolk of Reading, and the freemen and the serfs who have so long -lived in peace upon our manors; I am an old man--this journey to -Winchester hath added the weight of ten more years--I shall not live to -see an end to these troubles which have already lasted four years. Death -will relieve me from witnessing the worst; but when I am gone hence, oh -my brethren and children, put your faith in heaven, and remember that -the honestest policy is aye the best, and meditate night and day, and -labour hard, in order to lessen the sufferings of our poor vassals and -dependants." - -Grieves me to say that some of our house who made many solemn -protestations now, did not in after-time do that which they ought to -have done. - -Affairs were in this state, and the flames of civil war were raging all -round us, and the health of our good lord abbat was daily breaking more -and more, when the Empress Matilda passed through Reading without -stopping at our abbey to say an orison at her father's grave, being on -her way to Westminster, there to be crowned and anointed by those who -had crowned King Stephen only six years ago. But the citizens of London, -who were very bold and powerful, loved Stephen more than Matilda, and -before the coronation dresses could be got ready they rose upon her and -drove her from the city, flying on horseback and at first almost alone, -as she did. This time the daughter of the Beauclerc found it opportune -to come to our abbey, for she wanted food, lodging, and raiment, and -knew not where else to procure them. A messenger on a foundered horse -announced that she was coming, and by the time the man had put his beast -into our lord abbat's stable, a great cloud of dust was seen rolling on -the road beyond the Kennet from the eastward. "_Medea fert tristes -succos_--she is coming, and will bring poisons with her! She cometh in a -whirlwind," said our good lord abbat, "and albeit she is her father's -daughter--the lawfully begotten daughter of the founder of this house, -(though some men do say the contrary,) it grieves me that she cometh at -all. Last year, and at this same season of the year, we did lodge and -entertain King Stephen, and prayed God to bless him; and now must I -feast this wandering woman and cry God save Queen Matilda? The -unlettered and rustical people be slow of comprehension, yet will they -not have their hearts turned from us by seeing these rapid shiftings and -changings? And so soon as the commoner sort lose their faith or belief -in the principles of their betters, crime and havoc will have it all -their own way. This people--this already mixed people of Saxons and -Normans--will go backwards into blood, and there will be war between -cottage and cottage as well as between castle and castle!" - -The empress-queen arrived at our gates, and with a numerous attendance; -for some had followed by getting stealthily out of London, and some had -joined her on the road. Sooth to say she was an imperious, and -despotical, and loud-voiced, manlike woman, and of a very imposing -presence. Maugre her hasty flight she had a coronet of gold on her head, -and a jewel like a star on her breast, and her garments were of purple -and gold. A foreign lord, with a truculent countenance, bore a naked -sword before her, and another knight, with a visage no less stern, -carried a jewelled sceptre. - -"'Tis mine own father's house," said she as she came within our gates, -"'tis the gift and doing of mine own father, of blessed memory, and -much, oh monks! did you wrong him and me by entertaining within these -walls the foul usurper Stephen. The usurper is rotting in the nethermost -dungeon of Bristowe Castle, and there let him die; but, oh abbat, lead -me to my dear father's tomb, that I may say a prayer for the good of his -soul; and see in the coining place what money thou hast in hand, for -much do I lack money and must for the nonce be a borrower! Bid thy -people make ready a banquet in the hall, for we be all fasting and right -hungry; and send into the township and call forth each man that hath a -horse and a sword, in order that he may follow us to Oxenford, and help -to be our guard upon the way. Do these few things, oh abbat, and I will -yet hold thee in good esteem. The land rings with thy great wealth and -power. By Notre Dame of Anjou! 'tis a goodly house, and the walls be -strong, and the ditch round about broad and deep,--by the holy visage of -St. Luke! I will not hence to-night though all the rebel citizens of -London, that do swarm like bees from their hives, should follow me so -far." - -Our good lord abbat could do little more than bow and cross himself, and -our prior of the bellicose humour, who partook in our abbat's affection -for King Stephen, reddened in the face and turned aside his face and -grinded his teeth, and muttered down his own throat, "Beshrew the -distaff! The Beauclerc, her sire, was more courteous unto clerks!" - -Our sub-prior, being of a more supple nature, and being, moreover, not -without his hopes of being nominated to the abbatial dignity so soon as -our lord abbat should be laid under the chancel of the abbey church, -kneeled before the empress-queen, and then formed some of the monks _in -processionale_, and began lead the way to the sepulchre of Henricus -Primus. But this roused the abbat and threw the thoughts of our prior -into another channel, and the lord abbat said in a grim and loud whisper -unto the sub-prior, "I am chief here, and none must move without my -bidding;" and the prior said without any essay at a whisper, "Oh, sub, -seek not to climb above _me_!" - -The proud woman reddened and said, "If ye would honour me, oh monks, as -your queen, make haste to do it! An ye will not, I can get me in without -your ceremonies. No time have I to lose, and money and aid must be -forthcoming!" - -Then up spake the lord abbat Edward, and said in a loud voice, "Oh dread -ladie, when that king of peace and lion of justice, _Rex pacis et leo -justitię_, did found this house, he did give us his royal charter, -wherein it is said, 'Let no person, great or small, whether by violence -or as a due custom, exact anything or take anything from the persons, -lands, or possessions whatsoever belonging unto the monastery of -Reading; nor levy any money, nor ask any tax for the building of bridges -or castles, for carriages or for horses for carrying; nor lay any custom -or subsidy, whether for ship-money or tribute-money or for presents; -nor....'" - -"Oh abbat of the close fist," said Matilda, "I only want to borrow." - -"But we may not lend without full consent of all our chapter monks in -chapter assembled," quoth the prior. - -"And the foundation charter of Henricus Primus," said our abbat, -"recommends all the successors of the said royal founder to observe the -charter as they wish for the divine favour and preservation, and -pronounces a malediction upon any one that shall infringe or diminish -his donations. Dread ladie, thou art the Beauclerc's daughter: the curse -of a father is hard to bear!" - -There was some whispering and sign-making among her followers; but the -imperious woman said not a word: she only stretched out her right hand -and pointed forward, into the interior of our abbey. - -We now formed in more proper order and went through the church to the -Beauclerc's grave, on the broad slab of which there burned unceasing -lamps, and sweet incense renewed every hour, and at the edge of which -there was ever some brother of the house telling his beads and praying -for the defunct king, the founder of the house. Dim was the spot, for -death is darkness, and too much light suits ill with the decaying flesh -and bones of mortal man, be he king or plough-hind; yet, as the -empress-queen entered, our acolytes touched the tips of three hundred -and sixty-five tapers--sweet smelling tapers made of the wax brought -from Gascony and Spain and Italie--and in an instant that dim sepulchral -place was flooded with light, the converging rays meeting and shining -brightest upon the black slab and the graven epitaph which began with -the proud titles of the Beauclerc king, and which ended with that -passage from holy writ which saith that all is vanity here below. - -Matilda knelt and put her lips to that black slab (which she safely -might do, for it was kept clear of all dirt and dust, it being the sole -occupation of one of the lay brothers of our house to rub it every day -and keep it clean), and she said an orison, of the shortest, and made -some show of shedding tears; but then she quickly rose, and would have -gone forth from the vault or cappella. But the lord abbat was not minded -that the first visit paid by his daughter to the tomb of her father -should pass off with so little ceremony and devotion; and, he himself -taking the lead with his deep solemn voice, the Officium de Functorum, -or Service for the Dead, was recited and chanted. The empress-queen was -somewhat awed and moved, and there seemed to be penitential tears in her -eyes as we chaunted "Beati Mortui qui in Domino moriuntur;" but at the -last requiem "Ęternam" she flung away from the place and began to talk -with a loud shrill voice of worldly affairs and of battles and -sieges--for the royal-born woman had the heart of a man and warrior, and -her grandfather the great Conqueror was not more ambitious or avid of -dominion than she. - -When we had well feasted Matilda and those who followed her in the -abbat's apartment, we hoped she would be gone, for it was a long and -fine day of June, well nigh upon the feast of St. John, and she well -might have ridden half way to Oxenford before nightfall; but she soon -gave the abbat to understand that she had no intention of going so soon. -Without blushing she did ask how and where we monks could lodge her and -her women for the night, telling us that she could not think of -sleeping in the town, seeing that it was but poorly defended by walls -and bulwarks. The abbat looked at the prior, and all the fathers looked -at one another with astonishment, but the ungodly waiting-women, who -came all from Anjou and other foreign parts, only smiled and simpered as -they gazed at one another and observed our exceeding great confusion. - -"In truth, royal dame," said our lord abbat, "it is against the rule of -our order to lodge females within our walls." - -"But I am your queen, oh abbat," said Matilda, "and this is a royal -abbey, and my sire founded it and endowed it! Have I not, as my father's -daughter and lawful sovereign of this realm, the right to an exemption -from the severity of your ordinances?" - -"Ladie," quoth the abbat, "I wit not that you have such right, or that -the rule of St. Benedict is in any case to be set aside." - -"But it hath been set aside," said Matilda, "and queens and their -honourable damsels have slept in royal abbeys before now." - -"That," quoth the abbat, "was before the Norman conquest, when, through -the indolence, carelessness, and gluttony of the Saxon monks, the -statutes of our order were generally ill-observed." - -"But I tell thee, oh stubborn monk, that I, the empress-queen, that I, -thy liege ladie Matilda, have slept and sojourned in half the abbeys and -priories of England!" - -"'Tis because of these civil wars which have so long raged to the -destruction of all discipline and order, and to the utter undoing of -this poor people of England! I, by the grace of God, abbat of Reading, -would not shape my conduct after the pattern of some abbats and priors -that be in this land, or willingly allow that which they perchance may -have permitted without protest, and to the spiritual dishonour of their -houses." - -Here the eyes of the empress-queen flashed fire, and wrathful and -scornful was the voice with which she said unto our good lord abbat, in -presence of most of the community, "Shaveling, I am here, and will here -tarry so long as it suits my occasions! I believe thy traitorous -affection for my false cousin Stephen hath more to do with thine -obstinacy than any reverence thou bearest to the rules of thine order. -But, monk, 'tis too late! thou shouldest have kept thy gates closed! I -and my maidens are within thy house, and these my faithful knights will -see thee and thy brethren slain between the horns of the altar rather -than see the Queen of England thrust out like a vagrant beggar from the -abbey her own father founded!" - -As the empress-queen said these words the knights knit their brows and -made a rattling with their swords. This did much terrify the major part -of our community, and I, Felix, being then of a timorous nature, and a -great lover of peace, as became my profession, did creep towards the -door of the hall. But our prior spoke out with a right manful voice -against the insults put upon our good abbat, telling the empress-queen -to her face that respect and reverence were due to the church even from -the greatest of princes; that her father, of renowned and happy memory, -would not so have treated the humblest servant of the church; and that -if this unseemly business should be put to the issue of arms--if swords -should be drawn over her royal father's grave--it might peradventure -happen that the armed retainers of the abbey would prove as good men as -these outlandish knights, and that the fathers and brothers of the house -would fight for their lives, as other servants of the church had -ofttimes been constrained to do in these turbulent, lawless, ungodly -days. - -At this discourse of our bellicose prior the empress-queen turned pale -and her lip quivered, though more through wrath than fear, as it seemed -to me; but her knights left off noising with their swords; and one of -them, a native knight, spoke words of gentleness and accommodation, and -put it as an entreaty rather than as a command, that the queen should be -allowed to infringe our rules for only one night. - -"My conscience doth forbid it," said our lord abbat, "for it may be made -a precedent, to the great injury and decay of our discipline. Therefore -do I solemnly enter my protest against it. But as I would not see this -holy house defiled by strife and blood, nor attempt a forcible -expulsion, I will quit mine apartments." And so saying, the lord abbat -withdrew, and was followed by all of us. The queen slept in the abbat's -bed; her maidens on the rushes, which were carried into that chamber -from the abbat's hall; and the knights and men-at-arms slept in the Aula -Magna. And, as our good abbat had foreseen, this evil practice was taken -as a precedent, in such sort that empresses and queens, and other great -princesses, have in these later times been often lodged in Benedictine -and in other houses; yet, wherever the abbats and monks entertain a -proper sense of their duty, they lodge these visitors in the lord -abbat's house, apart from the religious community. - -But before sleeping, the empress-queen did many things, for it still -wanted some hours of the Ave Maria, and many were the stormy thoughts -that were working in her brain. Two of her knights we allowed to go out -of the house by the postern-gate, but farther ingress we granted to -none; and not only did our armed retainers keep watch for us, but our -monks, under the vigilant eye of the prior, did also keep watch and ward -all through that evening and night, for we feared some extreme mischief; -and it would not have failed to happen if Matilda had been enabled to -get her partisans in greater force within the house. In truth, not many -of our community knew that night what sleep was. The materials for an -abundant supper were furnished to the empress-queen and her people; and -some of these last were singing ungodly songs in the abbat's great hall -when our church-bell told the midnight hour; yea, there was a noise of -singing, and a running to and fro, and a squealing of womanly voices -long after that, to the great sorrow and shame of the fathers of our -house. I, Felix, albeit only a novice, was of those who slept not. And I -saw a great sight. Watching in the eastern turret, I did see a fiery -meteor, hirsute like a comet, but not so big, shoot up from the marshes -on the other side of the Kennet, not far from the back of our abbey; and -this meteor, as it passed over our house, did divide itself into three -several parts, and these did rush away to the westward as quick as -lightning, and there drop and disappear. Before the night came again I -was made to understand what these things meant. - - - - -IV. - - -From all ungodly guests _libera nos_! Although they had feasted so late -at night, the people of the empress did make an early call for a -matutinal refection; and our good chamberlain and coquinarius and -cellarius were made to bestir themselves by times, and sundry of our lay -brothers and servitors, to the great endangering of their souls, were -made to run with viands and drink into our lord abbat's hall, and there -wait upon the daughter of the Beauclerc and her foreign black-eyed -damsels, who did shoot love-looks at them and discompose their monastic -sobriety and gravity by laying their hands upon their sleeves and -twitching their hoods for this thing and that (for the young Jezebels -spoke no English), and by singing snatches of love songs at them, even -as the false syrens of old did unto the wise Ulysses. Certes, the -founder of our order, the blessed Benedict, did know what he was a-doing -when he condemned and prohibited the resort of women to our houses and -their in-dwelling with monks. Monks are mortal, and mortal flesh is -weak: _et ne nos inducas in tentationem_. - -It was still an early hour, not much more than half way between prima -and tertia, when more troubles came upon us. The two knights who had -been sent forth by the daughter of the Beauclerc to make an espial into -the condition of the country, and to summon her friends unto her, -returned to our gate with a large company of knights and men-at-arms, -and demanded to be readmitted. Our good abbat, calling together the -fathers of the house, held counsel with them; and it was agreed that to -admit so great a company of men of war would be perilous to our -community; and even our bellicose prior did opine that our people would -be too few to protect the abbey if these men without should be joined to -those the empress had within. It was our prior who addressed that great -company from the porter's window over the gateway, telling them that the -two knights who had come from London with the empress might be -readmitted, but that our doors would not be unbarred even unto them -unless the rest of that armed host went to a distance into the King's -Mead. Hereat there arose a loud clamour from those knights and -men-at-arms, with great reproaches and threats. Yea, one of those -knights, Sir Richard ą Chambre, who was in after time known for a most -faithless man, and a variable, changing sides as often as the moon doth -change her face, did call our lord abbat apostate monk and traitor, and -did threaten our good house with storm and spoliation. The major part of -us had gathered in front of the house to see and hear what was passing; -but, alack! we were soon made to run towards the back of the abbey, for -while Sir Richard ą Chambre was discoursing in this unseemly strain, and -shaking his mailed fist at the iron bars through which he could scantly -see the tip of our prior's nose, a knight on foot, who wore black mail -and a black plume in his casque, and who never raised his visor and -scarce spoke word after these few, came running round the eastern angle -of the abbey walls, shouting "'Tis open! 'tis ours! Win in, in the name -of Matilda!" The voice that said these few words seemed to not a few of -us to have been heard before, but we had no time to think of that. The -armed host set up a shout, and ran round for our postern gate, which -openeth upon the Kennet, and we all began to run for the same, our lord -abbat wringing his hands, and saying "The postern! the postern! some -traitor hath betrayed us!" - -Now our postern was secured by two great locks of rare strength and -ingenuity of workmanship, and the keys thereof were not intrusted to the -portarius, but were always kept by the sub-prior, and without these keys -there was no undoing the door either from within or from without. As he -ran from the great gateway, I heard our prior say in an angry voice unto -the sub-prior, "Brother Hildebrand, how is this? Where be the keys?" And -I heard the sub-prior make response, "On my soul, I know not how it is, -but verily the keys I did leave under the pallet in my cell." - -When we came into the paved quadrangle, we found some of our retainers -hastily putting on their armour; but when we came into the garden, we -found it thronged with men already armed, and we saw the postern wide -open and many more warriors rushing in through it: the evil men who had -stayed with the queen, and who had so much abused our hospitality, had -already joined the new comers, and the united and still increasing force -was so great that we could not hope to expel them and save our house -from robbery and profanation. Our very prior smote his breast in -despair. But our good abbat, though of a less bellicose humour, had no -fear of the profane intruders, for he stood up in the midst of them and -upbraided them roundly, and threatened to lay an interdict upon them all -for the thing that they were doing. But anon the empress herself came -forth with one that waved a flag over her head, and at sight hereof the -sinful men set up a shouting and fell to a kissing, some the flag, which -was but a small and soiled thing, and some--on their knees--the hand of -the Beauclerc's daughter; and while this was passing, those foreign -damsels came salting and skipping, and clapping their hands and talking -Anjou French, into the garden. There was one of them attired in a short -green kirtle that had the smallest and prettiest feet, and the largest -and blackest eyes, and the longest and blackest eyelashes, and the -laughingest face, that ever man did behold in these parts of the world; -and she danced near to me on those tiny pretty feet, and glanced at me -such glances from those black eyes, that my heart thumped against my -ribs; but the saints gave me strength and protection, and I pulled my -hood over my eyes and fell to telling my beads, and thus, when others -were backsliders, I, Felix the novice, was enabled to stand steadfast in -my faith. - -The empress had taken no heed of our lord abbat, or of any of us; but -when she had done welcoming the knights that came to do her service, -and, imprimis, to escort her on her way to Oxenford, she turned unto the -abbat and said, "Monk, thou art too weak to cope with a queen, the -daughter of a king, the widow of an emperor, and one from whom many -kings will spring. But by thy perversity, which we think amounts to -treason, thou hast incurred the penalty of deprivation; and when we -have time for such matters, or at the very next meeting of a synod of -bishops and abbats, I will see that thou art both deprived and -imprisoned." - -"That synod," said our abbat very mildly, "will not sit so soon, and -from any synod I can appeal to his holiness the Pope." - -"Fool!" quoth Matilda, with the ugliest curl of the lip I ever beheld; -"obstinate fool! the Pope's legate is our well-beloved subject and -friend the Bishop of Winchester." - -"See that you keep his allegiance! He hath put you upon a throne, and -can pull you down therefrom!" So spake our prior, who could not stomach -the irreverent treatment the Countess of Anjou put upon his superior, -and who knew that Matilda had in various ways broken her compact with -him, and done deeds highly displeasing to King Stephen's brother, the -tough-hearted Bishop of Winchester. - -"Beshrew me!" quoth Matilda; "but these Reading monks be proud of -stomach and rebellious! Sir Walleren of Mantes, drive them into their -church, and see that they quit it not while we tarry here." - -"I will," said the foreign knight; "and also will I see that they do -sing the _Salve, Regina_." - -And this Sir Walleren and other unknightly knights drew their swords and -called up their retainers; and before this ungodly host the abbat and -prior and the monks were all compelled to retreat into the church, -leaving the whole range of the abbey to those who had so unrighteously -invaded it. But as soon as we were in the choir, instead of singing a -_Salve, Regina_, we did chant _In te, Domine, speravi_. - -A strong guard was put at the church-door and in the cloisters; but it -was not needed, as we could oppose no resistance to those who were now -robbing our house; and as it had been determined therefore that all who -had come into the church should remain, with psalmody and prayer, until -these men of violence should take their departure from the abbey, or -complete their wickedness by driving us from it. As they ransacked our -house, as though it had been a castle taken by storm, and as they -shouted and made such loud noises as soldiers use when a castle or a -town hath been successfully stormed, we only chanted the louder in the -choir. For full two hours did these partisans of Matilda ransack the -abbey, with none to say them nay. At the end of that time, when they had -gotten all that they considered worth taking, that ill-visaged knight -Sir Walleren of Mantes came to the church-door, and called forth the -abbat and prior, saying that the queen would speak with them before she -went, and give them a lesson which they might remember. Though thrice -summoned in the name of the queen, the heads of our house did not move, -nor would they have gone forth at all if the fierce Sir Walleren -aforesaid had not sent in a score of pikes to drive them, or prick them -from their seats. Nay, even then, the prior would have run not unto the -door, but unto the altar; but the good abbat, fearing that God's house -might be desecrated by blood, took the prior by the sleeve, and -whispered a few soothing words to him, and so led him out into the -cloisters; and then all we who had been driven into the church followed -the abbat and the prior, and went to the quadrangle, where was the queen -on horseback, mounted on the lord abbat's own grey palfrey, which had -been stolen from the stable, together with every horse and mule that our -community possessed. It was a sad sight; and the lord abbat's master of -the horse and his palfrey-keeper were wringing their hands at it. Our -good cattle, save and except the lord abbat's palfrey and a fine -war-horse which had appertained to one of our knights, but which was now -mounted by that silent knight in the black mail, who never raised his -visor, were loaded with the spoils of our own house, to wit, the coined -money taken out of our mint, provisions, corn, wine, raiment, and goodly -furnishings. The masked knight had a plain shield, carried by his page, -and no cognizance whereby he might be known: he held in his hand one of -the queen's reins, and by his gestures, and his constant looking to the -great gate of our house, which was now thrown wide open, he seemed very -eager to be gone. As our lord abbat, with his hand still upon the -prior's sleeve, came through the crowd and nigh to the space where -Matilda sat upon his own palfrey, she first frowned upon him and then -laughed at him, and between laughing and frowning said--"Oh abbat that -shalt not be abbat long, thou hast comported thyself like a traitor and -a very churl in stinting thy queen of that which she needed, in -begrudging hospitality to these fair damsels, and in barring thy doors -against these my gallant knights and faithful people. For this have we, -for the present, relieved thy house of some of its superfluous stuff. It -is not well that disloyal monks be so well supplied and furnished, when -a queen, and noble ladies, and high-born knights be unprovided and bare, -and forced by treasons foul to flee from place to place as if they were -accursed Israelites. Light meals are followed by light digestion, and -abstinence is favourable to prayer and devotion. Yet have we taken -nothing from ye, O monks, but what is rightfully ours, or was given ye -by my father of thrice glorious memory." - -"Oh Empress, or Countess of Anjou, or Queen of England, if so must be, -the deeds which have been done in this holy house, built and endowed by -thy father for the expiation of his sins, will make the bones of thy -father turn in his grave, and will bring down a curse upon the heads of -thee and thy party. Bethink thee, and repent while it is yet time! Thy -father, the father of his people and the peace of his country, _Pax -patrię, gentisque suę Pater_, did for the good of his own soul found -this abbey, and endow it with the town and manor of Reading, and with -all the lands which had aforetime belonged to the nunnery of Reading and -the monasteries of Cholsey and Leominster (which houses had been -destroyed in our old wars), and he did make it one of the royal mitred -abbeys, and did give the lord abbat privilege to coin his own money, by -having a mint and mintmaster. Other donations did he make, and other -privileges and honours did he confer upon our community. And hath not -our lord the pope by a special bull confirmed and sanctified this kingly -grant, and taken our house, with all its possessions and appurtenances, -to wit, lands cultivated and uncultivated, its manors, meadows, woods, -pastures, mills, fisheries, and all other, under the protection of the -holy Roman see? And hath not his holiness decreed that none are to -disturb our house, or to lay an impious hand on our possessions, or to -keep, or diminish the same, or in any other way give us trouble; but -that all that we have and hold is to be kept under the government of the -monks, and for the pious uses for which it was given? And in the same -bull hath not the pope blessed those who keep this commandment, and -cursed those who in any way break it? Unless thou makest restitution -thou wilt be denied the viaticum on thy death-bed--_et a sacratissimo -corpore et sanguine Dei et Domini nostri aliena fiat_." - -At these words spoken, the countess did somewhat tremble on the palfrey, -and turn pale; but one of her wicked advisers from beyond sea said that -she did but borrow, and would make restitution at the fitting time, and -that we, being so rich, could well spare some of our substance. - -Our treasurer, who would not deign to speak to this foreign marauder, -said to the countess, "Oh, ill-advised ladie, we be none so rich, and -much is expected from us. By thy father's endowment full two hundred -monks are to be kept for aye in this his royal abbey, and we be as yet -scantly more than one hundred and two score. Also do the good people -that we have drawn to this township of Reading look to us for present -employment and support; and herein have we much laboured, for the good -of the realm, and the happiness of the commoner sort. In the days of thy -grandfather, the dread Conqueror of this kingdom, when the Domesday-book -was made, Reading had only twenty-nine houses; but now look abroad, and -see how new houses have risen, and men have increased under the shadow -of our peaceful walls." - -"There will be woe and want among that industrious people," said abbat -Edward, "if thou carriest away from us this great spoil, and all the -money that we have minted! The curse of the poor, which is the next -terriblest thing to the curse of God and holy church, will cling to -thee, oh countess, or queen! Look to it, oh Matilda! I see the crown -already dropping from thy head." - -"This is treason!" said the silent knight with his visor down, in a -voice which made all of us start, for it sounded like that of one who -had lately been our fast friend. - -Matilda, rising in her saddle, with glaring eyes and reddened cheek, -said, "And I, rebel monk, do see the mitre falling from thy head. Thou -wilt not be abbot of Reading this time next month." - -"_Fiat voluntas_, let the will of God be done," replied our lord abbat. - -"And now," quoth the violent daughter of the Beauclerc, "let us ride on -our way for Oxenford. Methinks we be now strong enough to defy all -traitors on the road." And she struck with her riding-wand the grey -palfrey, which it much grieved our abbat to lose, and followed by her -knights and her leering and laughing foreign damsels, she rode out at -our gate, and with a great host departed from Reading. - -When the evil-doers were all gone we made fast our doors, and proceeded -to examine the condition of our house and its community. They had -completely emptied the buttery, the store-house, the granary, the -wine-cellar; they had so stripped the lord abbat's house and the lodging -of the prior that there was nothing left in them save the tables and -chairs, the mats and rushes; they had broken open both treasury and -sacristy, and had stolen thence all our most precious relics, and all -our gold and silver vessels, and all our portable pictures and -crucifixes; they had not left us so much as a patera, a chalice, or an -encensoire; they had even laid their impious thievish hands upon the -silver lamp which had been used to burn day and night at the head of the -Beauclerc's tomb, and they had carried off with them the Agnus Dei and -the jewelled cross which Henricus Primus had worn for many years of his -life, and which, at his order, had been laid upon his tomb. That silver -lamp had been sent to the abbey by Queen Adelise, the Beauclerc's second -and surviving wife, who, on the first anniversary of the Beauclerc's -death, gave us the manor of Aston in Hertfordshire, offering a pall upon -the altar in confirmation of the grant; and who likewise gave us the -land of Reginald, the Forester, at Stanton-Harcourt, nigh unto Oxenford, -and afterwards the patronage and revenues of the church of -Stanton-Harcourt, to supply the cost of the silver lamp, which she -herself did order should burn continually before the pix and the tomb of -her late husband. Yet Matilda and her plundering band had carried off -this precious cresset--and long did they prevent us getting any rent or -revenues from the lands which Queen Adelise had granted us. Not the most -recondite and secret part of our house had escaped their search. Much -did we marvel at this, until, calling over the roll, we found that three -members of our community did not answer to their names. The three -missing were, two novices, to wit, young Urswick, the whiteheaded, from -Pangbourne, and John Blount from Maple-Durham, and one full monk, to -wit, Father Anselm, of Norman birth, who had but lately taken the vows, -but who had been much employed by our treasurer in offices of trust. The -two novices (may their souls be assoiled!) had been wiled away by those -young Jezebels, and had put on warlike harness, and had gone with -Matilda to serve her as men-at-arms: Father Anselm, being a -well-favoured man, had found favour in the sight of the Countess of -Anjou, and had gone with her to be her mass-priest, and to aim at some -vacant bishopric or abbey. Well had it been for us if he had never come -back to Reading. Heavy suspicions had fallen upon our sub-prior -Hildebrand, touching the postern gate; but it was ascertained upon -inquiry, that Urswick, the whiteheaded, who had been wont to wait upon -the sub-prior, did, at the bidding of Matilda, or of one of her damsels, -steal the keys and undo the door. - -Besides the three deserters from our own body, we found that divers of -our armed retainers had taken service with the errant countess, and had -gone away with her with their arms and horses; and that even one of our -knights, who did service for the lands of the abbey he held, had -forgotten his bounden duty and his honour in a sudden fantastic -affection for a pair of black eyes. - -We were bemoaning our losses, and our exceeding great calamity and -disgrace, and wondering where we should get a dinner, when, some three -hours after the departure of Matilda, and the host that followed her -standard, another great body of horse and foot, bearing the banner of -King Stephen, marched towards our gates, demanding meat and drink, and -vowing, with many soldier-like profane oaths, that they would burn and -destroy all such as were not for Stephen. The new alarm thus created -was, however, but short, for some noble barons and knights, who had been -riding in the rear, came spurring up to the van, which was now halting -in the Falbury, and among these we saw, with his vizor down, that right -noble lord Sir Alain de Bohun, Lord of Caversham and the well-beloved -nephew of our lord abbat, whose sad heart was much rejoiced at his so -sudden appearance. - -"Be it King Stephen or Queen Matilda," said the abbat, "let us throw -open our gates to our well-beloved nephew, for he will not see harm done -to us, and now, verily, we have nothing to lose but lives not worth the -taking." And the gates were thrown open, and Sir Alain was welcomed and -affectionately greeted by his uncle; and after many expressions of -astonishment and indignation at the wrongs which had been done us, Sir -Alain and divers of the lords and knights with him retired for a space -to the lord abbat's despoiled and naked apartment, with the lord abbat -and our prior, and some other fathers. I was not of that council, being -but a novice, nor can I say it that I ever learned in after times _all_ -that was said in it; but I do know that when it was finished (and it -lasted not long) the prior came forth with a very confident countenance, -and told us all that the Bishop of Winchester, the pope's Legatus ą -latere, had changed sides, that Stephen of Blois was still King Stephen, -and that we must sing a _Te Deum laudamus_ for that same. And we all -went forthwith into our church, and the barons and knights went in after -us, and we admitted as many as the church would hold of those -men-at-arms, and bill-men and bow-men, that had halted in the Falbury -with King Stephen's banner, and albeit we were hungry and faint, we sang -the _Te Deum_ for Stephen with sonorous voices. - -Sir Alain de Bohun, one of the very few lords of England that never -changed sides during these nineteen years of revolutions and wars, had -fought bravely for King Stephen in the great battle at Lincoln, where -other barons and knights had deserted with all their forces to Matilda's -illegitimate brother and commander the Earl of Gloucester; and after -Stephen had been taken prisoner (not until both his sword and battle-axe -had been broken), Sir Alain had escaped from the field and had joined -one of the many leagues of nobles who vowed never to submit to the -distaff, or allow the Countess of Anjou to be Queen of England. In the -five months which had passed since the battle of Lincoln, Sir Alain had -fought in sundry other battles, and had given heart to many a knight, -who, after the synod of Winchester, had despaired of the cause of King -Stephen. He had appeared with a good body of horse, and the standard of -Stephen, on the southern side of Thamesis, opposite the city of London, -and his appearance had encouraged the citizens to rise and drive out -Matilda. And the day before, appearing in the suburb of London, Sir -Alain de Bohun had been at Guildford, and had there conferred with -Stephen's queen, the good Maud, and also with Stephen's brother, the -Bishop of Winchester, who did already repent him of that which he had -done in synod. But that the bishop had met either Queen Maud or Sir -Alain was for the present kept secret. - -The Lord of Caversham and his friends had crossed the river, and entered -London city within an hour of Matilda's flight. Having toiled far that -same day, the horses of the king's party were weary, and could not give -pursuit; but after short rest they followed the flying queen along the -great road which leads to the westernmost parts of our island. Jesu -Maria! had they come unto Reading a few hours sooner, before the arrival -of that battalia which the two knights Matilda had sent forth from our -abbey had collected, the violent woman might have been made prisoner, -and our house have been saved from plunder. But now the horses of King -Stephen's friends were again aweary, and though Sir Alain and the noble -barons with him were stronger in foot soldiers, they were much weaker in -horse than the host which had left Reading with the countess, who, upon -these sundry considerations, and for that she had been gone more than -two hours, was let go on her road to Oxenford without pursuit. - -The burghers of Reading who had endeavoured to save themselves from -plunder and violence by throwing up their caps and shouting for the -errant queen, but who had been plundered and beaten all the same (nay, -divers of them were wounded by sword and lance, and cruelly maimed), now -came to our abbey-gates, making their throats hoarse with shouting for -King Stephen and the good and gracious Lord of Caversham; and some of -the richer franklins of the township and neighbourhood, who had escaped -being plundered by Matilda's party, upon learning the sad case in which -we, the monks, had been left, hastened to bring us meat and drink. - -Sir Alain de Bohun, who had not seen his wife or his home for many a sad -day, was about to ride across the fields homeward, when his ladie's page -was seen running across the King's Mead towards our abbey. - -"Yonder comes one from Caversham," said Sir Alain; "and I read by his -looks and his hurry that he bringeth no good news!" - -"Fear not," said the abbat, who saw that his nephew's cheek was growing -pale, "for the saints have ever defended thy roof-tree, and as I told -thee before, the Ladie Alfgiva and the children were as well as well -could be at the hour of noon of yesterday, when I did see them." - -Nevertheless, the little page did bring bad news, or tidings which much -afflicted Sir Alain and our lord abbat. There had been treachery at -Caversham, and a fast friend had played loose. That sweet babe, the -daughter of Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe, who had caused our household so -much dismay four years agone, and had sent me and Philip the lay-brother -on the night-journey to Sir Alain de Bohun's castle, had dwelt in that -castle ever since, and had been nurtured with all delicacy and honour, -like a child of the house. For a long season Sir Ingelric, her father, -had no safe home unto which he could take her; for since the beginning -of these unhappy wars, no house in England could be called safe that was -not moated and battlemented, and strongly garrisoned; and if Sir -Ingelric had possessed a castellum, he had no gentle dame unto whom he -could confide his infant female child. But the Ladie Alfgiva was as -tender as a mother to this babe, and this tenderness became the greater -when death deprived her of her own little daughter. Sir Ingelric of -Huntercombe, who had taken vengeance on the destroyer of his wife and -home, Sir Jocelyn de Brienne, in the Falbury almost at our abbey gates, -seemed engaged for life in a blood-feud with Sir Jocelyn's family and -friends, and to be for ever wedded to the party of King Stephen by the -strong ties of necessity and revenge. Many were the combats he had -fought between that time his house and wife were burned, and the time -when King Stephen prepared for that campaign which had ended so -disastrously at Lincoln. During this long and busy interval he went not -often to Caversham, so that his child grew up with little knowledge of -him. The little Alice was wont to call Sir Alain de Bohun her father, -even as she called the Ladie Alfgiva mother. Once or twice within the -last twelve months Sir Ingelric had said, that since his house was well -nigh rebuilt, he should have a safe bower for his daughter, and that -Alice must soon home with him; and each time he had said the words the -child had run from him to the Ladie Alfgiva, and had clung round her -neck, weeping and saying that she would not leave her mother; and her -playmate and champion, that right gallant boy Arthur de Bohun, the only -son, and now the only child, of Sir Alain, who was some four years older -than Alice, said that she must not leave him. It was noticed upon these -occasions, that although Sir Ingelric began as in a jest, his -countenance soon grew dark and his voice harsh, and that he almost shook -his child when he took her on his knee and told her that she must love -her father, and must not always be a burthen unto other people. Nay, -the last time that he said these words he pressed the little Alice's arm -so violently that he left the blackening marks of his fingers upon it. -Other things were noted as well by Sir Alain de Bohun as by the Ladie -Alfgiva. It is not every man that is chastened by calamity. Sir -Ingelric's great misfortune had made him fierce, proud, and rebellious -to the will of Heaven; and, in losing his fair young wife, he had lost -his best guide and monitor. He became hard of heart, and grasping, and -covetous; and as for more than three years the party of King Stephen had -been almost everywhere victorious, he had abundant opportunities of -satisfying his appetite for havoc and booty. But the more he gained the -more he wished to get, and by degrees he gave up his whole soul to -avarice and ambition. Sir Alain de Bohun, who looked for no advantage -unto himself, who adhered to King Stephen out of loyalty and affection, -and who kept out of the horrible and unnatural warfare as much as he -thought his duty would allow him, entertained apprehensions that his -friend Sir Ingelric loved the war for what he gained by it, and would -not be very steady to any losing party. Sir Ingelric, however, had -fought bravely for King Stephen at Lincoln, and had there been taken -prisoner. But he had paid a ransom to his captor, and had been some time -at large, busied in putting the finishing hand to the strong castle -which he had raised on his lands at Speen. Though the distance was so -short to Caversham, he had not gone once thither until the evening of -the unhappy day on which the Countess of Anjou had come to our -abbey--that is, the evening of yesterday--but then he had told the -Ladie Alfgiva that as the weather was so fine and the country so -tranquil (alack! the good people at Caversham had not seen the arrival -of Matilda and her young Jezebels at our abbey), he would take the two -children forth for a walk in the meadows by the river side; and the -false knight had gone forth with the children, and neither he nor the -children had since been seen or heard of. As the little page came to -this point in his dismal story, not only our prior, but several of us -less entitled to speak in such a presence, cried out, "That knight in -the black mail who kept his vizor down, and that went away with the -countess, was none other than Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe;" and our -abbot said, "Verily, the voice was that of Sir Ingelric!" - -"Woe for these changes!" said Sir Alain de Bohun, "woe and shame upon -them. If men have no faith even with old friends--if men do shift from -side to side like the inconstant wind, this war will never know an end, -and truth, and honour, and mercy will depart the land! Sir Ingelric of -Huntercombe! I aided thee in thy wretchedness, and King Stephen did -afterwards hand thee on the road to riches and greatness. I first gave -thee money and the labour of my serfs that thou mightest re-edify thy -house, but now thou hast built to thyself a strong castle, wherein thou -thinkest thou canst defy me, now thou believest the cause of Stephen to -be desperate, and therefore dost thou raise thy hand against me, and -steal away, like a thief, not only the child that was thine own, but -also mine only son, that the woman of Anjou may have my dearest hostage -in her power. May God of his mercy protect my dear boy! But, oh Sir -Ingelric, thy treachery is ill-laid and ill-timed, thy cunning is -foolishness. Great things have happened since thou hast been -castle-building, and thou wilt find that thou hast quitted the stronger -for the weaker party. Hereafter will I make thee pay, if not for thy -black ingratitude to me, for thy disloyalty to thy too bountiful king, -and for the tears my ladie wife will shed for her double loss!" - -Here moisture very like a tear stood in the eyes of the Lord of -Caversham: but grief gave way to wrath as he said that the felon knight -might have taken his own child, which would long since have been in its -grave but for the Ladie Alfgiva, without robbing him of his son. - -Our good abbat, who had his prophetic seasons, said, "Grieve not, my -well-beloved nephew. The two children will do well together, and thou -wilt soon have them restored to thy house: they were born to be together -and love one another, and so will not be separated. Alice will repay -thee hereafter for the ingratitude and treasons and other evil doings of -her father." - -Here I, Felix the novice, and Philip the lay-brother, who had carried -little Alice from the abbey unto Caversham, and who had loved the child -ever since, did say "Amen! amen! So be it." - -"The children," said an honest franklin who had stood by all the time of -these discourses, "be surely gone with the Countess of Anjou for -Oxenford; as on the road beyond the town I saw a blue-eyed boy riding -before a man-at-arms, and a little girl in the arms of a waiting-woman -who rode close to the countess on a piebald horse, and both the children -were crying piteously." - -"Then will we recover them at Oxenford," said one of the knights. - -Sir Alain de Bohun, with a part of the company who had come with him, -mounted for Caversham; and when Sir Alain began to ride, I could see -that he rode hotly and impatiently. The rest of the knightly company we -entertained in the abbey as best we could, and lodged them for that -night, the good franklins having brought us in some clean straw and -rushes for that purpose. The commoner sort slept in the open air on the -Falbury, with their weapons by their sides. - -But before the troublous day was finished, other dismal tidings and -sights of woe were brought to our house. John Appold and Ralph Wain, two -franklins whilome of good substance, who farmed some of our outstanding -abbey lands beyond Pangbourne, came to tell us that their houses had -been burned, their granaries emptied, and the plough-hinds and shepherds -and all the serfs driven away by Matilda's people, who had chained them -together by their iron neck-collars, and had goaded them before them -like cattle with the points of their lances. And before these sad tales -were well ended, Will Shakeshaft, a faithful steward who dwelt in a -house our lord abbat had at Purley, arrived on a maimed horse, and with -a ghastly cut across his face, to let us know that violence had been -done to his wife, and that that fair house had been burned also. A -little later there came three of our poor serfs howling so that it was -dreadful to hear, and holding in the air their red and still bleeding -stumps. They had been amputated and then liberated, in order that they -might go forth and show all the people what they had to expect if they -opposed or so much as forbore to aid and join the empress-queen. As the -night became dark, we could trace the march of the countess by a line of -fire and smoke. Such were the things which drove the poor people of -England into impiety and blasphemy, making them say that Christ and the -saints had fallen asleep! And these things lasted in the land for -fifteen more years. - - - - -V. - - -When baptized Christian men did steal the children of other Christian -men, yea, and torture and slay them, no marvel was it that the -unconverted Israelites, who had been allowed to come into the land in -great numbers since the Norman conquest, should do deeds of the like -sort. So it was, that in King Stephen's reign the rich Jews of Norwich -did buy a Christian child from its poor parents a little before Easter, -and on the Long Friday, when the church was mourning for the crucifixion -of our Lord, they tortured him after the same manner as our Lord was -tortured, and did nail him on a rood in mockery of our Saviour; and -afterwards buried him. These sacrilegious and cruel Jews thought that -their horrible crime would be concealed, but it was revealed from above, -and the people of Norwich smote the Jews and tortured them as they -merited; and the Lord showed that the Christian child was a holy martyr: -and the monks took him and buried him with all honour and reverence in -Norwich Minster; and he is called Saint William, and through our Lord -wonderful miracles are wrought at his tomb even in our own day, and his -festival is kept with becoming solemnity on the twenty-fifth of the -kalends of March. - -Sad and sinful was it for Christian parents to sell their children to -Jew, or even to Gentile. The evil practice had once been common in -England, and in the port of Bristowe children were once sold in great -numbers to be carried into Ireland and elsewhere; but the church had put -down the unnatural traffic, and when King Stephen came to the throne no -freeman would have sold his child. But want and hunger now severed the -natural tie, and starving parents sold their starving children rather -than see them die before their eyes and they unable to help them. Yea, -frantic mothers would give their infants from their dried-up breasts to -any strangers that would promise to nourish them. _Horresco repetens!_ I -do shudder in the telling of it, but so it was. Fair English children -were again sold to traffickers on the western coast, who carried them -into Ireland, and in such numbers that the slave-market of the Irishry -was all over-stocked with them. In the happy and plentiful days which -now be in the land such things are hard to believe; but I, as a novice, -did often see them with mine own eyes, and the causes that led -thereunto. Yea, have I seen the poor people of England roaming by the -wayside and eating garbage which scarcely the fox or the foul birds of -the air would touch, rambling in the woods and fields in search of roots -and berries, ay, grazing on the bank-side like cattle, or that great -sinner Nebuchadnezzar; for flocks and herds were swept away, and -slaughtered, and wasted by the armed bands that ever ranged the country, -or were kept penned up within the castles of the strong men--those -pestilent barons and knights that were now for Matilda and now for -Stephen, and always for plunder and all crime, living and fattening -upon great and bloody thievings--_magna et sanguineolentia latrocinia_: -and the fields could not be cultivated because of the continual passing -and repassing, and burning, and fighting, and slaying of these armed -hosts and bands of robbers, who did worse than the heathen had ever -done; for after a time they spared neither church nor churchyard, -neither a bishop's land nor an abbat's land, and not more the lands of a -priest than the fields of a franklin, but plundered both monks and -clerks! And so it came to pass that nearly every man that could, robbed -another, and carried away his wife or daughter, and did with her what he -list. If two men or three came riding to a town, all the township fled, -concluding them to be robbers. Some of our bishops and learned men -continually did excommunicate them and curse them; but the effect -thereof was nought, for they were one and all accursed, and forsworn, -and abandoned; and grieves me to say that too many bishops and churchmen -were men of violent and unsteady councils and castle-builders -themselves, waging war like the lay lords, and being as void as they of -steadiness and loyalty, and mercy for the people. Verily I myself have -seen prelates clad in armour and mounted on war-horses, even as at the -time of the Conquest, and in that guise directing the siege or the -attack, or drawing lots with the rest for the booty. The strong men -constantly laid gilds on the towns, and called it by a Norman name which -signifyeth _torture_; and when the poor townfolk had no more to give, -then they plundered and burned the towns; so that thou mightest go a -whole day's journey and never behold a man sitting in a town or see a -field that was tilled. To till the ground was as useless as to plough -the sea, for no man could hope to reap that which he sowed. Thus the -earth bare little or no corn; and bread became of a fearful dear price; -and flesh, and cheese, and butter were there none for the poor. Ay, -franklins who had been rich men, and who had kept good house and been -bountiful to the poor and to mother church, were seen begging alms on -the road. Many of the poorest died of hunger on a soil which God had -blessed with fertility, but which sinful men had turned into a -wilderness; and many, going distraught, threw themselves into the -rivers, or hanged themselves in the woods. This was greater woe than -England had witnessed during the long wars of the Norman conquest; and -it was in this abyss of misery that fathers and mothers sold their -children. - -On the morning after his going to Caversham Sir Alain de Bohun returned -unto our house with the knights who had gone with him; and before it was -time to begin the service of tertia in the church, he and all the -company, as well foot as horse, marched away to the north-west. They -intended for Oxenford, but did not take the direct road; for they had -learned from scouts that Matilda's party had been strengthened by some -bands from the eastward, and Sir Alain and his friends hoped to get an -increase of strength in the westward before they turned round upon the -countess. But while the partisans of King Stephen were marching to the -westward and gaining great strength on the borders of Wiltshire, the -Countess of Anjou suddenly decamped from Oxenford and began a march for -Winchester, for she had at length conceived suspicion and alarm at the -conduct of the Bishop of Winchester, the king's brother, and our lord -the pope's legate. Intending to pass through Berkshire into Hampshire -and unto Winchester, she took her course by Cumnor, Abingdon, and -Wallingford. The news of her approach was a death-blow to our good -abbat. He had been for some time past declining. He could not away with -the thought of Matilda's evil doings unto our house. Being a man -formerly addicted to hospitality, good company, cheerful conversation, -music, and innocent mirth, he was observed to forsake all this with much -melancholy and pensiveness, and so to droop and pine away; but yet was -it the news of the countess's coming that gave the finishing stroke. -Eheu! and Miserrimus! A better monk or a nobler lord abbat was never -slain by princely violence and the wickedness of excommunicate men. He -was at Sir Alain de Bohun's castle, and I and Philip the lay-brother -were in attendance upon him when our scouts brought the intelligence -that Matilda was at Abingdon with the heads of her columns pointing -along the road towards Reading. The good, kind-hearted man had gone to -Caversham in order to console the Ladie Alfgiva, whom he found, like -Rachel, mourning for her children, yet not mourning like one that would -not be comforted. But comfortless and sad was the face of our lord abbat -when he gave his niece the parting blessing, and warned her to look well -to her castle, and bade the warder to keep close the gates, and not -admit so much as a strange dog within the walls. There had been a slow -fever in his veins ever since the bad visit of the Angevin countess, and -now his limbs shook and his eyes seemed to swim in his head, and he had -much ado to mount the rough upland horse which had been procured for -him in lieu of his gentle-paced palfrey. "Felix, my boy," said he unto -me as we descended the slopes of Caversham towards the river, "ride -close to my bridle-hand, for I am faint, and a heavy sickness is upon my -heart." As he rode across the meads, the breeze, which blew freshly and -coolly from the broad river, did somewhat revive him; but anon he -complained of the rough motion of his steed, and gently lamented the -loss of his ambling grey, which Matilda had stolen from him so foully. -When near to the great gate of the abbey he turned round and looked -towards the river and the Caversham hills that were shining in the -setting sun; and then, as he went under the archway, I saw tears drop -from his eyes, and I heard him mutter to himself, "'Tis a right -beauteous sight, but I shall see it no more." And that night, and before -the middle watches thereof, praying for the community of Reading and all -England besides, and imploring the saints to protect the house at -Caversham and the two sweet children, he turned his face to the wall and -died, to the unspeakable grief of every honest member of the house. He -left this troubled world in such good repute as a virtuous and holy man, -that assuredly he merited beatification, if not the higher glories of -canonization.--_In Domino moritur._ - -Before going to his bed, our good abbat held council with all the -obedientiarii and sworn monks of the abbey, and I was of the number of -those who thought that this exertion, and his long and anxious speaking, -hastened his demise. His opinions were, that the monks ought to keep -close their gates, and call in their retainers and some of the townfolk -of Reading to help them to defend the house; that Matilda could not -tarry long for a siege or any other object, as Sir Alain de Bohun and -his party would soon retrace their steps; and that the monks, having -made good their house by standing on the defensive, should remain -neutral in the horrible war, taking no step and raising no voice either -for King Stephen or Queen Matilda, until they saw what course was taken -by the pope's legate or a synod of the church. All present at this -council, whether cloister monks or monks holding office, agreed that -this advice was the best that could be given, and protested that they -would follow it; and Hildebrand, the sub-prior, was the loudest of any -in his prayers that St. James and St. John the Evangelist, patrons of -our house, would long preserve the life of our good old abbat, who had -governed the abbey for many years with great wisdom and gentleness; and, -sooth to say, in all that time he had ruled as a fond father rules his -own children, and never did he sadden the heart of an honest man and -faithful servant of the church, or cause a tear to flow until he died. - -But, woe the while! the wickedness, the treachery, and malice of the -times, had spread themselves on every side and to every community; and -some members of our once quiet and loving brotherhood there were that -hid Judas hearts under fawning countenances; and before the passing bell -ceased to toll for our abbat's death, these unhappy men took secret -council with one another, and resolved to act in a manner altogether -different from that which had been advised, and that which they had -promised and vowed to follow. And, lo! on the second evening after the -death of our good abbat, when the Angevin woman and her host came again -unto our house, like a whirlwind, with lances in the air, and clouds of -dust rolling before their path, the sub-prior and his fautors, including -as well some of the franklins and retainers, as monks and novices, and -lay brothers of the abbey, did drive away the other party, and lower our -draw-bridge, and throw wide open our great gate, and sing hosannas, and -cry, "Long live the empress-queen! God bless the sweet face of Queen -Matilda, the lawful sovereign of this realm!" And again Matilda came -within the cloisters, and took possession of our house with her lawless -men of war and her gadabout damsels. This time they could not rob, for -we had not the wherewithal, unless they took our gowns, hoods, and -sandals, and our flesh and bones; but they did worse things than steal. -Matilda ordered that on the instant the fathers of the house should -proceed to elect and appoint a new abbat. - -"Dread ladie," said Reginald, our prior, now the highest in office, -"This cannot be! It is against the rules of our order; it is against the -canons of holy church; it is against the feelings of humanity; it is -contrary to common decency! Our late lord abbat lies as yet unburied -within our walls. He must be first interred honorably, and as becometh -the dignity of the house; and before we, the fathers of the house, can -open a Chapter, many masses of requiem must be said, and the guidance of -the Spirit must be invoked to help us in our election, and notice must -be sent unto the head of our order, and alms must be given unto the -poor. Albeit, I see not what alms we can give, since our house hath been -so----" - -"Rebel monk," cried Matilda, "reproach not thy queen! But I do perceive -that thou art a fautor of Stephen, like the old rebel that hath -departed. I told him that the mitre was falling from his head, and I now -tell thee that it shall never drop upon thine." - -"Would that it had pleased the saints to keep it on the head which wore -it so long, and with so much honour," said our bold prior. "I never -aimed at it, or had a wish for it. I would not stoop my body, or stretch -out my hand, to pick it up, if it lay at my feet. I would never wear it -except forced so to do by canonical election, and the free and strong -will of my brothers. Matilda, thou that ransackest houses of religion, -and the very tomb of thy father, and tramplest on the monks that live to -pray for the soul of thy father, I would not accept the mitre and -crozier from thee if thou wert to fall on thy knees and implore me to do -it! I stand here as an humble but faithful servant of this community--as -a lowly member of the great family of St. Benedict; and if I raise my -voice, it is only for the sake of our religion and unchangeable rules. -Thy men-at-arms need not grind their teeth, and point their lances at -me. I fear them not; and in this cause would face torture and death." - -"By the splendour!" cried Matilda, "we do but waste time in speech with -such as thou art. I tell thee, thou traitor and malignant, that the -election shall be made forthwith; and that before I quit this house I -will see an honest man put into the abbatial chair, and confirm him -therein by our royal deed. Thou wilt not question, oh monk, that the -election of a Chapter is nought without the assent and confirmation of -the lawful sovereign; and as I have weighty matters in hand, and will -soon be far away from Reading, there might be great delay in obtaining -my confirmation if it were not given now." - -At this passage the sub-prior, bowing before Matilda more lowly than he -was ever seen to bow before the effigies of our Ladie in the Ladie's -chapel, said yea and verily, and that this last was a weighty -consideration before which the rule of St. Benedict might, in some -points, give way; and that in times of trouble and discord and anarchy -like these we were living in, the royal abbey of Reading could not with -safety be left for a single day without a head. - -This discourse of the sub-prior much chafed our fearless and honest -prior, Reginald, who well knew the man and his ungodly designs; but -before the prior's wrath allowed him to speak, our sacrist brought forth -the book and opened the rules of our order, and read the same with an -audible yet gentle voice, and with the same gentleness did show that -much time must be allowed for mature deliberation; that a Chapter could -not be assembled while the house was full of strangers and armed men, -for that elections must be free and unbiassed by fear or by any other -worldly consideration; and then he did fall to quoting the charters of -the Beauclerc, which direct that on the death of a lord abbat possession -of the monastery, with all its rights and privileges, shall remain in -the prior, and at the disposal of the prior and the monks of the -Chapter, and that none shall in any ways meddle in the election of the -new abbat: and when the sacrist had thus spoken, the cellarer or bursar, -the second father of the convent, who had charge of everything relating -to the food of the monks, and who always knew best, by the eating, who -were present and who absent, did beg it might be observed that three -cloister monks were absent, one disobediently and contumaciously -(meaning hereby Father Anselm, who had absconded with the countess on -her previous visit); but two, to wit, the chamberlain and the almoner, -on the business of the abbey--and without the votes of these two named -fathers no election could be legal or canonical. - -"But my good cellarius," said the sub-prior, in a very dulcet and -persuasive tone of voice, "it yet behoves us to think of the dangers of -the times, and to provide for the security of this royal abbey and -God-fearing community, even though we should depart from the rigid -letter of some of our minor rules. Remember, oh cellarius, that these be -days of trouble, and that we be living in the midst of discord and -anarchy, and treachery, and----" - -"Treachery, quotha! I wis there was no treachery in this community until -thou didst bring it amongst us," cried our prior; "nor did we know -discord or anarchy in our abbey, or in any part of the manors and -hundreds appertaining unto this house until thou, oh Matilda, didst come -to our gates! Troubles there were around us, and for those troubles the -good men of our house grieved--not without labouring to alleviate them; -but we were a quiet community when thou didst come thundering at our -gates, bringing with thee thy subtle maidens and thy violent men of war! -and hadst thou never come we had still been at peace. If thou wouldst -listen to me now, I would say Get thee gone and cease from troubling us! -But _orgeuil mesprise bon conseil_, pride despiseth good counsel, and -pride and hardness of heart will lead to thy undoing." - -Tradition reporteth that the wrath of William the Conqueror was a thing -fearful to behold; that the rage of the Red King was a consuming fire; -and that the slower and stiller but deeper hate of Henry the Beauclerc -was like unto the grim visage of death; yet do I doubt whether the wrath -of all these three preceding kings, if put all together, could be so -dreadful as that which the choleric daughter of the Beauclerc did now -display: and certes the extreme passion of rage in a woman, even when -she hath not a regal and tyrannical power, is fearful to behold. From -the redness of the fire she became pale as ashes; but then she reddened -again as she shouted "Ho! my men-at-arms, gag me that old traitor!" - -"Tyrannous woman, that the sins of the land have brought into England, -the truth will endure and be the same though I speak it not. Thou hast -violated the sanctuary--thou hast dishonoured and plundered the very -grave of thy father! See that he rise not from the grave to rebuke -thee." - -"Drag the traitor hence; put chains upon him; cast him into the -dungeon," cried the unfaithful wife of the Angevin count; and the -men-at-arms who had laid their rude hands upon the prior to gag him, did -drag the prior out of the Aula Magna. And when he was gone, Matilda -swore oaths too terrible to be repeated, that, seeing she must herself -away on the morrow, she would leave a garrison of her fiercest fighting -men in the abbey, and devastate all the abbey lands that lay on her -march, if our fathers did not forthwith elect and appoint a lord abbat -true to her party and obedient to her will. Most of the officials and -cloister monks held down their heads and were sore afeard. Not so the -sacrist and cellarer, who cried "Charter! Charter!" and repeated that -such election could not be, and who were thereupon dragged forth and put -in duresse with the bold prior. And now the sub-prior, who never doubted -that the choice was to fall upon him, did entreat those who had the -right of voting to submit to the will of God and the commandment of the -queen, and so save the house from ruin: and some he did terrify, and -some cajole, talking apart with them, and telling them that he would be -good lord and indulgent abbat unto them all. At last the timid gave way, -and the monks of delicate conscience would resist no longer; and the -sub-prior, with a smile upon his countenance, said to Matilda, in his -blandest voice, that the community was ready to elect whomsoever her -grace might be pleased to name. - -"'Tis prudent and wise in the community," said Matilda; and then she -clapped her hands thrice, as great lords or ladies use to do when they -would summon a menial or call in their fool to make them sport; and as -she clapped her hands she said, "Come in, my Lord Abbat elect!" - -And then, from an inner apartment, where he had been listening all the -while, there glided into the great hall, and stood before us, with an -unblushing and complacent countenance, that rule-breaker and -deserter--Father Anselm. - -I did think that our sub-prior would have fallen to the ground in a -swoon, for his legs trembled beneath him, and his face became as ashy -with grief and disappointment as that of the countess had lately been -with rage: his eye, fixed immoveably on Father Anselm, became glazed and -dull, like the eye of a dead fish, and instead of a cry of wonderment, I -heard a rattling in his throat. But in a while the sub-prior recovered, -and ventured to say that the Chapter could by no means elect one who had -broken his vow of obedience, and who was thereby under censure and -interdict. - -"In absenting myself from the house, I did but obey the command laid on -me by the queen's grace," said Father Anselm. - -"Not the sovereign ladie, nay, nor the sovereign lord of the land, can -give such command without the foreknowledge and consent of the Lord -Abbat, or of the prior in the abbat's absence," said the sub-prior, -whose voice was growing bolder; "and dread ladie, I tell thee again, -that the chapter cannot elect this monk--I tell thee that I myself will -protest against such choice, and defeat such election." - -"Ha!" cried Matilda, "sayest thou so? Then shalt thou join the other -rebel monks. Men-at-arms, away with him! He but wanted the mitre for his -own ugly head; but my dear mass-priest, thou shalt have it, and none but -thee, for I can rely on thy faith and love, and thou art the handsomest -monk that ever shaved a crown or wore a hood." And as she spake the last -words, she looked so lovingly at him that it was a shame to see. - -Well! our false and double-dealing sub-prior was whirled away to the -dungeon, and the remaining officials and cloister monks were commanded -by Matilda to begin the election of Father Anselm and finish it off -hand, the countess vowing by the visage of St. Luke that she would not -take food again until the thing was done. - -The terrible threats of the countess and the subtle arguments which -Father Hildebrand, the sub-prior, had made use of, in the belief that he -was to be our abbat, had such weight with the fathers that they kissed -the jewelled hand of Matilda, and went into the chapter-house; and -there, in less time than had been wont to be spent in deliberation on -the slightest business of the house (mailed knights and fierce -men-at-arms standing by the chapter-door the while), they did name and -elect the runagate Anselm to be our lord abbat, the monks of tender -conscience merely holding up their hands in assent, and saying no word, -but uttering in their secret souls that they acted under fear and -violence, and that all this was uncanonical work and foul, and against -the rule of St. Benedict. And then they all came forth from the -chapter-house, singing _Benedictus Dominus_; and the countess and her -painted damsels looked out from the windows of the abbat's house and -laughed, and the armed and ungodly multitude set up a shout, as though -they had gained a great victory. I will not tell how, in Father Anselm's -inauguration in the church, the rules of our order, the canons, the -decretals of councils, and the bulls of the pope, were all transgressed, -or turned into a jest and mockery: these things are not to be forgotten, -but I will not relate them. Instead of a godly bishop, it was the -countess herself that placed the mitre on the head, and the ring on the -finger of Father Anselm, and that gave him the first kiss and -accolade--_Osculum Pacis_, while _Te Deum laudamus_ was being sung in -the choir; but verily was it sung in so faint and plaintive a manner, -that it sounded more like a _Miserere Domine_. But when it was over, the -intrusive abbat was kissed by all the convent, according to rule; and -_Benedicite_ having been said, Father Anselm gave thanks to the monks -for that they had chosen him, the least of them all, to be their lord -and shepherd, not on account of his own merits, but solely by the will -of God. O! sinful and sacrilegious Anselm, better had it been for thee -that thou hadst never been born! - -The will of the wicked woman was thus accomplished, but it brought her -neither future worldly success nor present peace. That same night as I, -Felix the Novice, lay in my cell unable to sleep, mourning for the loss -of our good lord abbat, and ruminating on all which had since befallen -us, I heard a cry, a piercing shriek, which rang through our cloisters -and corridors, and through every part of our great abbey. Yea, as I -afterwards learned, it was heard by the prior and by those that were -with him in the prison underground. Cardiff castle did not ring and echo -with so shrill a shriek of agony when the red-hot copper basin was held -over the face of the Beauclerc's unhappy brother Duke Robert to sear his -eyes and destroy his sight, as did now the abbey of Reading, which was -mainly built in expiation of that great crime of Henricus. It was -followed by a loud call for lights--lights in the queen's sleeping -chamber. And lights were carried thither, and Matilda slept no more that -night; and before the dawn of day preparations were made for her -departure. The shriek was from her, the vision was hers. _O beate -virgine!_ save us from ill deeds and an ill conscience, and the dreams -they do bring. The vision of the Beauclerc's daughter, as it afterwards -came to my knowledge, was this:--her father appeared before her, holding -in his right hand his heart, which had not been brought to our abbey -with his body, but which had been deposited in the church of St. Mary at -Rouen, which his mother had founded; and this heart did distil great -gouts of blood, as if in agony for the wrong which had been done our -abbey, and the insults which had been heaped upon his grave; and the -face of the spectrum was menacing and awful, and the visionary voice -full of dread--the words so terrible that the countess would never -repeat them save to her confessor. - -In the same watches of the night there were moans and groans in the -prison underground. Nor was it only the upbraiding of an evil conscience -that caused Hildebrand, our sub-prior, so to lament and cry out. For our -bellicose and choleric prior Reginald did beat him, and tweak him by the -nose, reviling him as a Judas Iscariot; and, peradventure, he would have -slain him outright, or have done him some great bodily harm, if the -gentler and more circumspect sacrist and cellarer had not been there to -intercede and intervene. Our prior was the strongest man that then lived -in all these parts. A terrible man in his wrath was our prior! But his -wrath was never kindled except against evil-doers, and the swinkers and -oppressors of the poor. With all others he was as gentle as a lamb, and -he was ever indulgent to error and all minor offences, as I, who lived -long under his rule, can well testify--REQUIEM ĘTERNAM. - -I, Felix, having in the bye-gone times had much familiarity and -friendship with our two backsliding novices, Urswick the Whiteheaded -from Pangbourne, and John-ą-Blount from Maple-Durham, did much marvel -how it fared with them since their apostacy, and did diligently seek -them out in the great press which came with the countess, to the end -that I might talk gently with them upon their transgressions, and obtain -from them some knowledge of what had become of the little Alice and my -prime friend young Arthur de Bohun, hoping hereby to gain tidings -grateful and cheerful to the ear of the good and bountiful Ladie -Alfgiva. But neither in the evening nor in the morning could I see -Urswick or John among the people of the countess. Yet in the morning, -just before the departure, I gave a bowman my only piece of money, and -learned from him that a part of Matilda's host with sundry wains and -horse-litters had not come with her unto Reading, but had taken a -shorter road for Winchester; and so I did conclude that my two quondam -comrades had gone with that company, and I did comfort myself with -thinking that they had yet so much grace left in them as to have been -averse to come back and witness our exceeding great misery. Yet did the -archer spoil this my comfort by telling me that two black-eyed damsels -had gone with that division, riding like men upon big war-horses. Of -children the man knew nought; nor he nor any man of the meaner sort had -been allowed to look into the wains or to approach the litters. There -might be children, he said, among this moveable and vagrant host, but he -had seen none. Here again did I grieve, for I loved Alice and Arthur -right well, and would have laid down an untold treasure in gold to have -it in my power to speak comfortably unto the Ladie Alfgiva. - -At the command of Father Anselm the monks of the house, and we the -novices likewise, did form in processional order, and accompany Matilda -from our gates even unto the Hallowed Brook, that branch of the swift -and clear Kennet which floweth by the township; and halting on the bank -of that holy and peaceful water, which ought not to have heard such -notes, Father Anselm made us chaunt _Hosanna_ and _Jubilate_, and -promised to the Angevin countess a bloody and complete victory over all -her enemies. And hence, upon _famam vulgi_, the trifling and ungrounded -talk of the common people, who, in parts remote from Reading, knew not -the violence which had been used, it was proclaimed to the world that -the abbat and monks of Reading, in this unhappy year eleven hundred and -forty-one, had received the empress-queen with the highest honours, and -had made themselves her servants and beadsmen. _Pater de Coelis, Deus, -miserere nobis!_ - - - - -VI. - - -While she was yet at Oxenford, Matilda had rudely summoned the Bishop of -Winchester, legate to the pope and brother to King Stephen, to appear in -her presence and give an account of his actions and intentions. The -bishop had replied that he was getting ready for her; and this was true -enough, for he was manning and victualling the castles which he had -built within his diocese as at Waltham, Farnham, and divers other -places. Upon quitting our house at Reading, Matilda hoped, by a rapid -march, to surprise the bishop within Winchester, and to make him -captive, and to send him loaded with chains to join the king his brother -in Bristowe Castle, in despite of his legatine and episcopal character -and the authority of the holy see. But the lord bishop was ever wary and -well advised, and before the countess could reach Winchester he withdrew -from that most royal city, having first fortified his episcopal -residence therein, and set up his brother's standard on the roof. -Matilda was treacherously admitted into the royal castle at Winchester, -whither she summoned her half-brother the great Earl of Gloucester, and -her uncle David, king of Scots, who had been for some time in England -vainly endeavouring to make her follow mild and wise counsels. The Scots -king and Gloucester, and the Earls of Hereford and Chester, went -straight to Winchester and abided with the queen and her court in the -castle. But the bishop had made his palace as strong as the castle, and -when the party of Matilda laid siege to it, the bishop's garrison, being -resolved not to yield, did many valorous and some very sinful deeds. -They sallied more than once against the people of Matilda, and put them -to the rout; and they hurled combustibles from the palace, and set fire -to the houses of the town that stood nearest to the palace in order to -drive thence the enemy's archers; but by their thus doing, the abbey of -nuns within the town, and the monastery called the Hide without the town -walls were consumed, to their great sin and shame. Here was a crucifix -made of gold and silver and precious stones, the gift of King Canute, -the Dane; and it was seized by the ravenous flames, and was thrown from -the rood-loft to the ground, and was afterwards stripped of its -ornaments by order of the bishop-legate himself, and more than five -hundred marks of silver and thirty marks of gold were found in it, and -given as largesse to the soldiers; for, whether they stood for Stephen -or for Matilda, or whether they did battle with the sanction of the -church or warred against its authority, these fighting men did mainly -look to pay and plunder. And at a later season the abbey of nuns at -Warewell was also burned by William de Ypres, an abandoned man, who -feared neither God nor men, and who did change sides as often as any -one; but at this season he was for King Stephen, and he set fire to the -religious house for that some of Matilda's people had secured themselves -within it. - -Having made a ruin all round the episcopal palace, the bishop's -garrison, being confident of succour, waited the event. The legate did -not make them wait long. Being reinforced by Queen Maud and the stout -citizens of London, who to the number of two thousand took the field for -King Stephen, clad in coats of mail, and wearing steel casques on their -heads, like noble men of war (more money, I wis, had they in their -pouches than most of our noble knights or pseudo proceres), he turned -rapidly back upon Winchester, and besieged the besiegers there. By the -first day of the Kalends of August, or nigh upon the festival of Saint -Afra, saint and martyr, the bishop did gird with a close siege the royal -castle of Winchester. Herein were Matilda, the King of Scots, the Earls -of Gloucester, Hereford, and Chester, and many others of note; and of -all these not one would have escaped if it had not been for the respect -paid by the bishop and the party of King Stephen for the festivals of -the church, which verily ought to be held by all parties as Truces of -God, neither party doing anything while such truce lasts. But when the -siege had endured the space of forty and two days, and when those within -the royal castle had eaten up all their victual, the 14th day of -September arrived, which blessed day was the festival of the Holy -Rood, and a sabbath-day besides; and lo! at a very early hour in the -morning of that day--_Festa duplex_, while my lord bishop's host were -hearing mass, or confessing their sins--which alas! were but too -numerous--Matilda mounted a swift horse, and, attended by a strong and -well-mounted escort, crept secretly and quietly out of the castle. Her -half-brother the Earl of Gloucester followed her at a short distance of -time, with a number of knights, English, Angevins and Brabanēons, who -had all engaged to keep between the countess and her pursuers, and to -risk their own liberty for the sake of securing hers. They all got a -good way upon the Devizes road before the beleaguerers knew that they -were gone. But so soon as it was known that they had broken the Truce of -God, the bishop's people were to horse, and began a hot pursuit; and at -Stourbridge the Earl of Gloucester and his band of knights were -overtaken, and, after a fierce battle, were for the most part made -prisoners. But while the long fight lasted, the countess, still pressing -on her swift steed, reached Devizes, the work of, and the cause of so -much woe unto, the magnificent castle-building Roger, late bishop of -Sarum. But the strong castle of Devizes was not furnished with victual, -so that the countess could not tarry there; and being in a great fear as -to what might befal her on the road, she put herself upon a feretrum or -death-bier, as if she were dead, and caused herself to be drawn in a -hearse from Devizes unto Gloucester, whereat she arrived in that guise, -not without the wonderment of men and the anger of the saints. Of all -who had formed her strong rearward guard on her flight from Winchester -castle, the Earl of Hereford alone reached Gloucester castle, and he -arrived in a wretched state, being wounded and almost naked. The other -barons and knights who escaped from the fight of Stourbridge threw away -their arms and essayed to escape in the disguise of peasants; but some -of them, betrayed by their foreign speech, were seized by the English -serfs, who bound them with cords and drove them before them with whips -to deliver them up to their enemies. Yea some of the churls did cruelly -maltreat and maim these proud knights from beyond sea, thereby taking -vengeance for the great wrongs and cruelties which by them had been -committed. Nay men of prelatical dignity were not respected, for they -had had no bowels for the people, who now stripped them naked and -scourged them. The King of Scots, Matilda's uncle, got safe back to his -own kingdom; but her half-brother, the most important prisoner that -could be taken, was conveyed to Stephen's queen Maud, who laid him fast -in Rochester castle, but without loading him with chains as Matilda had -done unto Stephen, for Queen Maud was merciful and generous of heart. - -Sir Alain de Bohun, who had joined the legate with a good force before -the siege of Winchester Castle was begun, made haste to enter into that -castle when it was abandoned by Matilda and given up by the few soldiers -that remained in it. It was no thirst for blood and no appetite for -plunder that made our good Caversham lord enter into the fortalice; but -it was his fatherly love for his only boy, and his tenderness for the -little Alice, who had grown up as his daughter. He thought that in so -hurried and rough a departure the children whom he had traced to -Winchester Castle must have been left therein; but although he searched -every part of the castle, as well below ground as above, he could not -find the children, or any trace of them, nor could he from the prisoners -taken learn more than that a fine young boy and a beautiful little girl, -together with sundry foreign damsels, had been sent from Winchester a -day or twain before the legate commenced the siege of the castle. Sir -Alain, albeit sorely disappointed, thanked Heaven that the children had -not been separated. A little later in this year's terrible war, when Sir -Alain de Bohun had discomfited a force commanded by Sir Ingelric of -Huntercombe, his once cherished friend, but now his deadliest foe, and -had well nigh taken Sir Ingelric prisoner, a writing was in secret -delivered unto the good lord of Caversham by one who wore pilgrim's -weeds, but who was a wolf in sheep's clothing, and, in verity, a fautor -and spy of the countess. Sir Alain being competently learned, and well -able to read without the assistance of his mass-priest, who was not -there to aid him, did peruse the secret missive, which did tell him in -the name of Matilda that she had his son in sure-keeping, and would -never deliver him up or permit the eye of father or mother to be blessed -with the sight of him until Sir Alain should have abandoned the traitor -Stephen and have joined the rightful queen of England; and that if he -long failed so to do, the boy would be sent beyond sea and immured in an -Angevin castle, where all traces of him would be for ever lost, and -where, doubtlessly, he would soon perish. "But if," said the letter, -"Sir Alain de Bohun will follow the loyal and wise example of his once -friend Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe and come join the queen, her grace -will receive him with honour, and Sir Ingelric will forget that which is -passed, and the boy shall be restored, and the little maiden likewise, -and they shall be contracted in marriage, and the queen will give a rich -dower to Alice out of her own royal domains, and Sir Ingelric and Sir -Alain may live neighbourly and happily together as aforetime." - -Sir Alain, who could write as well as read, replied in few words that -his conscience forbade his breaking oaths to King Stephen; that he could -not change sides either through fear or through interest; that he could -not subject his lance to the distaff, or believe that the warlike -baronage of England would ever live quietly under the rule of a woman; -that he must trust to God and his saints for the protection of his only -child, as also for the well-being of his not less than daughter; and -that if it were the will of Heaven that the children, who had been -brought up so lovingly together, should be conjoined at some future day -in holy matrimony (of which in happier days there had been some talk -between him and the little maiden's father), it would not be in the -power of empress or queen to prevent it. "If," said Sir Alain de Bohun -in terminating his epistle, "if, oh Matilda! thou shouldest so far -forget the tender feelings of a woman and mother as to do harm to mine -only son, and thereby bring my wife with sorrow to the grave, God will -so strengthen mine arm in battle as to enable me to take a fearful -vengeance upon thy party and upon some that are nearest to thee. But -thou wilt not do that which thou sayest. So let me have no more secret, -tampering missives. When Thamesis flows backward from Caversham to -Oxenford instead of pursuing its course to the everlasting sea, then, -but not until then, will Sir Alain de Bohun prove false to his oath and -traitor to King Stephen." - -_Circa id tempus_, or nigh upon the time that Sir Alain sent this -response unto Matilda, Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe, having composed his -feud with that family and kindred, espoused the rich widow of that Sir -Jocelyn who had burned his wife, the mother of the little Alice, in his -house, and who had been by him slain in the Falbury of Reading, almost -at our gates. The ladie of Sir Jocelyn had acquired an ill-fame during -her widowhood, for she was greedy of other people's goods and avaricious -of her own, faithless unto her friends, merciless to her foes, and to -her vassals and serfs haughty and cruel. It was as much from the -darkness of her deeds as from her foreign and dark complexion, that she -had gotten all through the country the name of The Dark Ladie. But she -was rich, passing rich, and aspiring, and allied with some of our -greatest men, and Sir Ingelric had given up his whole soul to ambition -and gold. This unseemly matrimony was mainly brought about by the -countess, and there were others of the like sort, which all terminated -in misery and woe, and in visible manifestations of God's wrath and -vengeance. - -The Dark Ladie, who had done much mischief in the land in her widowed -condition, became still more terrible as the wife of Sir Ingelric, and -that lost knight became all the worse for his union with her. They -crammed their castle at Speen with a most ungodly garrison, and with -prisoners they kept and tortured for ransom. - -King Stephen being a close prisoner in the castle of Bristowe, and the -Earl of Gloucester being well guarded in Rochester Castle, each of the -contending parties was, in a manner, without a head, for Stephen's -brother, the bishop-legate, was, after all, but a priest, and the woman -Matilda was nothing without her half-brother. A negociation was -therefore set on foot for a mutual release of prisoners. This was -several times interrupted, and at each interruption the party of King -Stephen threatened to send the Earl of Gloucester out of the land unto -Boulogne, there to be buried in a castle-prison deep under the ground, -and the party of Matilda threatened to send King Stephen over to Ireland -and consign him to the wild Irishry; but at last, on the first of the -kalends of November, it was agreed between them that the great Earl of -Gloucester should be exchanged for King Stephen; and the earl and the -king being both liberated, each betook himself to the head-quarters of -his friends and partisans. Both factions now stood much as they did -previously to the battle of Lincoln; but fearfully had the people of -England suffered in the interim. And yet, after all these sufferings, -neither faction did turn its thoughts _ad regnum tranquillandum_; but -both did prepare for more battles and sieges, sending forth their bands -of foreigners and leaving the cruel castle-holders to seize, torture, -plunder and kill. While the land was thus weeping tears of blood, the -king and his brother, the bishop, made repair unto London, where the -king had his best friends, and where the legate did summon a great -ecclesiastical council to meet at Westminster on the 7th of the kalends -of December, _ad pacem componendam_, for the composing of peace unto the -church and kingdom. When this council met on the appointed day, which -was in the octaves of Saint Andrew, King Stephen addressed the prelates: -he mildly and briefly complained of the wrongs and hardships he had -suffered from his vassals, unto whom he had never denied justice when -asked for it; he said that if it would please the nobles and bishops of -the realm to aid him with men and money, he trusted so to work as to -relieve them from the fear of a shameful submission to the yoke of a -woman, and so to succeed in his enterprises as to put an end to -intestine war and havoc, and establish his throne in peace. When the -king had done speaking, the legate his brother, who only nine months -before had in the synod held at Winchester declared for Matilda, rose -and proclaimed that the pope had ordered him to release and restore his -brother, that Matilda had observed nothing of what she had sworn to him; -that the great barons of England had performed their engagements towards -her, and that she, not knowing how to use her prosperity with -moderation, had violated all her engagements and oaths; that she had -even made attempts against his, the legate's, liberty and life; and that -this freed him from the obligations of the oaths he had taken to the -Countess of Anjou, for he would not longer call her queen. The legate -further said that the judgment of Heaven was visible in the prompt -punishment of her perfidy, and that God himself now restored his brother -the rightful King Stephen to the throne. Albeit there were some among -them who had but lately quitted the party of Matilda, the prelates and -great men at Westminster assembled did agree that all loyal men ought -forthwith to arm for King Stephen, and that the adherents of the -countess should be everywhere stripped of their usurped authority, -whether in church or civil government; that forced elections should be -all annulled, and that sentence of excommunication should go forth -against all the obstinate and irreclaimable partisans of the countess. -And the Bishop of Winchester, as legatus ą latere, did stand up with a -new bull of the pope in his right hand, and pronounced the dread -sentence against all such as should disturb the peace in favour of the -Countess of Anjou, or should build new castles in the land, or invade -the rights and privileges of the church, or wrong the poor and -defenceless. - -Judge ye if the news of these high proceedings at Westminster did not -bring with them joy and comfort unto the friends of the late Lord Abbot -Edward and all the honest monks of Reading abbey! Besides the sin and -shame of his forced election, we had suffered many things at the hands -of Anselm during the few months that he had held rule over us. In all -that time he had kept the stout-hearted prior Reginald in the prison -underground, and had maliciously devised penances and punishments for -all such members of the community as had pitied the prisoner. He had -alienated and sold some of the abbey lands to furnish out men-at-arms -for his countess. He had half-starved the brotherhood, and no -hospitality had he exercised unto strangers except to some Angevin -marauders; and when he went away to see the countess, which more than -once he did, he left in the abbey some of these outlandish men to keep -us in submission and dread. But now his evil reign was over, for so soon -as they had learned what had passed at Westminster, and had gotten a -rescript from the legate, the elders of our house took counsel together -and resolved to liberate Reginald the prior, and offer him the mitre, -and to throw Father Anselm into the prison instead of the prior. And the -thing was easy to do, for by this time Anselm had given offence to every -cloister monk, novice, and lay-brother, and the warier sort did all -opine that now that King Stephen was liberated, and his enemies -excommunicated by the legate, the cause of the countess must be -altogether desperate. And so with one voice and one will Anselm was -seized and thrown into the underground cell, and the prior was brought -forth, and conducted in triumph to the abbat's house, and there told -that he must be our lord abbat. Most true it was that he had never -wished for this post of eminence, and now prayed the brotherhood to -elect the chamberlain or the sacrist or any experienced cloister-monk -rather than him; but the universal will and voice of the community would -not be gainsayed, and in the course of a few days the prior was -unanimously elected, by those who had the right of voting in the -Chapter, to be our abbat; and then we all carried him into the church in -procession, sang _Te Deum laudamus_, with loud and jubilant voices, rang -the bells until they well nigh cracked, and set him on the abbat's -throne, and did him all the homage that is due unto the mitred abbat of -a royal abbey; and then brought up Father Anselm, and drove him out of -our gates with many kicks behind, for our new lord abbat would not have -him linger and pine in that cold dark cell underground, saying that he -knew to his cost how sad a thing it was, and that to hold any captive -therein would be to make the wholesome air of the house infaust and -insalubrious. - -As he was crossing the Holy Brook the townfolk of Reading, who no more -loved Anselm than did we the monks, caught him by the girdle and threw -him into the stream, so that he was nearly drowned at the place where he -had forced us against our conscience to psalmodize for Matilda. He took -these things so much to heart that he got him back into Normandie. It -was said by some that he falsified his history and his very name, and -so gained admission into the abbey of Bec, but from the volatile nature -of the man, I did rather give my belief to another report--to wit, that -he turned himself into a jongleur or trouvere, and went about France -with women and menestrels and other lewd people. - -Sundry times he promised, and did in his heart intend, to visit our -house, and force the restitution of the lands which the usurping Anselm -had alienated to ungodly men; yet King Stephen came not to Reading for -many a year, and when he came he could not tarry with us. But the king -sent Sir Alain de Bohun to build up and restore the ruinous castle of -Reading; and when this had been done, and when, by the vassals and serfs -of the abbey, the walls of the township had been strengthened, we -entered upon the enjoyment of such peace and tranquillity as we had not -known during five long years; for the Philistines could not come -suddenly upon us, or easily break through our defences. At Reading, -indeed, we did live as in a little Goshen, while war was raging all -round about; and albeit we could not always defend our outlying manors -and houses from fire and sword, but suffered many and grievous losses in -serfs, cattle, corn, hay, farm-houses, and granges; we yet suffered less -than other communities, and nothing at all in comparison with the abbat -and monks of Abingdon, our neighbours, but not always friends. Driven -from their once quiet seat at Oxenford, or too sorely troubled in their -residence there by the people of the countess, and the constant coming -and going of warlike and plundering bands, many of the professors and -pupils, _doctores et alumni_, did come unto Reading, and under the -shadow of our secure and peaceful walls, pursue those studies which -were destined to give to England a learned priesthood and a universal -increase of civility. Our brotherhood too did attend to that learning -and to the making of many good books which had done honour to the -Benedictines ever since their first foundation and in whatsoever country -their order was established. Our scribes and copyists once more worked -amain in their quiet cells, multiplying with a slow but correct pen the -precious works of antiquity, and the holy books, and the lives of -saints; and need there was for this labour, since other religious houses -had no peace or leisure, and great and fearful was the destruction of -books and codices in the conflagrations and stormings of this long -intestine war. But for the labours of the Benedictines and some few -learned monks of other orders in England, and but for the blessed -saints, who kept alive their love of letters and books, and gave them -heart and strength to work even in a season of horror and despair, the -land would have been plunged back into utter barbarism, and would have -been void of learning and of books as when the great Alfred came to the -throne. In the tranquil easy days in which I now write, for the solace -of my lonely hours and for the preservation of the fading memory of the -times of trouble, and for no fame or vain glory, the sense of these -things hath already become faint in men's minds, and mayhap, in after -ages, when the world shall have made great strides in learning and all -civility, these labours of the Benedictines will be altogether -forgotten, or be treated as nought. Yet was it they that did mainly save -the land from a great retrograde step; and I, Felix, _servus servorum_, -the humblest or least worthy member of the order (who have so often -seen shining in our western turret the midnight lamp which lighted our -copyists and makers of books at their solitary labours, and who have -seen those labours steadily pursued when the country was ringing with -the din of arms, and was blazing with midnight fires, and when no -earthly honour or reward whatsoever seemed to attend their toil), would -fain put upon record some faint notice of that which was done in the -evil times by our house and order: but not unto us the praise, but unto -thee, oh Lord! They, themselves, sought for no applause--_Celata -virtus_--their virtue is all hidden: not so much as the name is -preserved of these good and laborious monks who did so much for learning -and religion. - -It was about the time in which Sir Alain de Bohun did re-edify Reading -Castle, that I, Felix, recovering from my early podagra, under the -instruction and guidance of old father Ambrosius (he hath now been many -years at rest in the chancel of our church, and I in gratitude do say a -daily prayer over his grave), did first addict myself to the use of the -pen, beginning with a missal, which our Pisan limner did richly -illuminate; and when this my first essay was finished, I did present it -unto the Ladie Alfgiva in her house at Caversham, and that bountiful and -right noble ladie did acknowledge the gift by sending unto the abbey -five milch cows and a goodly stock of Caen fowls, which our community at -that time much needed, for there had been a murrain among cattle, and -the spoilers had again swept bare our best farms. - -Many were the tears shed by me, and many the masses and prayers said by -our house for the said Ladie Alfgiva and the two missing children. Grief -and anxiety for her son and foster daughter did at times almost bow that -noble dame to the earth, and her grief was the greater because of her -frequent loneliness and the hazards her lord was running in the many -sieges and battles of the times; but although her health declined and -her cheek became wan, hope and trust in heaven's goodness did not -forsake her. A pious dame was Ladie Alfgiva, and of a nature high and -noble in all things. Though thinking day and night of her only son and -her only living child, she never once implored Sir Alain to purchase the -boy's release and his restoration to her arms by proving false to his -oath and untrue to the king, and every time that her lord came to his -home she dried her tears and did all that she could to conceal her great -grief so long as he tarried with her. The virtuous woman is a crown unto -her husband, and verily there be wives as well as virgins that merit the -crown the church awards to saints and martyrs. Saint Catherine on the -wheel, or Saint Agatha at the fiery stake, suffered not pangs so acute -as those of this bereaved mother; and their torture was soon over, and -while they suffered they saw from the wheel and stake the heavens -opening to the eye, and they heard heavenly music in the air which made -them deaf to the shouts of the infidel rabble that were slaying them. So -much bliss and so great a foretaste of celestial joy was not vouchsafed -unto the secular Ladie Alfgiva, and could not be expected by her: -nevertheless had she her happy visions and sweet soothing sounds during -her long bereavement. More than once, in her great loneliness, when her -lord was away fighting for King Stephen, as she stood on the battlements -of her castle at eventide, she saw her boy and his playmate Alice -sitting on the flowery bank which slopes down to the river, as they used -often to sit before Sir Ingelric did steal them away; and she heard -their merry little voices on the breeze, and their frolicsome laugh. -Some would say that she but took two stray lambs for the lost children, -and that the sounds she heard were only made by the evening breeze among -the tall growing grass and the leafy coppices; but I, Felix, could never -so interpret it unto her. But constantly did I strive to give her -comfort, and to conceal from her the cruelties that were daily committed -in the land, and to stop the thoughtless indiscreet tongue of her people -who would have filled her ears with horrible tales of murdered children -and babes, for not the massacre of the Innocents in Judea was so fierce -as the slaughter that raged in England. - - - - -VII. - - -When our good lord abbat Edward had been dead well nigh a year, to wit, -in the summer season of eleven hundred and forty-two, King Stephen, from -great fatigue of body and uneasiness of mind, fell sore sick, and lay -for a long while like one that was dying. While this lasted the barons -of his party did many evil deeds, there being no authority strong enough -to check their lawlessness; and, at the same troublous season, the -partisans of Matilda and the foreign mercenaries in her pay did ravage -all the western parts; and more robbers came over from Anjou, Normandie, -and Picardie, asking no pay, but only free quarters, and the right of -plundering the poor English. It was a Benedictine from Rome that had -studied medicine in the school of Salerno, that brought a healing potion -to the king, and snatched him back to life from the jaws of the grave. - -So soon as Stephen could mount his war-horse he marched with a great -force unto Oxenford, where the countess had fixed her court; and he -invested that unhappy city with a firm resolution never to move thence -until he had gotten his troublesome rival into his hands. After some -fighting, in which many lives were lost by both parties, Stephen burst -into the town, and having set fire to a large part thereof, he laid -siege unto the castle into which Matilda and her people had retired. Now -the castle of Oxenford, standing in the midst of waters, was very -strong. From St. Michael's mass well nigh unto Christ's mass, _ą festo -Michęelis usque ad natali Domini_, did King Stephen persevere in the -siege, telling all men that complained of the hard service that he must -have the castle, and in it the countess, and that then there would be -peace in England. - -In the mid siege, our new lord abbat, who had had much correspondence -with the lord abbat of Abingdon, with the prior and monks at Hurley, and -with other Benedictine houses, for the good purpose of saving the -remnant of the Christian people in those parts, and putting an end to -the cruelties and many deadly sins which were daily committed, received -from the Abingdon cell at Cumnor, nigh unto Oxenford, a missive from the -abbat of that community, who entreated him, now that the country was -clear of Matilda's people, to repair unto Cumnor that they might take -council together, and together confer with King Stephen, who seemed at -that moment to be in a heavenly disposition, and to have an exceeding -great desire to tranquillize the land, and to consult with the loyal -abbat of Reading. Now albeit Stephen had, by means of Sir Alain de -Bohun, expressed his great contentment at the expulsion of Father -Anselm, and at all that had been done by our community since the great -meeting of the synod at Westminster, the election of the prior to be our -lord abbat had not yet been formally confirmed by the king; and -therefore Dominus Reginaldus did make haste to accept the invitation of -the abbat of Abingdon, and to get him unto Cumnor. Not for any merit of -mine own, but through the kind favour he was ever pleased to show me, I -was chosen to be of the travelling party. Philip the lay-brother went -likewise; but Philip was a brave and ready man, quick-witted, and -well-trained aforetime in the use of arms, and in the riding of the -great horse. Although the nerve of the Angevin faction was shut up in -Oxenford Castle, my Lord Reginald was too wise a man to put himself on -the road with a weak escort; for he well knew that there were many -barons and knights, calling themselves King Stephen's friends and the -friends of mother church, that would not scruple to plunder an abbat, or -to keep him in their donjons for the sake of a great ransom; and well -nigh every castle between Reading and Oxenford, and between Oxenford and -Bristowe, was a den of thieves, and worse; and Lord Reginald had not -lost his bellicose humour by being promoted to the highest dignity. "By -the head of Saint John the Baptist," said he, as we were about to take -our departure, "not a robber of them all shall lay me in his crucet -house without having a hard fight for it! Before I bear the weight of -their sachenteges, I will make them taste the sharpness of my lance, and -the weight of my mace." And so was it that we went forth from Reading -forty and one strong, and every man of us armed cap-ą-pie, and most of -us well mounted. The lord abbat wore a steel cap under his hood, and a -coat of mail and steel hose under his robes; and he had a two-edged -sword at his side and a heavy mace at the pommel of his saddle, and a -good lance resting on stirrup-iron; yea, and I, Felix the novice, wore -ringed armour and a steel casque, and had my sword and lance: Englehard -de Cicomaco, that famed and well-judging knight, who was one of the -retainers of our abbey, doing military service for the abbey lands he -held near Hurley Common, did say that I looked a very proper -man-at-arms, and did bestride my steed like a knight--but these are -vanities, and I by my vows did renounce all vanity. Yet can I but mark -that when we came to Cumnor a great baron asked who was that gallant -well-favored young soldier that rode in the van, near to the lord abbat -of Reading. - -On our way we tarried for a night at Berecourt by Pangbourne, where we -had a goodly house among the hills which had wont to be a summer -residence of our abbats. But this goodly house had been robbed and -spoiled, and our vassals and serfs had not yet been enabled to restore -it. We were therefore roughly lodged and not over well fed; but that -which affected me more grievously than this was the sad condition of the -poor people of Pangbourne, who had been so prosperous and happy before -these accursed wars began. Sad were the tales they told, and not the -least sad of them all was this: my quondam friend and brother novice, -Urswick the Whiteheaded, had been in the spring season of this year at -Pangbourne with a great band of English and foreign robbers, ransacking -the place of his birth and maltreating the friends among whom he had -been born and bred; and his aged father had to his face pronounced a -curse upon him; and in a quarrel with some savage men from Anjou -touching the division of spoil, Urswick had been slain on the bank of -Thamesis, before he could recross the river or get out of sight of his -native village: and, since that black morning, or so our serfs did say, -his well-known voice had been heard at midnight, and he had been seen by -the light of the moon, now habited as a monk, and wringing his hands by -the river side where he fell, looking piteously towards the abbey of -Reading, from which he had fled, and now equipped as a man-at-arms, and -galloping on a great black horse, across the country and up the steep -hills and down the precipices--fire flashing from the eyes and nostrils -of the infernal steed, and from the burning heart of the lost novice. - -On our march from Pangbourne we shunned the townships and castles as -much as we could, and took especial heed not to get near unto -Wallingford; for the strong castle there was held by Brian Fitzcount, -the most terrible of all Matilda's partisans, and the greatest robber of -them all; and the castle at this very time was known to be full of -unfortunate prisoners whom he kept and daily tortured in order to make -them disclose their supposed hidden treasures, or to pay a heavier -ransom than any they had the means of paying. Christian burghers and -franklins, noble knights who had warred against the heathen in -Palestine, nay churchmen, the highest in the hierarchy, were known to be -in his foul prison, pent up with Jewish traffickers and money-dealers; -the noblest and the purest with the vilest and foulest of the earth: and -the gaolers and torturers of Brian Fitzcount treated the Christians no -whit better than the Israelites that were chained at their sides, -contaminating them with their touch and poisoning the air they breathed. -Night after night, such of the poor townfolk as had contrived to live in -the midst of these horrors without deserting Wallingford, were startled -in their sleep by the cries and shrieks which came from the grim castle; -and when in the morning they adventured to ask what had been toward in -the night watches, the Count's people would tell them jestingly from the -battlements that it was nothing, or that Brian Fitzcount had only been -coining a little more money, or that a Jew had had his teeth drawn, or -that a traitor to the empress-queen had been questioned about his -treason and treasure. - -The great prison in this castle of Wallingford was called Brian's Hell, -and it was deserving of the name. But the fiends were abroad, as well as -within those abominable walls--the spirit of the arch-fiend was -everywhere. The village churches and the chapels and hospitia in -solitary places had been destroyed or turned into fortalices; deep -trenches were cut in the churchyards among the consecrated abodes of the -dead; the sweet sounding church bells had been thrown down, and engines -of war had been set up on the church towers. Yea! the resting places -which the church and the piety of the faithful had built and stocked for -the poor and hungry wayfarers in the desert had been plundered and -destroyed--the last holy resting-places had been profaned! The temple of -peace and mercy had been turned into a place of arms! - -As we came near to Hanney mead and the river Ock--that pleasant little -river that wells from the ground near Uffington and drops into Thamesis -by Abingdon, and that has the most savoury pike that be fished in these -parts--we came suddenly upon a castellum which we could by no means -avoid; for it had been lately built, and we knew not of it, and it lay -so low among marshes that we saw it not until we were close upon it. It -lay close to the only road that led to the ford across the river. To a -trumpet which sounded a challenge from the walls our party replied with -sound of trumpet, and then at the abbat's commandment proceeded -deliberately onward. As we came nearer, the warder of the castle shouted -"For whom be ye?" - -"What if I say for King Stephen?" quoth our lord abbat, rising in his -stirrups and waving his lance over his head. - -"Long live King Stephen! an thou wilt," said the warder, "but thou must -pay toll ere thou mayest pass the river." - -"The lord abbat of Reading pays not even bridge toll, and here there is -no bridge," said our lord abbat, "and fords be ever free. Go read our -charter: _In terris et aquis, in transitibus pontium_, by land and by -water, and in the passing of bridges, we be free from all tolls or -consuetudinary payments. If thou wilt have toll from me, i'faith, thou -must come forth and take it." - -"Thou art but a traitor," cried the warder. "Long live the -empress-queen!" shouted divers armed men who ran to the battlement, and -as they did shout did also bend their cross-bows. But by this time we -had all put spurs to our horses, and we dashed past the ugly castellum -and across the ford without receiving any hurt, albeit a quarrel did hit -the lord abbat's steed near unto the tail and make him caper. Had our -party been less numerous and warlike, doubtless we had been lodged that -night among Brian Fitzcount's prisoners. - -The town and abbey of Abingdon we did also avoid, keeping a little to -the westward thereof; for another tyrant and man destroyer had built -himself a great castle in that vicinage, and there had been many feuds -and factions and changing of sides among the monks of Abingdon, while -the best and most trusty of that community were known to be at the house -at Cumnor with their abbat. The roads were deep and miry, the way was -long, the days were short, and the weather of the saddest; but on the -third evening after our departure from Reading we arrived at the Cell of -Cumnor, where our lord abbat was hospitably received by the abbat of -Abingdon, and where we of less note found good lodging and -entertainment, to wit, a blazing wood fire whereat to dry our clothes, -clean straw to sleep upon, and salted meats and manchets to eat, and -good Oxenford ale to drink. - -On the morrow, when it wanted but two days of the feast of St. Thomas -the Apostle, King Stephen with a few lords and knights rode from the -beleaguer of Oxenford Castle to Cumnor, and did there confer with the -two abbats and other ecclesiastics. What passed in the council chamber I -cannot tell; but it was seen by all of us that the king wore a cheerful -aspect, and it was told unto us all that the castle was reduced to -extremity, and that, there being no escape thence, the countess must -soon surrender or die of starvation. When the conference was over, and -when the king had been entertained as royally as the abbat of Abingdon -could do it in that place and at that time--and when Stephen had laid -his offering upon the altar in the church, he rode back to the siege, -and our lord abbat of Reading, and all of us who had come with him, -attended the king to Oxenford, intending there to tarry until the -surrender of Matilda. - -"With the saints to my aid," said our abbat, "I may prevail upon this -perverse daughter of the Beauclerc to deliver herself quietly up, and -upon King Stephen to be merciful unto her in her captivity. If the -Angevin countess should still persevere in the wickedness of her ways, -and attempt to escape again on a bier instead of putting an end to the -woes of the land by a surrender, forty good swords the more may do -service for the king. My children, my friends, ye will all be vigilant -in this matter, and do duty like good soldiers, if it should be required -of ye!" And as the good lord Reginald went into Oxenford town and saw -the palace which the Beauclerc king had there builded, and saw the -engines of war, and heard the horrid noise of war all about, he heaved a -sigh and said, "_Eheu! quantum mutatur!_ How be all things changed! Here -in the days of Henricus Primus, that peace-loving king, _Rex pacis_, -have I seen nothing but quiet scholars and learned men, and the court of -a king that was an academe and a sanctuary of letters. Wot ye, my boy -Felix, why it was that Henricus did build him a palace here?" And I -having confessed my ignorance as became me, our abbat went on to say, -"Felix, my son, the Beauclerc had collected in his most royal park at -Woodstock many wild beasts from foreign parts, such as lions and bears, -leopards and lynxes, and porcupines, and of these he had a wonderful -great liking, and here at Oxenford learned men were collecting every -year in greater numbers, and in the company of these scholars his grace -did take marvellous delight: in truth it were not easy to say whether he -liked the beasts better than the bookish men, or the bookish men better -than the beasts; but, to have the enjoyment of both, he ofttimes fixed -his residence between them; and therefore was it, my son, that Henricus -Primus raised this royal dwelling, and preferred it above his other -houses." That very night, albeit I knew it not then, there came to King -Stephen the very unfavourable news that the countess's half-brother, the -great Earl of Gloucester, who for some months had been absent, had -returned into England with a great body of Angevin and Norman troops, -and had brought with him Henry Fitz-empress, Matilda's young son and -heir, had stormed and taken the castle of Wareham, had been joined by -many traitorous barons who had but lately given fresh oaths of fidelity -to Stephen, and was marching through the land to relieve his sister in -Oxenford Castle and fall upon her besiegers. Maugre the pains that were -taken to conceal this intelligence, it got abroad, and was by some -double-dealer conveyed to Matilda within the castle. - -That night there fell a great fall of snow, and after the snow a sharp -and most sudden frost did set in, which in less than twenty-four hours -did cover the river Isis and the moat of the castle and the circumjacent -marshes with thick ice. The beleaguerers made themselves great fires, -and seemed not to remit in their watchfulness. I, Felix, with Philip the -lay-brother, and Sir Englehard de Cicomaco, did mount guard and stand -wakeful all that bitter night, opposite to a postern gate of the castle. -From time to time some great officer of King Stephen went from watch to -watch, and all round the lines to see that the people did their duty and -slept not. Joy came to my heart, and the deadening cold seemed to quit -my body, when I saw Sir Alain de Bohun come to the place where I stood. - -"Watch well to-night, oh Felix," said that brave and always courteous -lord; "watch well to-night, and to-morrow will we have our enemy in our -hands--and dear friends, too. Felix! I have had assurance that my son -and thy little friend is within those walls! To-morrow Matilda must -yield; so watch well that postern." - -I kissed Sir Alain's hand, and vowed that not so much as a famished cat -or rat should come forth of that gate, nor did there while my watch -lasted. - -On the next day, the vigil of St. Thomas, as soon as it was light, a -white flag was raised in the camp in token of peace or truce, and our -lord abbat, with a goodly train of ecclesiastics, bearing church banners -and elevated crucifixes, came down to the very edge of the castle moat, -and demanded speech of the countess; and Matilda ascended to the -battlements, but rather to rebuke them than to hear them. I, Felix, -being relieved from my night watch, did see that stern woman of many -adventures and indomitable pride stand on the castle top in that cold, -grey, leaden air. Thin was she, and gaunt and pale, like one that had -suffered long fasting and sickness; but she had the same flashing eye -and resolute look as at the time when she dictated her will to our house -at Reading; and if her voice was more hollow, it was not less imperious -and awe-commanding now than it was then. The lord abbat entreated her to -give up the castle, promising, in the name of King Stephen, that no harm -should be done to her or to any that were with her; that she should be -honorably escorted to the coast, and there embarked for Anjou; that -lands and money should be given to her and her adherents with a liberal -hand; and that the king would take all her partisans into his peace, if -they would but be true to treaty, and give up a war which had already -lasted so many years to the reproach of Christendom, and to the utter -undoing of the people of England. The abbat told her that her famishing -state was known, and that hope of escape there was none. - -"And who told thee, oh meddling monk, that I ever thought of escape? -Dost not know that the Earl of Gloucester is at hand, to do the thing -which he did aforetime at Lincoln? We have meat and meal yet, and will -abide the earl's coming. I will not throw open these gates, or quit -these walls, until I see the false recreant Stephen in chains at my -feet, praying again for that life which I ought to have rid him of long -since." - -As the proud woman said these words, I could see that many of our -bystanders looked at one another with perplexity and alarm, and that -divers even of the churchmen put on very thoughtful countenances, and -did nothing and said nothing to aid our lord abbat, or to rebuke the -countess, who in a great passion of wrath threatened to have him hanged -for a felon under the archway of his own abbey. - -Some there were that would have counselled an immediate assault upon the -fortress; for albeit no breach had been made in those formidable walls, -the moat was so frozen that it would bear any weight, and scaling -ladders and other needful materials were not wanting. But the more -cautious sort said that the famishing garrison were very numerous and -very desperate; that it would be better to wait a day or two, and have -the castle upon composition; that the Earl of Gloucester had yet sundry -days of march to perform; and that if he came with ever so great a host, -he would find it no easy work to break through our barricades and -defences, and get into the town. Some of the churchmen, moreover, did -say that no enterprise of war would prosper during the festivals of the -church; and, certes, the major part of King Stephen's soldiers did seem -fully determined to keep this the vigil, and to-morrow the festival of -St. Thomas the Apostle, according to the rubric, whether the king would -have it so or not. Hence there was a very visible relaxation of -vigilance. Refreshed by a short sleep in the day, I did watch again that -night with the beleaguerers; but my post was not where it had been the -night before, and in the morning, before I could be relieved, I learned -that the countess had escaped through the postern which I had watched so -well. Marvellous, truly, was the skill and fortune of the Beauclerc's -daughter! She had escaped from Devizes by putting on the semblance and -trappings of the dead, and now she had escaped from Oxenford like a -sheeted ghost! A little after the midnight hour she had dressed herself -all in white, and had thrown white sheets over Sir Ingelric of -Huntercombe, and three others of her knights; and she and these four -sheeted warriors had stolen out of the castle by the postern gate, and -had crossed the moat on the ice and traversed the ice-bound Isis, and -creeping on their hands and knees over the deep white snow, they had -escaped detection, and got safely through our lines and all our -outposts. On foot, in the deep snow, Matilda with her attendant spectres -travelled to Abingdon; but there they found friends and horses, for the -news of the coming of the Earl of Gloucester had reached the place, and -had been very fatal to men's loyalty unto Stephen. From Abingdon, -without resting there, the countess rode through that cold night to -Wallingford Castle, where Brian Fitzcount received her very joyfully. -But these things came to my knowledge afterwards; and when it was first -heard that the countess was gone, none could tell how she was gone, or -whither she had betaken herself. The notice was not given until more -than seven hours after her departure, when, as the day began to dawn, a -starving man-at-arms cried out from the battlements that the garnison -were ready to throw open the gates unto King Stephen, and so save -themselves from death by hunger, as the queen had fled thence, and was -no longer in any danger. At first the news was not credited by any of -the king's people; but soon the governor of the castle sounded trumpets -for a parley, and held out a flag of truce, and offered to deliver up -the castle upon condition that his life and the lives of his people -should be spared. King Stephen himself came rushing to the post opposite -the castle gate to learn the truth, and settle the conditions of -surrender; and with him came Sir Alain de Bohun, mortified yet rejoiced, -a much perplexed yet a happy man; for though it should be found that the -scourge of England had escaped, he had a confident hope that she could -not have carried away his son with her. - -King Stephen spoke aloud to the castellan, and said, "This is but a -fabulous rumour! The countess of Anjou is where she hath been these last -three months! Unsay what hath been said! Tell me that she is within -those walls, and, starving as thou art, I will give thee more than the -conditions thou askest--I will give thee wealth and honours! Only say -that she hath not escaped." - -"Earl of Moriton and Boulogne!" shouted the proud castellan, "if the -empress queen were within these walls I would starve and die, but never -open these gates unto thee! Let mine offer to surrender be a proof that -she is gone hence. I swear, by the holy rood, that she hath been gone -ever since midnight." - -"Whither hath she gone?" cried Stephen. - -"I know not, and would not tell thee if I did know; but 'tis likely she -will soon tell thee where she is." - -While the castellan was talking in this guise on the outer walls, many -of our lords and knights, with their men-at-arms, got them to horse, -and, dividing into different parties, went scouring over the country in -all directions, some along the road that leads to Woodstock, some on the -Abingdon road, some down the river towards Newnham, some towards Forest -Hill, and some across the hills towards Islip and Weston-on-Green. - -Many slips and falls had they on the frozen ice and slippery roads; yet -was it all but a bootless chace. The party that went along the Abingdon -road, and that came back even faster than they went, as Sir Brian -Fitzcount had advanced a body of horse to the township of Abingdon, had -met on their advance an aged shepherd who had been out in the night in -search of some sheep that had been lost in the snow drifts; and this -aged man had told them that about the midnight hour he had seen gliding -along the road between Oxenford and Abingdon five ghosts or revenants -all in white, which he took to be the uneasy spirits of some who had -perished in our diurnal slaughters; and this was all that was learned by -our too late pursuing companies. - -In the first heat of his wrath and bitterness of his disappointment the -king refused to admit the garnison to capitulation, and threatened to -hang them all, together with many of his own watch; but our lord abbat -moderated his wrath. Sir Alain de Bohun, eager for sight of his boy, and -always averse to bloodshed, did recommend mercy and moderation; and so, -about mid-day, terms were granted, and the castle was given up to -Stephen. I was among the first that entered with our good Lord of -Caversham. Sir Alain found many friends among those who had been kept as -prisoners by the Countess; but for some time he could not find his son, -or hear anything concerning him, save that the boy had been seen in the -castle a few days agone. Fearful thoughts agitated the loving father, -and made him turn ghastly pale. Had the Countess in her rough nocturnal -flight carried the boy with her? No, there was a knight who opened the -postern-gate for her, and who swore upon his cross that none had gone -forth but the empress-queen, Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe, and the three -other knights. Had the desperate woman in her fury against one of the -most constant of her enemies taken the life of the dear boy? None would -confess to the atrocious deed, yet none seemed to know what had befallen -Sir Alain's son. In truth they were all ravenous and stupified with -their excess of hunger, and were only eager to get out into the town, -and at the meat and drink which had been mercifully promised them; and -for many a day few of them had taken any note of what was doing within -the castle or in the lodging of Matilda. But the Lord of Caversham and -the best of his own people, and I, Felix, and Philip, the lay-brother, -did rush into the apartment of the Countess and ransack it well; and -while we were in an inner room in the tower that looks upon Isis, we -heard a feeble voice as of one lamenting, and pulling aside some -hangings on the wall, we discovered a small low door under an arch, and -thereupon Sir Alain, all of a tremble, cried out in a voice that went -unto the hearts of all of us, "Who lieth within? Is it thou, mine only -son?" and the faint voice said "My father," and said no more. The -iron-bound door was locked, and the key was gone; but spite of its -thickness and strength, we soon burst the door open with a mighty crash. -I did enter that foul hole in the wall with Sir Alain, and did see and -hear that which passed when he raised his boy from the dirty straw upon -which he had fainted; but I have not the power to narrate that which I -saw and heard. Nay, to speak more soothly, I did see but faintly, for -the light that came into the cell through a narrow loophole was but -scant, and my gushing tears did almost blind me. But we soon carried the -boy out into wholesome air, and put wine to his lips; and he recovered -and knew his father. And when he had eaten and gained strength, he told -his sire, who had never before been seen so wrathful, that he had not -tasted meat or drink for two whole days and nights. Verily it did seem -that the Countess had destined him to die of starvation, and that she -had herself secreted him in that hideous hole in the castle-wall, for -none of her attendants would confess any knowledge of the thing. But Sir -Alain would not give credit to these protestations of ignorance, saying -that some of the Countess's people must have known what was done in her -own apartment, and sorely did he beat with the flat of his sword an old -foreign hag that had been the Countess's chamber-woman, and two Angevins -that had been in constant attendance upon her; and he swore more oaths -than had ever come from his lips, that were it not for the love of the -king his master, and for the king's honour, and for his own religious -respect for compacts and treaties and capitulations of war, he would -hang them all three on the top of that accursed tower. - -So soon as I saw that the hope of the house of Caversham was restored to -some of his strength (and he gave me a proof thereof by saluting me and -taking me by the hand as an old friend), I went forth to try if I could -gain some intelligence of the little Alice, who was not born to live -separated from Arthur, and likewise of my whilom friend and companion -John-ą-Blount from Maple-Durham, who had fled from our house at Reading -with the novice Urswick, of unhappy memory. I soon learned from some -retainers of Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe that the little maiden, before -the coming of King Stephen to Oxenford, had been bestowed with her -step-mother in the strong castle at Old Speen, which Sir Ingelric had -rebuilded; but the fellows knew not, or pretended not to know, anything -touching our fugitive novice John-ą-Blount. Therefore did I put my soul -and body in peril by going into the very midst of the Countess Matilda's -black-eyed damsels; for I thought in the nature of things that he -should be among those young Jezebels who had first led him astray. -Albeit the merciful terms of capitulation were faithfully observed, and -knights of good repute were stationed in the castle to see that no harm -was done to those that had surrendered; the interior of the fortress was -still a scene of unspeakable confusion and alarm. Fierce knights that -had not prayed for many a day, and rough outlandish soldiers who knew -not how to say a credo or an ave, were muttering orisons and telling -their beads, or holding their crucifixes in their hands, crying ever and -anon to the more truculent visaged of the king's people, "We have all -rendered upon paction--We be all in the king's mercy and honour--Touch -not our lives or limbs, or eyes, but give us to eat, or we perish!" - -The women of the countess, whose eyes were much less bright and -dangerous than when I last saw them in their pride and insolency at our -abbey, lay all huddled and crouching together in a corner of the -castle-yard, where divers clerks of Oxenford, with the marshal of King -Stephen's camp, were making lists of the names and qualities of the -prisoners. Many men, as well English as foreign, were standing near -these affrighted and more than half-famished women; and a few young -knights and esquires seemed to be speaking words of comfort to divers of -them; but among these men I could not see John-ą-Blount, from -Maple-Durham, nor any young man that resembled him; and when I asked of -many, they all told me that they knew nothing of the said John: which -was grievous unto my soul, for I had hoped to find him there, and to -reclaim him, and thereby save him from the fate of the unhappy Urswick. -As I was about to turn from that company of women, I was brought to a -pause by a pair of eyes, swimming in tears, that did bind me to the -spot, like one spell-bound. They were the large black eyes of that -damsel in the short green kirtle, and of the incomparably small feet and -ankles that had come salting and dancing up to me in the garden of our -house at Reading; but alack, she danced not now, and seemed scarcely -able to stand, and instead of the laughingest she had the saddest face; -and she was all thin and haggard as the poorest of the wandering -houseless beggars we had met on our march from Reading to Oxenford. I -had the remnant of a manchet in the sleeve of my monastic gown, and -though many eyes were upon me, and others might be as hungry as she was, -I took forth the blessed piece of bread, and thrust it into her skinny -hands, and then hurried away to Sir Alain de Bohun, who did forthwith -order some meat and drink to be given to those poor outlandish -starvelings. - -On the day next after the surrender of the castle, the foreign -women--praise and thanks to the Lord for that same!--were all sent away -under a strong and reliable escort for the city of London, there to be -kept by Stephen's good queen Maud until they should be ransomed or -exchanged for other prisoners. And in the current of that same day we -did hear but too surely what the escaped countess was a-doing. She had -gone forth from Wallingford Castle with Brian Fitzcount and a great host -of foreign mercenaries, and was marching to the westward to meet the -Earl of Gloucester, who was not so near to Oxenford as had been -reported, and she was again marking her evil path with blood and -flames. King Stephen resolved to follow her and bring the great earl to -battle; but the countess and her half-brother having met in Wiltshire, -retreated rapidly to the west, where lay their great strength in -partisans and castles, and they threw themselves into the castle of -Bristowe, which was their strongest hold all through the war. The king -would have turned back to lay siege to Wallingford Castle, in the -absence of its terrible lord the merciless Brian Fitzcount; but a plot -broke out in the vicinage of London, and sundry barons raised the banner -of Matilda in Essex, thereby obliging Stephen to march with all speed to -the eastward. So Wallingford Castle remained in the hands of the -robbers, to be a curse to the country and a den of torture: but we, the -monks of Reading, with little aid but what the saints sent us, and with -no loss of life to our party, did prevail over another band of thieves -and destroy their den, to the inestimable relief and comfort of that -country side. - - - - -VIII. - - -The day before King Stephen marched from Oxenford to pursue the -countess, our lord abbat, who grieved to see that his brother of -Abingdon was influenced by the changes of the times and by the rumour of -the great force which the Earl of Gloucester had brought with him, took -his departure for his own abbey, and with us went Sir Alain de Bohun, -who needs must restore his beloved son to his ladie and home ere he -tried again the fortune of war or entered upon any new emprise. The lord -of Caversham took with him a score of retainers, so that we were now -sixty-two well-armed men. The young Lord Arthur sometimes rode before -his father, and sometimes a mančged horse by himself, for the boy was -now in his tenth year, and had been taught by times to do that which -befits a knight. A proud and happy man I wis was Sir Alain as he looked -upon his only son and thought of the great joy their return would give -to the Ladie Alfgiva. Much also did I converse with the young Lord -Arthur on the road, and he did tell me how much he had grieved when Sir -Ingelric had carried away from him his little playmate who had travelled -with him so many days in horse litters, and who had abided with him in -so many castles that he could not tell the names of half of them. A -shrewd brave boy was the young Lord Arthur, and for his age marvellously -advanced in letters; and I, Felix, had at times given him instruction -before that Sir Ingelric did steal him away from his home so -feloniously. Again, though through no fear, since our party was so -strong and warlike, we shunned the townships and castles that lay near -our road. Also did we choose another ford whereby to cross the river Ock -without passing near the walls of that uncivil castellum that lay in the -swamps; for we were all anxious to be home and had no tools for trying a -siege; nay, had we not among us so much as a single scaling ladder. Yet -when we came to our poor house at Pangbourne we heard that which did put -us in heart to undertake the storming of a castle. It was dark night -when we arrived there, and the day had been a day of heavy snow with -rain, and I was sitting with a few others by the kitchen fire in the -chimney nook drying myself, when a little boy of the village came in and -tugged me by the sleeve, and said that there was one without who would -speak with me. Such message liked me not, nor did the time of night, for -I thought of Urswick and his hell-horse; nevertheless I soon followed -the boy to the house porch, and thereby I found a lonely man, sitting on -a cold wet stone, with his face muffled, and his body bent to the earth -like one sore afflicted. Started I not back with the thought that the -form that I saw was but the spectrum of Urswick! It spake not, nor did -it move. I turned me round to grasp my conductor by the arm, but the boy -was gone; and I stood alone with that lone and dolorous figure which I -could but faintly see, for there was no moon, and the stars were -overcast with black clouds, and verily my fears or my exceeding great -awe did not aid my eyesight. But at last the figure rose from the cold -stone and said, "Is it thou, oh Felix? Is it thou, my once friend?" - -The voice was that of John-ą-Blount from Maple-Durham; and before I -could say "It is even I," that erring novice clasped me by the hand and -peered into my face, and turned me towards the faint uncertain light, -and then fell upon my neck, and wept aloud. I led him farther from the -house-door, and when he grew calmer I communed with him where none might -overhear his words; but I took not this step until he vowed to me that -his soul was penitent, and that he had come unto Pangbourne only to do a -good deed. He confessed unto me that the love of woman had been his -undoing, that one of the countess's foreign damsels had practised upon -him and bewitched him, and that he had done many deadly sins on her -account in battles and nightly surprisals, and the burning and storming -of towns. But after a season the young cockatrice had scorned his love, -and had told him that she must mate with a great lord, and not with a -runagate shaveling, who had neither house nor lands: and at her own -prayer her mistress, the Countess Matilda, had sent poor John-ą-Blount -away to serve with Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe, and Sir Ingelric had for -a long time left him in his castle with a gang of robbers and -cut-throats. - -"Oh, John-ą-Blount!" said I, "these foreign women be worse than painted -sepulchres. I doubt not that Urswick was entreated in like manner by his -leman." - -"He was, and worse," quoth John; "and it did drive him into a boiling -madness, and into the doing of the most savage deeds." - -"Urswick had ever a wild heart and volage thoughts; Urswick perished in -his guilt," said I: "but thou are more fortunate in that thou livest to -repent." - -"I know his fate," said John, "and may the saints now spare us the sight -of him on his infernal steed! By all the saints that preside over our -house at Reading, I was penitent before; but the tale of these nightly -visitings of my comrade Urswick did complete my guerison, and make me -resolve to do that which I have now come hither to propose." - -"What good and expiatory deed is that?" - -"The delivering up of Sir Ingelric's detestable castle," replied -John-ą-Blount. - -"That were a good deed if thou couldest do it." - -"I can," said John, "if a few will march thitherward with me; for there -be those within that will help me, captives that I can release from -their chains, and unwilling vassals of Sir Ingelric. Dost comprehend me, -Felix?" - -I then asked whether the little Alice were safe within the castle, and -whether Sir Ingelric's second wife were a mate worthy of such a husband, -for fame reported her to be so, and it was hard to think well of one who -had married the slayer of the husband of her youth. John gave me -assurance that Alice was there, and harshly used by her step-mother, and -that the said dame was well nigh as merciless and rapacious as her -present lord, keeping prisoners in the donjon and putting them to the -torture for their money. - -"But we lose time," said John; "the deed in hand must be done to-night, -or some within the hellish cavern will be racked to-morrow morning. So -lead me to the prior--to the new lord abbat I would say--that I may -propound my plan unto him or unto Sir Alain de Bohun. When the deed -shall be done they will throw me into the abbey prison; but I am past -caring for that, and have not long to live." - -I told him that our new abbat, the Lord Reginald, was the most indulgent -of men, and Sir Alain the most generous, but he would not be comforted. -While walking back to the porch of the Pangbourne house I did inquire of -him how he so well knew about our coming and our party; and to this he -made answer that Sir Ingelric's castellan, who had gotten by his -stealthy movements and savage assaults the name of the Wolf, did -constantly keep in his pay some wretched serfs who acted as scouts and -spies, and ofttimes lured heedless men to their destruction. "Ye were -watched," said John, "at your going unto Oxenford, and would have been -attacked if you had not been so well provided; and ye have been tracked -and watched on the return, and I, upon the report of those espials, and -upon a feigned show of great zeal, have been sent hither by Sir -Ingelric's fit mate to see whether an attack might not be made during -the darkness of the night upon my lord abbat's horses and baggage." - -"May the foul fiend reward that same unwomanly ladie for the impious -intention," said I. - -"He will," quoth John, "if the good lords will but take counsel of so -lowly and miserable a man as I am." - -When we came near unto the porch, the heart of my sad companion failed -him, and he said that he could not face the lord abbat so suddenly, and -that it were better I went in to prepare the way for him. I had no -suspicion of his penitence or his present good faith, but my short -experience in war had made me wary, and I called to some men-at-arms -that were tending their horses in the stable, and bade them look to the -stranger. My lord abbat and Sir Alain were already at their supper, and -savoury was the smell of the fried fish of Thamesis and the roasted -meats that were spread on the table before them; but before he heard -half of that which I had to say, the abbat thrust aside his platter and -gave thanks to Heaven as for the return of a prodigal son, and thanked -the patron saints of our abbey for so good a prospect of destroying a -nest of robbers; and Sir Alain gave thanks for the same, and for so fair -a hope of recovering the gentle little Alice; and the young Lord Arthur, -who was eating at a side table placed near the fire, started to his feet -and said that he would go with sword and pike to break open the wicked -castle and recover his playmate; and they all three bade me hasten to -the porch and bring in John-ą-Blount. Many a hardened sinner would have -been brought to repentance if he could but have seen in how kindly a -manner the lord abbat received the penitent stray sheep of his flock. He -raised John from the earth, he told him that his sins would be forgiven -him, he bade him be of good cheer, and to put some little present cheer -into the haggard trembling young man he gave him a cup of wine in his -own silver cup. Although he had been straitened by no siege and had -undergone no compulsory fast, the face of that black-eyed damsel that -wore a green kirtle was not more changed than that of John-ą-Blount: and -I almost shuddered as I looked upon it in the bright light of that room. -The abbat and Sir Alain listened with eager attention to the unhappy -youth; and when they had heard him out his plan was speedily agreed. He -would hasten back to the foul den he had left, and tell Sir Ingelric's -people that the weary travellers were buried in sleep, and that there -was the fittest opportunity in the world for seizing their cattle and -baggage, and bringing off a rich booty. The entire garrison of the -castle was barely two-score men. One half of these would sally to make -the booty, and these might all be seized on their march by an ambuscade -of my lord abbat's followers. Of those that would remain within the -castle sundry were ready to revolt, and John-ą-Blount would release the -many prisoners, and slay the castellan, that ravenous wolf, in the den. - -"My son," said the abbat, as John was taking his hasty departure, "do -what thou wilt with the Wolf, but spare Sir Ingelric's wife." - -"And," said Sir Alain, "as thou valuest thine own life, or the future -health of thy repentant soul, have a care of the little Alice in the -affray." - -John laid his right hand upon his breast, and bowed lowly. Following him -almost to the door of the room our kind-hearted lord abbat said, "Still -there is one thought that doth spoil my present hope and joy: thou -mayest fail in thine enterprise, and if thou art but suspected thou wilt -be murthered by that bloody Wolf. Bethink thee, my son! Peradventure it -may be better that thou stayest in safety where thou art, and that we -leave this vile castellum to be reduced by regular siege at some future -day." - -"My lord and father," said John, dropping on his knee, and kissing the -abbat's hand, "should I die in the attempt to perform a good deed, thou -wilt have prayers and masses said for me. But I shall not die to-night, -and I see no chance of miscarriage. I could wish that for me the danger -were greater, that it might the better stand as an atonement for my many -transgressions." - -"Go then, my son, and God speed thee! And then will we ourselves shrieve -thee, and absolve thee after some due penitence, and make thee sound in -conscience, and heart-whole and happy again." - -John-ą-Blount kissed the abbat's hand once more, and prayed the saints -to bless him: but as he rushed out at the door we saw big tears in his -eyes, and heard him mutter that he should never be happy again in this -world. - -"That poor boy," quoth Sir Alain, "hath not yet forgotten the young -syren that led him astray." - -"'Tis witchcraft and sortilege, _maleficium et sortilegium_," said the -abbat. "But by the help of our prayers and relics we will disenchant -him." - -Sir Alain shook his head, but said no word. - -Forty men of us put on harness and followed in the track of -John-ą-Blount when he had been gone some short time. Sir Alain would -have willed the lord abbat to tarry in the house with Arthur, but the -abbat would on no account be left out of the adventure, saying, that his -presence and exhortations might spare unnecessary bloodshed; yet while -he was saying the words he was feeling the point of his lance, and he -took with him his heavy battle mace. We all journeyed on foot, for war -horses would be but an incumbrance at Sir Ingelric's castle, and by -neighing or making other noise they might spoil our ambuscade on the -road. That road was a very rough one, and the night continued rather -dark; hence divers of us stumbled, and fell more than once: nevertheless -we kept up a good pace, and in little more than an hour came to a wooded -hollow, about midway between Pangbourne and Speen, through which the -robbers must pass on the way from their castle to our manor-house. The -trees were all leafless and bare; but the trunks of the ancient oaks -were thick, and so every man of us got him behind an oak, twenty on this -side the narrow road and twenty on that, and there we all stood -concealed from view, and silent as grave stones. I, Felix, had a bad -catarrh, yet did I neither cough nor sneeze all the while I was there, -for I had prayed unto the saint that hath controul over coughs and -colds. For a space that seemed to us very long we heard no sound, and in -that wooded hollow and night-darkness we could see but a very little -way. I began to think that the good strategem had miscarried, and to -moan inwardly for John-ą-Blount as a murthered man. But at last we -heard, not voices, for the ungodly Philistines were as silent as we, but -the heavy tread of footsteps on the broad heath, just above the hollow; -and these sounds rapidly came nearer; and then, by peeping round the -bole of my covering tree, I did faintly discern a score or more of dark -figures descending in loose and careless array into the hollow. As we -had been bidden, we all stood stock still until the robbers were at the -bottom of the hollow, and between us; but so soon as they were there as -in a trap, Sir Alain shouted "Now for the onslaught in the name of King -Stephen!" and our abbat shouted "Down, traitors, down!" and the valorous -Lord of Caversham and our not less valorous lord abbat, and every man of -us, from this side of the pathway and from that, sprung from behind the -trees and hemmed in the evil-doers; and in less time than I can say it -the heavy mace of our lord abbat laid two of the robbers on the earth -with bleeding pates, and Sir Alain's lance went through the body of one -that seemed the leader, and pinned him to the very oak behind which I -had been standing. The rest, after making vain effort to retreat the way -they had come, laid down their arms and cried piteously for quarter and -for that mercy which they had never shown to other men. There were a -score of them besides the three that had gotten their death-warrants. We -bound the score with the cords and thongs we had brought with us, and -putting them in motion with the sharp heads of our lances, we proceeded -rapidly to the foul donjon at Speen, our lord abbat saying that thus far -was well, and some of our captives already beginning to say to Sir Alain -that they would change banners and fight for King Stephen if his -lordship would spare their lives and accept their services. The dark -wintry clouds rolled away, and the stars shone out brightly as if in -approbation of our enterprise, and in no long while we did see that -equable little river the Lambourne, which neither overflows in winter -nor shrinks in summer, but is at all seasons the same (its pike be pale -in colour, and in taste not to compare with those of Ock), gliding to -join our own swift, sweet Kennet at the township of Shaw; and we saw -still clearer the swift Kennet gliding before us, on its way from Speen -to our abbey walls at Reading and the broad Thamesis. And then, as we -hurried on our way, and as the stars shone out with still more -brightness, we discovered broken columns and fragments of walls, -standing up from the ground like spectres on a heath; and anon we heard -the owls hooting to one another among these ancient ruins. And ancient -in sooth they were, for the Romans in the days of the Cęsars had built -them a city at Spinę which men do now call Speen, and these dark and -fantastically shaped fragments and ruins were all that remained of it; -for the men of Newbury, who have ever had a great envy to other -townships and a great liking for the property of other men, had levelled -most of the Roman walls and had carried away the stones and bricks -thereof to enlarge their own town; and people of other townships had -helped themselves at Spinę as though it had been a common quarry. Such -fate befalls towns in decay; but such will never befall our glorious -abbey at Reading, for the saints and angels have custody thereof, even -as we have meetly expressed, in large letters graven upon the left door -of our gate-house under the abbey arms, ANGELI TUI CUSTODIANT MUROS -EIUS. But I wis it was not on this night that I did think of the -renowned Romans, or make these sanctifying reflections. True, I walked -in the paths of pensive thought; but it was only to think of -John-ą-Blount and of the emprise we had in hand. And when we reached the -lonely mill on the Kennet, a few bow-shots below Sir Ingelric's castle -at Speen, we hid ourselves behind the mill and blew three blasts upon a -trumpet, for this was the only signal which John-ą-Blount had asked for. -"And now," said our lord abbat, telling his beads, "may the saints -befriend the brave boy from Maple-Durham. The token of his success will -be three corresponding blasts. Let us be motionless and silent until we -hear them." For a space the sound of our own brazen instrument floated -along the waters, and was given back in echoes by the sleeping hills; -and then for a longer space, during which an expeditious mass-priest -might have said a camp-mass, nought was heard but the plash and ripple -of the ever sweet and clear Kennet, and the faint moaning of some trees -whose bare branches were shaken by the fresh gale which had blown away -the clouds, and brought forth the lustrous and approving stars. But -then, I wis, there came from the evil den the sounds of a mighty crash -and clangour of arms that made us all start, and then sounds of woe and -lamentation, shrieks and yells like those of the damned, which made us -all shudder and cross ourselves. And, anon, upon these hellish sounds -came three blasts from a trumpet, loud and shrill; and at the hearing -thereof our lord abbat clasped his hands and said joyously, "The bold -youth is safe, the deed is done; so now to the castle, which is ours!" - -And we all ran from behind the mill to the foul den, driving our -captives with us at the spear point as before. Short was the distance, -and great our speed; yet before we reached the castle moat the -draw-bridge was down, the gate was open, and under the archway, in the -midst of a company of men who had still chains and fetters on their -legs, but who held flaming torches in their hands, stood John-ą-Blount -with the gashful, blood-dripping head of the Wolf fixed on his lance. -John had released the army of prisoners at the opportune moment, and -being joined by some of Sir Ingelric's people, he had made himself -master of the castle without need of any aid from us: but the Wolf and -some of his evil band who could expect no quarter had made a desperate -resistance, and had been slain to a man. The warder who had raised the -portcullis and the few others who had aided in the emprise were now -shouting for King Stephen, and Sir Alain de Bohun and the lord abbat of -Reading, and the terrified captives we had with us, joined in these -cries with such voice as their fears and astonishment allowed them to -raise. As we all marched in at the gate the abbat said, "John, my son, I -fear thou hast been somewhat too hasty and violent! I would have put -some questions to that wild beast before sending him hence; yet is the -Wolf better dead than alive! But, my son, I trust thou hast not allowed -harm to be done unto the dark ladie of this most dark and bloody lair?" - -"The evil woman is safe in her bower; I did lock her up before I -unlocked the prisoners whose hearts were steeled against her," said -John. - -"And where," asked Sir Alain, "is the gentle flower that was not made to -bloom in this horrent place?" - -"There," quoth John, pointing to one of the female captives who came -running across the quadrangle of the castle with the little Alice in her -arms. "She is there, the true and worthy child of her gentle and -martyred mother, and may she long live to make compensation to the world -for the many cruelties and crimes of her unnatural father;" and as he -spake John threw far from him into a dark corner the bleeding head of -the Wolf, lest Alice should be scared by the sight thereof. - -The dear child was presently in the arms of the good Lord of Caversham; -and though she had not seen his face for eighteen long months, and -though she had not quite recovered from her great terror on being -startled from her sleep by the clashing of arms and those shrieks and -yells, she soon knew Sir Alain, and clung round his neck with many a -fond kiss, and with many a fond inquiry after her own dear mother the -Ladie Alfgiva and her companion and champion Arthur, whom she had left -in sad case at Oxenford. - -The first thing we did within the castle was to secure our prisoners -with the chains which Sir Ingelric's unhappy captives had been wearing, -and to hurl them into that horrible and feculent prison where so many -good and peaceful men had long been rotting. Next we gave food to some -of the released captives who had been so tortured by fast that their -bones were cutting through their skin. And then we did all assemble in -the great hall with a great glare of torches and tapers, and the lord -abbat and Sir Alain being seated on the dais at the head of the hall in -the massy chairs in which Sir Ingelric and his dame had been wont to sit -in the days of their pride and evil power, that dark ladie was summoned -from her uneasy bower to that august presence. A dark dame was she, and -fierce as an untamed she-wolf as she came into the hall, screaming that -the empress-queen and her husband Sir Ingelric would know how to avenge -the traitorous deeds of this night, and the foul surprisal of a loyal -castle. These her words, and others that were more vituperative, chafed -our good lord abbat, and with a solemn and severe countenance he said -unto her, "Peace, woman! peace! these be not words to be heard by the -company here assembled, who be all true men and faithful lieges to King -Stephen. Most fit mate for a bloodthirsty and ungodly lord who hath -changed his party as men change their coats, who hath never had in view -ought else than his own interest, and who for these eighteen months last -past hath stopped at no crime whereby he might enrich himself; dost call -it loyalty to the queen or countess to turn thy castle into a den of -robbers and torturers, to waste the country round about it until it -looks like unto a Golgotha,--to seize, rob, imprison, and torment all -manner of men, as well the secret partisans of Matilda as the open -partisans of King Stephen, as well the poor and lowly as the rich and -great, and as well the quiet franklins and toiling serfs, who be of no -party and who only seek to live in peace, as the knights and trained men -of war that go forth to battle? Call ye this loyalty and faithfulness to -a party? Honourable men, alas! may have honestly differed in these -unhappy disputes, but thy husband hath been but a robber, and it is for -that there be so many like him in the land that these wars have lasted -so long. Dost call the seizing of priests and monks upon the highway -loyalty? Dost call it Christian duty and reverence to mother church to -kidnap the servants of the altar and put them to the rack as thy people -have done? Oh, woman, the holy water that baptised thee was thrown away! -But thou shalt away hence to some sure keeping in a lonely cell, where -thou mayest have time for repentance and prayer. We did only send for -thee that we might remind thee of thy many sins, and get from thee the -keys of thy ill-acquired treasures, and some list or knowledge of those -who have been robbed by thee, to the end that we may make restitution." - -No ways humbled or abashed, the dark ladie of the castle called my lord -abbat robber and housebreaker, and said that she had only levied tolls -and baronial droits; that Sir Ingelric had taken away most of the money -to give it to the misused and distressed queen; and that it was but a -small matter that which remained in the house. And then, with great -pride and insolency, she threw down upon the table one heavy key, saying -that that was the key to the only treasure. - -"The foul dame lies in her throat," cried one of her own people, "she -hath treasure in other places; she hath gold, and silver, and jewels, -aye, and church-plate stolen from the very altar, hid in most secret -hiding-places; and, my lords, ye will not get to the full knowledge -thereof unless ye do put her in her own crucet-house!" - -Albeit, they were fully resolved to come at this great wealth, Sir Alain -de Bohun shuddered at the mention of that terrible engine of torture, -and the lord abbat said that such things were accursed by the church, -and that verily he would never crucet a woman. - -"Then will ye never get at the silver and gold!" said the man who had -before spoken. - -But at this juncture the repentant old warder of the castle stood up, -and said that his daughter, who had been handmaiden to Sir Ingelric's -wife, knew the whole secret, having watched her mistress with feminine -curiosity, and could so point out every recess and hiding-place; and at -the hearing of these words the dark woman uttered a shriek, and fell to -the ground as if her heart had been cleft in twain; so fearfully had she -and her lord sold themselves to Lucifer, and made a god of money. The -sight of blood and of the foe standing triumphant on her own hearth had -not made her quail, nor had the mention of the crucet-house caused her -to tremble; but the thought of losing all her accursed spoil had gone -through her like a knife. We could not leave her where she was, lest -some of her lately released captives should lay violent hands upon her; -so we carried her to a turret-chamber, and having bound her so that she -should not lay violent hands upon herself in a maniacal mood, and having -placed one of her women to watch by her, we made fast that door and went -in search of the treasure, being guided by the warden and his daughter. -It was, in truth, but a small matter that which we found under the lock -to which the dark ladie had given us the key; but, in the hiding-places, -within the thick walls, and under the stone floors of the dark ladie's -bower (places so invisible and recondite that of ourselves we never -could have found them), were piled silver and gold, and wrought-plate -and jewels, that seemed to me enough to pay a king's ransom, and that -made mine eyes twinkle as I looked upon them by that light from many -torches. When he had gathered it all together in a mighty great heap, in -the middle of the room, our abbat made fast that door also, and hung a -crucifix to the door-post, and threatened with excommunication all such -as should approach the door until ordered by him so to do. "Souls have -been lost," said he, "in the getting together of that heap, and his soul -will assuredly perish that touches it for his own use. It is all the -property of the church, or the property of the poor, or the heavy ransom -of tortured victims. The malison of heaven will go along with every part -of it that is not restored to its rightful owners. So now, my children -all, follow me down these flinty stairs to refresh yourselves with meat -and drink; for the day is dawning in the east, and we shall have hard -work at daylight. This infamous donjon must down: not a stone must be -left upon another." - -"I did help to build it," said Sir Alain, "but will now be more happy in -destroying it! Not a nook must be left to be repaired of my -false-hearted ravenous friend, or of any other wolf of his choosing." - -"Humanity will bless the destruction! Tears of joy will be shed for -leagues round about," said one of the released captives; "and when all -dens of the like sort be a-level with the earth, England will be England -again." - -It was a marvellous and a provoking thing to see how well the foul -robbers had been victualled and provided; gaunt hunger ranged all round -them, and filled the fertile but untilled valleys with its cries and -screams; but their buttery was crammed with the best of meat, their -stalls were filled with beeves and sheep, their cellars were full of -ale, mead, and wine, their granaries with corn, their stables with the -best of horses. Rarely have I seen so sumptuous a feast as that to which -we did sit down in the castle hall, with our sharp winter-morning -appetites. - -By the time this goodly collation was finished it was broad daylight. -"So now," said the lord abbat, "will we think of carrying out these -goods and chattels, and then of destroying tougher crusts than those of -venison-pasties. Bring me forth the rascaille-people from the -prison-house, that they may lend us their shoulders and aid us in -destroying their own foul nest." - -Being boyishly and unwisely curious to see with mine own eyes the -abominable pit of which I had heard so much, I went with those that -repaired to the house of captivity and torture, and one who had been -released over-night did follow me thither to explain its horrible -mysteries, as one who had full experience of them all. Misericordia Dei, -into what a bolge of hell did my staggering feet carry me! And what an -atmosphere was that which made my head turn giddy and my stomach sick! -Deep in the bowels of the earth, within the foundations of the keep of -the castellum, was a great chamber paved with the sharpest flints, and, -dimly lighted from above by a few chinks, so narrow that the bats could -scarce have crept through them. The noisome air, never fanned by the -sweet breath of heaven, was made more foul and poisonous by accumulated -filth and stagnant pools of blood, and a fetid smell of smoke. The -torches we brought in to give us light to discover all the mysteries of -the place burned with a sickly and uncertain flame. - -"Can man live here?" said I. - -"I lay dying here the full length of nine moons," said my guide. - -"And what is this?" said I, looking into a short narrow chest not much -unlike the coffin of a child, but half-filled within with sharp stones -and spikes of iron. - -"Curses on it, that is the crucet-house," replied the man, "and therein -they did thrust the body of a full-grown man, breaking his limbs and -causing him exquisite torture. That was one of their processes for -gratifying their cruelty or for extorting money. And this," continued -the man, kicking a monstrous great beam which seemed loaded with iron, -and to be heavy enough to bear down and crush two or three of the -strongest men, "this is one of their sachenteges, which they would lay -upon one poor man, and these iron collars with the sharp steel spikes -are what they put round men's throats and necks, so that they could in -no direction sit, or lie down, or sleep, for these collars be fastened -by these strong iron chains to the stone walls. In my time I have seen -two men and a woman perish with these hell-collars about their necks." - -"And what be these sharp knotted strings?" said I, growing more and more -faint and sick. - -"These strings," replied the man, "they twisted round the head until the -pain went to the brain. And see! these be the thumb-screws. And see -above-head that pulley and foul rope! At times they pulled us up by the -thumbs, and hung heavy coats of mail to our feet; at other times they -hanged us up by the feet and smoked us with foul smoke until our blood -and brain...." - -"By our Ladie of Mercy, say no more--show me no more;" and so saying, I -rushed out of the infernal place with a cold sweat upon my brow and my -limbs all quivering. - -"I am told," said the old captive, who followed me, "that there be still -worse prison-houses than this, and that there be many scores of them in -the land." - -"May they all down!" said I; "and may men in after days not believe that -they ever stood! But, franklin, I do pray thee say no more, for I feel -those collars on mine own neck, and the anguish at the brain!" And, in -truth, I was in so bad case that I could do nothing until Philip the -lay-brother did bathe my brow with some cold Kennet-water, and make me -drink a cup of wine. - -The evil castle was soon cleared of whatsoever it contained (not even -excepting a poor maimed Jew that had been so misused in the crucet-house -that he could neither walk nor crawl), and so soon as everything was -taken up we began to demolish the abominable walls. Many poor men who -lived in that neighbourhood came to our assistance, and being first -refreshed by meat and drink, they laboured with astonishing vigour, -giving joyous shouts whenever a great piece of the building was brought -down. By commandment of our lord abbat the instruments of torture were -all heaped together in that foul cell under the keep, and a great supply -of wood, brush-wood, and straw being placed therein, fire was set to the -whole, and so mighty a combustion was made that the stones cracked, and -the flints seemed to melt, and every beam or other piece of timber -taking fire, the greater part of the tower fell in with a terrific -noise, and a most hellish smoke. While the castle was burning it was -terrible to see how the impenitent dark ladie did gnash her teeth and -stamp her feet, as likewise to hear how she did curse Sir Alain de Bohun -and our good abbat, and all of us that were there present. Surely in -that horrid frenzy she would have died the death of Judas Iscariot if -we had not bound her hands, and kept a strong guard over her. When the -smoke cleared away, and we saw that the keep was nearly all down, our -lord abbat distributed the victual and sheep and cattle among the -famishing men who had come to help us, and who engaged not to leave the -place until the moat should be filled up, and the walls all made level; -and then we departed with our prisoners and all the treasure to -Pangbourne, rejoicing as we went. Only no joy could be gotten into the -sad heart of John-ą-Blount; the commendations of that great man of war, -the Lord of Caversham, did not cheer him, nor was he made the happier by -our good abbat's telling him that he would provide well for him in some -other manner of life than the monastic, for which he never could have -had the due vocation. John thanked the lord abbat, but there was no joy -in his gratitude. As I walked by his side I did try to comfort him by -telling him that he had broken none of the greater vows of our order, as -he was happily only in his noviciate; but he only shook his head at this -my remark, and said, "Felix, it is not so much a wounded conscience and -remorse, as something else that is leading me to the grave!" And then I -saw that he was thinking of that foreign damsel that had led him into -sin, and had then spurned his love, and I did thrice cross myself and -fall to telling my beads, for verily phantasms of that other black-eyed -maiden in the green kirtle came flashing through mine own weak brain, -aye, lively effigies of her, both as I saw her first in her pride and -beauty in our abbey garden, and as I saw her last, famine-wasted and -crushed with fear in the castle-yard at Oxenford. But the saints gave -me strength to expel the visions, and I never saw those living perilous -eyes again. - -To me the most tender and beautiful thing in all this our great -adventure and emprise was the meeting of little Arthur and Alice. Our -good abbat was certainly of my mind, for he almost danced with joy at -the sight thereof, and kept long repeating in his most joyous tones, -"These children were made the one for the other! It is not man that can -separate them, or keep them long asunder! My predecessor abbat Edward -said the words, and the gift of prophecy was in him before he died." - -The day being far advanced before we got back from the evil castle, we -tarried that night at our poor-house at Pangbourne, keeping good watch; -for albeit we knew that our great enemies were afar off, yet were we and -our poor serfs but as lambs among most ravenous wolves, bears, and -lions--_in medio luporum rapicissimorum, ursorum, et leonum_. A trusty -messenger had been sent to Reading Abbey and the castle of Caversham the -night before, and now we despatched another to bid the stay-at-home -monks prepare a Te Deum, and a feast for us on the morrow. - - - - -IX. - - -By times in the morning, the treasure, which filled six coffers of the -largest, was put into boats to be floated down Thamesis unto our abbey; -and some of us going by water and some by land, we all proceeded -thitherward, amidst the rejoicings and blessings of all the people. -Right glad were they all for the destruction of Sir Ingelric's -stronghold! Had it been the fitting season they would have carried -palm-branches before us, as was used at that blessed entrance into -Jerusalem; but it was dead winter, and the morning, though bright and -clear, was nipping cold. The first time it was I did see our hardy lord -abbat muffle his chin, in a skin or fur brought from foreign parts. A -glorious reception, I ween, was that which awaited us! Our brotherhood, -to the number of one hundred and fifty, formed in goodly order of -procession with the banners of our church displayed, and with the prior -at their head bearing our richest rood, met us at the edge of the -Falbury, all singing--"Beati qui veniant,"--"Blessed are those that come -in the name of the Lord; blessed are those that come from the doing of -good." And our good vassals of the township, and the franklins of -Reading and the vicinage, were all there in their holiday clothes, and -our near-dwelling serfs in their cleanest sheep-skin jackets, shouting -and throwing up their caps; our abbey bells ringing out lustily and -merrily the while. Needs not to say that we sang our best in the choir -at that Te Deum, or that the feast which was ready by the hour of noon -was sumptuous and mirthful. Nor was the joy less that evening in the -castle at Caversham, whither I and some few others went with Sir Alain -and the abbat; for the lord of Caversham being ever of a pleasant humour -and ofttimes jocose, did say that forasmuch as I, Felix the novice, and -Philip the merry lay-brother, did first carry Alice by night in the -little basket unto the castle, to the scandal of some and to the -amazement of all, so ought we now to carry back and present to the ladie -Alfgiva the restored damsel; and hereat the young Lord Arthur had -clapped his hands, and said so it ought to be. - -And from this happy evening the bountiful ladie of Caversham grew well -and strong, and the children grew up together in all love and -loveliness. Somewhat squalid were they both when they were first brought -home, but in a brief space of time they were plump and ruddy with -health. The little maiden was then in her sixth year; the little lord, -as hath been said, only in his tenth. Truly it is wondrous to think how -soon they grew up into womanhood and manhood! And I the while was -passing from blooming manhood to sober age; yet did I not grieve with -Horatius--_Eheu! Fugaces._ - -When at our leisure we did examine the great treasure brought from the -evil castellum at Speen, we found much money that bore the impress of -the mint of our house, and divers pieces of plate which had been stolen -by the countess's people out of our church. These things, as of right, -we did keep; but the rest of the plate we restored to the lawful owners -thereof when we could discover them, which, sooth to say, did not happen -on every occasion. Of the money which was not thought to be our own we -did make two portions, and gave one to the poor and sent the other to -King Stephen, who ever needed more money than he could get. But let men -do ever so right and be ever so just and holy, they will still be -exposed to evil constructions, and the sharp malice of evil tongues; and -therefore no marvel was it that many did say we made a great profit unto -ourselves out of the sacking of Sir Ingelric's castle. - -And now, touching Sir Ingelric's dark wife; she was shut up for a short -season in Reading Castle, and was then carried away to the eastern -parts, and was there confined in a solitary and very strong house of -religion that stood on the sea-shore. Of the other prisoners, some, -being foreigners, were shipped and sent beyond sea, and the rest of -them, being native, were sent unto King Stephen's army. - -By the time we had returned unto our abbey, from Oxenford, it was hard -upon the feast of the Epiphany, of the year of grace eleven hundred and -forty-three. At the first coming of spring the king, who had been to -London and the eastern parts to collect a great force, marched through -Reading and tarried a few hours at our house, without doing any notable -damage thereunto, excepting always that he did _borrow_ from us all the -coined money in our mint, which he did intend to repay so soon as the -country should be settled. But it grieved us much to learn that he, too, -had hired and brought into England great tumultuary companies of -Flemings and Bourguignons and other half-baptized, unholy, ungodly men, -who had no bowels of compassion for the people of England, no respect -for our holy places, but an insatiate appetite for plunder. And these -black bands, on marching away to the westward, brake open divers -nunneries and burned sundry towns and churches, maugre all that the -legate bishop of Winchester, who was with his brother the king, could -say or do to prevent them. This sacrilege brought down vengeance and -discomfiture upon the king's cause, and did drive away from his banner -for that time our good Lord of Caversham. Matilda and her princely boy -Henry remained in Bristowe Castle, or about that fair western country by -the shores of the broad Severn, or on the banks of the Avon; but some of -her partisans had made themselves formidable at Sarum; and to check the -incursions of these the king turned the nunnery at Wilton into a castle, -driving out the chaste sisterhood and girding their once quiet abode -with bulwarks and battlements. But while he was upon this ill-judged -work the great Robert, Earl of Gloucester, on the first of the kalends -of July, fell suddenly upon his encamped army, and by surprise and -superiority of force did gain a great victory over King Stephen. The -king with his brother the bishop fled with shame, and the earl's men -took the king's people and his plate and money-chest, and other things. -Among the men of name that were taken at Wilton was William Martell, the -great favourite and sewer to the king, who was sent to Wallingford -Castle, that terrible stronghold of Brian Fitzcount, which few men could -mention without turning pale. Thus sundry more years passed with -variable successes, and every year heaped on each side fresh -calamities, to the great ruin of the whole land. And still both parties -brought over their hungry bands of adventurers, and still many of our -great men, caring neither for one party nor for the other, continued -their castle-building and their plundering for their own account, and -still the poor and despairing people of England said that Christ and his -saints were asleep. Villages and hamlets were fast disappearing, and -that our towns were not _all_ sacked and burned in these nineteen years -of war, and that the substance of every man was not taken from him, was -owing to the prayers of the church, and to the leagues and -confederations which the franklins and free burghers did make among -themselves, binding themselves by a solemn covenant each to assist the -others. At first those who were men of war did laugh at these leagues, -but after they had sustained many a check and defeat they were taught to -respect the valour of our free men. I have known the weaver quit his -shuttle and go forth to battle with sword and spear, and bring back -captive from the field a knight and great lord; and when numerous deeds -of the like sort had been done by the honest folk who took up arms only -for the defence of their own houses and properties and lives, the great -lords and powerful men did either avoid these townships, or treat them -with more gentleness and justice. - -It was in this year, at the fall of the leaf, that John-ą-Blount died at -Maple-Durham, and was buried there. After that our indulgent abbat had -confessed him and shrieved him (upon penances duly performed by the said -John), and had quitted and fully released him from the cucullus, the -poor youth again put on the steel cap, and went to Caversham to serve -as one of the garnison of that good house. Good were the lord and the -happy little lordling unto John, and I ween the Ladie Alfgiva had a -great care taken of him when she saw how sad he was, and how fast -wasting. But neither cook nor leach, neither generous wine nor -comfortable words, could restore strength, or infuse hope, or induce a -composure and tranquillity of mind, or keep poor John any long season -among us. His heart seemed broken within him; and there was a flush on -his wasted cheek, and then a terrible coughing. So at last my whilome -companion being able to do nothing, quitted Caversham and went to -Maple-Durham, that he might die there among some of his kindred, and be -buried under the sward by the wattled hillock which marked the grave of -his father. That young Angevin Herodias was as much John's murtheress as -she could have been if she had put poison in his meat, or a dagger into -his heart. May his soul find peace, and her great sin forgiveness! We -did most of us weep as well as pray for poor John-ą-Blount. - -In the year next after the battle at Wilton, King Stephen gained a great -victory in the meadows which lie near to the abbey of Saint Albans, and -our Lord Abbat Reginald did plant a goodly vineyard on the slopes by the -side of our house at Reading, and did make an orchard a little beyond -Kennet. Many other battles were there in this same year of woe; and that -great partisan of the countess, Robert Marmion, was slain in a fierce -fight at Coventry; and Geoffrey Mandeville, Earl of Essex, was slain at -Burwell; and Ernulphus, Earl Mandeville's son, was taken after his -father's death and banished the land. There seemed no end to these -slayings and banishings and imprisonings in foul prisons. Verily those -who made the mischief did not escape from its effects! The cup of woe -they mixed for the nation was put to their own lips; turn and turn about -they nearly all perished or suffered the extremities of evil fortune! -None gained, all lost in the end, by this intestine and unnatural war. - -In the year of grace eleven hundred and forty-five King Stephen again -passed by Reading, and went and laid close siege to Wallingford Castle; -but he could not prevail against that mighty robber and spoiler Brian -Fitzcount; and on the feast of St. Benedict, at the close of this same -year, I, with the saints' aid, having completed my noviciate, took the -great vows and became a cloister-monk, with much credit and applause -from the whole community, the sweetmeats and all delicate cates being -furnished for that feast by the bountiful Ladie Alfgiva, and both Sir -Alain de Bohun and his son Arthur being present at the feast. That night -there came from the plashy margent of Thamesis a meteor of rare size and -brightness, and it stopped for the space of an Ave Maria over our house, -and shined in all its brightness upon the tower; as was noted by all the -brotherhood, who did please to say that it was a good omen, portending -that I should rise high in office, and be an ornament and shining light -to the house: and truly since then I have passed through offices of -trust and honour, and my name hath been made known unto some of our -order in foreign parts, and I am now by the grace of our ladie sub-prior -of this royal abbey of Reading. Also is it to be noted that in this -important year we, the monks of Reading, were enabled to keep our great -fair in the Falbury, on the day of St. Lawrence and the three days next -following, according to the particular charter of privilege granted by -our founder Henricus Primus, who commanded in the aforesaid charter that -no people should be hindered or troubled either in their coming to the -fair or in their going from it, under heavy penalties to be paid in fine -silver. And the wise Beauclerc had thus ordered, for that the men of -Newbury having a fair of their own about the same season, for the sale -of cattle and much cheese, were likely to waylay and stop such as were -coming to our fair, as in verity they afterwards did, despite of our -charter and to the peril of their own souls. But the castle-builders and -the robbers that were liege-men unto them, had done the Fair-wending -franklins much more harm than had been done them by the wicked men of -Newbury; and in this sort our fair of St. Lawrence had been thinly -attended for some years, and had not brought to our house in tolls, -fees, and droits, one-half so much as the value of the alms we -distributed upon that saint's day. - -In the year which followed upon my vows, the husband of Matilda, the -Count of Anjou, much grieving for the long absence of his son Henry, and -seeing that the presence of one so young did no good to his mother's -cause in England, entreated that he might be sent back into Anjou, and -young Henry was sent thither accordingly. It had been well for England -if the count had gotten back his wife also, but he was too glad to leave -Matilda where she was, for there had not been for many a year any love -between them, and from the day of his marriage with her until Matilda's -return to her own country to wage war in it, the count was said never to -have known a day's peace. During his long abode in Bristowe Castle the -boy Henry had been carefully nurtured and instructed by his uncle the -Earl of Gloucester, and by some teachers gathered in England and in -foreign parts; and, to speak the truth of all men, the said earl was -well nigh as learned as his father the Beauclerc, and a great encourager -of humanizing letters. That great earl was also much commended by his -friends for his constancy to the cause of his half-sister Matilda, and -for his perseverance in all manner of fortunes, and for the equanimity -with which he bore defeat and calamity; but, certes, it had been better -for us if his perseverance had been less, and if his equanimity had been -disturbed by the woes and unutterable anguishes the people of England -did suffer from his so long perseverance. But the hand of death was now -upon him, and the great earl died soon after the departure of Henry -Fitz-empress, and was buried at Bristowe in the choir of the church of -St. James, which he had founded. And no long while after the departure -of her son and the death of her valorous half-brother, the countess, to -the great trouble of her husband, quitted England and went into Anjou; -and King Stephen, surprising and vanquishing his enemy the Earl of -Chester, who had gotten possession of Lincoln town, did triumphantly -enter into that town and abide there, which no king durst do before him, -for that certain wizards had prophesied evil luck to any king that went -into Lincoln town. Being thus within Lincoln, and somewhat elated with -the smiles of capricious fortune, King Stephen summoned the great -barons and magnates of the land unto him, and at the solemnization of -the Nativity of our Lord, he wore the regal crown upon his head, or, as -others have it, he was re-crowned and consecrated anew in the mother -church at Lincoln; and having the crown of England, to all seeming, -firmly fixed on his brow, he caused the magnates all to swear allegiance -to his son Prince Eustace as his lawful successor in the realm. No great -man gainsayed the king, but all present made a great show of loyalty and -affection as well to the son as to the father. Many there were of them -who had no truth or steadiness in their hearts; but Sir Alain, our good -Lord of Caversham, was there, and likewise the young Lord Arthur, and it -was with a faith as pure and entire as that of a primitive Christian -that the nobles twain placed their hands within the hands of Prince -Eustace and vowed to be his true men for aye. And as it was now time -that Arthur should enter upon a more active life, and put himself in -training for the honours of knighthood, and as Prince Eustace conceived -much affection for him, as did all who ever knew the hopeful youth, -Arthur was left in the family of the prince to serve him as page and -esquire. Yet was the young lord's absence from among us very short, for -Prince Eustace came nigh unto Reading to prepare for the laying of -another siege to Wallingford Castle, which still lay upon the fair bosom -of the country like a hugeous and hideous nightmare, and whensoever it -was not beleaguered the wicked garnison went forth to do that which for -so many years they had been doing. Brian Fitzcount, the lord of -Wallingford, Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe, and others not a few, had -gone beyond sea with the countess; but they meditated a speedy return -with more bands of foreign marauders, and many of their similars and -fautors shut themselves up in their home-castles, which were spread all -over the country. These things prevented the entire blessing of peace; -yet was England more tranquil than she had been since the Beauclerc's -death, and by a succession of sieges Stephen would have gotten the men -of anarchy within his power if other accidents had not happened. - -As the king (who had long and grievously mourned for the license and -castle-building he had permitted at the beginning of his reign, in the -hopes of attaching the great lords to his interest) openly showed his -resolution to curb the excessive power and fierce lawlessness of the -feudal lords, a great outcry was raised against him, and divers of the -lords of his own party began to plot and make league with the barons of -Matilda's faction. Others fell from his side because he could give them -no money or fiefs, unless he robbed other men or laid heavy tallages -upon the poor people. As these selfish men deserted him. Stephen -exclaimed, as he had done before, "False lords, why did ye make me king -to betray me thus! But, by the glory of God, I will not live a -discrowned king!" And so much was granted to him in the end, that -Stephen did die with the crown upon his head. Peradventure might the -king have had the better of his secular foes if in the midst of these -troubles he had not quarrelled with the clergy and braved the wrath of -the holy see. By the death of one pope and the election of another, the -king's brother, the Bishop of Winchester, had ceased to be legatus ą -latere, and the legatine office had passed into the hands of Theobald, -archbishop of Canterbury, who had ever leaned to the Angevin party. The -said lord archbishop was no friend to our Lord Abbat Reginald, or to any -of our community, but it becomes not me to rake up the ashes of the -dead, or to disturb with a reproachful voice the grave of the primate of -England; and it needs must be said that the king was over violent in his -regard, and undutiful to our father the pope. For it must ever be -acknowledged that the triple crown of Rome is more than the crown of -England, and that the head of the holy Roman Apostolic and Catholic -church hath a power supreme in spiritualities over all the kings of -Christendom. Nevertheless did King Stephen in an ill hour give a doom of -exile against the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, for that he had -attended at the bidding of the pope, but without consent of the king, a -great council of the church in the city of Rheims, in France. Instead of -submitting to this sentence, the archbishop went and put himself under -the protection of Hugh Bigod, the powerful Earl of Norfolk, who was of -the Angevin faction, and then put forth a sentence of interdict against -King Stephen, and all that part of the kingdom which obeyed the -_usurper_. In the west country, and in some parts of the east and north, -the priests shut up their churches and refused to perform any of the -offices of religion. Good men went between the king and the primate, and -after two years a reconciliation was brought about, Stephen agreeing to -be the most bountiful king and the best friend of the church that the -church had ever yet known in this land. Yet when Archbishop Theobald was -called upon to recognise and anoint Prince Eustace as heir to the -throne, he refused to do it, saying that he was forbidden by our lord -the pope, and that Stephen, being a usurper, could not, like a -legitimate sovereign, transmit his crown to his posterity. The king, -unto whom the archbishop had taken the oath of allegiance, waxed wroth, -and threatened the archbishop with a punishment sharper than banishment; -but, when the first passion of anger was over, he did nothing. Men -censured the archbishop at the time, but they afterwards thought he had -taken the wisest course for putting an end to this long war. In the -interim Henry Fitz-empress had been again in our island. In the year -eleven hundred and forty-nine, having attained the military age of -sixteen, Henry Plantagenet came over to Scotland with a splendid -retinue, to be made a knight by his mother's uncle, King David. The -ceremony was performed with much magnificence in the city of Carlisle, -where the old Scottish king did then keep his court; and most of the -nobles of Scotland and many of our great English barons were present at -the celebration, and did then and there make note of the many high -qualities of the truly great and ever to be remembered son of the -Countess Matilda. All manner of honours and power alighted on the head -of Henry Plantagenet soon after his being knighted at Carlisle. The -death of his father Geoffrey left him in full possession of the dukedom -of Normandie, which he had governed for him, and of the earldom of -Anjou, which was his own birthright; and in that lucky year for the -house of Plantagenet, the year of our redemption eleven hundred and -fifty-two, by espousing Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry acquired that great -dame's rights to the earldom of Poictou and the great duchy of -Aquitaine. Henry was thus the greatest and richest prince in all the -main land of Europe, and albeit he was only in his twentieth year, he -already knew the arts of government and of war better than any of his -neighbours. A great prince was he from his cradle: he was born to -command. - -Et interim, Eustace, the son of Stephen, being nearly of the same age as -the son of Matilda, had become a very worthy soldier, and our young Lord -of Caversham had grown up with him, and improved under him. They had -miscarried in the siege of Wallingford Castle, because that house of the -devil was so exceeding strong, and because they were called off to -another more urgent enterprise; but in other quarters they had been more -successful, beating divers of the castle-builders in the field, or -taking them in their dens. Every castle that they took was burned and -destroyed, like Sir Ingelric's castellum at Speen. They brought many -offerings to our shrines, for they were much in our part of the country, -to keep in check the Angevin party to the westward; and whenever he was -not engaged in these duties of war, the young Lord Arthur came to his -home. The winter season allowed him the longest repose, and thus it -befel that the Ladie Alfgiva and that little maiden which I and Philip, -the lay-brother, did first convey to Caversham, became sad instead of -gay at the advance of spring. But Alice was no longer the little maiden -that could lie perdue in a basket, and there had already been many -discourses and conjectures as to the day when she and the young Lord -Arthur would be made one by holy church; for the great love that had -been between them from the days of their childhood was known to all the -country side. Strange it was, but still most true, that Sir Ingelric of -Huntercombe never had made any attempt to recover his fair and good -daughter. Great endeavours he made to get back that dark ladie of the -castle, his wicked and impenitent second wife, and he had at last, by -means, it was said, of the Archbishop of Canterbury, obtained her -release from the nunnery on the eastern coast; but he had never set on -foot any treaty, nor, as far as could be learned, had ever made any -inquiry touching the gentle Alice, who in her heart could not think -without trembling and turning pale of her dark, stern step-mother, and -the days she had passed with her in that foul donjon at Speen. - -Though his hair had grown grey and scant under the cap of steel, and his -soul panted for peace as the hunted hart doth for running waters, Sir -Alain de Bohun kept the field almost as constantly as his son; and his -constancy to King Stephen knew no abatement. So much virtue and -steadiness could not be understood in those changeable and treacherous -times; and as it was thought that he put a monstrously high price upon -his services, and was true to one side because he had not been -sufficiently tempted by the other, in the course of the year eleven -hundred and fifty-two there came a secret emissary to offer him one of -the greatest earldoms in England, and one of the richest and noblest -damsels in Anjou as a bride for his son. Sir Alain bound the emissary -with cords, like a felon spy, and sent him and his papers and credential -signets unto King Stephen. No mind was ruffled in Caversham Castle upon -this occurrence except the tender mind of Alice, who bethought her that -she was but a poor portionless maiden, the daughter of a proscribed man -whose estates had long been confiscated and held by the king; but Arthur -saw and soon chased away these vain grievings. His father had manors and -lands enow, and he wished never to be greater or richer than his father, -and Alice was rich in herself, and she was his own Alice, and a greater -treasure than any that dukes or kings or emperors could bestow. Let -there be peace; let there only be peace in the land for the herdsman and -the tiller of the soil, and the industrious vassals, and what earthly -luxury or comfort would be wanting in the house at Caversham? Fools -might contend for more, and barter their souls away to get it, but his -father's son would never be this fool. - -I was myself at Caversham at the time of these occurrences, and it was -not long after that I became sub-sacrist in our abbey, and did build at -mine own cost a new rood-loft in the church. - -Also in this year deceased, to King Stephen's great grief, the good -Queen Maud, and she was buried at Feversham in Kent. - - - - -X. - - -Before the swallows made their next return to our meads and river sides, -the flames of war were again kindled in our near neighbourhood. When -that I heard Sir Ingelric had stolen back into the island with an -Angevin band, and that Brian Fitzcount, through the treachery of some of -King Stephen's people, had been allowed to win his way into his -inexpugnable castle at Wallingford with great supply of munitions of -war, I did foresee that the year eleven hundred and fifty-three would be -a year of storm and trouble to Reading Abbey, and to all the country -besides. Sir Ingelric's return was soon notified to us by the burning of -divers villages between Reading and Speen, and by the sudden plunder and -devastation of some of our own outlying manors; and while we were -grieving at these things, news was brought to us that Brian Fitzcount -had called upon all the castle holders in the west to take up arms, not -for the Countess Matilda, but for her son Henry; and that the said Sir -Brian had ravaged well nigh all the country from Wallingford to -Oxenford, making a great prey of men and cattle. - -Sir Alain de Bohun and our stout-hearted Abbat Reginald collected such -force as they could, and marched in quest of Sir Ingelric; but that -cruel knight fled at their approach, and then retreated into the far -west. King Stephen made an appeal to the wealthy and warlike citizens of -London, who were ever truer to him than were his great barons, and being -well furnished with arms and men, and the great machines proper for the -sieges of strong places, the king went straight to Wallingford with a -determination not to remove thence until he had reduced that terrible -castle. This time he came not unto our abbey, but the lord abbat sent -some of our retainers to assist in the great siege; and as all the lords -that were true to the king marched with the best of their vassals to -Wallingford, a great army was collected there. Of the people of that -vicinage, every free man that was at all able to work repaired to the -king's camp, and offered his labour for the capture and destruction of -Brian Fitzcount's den. A deep trench was speedily cut all round the -castle, and such bulwarks and palisadoes were made that none could come -out of the place or enter therein; and catapults were in readiness to -batter the walls, and mines were digging that would have caused the keep -to totter and fall. Certes, the emprise was close to a successful issue, -when tidings were brought that Henry Plantagenet had landed in the -south-west with one hundred and forty knights, and three thousand -foreign foot soldiers, that all the great barons of the west were -proclaiming him to be the lawful king of England, and were joining his -standard, and that he was moving with a mighty force to lay siege to -Malmesbury. King Stephen had found no more faith abroad than he had -found at home. Ludovicus, the French king, having many weighty reasons -to mislike and fear Henry Plantagenet, had made a treaty of alliance -with Stephen, had affianced his daughter Constance to Prince Eustace -the son of Stephen, and had engaged to keep the powerful Angevin at home -by threatening Anjou and Normandie with the invasion of a great French -army; but, instead of a great army, the French king sent but a few -ill-governed bands; and when these had been discomfited in a few -encounters, Ludovicus listened to proposals of peace, and abandoned the -interests of Stephen. And that great English earl, Ranulph, earl of -Chester, whom King Stephen had driven out of Lincoln, went over to Anjou -to invite Henry into England, and to engage soul and body in his -service; first taking care to obtain from that young prince a deed of -charter conveying to him, the said Earl Ranulph, in _foede et -heriditate_, the lands of William de Peveril, and many fiefs and broad -manors in Cheshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, and elsewhere, -together with sundry strong castles which the said earl hoped to -keep--but did not. Forced was King Stephen to raise his siege of -Wallingford Castle, and to evacuate and destroy the wooden castle of -Cranmerse which he had raised close to Brian Fitzcount's gates. He had -scarcely drawn off his people, and begun a march along the left bank of -Thamesis above Wallingford, ere Henry Plantagenet, having gotten -possession of Malmesbury and of many strong castles, which the -castle-builders, not foreseeing that which was to happen, had given up -to him, appeared on the right bank of the river with his great army of -horse and foot. The Plantagenet was of an heroical temper; and Stephen, -who had fought in so many battles, was yet as brave as his young rival, -and was transported with wrath at seeing how many barons who had -repeatedly sworn allegiance to him were in array against him; moreover, -Prince Eustace was with his father, and, like a valorous and passionate -youth, was eager for the fight; and of a certainty there would have been -a terrible and bloody battle, if battle could have been joined at the -first confronting of these two forces; but a heavy and long-continuing -rain had swollen all the rivers and brooks, and had poured such a volume -of water into Thamesis that there was no crossing it. Therefore lay the -two mighty armies opposite to each other for the space of several days; -and during that interval certain of our prelates bestirred themselves as -peace-makers, and sundry great lords on either side said that verily it -was time this unnatural war should have an end. But Henry Plantagenet -did want for his immediate wearing the kingly crown of England, and -Stephen had vowed by the glory of God to keep that crown on his head -until his death, and none durst speak to him of a present surrender of -it. When the waters somewhat abated the king marshalled his host, as if -determined to come at his foe by crossing the river at a ford not far -off; but upon mounting his war-horse, which had carried him in many -battles, the steed stumbled and fell, not without peril to his rider. -The king mounted again, laughing as at a trifling accident; but when the -horse fell a second time under him, his countenance became troubled. -Nevertheless he essayed a third time, and for a third time the steed -fell flat to the earth as though he had been pierced through poitrail -and heart by an arrow. Then did the king turn pale, and his nobles 'gan -whisper that this was a fearful omen. - -"By our Ladie St. Mary," quoth Prince Eustace, "the steed hath grown -old, and distemper hath seized him during his days of inactivity in -this swampy and overflooded country! This is all the omen, and the death -of the poor horse will be all our loss." - -And the resolute young prince would have mounted his father on another -steed, and have marched on to the ford, and then straight to battle. But -the Earl of Arundel, being much inclined to peace, and a bold and -eloquent man, took advantage of the consternation which the omen or -horse-sickness had created in the king's army, and going up to Stephen, -he did advise him to make a present convention and truce with Henry -Plantagenet, affirming that the title of Duke Henry to the crown of -England was held to be just by a large part of the nation, and by some -who had never been willing to admit his mother to the throne; that the -country was all too weary of these wars, and that the king ought by -experience to know the little trust that was to be put in many of his -present followers. "But I will not die a discrowned king," said Stephen. -"Nor shalt thou," replied the great Earl of Arundel. - -After many entreaties and prayers, the kingly mind of Stephen yielded so -far as to allow a parley for a truce; and Henry Plantagenet, not being -less politic than warlike, entered upon a convention, and then agreed to -confer with Stephen. - -The place for conference was so appointed that the river Thamesis, where -it narrows a little above Wallingford, parted the two princes and the -great lords that were with them; so that from either bank King Stephen -and Duke Henry saluted each other, and afterwards conversed together. -The conference ended in a truce, during which neither party was to -attempt any enterprise of war, but both were to discuss and amicably -settle the question of Duke Henry's right to the crown upon the demise -of Stephen. - -Prince Eustace had not been a prince if he had quietly submitted to an -arrangement which went to deprive him of the succession to a great -kingdom: he burst suddenly away from the king's camp, calling upon those -who had taken the oaths to him to follow him to the east. Not many rode -off with him; but our young Lord Arthur, feeling the obligations of his -replicated vows and the ties of duty and friendship, would not quit his -master; nor did his father Sir Alain, who had placed him in the prince's -service, make any effort to restrain him. As for the good lord of -Caversham himself, he returned to his home with the double determination -of observing the truce, and of not giving up his allegiance to King -Stephen, unless the king should voluntarily release him therefrom; for, -much as he sighed for the return of peace, Sir Alain prized his honour, -and did never think that a good settlement of the kingdom could be -obtained through falsehood and perjury. But woful apprehensions and -sadness did again fall upon the house at Caversham, for the course taken -by Prince Eustace was full of danger to him and his few adherents, and -it was reported that his great anger and desperation had driven him mad. -But short was the career of that hapless young prince, who, though born -to a kingdom, lived not to see anything but the calamities thereof. I -wis those men who had most flattered him, and had taken oaths to him as -to the lawful heir to this glorious crown of England, did speak most -evil of him in the days of his adversity, and after his death. I, who -knew him and conversed with him oft times, did ever find him a youth of -a right noble nature, valorous and merciful like his father, and as -devout and friendly unto the church as his mother Queen Maud. Yet may I -not deny that in his last despair he did some wicked deeds which sorely -grieved our young Lord Arthur, who could not prevent them, and who yet -would not abandon him in this extremity of his fortune. Coming into the -countries of the east, and finding few to join him, he burst into the -liberties of St. Edmund, and into the very abbey of St. Edmund, king and -martyr, and demanded from the Lord Abbat Ording, and the monks of that -holy house, money and other means for the carrying on of his heady -designs; and when that brotherhood, as in duty bound, and like men that -were unwilling to be wagers of new wars, did refuse his request and -point out the unreasonableness and ungodliness of them, he ordered his -hungry and desperate soldiers to seize all the corn that was in the -abbey, and carry it into a castle which he held hard by, and then to go -forth and plunder and waste the lord abbat's manors. The corn was -carried to the castle, but before further mischief could be done the -soul of Prince Eustace was required of him; for that very day, as he sat -at dinner in his castle, he dropped down in a deadly fit, and was dead -before the kind Arthur could get a monk to shrive him. The Countess -Matilda, I ween, had done worse deeds at Reading than Eustace did at St. -Edmund's Bury, and, certes, the patrons and protectors of our house, our -Ladie the Virgin, and St. James, and St. John the evangelist, were not -less powerful to punish than St. Edmund the king and martyr; -nevertheless Matilda was let live, and the young Eustace perished in his -prime. But these things are not to be scanned by mortal eye, and the -judgments of heaven are not always immediate, and it might not have been -so much in vengeance for Eustace's great sin in robbing the monks of St. -Edmund's Bury of their corn, as in mercy to the suffering people of -England, that the son of King Stephen was so suddenly smitten and -removed. The monks of St. Edmund did, however, give out that it was -their saint who slew him for his sin, causing the first morsel of the -stolen victual he put into his mouth to drive him into a frenzy, whereof -he died. Others there were who accounted for his opportune death by -alleging that some subtile poison had been administered to him; but of -this was there never any proof. Our young Lord Arthur, without denying -the great provocation he had given unto St. Edmund, did always think -that his brain had been touched ever since his father held the -conference above Wallingford with Duke Henry, and that a great gust of -passion killed him. But whatever was the cause of his death, and however -sad was that event in itself, he was surely dead, and it was just as -sure that the kingdom would be the better for it. If few had followed -him while he was alive, still fewer stayed to do honour to his remains; -but Arthur, with a very sincere grief, and with all respect and piety, -carried the body of his master to the sea-side, and thence by water into -Kent, and saw it interred at Feversham by the side of Queen Maud, with -all the rites and obsequies of holy church. Fidelity could not go beyond -this; the great arbiter, Death, had freed him from his allegiance and -vows to the prince, and so from the honoured grave in Feversham Abbey, -Arthur de Bohun rode with all possible speed unto Caversham. So true was -it, that nothing that man could do could keep Alice and him long -asunder. - -Many of our wicked castle builders, who had not always respected the -truce of God, would not now be bound by the truce concluded between two -mortal princes; and when the term of that suspension had expired, some -of the barons on either side would have renewed the war on a grand -scale, and have carried it into all parts of the kingdom. Some few -sieges were commenced, and some hostile movements made in the field, by -King Stephen and Duke Henry; but since the unhappy death of Prince -Eustace, the king cared not much about keeping the crown in his family, -for he had but one other lawful son, and this son, the gentle-tempered -William, was only a boy, and was without ambition; for his eyes had not -been dazzled by any near prospect of the crown, and none of the baronage -had ever sworn fealty to him. And thus, when the peace-makers renewed -their blessed endeavours, King Stephen was easily induced to agree that -Duke Henry should be his successor in this kingdom, provided that he -left him a peaceable possession of the disputed throne for the term of -his natural life, and bound himself to fulfil a few other engagements. -The king's brother, the Bishop of Winchester, did now join with his old -enemy, Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, in urging this accord, and on -either side the great barons recommended the adjustment; for all were -weary of the war except a few desperate robbers, whose crimes had been -so numerous that they could not hope to escape punishment at the return -of peace. Another great council of barons and prelates was, therefore, -called together at Winchester; and in that royal and episcopal city, on -the seventh of the Kalends of November, in this the last year of our -woe, eleven hundred and fifty-three, the agreement was finished, and a -charter naming Henry heir to the throne was granted by Stephen, and -witnessed by Theobald the archbishop, the Bishop of Winchester, eleven -other bishops, the prior of Bermondsey, the head of the knights -Templars, and eighteen great lay lords. And a short season after this, -the king and the duke travelled lovingly together to Oxenford, where the -earls and barons, by the king's commandment, did swear fealty to the -duke, saving the king's honour, so long as he lived; and the Plantagenet -did pledge himself to behave to Stephen of Blois as a duteous and -affectionate son, and to grant to him, all the days of his life, the -name and seat of the kingly pre-eminence. In the presence of the best of -our baronage, the king and duke did then confer about other state -matters, and did fully agree and concur in this--that there must be an -end of castle-building and castle-builders, that the donjons which -remained must all down, and that the vengeance of the law must fall upon -the robbers, whether they had been, or had pretended to be, followers of -Matilda, or Stephen, or Duke Henry himself; for, being now acknowledged -heir to the crown, Henry wished not to come into a wasted and -impoverished land, and well he knew, at all times, that the prosperity -of the people maketh the wealth, and power, and glory of the ruler. -Those castles in the west, which had been given up to him by their -builders, were presently levelled with the earth; and even Brian -Fitzcount was warned that he must quit his strong house at Wallingford, -or abide the most fearful consequences. Some of the cruel oppressors of -their country came in of their own will, and submitted to King Stephen -and the law; but others held out stiffly, denying all allegiance whether -to the king regnant or to Duke Henry as his successor; and in this sort -the poor people in divers parts continued to be harrowed, and plundered, -and captured, and tortured, as in the foregone time. Nay, some of our -wicked barons, making league with the rapinous princes and wild chiefs -of the Welsh mountains, did continue to keep the open fields in the -western parts, and to desolate the land from the river Severn even unto -the river Mersey. - -Many were the private discourses which King Stephen held with the -hopeful Plantagenet, for Stephen's heart was all for the commonalty of -England, and he trusted that he could give such instruction and advice -to Henry as would aid that prince in making his future government firm, -and, at home, pacific, and in that sort a blessing to the people. But -the Plantagenet had solemnly pledged his faith by treaty and by oath to -leave unto Stephen, so long as he should live, the full exercise of the -authority royal, and this could hardly have been if Henry had tarried in -England; and, moreover, matters of high concernment called for the -return of the duke to Anjou and Normandie. So, in the spring season of -the year of grace eleven hundred and fifty-four, after some long -consultations held at Dunstable to treat of the future state and peace -of the kingdom, the king accompanied the duke to the sea-coast, and, -with a loving leave-taking of Stephen, Henry embarked and sailed over -to Normandie. Foul rumours there were, as that Stephen's young son with -a party of Flemings would have waylaid the duke on Barham downs, and -have there slaughtered him; but I wis all this was but a fable, for the -boy William was too young for such matters, and being of a gentle and -unambitious nature, and too well knowing that the crown of England had -been a crown of thorns to his father, he was more than content with the -lands and honours secured unto him by the Charta Conventionum. - -Also was it nigh upon the time that William, archbishop of York, a -kinsman of King Stephen, who had been deprived by the pope in the year -eleven hundred and forty-seven, and who had been reinstated after the -truce concluded at Wallingford, suddenly departed this life at York, and -was buried with great haste and little ceremony in that minster. And -here too there were evil reports spread through the land as that -Archbishop William had been poisoned. Having no light wherewith to -penetrate the darkness of this mystery, I will not affirm that King -Stephen's kinsman was so disposed of; but verily the malice of men's -hearts was great, and there was much secret poisoning in these times! - -Stephen being thus left to govern by himself, sundry of our great men, -having from that which they had seen and heard of Prince Henry come to -the conclusion that if he should be king he would keep a bit in their -mouths and keep a strong rein in his own hands, did repair to the king -who had so often been betrayed by them, and did strongly urge him to -break the treaty and trust to war and the valour and faith of his -vassals for the continuance of his family on the throne. But Stephen -having a respect for his oaths (which mayhap was the greater by reason -of a sickness that was upon him), and knowing the trust that was to be -put in the faith and steadiness of these men, said, "There hath been war -enough, and too much woe!" and he would not give his ear unto them, but -did command forces to be gathered for putting down the castle-builders -and the robbers that had allied themselves with the Welsh. - -And of a surety in these his last days King Stephen betook himself -wholly to repair the ruins of the state, and heal the great afflictions -of the church. He made a progress into most parts of the kingdom to -reform the monstrous irregularities which had arisen by long war, to -curb the too great baronial power, to get back to our abbeys and -churches the things whereof they had been despoiled, and to speak and -deal comfortably with all manner of peace-loving men. Some castles he -reduced by force, others he terrified into submission, and others were -taken by a few good lords like Sir Alain de Bohun. In all these -occurrents nothing was heard of our impenitent neighbour Sir Ingelric, -save that his wife the dark ladie of the castle had died, and that he -himself was thought to have gone into the west. Of that greater and far -more terrible chief, Brian Fitzcount, we did hear enough and more than -enough, for in despite of the joint commandment of King Stephen and Duke -Henry, he kept possession of his castle at Wallingford and continued his -evil courses in all things. Yea, at a season when we did apprehend no -such doing, one of his excommunicated companies, stealing by night down -the vale of Thamesis, did set fire to our granaries at Pangbourne, and -maim our cattle, and so sweep our basse-court that we had not left so -much as one goose wherewith to celebrate the feast of St. Michael. The -better to put down these atrocious doings, King Stephen called together -within the city of London a great and godly meeting of barons and -prelates and head men of towns; and sooth to say the spirit of peace and -love presided over that great council, and many proper methods were -taken by it and good laws passed. I, who went unto London city with our -lord abbat, did see with mine own eyes the respect which was now paid -unto the eldermen of great towns and boroughs, and likewise to the -franklins, whether mixed by the marriages of their fathers or -grandfathers with Norman women, or whether of the old and unmixed Saxon -stock, the number of these last being as a score to one; and then did I -say to myself that if these things continued, the day might arrive when -the burghers and free plebeians of England might be something in the -state. Nay, I did even dream that in process of time the collar might be -taken from the neck of our serf, and the cultivator of the soil be no -longer a villein, but a free man. But I concealed this my bright vision, -lest it should expose me to censure and mockery. - -When this great council at London was broken up King Stephen made repair -unto Dover to meet and confer with his ancient ally and friend the Earl -of Flanders. The king was well attended, and among the best lords of -England that went with him was our neighbour Sir Alain de Bohun. We, the -monks of Reading, or such of us as had gone to the great city, journeyed -back to our abbey, in a great fall of autumnal rain; and when, at the -end of three days, we in uncomfortable case did reach the abbey, we -found that the swollen river had swept away good part of the mill which -we had built on the Kennet, at a short space from our house, and had -otherwise done us much mischief. Also was there seen a great falling -star, and there were heard in the heavens, on one very dark and gusty -night, some dolorous sounds, as of men wailing and lamenting. In a few -days more some sad but uncertain rumours did begin to reach our house; -but it was not until one stormy night in the early part of November, -when Sir Alain de Bohun on his way homeward stopped at our gates, that -we knew of a certainty that which had befallen. Ah, well-a-day, King -Stephen was dead! He who for well nigh nineteen years had not known one -day's perfect peace was now, inasmuch as the world and mortal man could -affect him, at peace for ever! And may God have mercy on his soul in the -world to come! After the politic conferences with the Earl of Flanders, -and the departure of the said earl for his own dominions, the king was -all of a sudden seized with the great pain of the Iliac passion, and -with an old disease which had more than once brought him to the brink of -the grave; and so, after short but acute suffering, he laid him down to -die, and did die in the house of the monks of Canterbury, on the five -and twentieth day of the kalends of October. _Sic mors rapit omne -genus._ And our true-hearted lord of Caversham, who was true unto death, -and who had tenderly nursed the dying king, conveyed the body to -Feversham, and placed it in the same grave with his beloved wife Maud, -and his son Stephen, in the goodly abbey which he and his queen had -built and endowed in that Kentish township; and having in this guise -done the last duty to his liege lord and king, and being by death -liberated from the oaths of fealty and allegiance, which he had never -broken by word or deed, Sir Alain, caring for none of the honours and -advancements which other lords were ready to struggle for at the coming -in of a new king, came quietly home, only hoping and praying that his -country would be happy under Henry Plantagenet. - -King Stephen being gone, much evil was said of him on all sides and by -all parties: yea, his own partisans, in the expectation that such words -would be grateful to the ear of the new king, did affect to murmur and -lament that he should so long have kept the great Henricus from the -throne; and, generaliter, the great men did burthen the memory of -Stephen with the past miseries of the people of England, of which they -themselves had been the promoters. I have said it: the defunct king, in -the straits and troubles into which he had been driven by the greed, -ambition, and faithlessness of the baronage, had ofttimes done amiss, -and, specialiter, had much travailed churchmen: yet be it remembered -that he built more royal abbeys than any king that went before him; that -he founded hospitals for the poor sick; and that during the whole of his -troublous reign he laid no new tax or tallage upon the people; and that -he was of a nature so mild and merciful that notwithstanding the many -revolts and rebellions and treasons practised against him, he did never -put any great man to death. I, Felix, who had seen how large he was of -heart and how open of hand, and who had tasted of his bounty and -condescension, could not forget these things when, in a few days, after -saying a mass of Requiem for his soul, we chanted in our church a Te -Deum laudamus for his successor. - - - - -XI. - - -I have said that we heard all too much of our powerful and wicked -neighbour Brian Fitzcount. But now that he knew Henry Plantagenet was -coming, and was one that would have power to destroy him and to put an -end to all plundering and castle-building, a sudden repentance seized -his time-hardened conscience. Some did much praise him for this, and -greatly admired the seeming severity of his penance; but it is to be -feared that he, like many others among our castle-builders and -depredators, did only repent when he found that he could sin no more. So -great had been his crimes, and so noted was Duke Henry for his strict -execution of justice, that, notwithstanding his long adherence to -Henry's mother, Sir Brian could not hope to escape a severe punishment, -with forfeiture of the broad lands which had become his by marriage, and -with deprivation of the great riches he had accumulated by plundering -the country. In this wise no secure asylum was open to him except in the -cloisters or in taking the cross. And before the Plantagenet returned -into England Sir Brian Fitzcount did take upon him the cross, and giving -up his terrible castle at Wallingford with all his fiefs, and abandoning -all his riches--_relictis fortunis omnibus_--he joined other crusaders -and took his departure for Palestine. His wife Maud, the rich daughter -of Sir Robert d'Oyley, had before this time retired into a convent in -Normandie, and there, being awakened to a sense of the wickedness of her -past life, she did soon take the veil. As they had no issue, and left no -knight near of kin, King Henry, soon after his coronation, took -possession of Wallingford Castle and of the honour of Wallingford; and -from that happy moment the troubles of the country and of our good house -ceased. Such was the fate of our worst enemy; but of the scarcely less -wicked Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe we still could learn nothing of -certain, and the rumours which reached us were very contradictory, some -saying that he had been slain by Welsh thieves, some that he had fled -beyond sea, some that he had entered into religion under a feigned name, -and was preparing to take the monastic vows in the Welsh house at -Bangor, and some asserting that he had gone with a desperate band into -Scotland to take service with that king and aid him in subjugating the -wild mountaineers of the north. Nay, there was still another report -common among the poor country folk that dwelt upon Kennet near Speen, -and it was to the effect that Satan had carried him away bodily. In -short, none knew what had become of him, but all prayed that they might -never see his face again. - -Henry Plantagenet was busied in reducing the castles of some of his -turbulent barons in Normandie when he received the news of King -Stephen's demise. Being well assured that none in England would dare -question his right to the vacant throne, and being moreover a wise -prince, who always finished that which he had in hand before beginning -any new thing, he prosecuted his sieges, and ceased not until he had -reduced all the castles. Thus it was good six weeks after the death of -Stephen, and hard upon the most solemn festival of the Nativity, when -Henry came into England with his wife Eleanor and a mighty company of -great men. He was received as a deliverer, and there was joy and -exultation in the heart of every true Englishman at his coming. A -wondrously handsome and strong prince he was, albeit his hair inclined -to that colour which got for his great-uncle the name of Rufus or Red -King. His forehead was broad and lofty, as if it were the seat of great -wisdom, and a sanctuary of high schemes of government. His eyes were -round and large, and while he was in a quiet mood, they were calm, and -soft, and dovelike; but when he was angered, those eyes flashed fire and -were like unto lightning. His voice!--it made the heart of the boldest -quake when he raised it in wrath, or in peremptory command; but it -melted the soul like soft music when he was in the gentle mood that was -more common to him, and it even won men's hearts through their ears: it -was by turns a trumpet or a lute. Great, and for a prince miraculous, -was his learning, his grandfather, the Beauclerc, not having been a -finer scholar: wonderful was his eloquence, admirable his steadiness, -straightforwardness and sagacity in the despatch of all business. He -breathed a new life, and put a new soul into the much worn and -distracted body of England. There shall be peace in this land, said he; -and peace sprang up as quick as the gourd of the prophet: there shall be -justice among men of all degrees; and there was justice. Having taken -the oaths to be good king and lord--to respect mother church and the -ancient liberties of the people, the great Plantagenet was solemnly -crowned and anointed in the royal city of Winchester on the 19th of the -kalends of December, by Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury; and Eleanor, -his wife, was crowned with him. In the speech which he did then deliver, -he boasted of the Saxon blood which he inherited from his grandmother, -Queen Maud, of happy memory, who descended in right line from Alfredus -Magnus; and these his royal words did much gratify the English people, -without giving offence to the lords and knights of foreign origin, who, -by frequent intermarriages, had themselves become more than half Saxons, -and who had long since prided themselves in the name of Englishmen, and -would, in truth, be called by none other name. And full soon did -Henricus Secundus make it a name of terror to Normandie, to the whole of -France, and all circumjacent nations; and now that I write, in his happy -time, hath he not filled the highest offices in church and state with -men of English birth, and with many of the unmixed Saxon race? From his -first entrance into the government of this realm, he was principally -directed in matters of law and justice by our great lord archbishop, -Thomas ą Becket, then only archdeacon of Canterbury, provost of -Beverley, and prebendary of Lincoln, and St. Paul's, London; and our -Lord Thomas, as all men do know, is the son of Gilbert ą Becket, -merchant of the city of London. - -King Henry kept his Christmas at Bermondsey; and it was from that place -that he issued his royal mandate, that all the foreign mercenaries and -companies of adventure that had done such terrible mischief in the wars -between King Stephen and Matilda should depart the land within a given -time, and without carrying with them the plunder they had made. Divers -of these men had been created earls and barons, and still kept -possession of fiefs and castles, but they nearly all yielded for the -great dread they had of the new king, and so got them out of England by -the appointed day, as naked and poor as they were when, for our sins, -they first came among us; and many a Fleming and Brabanter, Angevin and -Breton, from being a baron and castle-builder, returned to the -plough-tail in his own country. As the spring season approached, our -great king repaired unto Wallingford Castle, and there convened a great -council of earls, bishops, abbats, and some few citizens of note and -wealthy franklins. It was a pleasant and right joyous journey that which -I had with our Lord Abbat Reginald, and Sir Alain de Bohun, and my young -Lord Arthur. Already the hamlets which had been burned began to rear -again their yellow-thatched roofs in the bright sun; the wasted and -dispeopled towns were already under repair; the shepherd, with his snowy -flock and skipping lambs, was again whistling on the hill sides like one -that had nought to fear; the hind was singing at his labours in the -fertile fields; the farmer and the trader were travelling with their -wains and pack-horses, from grange to market and from town to town, -without dread of being robbed, and seized, and castle-bound; skiffs and -barks were ascending and descending the river with good cargaisons, and -without having a single lance or sword among their crews; the trenches -cut in the churchyards were filled up, the unseemly engines of war were -taken down from the church towers, and the church bells, being -replaced, again filled the air with their holy and sanctifying sounds. -Even the wilderness and the solitary place partook of the spirit of this -universal peace and gladness: there was sunshine in every man's face, -whether bond or free. In summa, it seemed, in truth, a time when the -wolf dwelt with the lamb, and the leopard lay down with the kid, and the -lion with the fatted calf; when the iron of the great engines of war was -turned into a ploughshare, the sword into a pruning-hook, and the lance -into a pastoral crook. I, who did well remember the sad state of things -only a few months agone, did much marvel that a country could so soon -recover from the horrors of war, and the depth of a universal anarchy -and havoc; and did, with a melting heart and moistened eye, offer up my -thanks to the Giver of all good things that it should be so. - -It was at Wallingford that I did see, for the first time, our -far-renowned Thomas ą Becket. There was no seeing him without discerning -the great heights to which he was destined to rise, even more by his -natural gifts than by the king's favour. At this time he numbered some -thirty-six or thirty-seven years; and from his childhood those years had -been years of study or of active business, as well of a secular as of an -ecclesiastical kind. A handsome man was he at that season, and blithe -and debonnaire, and, mayhap, a trifle too much given to state affairs, -and the pomps and vanities of this world, for a churchman: but, oh, John -the Evangelist, what a mind was his! what readiness of wit and reach of -thought! And what an eagerness was in him to raise his countrymen to -honour, to make his country happy and full of glory, and to raise the -church in power and dignity! "_Angli sumus_, we be Englishmen," said he -to our lord abbat, "and we must see to raise the value of that name." -Great and long experienced statesmen there were in this great council at -Wallingford, men that had travailed in negotiation at home and abroad, -and that had grown grey and bald in state offices; but verily they all -seemed children compared with the son of our London merchant, and they -one and all submitted their judgment to that of Thomas ą Becket, who had -barely passed the middle space of human life. Numerous were the wise and -healing resolutions adopted in that great council, the most valuable of -all being, that the crown lands which King Stephen had alienated, in -order to satisfy his rapacious barons, should be resumed and re-annexed -to the crown; and that not one of the eleven hundred and more castles, -which the wicked castle-builders had made in Stephen's time, should be -allowed to stand as a place of arms. Some few were to remain to curb the -Welsh and Scots, or to guard the coast; but these were to be intrusted -to the keeping of the king's own castellans: of the rest, not a stone -was to be left upon another. This had been decreed before, but time had -not been allowed King Stephen to do the work; and so easy and over -indulgent was he, that it is possible the work would not have been done -for many a year if he had continued to live and reign. - -Even in these sun-shining days there were some slight clouds raised by -the jealousies and ambitions and craving appetites of certain of our -great men, who sought to raise themselves at the cost of others. -Certain magnates whose names shall not soil this pure parchment--certain -self-seeking men who had been allied with Brian Fitzcount and Sir -Ingelric of Huntercombe, and who, like Sir Ingelric, had shifted from -side to side, tried hard to fill the ears of King Henry and his -secretarius Thomas ą Becket with tales unfavourable to Sir Alain de -Bohun and his son Arthur; as that they had made war against the king's -mother, and had oppressed and plundered the lords that were favourable -to her cause, and had ever been the steadiest and most devoted of all -the partisans of the usurper Stephen. But neither the king nor ą-Becket -was to be moved by these evil reports. "I do see," said the sharp and -short-dealing secretarius, "that all the good and quiet people of his -country bear testimony in favour of the Lord of Caversham and his brave -son: I do further see (and here ą-Becket, with a light and quick thumb, -turned over great scrolls of parchment which had affixed to them the -name and seal of King Stephen) that in the nineteen years he so -faithfully served the late king, the said Sir Alain de Bohun hath not -added a single manor, nay, nor a single rood of land, to the estates -bequeathed unto him by his father or inherited through his wife; and -also do I see that he hath aspired after no new rank, or title, or -office, or honour whatsoever, but is now, save in the passage of time -and the wear of nineteen years' faithful and at times very hard service, -that which he was at the demise of Henricus Primus; and having all these -things in consideration, I do opine that the Lord of Caversham hath ever -followed the dictates of a pure conscience, and hath ever been and still -is a man to be trusted and honoured by our Lord the King Henricus -Secundus." - -"And I," quoth the right royal Plantagenet, "I who am come hither to -make up differences, to reconcile factions, to heal the wounds which are -yet bleeding, and to give peace to this good and patient and generous -English people, will give heed to no tales told about the bygone times. -The faith and affection which Sir Alain de Bohun did bear unto my -unhappy predecessor, in bad fortune as well as in good, are proofs of -the fidelity he will bear unto me when I have once his oath. My lords, -there be some among ye that cannot show so clean a scutcheon! What with -the turnings from this side to that and from that to this, and the -castle-buildings and other doings of some of ye, I should have had a -wilderness for a kingdom! But these things will I bury in oblivion, and -this present mention of them is only provoked by ill-advised discourses, -and the whisperings and murmurings of a few. But let that faction look -to this--I am Henry Plantagenet, and not Stephen of Blois! With the laws -to my aid I will be sole king in this land, and be obeyed as such! The -reign of the eleven hundred kings is over! Let me hear no more of this. -By all the saints in heaven and all their shrines on earth! I will hold -that man mine enemy, and an enemy to the peace of this kingdom, that -saith another word against Sir Alain de Bohun, or his son, or any lord -or knight that hath done as they have done in the times that be past." - -And so it was that our good Lord of Caversham was received by the king, -not as an old enemy but as an old friend, and was admitted to sit with -the greatest of the lords in consultation in Wallingford Castle, and -there to give his advice as to the best means of improving the condition -of his country. And a few days after this, when Sir Alain and his son -Arthur had taken the oaths of allegiance and fidelity unto King Henry -and his infant son, the king with his own hands made our young Lord -Arthur knight, giving him on that great occasion the sword which he had -worn at his own side, and a splendid horse which had been brought for -his own use from Apulia in Italie, out of the stables of the great Count -of Conversano, who hath long bred the best horses in all Christendom, to -his no small profit and glory. - -Upon the breaking up of the council of Wallingford our great Plantagenet -prepared to march into the west with a well furnished army, in order to -reduce by siege the castles of Hugh Mortimer and a few other arrogant -barons who had the madness to defy him. Before quitting Brian -Fitzcount's great house, the king said to Sir Alain de Bohun, "For forty -days, and not longer, I may have my young knight Sir Arthur with me. -Unto thee, in the meantime, I give commission to level every castle -whatsoever that hath been left standing in this fair country of -Berkshire." - -Seeing our lord abbat start a little at these words, the king said, in -his sweetest voice, "Aye, my lord abbat, even Reading Castle must down -with the rest; but ye will not feel the want of it, for with God's help -none shall trouble thy house, or cause the least mischief to thy lands -or vassals while I am king of England; and as a slight token of my trust -and esteem, thy good and near neighbour Sir Alain shall keep his -battlements standing. It were a task worthy of thee, good my lord, that -thou shouldest even go with Sir Alain on his present mission, and -sprinkle some holy water on the ground where these accursed castles have -stood, and build here and there a chapel upon the spots." - -Our abbat, who ever much affected the society of Sir Alain, and who -loved the good work in hand, said he would perform this task; and for -this the king gave him thanks. - -"Before I go hence," said the king to the Lord of Caversham, "is there -no grace or guerdon that thou wouldest ask of me?" - -Sir Alain responded that he and his son had had grace and guerdon enow. - -"By our Ladie of Fontevraud," quoth the king, "I have given thee -nothing, and have only given thy son a horse and a sword and his -knighthood. Bethink thee, good Sir Alain, is there no thing that thou -canst ask, and that I ought to give?" - -Sir Alain smiled and shook his head, and said that there was nothing he -could ask for. - -"By the bones of my grandfather," quoth the king, "thou art the first -man I ever found in Anjou, Normandie, or England, of this temper of -mind! But I have a wish to give if thou hast none to take; I charge thee -with a service that is important to me and the people, and that must -cost thee somewhat ere thou shalt have finished it; and, therefore, -would I give thee beforehand some suitable reward.... What, still dumb -and wantless?" - -Here our lord abbat, bethinking himself of sundry things, whispered to -his neighbour, "Sir Alain, say a word for Sir Arthur's marriage with -the gentle Alice, and ask the king's grace for a free gift of the -forfeited lands which once appertained to Sir Ingelric." - -"Beshrew me," quoth the Lord of Caversham, "I never thought of the -king's consent being necessary to my son's marriage. I thank thee, lord -abbat, and will speak to that point." Yet when he spake, all that he -told was the simple story of the nurture which had been given in his own -house by his sweet wife to the fair daughter of Sir Ingelric, and of the -long and constant love which had been between that maiden and his only -son, and all that he asked was that the king, as natural guardian of all -noble orphans, would allow the marriage. - -The eyebrows of the Plantagenet kept arching and rising in amazement, -until Abbat Reginald thought that they would get to the top of his -forehead, high as it was. When he spake again, which he did not do for a -space, he said, "And is this formula, that costs me nothing, all that -thou hast to ask from the King of England, Duke of Normandie, and Earl -of Anjou, Poictou, and Aquitaine?" - -"Verily," replied Sir Alain, "'tis all that I can think of, and for that -one favour I will ever be your bedesman." - -"Sir Alain," said our abbat, tugging him by the skirt, "thou hast said -no one word touching the lands of Sir Ingelric." - -"We need them not," said the high-minded old knight, "we be rich enow -without. If Sir Ingelric were alive and penitent, I might, in this happy -time of reconciliation and oblivion of past wrongs, ask the fiefs for -him; but as it is, let them go, or let the king keep them--he may need -them more than I." - -"Well!" quoth the Plantagenet, "I see thou hast taken counsel. So now, -my trusty Sir Alain, tell me what guerdon I shall give thee for the -services with which thou art charged." - -"My liege lord," quoth the lord of Caversham, "I, who in the times that -are past have so often done that which liked me not for no fee or -reward, but only in discharge of the oaths I had sworn, would not now -ask a guerdon for the performance of a task so grateful unto me. Let my -son espouse the fair Alice, and I am more than content." - -But the king, who had been turning things over in his mind while our -abbat had been counselling Sir Alain, now called in Sir Arthur de Bohun, -and said to him thus:--"Sir Knight of mine own making, I, the king, do -give unto thee the hand of that little ladie Alice thou wottest of; and -I do confer as a dower upon the said ladie Alice all the manors, -honours, and lands whatsoever that were by her mother conveyed to Sir -Ingelric of Huntercombe. It were not well that so noble a damsel should -go portionless to her husband. Ye may be people of that rare sort that -would care not for the fiefs, but the noble maiden might feel it. The -less we say of her unnatural sire Sir Ingelric the better for him and -for us. Whether he be dead or alive, the lands which were his through -his two marriages are confiscated. It were but a common act of justice -to give back to the maiden that which was her mother's, and I would as -my free gift add the lands of the second marriage. Ą-Becket shall see to -it, and draw up the grant before we go hence. Sir Arthur, I hail thee -lord of Speen, and wish thee joy with thy bride. These forty days of war -will soon be over, and with thy ladie's prayers to help us, we may -finish with this mad Hugh de Mortimer in much less time." - -Arthur knelt at the feet of the Plantagenet, and kissed his royal hand, -and said it was too much grace and over much greatness; and both father -and son joined in telling the king that the lands of the mother of Alice -would be more than enough without the inheritance of the dark ladie. - -"Of a truth," said Sir Alain, "I should fear that that evil heritage -would come to us burthened with a curse; for it was ill acquired by the -father of the dark ladie, and was ever by her misused." - -"Well," quoth the king, "we will keep part of those lands in our own -hands, and give a part to the abbat and monks of Reading, who will know -how to remove the curse with masses and prayer, and almsgiving to the -poor." - -It was now the turn of our lord abbat to give thanks, which he did like -the noble and learned churchman that he was. And all these things being -pre-arranged, Thomas-ą-Becket penned the royal grant for the fair Alice, -and a new charter for our house; and the king signed and sealed the -twain. By the charter he confirmed all preceding charters and donations. -And he gave to the abbey two good manors which had belonged to the dark -ladie, together with permission to enclose a park, in the place called -Cumba, for the use of the sick, whether monks or strangers. And very -soon after, upon his returning out of the west country, the king, by a -particular charter, gave the monks of Reading licence to hold a fair -every year on the day of St. James and the three following days, and -confirmed our old right to a Sunday market at Thatcham, commanding the -inhabitants of the country to attend the said market, and the jealous -men of Newbury not to hinder them or molest them. He also made us a -grant of forty marks of silver, to be paid annually out of his exchequer -until he should be enabled to secure unto us a revenue of the same value -in lands. Verily, we the monks of Reading did no more suffer for that -which we had done in the past time than did our noble neighbours of -Caversham. When that the great men saw in what high esteem Sir Alain and -Sir Arthur were held by the king, they spake to them cap in hand, and -vexed their wit to make them fine flattering speeches; yea, the very -lords who had essayed to work their ruin did now make them big -professions of friendship. - -So the Plantagenet departed and went unto Gloucester and Bridgenorth -with his great battalia and engines of war, and the lord abbat and I, -Father Felix, went with Sir Alain de Bohun to perambulate and -perlustrate the country of Barkshire, bearing with us the royal mandate -to all heads of boroughs and townships and all good men to assist in -rooting out the foul donjons which disfigured the fair country like -blots of ink let fall upon a pure skin of parchment. Expeditive and very -complete was the work we made; for even as at Speen the country people -of their own free will came flocking to us with their pickaxes and -mattocks on their shoulders; and so soon as a castle was levelled, our -lord abbat, in pontificalibus, did sprinkle holy water upon the spot to -drive away the evil spirits that had so long reigned there; and did, in -the tongue of the people, as well as in Latin, put up a prayer that such -wickednesses might not be again known in the land. Divers strange -things and many recondite holes and corners, and most secret and -undiscoverable chambers, were brought to light in the course of these -demolishings; but it was not until we broke down and took to pieces a -castle near Shrivenham, on the confines of Barks, an outlying and little -known place, that we laid open to the light of day a very tragic -spectacle, which was in itself a conclusion to a part of this my -narration. Upon our coming to it, this castellum, like all the rest, was -deserted, the draw-bridge being down, and the portcullis and all other -gates removed by the serfs of the neighbouring manors, who had made -themselves good winter fires of the wood thereof. Nay, some poor -houseless men had for a season dwelt within the keep, and penned their -swine in the courtyard; but they had been terrified thence by -unaccountable and horrible noises at midnight; and these men and their -neighbours declared that it was the most accursed place in all the -country. It was a wonderful thing to see how fast those walls toppled -down, and how soon the deep moat was filled up. When the thick southern -wall of the square keep was all but levelled, Sir Alain de Bohun's -people came suddenly upon a secret chamber which had been contrived with -much art and cunning within the said wall. The men reached it by -demolishing the masonry above, but the access to it had been through a -crooked passage which mounted from a cell underground, and then through -a low narrow doorway, the door of which contained more iron than oak, -and closed inward with certain hidden springs, the secret whereof was -not to be apprehended by any of us until the door was knocked down and -taken to pieces. Within this dark and narrow chamber was revealed a -great heap of gold and silver, being well nigh as much as we had found -at Speen; and, prone upon this heap, with the face buried among the gold -and silver pieces, and with the arms stretched out as though he had died -in the act of clutching the heap, was seen the body of a knight in black -mail. At the first glance Sir Alain's people and the serfs that were -helping them cried out joyously, "Gold! gold!" but then they took the -knight in his armour for some scaled dragon or demon that was guarding -the treasure, and they ran away, crying "Diabolus! It is the devil!" - -As it especially concerned monks to deal with the great dragon, and lay -evil spirits, Abbat Reginald and I, Father Felix, with an acolyte, who -was but of tender age, and truth to say, sorely afeared, hastened with -Sir Alain to that pit within the wall. - -"By the blessed rood!" said the Lord of Caversham, as he looked down -into the hollow space--"That is no living devil, but the dead body of -Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe! I know him by that black mail of Milan, and -by the rare hilt of that sword, which I did give him when we were sworn -friends and brothers." - -"This is wonderful, and I see the finger of Heaven in it," said our -abbat, crossing himself: and we all crossed ourselves for the amazement -and horror that was upon us. The meaner sort, who had fled from the dead -knight, now bethought themselves of the glittering gold, and came back -to the edge of that narrow pit; and when we, the monks, had thrown some -holy water therein, and caused our acolyte to hold the cross over the -gap, two of Sir Alain's men-at-arms descended, and re-ascending, -brought forth the body and laid it at our feet upon its back, and with -its face turned towards the heavens. Jesu Maria! but it was a ghostly -sight! From the little air that had been in that narrow cell, and from -the great siccity or dryness of the place, betwixt stones, flint, and -mortar, the body had not wasted away, or undergone the rapid corruption -of the damp grave; and albeit the face was all shrivelled and shrunk, it -was not hard to trace some of the lineaments of the unhappy Sir -Ingelric. Within the cavity of the mouth were pieces of coined gold, as -tho' he had set his famishing teeth in them; and within his clenched -hands, clenched by the last agony and convulsion of death, were pieces -of gold and silver. On the brow was the well-known mark of a wound which -that unhappy knight had gotten in his early days in fighting for King -Stephen; the Agnus Dei, and the little cross at the breast, were those -of Sir Ingelric, and were marked with his name; and the blade of the -sword bore the conjoined names of Sir Ingelric and Sir Alain. Having -noted and pointed out all these things, Abbat Reginald, after another -and more copious aspersion of the blessed water, which is holier than -the stream which now floweth in Jordan, raised his right hand and said, -"My children, there is a dread lesson and example in that which lieth -before us! Crooked courses ever lead to evil ends, albeit not always in -this nether world. But here is one that hath reaped upon earth the fruit -of his crimes, and that hath perished by the demon that first led him -astray--aye, perished upon a heap of gold and silver, and of -famine, the cruellest of deaths, and in a miser's hole--a robber's -hiding-place--unpitied, unheeded, unconfessed, with the fiend mocking -him, and bidding him eat his gold, and with the interdict of holy mother -church and the curses of ruined men pressing upon his sinful soul. And -was it for this, oh Sir Ingelric, that thou didst soil thy faith, and -betray thy king and friends, and waste the fair land of thy birth, and -rack and torture the poor? Take hence the excommunicate body and bury it -deep in unconsecrated earth; but remember, oh my children, all that -which ye have this day seen!" - -The gold and silver we removed and put into strong coffers, in order -that we might use them with the same justice and regard to the poor that -we had used with the treasure found in Sir Ingelric's own castle at -Speen. - -When we came to make inquiries among the people of those parts, and to -put their several reports together, we made a good key to the awful -enigma and mystery of Sir Ingelric's death. That castle by Shrivenham -had been made by one of the very worst of the castle-building robbers, -who had never raised any standard but his own over his donjon keep. In -the autumnal season of the year preceding that in which we came to -destroy the place, and at the time when the joint orders of King Stephen -and Henry Plantagenet were sent forth against the castle-holders, there -suddenly appeared at Shrivenham a band that came from the westward, and -that were headed by a knight in black mail, and with a black plume to -his casque; and by some of those reaches of treachery which were common -among these evil doers, the new-comers got possession of this castellum, -and made a slaughter of the builder of it, and of the men that were true -to him. But the new comers had not been a day in possession of the -castle when intelligence was brought them by a scout that a force of -King Stephen, which had tracked them from the westward, was approaching -Shrivenham; and thereupon, and for that the castle was too unfurnished -with victual to withstand any beleaguer, the strangers fled from it more -suddenly than they had come to it. As the vicinage was almost deserted, -and as the few people fled and hid themselves, the black band had no -communications with them during their brief stay; but two poor serfs who -had watched their departure had described it as being full of panic, -terror, and of a dread of other things besides that of the close -approach of the king's force (which force never came at all); for they -had heard the band bewailing that they had no longer a leader, that -their chief had disappeared in the castellum, and that the devil must -have carried him off bodily: and the serfs did well mark that the knight -in the black mail was not among them, nor at their head, as they had -seen him at their first coming. And as Sir Alain's people, in finishing -their good work at the castellum, threw open the subterrain winding -passage, of which mention hath been made, they found the body of an old -man with a bundle of great keys at his girdle, and a long dagger -sticking in his left side; and his head lay close to the strong door of -the treasure chamber, and between the body and the door were picked up a -strong bag and part of a long extinguished torch. - -"By Saint Lucia, who presideth over man's blessed organ of sight and the -glorious light of day," quoth our abbat; "by sweet Saint Lucia, I do see -daylight through that dark passage. The bait of that gold drew Sir -Ingelric hither, to be taken as in a trap. He was eager to have the -first hanselling and most precious bits of the treasure, or mayhap to -carry off the whole, or conceal it for his own use, counting upon more -time than heaven allowed him. That old unshriven traitor was, doubtless, -one of the men of the castle-builder, that betrayed their master, and -him Sir Ingelric slew so soon as he had led him to the chamber and -opened the door, with the intent that he should not divulge unto others -the secret of the hiding place. Peradventure, the old man in his -death-struggles dashed out the light and pulled to the open door; or Sir -Ingelric, being left in darkness, and uninformed of the fastenings, did -in his great haste kick the door and so cause it to fly to, and shut for -ever upon him." - -We did all think that the riddle was well read by Abbat Reginald, and -that this was a natural conclusion to the other and better known -incidents of Sir Ingelric's dark story. - -By the time we had finished with the wicked castles of Barkshire, our -great and ever victorious King Henry had finished with that perverse man -Hugh de Mortimer; and as we came to our house at Pangbourne on our way -back to Reading, we there met the young Lord of Caversham, Sir Arthur de -Bohun, who had been dismissed to his home by the king, and not without -some further proof of the royal friendship, for, as it was ever in his -nature to do, Sir Arthur had done manfully in the king's sieges and -other emprises. It was a happy meeting to all of us, and there was no -longer any public calamity to cloud or reproach our private happiness. -The donjons were all down, or in good keeping; and, from end to end and -in all its breadth England was at peace, and none of the baronage were -so daring as to resist the king and the law. _Dulce mihi nomen -pacis!_--ever sweet unto me was the name of peace, and now we had both -the name and the substance of it. It was therefore resolved at -Pangbourne that the marriage of Sir Arthur and the Lady Alice should be -celebrated on the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, which was now near -at hand. - -Upon coming to Caversham Sir Alain de Bohun hung his shield upon the -wall, intending to go forth to no more wars. Then he put into the hands -of the gentle Alice the king's charter which conferred upon her the -domains of her mother, telling her, in his jocose way, that as she had -now so goodly an inheritance she might be minded to quit the humble -house and poor people at Caversham, and get her to court to match with -some great earl. And at this that fairest of maidens placed the king's -charter in the hands of Sir Arthur, and with a blushing cheek and -without words spoken, went out of the hall. Sir Arthur did afterwards -inform her, in the gentlest manner, of the sure death of Sir Ingelric -many months agone; and, albeit he had been so unnatural a father, Alice -shed many tears, and made a vow to give money to the church and poor, -that his sinful soul might be prayed for. The dreadful manner of Sir -Ingelric's death was carefully concealed from the young bride, and hath -never been fully made known unto her. She was united to Sir Arthur in -our abbey church, on the happiest festival of St. Michael that our house -had ever known, for the season was mild and beautiful, the harvest had -been abundant, we had gotten in all our crops without hindrance, our -granaries were filled with corn and our hearts with joy; and as all of -us, from the lord abbat down to the obscurest lay brother, had a -surpassing affection as well for the gentle bride as for her noble mate, -who had in a manner been our son and pupil, and an old reverence and -love for Sir Alain and his ladie, we could not but rejoice at the great -joy we saw in them. But all good people, gentle or simple, bond or free, -did jubilate on this happy day; and when the bride and bridegroom -returned homeward, the procession which followed them, shouting and -singing, and calling down blessings upon their young heads, was so long -as to run in an unbroken line from the midst of the King's mead to the -end of Caversham-bridge; for our good vassals of Reading town had all -put on their holiday clothes and shut up their houses, and all the -people of Caversham were afoot, and Tilehurst, and Sulham, and Charlton, -and Purley, and Sunning, and Speen, and Pangbourne, and every other -township and village for miles round-about had poured out their -inhabitants; and not a franklin or serf, not a man, woman, or child -among them all, but was feasted either by Sir Alain or Sir Arthur, or by -us the monks of Reading. Methinks the sun never rose and set upon so -beautiful a day! The air and the earth rejoiced, and the flowing waters; -the full Thamesis and our own quick and resonant Kennet made music and -thanksgiving together; and seemed it to me that I had never so loved the -country of my birth, and the fair scenes in which my life had been past -from infancy to ripe manhood; and yet had I ever loved that fair country -above all that mine eyes had seen in much travelling. _Natale solum -dulcedine cunctos mulcet._ Oh native soil, thou softenest man's heart, -and fillest it with love of thee! - -Now did the Ladie Alice more than verify the happy prediction which our -good Abbat Edward put forth in the stormy time, to wit, that the little -maiden which came to our house in the basket, and which I, Felix the -novice, and Philip the lay-brother did convey by night unto Caversham, -would make amends for the ingratitude and treasons and other wicked -doings of her father. Betwixt that merry wedding-day and the day that -now is, there have been nine long years, and they have all been years of -peace and happiness to the good house at Caversham, with that increase -and multiplication which God willed when the world was in its infancy -and all unpeopled. - -Happy, too, hath been our house at Reading, and great the increase of -the abbey in beauty and splendour. Some few griefs and trials we have -had; for earth, at the happiest, was never meant to be heaven; and we -all live to die, and must die to live again. The good and bountiful Lord -Abbat Reginald deceased on the fourth of the kalends of February, in the -year of grace eleven hundred and fifty-eight; but he died full of years -and honour, and verily, the Lord Abbat Roger that now is, hath been -approved his very worthy successor. As our wealth increased under the -blessed peace, and the sage government of our great king, and the favour -of our Lord Thomas ą Becket, for some while chancellor of the kingdom, -and now and for the two years last past, by the grace of God, Archbishop -of Canterbury and Primate of England, we of the chapter did begin to -think that our church was not sufficiently lofty and spacious, and that -wondrous improvements might be made in it, if we devoted to the task -some of our superfluous wealth. And six years agone, when our Lord -Reginald was in the twelfth year of his government over us (may our -Ladie the Virgin, and St. John and St. James ever have him in their holy -keeping), we made a beginning; and the year last past, being the year of -our redemption eleven hundred and sixty-four, we finished our great -church, which hath been so much enlarged and altered that it may be -called a new church; and Rex Henricus Secundus being present with ten -suffragan bishops, and great lay barons too many to count, our Lord -Archbishop Thomas did consecrate it with that solemnity and magnificence -which he puts into all his doings: and on the very day on which the -archbishop consecrated our church, the king, keeping his royal promise, -granted us a land revenue of forty marks of silver out of the manor of -Hoo in Kent, by assignment of Sir Robert Bardolph, the lord of that -manor. - -And our mighty and ever victorious king, who is no less a friend to -learning and learned men, nor less a patron of the church than was his -grandfather the Beauclerc, hath ordered books to be bought for the -enriching of our library, and hath given us another charter confirming -our liberties and immunities, and enjoining all the kings that may come -after him to observe the same, and calling upon the Lord to snatch them -out of the land of the living, together with their posterity, if they or -any one of them should seek to infringe our charter, or lessen our -rights and properties. "_Quam qui infringere vel minuere presumpserit, -extrahat eum dominus et evertat de terra viventium cum omni posteritate -sua._" These be the king's very words in the second great charter he -hath given us. - -Here I surcease from the pleasant labours which have amused the few -lonely hours that my various duties left me. There cannot be a better -time to stop and say _vale_! Henricus Secundus is king; Thomas ą Becket -is primate; Roger is lord abbat of Reading; and I, Felix the Sunningite, -and novice that was, am poor sub-prior; and every monk of the house is a -man of English birth. It hath been noted of late, that our prior -declineth apace; and there hath been a talk among the cloister monks -that I best merit that succession, which would place me next in dignity -and greatness to the mitred lord abbat of this royal abbey. But, alas! -what is increase of dignity but increase of care! I do hope that our -good prior may live all through this winter; albeit, it is a very sharp -one, and old men be falling fast around us.--_Vale et semper Vale!_ - - -THE END. - -LONDON: WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET. - - * * * * * - -THE SUPPLEMENT - -to the - -PENNY CYCLOPĘDIA. - - -On the completion of the 'Penny Cyclopędia,' at Christmas, 1843, the -following announcement was made:--"In the course of publication care has -been taken, in all the great departments, to bring up the information to -the most recent period, and also to make the later articles -supplementary to, as well as corrective of, the earlier. But omissions, -especially of new discoveries, improvements, and recent biographies, -cannot have been avoided. These will be supplied by the publication, -after a proper lapse of time, which will be at least a year, of a -Supplement. A full Index will be published at a future day, which will -not only materially increase the value of the Cyclopędia as a work of -reference, but will enable the reader to place the later articles in -proper connexion with the earlier, in the point of view just mentioned." - -It is unnecessary, in any announcement, to point out the value of this -_Supplement to the Cyclopędia_. To the purchasers of the original work -it will be almost indispensable; for, ranging over the whole field of -knowledge, it was impossible, with every care, to avoid some material -omissions of matters which ought to have found a place. But to these, -and even to readers who may not desire to possess the complete Work, the -Supplement has the incalculable advantage of exhibiting the march of -PROGRESSIVE KNOWLEDGE. It is here that will be found _all the recent -discoveries in Geography_, such as are given in the first Part under the -heads of Abyssinia and Afghanistan,--countries that have become almost -known to us for the first time within a few years. It is here that the -rapid steps of _Scientific improvement_ will be laid open. It is here -that a record will be found of the more eminent deceased of the passing -day, whose _Biography_ belongs to the memorable things of our age. The -supplement will be conducted by the Editor of the original work, with -the assistance of many of the first Contributors. 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